Hi bitches,
I write this while Shan sits on the floor, helping me wrap Christmas presents like a little elf with the bone structure that could kill you with one fortunate swipe. It’s that time of the year again :) I’m also looking forward to February — we’re going for both Kehlani and Arctic Monkeys!! How lucky are we. This week is quiet af — not much poppy news.
The Damage™
This week’s noteworthy binges
Haunting of Hill House (2018)
The first of Mike Flanagan’s universe of horror — specifically where he does EVERYTHING — creator, director, writer, editor and executive producer.
The Haunting of Hill House centers around family and profound grief. A nuclear family of a mother, father and their 5 kids move into the Hill House with the idea of flipping it and selling it to build their own forever home. This house though, is creepy as fuck and yes, haunted. Children see ghosts at every turn (as children do) but these ghosts follow them for life. Some manifest as ghosts of guilt and despair, some are foreshadowing of the darkness the future holds.
Timeline-wise, it’s purposefully jumbled. We see these kids as adults, and how they live with their shared grief in very different ways. There’s addiction, mental illness, anger, and straight up denial. Many bottle episodes focus on each kid — showing us what happened to them as children, and how that affected them as adults.
There are multiple deaths, many long monologues and so so so much grief. Then there’s a fair share of jump scares, gore, ghosts and general creepy vibes. A must-watch. That is, if you have the stomach for it.
Netflix / 10 episodes at ~60 mins each
The White Lotus (Season 2)
The White Lotus is the name of a (fictional) hotel-resort chain. They’re all around the world. In S1, we were in Hawaii. S2 brought us to Sicily, Italy. The formula is simple. Seasons start with a dramatic death of an unknown someone at the end of their stay. Then we go back in time to arrivals where we’re introduced to the entire cast of people staying in the resort (plus the people who work there) where the story is told chronologically.
As each episode goes by, it feels like nothing really happened, but so much happened. The unsettling feeling you get (fuelled by the freaking sound design) gets more and more uncomfortable until an absolutely explosive finale where suddenly, everything makes sense.
Mike White, the creator, has an insane psychosocial understanding of the many types of people in the world. He pushes their characters with just dialogue, great casting and acting to reveal dysfunction. Season 1 was about rich people being cunts. Season 2 was more about sex, infidelity and relationships and how those blind and blindside us (while objectifying men hehe). Super juicy.
This season was especially good because of the wide internet discourse (and memes) every single week. Yep, it rightfully follows a weekly episodic release structure. Having to sit with the episode for a full week kinda forces you to think, which really adds to the entire experience.
If you haven’t watched it yet, I’m seriously questioning your life choices.
HBO / 2 seasons, 6 episodes each ~ 60 mins / satire, comedy-drama, black comedy
Some more…
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry call each other “M” and “H” and somehow it makes me want to vomit. In the first half of their Netflix docu-series, we learn loads about them. As a couple — it’s kinda gross and masturbatory. But parts about how they grew up? Those were great. The second half just dropped and I will be watching. It’s one of those super easy to watch things but I can’t help but think they’re doing this for 2 reasons — to clear their name and tell their story, but also, so they can afford security.
I’m currently on S3 of The L Word: Generation Q. Absolutely gagged that Kehlani is a (temporary?) character in the show — as a Very Sexy Lesbian that nobody can turn down. On episode 3, Max from the original series makes a return. He’s thriving. And the show attempts to right the wrongs of his portrayal as the first trans-masculine character on TV.
Tuuuuuuuunes. 🎶
New music releases, news, drama
📖: Ticketmaster strikes again. This time, for a Bad Bunny concert in Mexico. Hundreds of fans were denied entry, seemingly from fraudulent tickets. The concert was supposed to be sold out, but at the end of the day, it was barely at capacity. So embarrassing.
📖x🎧: It has been approximately 2 years since Tory Lanez shot Megan Thee Stallion’s feet while shouting “dance bitch”. Hot girl Meg testified in court against him, visibly shaken. She said — “I wish he would’ve just shot and killed me if I knew I was going to have to go through this torture.” It’s so fucked up… What makes it worse is how very few people believe her. When the incident first happened and police showed up, Meg claimed her feet got fucked up from broken glass. Mainly because she was protecting all the black people involved in the incident — this was during the dangerous time of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Tory offered her a million dollars to keep her mouth shut. Now, people still don’t believe her. This is part of a bigger problem in our society — not believing black women. There’s even a new term coined for this phenomenon — misogynoir. Learn more about everything from this great podcast episode.
💿: Super random, but Cardi B jumped on a remix of ROSALÍA’s DESPECHÁ. I don’t know how to feel about it.
💿: Another song I don’t know how to feel about — The Weeknd’s track for Avatar 2 — Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength).
📖: SZA got me maaad. She released a list of potential collaborators for SOS that never happened. The list drove me mad. There’s still hope for the deluxe.
📖: Is it over for us Arianators? Ms Ari removed the “musician” category from her IG.
📹: Any chance to mention Charli XCX will be taken. She performed Lightning in a recent episode of Gossip Girl. Scantily clad as she should be.
📹: Rina has been quiet for awhile. Then she randomly went on Graham Norton and performed Hold the Girl. Slaaaay.
📹: Kelly Clarkson did an electrifying cover of Lady Gaga’s Stupid Love.
📹: Jessie Ware performed Free Yourself at the Fashion Awards.
📹: Here’s 30 minutes of Dua Lipa performing her greatest hits at the Jingle Bell Ball in a purple sparkly outfit. Weeeeeeee. And another 30 minutes, with Sam Smith.
Hot goss.👩🏽🎤
🙊x💿: The disappointment is too much. When we all thought Dua Lipa was dating Trevor Noah, I was ecstatic. It just felt correct. Now we’re finding out that they’re just friends and Ms 2 Lips is dating Jack Harlow?????? The bro who named a song after her, about how he wants to get with her. PLS DUA!!!!!
🙊: Disappointed. Again. Emily Ratajkowski may not be dating Pete Davidson after all. She was probably just curious, or maybe she’s just dating around and looking at her options? Nothing wrong with that. Anyway she was allegedly on a date with DJ Orazio Rispo — whoever the fuck that is. 🙄
🙊: Vanessa Hudgens’ new look channels Lady Gaga’s The Countess. Yes ma’am.
Technicolour. 📺.📺
👁: While it’s been relatively quiet on the celebrity front, the TV/movie category has been poppin’ (kinda). First up — the Golden Globe nominees. Pretty exciting. Jenna Ortega has a nomination, which is like, wow. Good for her.
👁: Em Tee vEEEE. Drag Race is moving to MTV for its 15th season. I mean, who cares la. I’m so tired with the sheer quantity (not quality hor) of seasons rolling out. There’s also word about an international All-Stars. Which they should’ve done in the first place instead of <country> VS the World. Weirdos.
👁: Henry Cavil will no longer be Superman. ok.
👁: This article discusses why we love deadpan women in TV (Aubrey Plaza all the time, now Wednesday Addams, and of course, Daria).
👁: Lmfao James Cameron takes things too seriously. He conducted a scientific study to prove that Jack had to die in Titanic — that raft couldn’t carry them both. Lol k
👁: The full trailer for M3GAN is out.
👁: Epic epic epic movie trailer for Barbie. Margot Robbie can murder me anytime.
Liddat lor 👁👄👁
🧶: Brittney Griner finally went home. She dunked a ball. She’s reintegrating. Fuck knows what she’s been through. She’s also another black woman severely affected by misogynoir.
🧶: On the viral AI app, Lensa, and how it just doesn’t work the same for POCs. Plus why women look extra sexualised.
On a final note, I gave up my NYT subscription and instead downloaded a Chrome plug-in that bypasses paywalls. Don’t come for me, I still pay for NY Mag as a loyal fan. Unfortunately, the plug-in doesn’t work for my biggest enemy — Rolling Stone.
XOXO,
Bitchington