Kinda like a YouTube favorites video

Meant to be read poolside

If you’re reading this the day it goes out, congratulations, it’s almost a long weekend. Quite frankly the UV index is too high and my bandwidth is too low for me to dive into my inner psyche for this week’s letter. Nevertheless. Things this is not: a throwaway post. Things this is: f-u-n. Read on for a brain dump of what I’m reading, admiring, and watching lately. We’ll see how random this gets.

Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut: “A play on history and affluence”

First of all, tapping Robert Pattison as one of the face’s of this new era was gold — as is this entire Instagram swipe. Although in a shocker to no one, I don’t agree with his answer of ‘how fasionably late is too late’. Secondly, Anderson pulling inspiration from European art history is going to be an immediate yes from me (give me more tweed and rococo every time!). Chris Black went on Fashion People to discuss the show with Lauren Sherman, and along with their musings about Wintour’s anticlimactic depature, it’s a must listen for you fashion nerdz.

this shade of GREEN

100 Best Movies of the 21st Century, NYT

I’ve long ago accepted that I go through phases with movies. Many months will pass without a single film gracing my screen (unless it’s The Wedding Planner, obviously). That used to bother me because I’d like to be the kind of person who knows all the hitters coming out of Cannes or sees all the Oscars contenders as soon as the nominations drop, but rarely is this the case. I’m kind of in an inbetween phase right now. I saw Materialists solo a couple weeks ago, and I don’t have anything else to say about it. Like, that’s the thought. I saw it. It didn’t put me in a movie “slump” per se, but it certainly didn’t put me in the longform mood. THEN this list came across my desk, and I’m tempted to hole up until the leaves start falling. I’m prioritizing The Zone of Interest, Interstellar, The Social Network (I know I knowwwww), and Zodiac. (Personally offended The Place Beyond the Pines didn’t make the cut though.)

Music is exciting right now

New Lorde, BANKS, HAIM, Ethel.

Early Virgin favorites:

• “Favourite Daughter”

• “David”

• “If She Could See Me Now”

Early I Quit favorites:

• “Gone”

• “The farm”

• “Now it’s time”

BRAT is still on repeat, specifically the “Talk Talk” remix. Having a moment with Harry’s House right now, too. I think because nothing encapsulates summer quite like the sound of “Grapejuice”.

…Books are not

I’m 0/2 on my past two reads. I “got” All Fours but I didn’t “get” it. And I’m at peace about it! I finished Audition right before writing this, and I was surprised at how little I enjoyed it because I loveeee Katie Kitamura’s novels (read Intimacies). I found a Goodreads review that plucked the thoughts right from my mind and made me capital L Laugh: “the last fifty pages just went completely off the rails”. And it’s even more annoying when it’s not in a good way! In conclusion I’m three books behind on my reading goal for the year because I’m a magnet to literary mediocrity, apparently. Loyal newsletter fans will also recall it took me all of winter and most of spring to get through East of Eden, which was not mediocre but was still a bit of a sludge. Alls to say, I’m confident I can turn around my summer reading journey. TBD with what.

Getting Sticky with Ty Haney, Spread the Jelly

Ty Haney, co-founder of Outdoor Voices, is one of those kooky girl bosses of the 2010s who remains fascinating to me. I enjoyed finding out that she lived on Red Bull and Snickers while running a startup because I can’t think of two things that would hinder me from running a startup more.

Summer lattes

Typically I’m an iced coffee with a splash of milk gal (or drip when it’s cold out). But something about summer latte flavors get me every time. Blueberry lavender, lemon meringue, rose, carrot cake…I mean, who can resist sipping on that kind of caffeinated happiness.

Next Gen NYC

There’s a lull on Housewives right now, which means I succumbed to watching Next Gen NYC. It’s not that good, but I keep getting pulled in. Like pretty much everyone else, I think Ariana Biermann is the breakout star, and the most level headed. There’s something so Gossip Girl about this show, like the Housewives kids are the Dan Humpreys and the NYC born-and-bred kids are the Blairs. But in the end Dan had the last laugh, so…

Eating toast for breakfast

I only did this once, but the picture I took was so stunning that I might make it my summer thing. If you want life to feel like catching fireflies, Sarah Dessen books, and watching 10 Things I Hate About You for the first time, make toast for breakfast.

eat it outside for maximum optimization

Different ways of listening

Three things I’ve rediscovered: my record player, mix CDs from a box in the basement, and a classical playlist I made when I was bored in 2020. You can imagine my living room, car, and eardrums are fun places to be right now.

They’re 15. Wait Until You Read Their Newspaper. NYT

This was circulating a little over a month ago, but I just got around to it. Read this to feel something — i.e., motivated. A personal favorite quote: “‘And even if we don’t blow up, that’s fine,’ Lauren responded. ‘As long as we have some social media that makes us look fun. We’re not, like, boring people, I don’t think.’”

Online window shopping

But I’m resisting (mostly). Lots of good sales happening at Cos, Anthro, Zara, Lisa Says Gah, and J. Crew.

Eddie Huang on This Is TASTE

Canal Street Dreams is one of my favorite Substacks, and I find Huang’s life to be generally fascinating. Or maybe it’s the way he writes about it. Or both. He was on This Is TASTE this week, a treat for us all. When I don’t know what podcast I want to listen to, I’ll typically just peruse their backlog. This one was unsurprisingly a thorough, fun listen.

Stuff like this from other people

In case it isn’t obvious, I love hearing about people’s favorites. It’s like the throughline of internet culture. We were watching Bethany Mota’s favorites videos in high school, now we’re getting product deep dives on Dear Media podcasts or reading about what’s cool right now over at SSENSE. Curiousity in fact didn’t kill the cat, it made the cat extremely on the pulse and in the know!!!

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THANK YOU FOR READING. Wear SPF this weekend — my current favorite (heh) is the Vacation Whip Glow. A little shimmer in sunscreen never hurt anyone. I’ll be in another state, eating biscuits.