culture porn 10/28
our weekly playlist
screenshot me:
love is blind s3 (netflix)
i’ll just say there’s so many other things i wanted to do with my time instead of watching more of this franchise but this show is addicting. feels like we just finished S2 but what is time anyway when in the LIB pods???
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midnights: taylor swift (apple music)
although i'm not a swiftie, i've always admired taylor swift's talent for living her emotional life out loud in song, her bold moves to secure the rights to her work, her groundbreaking attention to her stans, and her speaking to the complexities of being a woman.
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vibe check (stitcher)
podcast hosts saeed jones, zach stafford, and sam sanders are funny and insightful, centering Black & queer povs in their brilliant discourse. in a recent episode "please tell me your secrets" they break down the layers of cultural reaction to billy eichner's BROS six ways to sunday and it's revelatory. if any of them want to moonlight as CULTIQUE analysts, the door is wide open!
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east new york (cbs)
my north fork neighbor and showrunner billy finkelstein (THE GOOD FIGHT) reunites with his L.A. LAW colleague jimmy smits in one of the fall's biggest new broadcast hits. examining hot-button issues like gentrification and social unrest in working-class brooklyn, EAST NEW YORK is one of the first new cop dramas to surface in a post-george floyd world.
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aftershock (netflix)
this gripping three part docuseries covers the devastating 2015 nepal earthquake. the footage from everest base camp was especially terrifying to watch - i was there in 2016 and saw much of the earthquake aftermath. three episodes flew by for such an intensely impactful disaster.
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wedding season (hulu)
having loved seeing the irish countryside in BAD SISTERS (APPLE TV+), this scottish rom-com x murder mystery series has me swooning over bucolic scotland as well. i'm charmed by the unexpectedly original casting of rosa salazar and gavin drea as the mismatched but magnetic pair – along with their greek chorus of wedding-guest besties – caught up in intriguing trouble that unspools into misadventure.
insights & inspo
is DIWALI going mainstream?
lately, we've been tracking how the codes and cues of american celebration have been increasingly drawing inspiration from beyond US borders. this week, the 5 million+ strong desi community in the US has been reveling in DIWALI, the hindu festival of lights. and of course, brands are jumping (cashing) in on the fun – making it more accessible for everyone. but as we've seen with PRIDE and other niche festivities, the mainstreaming of a religious holiday is sparking deeper questions about celebration – and appropriation.
learn more here
why are kids so sad?
the mental health situation among young people is troubling, to say the least. and reading many analyses of it can start to raise more questions than answers. part of this is because we don't really know the answers - the world is in an unprecedented place and we're figuring it out as we go. one theory - as outlined here by malcolm harris - is to give kids a little more space in all of this: space to explore, be sad, and organically evolve.
more insights here
is natural wine losing its cool factor?
i love following the wine industry because i love wine! the packaging, the science, the craftsmanship - the bucolic vineyard settings. it's one of the original arts of humanity. in the past few years, natural wine has become a common appearance and - like with food - the definition of "natural" is subjective. this long-form piece from bon appétit unpacked the presence on menus and the performance on social media.
more here
#LOokforward🌅 with linda ong
the second stop of my midwestern journey was nashville, where sarah and i reconnected IRL with our heartland partner, nickolas barnes of UTA. it's great to see attention at last being paid to this overlooked and undervalued market, ever since YELLOWSTONE caught hollywood off-guard. and now, every big media company is eager to replicate its success.
as a record number of female leaders are leaving their jobs for better opportunities elsewhere, taylor swift released a new cookie recipe to promote her latest album launch. #progress ?
for linda’s full debrief, head here