The Week in Recommendations 7.3.24
Reading to avoid despair, an Aussie sitcom, the Celine Dion doc, summer sets, summer skin care and summer shoes!
This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Our latest podcasts were about motherhood ambivalence and “America’s Sweethearts: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders”! Rich Text is a completely reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!
Claire has been reading… 📖
My Father and the Withering of Liberal Zionism, Ayelet Waldman’s New York Magazine essay reconsidering two generations of her family’s heroic Zionist self-mythologizing and assessing the legacy and future of the Israeli left. A while back I had read that the writer was joining a convoy attempting to deliver food to the besieged Gaza, and in this essay she does write about the experience of being part of what she admits was a largely symbolic aid mission. (They were stopped at the border and arrested, as they expected they would be.) But it’s also a much more holistic and full-throated reckoning with her own beliefs about Israel and Gaza, her father’s commitment to the socialist Jewish left and his idealization of kibbutz life, and how her family’s generations-long attempts to reconcile liberalism and Zionism meant buying into cruel propaganda and covering up inconvenient truths.
Emma has been reading… 📖
Literally anything that will help me not descend into pure panic and despair about the state of American politics. Between the absolutely disastrous presidential debate, chatter about whether President Biden should and will step down, and SCOTUS’ continued decimation of the democracy at the core of our nation’s founding, I’m… having a bit of a hard time maintaining any sense of hopefulness. (Let me tell you — it’s a real mindfuck to be swept away on a shot of pure joy when you get engaged on June 28th and then be forced to take a very sobering chaser on July 1st when the Supreme Court essentially writes all former and future presidents a blank check to abuse their power and do crime.)
I’m grateful to writers like
who are trying to find some hope in the abyss of misery and dread. (And also, obvi, to Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson who dissented. Sotomayor’s affecting dissent is worth reading in full.)Claire has been watching… 📺
“Fisk,” an Australian sitcom about a grumpy lawyer, Helen Tudor-Fisk, who joins a small wills and probate solicitors office in Melbourne to escape her unraveling career and painful divorce in Sydney. My friend Julie recommended it on her Substack
a while back, and it had been on my to-watch list for a while before I found a pocket of time to indulge in some non-reality, non-couple viewing. (Greg and I have been watching season 3 of “The Bear” – more on that soon.) “Fisk” is well-executed and charming workplace comedy that lightly satirizes the many indignities of office life, as well as the specific indignity of being the only slightly accomplished solicitor daughter of a well-known and eminent judge. The cast of characters – from the titular heroine, a sort of downtrodden Larry David type who is forever accidentally inspiring violent antipathy from those she meets, to the obliviously kooky colleagues and family members who surround her – are sharply drawn, and I am rooting for Fisk and her wardrobe of drapey medium-brown pantsuits to get her mojo back by season 2.Emma has been watching… 📺
Adam and I watched the Celine Dion documentary, “I Am: Celine Dion” on Prime Video. (I’ve also started season 3 of “The Bear” and having a lot of mixed feelings about it which we will dig into in a future Rich Text podcast.) It is an intimate, harrowing, raw look at an iconic artist’s largely invisible chronic illness, as told by Celine herself. (Very few other people speak in the film.) We are used to a carefully curated veneer of perfection from our celebrities, and we expect our ballad-singing divas to be able to deliver their art in the way we remember them once doing forever. “I Am: Celine Dion” lays bare the physical and emotional labor inherent in being a megastar defined by your craft — and the heart-wrenching way a star like Dion can question her sense of self when her health falters. I knew little about Stiff Person Syndrome before watching the film, so seeing Dion seize on a table to the point that she seems frozen in horror while medical professionals try to rub her back and talk her through the episode was especially disturbing and affecting. Even more vulnerable are the scenes where we see Dion struggle to sing and cry as she expresses her embarrassment that people will see her like that. Who is she without her voice? — the “leader of her life,” as she puts it. My one big issue with the film is that it lacks some connective tissue between its pieces. There is no exposition from experts or other people in Dion’s orbit, and there is little text situating the footage in a specific timeline. It made the whole thing feel like a mood piece rather than a coherent documentary, but I’m still glad I watched it.
Claire has been listening to… 🎧
The Know Your Enemy emergency podcast following the presidential debate last week, “Joe’s Gotta Go.” I didn’t watch all of the debate — I was busy helping my preschooler fall asleep until around 9:30 pm, naturally — but the thirty minutes or so of it that I did watch were absolutely terrifying. I doubt there’s anything meaningful that a pop culture Substacker can add to the conversation right now; suffice it to say that Biden does not seem up to the campaign, let alone four years of governing the country afterwards, and it’s getting harder for me to buy that any replacement Democrat would do worse. Meanwhile, Trump came off as relatively sharp and with it, but I think he’s also benefiting from having always seemed kind of confused and stupid. It’s priced in, as the pundits say — and in fact, when he says idiotic stuff like “I want absolutely immaculate clean water, and I want absolutely clean air, and we had it. We had H2O,” it’s accepted as part of his campaign’s perversely appealing comedy. I would love to see how much more energy could be generated by the Democrats just from the sheer relief of a candidate who doesn’t appear to be literally sundowning during debates, not to mention how much more energetic of a campaign could be run by a Kamala Harris or even a third option. It was not comforting but it was cathartic to listen to Matt Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell talk through the debate and what will happen next, and made me feel a little less alone.
Emma has been listening to… 🎧
I’ve been catching up on some old faves this week. I started with part 3 of Infamous’ series about momfluencer Ruby Franke’s fall from grace, then moved on to the latest Dear Felicity episode, in which Juliet Litman goes deep on the end of season 2 of “Felicity” with the swoony man at its center — Scott Speedman, who played Ben Covington. I recently got to be on the pod (a dream! an honor!) and I was so excited to hear our bud Juliet dig into my favorite stretch of the whole series with her signature wit, depth of knowledge and thoughtfulness.
Claire has been buying… 🛍️
The navy Sønderhaus Romeo sleep set, which inspired some cottagecore fantasizing when I started seeing it on some of the micro-influencers I follow. The bloomer shorts are a bit outside of my comfort zone — like giant puffed sleeves, bloomer bottoms trigger my self-consciousness, even though I’ve gotten accustomed to wearing lots of frilly, ruffly fashion that would have once intimidated me — but I love the set for lounging. I especially look forward to wearing the romantic top, which is cropped at the perfect length for wearing with high-waisted bottoms, with linen pants and shorts.
My summer skin afflictions have made their return in the past couple of weeks. The cocktail of sunscreen, makeup and sweat that covers my face most days inevitably produces more giant, inflamed pimples, and my usual skin routine isn’t quite enough to combat them. So this week, I reupped my COSRX pimple patch supply and also tried something new: the Tower 28 SOS Facial Spray. I was influenced to buy this by some random influencer Reel served to me by Facebook, which is a very grim commentary on how our social media algorithms are constantly conspiring to sell us things, and now I am completing the loop by suggesting this product to more people! I’ve only been using it for a few days, so I can’t give a full-throated endorsement, but my skin did dramatically calm down since I added it to my morning routine. I just spritz some on before my niacinamide serum and moisturizer.
Emma has been buying… 🛍️
Two cheap and wonderful pairs of summer shoes! First up, this pair of raffia block heels from Anthropologie. I was shocked when I walked into an Anthro last week and found these Matisse Caravan Heels in Neutral — they’re comfy, they hold my narrow feet in with strong elastic-y straps, and they’re on 60 dollars! I also purchased these Hanna Toe Ring Thong Sandals from Target after seeing them on a salesperson at J. Crew. They were so beautiful that I assumed they had to be some high-end brand, but she excitedly told me that they were just $25 from Targét Boutique! Such a win for my summer feet.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac31aa75-6705-41c3-af27-042199d8512c_1920x1080.png)
I’ve also been refilling some of my most beloved skincare products. As I’ve said before in this newsletter, I’ve tried to simplify and streamline my routine down to just a few key products. Caudalie’s Vinoperfect Brightening Dark Spot Serum has been one of them. I used the final drops I could get out of the bottle and realized it was time to accept that I needed to buy more. It’s more than I’d usually spend on a product, but… I’ve tried some alternatives and none are as effective or go on as smoothly! (Damn you, French pharmacy enthusiasts! You were right!)
Claire has been making… 🧶
A chickpea and zucchini linguini recipe that I found in the traditional way: by looking at the zucchini in my produce drawer and the chickpeas in my pantry, thinking “maybe pasta?”, and Googling those three words. I already had just about everything I needed to make it, though I did grab a lemon and a pound of linguini at the grocery store rather than using the spaghetti I had stocked. I wanted to fortify it with something salty and rich, since I couldn’t include the grated pecorino, so I reached into my bag of NYT Cooking tricks and sizzled some mashed anchovy along with the garlic and red pepper before tossing in the chickpeas and shredded zucchini. According to Greg, the anchovy gave it a clam-sauce tang. My children refused to eat it (the elder demanded leftover pizza, and the younger cried until I fed him four or five chopped strawberries in rapid succession), but Greg and I inhaled giant bowls of it. Extremely easy, extremely good, and probably even better with cheese!
Emma has been making… 🧶
Honestly, very little other than phone calls about aforementioned engagement. We’ll be chatting alllllll about it soon.
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Yay for Aussie comedy! You should watch Rake next if you haven’t seen it. My favourite Australian lawyer comedy (apart from Denis Denuto in The Castle of course!)
I know this was but a brief aside to the point of your newsletter, but thank you for this: " I was busy helping my preschooler fall asleep until around 9:30 pm, naturally."-- it made me feel very seen. My son turns four tomorrow (yes the 4th of July, he was two weeks overdue, don't get me started), but he's been needing his hand held to fall asleep since last November and he usually isn't able to fall asleep until 9:45. It's just nice to remember sometimes that I'm not the only exhausted mom out there doing it. Actually, I'm often listening to your podcast while lying there holding his hand. As always, love the rest of the newsletter, too. Thanks to you guys I haven't listened to any music besides Chappell Roan in three weeks and I've read several excellent books.