The Week In Recommendations 2.19.24

A whole bunch of great TV, and an app that will help direct your civic efforts.

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 subscriber podcast was about episodes 7-8 of “The Traitors.” Rich Text is a reader-supported project.

Civic challenge of the week:

Download the 5 Calls app… and make 5 calls!

• A great focus this week is demanding action on the gutting of the FAA and TSA.

Also, talk to people in your real life about how the actions of the Trump/Musk administration will affect them and their families. The more regular people are aware of how this administration’s reckless cuts and executive orders could harm them, the broader the opposition coalition becomes.

Claire has been reading… 📖

Another week when the only reading I could hack was newsletters and essays. (And Genius annotations, but we’ll get to that later.)

Hamilton Nolan’s newsletter How Things Work has been a really helpful read for me lately, especially when I’m feeling hopeless and frozen. His Friday essay “They Are a Minority” made two really good points that shouldn’t be taken as comfort that everything will be fine, but as a reminder that we have opportunities to make change. “First: the political faction carrying out the Trump-Musk agenda right now does not have the support of the majority of the public. Far from it. And second: the fraction of the public that is happy with the agenda currently being enacted is going to get smaller for the foreseeable future.” He goes on to outline specific groups that will see their own interests fucked by the current administration – some of whom will become disillusioned, angry, and open to signing on to another political project. Our job is to persuade and build the opposition, not to sit back and throw our hands up.

Ben Tarnoff’s NYRB essay “More Babies!” amusingly and disturbingly paints the MAGA right as a movement of babies who invite adults not only to have babies but to embrace the lack of responsibility babies possess. It’s no new revelation that the GOP wants women to have babies, but doesn’t want to help take care of them; the MAGA wing has only pushed this to an absurd extreme. The essay also indicts the Democrats as not so much the adults in the room, but “those hated children who think they are adults.” This seems harder to deny than ever.

Finally, Rebecca Traister’s piece “Wokeness Is Not to Blame for Trump” counters the rising liberal consensus that “wokism” drove voters to Trump – a particularly disgusting and divisive conclusion, as the Trump administration erases trans people from federal websites and historical sites, trafficks immigrants from around the globe to Panamanian hotels for indefinite detention, and purges minority and women employees from the government. It’s a conclusion that isn’t really grounded in the evidence, as she notes; Dems won big when culture war issues were salient in 2018 and 2020, and as they tacked to the middle in 2024, their base was eroded. The “woke left” has no party willing to harness their activist passions and be the container for an intersectional movement that fights for the connected interests of the working class, women, people of color, disabled and LGBTQ people. And we’re moving in the wrong direction.

Emma has been reading… 📖

I loved all of The Cut’s Grudge Week content, especially Emily Gould’s essay about her years-long grudge against Lena Dunham. She writes about the way that she twisted herself into knots, comparing herself to Dunham when “GIRLS” was the hottest thing on TV. Gould ended up encountering Dunham interpersonally, and then thoughtlessly talking about her in the media. This led to some Twitter blocking, and the aforementioned grudge. In this essay, Gould grapples with the noxiousness of professional comparison and jealousy, and intertwines the story of letting go of her grudge with the story of her sobriety.

Also, this isn’t something I’ve been reading — because I’ve read it a million times — but I wanted to put in a little plug for my recent Elle Magazine profile of “Summer House” star Paige DeSorbo. I had so much fun chatting with Paige, and I’m really proud of the piece that came out of that interview. [Claire: Co-sign! It’s so good and charming, and the perfect appetizer to the season 9 premiere.]

Claire has been watching… 📺

“White Lotus” episode 1, which reintroduces overburdened resort worker Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) as she heads to the White Lotus location in Thailand to learn about their high-end wellness program so she can implement some of these features back in Hawaii. Based on the opening scene, it looks like Belinda and her beloved son will be on the scene for a mass shooting at the resort – and while we’ve seen a fair amount of murder in the previous two seasons, this angle is a shift. It represents a very real and unpredictable threat in modern American life, and is more difficult to portray with a slapstick touch than moments of absurdist violence between unsympathetic assholes. I started this season with a real pit of dread in my stomach that usually isn’t present. Perhaps that will set the stage for a darker season overall.

evanrosskatz

A post shared by @evanrosskatz

But the guests are already bringing the show’s trademark sharp-edged humor – Parker Posey as the Xanned-out mom of a loutish Patrick Schwarzenegger, an aspiring Buddhist daughter, and the quiet teenage brother caught between his two older siblings; Michelle Monaghan as a TV star who wants to pretend fame has changed nothing between her and her lifelong besties; and Carrie Coon as the normie friend who very much notices that her friend’s success has left her behind. I’m locked in!

Emma has been watching… 📺

Like Claire, I also watched the “White Lotus” season 3 premiere, but since she’s writing about it this week, I will just say that I am dying for the friendship dynamic between Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon and Leslie Bibb’s characters.

I did not have high hopes for “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy” — after all, it’s the fourth film in the franchise and two and three were middling at best. And yet, I actually loved it??? This movie feels far more grounded than its mid-franchise siblings. The Bridget Jones we re-meet is still very much the Bridget we know and love, but she is more grounded, older, and more settled in herself. Grief is at the center of this movie, which could just be a bummer, but instead it just feels real. (It’s not simply used as a narrative device to give Bridget a reset, but truly grappled with throughout.) Both Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor are swoon-worthy as Bridget’s love interests, and it’s a god damn REVELATION to see Hugh Grant return as notorious cad Daniel Cleaver. (Though age has softened him in the best of ways.) I laughed, I cried, and I will absolutely be rewatching this one. Bridget Jones forever.

Photo Credit: Starz / Peacock

Also watched the first two episodes of “Yellowjackets” season 3, despite the fact that I was deeply underwhelmed with season 2. I’ll give this one a chance, mostly because I love the performances so damn much. Sophie Nelisse! Melanie Lynskey! Christina Ricci! The premiere episodes move us into summer, which is a nice change of pace. And things are… a bit fun in these episodes? I can only assume that it will get bleak as fuck again very soon.

Claire has been listening to… 🎧

Kendrick Lamar on repeat. As I wrote last week, the halftime show really hit me in the solar plexus. I’ve never done such a sudden and complete about-face from “I don’t get the appeal” (my reaction when I first listened to “Not Like Us” last summer) to “I’m obsessed.” I vaguely remember thinking his voice was nasally and the song was all over the place – clearly just not for me. I have listened to it approximately 100 times since last week, along with every song from the halftime show setlist, most of which I have down by heart at this point. “Squabble Up” and “TV Off” have been in heavy rotation. I’ve scoured the Genius annotations of the lyrics and watched more than one reaction video to the Super Bowl performance. Now I’m starting to dip into the back catalog, starting with his breakout second album, “good kid, m.A.A.d. city.” Unfortunately it’s so packed with bangers that I can’t make it past track 8 because I keep wanting to start over and hear “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe,” “Backseat Freestyle” and “Money Trees” again.

As I’ve always heard, his lyrics are layered and clever, packed with double and triple meanings, and often very funny; deciphering them really does feel like a poetry class, where close-reading doesn’t mean hunting for theories and Easter eggs, but exploring the possibilities of language and meaning. (Though catching a good Drake burn in there doesn’t hurt.)

It’s been many years since I’ve gotten this fixated on a song or artist, and I can’t help but think my brain is desperately reaching for something that feels good after weeks of focusing on gloomy news reports and ruminating about our foreboding future. But I also haven’t discovered a whole new kind of thing I could love in a really long time. It’s a sort of youthful feeling, that sense of wonder and possibility, although now it’s mingled with the awareness of how middle-aged and cringe it is to be so late to this revelation.

Emma has been listening to… 🎧

Honestly, mostly I’ve been re-listening to podcasts about murder than came out 5+ years ago, like Over My Dead Body season 1 about the 2014 murder of Florida law professor Dan Markel. Not sure what’s up with the particular brand of anxiety I’ve quickly developed during Trump 2.0, but I’m craving the darkly familiar in a ritual sort of way. You know things have gotten bad when you find a murder podcast soothing bedtime listening.

Claire has been buying… 🛍️

Nothing of note this week!

Emma has been buying… 🛍️

Nelle Atelier, my fave petites denim brand, just released their first capsule collection of non-denim items! I got the Gad Jacket in size S, and it is truly the perfect cropped button-up jacket. The proportions are a dream, and it holds its structure thanks to shoulder pads. I’m especially into it buttoned up, though you can also wear it open. (I’ve also been eyeing the Philip Slit Pant. So chic!)

Also, I’ve been buying so much Airborne, in a desperate attempt not to get sick before my wedding. Seems like new viruses pop up every day???

Claire has been making… 🧶

Cold weather staples – one-pot sausage and tomato cavatappi, scallion chicken thighs over rice. Greg has been picking up more of the cooking lately, so I’ve been enjoying lots of meatballs, stir-fries, and burritos, but personally I’ve been so exhausted lately (some combination of constant political anxiety and a lingering cold) that I can’t expend the extra energy to try a new recipe.

Monday was a holiday, and bitterly windy, so both the kids were stuck at home. After our podcast taping, Greg went to run errands while the baby finished his nap, so the preschooler and I glued together some sheets of paper to work on an art project together. At his direction, we tried to draw the city, which included our apartment (“with you and Noah inside because he’s home sick”), Max and his best friend playing inside their school, and a friendly giant moving a house so that the people inside didn’t have to pack their belongings. He went through an extended Jackson Pollock-esque period recently, so it’s kind of mind-blowing to see him suddenly coming up with elaborate scenes, complete with storylines.

Emma has been making… 🧶

I returned to old faithful this week: my favorite spicy tomato-y creamy bean dish. It hits the spot every god damn time.

Also, on Friday Adam and I made the trip to City Hall to get our marriage license! We even made it into Rachel Cho Floral’s Valentine’s Day bouquet TikTok video lol. Shit is getting *very* real around here. 💍

---

If you liked reading this, click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack!

Give us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription