The Week In Recommendations 6.21.23

A Taylor Swift album Claire ignored, podcasts about scammy Christians, a magical hair mask, and a must-try hangover cure.

If you live in the New York City area, come hang out with us and see Love To See It LIVE tomorrow night at City Winery! We’ll be recapping an iconic — and hilarious — vintage episode of “The Bachelorette” (season 8, episode 5) with recapper extraordinaire Juliet Litman. Get your tickets here, before they sell out!

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 podcast was about the “Vanderpump Rules” finale and reunions! Next up? The first drop of “And Just Like That” season 2. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!

We’ve been reading…

After weeks of feeling totally unmotivated to read a novel, I finally got into my copy of “Romantic Comedy” by Curtis Sittenfeld. The book follows 30-something comedy writer Sally, who works in the writers room of an “SNL”-like show, who watches the schlubby men in comedy she works with constantly dating famous, powerful, gorgeous women. And then… a famous, powerful, gorgeous man is into Sally! And he’s nice! It feels very signature Sittenfeld: light and fizzy, while sharply exploring the kind of romantic tropes and narratives that women our age have been fed since birth. I do however agree with Scaachi Koul’s NYTimes review, in which she points out that “the book is not a full parody of rom-com wish fulfillment, nor is it steeped in irony about the form. Instead, it lives somewhere in the middle, neither committing to the bit nor criticizing it.” Either way, it’s a fun ride. -Emma

What is reading? Live shows and travel have completely scrambled my brain; I completely understand and relate to and believe in every pop star who has canceled a show or checked into a residential treatment facility for exhaustion. In fact, I can’t understand how any of them are ever not in treatment for exhaustion. We have been out of the city overnight for two (2) nights and I’m a shell. I look forward to being able to focus on word shapes again soon. -Claire

We’ve been watching…

“Flamin’ Hot,” Eva Longoria’s new Hulu flick about Frito-Lay janitor-turned-executive Richard Montañez. It’s a super fun, breezy, American Dream-style watch which addresses head-on the structural racism faced by ambitious Latinos without taking away from the narrative thrill of watching someone’s meteoric rise. I’m always curious to read about the real story behind Hollywood-ified historical events, so I wasn’t all that surprised when I googled around after watching and saw that an LA Times investigation published in 2021 found that Montañez was not in fact that inventor of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos as he (and the movie) have claimed. The rest of his story is real, but its hook is … questionable. I still think “Flamin’ Hot” is worth a watch, but I’d say take its claims with a giant bag of chili-flavored salt. -Emma

Screeners of “And Just Like That…” season 2! It’s dropping Thursday and I finally got my paws on advance screeners so we can do a podcast episode about a show about a woman with a podcast, just like us. Carrie Bradshaw is a podcaster and that’s all I care to talk or think about these days. Also, Che Diaz is still there. Stay tuned! -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

Scammer content! Of different varieties! But both connected to the ways that Christianity has been used to manipulate and exploit people! Really enjoyed A Little Bit Culty’s two-part interview with Tia Levings, one of the IBLP survivors who was featured in “Shiny Happy People,” and the new Maintenance Phase episode about Brittany Dawn, a fitness influencer who pivoted hard to right-wing Evangelical Christian conspiracy-theory influencing after being called out for grifting. -Emma

This is so embarrassing, but do you remember the Taylor Swift album “Lover”? I kind of… missed it. I remember when “ME!” came out and everyone hated it so much that Taylor’s cringiness was a whole discourse, and I remember secretly liking it even though it’s bland digestible pop garbage and so cringe etc. etc., and I remember not really enjoying the other songs I saw being discussed from the album (“You Need to Calm Down,” “London Boy”). And then I guess I didn’t bother to check out the full album. But recently I watched an Instagram reel with a true banger playing over whatever relatable motherhood content was being purveyed to me, and I realized it was a Taylor Swift song I’d NEVER HEARD. That song was “Cruel Summer.” I missed one of her best songs ever because people were talking about “London Boy” instead!!! Come on, people. Anyway, I’ve just been listening to that all week, as well as my other new faves that no one told me about: the cheery, toe-tappy “Paper Rings” and the euphorically melancholy “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” which has one of my favorite TSwift bridges (and that’s a high bar). -Claire

We’ve been buying…

Honestly, we’ve been so overwhelmed with show stuff (it really takes it out of us! I truly fell asleep before 9 twice this weekend!) that I really haven’t bought much fun stuff. Though we did purchase hotel rooms at the Boston Harbor Hotel for our live show, and it was an incredible experience! The views! The service! The extremely fluffy robes! Divine.

Another thing I can recommend full-throatedly though is ZBiotics, a probiotic drink that you down before you drink alcohol which helps prevent hangovers. (According to their marketing materials, it “breaks down an unwanted alcohol byproduct called acetaldehyde.”) I know this sounds like a scam, but I splurged on a 12-pack and gave them out to friends on the night of a wedding I went to recently, and I swear people literally HUGGED ME at the brunch the next morning because they felt so NOT terrible. I’m not a heavy drinker, but I do enjoy a couple cocktails when I’m out to dinner, and at 35 I can easily get a headache that lasts 12 hours from one glass of wine. So these little drinks are a godsend and worth the money to me personally. Pro tip: Split a larger pack with friends to save money. -Emma

A Belly Boost pregnancy support band from Belly Bandit! I know, so glam!!! I’ve been wearing a more traditional Velcro support belt as my bump has grown more unwieldy over the past few months, but now that it’s getting hot, I was hoping for a lighter, more breathable option. It doesn’t look sturdy enough to do much, but this stretchy pull-on beige tube has made walking around tolerable again: it’s not suffocatingly hot, and I don’t feel like my whole body is about to fall apart, uterus first, after a 15-minute walk.

For a less pregnancy-related rec, I tried a sample of the Amika Instant Shine hair mask before the Philly show and was so entranced by my own hair afterward that I splurged on a full-sized bottle. -Claire

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