The Week In Recommendations 6.25.25

"The Ultimatum" returns, a generational change election, mineral sunscreens and summer linens.

Civic challenge of the week:

Get involved in your local politics! If New York City’s mayoral race is any indication, people are ready for, as friend and TIME reporter Charlotte Alter put it, “generational change.”

Claire has been reading… 📖

Mostly just our own notes for the Love To See It live show, and our own notes for “Love Island” coverage, and our own notes for “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” coverage (coming this week!). We’ve been deep in the kind of 24/7 grind that leads you to lose touch with the outside world, which is particularly weird these days. More than once I’ve surfaced at 11 pm, finally checked the Internet, and found out that earth-shattering news had broken while I was fine-tuning a script.

I did find time to read this Albert Burneko banger on Kevin Roose, which added a new level of understanding to my rage at the AI pushers in mainstream media. Burneko’s diagnosis — that Roose, among others, is singing the praises of AI because he wants to be on the side of society’s winners — has a lot of explanatory value. It also makes sense that picking and backing winners, rather than fighting for the ones that align with our values, would be an ascendant attitude in a society built on sports betting, meme coins, MLMs, and career coaches who can only coach you into building your own career in career coaching. It’s all about making sure you’re getting yours.

Next week we’ll finally be post-show and taking vacations (as much as we can without interrupting the flow of “Love Island” coverage), so I’m ready to crack open a book again. Watch this space!

Emma has been reading… 📖

Besides many, many, many memes about “Love Island”? Not a whole lot! However, I did find M. Gessen’s recent NYTimes op-ed, which examined the (in my opinion false) charges of antisemitism against Zohran Mamdani, to be a very interesting read. Readers of this newsletter may be able to tell that I have a visceral discomfort with wading too deeply into the quagmire of antisemitism — which is very, very real and rising! — post-October 7th. However, it’s been frustrating to watch how many bad faith actors have wielded (or dismissed!) these fears on both the right and left. This has been front and center in the discourse leading up to the mayoral primary, and I’ve found it frankly difficult to wade through all of the misinformation floating around.

Claire has been watching… 📺

“The Ultimatum: Queer Love” season 2, which is finally here! Like the first season of “TUQL,” this season has it all and then some: romance, heartbreak, surprising redemption arcs, shocking heel turns, inspiring growth, and alarming toxicity.

We also rewatched “Pretty Woman” for a new episode of Love to See It with Josh Gondelman, which was an absolute blast. We got into whether the film has panache, fairy-tale mashups, the Donald Trump archetype, the romance of capitalism and consumption, and the movie’s muddled politics around sex work. (And early ‘90s fashion, natch.)

Emma has been watching… 📺

Like Claire, most of my time has been taken up by watching season 7 of “Love Island USA” and season 2 of “The Ultimatum: Queer Love.” We’ve been taping our recaps of “Queer Love” ahead of the season dropping, and wowwwwww is this season full of drama, intrigue, and sticky relationship dynamics. I think this text I sent Claire really sums it up:

I’ve also been catching up on “The Valley” in bits and pieces. Jax Taylor is out of rehab, and — shocker! — he’s no better, and perhaps even worse, than he was when he went in! Frankly, I think it may be time for Bravo to give this guy the heave ho.

Claire has been listening to… 🎧

Strict Scrutiny and 5-4 have been keeping me filled in on Supreme Court shenanigans, which is necessary, as otherwise I think I would be too overwhelmed to add that to my list of political news to stay on top of.

And, in lighter news, Bachelor in Retrospect has FINALLY started Bob Guiney’s season, which I feel they’ve been teasing me with for months now. At last, a podcast that dares to ask… was Bob Guiney even funny?

Emma has been listening to… 🎧

If Books Could Kill’s two-parter on “In Covid’s Wake,” a book that is attempting to rewrite Covid history and conclude… that we should have done almost nothing and just let the virus rip? Very cool stuff! I would listen to literally anything that Michael and Peter put out, but these episodes are especially great.

Claire has been buying… 🛍️

Sunscreen to ward off the sunbeams! We’ve entered the stretch of the year when a whole-body rubdown with sunscreen is necessary not just for extended outside time, but for any activity that might expose you to the cruel rays of the sun. You know, like a five-minute walk to school at 8:30 am, or sitting near a window. After applying mineral sunscreens to every exposed inch of skin on myself and 1-2 wriggling children every morning from June to August for the past five years, I have developed a few opinions!

This summer I stocked up on Think Kids mineral sunscreen, which is zinc-based but sinks in without too much grease or white cast, and Blue Lizard kids SPF 50, an Australian brand that also goes on smoothly. It also comes with a lid that turns purple in dangerous UV light to warn you to put on sunscreen, which is nice if you want to be assured that you’re doing the right thing. I use these both for the whole family, but especially the kids.

As I have said before, I am obsessed with Merit’s the Uniform tinted sunscreen and wear it every day. I carry the Supergoop sunscreen powder brush with me everywhere for face touchups and dusting my hair part.

I’ve also been trying out FRÉ mineral sunscreen for my neck, chest and shoulders, after I was kindly gifted a bottle, and so far I love it — it’s the least greasy body sunscreen I’ve ever used, and since I loathe putting on a floaty sundress and then covering my neck and arms with an oily film, this is Very Important to me. (You can use code CLAIREFALLON if you want to try with a discount!)

Emma has been buying… 🛍️

The Reformation tanks that I mentioned in last week’s newsletter arrived, and they are, indeed, FABULOUS. Truly want the Calie Tank in every single color. I wore the heather gray one paired with a significantly fancier Cara Cara maxi skirt to a wedding brunch for my friends Kyle and Jove, and I absolutely loved the contrast. Plus, I think the tanks will be excellent with jeans and shorts. Will probably go back for the black version.

Also, my absolute fave Nelle Atelier launched a little linen capsule collection! I’m a live-in-linen girlie during the summer, so I have a pair of the Tommy Linen Pants in chocolate en route to me. But honestly, want every single piece.

Claire has been making… 🧶

Family smoothies! In this house, summer means puréed fruit and yogurt. My kids eat so much fruit that I have found myself bypassing the clamshells of berries in the fridge when it’s my turn to eat — the strawberries are for the children, and how would I feel if they wanted a sweet berry and I had taken it for myself?? — so it’s nice to find a way to convince myself I’m allowed to partake. I keep a big bag of frozen mixed berries in the freezer, dump a cup into the blender along with healthy dollops of Greek yogurt and peanut butter, toss in a banana and a handful of spinach, and add enough juice to bring it all together. My kids are way too good at sussing out the presence of leafy green food particles, so I have to leave out the spinach when they’re involved. (This is the one thing I make that I have never used a recipe for, so results do vary a bit, but it’s hard to go wrong with these ingredients.)

Emma has been making… 🧶

The (short) trip to the polls to vote in NYC’s mayoral election. These days it can feel like there’s nothing we have control over, as our nation descends into a terrifying fascism I grew up hearing my grandparents warn about. But voting in our local elections is one way that we can have our voices heard. And against all odds — and a shit ton of money poured in from pro-Cuomo forces — voters decisively chose change.

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