There are some losses that feel strangely personal, even when you never knew the person. Dolly Parton is one of those for me. My mom loved country music, and we listened to Dolly together all the time. She was funny, wildly gifted, unapologetically herself, said it like she […]
Apparently, there is a new definition of creative control. Pay for the entire television series, cast yourself as the leading lady, personally select your leading man and then insist on more than 60 kissing scenes. Yes. Sixty. A recent Chinese short-drama production reportedly became so kiss-heavy that the […]
I wanted a quick getaway. Somewhere I could hop on a direct flight, fly for about six hours, and suddenly find myself somewhere that felt very far away. And voilà: Ireland. I booked the entire trip exactly one week before I left. Apparently, this is what we’re calling […]
There’s a Dostoevsky-adjacent line that has followed me from job to job, like a slightly unhinged little companion: “they insulted me in seventy lines and only the spelling mistakes bothered me.” It shouldn’t resonate as much as it does. And yet. Because here’s the thing about being a […]
There was a time—not ancient history, just pre-everything-needs-a-passwordwhen you could simply exist in public without downloading something first. I remember writing about this years ago after watching a Sesame Street skit that cheerfully predicted a world of apps for everything. It felt cute. Playful. Slightly absurd. Well. Joke’s […]
Somewhere along the way, modern life sold us a very seductive lie. More choices supposedly means better life. More jeans, more shows, more people, more everything. Somewhere out there is the perfect pair of jeans, the ideal tuesday night Netflix binge, and obviously your one and only soulmate […]
I went to the movie theater for the first time in a year. This already being a heroic act. Not quite slaying a cyclops, but emotionally adjacent. I’d been avoiding it, irrationally intimidated by the runtime. Three hours? I barely commit to a group text. And yet there […]
There are moments in life that reveal who we really are. Big moments. Defining moments. Character-building moments. And then there are cockroach-on-your-shoulder-during-a-live-report moments. I recently watched Rachel Menitoff ( a KTLA news reporter) do the unthinkable. A cockroach landed on her mid-report and she just kept going. No […]
Is a little chaos actually good for us? I have a theory. A little chaos is good for us. Not the kind of chaos that destroys everything. Not the “hide your passport and call your lawyer” kind of chaos. I mean the kind that throws your back against […]
What villain actually had a good point? I’ve been thinking lately about villains. A lot. I’ve been binging on true documentaries as if they were dumplings (which I cannot get enough of, seriously). Here’s the thing. Not the cartoonish, twirl-the-mustache, burn-it-all-down types. Not the ones who are evil […]
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