Florida!!!
Musings on 'Tortured Poets,' 'Civil War,' and going blonde for summer.
Earlier this week I walked towards Sephora to make my final sale purchase. It was 80 degrees and sunny and I thought, this is mid-season Sex and the City weather, hallelujah! Now I’m in Florida(!!!), where it’s in the high 80s and humid, so I’m sheltering in my mother’s air conditioning and Door Dashing Chili’s. I had something called a “Triple Dipper” for lunch yesterday and saw the face of God.
The Tortured Poets Department
Can someone lock her out of the studio already? I’m so bored. It’s not that she’s not talented, there are some really good songs on this album and some devastating lines (“I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free” is the only good thing about “So Long, London,” a disappointing entry into the Track 5 canon). But is it necessary? Why not wait until you have something truly fresh and exciting to say and a new, interesting way to say it before putting more art out into the world? I am famously not a Swiftie, but I do generally love her music. I don’t care about the context surrounding it, and this album feels especially primed for close reading that I simply will not be participating in. I’d almost rather it be actively bad than mostly meh. But hear this: Florence Welch, you will always be famous. “Florida!!!” is the best song on the album, primarily because it should have been on a Florence + The Machine album. I also enjoyed “Fortnight,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” and I think the back half is far superior to the front. I have not listened to the second album yet (Jesus!) but I’m sure it’s just as overwritten and overproduced.
Civil War
We see the world’s horrors at such a distance and this film brings you right to the front lines with the people who put themselves in harm’s way to ensure those stories are told. Alex Garland’s Civil War is incredibly visceral. I felt in my gut, in my chest. The sound design left my ears ringing in moments of explosive chaos and hollow silence. All the performances were startling, particularly Kirsten Dunst (mother, obviously) and Cailee Spaney (who I was very unimpressed by in Priscilla). I didn’t care about the how and the why of the civil war depicted in Civil War—I live in 2024 America, and it’s pretty easy to see how its various factions could so brutally tear this country apart. How the war started didn’t matter, the war mattered. The ugliness of humanity, our willingness to tear each other violently apart, the way our empathy is slowly eroded into apathy. Civil War is a horror movie, but a startlingly believable one.
Drag Race
Team Sapphira, I guess? I wouldn’t mind if Plane Jane won, I’ve warmed up to her a lot over the season and she is pretty sickening, but she does feel more like a queen who comes back and wins All Stars. I’m surprised more people from this season haven’t come out as trans, it does feel a bit like we’ve circled back around to the queens calling each other bricks, which is fun. Bring back You’ve Got She-Mail!
Dua Lipa
Famously the only hot pop star we have left, but I can finally admit I’m disappointed with this album cycle. Not only because I was convinced to dye my hair an unflattering shade of red that’s taking forever to fade, but it feels like something’s missing. The music is all good, sure. The looks are fierce. She’s dancing, she’s hovering in midair, she’s paying homage to Kylie. But it all feels a bit forced. She seems…tired, which is incredible considering she’s always on vacation. I’m withholding final judgment until we get the full album…but you in danger, girl.
The First Omen
Between this and Immaculate, we are living in a new golden age of nunsploitation. I loved most of this movie. It was very much giving Suspiria with nuns, the look and feel was straight out of the 70s, and I loved the lead actress (especially her Possession homage). But it was ruined by its Marvel-ass final scene, where they literally could have just said “Damian will return in…The Omen.” Bitch, we know!
Me Being Blonde Again
Should I? I’m over red for the moment and feeling a grown-out balayage moments for summer. Thoughts?
yes to blonde!!!
do a honey blonde! soft and demure.