😍 Only In Theaters, Darling
On the upcoming 'Don't Worry, Darling,' Olivia Rodrigo stunning at the Met, MLB, and the Supreme Court leak. (Jams by Paramore)
Hi, gang! How’s it going? —
Keeping abortion rights in your thoughts and prayers?
Last week, Politico’s reporting on a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that stands to overturn Roe v. Wade set off a cause bomb on social media. In its wake, I was happy to learn that Illinois, the state in which I live, is one of 16 states (and D.C.) with laws in place to automatically keep abortion legal if Roe is reversed.
👏 👏 (OK, OK, I’ll cool it about tolls.)
It’s at times like these I turn to podcasts for education and analysis. My recs:
Hysteria. Erin Ryan, recently one of my favorite new-mom people, and the great Alyssa Mastromonaco warned they were bent on earning their episode’s Explicative tag. They fucking did.
Sway. Kara Swisher moderates a panel of lawyers, Supreme Court experts, for a thorough dissection of how this happened and what it means.
And now, the meat of this newsletter…
[😍 LOVING] Going Back to the Movies, Darling
During these last two years, it’s been hard to imagine something slowing the movement of theaters becoming a thing of the past, as the theaters themselves dwindled into places of little value and littler variety where you could only see a certain kind of movie. If you wanted to watch the 2022 Oscars (which I didn’t) with some understanding of the nominees (which I hadn’t), you’d have to channel surf (and sign up for a few Free Trials).
But wait! Is the time coming when we start going to the movies again, when movies of critical significance return? Is Don’t Worry, Darling the movie that gets us there?
If you’re asking me, which you are, yes.
Let me trace for you my degree of interest in this movie, from the beginning:
Florence Pugh is announced in the leading role. (April 2020) 🔥
Director Olivia Wilde describes to Vogue how the film will make audiences realize “how rarely they see female hunger, and specifically this type of female pleasure.” (December 2021) 🔥 🔥
Wilde is served with custody papers while on stage presenting the first trailer exclusively to CinemaCon. (Last month) 🔥 🔥 🔥
That first trailer is released wide. (This month) 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
So, two things about this trailer: The overhead/wraparound sex scene Wilde particularly describes to Vogue is almost certainly previewed in the 2-second clip at the 2:04 mark, but perhaps the most breathtaking moment in the trailer comes at 2:47 when a certain combination of words, appearing at the end of a teaser for this type of movie for the first time in what feels like forever, pop into focus.
Only in theaters.
[🤔 THINKING] Not Today, San Diego Studios
Been watching a lot of TheAntOrtiz’s gamer videos on YouTube lately. He plays a lot of the baseball title MLB The Show, a sports sim I find particularly seductive. In The Show, the weather is idyllic, gameplay is slow, methodical—borderline therapeutic—and the franchise mode is comprehensive and authentic. (That’s my holy trinity!)
The setup for Ant’s videos, uploaded sometimes multiple times a week, accentuates the game’s appeal to me. He embarks on full franchise rebuilds, taking control of an organization from majors to minors which the game enables you to do. This kind of quest has always been my bread and butter as a sports gamer growing up, coming of age with NCAA in one hand (#iykyk) and FIFA in the other. So, of course I’m drawn to his sims. I’m constantly pursuing the worst-to-first underdog story. Who’s the hapless club that needs a smart decision maker in the room? Give me the controls, I’ll call the shots and play the games; let’s see where I can take us.
There’s just one problem: In The Show, it really is all just a big fantasy. The short-term entertainment of the gameplay has a limit, before you need long-term achievements within the quest to justify your time and effort. We are talking about BASEBALL after all. Before long, those 9-inning, every pitch/every swing, games really do start to feel like forever, also because there’s another one of them the next calendar day. You’re playing a real-life baseball schedule, so you’re starting a new game in The Show 162 times before you make it out of even one season. How are you supposed to see that franchise through?
You can’t.
Compared to FIFA and NCAA, The Show requires so much more time—the single games are longer to finish and there are so many more of them. (I have a baby! And before that, a wife! And even before that, I had … school!) The Show is unplayable because its quest, while alluring, is impossible.
I realize this is a me problem. Ant simulates through a bunch of games. I, wanting that control, cannot stand the thought of any of my season’s results being captured through simulation. If my scrappy left-handed pitcher is going to go 13-12 on the season, I want to be 100 percent responsible for it. It’ll drive me crazy, but it’ll be real.
So, The Show is not a game for me. There are other ways of playing it, sure. Its Road to the Show story mode is interesting, but I never tried it (back when I was still buying the game). Besides, there are several more YouTubers uploading their own RTTSs.
This has been more of a Note To Self than anything, but that’s my review.
[🎧 JAMMING] Paramore
Find me a lead singer who has more fun that Hayley Williams.
[🤯 MIND BLOWING] Olivia at the Met Gala
Dead 💀.
Thank you for reading again this week! If you liked this particular collection of mess, please consider telling someone about it.
Since I started typing, the iPod was discontinued, FIFA took its name off of the video game, and crypto crashed (which is really bad for El Salvador). There’s always something new for next week!
Take care.