culture catch-up #2
Vanderpump Rules, Love Is Blind, Traitors, three songs, and what I've been reading lately
Culture Catch-up is a monthly missive in which I empty out whatever pop-culture-related ephemera is rattling around in my brain and share what I’ve been watching, reading, listening to, and eating lately.
True to its name, I felt like I had a lot of culture to catch up on this week. Despite only being gone for eight days, I had a considerable number of episodes waiting for me when I got back. Thankfully, the post-vacation urge to hole up and retreat into my shell is real, which made it a lot easier.
Watching
Vanderpump Rules, Season 11
Four episodes in, and I can’t help but notice the undercurrent of anxiety running through this season. The cast and crew all know there are more eyes on the show than maybe ever before, so the pressure to churn out a memorable season is palpable. (Look close enough, and you can almost see Schwartz buckling underneath it.) Unfortunately, this one feels destined to flop.
I was one of the many who got into the show when Scandoval broke out last year. I watched 10 seasons in the span of a few months and really feel like I got a good handle on who these people are, so I had high expectations for this season. But the vibes are way off. The dynamic between the non-Tom cast members feels forced. Tom has obviously not done any work on himself since the scandal broke out, barring going on another reality show to supposedly atone for his sins. The whole redemption arch the show is pushing seems extremely ill-conceived. I’m not saying that everyone should continue to shit on Tom, nor am I denying that he’s been put through the wringer, but the whole way they’re going about crafting this woe-is-me story as he actively continues to double down on his shitty behavior is just a drag to watch. Hopefully the season finds its legs in the upcoming episodes, but it’s not looking good.
Still, I am grateful for the occasional moments of sheer ridiculousness:
Love Is Blind, Season 6
Whenever a new season of Love Is Blind drops, there’s really only one place I know I have to be: the
LIB Substack chat, and this season is no exception. Where else can I find others who are equally obsessed with the questionable life choices of a motley mix of strangers? These are my people.As for the season itself, I don’t know what it is about this cast, but I can’t seem to find anyone to root for. (Maybe AD and Clay, but even that pairing feels shaky.) But even though I don’t particularly like any of the couples on this cast, that doesn’t mean I don’t find whatever’s going on with Chelsea and Jimmy compelling to watch. I also still need to get to the bottom of why this man spells his name like this:
Traitors
(Spoilers for S02E09)
The Phaedra Supremacy is nearing its end, and as sad as I’ll be to see her go, it feels like it’s time. The moment she asked Kate, just seconds after recruiting her, what their strategy would be, I knew she was done. The woman is tired, and it shows. Traitors is as much about endurance as it is about cunningness, and I’m not sure Phaedra has what it takes to make it all the way to the end without cracking (or at least someone else taking the reins). If she has been banished, I’m glad she didn’t go down without a fight and that she ended her iconic reign by finally putting John and Peter in their place.
Reading
Pauline Kael’s archive (on a Geocities site, no less) - I follow a Pauline Kael bot on Twitter that dispenses fragments of her reviews every two hours. Since I rarely log onto that app nowadays, I’d forgotten about this bot until the other day. Seeing its tweets again inspired me to go through Kael’s archive of impeccably written reviews and reminded me of what a force she was as a writer. Her writing was incredibly astute, unforgiving, and effortlessly funny. She’s the kind of writer I aspire to be, and I’ll be using her reviews as a kind of totem for this newsletter.
“i cannot stop thinking about true detective: cold lesbians” by
- Every time I think I’ve gotten my mental health in check, something, usually innocuous, will set me off and bring me back to square one. When this happens, it’s easy to slip into thoughts of self-loathing. Thoughts like ‘maybe I never really had it together in the first place’ come up. That is, until I remember to give myself grace and remind myself that I’m doing my best. That’s why I really appreciate Samantha Irby’s latest newsletter where she talks about her OCD and struggles to do seemingly mundane things. It’s a topic all too relatable to me, and as a long-time fan of her work, I really appreciate her opening up about this. It makes me feel less alone and reminds me not to be too hard on myself when I have bad days.“Girl blog” by
- A lot to chew on in this critical dissection of the personal essay and where it’s headed. As someone now mining the details of her personal life for this newsletter, Nguyen’s criticism of the genre feels especially pertinent.I also finished Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts and have started re-reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall series. I feel like a completely different person from who I was when I first read it four years ago, so I’m interested in what feelings come up this time and what I’ll walk away with.
Listening
Three songs in heavy rotation:
Ian Sweet - “Sword”
Aside from being a bop, I love the lyric, “My body is a sword, it gets sharper when it gets ignored.”
Land of Talk - “Loving”
When Elizabeth Powell’s voice swells and she sings, “Don’t say you live here, don’t let it get cursed,” just hook it directly to my veins.
Galaxie 500 - “Tugboat”
The kind of song you put on a mix for a crush.
Eating
Sandwiches as per yooj. I made a big batch of pesto early in the week and used it in two sandwiches (and a pasta). I also included some quick pickled onions, kewpie, lots of chopped romaine, seasoned tomatoes, and used good bread.
A Patreon update! Starting March 6, every Wednesday, I’ll be releasing recipes for Project: Veggie Sandwich, in which I’ll be exploring different ways to make satisfying vegetarian sandwiches. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I hope you’ll consider becoming a patron.
As always, thanks for being here. And if you want to support this newsletter, please share it with a friend or two. 💗