This week:
- The DNC moment I won’t soon forget.
- Is there hope for Bennifer?
- My favorite interview of the week.
- The most relatable video of the week.
- Can I just say something…?
Give It Another Shot!
Never in my life have I been so emotionally invested in the love story of two people who seem to miserably hate each other.
And yet! Here I am, mourning the death of true, absolutely unpleasant-seeming love. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, I was rooting for you.
There are few guilty pleasures in life more worth indulging in than investing delusionally in celebrity relationships. Do they ever work out? Of course not! My own relationships with perfectly normal people never work out. Why would expect it to once millions of dollars, international careers, and paparazzi are introduced to the mix?
Yet here I am, pondering whose at fault and who could have saved things in the Second Coming of the J.Lo/Affleck relationship, as if I know these people.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck
GiphyWhat I will say is this: There was something intoxicating about two people who we saw 20 years ago be the victims of vulture tabloids rekindling a romance decades later, with more wisdom and perspective of that love. Through their extreme celebrity, they delivered an intimate, relatable lesson: Maybe we all, too, can grow. I may be old and extremely gay now, but it made me think that there’s hope yet still for me and Ashley M., my first grade girlfriend.
As a bitter, single person (who very much wants a husband; DM me!), I’m fascinated by this idea of revisiting a relationship every 20 years. Of all the things that celebrities do that seem absolutely crazy to me, this actually seems remarkably healthy. Sure, it may not work out, as J.Lo and Ben proved. But what a fascinating, strange exercise it must be to not just revisit your love, but look at a reflection of yourself through a partner’s eyes and see how you’ve changed over the years.
One of the most viral responses to the big breakup was to root for Lopez and Affleck to get married again in another 20 years. At first I thought it was silly. Now I think it’s genius.
The Best Late-Night Moment of the Week
No one makes RuPaul laugh more than RuPaul himself. If you’re a Drag Race fan, you know exactly what I mean.
That’s why I’m so entranced by this clip of RuPaul interviewing Maya Rudolph while he guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Throughout most of the interview, Rudolph is trying to express how much RuPaul’s trailblazing career has meant to her. He has another agenda.
Specifically, he just wants to gab about Rudolph’s late mother, the singer Minnie Ripperton. His recreation of her iconic vocal run—and laughter after—gave me enough serotonin to last a year.
The Most Relatable Video
I don’t watch, have never watched, and don’t plan to watch Big Brother. But this clip of a contestant having a full-on breakdown because someone ate off her charcuterie board without asking may be the most relatable thing I’ve ever seen depicted in reality television.
I Have to Confess
Is this a safe space? Can I admit that I watched the new episodes of Emily in Paris and thought they were legitimately great? [Retreats to his bunker]
Lily Collins
GiphyMore From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed
Chick-fil-A has a streaming service? Here’s what should be on it. Read more.
As sweat flooded from every pore of my body on the hottest day of the year, I interviewed Real Housewife Heather Dubrow. Read more.
How Bad Monkey became the surprise best comedy of the summer. Read more.
What to watch this week:
Pachinko: “There’s nothing good on TV anymore.” Friends, watch this. (Now on Apple TV+)
Strange Darling: They’re finally making good erotic thrillers again. (Now in theaters)
Only Murders in the Building: As if the new season wasn’t going to be good… (Tues. on Hulu)
What to skip this week:
The Killer: You’d think a director remaking his own film would make it better… (Now on Peacock)
The Crow: It so desperately wants to be Joker, you should just watch Joker instead. (Now in theaters)
