Apologies for Tuesday’s no show! I have a lot of work things happening at the same time. As ever with Friday’s letter, there are some nibbles up top for free, but the juiciest recs are below the paywall. Today that includes fantastic journalism, interviews, poetry and a podcast that thrilled me. If you can afford to upgrade your subscription, I would be delighted (it’s the only way this show stays on the yellow brick road.) If you’re unemployed, e-mail me and I’ll comp you.
It is with heavy heart that I must quit the Lively/ Baldoni circus. The coup de grace was an interview with a Gossip Girl extra about Blake Lively’s excessive wind on set 15 years ago. If flatulence were a crime, many of us would be doing time (is that a haiku?)
I quit the second series of Squid Game before the credits closed on the first episode. The violence that was once so impactful, somehow felt tedious the second time round. The coolest thing Phoebe Waller-Bridge did was end Fleabag when people were gasping for more. I wish streamers would stop eking out shows that work best as one limited series
This cushion is a rude reminder. I sent a picture of it to Ochuko — and then turned another page of my book
I just discovered Plus Plus and now my whole family’s obsessed. Takes up a tiny amount of space and it’s educational? Stop flirting with me
Marianne Faithfull’s life in pictures is gorgeous — I hope someone makes a book. (They will.) A visual emblem of the swinging sixties, I remember discovering the singer and actor’s style in my early 20s, and setting out on a quest (ongoing) to collect vintage velvet mini dresses and blazers
Speaking of iconic fashion, I’m so enjoying Eddie Redmayne’s wardrobe in the vg reboot of Day of the Jackal, which appears to have been looted wholesale from Hermès and which I have seen described, not in jest, as “contemporary espionage fashion”. Great thought was apparently put into the jackal’s watches, but I dgaf about watches (or cars), I just want the olive green cashmere shirt. My one gripe is with the neckerchiefs. Too fussy for a busy killer
Every so often this 1970 Vogue diet, ‘Wine and Eggs’, goes viral. It makes me laugh every time. I imagine the constipatory effect of the eggs is liberated by the laxative effect of the wine — but I hate eggs, so I’ll never know
