Bits #61
Things to read, watch, listen to, chew over
Happy Sunday! A quick fire culture drop today - which some of you might in fact prefer. Let me know in the Comments if you like a mini or a maxi; I am but your humble lady servant.
Below the paywall: the billionaire TikToker; The Devil Wears Prada 2; Wuthering Heights fever; re-negotiating your news consumption; a teeny tiny notebook of my dreams; the man behind fake anti-immigrant videos in London; revisiting Capote’s In Cold Blood; and understanding the assisted dying bill.
I read this week that Oliver Sacks fabricated his most famous case: the man who mistook his wife for a hat. The absolute Salt Pathery of it!
Apparently, 2026 is the year of fibremaxxing. I think 2026 should be the year that we get rid of double x’s. And brands that do not use vowels. Yes, Syrn, I am looking at you.
I cannot stop watching this video of The National Gallery of Art’s 77-year-old curator Alison Luchs describing a 16th century Florentine sculpture in Gen Z slang: it’s “GOATED”, got “big drip” and “only stacked sigmas like the Medicis”, could afford it. The idea for the videos came from the gallery’s Senior Social Media Manager, Sydney Meyers - get that girl a promotion! - and I love this interview with the two of them, where Myers says that people are now visiting the gallery in Washington D.C. just to meet Luchs.
I was really moved by the black comedy, Sorry, Baby. It’s got the comic quirkiness of an indie flick, but explores sexual assault tenderly and thoughtfully. It’s written, directed by and stars Eva Victor as Agnes, who is stuck - thanks to a traumatic incident when she was a student - until a visit from her best friend, played by Naomi Ackie, brings a moment of reckoning. It’s imbued with sweet melancholy and the two women are wonderful.
I am absolutely hooked on The Devil You Know, a new audio doc from Sarah Marshall (of You’re Wrong About fame) about the Satanic Panic, a conspiracy myth about ritualised child sex abuse which mushroomed across America in the ‘80s. It lasted for a decade, saw 12,000 teachers arrested and resulted in the most expensive criminal case in US history (more than OJ Simpson) against one pre-school. I’m fascinated by conspiracy theories - what they say about our current set of social anxieties - and there’s an episode which feels particularly relevant re: MAHA, on “moral entrepreneurs”.
I came to this clip through Rachel Richardson’s brilliant letter - Melinda French Gates responding to NPR when asked about the recent and horrendous allegations against her ex-husband, Bill Gates, regarding his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. She says as much as she can - you sense she’d like to say a whole lot more - but with great feeling. “I am so pleased to be away from all that muck” she says forcefully. Props also to host Rachel Martin’s clear, sensitive handling.
My sister gave this to my daughter the Christmas before last, but she’s really got into it recently. Mrs Wordsmith’s Storytellers Word a Day comes with a flippable ring binder - and a little nodule to fix it at the back - so it perches perfectly on a desk. I love it as much as she does, and it makes a vg gift.
