06/03/22
This week: Summer reads, some truly excellent TV, and a Jane Austen adaptation to kick off your PRIDE month right.
TRENDS THIS WEEK:
Youtube Doja Cat - Vegas
Letterboxd EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
TikTok #Multiverse
Spotify As It Was - Harry Styles
Netflix STRANGER THINGS
Twitter pride
Shopify It’s Been A Week
Life & Culture
It’s the top of June and I’m happy to report that TOP GUN: MAVERICK has already made it to summer blockbuster territory and is 100% cashing any and all checks its ̶e̶g̶o̶ high expectations have been writing. Sorry, I had to. But if you haven’t seen it yet, you can read my colleague Neal’s excellent rec here. Last weekend, the sequel saw the best Memorial Day opening of all time at the domestic box office with $160.5M. And on Wednesday, it beat the original 1986 movie’s lifetime domestic total of $180.258M (although, in fairness, this film opened in 4,732 North American theaters versus the 1,028 theaters the original opened in).
At a moment when good news is sparse in the crypto space, I’ve got some good news for any crypto investors who enjoy a cheap burrito bowl. Chipotle is now accepting Bitcoin and other digital currencies. It’s using the platform Flexa, and customers can use their digital wallets that work with the platform in order to scan a barcode and pay for their meal. While Chipotle is introducing this at all of its US restaurants–almost 3,000—it’s still pretty unique for restaurants to take crypto as payment. But that could start to change soon, as according to a survey by Technomic, in the next two years, 4% of restaurants are expected to accept crypto-based payments.
As the highly publicized Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard defamation trial came to an end this week, this Instagram post provided me with a way to contextualize a moment like this in the #metoo movement as a whole. Taranna Burke had some strong words for the people declaring that the movement is dead—and I highly encourage anyone thinking the same to read closely.
This year’s national spelling bee ended in a pretty cinematic way that the tournament had never seen before: a spell-off. Yes, you read that correctly. This required Vikram Raju and Harini Logan, the final two contestants, to spell as many words as possible correctly in 90 seconds. Whoever spelled more (correctly), won. Clocking in at 22 words over Vikram’s 15, Harini claimed this year’s title. Personally, after reading about all of this spelling bee intensity, I’m now thinking about rewatching AKEELAH AND THE BEE.
And finally, this week’s wholesome video to get your weekend started right comes from my mom, with a really sweet video of a sloth reunited with her missing baby. I also loved this video of a woman absolutely in her element at a silent disco. May we all channel that energy this fine Friday—and all summer long.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Film
If you’re looking for a cute, low-key movie to kick off pride month this weekend, FIRE ISLAND (trailer here) is here for you. From acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Ahn, the director behind indie breakouts SPA NIGHT (Sundance 2016) and DRIVEWAYS (Berlinale 2019), FIRE ISLAND is a loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, following a tightknit group of gays vacationing on the infamous queer haven off the southern shore of Long Island. As they navigate the thorny social stratifications and problematic fault lines within the gay circuit scene, they reach new realizations about love and friendship.
Written by and starring Joel Kim Booster, FIRE ISLAND was originally conceived as a Quibi series titled TRIP until the company's inevitable downfall in December 2020, when the project was put in turnaround. In June 2021, Searchlight bought Kim Booster’s script to produce as a Hulu original feature film. Ahn’s intimate direction doesn’t quite gel with the broad, declarative comedy of Booster’s script, and the palpable lack of romantic chemistry between cast members makes for some decidedly imperceptible stakes. But even if the film doesn’t dig as deep as you’d want it to (or put the incredible Bowen Yang front and center, whose character Howie’s journey is far more interesting to follow than the rest), the thematic underpinnings at play—the fear of being “terminally alone,” struggling to find your place within an allegedly one-size-fits-all “community,” the toxic racism and body-shaming that run rampant in the gay circuit scene—gesture toward a more truthful kind of queer film existing in the mainstream. And for that, I’m grateful.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
TV
As of this week, OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH (trailer here) is officially picked up for a second season! This show was such a palette cleanser for me. It’s a light-hearted comedy set against the backdrop of the 1700s (when being a pirate was “hip” apparently). The main character Stede Bonnet is essentially the Leslie Knope of the pirate world—he believes a little too hard in his ragtag crew of rejects, and they pillage only the minimum needed to keep the ship going. Everything changes when Blackbeard, the most gruesome and unforgiving pirate in the world, takes a liking to Stede and his more refined, aristocratic behaviors. The show follows the two as they learn more about one another’s lives. Drama and mystery of course unfolds between the crew and the people they meet at each stop, and you get to know each character deeply as they navigate each increasingly bizarre situation. Though there are serious moments, the humor is what makes the show so refreshing. It’s almost like a workplace comedy if the workplace was…the high seas.
–Victoria Moniz, Development Intern
Book
Described as WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI meets SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA, THE HENNA WARS is a young adult romantic comedy about two teenage girls who create rival henna businesses for a school competition—and in the process, begin falling for one another. Listed as one of TIME’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time, author Adiba Jaigirdar’s debut novel features a refreshingly honest and layered portrayal of a Bangladeshi-Irish girl living in Dublin who comes out as lesbian. Jaigirdar has since gone on to write more coming-of-age books that deal with similar themes of racism, homophobia, and islamophobia, filling a strong audience need for more representative and honest stories about LBGTQ characters. This is a fun, insightful read that continues to feel fresh a few years after its publication. Highly recommend for your next beach read!
—Nimarta Narang, Digital Fellow
FROM THE VAULT
THE BLACK FLAMINGO, by Dean Atta, is one of the most heartwarming coming-of-age stories I’ve read in a long time. Loosely based on the author’s own life and written in verse, the novel introduces us to Michael, a gay, mixed-race teen living in London, on his journey to embrace his identity. As he struggles to figure out where he belongs, he joins his campus’ Drag Society and thus his persona, The Black Flamingo, is born. I loved reading about a life so different from my own, told with incredible honesty and vulnerability. Atta is deftly able to pull from his own experiences to portray Michael’s intersecting values and multifaceted identities. Through this lens, we’re able to explore the complicated layers that make Michael who he is, and push us to make these same considerations about who we are.
—Marisa Harris, Executive Assistant
