helenamonster

Beck will definitely be missed--he was deceptively versatile. Not surprised about Lauren, but I do feel bad. She was brought on to replace Aidy who has now outlasted her, she really did get screwed. But being a one-and-done on SNL is by no means a career death sentence--hoping she's able to land on her feet and thrive elsewhere. Of the announced new people, I know James Austin Johnson from his Twitter presence. As with last year, here's hoping they're able to elbow their way into some good bits amongst the biggest cast in the show's history.

Original airdate: 9/27/21

Original airdate: 9/27/21

I really didn't know a lot about Matt Drudge as a person, but am not surprised to learn that he's one of those guys that thinks wearing a hat is the same thing as having a personality. The AOL tone is as soothing as a lullaby. I miss it so much. Linda really was one of those people that would be all "I don't want to get involved, but" that I absolutely can't stand. That combined with her inflated sense of self-importance is extremely off-putting. Did she really not understand why people didn't like her? Crazy how many personalities got their boost from this. Coulter, Conway, Ingraham...ghouls all the way down. I don't see Drudge being portrayed as righteous, but he was right about one (very big) thing: what news would look like in the age of the internet. The Lewinsky scandal was one of the first (perhaps the first?) major stories to break exclusively online, and I can see how people who'd worked for news outlets that had been around for decades didn't see that coming. They were these huge institutions staffed entirely of people with journalism degrees from elite schools, who had fact checkers and sources and access that your regular Joe Blow Nobody with a dial-up connection would never get, so how could they beat them to a reliable scoop? 20+ years later and traditional journalism is still very much behind the eight ball when it comes to news that originates from the internet. It is kind of interesting that Drudge peaked with the Lewinsky thing and then failed to maintain a prominent presence, despite pioneering the space. Apparently The Drudge Report is still a functioning website, but I never see it referenced, even as a point of mockery--it's completely irrelevant as other sites have surpassed it. However, thanks to some of the context provided here about his pre-Web 2.0 presence in Usenet groups and such (very interesting, by the way!), he seems like he was just a guy that was in the right place at the right time but didn't have the smarts to capitalize on it. Even just spamming groups with links to other sites was precursor to the content farms we see now, and he's still a one-hit wonder. I won't pretend to be disappointed. Coulter I think is tougher because she's played by Cobie Smulders, a talented actress who can't help but be witty and charming, two things the real Coulter will never be. But I think to counterbalance that the show is making an effort to stress that Coulter and her "elves" don't actually care about any wrongs Clinton may have done anybody, they are in it for the political advantage and nothing else.

I definitely had a few friends like Monica in my early 20s. I can't say I ever exhibited any similar behaviors myself (not because I'm above them, just because there wasn't anybody in my life at the time to inspire them), but I have spent long hours trying to talk friends down from similar situations. The only difference is that the people they were into were relatively inconsequential and not, you know, the President. It was also much easier for them to keep tabs on the object of their affection with social media and living locally. Monica couldn't even call him herself, had to stay at home to wait for him to call as she didn't have a cell phone, and doing that whole "look at us spontaneously and organically meeting here, I definitely am not stalking you!" thing meant crossing state lines with his busy schedule. The thing is, per this episode, it did seem like she was learning a lesson that a lot of people her age have to learn: he's just not that into you, and you're acting like a crazy person. She seemed ready to put it behind her and get on with her life. And I think if Linda hadn't been whispering in her ear to just hang in there, she probably would have. When the girl from Portland came to visit her, I was so glad to see it seemed like she had a real friend who was telling her the home truths she needed to her, but it didn't seem like she had anybody in DC to be that person, and it was harder to stay in touch with people long distance than it is now, even though it wasn't really that long ago (it wasn't, ok?????). I do think the insecurity about her physical appearance also played a part as well. I think she was cute back then (and still is now) but she did not fit the mould of what was considered conventionally attractive in the late '90s (thin, preferably blonde). She took the attention where she could get it. Also, from the interviews I've seen of Monica over the years, she seems more than willing to take responsibility for her part in this. She was young, but not a child. He was the president, but it was consensual on her end, though of course that crazy power imbalance does complicate things. But I've never heard her mention being afraid of losing her job or getting blackballed for not being receptive to his advances, which happens to a lot of people who get hit on by their boss. She fucked up in the way a lot of people do, but the stakes were just so much higher for her. She seems to be in a better, more stable place now, and honestly good for her. Annaleigh Ashford really is wonderful. "The Supreme Court allows people to kill their children." "Oh my gosh, no way!" I snorted. And I'm always happy to see Judith Light, and eager for her to lean more into comedy/camp for this season (in Versace she was obviously doing much more dramatic work, but of course killing it). Cobie as Ann Coulter is also inspired. The way she just spits her lines out like that is transcendent. Woman is mean to her bones. I would watch an entire separate series about Linda's cubiclemate. Is she a real person? Where is she now? I'm obsessed.

Original airdate: 9/24/21

Does she still go by Kardashian-West? I thought they were in the middle of a nasty divorce.

Yep, skipping 10/9. Her cultural relevance has fallen significantly in the last few years, no? So far I'm most excited about a musical guest--Kacey Musgraves, who this show introduced me to and who I now adore.

Original airdate: 9/21/21

Original airdate: 9/20/21

Original airdate: 9/17/21

Original airdate: 9/20/21

Original airdate: 9/10/21

So excited for the return of Wigs: The Anthology Series. Also count me as somebody too young to remember when all this happened, so I'm definitely fuzzy on the less prominent personalities. The episode was definitely all over the place, but a lot had to get established. While Monica was the lynchpin that launched the whole thing into the stratosphere, there were a lot of other elements at play. I'm happy for her that she gets to tell her story in this way. She seems really cool and completely accepting of this part of her life. If I am ever even a fraction of at peace with myself and my choices as she is with hers, I'll be happy. Beanie may not be a ringer for Monica but she's definitely got the right energy. Young, endearingly naive, and pretty in a less obvious way. Annaleigh Ashford is also already doing great work as Paula Jones. Of all the characters we've "met" so far, I think that's the toughest needle to thread and she's knocking it out of the park. The rest of the cast, I'm itching to play musical chairs with. Put Margot Martindale as Linda, Sarah Paulson as Hillary, and Edie Falco...as a Carmela clip from an episode of The Sopranos that somebody will eventually be watching to clue us in that it's 1999. I love her dearly but that might be the most bizarre casting choice of them all.

Original airdate: 9/7/21

Just finished: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, a retelling of the Iliad from Patroclus's perspective. I've never read the Iliad (and my knowledge of Greek mythology in general is fairly basic), but I enjoyed it well enough. The writing style is evocative and totally fitting of the epic scale of the story. I won't spoil the main conceit (while plenty of reviews do, the official description of the book doesn't), but I find it interesting that this is the second book I have read recently (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo being the other) that Next up: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Original airdate: 9/5/21

Original airdate: 9/3/21

Original airdate: 8/29/21

Original airdate: 8/27/21

I think I projected too much of what I though this show was going to be onto it and that influenced my disappointment with the finale, but a lot of those expectations were based on this being a limited series. There's a lot I like about it though, and I'm hoping a second season can give us a better idea of the bigger picture. I was pleasantly surprised with the ways they were able to keep using the format switch to their advantage, and am definitely looking forward to see what else they can do with that.

Just finished: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, which is a pretty huge departure from what I normally go for. I don't read a lot of fantasy, and usually find high-fantasy doorstoppers like this one way too intimidating (I read it on my Kindle, but I believe the print version is over 1,000 pages). However, I really found myself enjoying it. I loved the worldbuilding, especially the "interludes" that visited random, unrelated characters in other parts of Roshar to give the reader a better idea of all the different cultures that made up this civilization. Again, I say this as somebody who doesn't have a large fantasy reference pool, but it kind of reminded me a little of Pokemon, the way each region is known for something and has its own customs and hierarchies. I would have liked to spend more time in the Purelake--I love the idea of the people there always wanting to be in the water so they let the floors of their homes take in a few inches. With all the different perspectives and interlocking story arcs, it was also fun to realize what different characters were learning without it having to be spelled out. Despite the lengthy descriptions and some repetition, I never felt like I was being handheld through the "rules" of this world and was given the space to figure it out on my own. I plan to get to the sequels eventually, but I do need a bit of a break. Next up: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Original airdate: 8/25/21

Original airdate: 8/24/21

Original airdate: 8/22/21