Dear Gossips,
Today is Mid-Autumn Festival or Harvest Moon Festival, one of the most important holidays of the lunar calendar, which is commonly observed in East Asia, and known in Chinese culture as Chinese Thanksgiving. This is why you may have seen moon cakes everywhere. I don’t love a moon cake but I have always loved Mid-Autumn Festival. I always associate it with my ma. She’s the one who told me the legend of Angel and Hero and how Mid-Autumn Festival came to be.
This is how it is in many cultures, non? The women are the safekeepers of the stories, passing down tales and traditions to the next generation. That’s what Christina Matula shares in her new book, The Shadow in the Moon, illustrated by Pearl Law, about two sisters discovering the meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival from their Ah-ma and learning how to give thanks.
Christina is a Canadian author who now lives in Hong Kong. The Shadow in the Moon is her first book and it’s available now.
Wishing you and yours a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival tonight. Eat a lot. Laugh a lot. And may the Harvest Moon bless us with what we need.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
Party City Joker
Backgrid
On Friday director Todd Phillips released a camera test of Joaquin Phoenix in his Joker makeup and it is certainly a look. My first thought was that he looks like Pogo the Clown, aka John Wayne Gacy. My second thought was that he sort of looks like the mask Heath Ledger’s Joker wore in the bank robbery scene Full Story
Gwyneth’s wedding and anniversary
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Gwyneth Paltrow is celebrating the 10th anniversary of goop tomorrow, marking the day she first sent out the goop newsletter, from London, where she was based at the time, by opening her first pop-up in Notting Hill. Full Story
Dear Gossips,
It was announced yesterday that Michael B Jordan is the new ambassador for Coach menswear. Like Selena Gomez on the women’s side of the business, MBJ will be the face of the brand’s clothing and fragrance lines and participate in “special design projects”. Read Full Intro
What Else?
There’s been some controversy over designer sneakers being sold for over $500 that look used and are held together with tape. Some people think it’s fetishising poverty. Full Story
TGIF with Peter Noah Kavinsky Centineo
You’re welcome in advance for blessing your Friday with an update on Noah Centineo, our beloved Peter Kavinsky, who I am still very much in a one-sided, thirst-heavy relationship with, even though the backlash has begun and there are some people who are ready to move on to the next Internet Boyfriend. Full Story
TIFF Review: The Sisters Brothers
Emma McIntyre/ Isaiah Trickey/ Getty Images
Opening this weekend is the latest in the budding sub-genre of sensitive, revisionist Westerns (following on the heels of Slow West and Damsel Full Story
Smutty Social Media, September 21, 2018
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Are you caught up on Jane the Virgin? If you aren’t, don’t read to the very end of this post, because I will have a Jane the Virgin spoiler down there. I’m warning you now. With that, here is Alex Pettyfer (remember him?) working on Family Guy. Full Story
Bradley Cooper on tour
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A Star is Born is two weeks from today. I’m excited for you to see it. I’m excited for you to see Lady Gaga. Or to UN-see Lady Gaga. And I’m excited to talk about all the parts we need to talk about, what worked for you (most of it worked for me) and what didn’t work for you. Full Story
Chris Evans moves to TV
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Avengers 4 opens next May, and it will be the last stop for several of the OG Avengers. Scarlett Johansson may stick around for that solo Black Widow movie, and RDJ will probably hang out in some cameo-centric fashion, being to the next-gen heroes what Nick Fury was to him, but the others are less certain. Full Story
Harry & Meghan’s lunchtime PDA
Ben Stansall/ Getty Images
I posted yesterday about Meghan Markle at the launch of Together, the cookbook, joined by her ma, Doria Ragland, and Prince Harry. By all accounts the event was a major success. Full Story
