TV Updates Normal People is Sexy, Bookish Vindication First of all, let me be clear – here in Canada we’re still in the first sweaty, horny blush of consuming Normal People. We know the rest of you have had it for weeks and we were frustrated and jealous. Now the first two episodes have finally been released here By Duana • May 29, 2020 03:08 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Update – Poultry In The Time Of Coronavirus Once again, I can’t possibly improve on the title that appeared in my inbox – here is the exciting conclusion to the saga of Chicken Matilda. In case you missed it, this story – nay, this case – already had an update so entertaining I’m considering hiring this letter writer as By Duana • May 27, 2020 03:30 pm
Baby and Bump Obsession That ISN’T BETTER, Grimes! You know what’s a tease? Reading that Elon Musk and Grimes have ‘changed’ their baby name, after the inexplicable X Æ A-12 failed to crown them as the visionaries of the future they obviously hoped they’d be. So, a name change. Relatable! Human! ….or not, given that the By Duana • May 25, 2020 02:36 pm
Theatre Nerd SMASH, as it was meant to be I have no emotional reserves anymore so it could be that I’m just extra in general, but I got absolute goosebumps when I discovered that SMASH, the ridiculous, inexplicable television spectacle of 2012 which I and everyone else wrote about ad nauseum, which confounded an entire television-watching generation, like By Duana • May 22, 2020 03:25 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: The Name Is(n’t) Ajar Hi Duana, Long-time listener, first-time caller! We're expecting baby 2 in two weeks - the first was a boy and this one's a girl. My husband's last name is quite long/Slavic and starts with an O. So we're looking for names By Duana • May 13, 2020 03:21 pm
Self Care TV Recommendations Get Happy With Geeked-Out College-Bound Teens on YouTube A few years ago, when Dr. Pimple Popper and her imitators suddenly became famous, I developed a theory about ‘popping videos’ that I’d tell to anyone who would listen (so what else is new?): I think people are addicted to popping videos – and popping zits in general – because they By Duana • May 08, 2020 03:43 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Eyerolling THAT Name, and Puff Daddy Energy Okay. Before we get to today’s letter writer, yes, I have to address that baby name. I kept wanting to write ‘alleged’ because I really don’t believe it, but they’ve both confirmed it’s true – their baby is named X Æ A-12, which I would wager is By Duana • May 06, 2020 03:42 pm
TV Updates Amazon’s Upload Is For… Who, Exactly? I am unreasonably fond of the expression ‘our people’. As in, ‘she’s our people’. Once I was really nervous about joining a particular group, and after a couple of people one of the guys there said he’d told someone else about me that, “she’s our people”. As By Duana • May 04, 2020 01:10 pm
TV Updates Parks & Recreation Reunion was Perfect – And Not Enough Last night’s brand-new, shot-from-home reunion episode of Parks and Recreation was the first time in a long while that I can remember sitting down to watch something live, on broadcast, as soon as it was released (that’s not counting the number of times I’ve refreshed to see By Duana • May 01, 2020 02:49 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: ‘TV Names’ are NAMES Hi Duana, We really need your help. Our daughter is due in less than 2 weeks and my husband and I are at an impasse. We are desperate and I’m frustrated, because we have not been able to agree on a name despite being in complete agreement on style By Duana • Apr 29, 2020 03:03 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Whitney Houston Prestige Biopic Is For Real Headline writing is an art, you know? When I saw the bold text at the top of the Deadline piece, ‘Whitney Houston Biopic Crystallizes’, I thought it was strangely appropriate. The biopic has ‘crystallized’, or set; hardened – because I guess we all kind of knew somehow that there would be By Duana • Apr 27, 2020 12:05 pm
Music What I Missed About Meghan Trainor’s Work Like everyone else, I’m consuming everything in sight these days, because what else are we going to do, really; but also like everyone else (I suspect) I’m using the time either to catch up on series I heard I should have watched, or to be pulled into whatever By Duana • Apr 24, 2020 02:41 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: They’re great names – but not HER name Dear Duana, I have been reading your name column since it started and even almost wrote in when my sister was expecting. We are unexpectedly expecting our second child early this Spring almost eight years after our first. For our first, my husband insisted that our son's name By Duana • Apr 22, 2020 04:36 pm
Amazingness Kenny vs. Teddy – The Rematch I cried laughing. I tweeted. I cackled. I cried crying. I Felt My Spirit. I watched last night’s Babyface and Teddy Riley rematch on Instagram Live. To be absolutely truthful, I went over to Questlove’s IG Live and watched it there. He was bootleg livestreaming, which turned out By Duana • Apr 21, 2020 01:00 pm
Amazingness Babyface Wins By Forfeit I wasn’t that into the Together At Home concert Saturday night. I mean, I happened to turn it on when Lizzo was performing, which was two minutes of straight bliss, but the show in general…. I was much more excited about the Instagram Live battle between BabyFace and Teddy By Duana • Apr 20, 2020 12:06 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Dating and Nicknames Hi Duana, I have an odd dilemma for you, it may be more of an etiquette thing but totally name based. I am 50 and single, I am on a dating site that I am not invested in and received an introductory message from a man yesterday. On the site By Duana • Apr 17, 2020 04:00 pm
