Lainey’s intro this morning has a few story updates and the one that excited me most was Ingrid Casares versus Sandra Bernhard on Madonna being a long-term friend. Adult friendships are very “a reason, a season, a lifetime” because sometimes you have work friends you are super tight with for years and then a job change comes along, or a childhood friend you can go months without speaking to but still consider a best friend.
It’s complicated. And in Madonna’s defense, she has been friends with Ingrid and Debi Mazar for a very long time. She has been friends with Stella McCartney for a long time. And like most celebrities, her best friends are probably non-famous people that she grew up with or has worked with for years. This is much more common. I think celebrities who are only friends with other celebrities are kind of suspect. And the way Sandra will often talk about Madonna is kind of a sign that the friendship was doomed, no?
The Flight Attendant’s second season is… not good. I gave up around episode six but still might try to finish it, if only because I really like Kaley Cuoco’s wardrobe. It’s TV clothes that a real person could wear, if that makes sense. If there is a third season, the show needs a revamp. Too much exposition and a muddled plot.
The new season of Stranger Things drops tomorrow and I haven’t read any early reviews yet. Because Netflix is bumbling its way through financial troubles and controversies, the $30 million an episode price tag will be a sticking point for the audience. It would be nice if a very large chunk of that money went to the child stars because they grew up on camera and that comes with a price that can’t ever be fully compensated financially, but it would be a little easier to justify if that blank cheque didn’t go to green screen monsters.
Charlie Puth’s thirst traps are getting pretty literal.
Nina Dobrev’s Instagram is going to be the death of me – how is the expectation vs. reality (a caption that was popular like two years ago) a fit here? It’s like whoever runs her social media uses a caption generator and it’s maddening! She is in full glam and posing in every photo! I’ve received many emails expressing a similar frustration with Nina’s Instagram, thank you for making me feel seen. She’s Canadian and I want to root for her.
Film festivals like Cannes are grand spectacles but they often don’t connect back to a theatre-going or streaming audience. I don’t know if people outside of that bubble really care about standing ovations or walkouts or the Palme d’Or. But Twitter has made it much easier for people to follow along with the screenings and Stars at Noon, starring Joe Alwyn and Margaret Qualley, is getting lambasted online. THR called them “chemistry deficient” and a name search brings up tweets that say the film is sluggish, “the worst thing I’ve ever seen at Cannes” and an incoherent slog. But it got a standing ovation, so there’s that? (Here’s Qualley with her boyfriend and frequent Taylor Swift collaborator, Jack Antonoff.)
