Salut, Celine!

It’s Friday afternoon, so let’s soar into the weekend on the wings of a dove, and that dove is Celine Dion in Paris. Celine is in Paris preparing for a concert run from September 12 to October 17, and she touched down in France and immediately began sharing the love with her fans. Which IS wonderful because Celine has shared her journey back to performing with us, and even as a casual Celine fan, I recognize the effort, passion, and commitment it’s taken her to get here, and enjoy the sight of Celine soaking up the love in Paris.

Also, it’s been a tough week, with the passing of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, icons in their respective spheres, and Dolly, as an icon of music, means we’ve got one less diva in the world. But here is Celine, a diva, too, reminding us what we still have. We’ll always miss Dolly, no one can replicate her in the culture or musically, but divas carry on. Celine is not a diva just because of her pipes, but because she carries on, just as Dolly always did.

These times when celebrity deaths come in waves really make me think about what vanishes when we lose cultural icons. Dolly’s music will never go away, not any more than Tim Curry’s films, but her voice is now silent. There will be no new Dolly. That’s the adjustment we have to make. No more performances, no more jokes, witticisms, or gentle inspirations. But we will always have everything Dolly accomplished, the body of work, the memories we made with her in them. The tense changes, but not the substance.

It’s a reminder to enjoy the divas we have while we have them. Celine is endlessly entertaining. She loves entertaining. She performs for her fans even with the simplest gestures, not because she is a robot, but because performance is her best language. And she has worked hard, and endured so much, to perform again, and you can see her joy to be welcomed to Paris by fans excited to see her, to experience her, even fleetingly. You’d have to be a real asshole to roll your eyes at Celine, especially this week, when we’ve been reminded how precious time really is.

---

What else happened today…

Everyone wants their village, but we’re terrible at maintaining them. I am certainly guilty of this; I love cancelling plans. But eventually, you just have to show up for your friends, and they have to show up for you, or else what you have is acquaintanceships, not friendships. Romantic or platonic, relationships take effort to maintain. (Popsugar)

Practical Magic 2 stars Joey King and Maisie Williams, in London off the red carpet, but still wearing THINGS. (Go Fug Yourself)

Norway’s King Harald passed away, so Crown Prince Haakon is now King Haakon VII. His stepson is in prison, convicted of sexual assault, his wife, now Queen Mette-Merit, has ties to Jeffrey Epstein (and is in poor health). Here’s a roundup of the newly minted King Haakon’s many controversies. What a time to be crowned! (Celebitchy)

Reject Erewhon! Embrace ugly grocery stores! Or just, you know, embrace normal grocery shopping. I’m with Bettina Makalintal, there IS something sinister about the rise of ultra-luxury grocery stores and their weirdly pristine shelves loaded with buzzword items. I appreciate a clean, well-maintained store as much as anyone, but I do think the luxification of grocery stores has something to do with how expensive everything has gotten in the last few years, and people being priced out of luxury experiences elsewhere. Like you can’t afford your dream trip anymore, but you can still shop in a fancy grocery store, even if only for a few items.

It’s a half-baked thought I’ve been pondering over the last year or so, as luxury creep has started infecting my go-to grocery shops. Except for Aldi and Costco, they remain the true class warriors of groceries. (Eater)