The Sunday Digest 059
It's not a chill in the air, it's just the air-conditioning.
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.
Sunday Read: How Jazz, Rom-Coms, & Chopin Shaped Laufey’s Bewitched
by Steffanee Wang for Nylon
I’ve gotten more inspiration from romantic comedies than I’m probably willing to admit. When I was writing 1,000 to 2,000 words per day for work, oftentimes I’d put a rom-com soundtrack in my headphones and hunker down. There was something calming and comforting about it — not to mention inspiring as well, but for generically unexplainable reasons.
Admission: I hadn’t been fully familiar with Icelandic singer Laufey’s game until I read this article while simultaneously listening to her album. But yes, it will find itself in the Sunday rotation.
Here’s an excerpt:
One of the songs, called “Serendipitous,” on the album is set on the Upper West Side, I've always envisioned this You've Got Mail scenario. It was one of my favorite movies growing up. I thought the visuals were so beautiful and the way that Nora Ephron tells stories is very much the way that I write my songs: very full of life and character and color, charming, but not cheesy, and very mindless.
I wasn't alive at the peak of this movie, but it still feels so relevant and incredible — the way it talks about internet relationships and stuff. And the soundtrack to it is also just so gorgeous. It's kind of my comfort movie and [was] my companion through writing this album. I'd watch it before I went to sleep.
Listen here:
Or read in full here.
New Episode › Retail Therapy 046: Coffee, Rom-Coms, and The Drink of the Summer
We make a major Retail Therapy announcement, make final calls about the Drink of the Summer, discuss the slippery slope that is coffee and coffeemakers, unexpected celebrity hangs, Miles Teller's go-to hat, a possible Fall '23 rom-com renaissance, and (of course) adding some items to our wishlist.
Listen to Retail Therapy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube (see above), and anywhere else podcasts are found.
The Sunday Haiku: And let’s bring the comforter to the couch, too.
Ugh, another commercial,
Let’s start a movie at half,
How ‘bout You’ve Got Mail?
Underrated Rom-Com of the Week: About Time
The first time I watched About Time was with my now-wife after a wedding where one of us doesn’t remember going to sleep. With a headache and some lingering anxiety (in true Sunday Scaries fashion), I found myself to be a ball of clay while the movie molded my fragile brain.
How underrated is this movie? Well, that I’m not sure. Most people who’ve seen it absolutely love it, yet it seems as though not nearly enough people have viewed. Love, fatherhood, growing up — it hits all the right notes. Maybe a little too perfectly sometimes.
Where To Watch: Not currently streaming for free, but can be rented for $3.99 on most streaming apps.
Fall Spotify Playlist: Fall Pack
I know, I know, everyone’s trying to make fall a thing too early this year. Newsflash, though: I simply do not care. If forcing fall is what I need to do to keep my sanity in 100-degree Texas temperatures, so be it.
And what better way to usher in fall than with a playlist I started in 2019 meant specifically for fall? A little bluegrass, a little folk, a little something to toss on while you drive to the grocery store.
Listen here.
From The Camera Roll: The Big Smoke
This Day In Photos: September 10, 2022
Last year, we flew into London two days after The Queen’s death. And no, we weren’t invited to the funeral despite seemingly being in the thick of all its activity over the span of the two total days we spent there.
A year removed, there’s a part of me that’s glad we had inadvertently crossed paths with that moment and place in time. From the newspapers left in our hotel room with her face gracing them (see below) to the moment of silence in the airport just before we flew back to the states, it was certainly a weighty time to accidentally find ourselves in the UK.
The Goring—“the closest hotel to Buckingham Palace, The Goring has been a firm Royal favourite since it first opened its doors”—has one of the best breakfasts you’ll ever find. The yolk of their eggs is such a rich color that you’ll begin to question why all eggs can’t be like that. The coffee is rich, black, and smooth. Every detail taken care of before you can begin to scan the dining room for a waiter.
Just make sure to sit near a window. The people watching is absolutely impeccable.
Have an incredible Sunday,
Will
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