The Sunday Digest 160
"Two of a kind, we'll find a way to do what we've done."
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.
Sunday Read: The realities of being a pop star.
by charli xcx
The traditional viewing of ‘The Last Waltz’ this Thanksgiving caused me to fall down a rabbit hole of old entertainer interviews in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Maybe it was because I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Levon Helm smoked a cigarette in one of his interviews, but I don’t really think so. If anything, the interview style of that particular film is different than what we’re used to seeing these days.
Subway Takes comes to mind. It’s the online video series where Kareem Rahma interviews famous guests on the subway using the internet-accepted tiny microphone. The guest prepares a “hot take” and the two hash it out from both sides. So essentially, forced arguments based on forced thoughts between two well-known people in the zeitgeist. If you watched that Leon Helm interview I linked above, well, yeah, things have certainly changed.
Since the day Charli xcx released her second post on Substack, I really haven’t been able to stop wanting to include it here. Maybe it’s my annoyance with 60-second subway interviews but it was refreshing to see a celebrity (a huge one at that) effectively braindump into what feels like a late-2000s blog. And she included another incredible interview at the end? Perfect.
Here’s an excerpt:
You get to go to great parties in a black SUV and you can smoke cigarettes in the car and scream out of the sunroof and all that cliche shit. At these parties you sometimes get to meet interesting people and those interesting people often actually want to meet you. You get to wear fabulous clothes and shoes and jewelry that sometimes comes with its own security guard who trails you around the party making sure you don’t lose the extortionate earrings sitting on your lobes or let some random person you’ve just met in the bathroom try on the necklace around your neck that is equivalent to the heart of the ocean. You get good free shit like phones and laptops and vinyl and trips and shroom gummies and headphones and clothes and sometimes even an electric bike that will sit in your garage untouched for the best part of 5 years. You get to enter restaurants through the back entrance and give a half smile to the head chef (who probably hates you) and the waiters (who probably hate you too) as they sweat away doing an actual real service industry job while you strut through the kitchen with your 4 best friends who are tagging along for the ride. You get to feel special, but you also have to at points feel embarrassed by how stupid the whole thing is.
Read in full here.
The Sunday Haiku:
Slow, little to do,
the last three days have all felt
like one long Sunday.
Psssst — 30% off our entire shop today only.
For today only, we’re offering 30% off all sweatshirt and zines in our shop. Discounts will be automatically applied at checkout, and all items will be shipping this week.
We also have several of our classic scented candles discounted as well, plus some of my holiday favorites like Scary Christmas and New York in the Fall as well. You can shop the entire collection here:
Things I Saved This Week
My Sunday To-Do List
After caramelizing some onions yesterday, I now have the task of figuring out what I should use these caramelized onions for. Last night, we did a puff pastry with some brie but I think I need to find something a bit more tame.
My only sports investment today is Manchester United at 6 a.m. my time, so hopefully it’s a day away from being drawn to the couch.
It’s supposed to be chilly and blustery — like “do you want to just go to the movies?” chilly and blustery.
Due to the wind, I may find myself in the yard cleaning up some branches and leaves if things settle down before dark.
With my last work trip of the year coming up later this week, I’m excited to get packed. I haven’t told my older son yet, but I’m bringing him with me and couldn’t be more excited.
While I hope your Thanksgiving was relaxing, I hope this Sunday is even more so.
— Will
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