You are reveling in CultureWag, the best newsletter in the universe, edited by JD Heyman and written by The Avengers of Talent. We lead the conversation about culture: high, medium and deliciously low. Drop us a line about about any old thing, but especially what you want more of, at jdheyman@culturewag.com “If you aren’t reading the Wag, you’ll never get anywhere when it comes to quantum electrodynamics.” —Richard Feynman
Dear Wags, This week, our friend Susan Orlean simply tweeted this: I’m disheartened. That neatly sums up the global mood. Wag works hard to cheer you up when things look grim, but we aren’t a bunch of dim Pollyannas. We see your down heartedness and raise you a chilly wave of despair! Now, what are we going to do about it? Waves crest, after all. We are mired in a culture defined by eternal hostility, consumed by grinding wars of attrition that never end. A tiny minority finds perpetual agitation energizing, and for social media giants it is madly lucrative. But let us be honest about what virtual combat is not doing for the rest of us: It is not moving society an inch closer to solving very big problems, and it’s not helping troubled individuals overcome theirs. That takes real action. The world is battered by crises and affronted by injustice, but history betrays humanity’s ingenious capacity for overcoming. Progress can be maddeningly slow, but it does happen. When we are dealt a setback (and recent days have been a doozy) feelings of dread can be overwhelming. We have no choice but to move through them, and peek around for signs of hope. Liking a post won’t cure despair, but doing something that takes you out of your head and into the vivid world just might. We have faith in your ability to turn this ship around. Meantime, here’s a little balm for Gilead. Yours Ever,
SeriesThe Bear (FX/Hulu). In the past decade, watching other people cook has become a revenue-driving fetish. What’s been largely absent from this glamorized treatment of cooking is the grittiness and stress of the actual restaurant business. Not anymore. Jeremy Allen White is a brilliant chef trying like hell to make his dead brother’s sandwich shop a culinary destination, and it’s a greasy, sweaty, glorious business. Alongside him are Liza Colon-Zayas, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Edwin Lee Gibson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Matty Matheson. It’s a five-course meal of talent. Bon appétit. Doc SeriesMenudo: Forever Young (HBO Max). How to explain Menudo to those who didn’t live through Menudo? It was a boy band, in which the boys in the band were discarded as soon they turned 15. It was a Puerto Rico-spawned global sensation that spawned Ricky Martin. Most of all, it was distressing proof that show business devours youth. The Future Of …(Netflix). Wait, the future is going to be amazing? Yes, it is! Jurnee Smollett salutes tech innovations that are going to change your life, or at least help you tell what you’re dog is thinking (we are psyched about this). Optimistic scientists are on hand to explain just how awesome the day after tomorrow is going to be. PictureElvis (theaters). Treat yourself to a tender, understated coming-of-age drama…some other time. Wag Supremo Baz Luhrman is serving up the life of Elvis Presley in his baroque, lurid way, which if you think about it, was just the King’s taste, Austin Butler has the whole hip-swivel-snarl routine down, and Sir Tom Hanks is having the time of his life as the villainous Colonel Tom Parker — you practically expect him to proffer a juicy apple. With Pippa and HuckThe Gordita Chronicles (HBO Max). Please, no more flashback shows about late 20th century childhood, with narrators warmly recounting middle school mishaps in the pre-Internet age. OK, one more: Olivia Goncalves lights up the world as a square peg tween who moves to Miami from the Dominican Republic with her sister (Savannah Nicole-Ruiz) and parents (Juan Javier Cardenas and Diana-Maria Rivera) in 1985. Get ready for Crocket and Tubbs jokes.—Martin Castillo
FictionTracy Flick, the gift Wag Supremo Tom Perotta gave the world in his 1998 novel Election, immortalized by Our Reese Witherspoon in Alexander Payne’s movie adaptation, is an icon. All these years later, she’s a synonym for a grindy, humorless, lean-in type—a meme! Tracy aspired to be a Girl Boss before that was a thing, and was loathed for it (yes, there’s misogyny in that). In Perotta’s novel, she was more sympathetic — an outsider desperate to work her way in. In his sequel, Tracy Flick Can’t Win, she’s an assistant principal at a New Jersey high school, no longer setting the world on fire in midlife. But when her boss dies, there’s an opportunity to rise again, and you can’t keep Tracy down. Or can you? NonfictionIt’s about time we all understood the Right, not as malevolent cartoon, but a dominant political force, influencing every aspect of American politics and life. Once a serious movement of serious people, it has gone dangerously off-kilter. Matthew Continetti, conservative journalist and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, watched this happen from the inside. He charts the transformation of the GOP from the party of Reagan to Trump’s posse, offering serious thoughts on how the center-right party can be redeemed. However you vote, it’s necessary business. —Bob Roberts
AbortionThere are many great books about the past, present and future of abortion in America, but if Wag has its favorites. Let’s start with Mary Zeigler’s After Roe, which reveals that activists on both sides of the abortion debate immediately post-Roe were more heterodox and tolerant than the warriors that followed them…Susan Wicklund’s This Common Secret is a moving chronicle of her career as an abortion provider in the rural Midwest…Joshua Prager’s The Family Roe delves into the complicated life of Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff known as Jane Roe…In Wrath of Angels James Risen and Judy Thomas provide meaningful insight into how the antiabortion movement became core to conservative politics…The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America, by Robin Marty, is an exhaustive guide to the abortion landscape as states begin enacting restrictions in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. — Stacy Hamilton
There is so much we could say, if only we knew how to say it without pissing everybody off! Wag Helen Zaltzman fearlessly delves into the origin and evolution of words and expressions, both everyday and faddish. This month, Helen is unpacking all kinds of argot related to Pride Month, including Polari, the secret language once used by gay men in London and the fractious evolution of queer. Earlier episodes dive deep into Asperger and the strange history of the name Tiffany. — Bunny Watson
On August 16, 1958, just before she recorded Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook, the singer appeared before sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl. It was the only time Ella Fitzgerald performed a full set of Berlin tunes such as Puttin’ on the Ritz. and Cheek to Cheek live, with a full orchestra. The musicians were conducted by Paul Weston, who orchestrated the studio sessions for the album but never performed with Fitzgerald again. Few people knew that a recording had been made of that extravaganza, but one was found in the private collection of Verve Records mogul Norman Granz. Now released by Verve as Ella at the Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook, it will make your heart sing. Delia Owens’ When the Crawdads Sing is not just a mega bestseller about a girl growing up in the marshes of North Carolina, it’s coming to Netflix in August in a film starring Remarkable Daisy Edgar-Jones. Naturally it needs an evocative, murky, Southern Gothic-type theme song. None other than Dame Taylor Swift has provided one in Carolina. Carolina stains on the dress she left/Indelible scars, pivotal marks/
No matter what judges, politicians and theologians do or say, abortion will always be with us. Cinema, a famously unreliable narrator, has actually told many heartrending, thought provoking, and even funny abortion stories. Here are a few.
Questions for us at CultureWag? Please ping intern@culturewag.com, and we’ll get back to you in a jiffy. CultureWag celebrates culture—high, medium, and deliciously low. It’s an essential guide to the mediaverse, cutting through a cluttered landscape and serving up smart, funny recommendations to the most hooked-in audience in the galaxy. If somebody forwarded you this issue, consider it a coveted invitation and RSVP “subscribe.” You’ll be part of the smartest set in Hollywood, Gstaad, Biarritz and Dummer, New Hampshire. “Love, compassion and the Wag, are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. ”―Dalai Lama XIV
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