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 Hello Smarty, It's Your Weekly Wag!Dragons, Clueless Rich People, Booker Prize Winners, and More ...Dear Wags, Does it ever feel like you are surrounded by intrigue, and there are connivers all around, itching to cast you in a dungeon or feed you to their dragon? Clearly, you still work at a major media company! Or maybe you’re simply itching to watch the season finale of HBO’s House of the Dragon on Sunday. Even platinum fright wigs won’t scare fans away from the Game of Thrones prequel, which appears to be Appointment Television, at least for fans of George R.R. Martin’s swords-and-scheming epics. That’s a pretty chunky demographic, and HOTD is a ripping soap opera. But where’s the fizz of excitement that used to accompany such extravaganzas? We do bang on about this, but fall used to be the time when the entertainment industrial complex pumped out so much exciting content your head spun ’round and ’round. Now entertainment trickles out all year long, and audiences have gotten terribly jaded. It isn’t that the narratives aren’t good. It’s that that excess and fragmentation have sapped public enthusiasm. Yes, some fans will be be ginned up to see Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam and stalwarts may be happy to see Julia Roberts and George Clooney together again in Ticket to Paradise. But few are feeling those films as occasions. Wakanda Forever is tracking like gangbusters, but is there enough Wakanda to help Hollywood succeed forever?Extravaganzas that embrace more than a core constituency of devotees are rare. This leads us back to our old question of whether popular culture can weather the Great Splintering. Oh, there are constants. HOTD is a hit because HBO still understands storytelling equities. Netflix, having been through a bruising, is still in search of must-watch original content. The business needs fresh ideas and new stars who can transcend TikTok, and more contraction seems inevitable. The world outside Hollywood is looking very dangerous —it can’t be said enough how much crises in Europe and Asia eerily mirror the 1930s—and grand, crowd-pleasing entertainments might go some way in easing anxiety and even heal cultural divides. We’re counting on you to sort this out, smarties. Bring on the big, hopeful stories already. Lift people up with content that dazzles not just esoteric fandoms, but everybody. We need a few more happy endings around here. Yours Ever, SeriesAvenue 5 (HBO Max). The past few days have been eventful: A British prime minister has lost her job after 45 days. Meanwhile, the world’s richest fellow keeps doling out lousy foriegn policy advice (in tweets). Why, all of it makes us think that society has a bad habit of rewarding those who really, really don’t deserve it. This is why we ship off on Avenue 5, Genius Armando Ianucci’s comedy about a bunch or entitled types stuck on a spaceship heading in the wrong direction. Sir Hugh Laurie is a captain who helping himself to dwindling food supplies and Josh Gad is the bufoonish billionaire who owns the operation. Zach Woods, Suzy Nakamura, and Leonora Crichlow, among a galaxy of stars, help you laugh at our sad state of affairs. High School (Freevee). Wags Tegan and Sara Quin grew up gay twins in suburban Calgary, and it was sometimes grueling and often funny. After achieving pop stardom, they wrote a bestselling memoir. Now it’s a series with the same name — which is perfect, since their music has been used in the soundtracks of every high school TV series already. Newcomers Railey and Seazynn Gilliland, who hail from Fresno, headline as future music sensations. Dame Cobie Smulders is their doing-the-best-she-can mother. Maestra Clea Duvall, about whom too many nice things cannot be said, helped pull it all off. Enroll! Doc SeriesThe Vow: Part II (HBO Max). Why on earth did people follow Keith Rainere, and join his loopy “professional development organization” NXIVM? Jehane Noujaim’s excavation of the cult continues, with Nancy Salzman, NXIVM’s cofounder, attempting to explain why she became a true believer. Life After (Prime Video). America’s fixation with professional sports delivers stardom to a lucky handful of athletes, but for the rest, leaving the big time can be a heartbreaking. Nick Ruff’s series follows 12 retired NFL players, as they navigate life off the field. Scary MovieHalloween Ends (Theaters/Peacock). Hollywood kids can be terrifying! But Wag Suprema Jamie Lee Curtis, who has spent a good part of her storied career running away from psycho killers, is the opposite. We shill for her shamelessly, because she has a generous heart and a great laugh and pure wisdom about weathering the strangeness of celebrity. Halloween, of course, never really ends. As for JLC, she just gets better and better. On to more work without knives. — Linda Drysdale FictionThis year’s Booker shortlist was a corker: Percival Everett’s The Trees, NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory, Alan Garner’s Treacle Walker, and Wag Elizabeth Strout’s shining Oh William! Those worthies won a small cash prize and special bound copies of their book, but this year’s champ is Shehan Karuntilaka, who got to shake hands with Camilla, Queen Consort, and $57,000 for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Wag loves this bleakly funny story of a gay war photographer who finds himself stuck in Heaven’s visa department after being murdered in Sri Lanka’s civil war. He can’t enjoy the afterlife unless he finds the two people he loves most and leads them to a hidden cache of photos. Karuntilaka is the second Sri Lankan to win the prize (Legendary Michael Ondaatje was the first). His novel is an unforgettable yarn from a beautiful, tragic island. —Kirpal Singh NonfictionHe called it Newman’s Luck. Reading Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, it’s clear Wag Emeritus Paul Newman didn’t think he deserved stardom or had much raw talent. “Acting gave me a sanctuary where I was able to create emotions without being penalized for having them,” he writes in this wrenching posthumous memoir. Newman drank too much, cheated on a terrific wife, and was racked by self-doubt. About these and other flaws, he was an unsparing critic. What shines through is that he tried awfully hard to learn from his mistakes, and do better. In truth, he was a rare genius at his craft. Better still, he was a sensitive and engaging human being. —Frank Galvin This is a season for eerie podcasts. We could go on for pages! But now that Lore has archived 211 episodes, it’s past time to give the Devil its due. Wag Supremo Aaron Mahnke began unearthing dark stories in 2017. “Sometimes the truth is more frightening than fiction,” he likes to say. Explore the strange roots of the folkloric talismans and learn why people are drawn to a particularly creepy corner of Ohio. We suggest staying on the turnpike. The eyes of the world are on the despotic excesses of Vladimir Putin, but Xi Jinping, who just secured a third term as leader of the Chinese Communist Party, is just as diabolical, more powerful, and likely to rule forever. Intrepid Sue-Lin Wong, China correspondent for the Economist, delves into Xi’s past in The Prince. It’s a harrowing origin story. —Xiu Xiu Taylor Swift just dropped a new album, reminding the universe that she is a tremendous writer of pop songs. Sometimes celebrity distracts from those gifts. Thank goodness our friends MUNA (Katie Gavin, Naomi McPherson, and Josette Maskin) have covered Swift’s August, turning her tune into a gossamer craft that will float you back to lost summers. And I can see us twisted in bedsheets/August sipped away like a bottle of wine/’Cause you were never mine. How sad, how true! And we’re coming out of dreams/As we’re coming back to dreams. In First Bird, Bill Callahan sings about this strange post-pandemic moment. Are we emerging from our cocoons into something better? That mellow baritone may convince you chrysalis is possible. —Mac Sledge It’s scary movie season, when Wag goes through picks out classics that still give us chills. Does Secret Ceremony qualify? Well, it is deeply strange, and while not terrifying, it’s guaranteed make you squirm. Joseph Losey’s 1968 psychological thriller was a flop, but it remains an intriguing curiosity. Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor) is an aging prostitute grieving after the death of her daughter. She encounters Cenci, (Mia Farrow) an unhinged heiress who looks just like the lost child. When the pair go back to Cenci’s London mansion, things get even weirder — it turns out her late mother was a dead ringer for Leonora. Soon, the pair are pretending to be family, or maybe becoming lovers. When the wicked stepfather (Robert Mitchum) shows up, things really go off the rails. Ceremony annoyed many critics but intrigued others (Renata Adler liked it, but described Taylor “as far more rotund than she has ever been,” which is a real psychological horror). Peggy Ashcroft and Pamela Brown show up as a pair of avaricious aunts. Losey had mixed feelings about his film and did not click with Mitchum, who caused him endless trouble on set. Farrow hated the black wig she wore to look more like Taylor, and Taylor’s husband, Richard Burton, was jealous of Losey. The real star of the show is Debenham House, a Holland Park pile that has stunning Arts and Crafts interiors. It’s obviously haunted (Oct. 25, TCM). — Minnie Castevet 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 Knott’s Scary Farm nights at Knott’s Berry Farm. Which are too darn terrifying. “The Wag is not the noblest newsletter in the world, but there are things lower than the Wag. Not many, mind you - but political newsletters give you something to look down on from time to time.”—Spencer Tracy You’re a free subscriber to CultureWag. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. |