The Weekly Spill #11
New Balance, New York City Ballet, and the New Ballad of Sweeney Todd
It’s November! Isn’t it just terrifying how time flies? I’ve got to give an update concerning one of last week’s beans. I am now a brown noise evangelist because my sleep has never been better. J’adore!
I thought that the Halloween costumes overall this year were decent. High highs and low lows I would say. My favorites were Christina Aguilera as Cher (obviously), Ariana Grande & Liz Gillies as Nomi & Crystal from Showgirls, substack’s very own Rayne Fisher-Quann as Interview Magazine Lana, and every costume Benito Skinner has ever done but especially the Elvis & Priscilla couples costume.
Now that the Halloween report is done, we can move to more pressing topics. Here are all of the things that have been on my brain this week:
The Lana Del Rey song that isn’t on the Priscilla soundtrack: Let’s all have a collective moment of silence. No one try to talk to me, I will be in mourning for the song that never was. What happened? What timing issues? Lana, diva, stop picking up shifts at the Waffle House and pick up a shift at the songwriting factory!!
The Head’s Up migraine podcast: this is niche, but I’ve been on a migraine education journey recently. I think because I’ve been living with migraines for so long, I never realized how much is out there for me to learn. I started listening to this podcast run by the National Migraine Centre in the U.K. this week, and I have already learned so much. I would recommend seeking out information about anything you might deal with, even if you think you know all there is to know. I also really like this one that focuses on adult women with ADHD. If randomly send you a fun fact about brains, this is why.
J.Crew x NYCB: I know that the “balletcore” trend has been discussed ad nauseam on social media, but this collaboration between J.Crew and the New York City Ballet is perfect.
Ballet has been a long-time inspiration to the fashion world, but fashion can miss the mark sometimes when trying to emulate ballerinas. These campaign images are so beautiful and perfectly capture the magic of watching a ballet rehearsal. The film photography is stunning and I love that they used the dancers as models. Let us never have to endure another photo of a model struggling en pointe again (looking at you Kendall!). The styling feels authentic to the layered styles that one would actually see in a ballet class, yet the individual cashmere pieces are classic J.Crew.
The NYCB-specific items are basically well-designed merch for the 75th anniversary of the company, which I think will fare better from a sales standpoint than trying to sell tutus and legwarmers. The average fashion customer has no need for dancewear, and the average dancer will not be purchasing their dancewear from a fashion brand. Both might buy a NYCB t-shirt or pullover though, and this collaboration understands that. The t-shirts sold out too fast for me to snag one, but I’m on the email list in case they come back in stock.
This website for finding film photobooths: I found this photobooth directory through one of my favorite substacks, Embedded, this week. I love photobooths, but I have no time for digital ones and they can be hard to track down. For a while, I attempted to do my own research by making one of my Hinge prompts about finding a film photobooth, but using this website will be so much easier!
Sweeney Todd replacement cast announcement: When I saw it was rumored that Sutton Foster and Aaron Tveit were going to be the new Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney I assumed it was just that, a rumor. I was proven wrong when it was officially announced this week.
This has to be the most exciting casting announcement on Broadway in a hot minute. Some people aren’t happy with it, but together they will sell tickets and keep this show running. I still haven’t managed to see the original cast (despite entering the lottery almost daily), but I might shell out the money for a non-lotto ticket to see the show once these two start.
a new pair of New Balances: I hate to admit how much brain power has been spent on this. Truly spilling the beans here. I need a new pair of New Balance tennis shoes (sneakers, whatever) because the pair I wear all the time are see-through and so I feel like they are more of a warm-weather shoe. So at least once a day I go to a website, look at New Balance shoes, get overwhelmed/confused, and then close out of the tab. Rinse. Repeat. Slay. The problem is that they are all very similar, and the numerical nomenclature confuses me. All of those numbers get mixed up in my head. I probably just need to go to the store and try a whole bunch of them on, but I’m lazy. I’m hoping that writing about it motivates me to fix this problem. Fingers crossed!
this article about a trans woman’s experience in her sorority: I read this when it was published a few weeks ago, and it has really stuck with me. I think the writer did a fantastic job at getting to the heart of why people join things like sororities in the first place. In the last few years, there has been so much sorority discourse due to the Bama Rushtok phenomenon and this story feels so divorced from all of that. Reading it reminded me of how vulnerable and hopeful it feels to go through recruitment. It is very rare as adults that we so plainly petition for friendship, and we almost never turn friend-making into a black-and-white ranked system that all potential friends must apply for. This completely unnatural process can be brutal and that’s only the process to get in. I wanted to crawl through my computer screen and give this girl a hug. I think the article is a good reminder that we all are looking for some sort of community and that maintaining that community is a collaborative responsibility shared by everyone in it. You can not have a strong and supportive sisterhood without first acting like a supportive and loving sister.
Hannah Glenn’s handbags & hair bows: put your hands together for these!! No, but seriously, I really want one of the bows. Like, it’s bad. I’m sort of obsessed.
Also, the pun?!? HANDbag? I’m sorry… she’s a little bit genius for that one.
That’s all for this week! Hope you divas loved it!