The Weekly Spill #3
Bad Romance: In Bed with Burt Reynolds and Belle de Jour
Happy Friday and welcome to the third installment of The Weekly Spill. The movies are back! My mind has obviously been on them, as evidenced by this post and one I wrote Tuesday on double features. My only update from last week is that Lana announced more tour dates and still isn’t coming to New York. Now that you have been updated on that, here are the things I’ve been thinking about this week.
In Bed by Joan Didion: My migraines have been particularly bad this month, and it inspired me to go back and reread Didion’s essay about her struggle with them. I love this essay so much, it is my favorite piece of migraine representation. She writes about her headaches with the precision she is known for, but she also adds in this dry humor that I’m obsessed with. I think the best part is that she writes with her fellow migraine sufferers as the intended audience. I wish I had known about this essay much earlier in my life. I recommend everyone open their copy of The White Album and give it a read. Also since everything Didion is now considered cool, migraines have officially been canonized as the cool girl’s ailment. Slay.
Bad Romance peaking at #2: I read this fact the other day and it just seems insane that it didn’t go to number 1. I assumed that it had since it is one of the defining songs of the late 2000s-2010s. There has been so much talk recently about the Billboard charts and whether they are an accurate reading of how popular songs are or not. Many people claim that Lady Gaga’s imperial era was the last monocultural music moment, so it seems shocking that it couldn’t top Empire State of Mind to hit the top spot.
Catherine Deneuve’s makeup and wardrobe in Belle de Jour: It has been weeks since I watched this, and I am still thinking about her eye makeup.
I wish I had the makeup skills to recreate it. Believe me when I say that I tried, failed, and will not be sharing the photos of that attempt with anyone. Of everything strange and surreal in this movie (and there’s a lot), the one moment that stuck with me was when she walked directly out of the shower with her full face of dramatic 60s makeup still on. What does that say about me? That I live for glamour, of course. Her hair is magical in this movie too, but that is typical of her and impossible to achieve for me. Yves Saint Laurent did the costumes for the film, and they are perfect. Everything she wears is incredible and manages to strike the perfect balance of being completely timeless yet iconically 60s. There isn’t much to say about them that hasn’t been said a million times. I mean, look at the material:
This J.Crew bag: I am typically never the person to be wishing summer away, but this year I’ve had enough and I am ready for fall. This bag has been bookmarked on my computer for almost a month now, because it felt weird to purchase in the summer. Now that September is around the corner I think I will finally pull the trigger and get it. I don’t own a brown bag, so it feels justified.
This Instagram account dedicated to vintage bathrooms: We must end the tyranny of boring bathrooms.
1973 Academy Awards: I stumbled onto this video essay about the 1973 Academy Awards a couple of nights ago. If you aren’t someone who memorizes Best Picture winners, 73 is the year of The Godfather. More importantly, it is the year of Cabaret, which won the majority of awards and still holds the record for the most wins without winning Best Picture. The academy gave Best Director to Bob Fosse, a (correct) decision that men have been whining about for the last 50 years. Liza wins her Oscar wearing Halston, naturally, and gives a speech claiming her achievement as her own. Young nepo babies, take notes!
Marlon Brando had Sacheen Littlefeather go onstage on his behalf to decline his award due to the mistreatment of Native Americans by the film industry, a shocking moment that started the still ongoing trend of political Oscar speeches.
AND it is the year that Sonny and Cher presented the award for Best Song while wearing these iconic looks. It almost feels wrong to say “looks” because Sonny is just in a tux, but Cher looks so amazing that he achieves iconic status by proxy.
Bob Mackie lost for costumes, leading me to discover that he does not have an Oscar, which is sick and twisted. I never put it together that all of this happened the same year until this video essay. That channel also has a great video about the 1939 awards, and I am anxiously awaiting the 1999 video which I can only assume is coming.
Burt Reynolds being sexy in magazines: The above video essay discussed how Burt Reynolds worried that his centerfold in Cosmopolitan would prevent him from being considered a serious actor. This was such a coincidence because I was already planning on writing about these photos of him that I found. The centerfold was historic and obviously gets all of the attention, but he was naked in other magazines too. It seems like he was just having fun being hot, and maybe we need more of that in the world today.
This (sort of) shady article about Colleen Hoover’s books: More of this please <3
Loafers: I really want a pair of loafers. I think if I find the right pair I will wear them all the time, but I can’t decide what I want. Do I want patent leather? Lug sole? Black or brown? I need them to be good enough quality that they will survive walking around the city, but I’m not looking to spend a fortune. These are the things keeping me up at night. If you have a good loafer recommendation, send it my way.
Trump’s mugshot: …obviously.
