Shout-out to the ladies
I fear that social distancing is turning me into a couch potato, .
In the last two weeks, I have binged watched three different shows that I want to discuss with you: Before the 90 Days, Succession and Little Fires Everywhere.
First, let's discuss Before the 90 Days by saying three names: Yolanda, Lisa and Ed. Yolanda is so sweet and naive and is definitely getting catfished. I feel bad for her. She was in a relationship for 30 years, which I think made her a fish out of water in dating. She met a guy online, who she has never Facetimed and is in love with him. She was planning a trip to go see him, and he doesn't know where he lives, and also, he randomly deleted his whole Instagram feed. Yet, auntie (too old to be a sis) doesn't want to accept the fact that she's being catfished.
His location also changed from London to Nigeria and now, he's threatening to release nudes of her if she doesn't pay a fee. She thinks someone hacked into his account, but honestly, who cares about her nudes? Like if they are released call the police because of revenge porn, but I think I only Marco down the block (not a real person) would be the only person who'd want to see Yolanda's titty on the screen.
Then there's Lisa who is engaged to a Nigerian Rapper Sojaboy not to be confused with the "Crank That" star, Soulja Boy. Lisa is in her 50's and her boo is in his 30's. Here's Lisa below. He made a song for her claiming his love, she's overly jealous and apparently has a thing against him having friends, and an annoyance with box springs vs. mattresses. They were going to do "it" without a condom and I had to cover my eyes. It's really like watching your mom's drunk friend who still tries to dip and do it getting her groove back. No one wants to see it, but you also can't take your eyes away from it.
Lastly, there's Ed. I have no words because I'm a saved woman, buttttttttttttttttttttttttttt here he is at a pig farm. Ed has a lot of confidence in that little body and wild hair. He keeps questioning his girl's past like he is a gift to the world.
Then there's Succession. Why did no one tell me how good of a show this is? I'm hooked. The show includes all the things I love: witty commentary, lots of money, fabulous places (is it bad that I always have spell this out loud to not think of Lil Mo "Superwoman" with Fabolous?), greed, good storytelling, and great cinematography. I'm hooked, and almost finished with season two. If you want to catch up and don't have HBO, they are offering it for free right now and Hulu has HBO for free as well.
Lastly, a few years ago I started reading Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, so I was super excited to see that Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon were bringing it to Hulu, and it delivered. First, let me just say yes, Kerry stayed doing her annoying lip quiver thing she does, see below, but her and Reese literally do the damn thing in this show. Both of their characters are extremely unlikeable to me for different reasons, but I love Isabelle.
Also, doesn't Reese's character in Little Fires Everywhere kind of remind you of her character in Big Little Lies? It could be the well off busy body thing that she has going on in both. In other TV but not binging times, I've been watching #BlackAF, The Last Dance, Mrs. America and Insecure. Molly is a bird as a friend. Okay, here are some things I thought were worth sharing this week:
What I'm Listening To:
I have a few good playlists that I've been listening to heavy. If you're on Spotify, follow them: Daily Vibes, my homeland West Coast Slaps, and Mellow Mood.
Did you attempt to watch the Versuz battle with Teddy Riley and Babyface on Saturday, and again last night? Last night's was better and Babyface was definitely the winner (someone said Babyface is the Wedding and Teddy Riley is the reception), but I will never forget "Throw in the Tile." That would be a dope tagline for a home renovation show on HGTV:
"We remodel homes on a day-to-day basis making sure that families have their dream homes. We do a lot of painting and never forget to Throw in the Tile."
Anyway, they put together a playlist from last night's battle, but here's my question: why was this battle Babyface vs. Teddy Riley? Teddy has hits: New Jack Swing his era for sure. More hits than that, but I think a better battle would be Babyface vs. Raphael Saadiq (also the Raphael vs. D'angelo thing floating on Twitter feels right too). It just feels natural. "Two Occasions" vs. "Anniversary." A Joss Stone track, vs a Toni Braxton song. Like it just makes more sense. To honor my thought, I created a playlist with some of my favorite songs either with them as the artist, or as the producer/songwriter. I suggest you shuffle it though because I added things as I thought of them.
Additionally, on Friday, like many, I saw Ashanti as a trending topic on Twitter. I was curious as to why, so I read tweets and noticed it was in response to her being featured on a song on DaBaby's new album Blame It On Baby. I have a love/hate thing with DaBaby. I think all his music sounds the same. Just like same flow on different beats that sound kind of the same. He is entertaining though to me because he can actually rap, and he has a big ego. His new album sounds like his other music as mentioned, but it's okay. I'd give it a 6/10 if I were ranking it. However, in endearing DaBaby side notes, his episode of Arts & Raps always makes me smile. Do yourself a favor and watch them all - Dylan cracks me up.
I loved the latest episode of Soulection Radio, and I plan to start digging into dvsn's A Muse in Her Feelings, and The Dream's Sxtp4. Also, can I just say the new Demi Lovato and Sam Smith song "I'm Ready" is so good? I just wish the energy that Sam brings to collabs ("Latch" "Omen") was the same energy he had with him all the time. He literally always sounds like a depressed Orca in all his solo songs. Sorry, not sorry. Wow that was definitely a convenient Demi Lovato reference that I didn't even realize until I typed "Wow."
I'm out here.
*hits drums*
On the podcast front, I've been slacking a little bit. I've found it pretty hard to listen to podcasts and be on hella conference calls. Am I the only one who feels like remote life is way more meetings? Back to my point, I've been a little chill on my podcasts listening, but this week, here are a few of the new podcasts that I plan to start listening to:
The Atlantic's Floodline which looks at Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath of it.
HELLA MARRIED GofitJo has been one of my favorite people on Instagram for years (I interviewed her here for The Every Girl) and her and her husband started a new podcast about being as the title alludes to, HELLA MARRIED.
Here's The Deal, yes, this is Joe Biden's podcast. Whether you like it or not, he's the Democratic candidate in this election. I'm trying to brush up on some of his policies and yeah.
Fortune's Leadership Next podcast which looks at leadership, diversity and inclusion and more.
Sugar Calling, I've missed Cheryl Strayed after the Dear Sugar podcast ended (I recommend the podcast, hated the book even though people on Instagram loved the shit out of it) and it's just as good.
What I'm Reading:
After reading and watching several reviews, I finally started reading Untamed by Glennon Doyle, and so far, it's pretty interesting.
Two different takes on friendship, one on maintaining friendships in hard times, and friends who are now celebrities for their coronavirus isolation plans. An email series on WFH productivity. Proud of my homeland, the Bay Area, and Mayor London Breed in particular for flattening the Coronavirus curve aggressively. Can I also just say, I'm proud to be from California because the work Breed and Gavin Newsom have done to make sure their people are safe has been impressive. I also feel like Gavin will run for president in the next election - quote me, or buy me coffee when/if this happens.
I have now learned three Tik Tok dances, "Savage" "Say So," and my favorite "Hit Your Groove." I know if Tik Tok was out, especially when "Crazy In Love," was out, I would've been on there rolling on the ground, doing the literal most. I say all this to say, here's an interesting read on why we should support black TikTokers now more than ever. "We cannot forget the longtime Queen of no Fucks Given, Congresswoman Maxine Waters," because Black Women are the adults in the room.
I love the love Michelle and Barack have for each other. In this 20 questions with Michelle Obama, she said "Before I met Barack, I was all about checking off the next box--law school, law firm, nice car. But he taught me the art of the swerve, how to take life as it comes and follow your passions wherever they lead." I felt that. Also, just leaving this here because two things: self love, is the best love, and also - you are your safest sex partner.
ALSO, LET'S BE FRIENDS ON THE INTERWEBS!