Hi All,
It’s wild to me that today is December 18th. I’ve been counting down the days until the end of the year and I honestly can’t believe we’re almost in 2021. It has been a rough year for all of us, but we’re SO close to NYE.
Let’s put it this way - if start watching The O.C. today and you watch one episode a day, you’ll hit the epic NYE episode on the 31st…
Usually this week I’m running through malls, trying to find the perfect gift for my loved ones, and heading to a bunch of different holiday parties. This year, I’m at home watching Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and I’m ok with that. I’ll probably whip up some cookies and get a HUGE mug of hot chocolate (or a large glass of white wine) and settle in with The Holiday at some point. Basically - I’m staying in and watching a lot of TV.
Which is what you’re all here for so let’s get to it…
This week on the blog:
I promised you two blogs this week and I’ve got them for you.
Up first, as promised, full breakdown of Taylor Swift’s new album evermore. I (obviously) have a lot of thoughts about it and I’ve broken them all down here. Spoiler: I’m obsessed. Let’s just say I think my Spotify wrapped might have changed…
Second - I’m talking about The Prom. I wanted this to be amazing and it wasn’t. But let’s just say it wasn’t the terrible monstrosity that some critics are making it out to be. I have a lot of thoughts… read them all here.
Things to watch this week:
I love supporting the projects my friends work on, and today I’m getting a big mug of hot chocolate, a warm blanket and curling up on the couch to watch Rachel Arundel’s movie Inn For Christmas. It’s your typical holiday movie of the week, but I know how hard she worked on this project as the 1st Assistant Director and I’m really looking forward to watching it. It’s on W Network tonight at 8pm.
So last week I talked about Pretty Little Things. This week we’ve got another Ballet show for you. This time it’s On Pointe from Disney Plus. It’s a documentary series about the students from the School of American Ballet. It starts streaming today - check out the trailer here.
Last year I was obsessed with a Norwegian Christmas show called Home for Christmas. It’s a really cute show and I’m thrilled that the second season starts streaming today on Netflix. It’s a show all about a woman attempting to bring a boyfriend for the holidays - and while this might sound a bit cliché, the show does a really good job telling this classic story with a fresh twist. Watch the trailer for S1 here and S2 here. This is 100% what I’ll be binging this weekend.
On Monday we’ve got Ariana Grande’s excuse me, i love you documentary streaming on Netflix. I feel like there have been a lot of these lately and I’m interested in seeing how she pushes the genre and what we learn about her.
This is the also the last week for 22nd edition of The Bachelorette. This season has been insane and IMO - one of the best ever. We will remember this season for years to come. This week, we’ve got fantasy suites on Monday and the final two on Tuesday. Who will Tayshia pick? Email me your thoughts! I really want Brendan to win but would be equally happy if Ivan is the last man standing.
I personally think the holidays are for rewatching old classics so hopefully, you’ll pick up an old holiday favourite and get cozy. However… I equally think the Holidays are for murder mysteries and if you’ve never watched the FX series Fargo I’d highly recommend it. It is a personal fav.
Other things to check out:
In GOOD NEWS:
Sir Ian McKellen got the Covid Vaccine! (Cue the happy tears of hope!) There were a lot of jokes about him not letting Covid pass on twitter. I was into it:
In TERRIBLE news: The Lizzie McGuire reboot has been canceled and I’m devastated. Basically, Hilary Duff (and all of us) wanted an authentic Lizzie in her 30s- but with the Disney+ family guidelines, that couldn’t happen. So it’s been ruined. Like everything else in 2020 (cue the sad tears).
I was also really sad to hear that Jesy Nelson left Little Mix. I have had a lot to say about other people leaving bands (cough Zayn cough), but I have a lot of respect for Nelson. I know things have been extremely hard for her and while I’m so sad that the abuse finally pushed her to say ‘enough’, good for her for saying ‘enough’. Take care of yourself Jesy. The Guardian had a great write up about this.
Moving along…
I do have a lot of things to look forward to in 2021. One of them is the new Mindy Kailing show - The Sex Lives of College Girls. It was just announced that Dylan Sprouse (not the one on Riverdale) is joining the cast and I’m getting more and more excited about this show. I think it’s going to be incredible. He joins Pauline Chalamet (Tim’s sister), Amrit Kaur (Canadian!), Reneé Rapp (of Jimmy Award’s fame) and newcomer Alyah Chanelle Scott. No clue when it’s coming out yet I’ll let you know when I hear!
Speaking of Tim… Timothée Chalamet absolutely *crushed* it on SNL last weekend. I honestly loved it and cannot get the ‘Yeet’ song out of my head. This week Kristin Wigg returns to SNL and I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic… just maybe not 3 billion streams fantastic…
I am a massive fan of Nicola Coughlan. You know her from Derry Girls as the Wee Lesbian, but soon you’ll know her as Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton. This week we got the full Bridgerton trailer to get you HYPED for the 25th. It looks SO good and I’m so excited. As part of this press tour, Coughlan was on The Graham Norton Show talking about how she learned her Derry accent and it is a JOY to watch Graham get SO excited about her Derry reference. For those who are into it - this is the clip she’s talking about.
It’s well documented that I also love Friday Night Lights. Coach Eric Taylor aka Kyle Chandler was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last Friday night and it was a fun convo. Watch that here.
One of my favourite musical traditions, the Canadian Music Playlist Challenge, released it’s 2020 winners this week. They are all so good and listening to the kids play these classic Canadian songs makes me very happy. Big kudos to the team at CBC who makes this happen. Watch all the videos here.
If you want to feel nostalgic for 2009, DJ Earworm released a 2020 mix.
For people who follow politics… this makes me laugh every time I watch it.
Kensington Palace released The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Christmas card photo and honestly I want it framed with all the other cards of kid’s I got this year. Please send me all the photos of your kids. It is helping me achieve my goal of becoming a cool aunt.
Finally, a personal plug: Go check out the Awakenings videos! If you haven’t heard about this project - it’s phenomenal! “Awakenings is a new programming philosophy within Toronto History Museums that will feature art projects that explore untold stories, awaken a new perspective and invite the public to join the conversation.” It’s been curated by Director X and features some amazing BIPOC filmmakers in Toronto. I was the production coordinator on Alex Lazarowich’s A Portrait in Red (coming soon). If you don’t know Alex - she’s worth knowing. Her last project Fast Horsewon her the best director award at Sundance in January 2019. The videos are all fantastic and worth your time.
Have a great weekend,
-Paula