Speaker 1: You know what I did by this year that I
Speaker 1: loved that changed me what my AMC Stubs rewards membership.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying, Diva, That's what I'm saying. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the family. Welcome to Nicole Kidman's family. We are
Speaker 1: almost at the end of Thank God, not that this
Speaker 1: was a bad not that this was a bad year,
Speaker 1: but like it just was a long year. I in,
Speaker 1: you know, looking back at the year because spoiler alert
Speaker 1: virgins today we're doing the best of two episode and
Speaker 1: looking back at this year, I just realized some things
Speaker 1: that I thought happened in or even were truly like
Speaker 1: six months ago. I had that experience when I saw
Speaker 1: my Spotify rapped this year, which did unfortunately have Catwalk
Speaker 1: by RuPaul, And I remember, like I at that and
Speaker 1: I was like Catwalk came out this year, Like that
Speaker 1: made me feel ancient. Um, anyways, yeah, this year did
Speaker 1: really like crawl by musically, whether were there any like
Speaker 1: I mean we've talked about like a lot of our
Speaker 1: favorite albums, our favorite artists like from the year, um
Speaker 1: standing out to you, like who was the artist or
Speaker 1: album that like defined your year, Like who were the
Speaker 1: who was the first person that stuck out of your mind.
Speaker 1: Two was about her, because of course it was at her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course it was that. I mean there, if we're
Speaker 1: if we're you know, using Spotify wrapped data and also
Speaker 1: my own internal data, there are were no men present anywhere.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, I mean for me obviously we have talked
Speaker 1: about at length on the podcast. Ethel Can really ruled
Speaker 1: especially the second half of my year because I didn't
Speaker 1: listen to Preacher's Daughter until pretty late in the summer
Speaker 1: and then was immediately evangelized by it. I mean, funnily enough,
Speaker 1: considering you know, like the evangelical overtones of the whole album. UM.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean we we've talked a lot about,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of the big albums for us this year,
Speaker 1: which were you know, Preacher's Daughter, Renaissance UM, thena album
Speaker 1: Willows Coping Mechanism which I was obsessed with, UM, Dance
Speaker 1: Fever from Florence the Machine was a big one for
Speaker 1: me this year, and also the live version of it
Speaker 1: that she released from her concert at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 1: I've listened to a lot um some albums that I
Speaker 1: didn't really talk about on the podcast this year where
Speaker 1: I really liked Laurel Hell by Mitski Um. It actually
Speaker 1: was the album that made me like Mitski who for
Speaker 1: a very long time, I just didn't really funk with Um.
Speaker 1: And then more recently I I have always kind of
Speaker 1: liked to Below, but never like listened to her music
Speaker 1: like fanatically or anything. But after Spotify Wrapped came out,
Speaker 1: my friend Ryan told me that her song No One
Speaker 1: Dies from Love was his number one UM song on
Speaker 1: his Spotify Wrapped. So I started listening to her album
Speaker 1: Dirt Fem, which came out this summer, and I am
Speaker 1: totally obsessed with it. It's so good. I'm still especially
Speaker 1: I'm still in shocking that that's how you pronounce it.
Speaker 1: It's it does um. Yeah, this song No One Dies
Speaker 1: from Love amazing, has a great music video. Grapefruit is
Speaker 1: like a banger about eating disorders, which no really, Oh
Speaker 1: yeah you told me about this. That's a deep cut
Speaker 1: that's like really raw material to to like kind of
Speaker 1: dissect and then crank through. I guess a pop music
Speaker 1: machine like that's yonderful arts. It's a very fun dance album.
Speaker 1: Was like some really good songwriting on it. Um. Also,
Speaker 1: I did did Charlie x C x's album come out
Speaker 1: this year or was that last year? That was this year? Yeah,
Speaker 1: with Charlie xc X and Motemmmy came out around the
Speaker 1: same time. That was definitely a big moment, which one
Speaker 1: obviously obviously Scissa, which we talked about last week. Great
Speaker 1: year for music. Anything else on your radar this year
Speaker 1: that we haven't really talked about. Um No, you've named
Speaker 1: four of my top five, which were Muna Preacher's Daughter, Renaissance,
Speaker 1: the Willow album, and then Sissa, which wasn't on your
Speaker 1: tops the newsas album I think is just immediately I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's going to be a standout from the year for
Speaker 1: me and we'll go deep into next year, the same
Speaker 1: way Adele's album, released at the end of last year
Speaker 1: went deep into the next year for me. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: for me, like Willow was like the underappreciated thing of
Speaker 1: the year. Like I did not see any blogs talking
Speaker 1: about coping mechanism. I have not heard people talking about it.
Speaker 1: I'm like making people listening to this listen to this album.
Speaker 1: I dropped someone off at the airport and we listened
Speaker 1: to the album all the way through and they loved it,
Speaker 1: And like I yeah, I'm just like always I want
Speaker 1: more people to listen to what I feel like is
Speaker 1: willows best work. So if you liked the Willow TikTok song,
Speaker 1: go listen to Coping mechanism Um. And then I think
Speaker 1: Ethel Caine, who I discovered this year through you, really
Speaker 1: also just defined the year. Like I knew immediately that
Speaker 1: she was going to emerge as like this like favorite
Speaker 1: Internet celebrity. Like she has the makeup of so many
Speaker 1: things that we want in a public figure, which is
Speaker 1: that she doesn't care about being a public figure and
Speaker 1: isn't interested in like the varnish of like what celebrity
Speaker 1: comes with in America, and like, but she's still you know,
Speaker 1: looks she's still really fucking funny, really down to earth,
Speaker 1: and she looks great into things she's being styled in
Speaker 1: in these photo shoots were seeing so and she's so
Speaker 1: good at the Internet. I just love. Yeah. What I
Speaker 1: also really appreciate about her is, like I've noticed, especially
Speaker 1: recently as she has been ending up on a lot
Speaker 1: of these end of Your lists, is she cares really
Speaker 1: deeply about the way that her art is perceived and
Speaker 1: has been spending a lot of time online calling people
Speaker 1: out or calling them in or whatever, like trying to
Speaker 1: educate them about her music and what they might have
Speaker 1: missed in it. And like the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: American Teenager is like not supposed to be this like
Speaker 1: glorification of Americana and if like and if you see
Speaker 1: it that way, then you're really missing the point of
Speaker 1: her album listening. And and even though American Teenager was
Speaker 1: my top played song on Spotify this year, I have
Speaker 1: to say that my actual favorite song of two is
Speaker 1: definitely Thoroughfare. I think it's like my two top songs
Speaker 1: of two on very different sides of the spectrum our
Speaker 1: Thoroughfare and Alien Superstar. Like that is that is the pairing.
Speaker 1: I honestly, god, I didn't even think about best song
Speaker 1: in preparation for this for this episode. Um, Thoroughfare definitely
Speaker 1: is is like up there. It was something that I
Speaker 1: just returned to and played over and over and over
Speaker 1: again and couldn't stop. I think that, like I I
Speaker 1: actually don't. I wonder if like ethel is actually on
Speaker 1: like you know, year end like best of list, because wow,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing like on a lot of like people's timelines,
Speaker 1: But like I feel like she a lot of critics
Speaker 1: did not like the album because like the songs were
Speaker 1: too long, and ship she was on Pitchfork, she was
Speaker 1: on Rolling Stone. I think American Teenager was on either
Speaker 1: either Pitchwork or Rolling Stone. It was like the number
Speaker 1: eleven song of two Wow. I honestly never I never
Speaker 1: would have guessed, but I'm like really happy for it,
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, I um I. The one that comes
Speaker 1: to mind is um Jody. It was like one of
Speaker 1: those controlled deluxe songs that I just played over and
Speaker 1: over and over and over again UM on SoundCloud and
Speaker 1: on Spotify, and UM, I don't know, like there's something
Speaker 1: about the kind of like whimsical and like blowing through
Speaker 1: the winds like quality of that song that like I
Speaker 1: really felt like. UM. I wouldn't say an anthem for
Speaker 1: the year because it's not anthemic at all, but a thematically,
Speaker 1: I was like, this is what the year feels like.
Speaker 1: I think that like runners High was also one of
Speaker 1: those songs where I was like, the year feels like
Speaker 1: runners High, which to me is like a standout from
Speaker 1: the whole Moon album. UM. And also I Guess He Did,
Speaker 1: which is like the meme song an amazing, amazing UM
Speaker 1: One of one more recent edition for me is um
Speaker 1: Spitting Off the Edge of the World from Yea Yea's
Speaker 1: album that they released in September, which is the song
Speaker 1: they did with Perfume Genius, an album that even though
Speaker 1: I'm like lifelong yeah yeah, yeahs UM fanatic, I didn't
Speaker 1: really listen to until a while after it had come out.
Speaker 1: But it's an amazing album. Um. I have to say
Speaker 1: that Midnights did not make it into my top albums
Speaker 1: of the year, even though obviously I have been listening
Speaker 1: to it pretty NonStop since it came out, and like somehow,
Speaker 1: like in the in the two weeks between it coming
Speaker 1: out and when Spotify stopped collecting data for Wrapped it,
Speaker 1: like it would be found its way into my you know,
Speaker 1: top songs. It you know, like we've we've already had
Speaker 1: the discussion about it. But it as much as I
Speaker 1: like it, these other albums we've been talking about and
Speaker 1: songs we've been talking about were just better. I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, would have could have should have like maybe
Speaker 1: would be on like my top I was gonna say
Speaker 1: top twenty five, but maybe like top fifty for the here.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just the album did not did not
Speaker 1: do it for me at all, and I honestly ended
Speaker 1: up muting a lot of the songs on Spotify because
Speaker 1: the algorithm was feeding me too much midnights and I
Speaker 1: was like, I actually don't I don't want to listen
Speaker 1: to this again. Um, Karma, I think it's just like it.
Speaker 1: It feels like a song of the year to me,
Speaker 1: even though I didn't love it that much, just because
Speaker 1: it did really fit the vibe. It's a song that
Speaker 1: we all emotionally, if not comically, like attached to. And UM,
Speaker 1: I think pulled a lot of like the things that
Speaker 1: it's just like a very millennial song that I think
Speaker 1: that we latch onto that I can at least commend
Speaker 1: for being a really perfect pop song. UM. Okay, Well
Speaker 1: what about what about like movies? Do you have favored
Speaker 1: movies of the year. Yes, Um, A lot of which
Speaker 1: we've already talked about. Um, I think Tars one of
Speaker 1: the best movies of the year. Um, Downtown Abbey and
Speaker 1: New Era is still reign supreme as my favorite movie
Speaker 1: of two alongside Mrs Harris Goes to Paris. I'm not trolling.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's the best. I'm saying it's my
Speaker 1: favorite and that is your favorite difference Difference Yes, and
Speaker 1: Orphan First Kill. I really enjoyed. It was one of
Speaker 1: the one of the most fun movie experiences I had
Speaker 1: this year. X and Pearl were both great. Top Gun
Speaker 1: Maverick and then a more recent edition obviously Everything Everywhere,
Speaker 1: All at Once, Um, and then a more recent edition
Speaker 1: Avatar The Way of Water fucking slapped it was. It
Speaker 1: was incredible, takes the cake and UM, I think I
Speaker 1: can say this by the time this episode has come out,
Speaker 1: because it will be out. But Matilda the Musical, which
Speaker 1: is I believe out now on Netflix, is really good.
Speaker 1: I cried multiple times while watching it. I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see it. Um. I feel like I saw the original
Speaker 1: Broadway version of Matilda, but I don't remember why or how. Um.
Speaker 1: The only movie that I really, you know, thought to
Speaker 1: write down for the best of the year is Everything Everywhere,
Speaker 1: All at Once, Like that is a movie that you know,
Speaker 1: we There's nothing I have to add to the conversation
Speaker 1: outside of the fact that it's just like a movie
Speaker 1: that is invested in like pleasure and invested in storytelling
Speaker 1: and in marginalized storytelling, but like at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it's about like pleasure and fun and adventure
Speaker 1: and like action. And I thought that that was like
Speaker 1: a kind of stark difference between people that love. When
Speaker 1: people talk about this movie in relation to Tar and
Speaker 1: how Michelle ye Out and Capelin Chedd are up against
Speaker 1: each other for best Actress, it's like Tar. I also adored, adored, adored,
Speaker 1: but it was not necessarily an overall pleasurable experience. Like
Speaker 1: I didn't enjoy it. And this is just me personally.
Speaker 1: I didn't enjoy all three hour res of it. I
Speaker 1: you know, felt like it was art that I was
Speaker 1: consuming and digesting and muscling through, where something like everything everywhere,
Speaker 1: all at once had the art while championing entertainment um
Speaker 1: and and me being entertained in the seat. And I
Speaker 1: think that's something that just on on a personal taste level,
Speaker 1: you know, me, I'm always going to be uh, I
Speaker 1: want I want style and I want substance. But I like,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I want to make
Speaker 1: sure I'm having fun. Um interesting to that effect or
Speaker 1: what do you want to say to that? Well, I
Speaker 1: just I guess that the further away I get from
Speaker 1: the experience of seeing Everything Everywhere, All at Once in
Speaker 1: a theater. I'm not as kind of gob smacked by
Speaker 1: it as I was initially, Like, Yes, I think Michell
Speaker 1: Yo is incredible in it. I think Stephanie Shoe is amazing. Um,
Speaker 1: the guy who plays the dad also incredible. I think, like,
Speaker 1: if I revisited again, maybe I'll have better language to
Speaker 1: put this in. But I like, I don't know, let's
Speaker 1: just say this. I think Tar is a better movie
Speaker 1: than Everything Everywhere, All at Once. And it's and it's
Speaker 1: certainly like for my taste, just a movie I enjoyed more,
Speaker 1: you know. And they're two, and they're totally different films.
Speaker 1: If I'm going to exactly they're totally different films. If
Speaker 1: I'm going to be extremely truthful, I'm going to kind
Speaker 1: of agree with you a little bit and say that
Speaker 1: Tar put the pieces of the plot together in a
Speaker 1: way that was like had a mastery that was that
Speaker 1: that everything everywhere was not that interested in, right the
Speaker 1: the Daniels, I think we're really invested in like experimentation,
Speaker 1: and so components of plot and character development were kind
Speaker 1: of put on the side to prioritize action, right And
Speaker 1: I And so I do actually agree with that, and
Speaker 1: I also, if I'm going to be really hairy, I
Speaker 1: will say, just on an awards level, that what Kate
Speaker 1: does in Tar is something that the Oscars will adore
Speaker 1: and love and prioritize more than what Michelle Yo did,
Speaker 1: which was, to me, on the performance level, extremely different.
Speaker 1: But if I'm evaluating it all my own, kind of
Speaker 1: like metric, I feel what Michelle did was triumphant and
Speaker 1: a retrospective of her work that was long deserved, and
Speaker 1: I think that added thematic meaning to her performance that
Speaker 1: was at the end of the day, more powerful than
Speaker 1: what Kate did. But again I'm just like being kind
Speaker 1: of no. I I agree, and I think you're right,
Speaker 1: And I think when I think it is extremely likely
Speaker 1: that Michelle Yo will win Best Actress at the Oscars,
Speaker 1: I think it's deserved. I don't think it's necessarily deserved
Speaker 1: just on the merits of her performance in the film.
Speaker 1: I do think, as you said, it's about her career.
Speaker 1: It's about her getting this recognition that she's long deserved,
Speaker 1: especially when cape Lynchett literally already has two Oscars, like
Speaker 1: she doesn't need it. But for my taste level, like
Speaker 1: I enjoyed her performance more and and I think Tar
Speaker 1: just does more with its premise than Everything Everywhere All
Speaker 1: It Once does. Like I actually kind of the again,
Speaker 1: Like the further I get away from it, the more
Speaker 1: I wish that Everything Everywhere All at Once had like
Speaker 1: doubled down on its own world building and Tar, like,
Speaker 1: obviously it's not like a sci fi movie, but it
Speaker 1: is so deeply entrenched in it in the world that
Speaker 1: it builds, And I just it's just more my taste
Speaker 1: as a movie. But they're both fantastic films, both fantastic performances,
Speaker 1: quite amazing actresses, and like, who cares about awards anyway,
Speaker 1: But it was a great ear for the movies. Yeah,
Speaker 1: who cares about a war? It's funny, Like you say,
Speaker 1: Michelle Yo, It's like, is she She's it's extremely likely
Speaker 1: that she'll win, but like, I feel like it's more
Speaker 1: likely that Kate's gonna win because she I think in Tar,
Speaker 1: she has there's more to observe on the level of
Speaker 1: like her as an actor, maybe even but like, but
Speaker 1: we see this happen with with awards and that it
Speaker 1: really is especially the voter when you think about the
Speaker 1: voting body of the Academy especially like it is Michelle's time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is she's I think she's I think she's going
Speaker 1: to win, unless like they split the vote and Michelle
Speaker 1: Williams wins for the Fableman's which I don't think it's
Speaker 1: going to happen. Because I hear that I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to. But I hear that it's a
Speaker 1: very insufferable movie. I believe it. I okay, I have
Speaker 1: to say, you know it just with other movies. I
Speaker 1: you know, when I was trying to pull together, like
Speaker 1: what my list of from the year, it's evident that,
Speaker 1: like I'm really a girl that's like my favorite movie
Speaker 1: is just like the last movie that I saw. And
Speaker 1: I can't stop thinking about Triangle of Sadness. I really can't,
Speaker 1: and I I I cannot wait for you to watch it. Actually,
Speaker 1: it's like streamable now, maybe you should rent it. I
Speaker 1: totally when you have three hours to three hours to
Speaker 1: sit through it. It's the kind of movie that I'll
Speaker 1: probably watch over since it's dreamable. I'll watch it in
Speaker 1: two sittings maybe, yeah, yeah, wildly entertaining. You could watch
Speaker 1: it in three. It's it's a three part movie and
Speaker 1: each part really feels like a new movie. It's like
Speaker 1: kind of how I feel about it. But I don't
Speaker 1: think on the craft level that it was like the
Speaker 1: best movie of two or whatever. But I think the
Speaker 1: reason I say it's one of my favorites is because
Speaker 1: it tried so many things that I had never seen
Speaker 1: before that were subtle but still commentary successful while still
Speaker 1: being like um rambunctious, like you know, not afraid to
Speaker 1: make mistakes on like the storytelling, our character level, and
Speaker 1: um just like image it like there's there's a set
Speaker 1: piece in the middle of the film that I already
Speaker 1: talked about you will love. Um. I can't stop thinking
Speaker 1: about that movie. So definitely definitely a stand out for
Speaker 1: me because I didn't actually think I was gonna like
Speaker 1: it that much. Yeah, I was actually very surprised that
Speaker 1: you loved it as much as you did. It just
Speaker 1: felt like a movie I wanted to write, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I think when you can see how
Speaker 1: much fun the writers are having, which I think describes
Speaker 1: a lot of things on our like movie and show
Speaker 1: list this year. Um, that's like when I'm when I like,
Speaker 1: remember remember stuff. Let's let's make a little a short,
Speaker 1: little pit stop in Rose's book Corner A little pit Stop. Um.
Speaker 1: I you know, I read a lot this year, not
Speaker 1: as much as I as I wish I had. I
Speaker 1: will say, if I'm looking at the year thematically, this
Speaker 1: was the year for me that I really discovered and
Speaker 1: became obsessed with queer historical romance. I've read a lot
Speaker 1: of it this year. Um. Some of it I've already
Speaker 1: talked about. A Lady for Ad was incredible. Um. Uh,
Speaker 1: pretty much any book by K. J. Charles UM. And
Speaker 1: then some other books I've talked about already are Her
Speaker 1: Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson. I think is probably
Speaker 1: my favorite book that I read this year. I've talked
Speaker 1: about it before. Um. Also the Captive Prince trilogy, which
Speaker 1: we did talk about on the podcast before, but I
Speaker 1: believe it was cut in an edit. Um. It is
Speaker 1: a sort of like alternate history. Um. Slavery romance. Wait,
Speaker 1: this isn't the one you were reading on Fire Island?
Speaker 1: Was it? No? No? No, that was that was a
Speaker 1: different another another course, another course that another cod beast Ripper,
Speaker 1: God beast Ripper. Yes. Um. And um, something that I'm
Speaker 1: reading recently that I'm really enjoying is a book of
Speaker 1: short stories called Salt Slow by Julia Armfield. UM. I
Speaker 1: have always been a short story girly, and I it's
Speaker 1: it's a really good way for me to break out
Speaker 1: of a reading lump which I have been in recently
Speaker 1: because I just finished a book that it took me
Speaker 1: basically a month to read because I really wasn't enjoying it.
Speaker 1: And I've been trying to empower myself more to stop
Speaker 1: reading books when I realized I don't like them. I
Speaker 1: have a really hard time doing that because I'm a finisher. UM.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, this book that I actually was really excited
Speaker 1: about reading just wasn't good and it took me a
Speaker 1: long time to read it. And so I wanted to
Speaker 1: read something that I could like consume pretty quickly and
Speaker 1: would get me back into a reading mode. UM. And
Speaker 1: so that book of short stories, which I actually found
Speaker 1: because it was on UM the reading list that Florence
Speaker 1: Welch put out when she was releasing Dance Fever of
Speaker 1: books that had sort of like inspired the album or
Speaker 1: books that she read while she was writing and recording
Speaker 1: the album. And it's a lot of like really great
Speaker 1: like dark, little short stories, so I definitely recommend it's
Speaker 1: it's very readable and like like just kind of fast
Speaker 1: paced readable is my vibe slash that was me when
Speaker 1: I read The Heart the Heart Stopper books that you left. Um,
Speaker 1: I can't even remember why you gave them to me.
Speaker 1: I think because I wanted you to read them, because
Speaker 1: I think I had you had covid. Yes, I brought that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had covid. Um, so I think honestly, so I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't read as much as Rose. The
Speaker 1: Virgins probably know this already. I used to be an
Speaker 1: avid reader. I made a resolution to read more this year,
Speaker 1: and I did not. Um, I really did not. And
Speaker 1: I don't even know if like I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's okay, it'll be next year's goal. And it's like
Speaker 1: I just need actually to to regiment. You have to
Speaker 1: make time for the things you want to make time for,
Speaker 1: and that's like where I'm at. But the book that
Speaker 1: I read the most this year, crazy enough, is this
Speaker 1: book called The Greeks and Greek Love by James Davidson,
Speaker 1: which is a kind of like Queer not year. It's
Speaker 1: like gay mail love in um Greek history and examples
Speaker 1: of it throughout mythology and time. And I read a lot,
Speaker 1: a lot a lot of that book in preparation for
Speaker 1: our Greek Mythology episode. But then after we recorded our
Speaker 1: Greek Mythology episode, I kept reading it and you know,
Speaker 1: for as research for another writing project thing, And like,
Speaker 1: I just forgot how much I fucking love reading about
Speaker 1: Greek myths and Greek history, queer Greek history. UM. So
Speaker 1: if you have, if you or if the visions have
Speaker 1: any like Rex in that regard, like I would love
Speaker 1: to read more. Um. The only other book that I like,
Speaker 1: really like defined the book that defined my year, because
Speaker 1: it's the book that I remember the most reading and
Speaker 1: underlining is this book called Do Nothing by Celest Headley
Speaker 1: that I've talked about on the pod before. That's about
Speaker 1: the invention of the workforce and why we need to
Speaker 1: take more vacations and learn how to enjoy idle time
Speaker 1: and enjoy when we're not working. Um. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: definitely definitely changed my outlook on life and personality, and
Speaker 1: I think a good book should do that. Um. Obviously
Speaker 1: I'm more of a nonfiction reader than than Rose, but
Speaker 1: like fiction, I want to I need to get back
Speaker 1: into fiction. I miss good pro well. I also think
Speaker 1: I think you can be a little kinder to yourself
Speaker 1: about not having the time to read, because you know,
Speaker 1: I definitely have found that I'm reading a lot more
Speaker 1: than now that I live in New York again, because
Speaker 1: I'm reading on the subway and the subway, and you know,
Speaker 1: like living in a city where you don't take public
Speaker 1: transportation as you do in Los Angeles, you really have
Speaker 1: to be very intentional about reading because like I love
Speaker 1: reading on the subway because it just makes the commute
Speaker 1: go by faster. And so I think once you're back
Speaker 1: here eventually you will put that into practice again. Also
Speaker 1: read in the bath, and as someone who has a
Speaker 1: lifelong battle with insomnia, reading before bed is really helpful,
Speaker 1: but kind of only if you're doing it with an
Speaker 1: actual physical book, not an e reader, because something that
Speaker 1: that is really bad for me is looking at my
Speaker 1: phone a lot before bed because it just kind of
Speaker 1: keeps my brain going. Although I do love to read
Speaker 1: fan fiction before bad so I don't know, I don't
Speaker 1: know what to do about that. I love some nighttime
Speaker 1: fan fiction. Um okay, i I'm like I had a
Speaker 1: hard time thinking about like oldies but goodies, but like
Speaker 1: I also realized that two of mine were Glenn Close influenced. Um.
Speaker 1: I watched the first season of Damages, starring Glenn Close
Speaker 1: and Rose Byrne, which is like a lot of people
Speaker 1: you know, always talk about in the context of like
Speaker 1: best TV shows ever, but out our most popular TV
Speaker 1: shows are like whatever, Um, this this show like predated
Speaker 1: like the prestige TV movement where like movie stars were
Speaker 1: like migrating to TV or whatever, like Glenn Close did
Speaker 1: it before, you know, Nicole Kidman and all of them
Speaker 1: did big little lies. And I think that like I
Speaker 1: had never I'd always heard about Damages as like something
Speaker 1: of a punchline in conversation, but it never actually considered
Speaker 1: it or even knew what it was about. And the
Speaker 1: first season sucked me in. I watched it in like
Speaker 1: maybe over the weekend. Um, and yeah, it was. It
Speaker 1: was you would love it's her and Rose Byrne Rose,
Speaker 1: and I actually think it love Roseberd. Yeah. And it's
Speaker 1: literally just like a procedural well barely procedural. Actually it's
Speaker 1: it's not procedural. Actually, it's it's a a true, a
Speaker 1: true like linear narrative about like this law firm that's
Speaker 1: obviously you know at corrupt and murderous, and um, I
Speaker 1: loved it. It It reminded me of how I felt when
Speaker 1: I watched Scandal, but it's like maybe better written than Scandal, um,
Speaker 1: at least the first season. I also loved Fatal Attraction.
Speaker 1: Our Fatal Attraction episode was so fun to talk about
Speaker 1: when we when we did it with Obsessed, and like,
Speaker 1: that was a movie that, like, I could not stop
Speaker 1: thinking about after I finished. Tell you, I'm the same
Speaker 1: for me with Obsessed. That is one of my oldies
Speaker 1: but goodies. And I was reminded of it recently because
Speaker 1: Obsessed is a Christmas movie. It is there's a Christmas party.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll watch it this week. Yeah, twice in one year.
Speaker 1: Yeah tis the season. Um, did you did you buy
Speaker 1: anything that you really liked this year? Like? Did I
Speaker 1: buy anything? Girl? And anyone who listens to this podcast
Speaker 1: knows this is a podcast about consumerism and capitalism. This
Speaker 1: is a podcast about consumption. This is this is a
Speaker 1: story about control, right, Yeah, but it's some critique. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we're doing it knowingly, you know, we're we're we're we're
Speaker 1: very in on the joke about how we're corrupt capitalist.
Speaker 1: I should I go now and see how many essence
Speaker 1: orders I made this year or sick No, because a
Speaker 1: lot of the things, the things that we buy on
Speaker 1: essence aren't even best buys. They're not And that, honestly
Speaker 1: is a lesson I should learn. Is because nothing I
Speaker 1: bought on essence this year ended up in my best
Speaker 1: buies of the year. Um, but some things that did
Speaker 1: are so recently I have been you know, radicalized as
Speaker 1: a as a second hand buyer, as like a thrifty
Speaker 1: vintagy girl. And so I bought a bag recently because
Speaker 1: of TikTok, because I saw someone on TikTok wearing it
Speaker 1: and it has become kind of my go to everyday bag.
Speaker 1: It's um, the Coach ergo bag, I think. I mean,
Speaker 1: just like any vintage Coach is really good because Coach
Speaker 1: leather is amazing. There. The way that their bags are
Speaker 1: made just like really you know, withstand the test of
Speaker 1: time and it's a great shape. It's sort of like
Speaker 1: a hobo bag. Mine is brown, and like, even though
Speaker 1: I wear a lot of black, I also like to
Speaker 1: throw brown into the mix. And it's just like a
Speaker 1: great staple. Um. I will say a not another non
Speaker 1: beauty thing that I bought this year, very recently that
Speaker 1: I really love is my air fryer. I was so
Speaker 1: opposed to it. I was like, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be one of those bitches like cooking everything in an
Speaker 1: air fire. Girl. It is the best fucking thing because
Speaker 1: it means I never have to use my oven like
Speaker 1: I can just anything I need to cook. I just
Speaker 1: pop in that little bitch that you can see right
Speaker 1: there on top of my fridge. It's the best I've
Speaker 1: been making, you know. I bought a package of those
Speaker 1: pre made tall House cookies. Every night when I'm like
Speaker 1: watching TV, I pop four of them in the air fire.
Speaker 1: They're done in like six minutes. It's amazing, so nice.
Speaker 1: I I love. I love a life hack like that,
Speaker 1: A little life hack on me. Got um. The thing,
Speaker 1: the beauty product that I love that I now wear
Speaker 1: like most days is UM. There's this brand called Dear
Speaker 1: Do d d I e U x Um. They have
Speaker 1: this moisture so called moisture eis are called instant Angel Cream.
Speaker 1: I had found like almost every component of my skincare routine,
Speaker 1: you know, for a time except for moisturizer. Moisturizer was
Speaker 1: the thing where I was like, I'm still figuring out
Speaker 1: what I like, and I love this instant angel cream
Speaker 1: and scare. Okay, so I have used it as well.
Speaker 1: I bought a tube of it a couple of months ago.
Speaker 1: I like it, but okay, what is it? What is
Speaker 1: it that it's doing for you? Because I kind of
Speaker 1: because I couldn't kind of find it, like right, it's fine,
Speaker 1: it's kind of fine. It's for me. It's like not
Speaker 1: too thick, not too thin. It gives me a dewy
Speaker 1: glow that I like, but it's not overt. It just
Speaker 1: like helps it like makes me feel refreshed. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it just kind of checks all the boxes because what
Speaker 1: I was finding is when I was like doing like
Speaker 1: you know, tad to Harper moisturizer, like all these other things,
Speaker 1: it's like it either had too much shine, or it
Speaker 1: was too thick, or it was too thin, or it's
Speaker 1: like very goldilocks and very civic to like what I
Speaker 1: want autam moisturizer, And I think the same can be
Speaker 1: said for like others. Yeah, no, I actually I actually
Speaker 1: think you're right. I think that's like when I used it.
Speaker 1: I think that when I was done with the tube,
Speaker 1: what I was waiting for was this moment where I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, this really improved my skin or like whatever.
Speaker 1: And in fact, actually what I should have been thinking
Speaker 1: was like this. For a month, I did not have
Speaker 1: to think about the kind of moisturizer I was using.
Speaker 1: I just used a pretty good moisturizer morning and night.
Speaker 1: And like you might you actually might have turned me
Speaker 1: back around. I might, I might buy another tube. The
Speaker 1: key is just to combine it with like a vitamin
Speaker 1: C treatment, right, Like, I think that's like what That's
Speaker 1: the thing that I think helped me like just incorporated
Speaker 1: into my daily routine. The only other moisturizer that's even
Speaker 1: come close is the doctor chart one that comes and
Speaker 1: like a yellow tube that like is like you know,
Speaker 1: I think, not not as good as interesting. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: currently off vitamin C. I've stopped using it. I love that.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm off vitamin C these yet that's so l A.
Speaker 1: You can take the girl out of l A. But
Speaker 1: um on the subject of skincare, I did. I did
Speaker 1: discover a facewash that I loved this year. Um, So
Speaker 1: if you if you are anyone who's in the market
Speaker 1: for one. It's the karez Um Greek yogurt facewash. It's
Speaker 1: a really good, Yes, it's a really good foaming facial cleanser.
Speaker 1: And foaming cleansers are great, um if you have clogged pores.
Speaker 1: And I use it. My routine is I I double cleans,
Speaker 1: I do an oil cleanser and and like a cream cleanser.
Speaker 1: And that is just like the kind of the same
Speaker 1: with the do It's just like, no nonsense. It does
Speaker 1: what it's supposed to do. Don't really have to think
Speaker 1: about it. Yogurt is an underappreciated sentence ever as well.
Speaker 1: One one time it doesn't taste or smell like yogurt.
Speaker 1: It just kind of like is the consistency of yogurt.
Speaker 1: It's yogurt consistent. And I think maybe they use yogurt
Speaker 1: yogurt in no formula. I don't know. I can't really
Speaker 1: that sounds crazy, isn't it, Like wouldn't it clogg My course,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't no, girl, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: So Rose and I were trying to think of like
Speaker 1: fun categors for like our best of and I wrote
Speaker 1: down best substance, primarily because I tried you know, microdicing
Speaker 1: psilocybin this year, which is like you know, mushrooms essentially,
Speaker 1: and it really worked as a holdover before I got
Speaker 1: onto Lexi pro, which obviously works better. But but like I,
Speaker 1: I do recommend it, said at work, Sila psilocybin, Alexa
Speaker 1: pro No no, no, psilocybin, psilocybin. Yeah, I I saw
Speaker 1: an actual noticeable difference. It's just like extremely subtle, extremely subtle,
Speaker 1: and it's something that you only notice over the course
Speaker 1: of taking it for like about a week or so,
Speaker 1: where you're like, oh, like my brain is like a
Speaker 1: little different. And and I don't know, I think i'd
Speaker 1: be curious at anybody that has like tried it or
Speaker 1: read about or watch a documentary about like mushrooms and stuff.
Speaker 1: I think that, like, I don't know, I'm it's a
Speaker 1: very new science and so I'm always interested in it.
Speaker 1: But I also rose I had never done sialist before
Speaker 1: this year. Sialists, Yell, how do you pronounce it? Viagra
Speaker 1: generic via Va, generic Viagra. I had never needed it,
Speaker 1: but now I'm on like so many kind of bonus
Speaker 1: stomping pills. But do you have a hard time maintaining interaction.
Speaker 1: I've never in my life how a hard time getting
Speaker 1: an erection ever, And now as of this year, because
Speaker 1: I'm on I'm like they all deter my libido. And
Speaker 1: I had multiple sexual encounters this summer where I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I can't get it up and I've
Speaker 1: never had this problem before, and um, this last week,
Speaker 1: I I didn't have a problem because because of this
Speaker 1: magic drug that everybody talks about you that is kind
Speaker 1: of garbage. Um, did you have a substance of the year, Rose,
Speaker 1: I guess I would say melotonin because I am like,
Speaker 1: as I said already this episode didn't have talked about before.
Speaker 1: I have a lifelong struggle with insomnia, and I definitely
Speaker 1: over the past couple of years have had like a
Speaker 1: bit of um a dependence on um ambien and other
Speaker 1: like prescripture sleep aids and have really been trying over
Speaker 1: the past like six months maybe to wean myself off
Speaker 1: of them. In Melitonin has been helpful in that it's
Speaker 1: not fool proof, and like, of course I would love
Speaker 1: to get to a point where I don't need anything
Speaker 1: to get to sleep, but I just don't unfortunately, think
Speaker 1: that's in the cards for me. I think this is
Speaker 1: something that I will be dealing with for the rest
Speaker 1: of my life, and so I would at least prefer
Speaker 1: to do something to use something that my body naturally
Speaker 1: produces um rather than you know, like a chemical that
Speaker 1: is like tranquilizing me. Right, Yeah, always not ideal. Um.
Speaker 1: I wait, while we're on the top of the topic
Speaker 1: of substance, actually, um Phoebe. Phoebe gave us some some
Speaker 1: category ideas, and one of the ones she came up
Speaker 1: with was best moment when you made a deal with God.
Speaker 1: And I feel like I saw God when I was
Speaker 1: in that cahole on Fire Island. But did you make
Speaker 1: a deal with God when you were in that because
Speaker 1: I don't sound because if you did, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you made a good deal, because you you you
Speaker 1: were in that moment, I was your God. You you
Speaker 1: mistake me. I made the deal in the like I
Speaker 1: was holding on for dear life. I had a moment
Speaker 1: of clarity where I was like, I am going to die.
Speaker 1: I thought I was going to die, and I actually
Speaker 1: have never had a near death experience quite like that,
Speaker 1: and I did. I was just like God, please find
Speaker 1: me and I and there she was. I also had
Speaker 1: a moment where I made a deal with God similarly,
Speaker 1: when I thought I was going to die, and it
Speaker 1: was when I finally got COVID in October. I woke
Speaker 1: up one morning and couldn't breathe because my nose was
Speaker 1: so congested that I couldn't breathe through it, and my
Speaker 1: throat was so swollen, and that I couldn't breathe through
Speaker 1: my mouth. And I really I woke up choking and
Speaker 1: thought I was going to die. And in that moment
Speaker 1: I made a deal with God. Um and and actually
Speaker 1: the deal was um getting on Pakslovid. And the deal
Speaker 1: that was my favorite substance of the year was pak
Speaker 1: slovin Banks Alvin. The deal was, Dear God, please let
Speaker 1: me live, and I promise I will not change anything
Speaker 1: about my life, our behavior, as I will stay the
Speaker 1: same exactly. UM. Did you have uh favorite favorite TV
Speaker 1: from this year? Obviously, as anyone who listens to this
Speaker 1: podcast knows, we talked about Interview, Interview the Vampire. We
Speaker 1: talked about Yes, I I think Interview with the Vampire
Speaker 1: was my my favorite show of the year. Um, We've
Speaker 1: we've talked about. We loved House of the Dragon, we
Speaker 1: loved Severance, I loved the guilded Aid, we loved the dropout,
Speaker 1: and we also loved and we didn't talk about it
Speaker 1: last week after the news came. Yeah, we didn't. F
Speaker 1: Boy Island Rest in peace. I will never forgive you
Speaker 1: HBO Max for taking it away from us. I truly
Speaker 1: want to go to the like Warner Building and protest
Speaker 1: it is not right, it's not okay, it's not fair.
Speaker 1: I truly like would start an insurrection over it. To that.
Speaker 1: I I completely agree. It's like one of the greatest
Speaker 1: reality TV shows that you and I have ever watched,
Speaker 1: A competition reality series that is like should be a standard. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't, I have no I mean, obviously we know
Speaker 1: that there's like a lot of fund up things going
Speaker 1: on at Order Media right now, and that's why this
Speaker 1: is getting canceled. Legendary was definitely It's, as I've already
Speaker 1: said in the show, one of my favorite TV shows
Speaker 1: of all time, was one of my favorite shows that
Speaker 1: I watched this year. It was canceled at the same time.
Speaker 1: Fuck that, Um, fuck HBO Max. Sorry, I mean you
Speaker 1: are micro. I love you HBO Max, but like why
Speaker 1: did you need to bring these You need to bring
Speaker 1: these girls backs, like come on, like legendary, like they're
Speaker 1: just needs to be more shows like that. Um and whatever. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I will, okay, I want to give out a special
Speaker 1: a special honor um this. I've created an award, um
Speaker 1: and it's it's the Azalea Banks Icon Award for the
Speaker 1: for longest Voice Notes, the inaugural Azalia Banks Icon just
Speaker 1: because you know, Azalie Banks is a is a big
Speaker 1: fan of talking for a vailent time over multiple Instagram
Speaker 1: stories and so I feel like she would um no,
Speaker 1: she would hate us. Well she I mean she actually
Speaker 1: has like come for me on Twitter before. Um. But um,
Speaker 1: in her honor, I'm awarding this award, this icon award
Speaker 1: to you, frand because you frequently sent me voice notes
Speaker 1: that are um like a minute forty seconds or like
Speaker 1: two minutes and seven seconds, or you'll send You'll send
Speaker 1: like like three two minute long voice notes in a row.
Speaker 1: I will. I will do that, So maybe not three,
Speaker 1: but probably at least three three to see I would
Speaker 1: I see. The thing is if I asked you to
Speaker 1: to to describe anything that happened in any of the
Speaker 1: voice memos. I'm not sure we would be able to
Speaker 1: decipher which one, but I but I know I have
Speaker 1: received them. One thing is for sure is I have
Speaker 1: received them. Um. The only one I can think of
Speaker 1: right now is the one where that I send you
Speaker 1: after listening to the Thiebe Bridges song that's on the news.
Speaker 1: Is the album where I was like a little stone
Speaker 1: and like describing a spiritual experience I had for Rose
Speaker 1: at like what was her time three o'clock in the morning. Um.
Speaker 1: I love sending voice memos and honestly, the virgins at
Speaker 1: home are going to be hearing this and they're gonna
Speaker 1: be like three minutes. That's nothing, because when you're queer,
Speaker 1: the girls send eight minute voice memos. I'm glad I
Speaker 1: not that girl, but like queers be doing that. I
Speaker 1: think what the cadence should be is like lots of
Speaker 1: short little voice notes back and forth. I like lots
Speaker 1: of short little ones as well. But I but I
Speaker 1: you know, it's hard to get in. It's hard to
Speaker 1: establish a back and forth with someone because you never
Speaker 1: know if they're available or like you know, you just
Speaker 1: like send it in. See because when it's two minutes,
Speaker 1: you're basically leaving a voicemail. Yeah, I mean that's that
Speaker 1: is what it is. Like, we don't do voicemails anymore.
Speaker 1: We do voice memos, which yes, okay. So Phoebe also
Speaker 1: asked our guiltiest pleasure of the year. I mean we've
Speaker 1: already established we're not. We don't feel guilty about the
Speaker 1: things that we find pleasurable, right, which I love. I
Speaker 1: think it's like it's a kind of it's a pillar
Speaker 1: of this show, is that we do not feel guilt
Speaker 1: about our pleasures. But like if I were to, I
Speaker 1: mean like aside essence sales, aside I do. My car
Speaker 1: is like, uh a large expense that I cannot afford um,
Speaker 1: And yet it's the first car and only car I've
Speaker 1: ever owned, slash might be the only car I own
Speaker 1: for a very long time, and I'm not going to
Speaker 1: have it in a few more months when I moved
Speaker 1: back to New York. And so I've been like really
Speaker 1: really enjoying what is a kind of costly, monthly um thing.
Speaker 1: I have a similarly vehicular, somewhat guilty pleasure. Or I
Speaker 1: guess if we're calling for saying an indulgence. Now that
Speaker 1: I'm back in New York City, I'm taking a lot
Speaker 1: of cabs. I am I the girl. After I puked
Speaker 1: my brains up yesterday morning before my hair appointment, you
Speaker 1: better believe I was not taking the train to get
Speaker 1: to the salon. Oh yeah, or um. I did take
Speaker 1: a taxi one night. I was at my brother's on
Speaker 1: the Upper west Side and I took a cab to
Speaker 1: Brooklyn from the Upper west Side. I did take it
Speaker 1: with his friend who was also there, who also lived
Speaker 1: in Clinton Hill, so like we put together and split it. Oh.
Speaker 1: But I also on Thanksgiving I got to ride home
Speaker 1: from Connecticut with some extended family members who also live uptown,
Speaker 1: and I took a taxi from the Upper west Side
Speaker 1: to Brooklyn. But it also meant that on Thanksgiving night,
Speaker 1: I was home by ten thirty watching Gilmore Girls. So
Speaker 1: I don't regret it at all. I honestly the money
Speaker 1: is worth it, Like it's worth it to me to
Speaker 1: not have to sit on the subway for an hour.
Speaker 1: Look time as money, time is money. I would say
Speaker 1: that is the thing that I most frequently spend money on,
Speaker 1: is like comfort and time. Yeah, those are the things too.
Speaker 1: And I, you know, I set time as money kind
Speaker 1: of like facetiously like I I it's actually like less
Speaker 1: time as money and more that like time is more
Speaker 1: valuable than money. Time is the most precious resource we have.
Speaker 1: And I will do anything to have more of my
Speaker 1: life back. And if I have to pay for that
Speaker 1: time time, then I will. Um and there we go? Uh?
Speaker 1: Did there is there? Uh? Did you have like the
Speaker 1: best porn? I don't know if I have the best porn. Um.
Speaker 1: I guess my best porn would be that the one
Speaker 1: that I watched with Tarzan and Milo from Wait wait, wait,
Speaker 1: wait did you see that there's been a new drop
Speaker 1: of Aladdin having sex with Wait? Who was it? Let
Speaker 1: me call it my I need to know because it's
Speaker 1: actually it really hit our spots and also like all
Speaker 1: the trans lesbian cent our porn that we sent each other,
Speaker 1: but like not not you know, as as something I
Speaker 1: actually pleasured myself too. Oh wait is this the print?
Speaker 1: Oh that's some that's the guy from Tangled. Tangled? Okay,
Speaker 1: it's the guy from Tangled having sex with Aladdin. Okay,
Speaker 1: will you text that to me please? I will not.
Speaker 1: I will not on a professional level. I can't sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm girl. Um that actually is a is a great
Speaker 1: addition to the best porn of the year, what's your
Speaker 1: favorite porn of the year. Honestly, it's it's less favorite
Speaker 1: porn of the year and more like favorite porn actor
Speaker 1: is Sharrock. So it feels kind of basic because Sharrock
Speaker 1: is like everybody's favorite porn actor. But like Sharrock has
Speaker 1: really like he checks all of my boxes and I
Speaker 1: do return to like a lot of his like videos,
Speaker 1: and he has the like dominant rough top thing while
Speaker 1: also being really kissy and really tender and really soft
Speaker 1: that I just don't really see with a lot of
Speaker 1: other porn um. And on top of that, he in
Speaker 1: the middle of the crisis that's happening in Iran right now,
Speaker 1: Like Sharrock's Instagram is almost exclusively like sharing and re
Speaker 1: sharing and amplifying information about what's happening in Iran, and
Speaker 1: like you just don't see people in the industry doing that.
Speaker 1: Like he's literally killing his own algorithm and and shadow
Speaker 1: banning himself because he wants to like protect and amplify
Speaker 1: the things that are going on in his country, and
Speaker 1: like that is like sick as fuck. And the porn
Speaker 1: actors that I do love are the ones whose personalities
Speaker 1: I I fall in love with online and the things
Speaker 1: that they stand for are always amazing. So well, it
Speaker 1: truly has been a year, and you know, big thank
Speaker 1: you to all of you who listened to us talk
Speaker 1: every week this year, who followed us on Instagram Like
Speaker 1: a Virgin for nine, who filled out our survey. We
Speaker 1: love you. We hope to UM just keep making this
Speaker 1: show for you for as long as you want to
Speaker 1: listen to it, UM, and we hope that maybe Like
Speaker 1: a Virgin was one of your favorite parts of two
Speaker 1: and will be in as well. Thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to our show this week and this year, UM as
Speaker 1: always follow us at Like a Virgin nine. We'll see
Speaker 1: you in the new year with new episodes, new guests,
Speaker 1: new topics. UM, you can find me online anywhere at
Speaker 1: Rose Damn you and you can find me at France
Speaker 1: Squish go anywhere you like. Like a Virgins iHeart radio podcast.
Speaker 1: Our producers Phoebe Unter, with support from Lindsay Hoffman, Julian Weller,
Speaker 1: Jess Crane Chitch and Nikki Etre Until next year. Bye,
Speaker 1: l