A Brad Pitt PRomance, against the grain reviews, is Bradley Cooper up his own ass, big budget KStew, a Rocky and Rihanna bias, and over the top Christmas celebs
This was a banger of a mailbag! What a perfect way to close out the year.
I'm slow on the uptake so I just realized that (has it always been the case) at least lately Lainey begins the mailbag with a topic, and then proceeds to answer questions. So now I'm super curious as to how Lainey selects the opener topic.
And I'm not sure if I harbored any great hopes for The Squawk--once I realized what it is I immediately signed up, as repayment rather than in expectation of receiving additional value--but what bang for the buck!
The Squawk has been the best development in my gossip consumption since I found Lainey Gossip in the oughts.
I am processing the Rihanna/Rocky note but just want to say I appreciate you engaging with the criticism/comment in a thoughtful way instead of deleting or ignoring it.
Just wanted to say happy holidays to Lainey, Jacek, Sarah, the whole Lainey/Squawk team, and this lovely community! I love these extra doses of intelligent, insightful, good-hearted gossip, especially the TNT recaps. Joining the Squawk is the most fun money I've spent on myself in 2023!
Re: Brad Pitt, I feel like we're on the cusp of a big *something* with him. There have been so many things bubbling under the surface for so long (those of us that are too online know, but the larger population, ie, Mini Van Majority, perhaps doesn't). With the plane ride, abuse, NOT ONE SINGLE kid talks to him. Not one! Out of 6!, the shady Miraval stuff, the harassing AJ through the courts, the money grabs with his 'skin care' line and the million dollar cashmere shirts, something is gonna give. He's been able to coast for so long. Man, I miss my innocent days of just being able to crush on him. That face. *sigh*. Too bad he's a POS.
On another note: I love the Squawk! What a delight it's been. Happy Holidays to the team!
You make me feel like there is some sanity out there...and yet... to your point about how NOT ONE of his children has contact with him, there are so many people out there who default to "Yeah she poisoned them against him" which is tbe stretch they're willing to make because that's how deeply HIMPATHY has been conditioned within us. It's a fascinating phenomenon to witness and yet obviously deeply troubling.
I recall ahead of time sources claiming he would be spending his birthday with his girlfriend and a few of his kids, but when the party actually happened, none of his kids were seen or mentioned. Weird.
Also, you can't keep your teenager from stealing your phone charger, how are you supposed to suddenly make them want nothing to do with their father? Plus, some of them are adults now. It is amazing how people will just forget basic crap to keep their worldview in place (unfortunately not limited to gossip).
Brad Pitt’s been coasting on 40 years or so of goodwill that I’m not sure anything could dislodge this image of him as the hot, fun nice guy. He’s largely buried child and spousal abuse (basically only the very online know about it), made people forget he’s an alcoholic (despite some evidence he’s not sober), screwed Hurricane Katrina victims for years with those crappy Make It Right homes, tax evasion in France, etc.
I swear he could shoot someone in broad daylight with a hundred witnesses and you’d have a majority of people making excuses for him.
I forgot about Make it Right!! Yes, add it to the list. He's a cockroach, like a certain former president, who will survive and maybe even profit off of every bad thing that happens.
This mailbag reminds me of what I appreciate most about The Squawk. As a longtime LaineyGossip reader, I have always loved the Show Your Work concept that Lainey highlights in many of her pieces (and the old podcast). And so I enjoy that the LG team has the opportunity to show their work on The Squawk, with insights on behind-the-scenes decision making, writing process, etc. And as demonstrated here, this includes a willingness to engage and be transparent on topics, even when there are no easy answers.
Besides the awesome community, this is my favorite part of The Squawk. I really appreciate it and look forward to more in the new year!
Happy holidays, Squawkers! I joined basically to say thanks for many years of great reading, still don’t really understand Substack TBH, but what joy this community has brought me. (Not to mention I am now on episode 4 of Vincenzo thanks to Lainey and Sarah, and loving it beyond reason.) May 2024 bring us all the gift of great gossip, I personally am alarmingly over-invested in TNT, and hoping against hope that Brad Pitt finally gets the karma he seems to thoroughly deserve.
My cousin, who i've been nagging for years to get into C and K-drama series, finally watched Vincenzo and is now overcome with her obsession with Song Joong-ki. What I love most about Vincenzo though is how fucking hilarious it is. Let me know when you get to the courtroom scene.
Right now I am very deeply into The Story Park's Marriage Contract. Highly recommend.
Loved Sarah’s response to the question about writing movie reviews. I actually totally relate as a university instructor lol. It’s so much easier for me to assess either really good or really bad student essays because like Sarah says, it’s so obvious what works or what really doesn’t work. But a mediocre student paper? It’s so hard for me to articulate why something is a C or B because it’s just...fine.
What is easy to articulate is how much I’ve loved the Squawk this year and how much I appreciate everyone here who comments so thoughtfully and respectfully! And thank you to Lainey, Sarah, and Jacek for making this space and community such a fun and smart one!
Sarah's excellent review actually answers a lot of questions I didn't realize I'd had for *years* about the book version of the movie. In my previous life, I worked for a large corporation, and for some reason this book (along with Brene Brown's latest and other similar Lean In-type bland rah-rah white bread inspirational drivel) was ALWAYS pushed for us lowly corporate cogs to read. It's JUST inspirational enough to merit corporate dialogue, but not challenging enough to, god forbid, stir up CONTROVERSY or OFFENSE. It all makes sense now! Thank you for the review, Sarah!
Happy Holidays to all! I'm very grateful to have The Squawk, after years of reading LG and desperately wishing for a way to engage with fellow readers. Thanks to Lainey, Sarah, and Jacek for fostering such an excellent, thoughtful, funny, and considerate community here!
Brad Pitt's cashmere line is called God's True Cashmere. Let's all live with that for the next few days and recall it when we need a laugh.
Thank you for that answer, Sarah! I admit that I enjoy reading scathing reviews for terrible films more than the reviews for great films, I would buy a coffee table compendium of all the reviews for Cats, or just one of the best "bad film" reviews of all time.
Also really hope some dynamite news on the TNT front comes up. Cause no one but y'all appreciate the obsession and I can't imagine going all holidays without talking about them. It's too fun. Come on TNT, give us some holiday fun.
Excellent close-out to the year. Just want to say, I just (re) watched the original AIWFCIS Mariah video, and may I remind Lainey that the video was BC (before children) and darling, have you heard what an ordeal her pregnancy was? Also, yes, she is running but it is downhill, the easiest of all the runnings. Merry Christmas, Happy Dongzhi and Blessed Yule to the whole crew at Laineygossip - making my world better since the early 2000s.
Thanks for mentioning Brad's tax issues in France. Hope you put it on the blog too because the US media is completely ignoring it. Happy hollidays to everyone and thanks for this place
This was a banger of a mailbag! What a perfect way to close out the year.
I'm slow on the uptake so I just realized that (has it always been the case) at least lately Lainey begins the mailbag with a topic, and then proceeds to answer questions. So now I'm super curious as to how Lainey selects the opener topic.
And I'm not sure if I harbored any great hopes for The Squawk--once I realized what it is I immediately signed up, as repayment rather than in expectation of receiving additional value--but what bang for the buck!
The Squawk has been the best development in my gossip consumption since I found Lainey Gossip in the oughts.
100%! Surpassed all of my expectations--just wanted to pay it forward and support the LG team! Love it here. (Take all my money!)
I am processing the Rihanna/Rocky note but just want to say I appreciate you engaging with the criticism/comment in a thoughtful way instead of deleting or ignoring it.
Just wanted to say happy holidays to Lainey, Jacek, Sarah, the whole Lainey/Squawk team, and this lovely community! I love these extra doses of intelligent, insightful, good-hearted gossip, especially the TNT recaps. Joining the Squawk is the most fun money I've spent on myself in 2023!
Re: Brad Pitt, I feel like we're on the cusp of a big *something* with him. There have been so many things bubbling under the surface for so long (those of us that are too online know, but the larger population, ie, Mini Van Majority, perhaps doesn't). With the plane ride, abuse, NOT ONE SINGLE kid talks to him. Not one! Out of 6!, the shady Miraval stuff, the harassing AJ through the courts, the money grabs with his 'skin care' line and the million dollar cashmere shirts, something is gonna give. He's been able to coast for so long. Man, I miss my innocent days of just being able to crush on him. That face. *sigh*. Too bad he's a POS.
On another note: I love the Squawk! What a delight it's been. Happy Holidays to the team!
You make me feel like there is some sanity out there...and yet... to your point about how NOT ONE of his children has contact with him, there are so many people out there who default to "Yeah she poisoned them against him" which is tbe stretch they're willing to make because that's how deeply HIMPATHY has been conditioned within us. It's a fascinating phenomenon to witness and yet obviously deeply troubling.
I recall ahead of time sources claiming he would be spending his birthday with his girlfriend and a few of his kids, but when the party actually happened, none of his kids were seen or mentioned. Weird.
Also, you can't keep your teenager from stealing your phone charger, how are you supposed to suddenly make them want nothing to do with their father? Plus, some of them are adults now. It is amazing how people will just forget basic crap to keep their worldview in place (unfortunately not limited to gossip).
Brad Pitt’s been coasting on 40 years or so of goodwill that I’m not sure anything could dislodge this image of him as the hot, fun nice guy. He’s largely buried child and spousal abuse (basically only the very online know about it), made people forget he’s an alcoholic (despite some evidence he’s not sober), screwed Hurricane Katrina victims for years with those crappy Make It Right homes, tax evasion in France, etc.
I swear he could shoot someone in broad daylight with a hundred witnesses and you’d have a majority of people making excuses for him.
I forgot about Make it Right!! Yes, add it to the list. He's a cockroach, like a certain former president, who will survive and maybe even profit off of every bad thing that happens.
This mailbag reminds me of what I appreciate most about The Squawk. As a longtime LaineyGossip reader, I have always loved the Show Your Work concept that Lainey highlights in many of her pieces (and the old podcast). And so I enjoy that the LG team has the opportunity to show their work on The Squawk, with insights on behind-the-scenes decision making, writing process, etc. And as demonstrated here, this includes a willingness to engage and be transparent on topics, even when there are no easy answers.
Besides the awesome community, this is my favorite part of The Squawk. I really appreciate it and look forward to more in the new year!
Happy holidays, Squawkers! I joined basically to say thanks for many years of great reading, still don’t really understand Substack TBH, but what joy this community has brought me. (Not to mention I am now on episode 4 of Vincenzo thanks to Lainey and Sarah, and loving it beyond reason.) May 2024 bring us all the gift of great gossip, I personally am alarmingly over-invested in TNT, and hoping against hope that Brad Pitt finally gets the karma he seems to thoroughly deserve.
My cousin, who i've been nagging for years to get into C and K-drama series, finally watched Vincenzo and is now overcome with her obsession with Song Joong-ki. What I love most about Vincenzo though is how fucking hilarious it is. Let me know when you get to the courtroom scene.
Right now I am very deeply into The Story Park's Marriage Contract. Highly recommend.
Loved Sarah’s response to the question about writing movie reviews. I actually totally relate as a university instructor lol. It’s so much easier for me to assess either really good or really bad student essays because like Sarah says, it’s so obvious what works or what really doesn’t work. But a mediocre student paper? It’s so hard for me to articulate why something is a C or B because it’s just...fine.
What is easy to articulate is how much I’ve loved the Squawk this year and how much I appreciate everyone here who comments so thoughtfully and respectfully! And thank you to Lainey, Sarah, and Jacek for making this space and community such a fun and smart one!
On a related note, she clearly breezed through the Clooney review today. It is SO FUNNY. Go read it if you haven't already. https://www.laineygossip.com/review-george-clooney-has-gone-full-dad-movie-with-the-boys-in-the-boat/77391
Both of us laughed through reading Sarah's review of the Boat Boys. What a great one to end on!
Haha I was just looking at that movie and thinking, bet we could convince my dad to go to that one. As always, Sarah nails it.
Sarah's excellent review actually answers a lot of questions I didn't realize I'd had for *years* about the book version of the movie. In my previous life, I worked for a large corporation, and for some reason this book (along with Brene Brown's latest and other similar Lean In-type bland rah-rah white bread inspirational drivel) was ALWAYS pushed for us lowly corporate cogs to read. It's JUST inspirational enough to merit corporate dialogue, but not challenging enough to, god forbid, stir up CONTROVERSY or OFFENSE. It all makes sense now! Thank you for the review, Sarah!
Yes! I cackled at “ If you said “the white boys from Washington state”, you’re correct!” That’s just lighthearted, good Dad-ribbing right there. 😂
Omg I DIED at that line! Sarah is one of the few writers who literally causes me to laugh out loud, and frequently!!
Happy Holidays to all! I'm very grateful to have The Squawk, after years of reading LG and desperately wishing for a way to engage with fellow readers. Thanks to Lainey, Sarah, and Jacek for fostering such an excellent, thoughtful, funny, and considerate community here!
"she gets a natural wind machine!" I WHEEZED. Thank you for everything, LG/Squawk team!
Brad Pitt's cashmere line is called God's True Cashmere. Let's all live with that for the next few days and recall it when we need a laugh.
Thank you for that answer, Sarah! I admit that I enjoy reading scathing reviews for terrible films more than the reviews for great films, I would buy a coffee table compendium of all the reviews for Cats, or just one of the best "bad film" reviews of all time.
Re: vintage Steven segal, if you haven't heard The Dollop's episode on him, you must. It should be required on the Hollywood gossip syllabus.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/526-steven-seagal-part-1/id643055307?i=1000555556746
Best line ever “which surprised me because I thought he might have borrowed it from Steven Seagal” Lainey wins!
Mimi skiing. I can't. LOL
Also really hope some dynamite news on the TNT front comes up. Cause no one but y'all appreciate the obsession and I can't imagine going all holidays without talking about them. It's too fun. Come on TNT, give us some holiday fun.
|...*dynamite* news on the TNT front...|
I see what you did there, LB!! lol!
Excellent close-out to the year. Just want to say, I just (re) watched the original AIWFCIS Mariah video, and may I remind Lainey that the video was BC (before children) and darling, have you heard what an ordeal her pregnancy was? Also, yes, she is running but it is downhill, the easiest of all the runnings. Merry Christmas, Happy Dongzhi and Blessed Yule to the whole crew at Laineygossip - making my world better since the early 2000s.
Thanks for mentioning Brad's tax issues in France. Hope you put it on the blog too because the US media is completely ignoring it. Happy hollidays to everyone and thanks for this place
Happy holidays! I agree with what you said about RiRi/Rocky, and just wanted to say some of us always know KStew is sexy! 🌈