SNL the artform, on Blake and Meghan's payroll (?), gossip and the banning of TikTok, the impact on business of The Squawk, and what's the best film festival
If it wasn't so sad and scary how delusional people can be, it would be more entertaining to receive some of these messages. What strikes me most is not often the content of the messages but how fucking long and detailed they are. It's intense! My hate mail folder is a dark place.
Shout out to everyone else who's been accused of being on some celebrity's payroll because we said misogyny was bad. The disheartening reality is that there's way more money in hating women than in defending them. See that blogger Megan thee Stallion is suing for allegedly working with Tory Lanez to smear her. Or the "body language experts" and Etsy merch sellers who made bank from attacking Amber Heard. Or the UK journalists whose entire beat now is just anti-Meghan crap. I won't be surprised if we suddenly see a lot of people become full-time Lively haters, not because they're part of some nefarious scheme but simply because it's easy money and attention.
Exactly this! Money in misogyny! Lainey I'm so sorry you get such comments and responses for writing very balanced and thoughtful analysis. I try to stay away from social media for my mental health, but I just went on Insta for a bit to read the comments on this lawsuit and it's awful. Every type of myths about consent and sexual harassment is being used to manipulate the story and blame her. It's so upsetting to see and I'm sorry you got such a question. But I really appreciate you addressing it and speaking truth to none sense!
Was it Stephanie that recently revisited the perfect victim concept? I can't remember, but I do know that it was years ago on LG that the concept was first clearly and eloquently articulated for me. Maybe it was during the Cosby scandal. Anyway the thesis is that unfortunatley victims are only believable or worthy of support if they behaved perfectly and according to expectations. I had experiences with not being a perfect enough victim but the way LG wrote about it was conciousness raising and it helped me understand myself and my experiences better. So much LG writing has enlightened me and helped me better understand myself and the world. Thanks.
sharing my habit. i love the squawk! it's an excellent space and i am glad to be part of it. when my schedule is really busy though, it's hard for me to engage much in the chat even when i would really love to. but as a longtime reader i always visit the LG site for a daily break.
Same! I visit the website every day (it's actually how I access the squawk because I don't use the substack app at work). But there are days I cannot keep up with the chat and still do work (yes, I read the site at work between meetings - doesn't everyone?!). I can sometimes catch up on chats at home, but especially if it's BIG gossip day, the chat can hard to follow and I have to do a lot of scrolling. (That said, I do try to check the chat out at least once or twice a day, but weekends are sometimes not as easy)
The Squawk got me through this horrible day. It’s the best investment in self-care I have ever made! I’ve made calls for pet photos on social media before on days like this, none have ever gotten the traction I got from Squawkers today. 😃
I think linking the LaineyGossip posts is a good idea but I did also want to suggest a website I have been using ever since the demise of Google Reader that I'm not sure people know about. Feedly! Feedly has a paid option but I use the unpaid option. It lets me put the few websites I do visit every day (Go Fug Yourself, Tom and Lorenzo, Lainey Gossip) as a URL and it shows me when they post something new!
That is how I keep up with Lainey Gossip and the Squawk. Once every hour or so I click over to Feedly and if there's a new post on Lainey Gossip I can read it! Bonus, it doesn't show the whole article in the feedly feed. I still click through to Lainey Gossip.
Just thought I'd throw that suggestion out there
ALSO Lainey I binged every single SNL docuseries episode and loved it and hated there weren't 15 more. I can't wait to discuss it more after you watch it. Can I also just say that Andy Samberg is aging like a fine wine??? He come on screen and I audibly gasped. God I love that man.
I’m downloading Feedly now, thank you for this hot tip! And now that my dog is walked, we’re settling onto the couch with a blanket to watch the SNL doc. I echo your comments about elder Andy Samberg—MEOW!!!
I'm still rooting for Blake to win this one, but after the Heard trial, I will never, ever assume that misogyny won't ultimately triumph. One commonality: neither woman is that mythical Perfect Victim.
Honestly, Blake has always struck me as someone who thinks she's much more clever than she actually is, and the wording in the Khaleesi text definitely made me roll my eyes. We get it, Blake. You run with a powerful crew. You get to sit at the shiniest, prettiest, most popular table in the whooooole lunchroom.
But I'll defend her if she never read the OG source material, even though I think it's funny that she and Hoover posed together, gave interviews together, spoke effusively about each other, etc. I just don't care, and frankly, the wiki description of the plot would suffice. A book is not a script. They're two different entities. We all know what it's like to see a film based on a book we love that wildly diverts from the original source, and sometimes each thing works on its own. Stephen King famously hated The Shining, and honestly, after a recent reread (I picked it off my shelf on election day because I wanted something to match my mood), I can't say I blame King for his feelings. Jack Torrance is a more nuanced character in the novel, whereas Nicholson starts off at like a level 25 out of 10, and Wendy has way more agency. But Kubrick's film is perfect in my eyes, even if it's missing those hedge maze animals that made my heart start pounding wildly again when I revisited them.
Anyway, I didn't really care for It Ends With Us, and I *did* wonder about some of those bougie clothing choices, but the main thing I hated about it was the LENGTH of it. It needed about 40 minutes chopped off.
And I'll never trust a man who noisily proclaims himself to be a male feminist. Stop podcasting and directing shitty movies and start *acting* like one. Donate to worthy causes quietly. Call other men out on their bullshit. That's what I'd personally like to see from male allies.
Regarding all the respectful dialogue here on The Squawk...*phew.* I actually appreciate the paywall because it seems to filter out those folks cited above who send deranged messages about y'all serving at the behest of certain celebs and being on their payroll.
Wow. WHAT?!
I also want to say that I inhale what Stephanie writes! Yes, I pollute my brain with plenty of reality television and I'll never stop, but it's definitely her way with words that keeps me coming back. Ditto Sarah's reviews, even if I have zero intention of ever carving out enough time in my ever-waning lifespan to watch something like The Brutalist. Kathleen, I LOVE the Refinery 29 posts that Lainey gives links to! And Duana...that last slightly-barbed post about Golden Raye was a true blessing to read this week, LOL.
This comment from Erin is everything---and that first paragraph is how I feel about...EVERYthing right now. After the Heard trial, after the Gaiman revelations, after Roe v. Wade being overturned, after the election of a felon and rapist, after, after, after.... I live outside DC and I feel like I'm marinating in the Ultimate Triumph of Misogyny (TM).
Live performance being something more people need to engage with is so real. This is why theater, dance and the live fine arts are so vitally needed in the world. The audience is a part of the performance, all of those people will never be together again, you only have that one opportunity to see that particular play or musical or dance, it never happens the same way twice. It’s why try to advocate for arts funding, kids need to see theater, even if they don’t care for it at the time they experience it, to know that humans have the capacity for it, the capacity to do something night after night with no safety net and if they fuck up, they keep on going, no edits allowed. TikTok is the ugliest interface for so many reasons but the constant edits make it seem as of no one ever messes up. I’ve had the privilege of seeing the greatest actors and dancers fuck up hard on stage and keep going, SNL also allows people that opportunity even if I don’t see it on the same level as Natalia Osipova checking her balance in Giselle and laughing to herself at her near slip.
So glad you pulled this out of the mailbag. Last year we went with Duana to a super intimate improv show in Toronto on the Danforth to see our friend Ann Pornel perform and I loved it. There really is something about having a scene performed live. And I understand why actors often go back to the theatre to re-capture that spark, among other reasons I'm sure.
And your last point about fuck-ups on SNL. One of my favourite things about SNL is how they often intentionally throw each other off to get each other to lose it. The most recent one that pops to mind is the Beavis and Butthead skit where Heidi Gardner was clearly not aware of what she would see when she turned around.
I'd really like to participate in thoughtful dialogue and responsible gossip regarding Lively/Baldoni, but it very much feels like if people come to a different conclusion through discernment and critical thinking (specifically women) after reading through all materials filed thus far, we're labeled as misogynists, told we hate our own gender, and that we're a "pick me." In reality, a lot of women (especially black women) are survivors of female narcisstic abuse. I've been reading all LG's coverage and stayed silent because last time I said something here I was lambasted. But as much as this site thinks Justin's entire approach is DARVO, a lot of survivors of sexual assault and female narcisstic abuse see it differently *raises hand. I do wish this site would acknowledge that the messages included in Blake's complaint were provably altered and cherry picked, or mention Lively and Reynold's attempt to buy the rights to the film franchise in September, which Baldoni declined. Maybe those things have been mentioned and I just missed them? People keep comparing this case to Heard/Depp, but to me there are more differences between the two than similarities. Heard and Depp were a married couple who existed as their true selves largely behind closed doors, had a CLEAR power imbalance in favor of Depp, and they had quite an age gap. Lively and Baldoni were coworkers on a set with hundreds of people, including Reynolds who somehow failed to intervene at any point while this alleged behavior was occurring. There's talk that the cast has spoken out in support of Blake, but not one has offered a negative experience they had with Justin or spoken out about behaviors they witnessed on set. The power dynamics in this case are different, too, with Sony holding ultimate power followed by Lively and Reynolds as a unit. I know Lainey disagrees, but numerous people in the industry also analyzing this case and discussing it on TikTok in its dying days - casting directors, script supervisors, crew members - have spoken to those exact dynamics. Both Lively and Baldoni have shown us their character over the years, and I'm sorry but I refuse to believe him feeding the homeless on Skid Row for 10 years was just a mask for his true abusive personality. We needed to have a Me Too movement BECAUSE we historically only believed one gender. We can't truly believe the solution is doing the same thing again but in the opposite direction, regardless of the evidence staring us in the face. Heard/Depp should have taught us to tap into our humanity, use our critical thinking skills and discernment, and yes, question legacy media (LG previously said Baldoni contributing to the doubt people have in legacy media was "sinister" but I live in the USA, and it's definitely the legacy media controlled by a handful of billionaires who are the sinister ones). As a survivor myself, I really wanted to defend and support Blake, but from the get go I've been intuiting in a different direction. I have no money to gain from this opinion, but I wanted to respectfully share it to encourage the thoughtful dialogue Lainey mentioned earlier. Please don't crucify me as a misogynist for it when I'm actually a feminist who believes bad apples exist in both male and female form, and that the truth is not dependent on gender.
This is a great comment and while I may disagree I honour your right to your point of view. This is what we encourage at the squawk. The difference between out there and in here? It’s not a pile on. There’s no algorithm in this community where some things are picked over and amplified and others are suppressed. So Kelsey - go off! We’re listening!
My ex fed the unhoused for longer than ten years. He was a champion of Womens rights and safe spaces for transgender individuals. He was a good Christian, a strong leader and a massive, massive predator, using these spaces to prey on vulnerable people. And he wasn’t the only one doing this.
The lengths to which people will go to hide their true selves is pretty staggering, I have found. I’m not saying this is or isn’t the case for Justin, I don’t know him and have never met him. In my day to day I interact with absolute monsters, none of whom look or act like monsters outside of very narrow windows of opportunity to do bad things without being seen. They are beloved fixtures in every community, they are great fathers and devoted husbands and it’s that juxtaposition that makes them monstrous. It’s the acknowledgement that we are all capable of incredible goodness as well as incredible evil, there isn’t always a mask to be found.
Critical thinking can lead all of us to different conclusions, that doesn’t warrant being called a pick-me girl (those are the ones, consciously or subconsciously, performing nonbelief for the men around them.) and I’m sorry if anything I have ever said in The squawk has come across that way. I will be more careful and thoughtful in the future. I try, whenever possible, to remind everyone that “having the reciepts” isn’t the same as “meeting a preponderance of evidence” required in US civil courts. That nuance, unfortunately, is hard to find basically everywhere. At the end of the day what is interesting about the gossip around this, at least to me, is that the story itself shows me how far my advocacy clients have to go to be heard and supported in community. And that’s the hardest part of all.
Thanks for sharing. We do all bring our own histories with us when we consider gossip, which is part of what makes it so interesting to discuss. I hope you don’t feel lambasted again. If there is disagreement to be had we can share our opinions with respect while still maybe continuing to see things differently.
I have enjoyed the Squawk for many reasons, but one unexpected one has been reading comments from people who have very strong reactions to certain celebs or stories which differ quite a bit from mine. I hope we can all have the grace to discuss with each other in good humor even if we will never agree
The points you make about Depp/Heard being married and Baldoni/Lively being co-workers are really interesting. I had never really thought about that point before.
I’m a subscriber for one main reason : this is a Canadian site and business , and I like having that connection. I visit the site daily , usually more than once but honestly only come to The Squawk when I see an email “ reminding me to “ . Or if the topics being discussed ( highlighted in the reminder email ) interest me . I might be aging out of the site though as a lot of the content no longer interests me ( I’ve been a reader for what feels like decades , lol) . I don’t watch reality tv , could not care less for the Marvel universe and feel the same apathy to most young celebrities now . But give me a good discussion about Slow Horses , or Day of the Jackal and I’m all eyes :) . I’m still happy to support though .
Thank you Lisa! And to add to your point, I know there are hundreds of subscribers to the Squawk who never actually use the forums or the chats, and maybe don't even open their Squawk emails, but subscribed ONLY because it's a way of supporting LG. So they probably won't see this, but thank you to them as well.
The *only* reason why I don't frequent the chats is because I know it would be like heroin to me and I'd be checking them nonstop every day. I pop in every now and then, but a smaller dose is better for me. Diff'rent strokes!
You can't even imagine! Before working for Lainey, I worked at a record label and part of my job when I was first interning was to go through fan mail for some of our artists including Avril Lavigne and Sarah McLachlan and OH MY GOD, the shit I had to see and read. It's not any different from some of the batshit emails we get. There are some very, very unwell people out there.
Those ASPCA ads make me run screaming from the room whenever they pop on, and they’re one of the reasons why I’ll never have cable, but I still love her for it and thank her for her service. I imagine a lot of sobbing people have donated to the cause because of that song and those images.
Also, I still love ‘’Sweet Surrender’’ and ‘’Possession.’’ I can’t believe I was in my late teens when those songs came out, OMG.
When I hear Building a Mystery I am right back to 10th grade. I still love that song! It is also one of those songs where I’m guessing I misheard 50% of the lyrics but I refuse to look them up bc I treasure my 15yo understanding of it
Okay…speaking of lyrics: so this is a wildly different song from a completely different genre, but I have Led Zeppelin’s ‘’Immigrant Song’’ on my workout playlist. I checked out the lyrics a few months ago, and I never knew it was ‘’on we sweep with threshing oar.’’ I legit thought it was ‘’and we sleep with no clothes on.’’ I thought they were emphasizing Viking toughness or something.
I confess that I made a PR gift basket joke in the chat after Glen Powell made the list of innovative male dressers at the Golden Globes. I stand by my disagreement (really? For a brown shirt?!😂) but I hope everyone knows I don’t actually think LG is on the take! There are a lot of legitimate questions about outside influences on journalism/scientific research/politics/etc, but I regret that my joke contributes to any aura of suspicion around LG.
I am an SNL mega-nerd and this post is giving me life, as the youths used to say! I'm currently reading the Tom Shales oral history for the third time in honor of the 50th, and have been steadily indoctrinating my children for years. A couple months ago, I was in the grocery store with my seven-year-old daughter and Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" came on their sound system. She looked at me and said "Mom, do you know what this song needs? More cowbell!" Truly, I could not have been more proud.
Anyone looking for a lovely, escapist read with some heft (and some horniness) should check out "Romantic Comedy" by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's about a female writer at late night live comedy show who falls for the hot singer songwriter who hosts one week, and questions if he could truly like her back. Sittenfeld is very open that this was inspired by SNL and their phenomenon of writers landing gorgeous, high-profile women who have hosted the show.
I still check LaineyGossip daily!
That email about Blake is truly unhinged. The level of anger!
If it's encouraging at all, joining The Squawk has actually made me visit the main site more. I went through a few years where my visits were pretty sporadic, but now I'm on there every day, reading almost every article (occasionally missing cleverly-embedded details like Timmy's Lime bike).
That said, I am on The Squawk for longer periods throughout the day and I do think it might be helpful to have a notification of a new article posted in the daily chat. It helps aid potential ongoing discussion and also bring new topics into the mix. And I bet it would result in more people reading each article. But make sure you make it clear which article is the daily Squawk post as well, otherwise a bunch of people will just end up commenting in the daily chat instead of adding their thoughts to the dedicated post!
Yeah we just talked about this last night when preparing the mailbag. The Squawk home page was always intended to zero in on a certain discussion topic from one post per day. So I think we'll try to keep those questions focused and a jump-off from the LG post, and then we can start threads for each new article on the daily chats too and see if it helps clean things up a bit. We've seen some feedback that the chats are so long that they're hard to follow, so maybe this will organize things a bit?
It's awesome to see how the daily chats have grown in just the year since I joined! I remember when 100+ comments in the daily chat was an active day and now it's so much more. But yes, it does make it a bit more chaotic. I still maintain Substack messed it all up because I remember when "Reply" automatically subthreaded the reply, the daily chats were much more organized and easier to navigate. But alas...I notice it does seem to stay more organized when the first person replying creates a subthread so I think part of it is just people not knowing about the option/how to access it (it's actually harder to find on desktop than mobile).
Looks like the vote is pretty clear so starting Monday we'll start to subthread new posts. For anyone reading this who uses the chat threads, please click on the article's sub-thread and then any replies will live within that subthread. It *should* work. Someone else mentioned it would be helpful if we also had an explainer on LG re: how to use The Squawk, and I'll work on that next week so that the links from the header and sidebar will land on the explainer page, and then anyone who doesn't need that can just click through to the Squawk if they're used to going there that way.
I love this idea! Now please convince Substack to find a way to let me jump straight to a subthread that has a new comment. On the app at least you just have to scroll endlessly looking for blue
So I had no idea that there were daily chats. I thought it was only when I saw a notification and that the topic was restricted to one thing....which is why I rarely pop over here. Plus isn't wading through 100 comments a bit much for most people - or just me?
"good storytelling is about giving the reader/viewer what they need and not what they want." Professor Duana indeed. This quote should apply to all art, all media. But with social media's prevalence, the tables have turned, and the mass public and those stupid algorithms set the direction for everything!!
I am seeing more and more pieces about where TikTok users will go, and I would like to take a minute to remind everyone that Snapchat is the preferred platform of the abusers I fight every day, because the platform does not work with law enforcement at all. Please don’t use it and PLEASE don’t let your kids use it unless you can commit to sitting next to them and watching every second they use it.
I rue the day I didn’t do my homework before allowing my oldest to get Snapchat. It’s the worst and their “parental controls” are useless. We have to take the phone from him occasionally to scan it and have many, many conversations. Keeping an open dialogue seems to be helping.
I love the idea of linking the posts. I pop into the Squawk throughout the day but LaineyGossip is my treat at the end of the day, when I can sit down and read all of it. There are often topics that would be interesting or fun to engage on in more depth but can be difficult to find in the main chat thread, if at all, or the conversation has moved on. A dedicated sub thread might make it easier to find and engage with those topics. So appreciative of how engaged the LG team is with the community and listening for ways to continue building it.
The whole Blake vs. Justin situation has me so curious about how the various businesses behind movie making are structured. Let’s not kid ourselves - Blake is suing Justin Inc and Justin, in turn, is suing Blake Inc. So how do these various businesses / sub businesses interact and which wields the greatest influence on a set?
I bring this up as I can’t imagine this happening in a traditional (well run) corporation given the HUGE liability it opens us. Why were there no guardrails, like an ethics department? Justin’s comments to Blake: major ethics violation! Blake bringing her husband and BFF to influence a business direction, i.e. movie script: Major ethics violation! (Lol thinking about bringing my husband to work to fight a few of my battles!!). All around bad work behaviour - any average employee would know better than to behave in these ways (annual ethics trainings have muted out these bad behaviours!)
If it wasn't so sad and scary how delusional people can be, it would be more entertaining to receive some of these messages. What strikes me most is not often the content of the messages but how fucking long and detailed they are. It's intense! My hate mail folder is a dark place.
I am so sorry that you have to read them, Emily. It’s giving Baby Reindeer vibes, and that level of unhinged makes me very uneasy.
Shout out to everyone else who's been accused of being on some celebrity's payroll because we said misogyny was bad. The disheartening reality is that there's way more money in hating women than in defending them. See that blogger Megan thee Stallion is suing for allegedly working with Tory Lanez to smear her. Or the "body language experts" and Etsy merch sellers who made bank from attacking Amber Heard. Or the UK journalists whose entire beat now is just anti-Meghan crap. I won't be surprised if we suddenly see a lot of people become full-time Lively haters, not because they're part of some nefarious scheme but simply because it's easy money and attention.
I see you. I see you hiding away your money where i'm hiding mine away from all the cheques we're getting.
In that case, where's my cut?
Look, the Marvel shill cheques just weren't cutting it on their own.
Exactly this! Money in misogyny! Lainey I'm so sorry you get such comments and responses for writing very balanced and thoughtful analysis. I try to stay away from social media for my mental health, but I just went on Insta for a bit to read the comments on this lawsuit and it's awful. Every type of myths about consent and sexual harassment is being used to manipulate the story and blame her. It's so upsetting to see and I'm sorry you got such a question. But I really appreciate you addressing it and speaking truth to none sense!
Was it Stephanie that recently revisited the perfect victim concept? I can't remember, but I do know that it was years ago on LG that the concept was first clearly and eloquently articulated for me. Maybe it was during the Cosby scandal. Anyway the thesis is that unfortunatley victims are only believable or worthy of support if they behaved perfectly and according to expectations. I had experiences with not being a perfect enough victim but the way LG wrote about it was conciousness raising and it helped me understand myself and my experiences better. So much LG writing has enlightened me and helped me better understand myself and the world. Thanks.
sharing my habit. i love the squawk! it's an excellent space and i am glad to be part of it. when my schedule is really busy though, it's hard for me to engage much in the chat even when i would really love to. but as a longtime reader i always visit the LG site for a daily break.
Same! I visit the website every day (it's actually how I access the squawk because I don't use the substack app at work). But there are days I cannot keep up with the chat and still do work (yes, I read the site at work between meetings - doesn't everyone?!). I can sometimes catch up on chats at home, but especially if it's BIG gossip day, the chat can hard to follow and I have to do a lot of scrolling. (That said, I do try to check the chat out at least once or twice a day, but weekends are sometimes not as easy)
The Squawk got me through this horrible day. It’s the best investment in self-care I have ever made! I’ve made calls for pet photos on social media before on days like this, none have ever gotten the traction I got from Squawkers today. 😃
I’m the same, I love the Squawk but am not in the chat daily because of time. But I always visit the OG LG site daily.
SAME
I think linking the LaineyGossip posts is a good idea but I did also want to suggest a website I have been using ever since the demise of Google Reader that I'm not sure people know about. Feedly! Feedly has a paid option but I use the unpaid option. It lets me put the few websites I do visit every day (Go Fug Yourself, Tom and Lorenzo, Lainey Gossip) as a URL and it shows me when they post something new!
That is how I keep up with Lainey Gossip and the Squawk. Once every hour or so I click over to Feedly and if there's a new post on Lainey Gossip I can read it! Bonus, it doesn't show the whole article in the feedly feed. I still click through to Lainey Gossip.
Just thought I'd throw that suggestion out there
ALSO Lainey I binged every single SNL docuseries episode and loved it and hated there weren't 15 more. I can't wait to discuss it more after you watch it. Can I also just say that Andy Samberg is aging like a fine wine??? He come on screen and I audibly gasped. God I love that man.
Thank you for posting this!
I’m downloading Feedly now, thank you for this hot tip! And now that my dog is walked, we’re settling onto the couch with a blanket to watch the SNL doc. I echo your comments about elder Andy Samberg—MEOW!!!
Feedly is awesome, I’ve been using it for years!
Janelle, are you listening to the Lonely Island Seth Meyers podcast? You would love it!
Listen every week and love it so much!!!!!
I do too! It makes me so happy to listen to all of them together
I heart Feedly!!!
I'm still rooting for Blake to win this one, but after the Heard trial, I will never, ever assume that misogyny won't ultimately triumph. One commonality: neither woman is that mythical Perfect Victim.
Honestly, Blake has always struck me as someone who thinks she's much more clever than she actually is, and the wording in the Khaleesi text definitely made me roll my eyes. We get it, Blake. You run with a powerful crew. You get to sit at the shiniest, prettiest, most popular table in the whooooole lunchroom.
But I'll defend her if she never read the OG source material, even though I think it's funny that she and Hoover posed together, gave interviews together, spoke effusively about each other, etc. I just don't care, and frankly, the wiki description of the plot would suffice. A book is not a script. They're two different entities. We all know what it's like to see a film based on a book we love that wildly diverts from the original source, and sometimes each thing works on its own. Stephen King famously hated The Shining, and honestly, after a recent reread (I picked it off my shelf on election day because I wanted something to match my mood), I can't say I blame King for his feelings. Jack Torrance is a more nuanced character in the novel, whereas Nicholson starts off at like a level 25 out of 10, and Wendy has way more agency. But Kubrick's film is perfect in my eyes, even if it's missing those hedge maze animals that made my heart start pounding wildly again when I revisited them.
Anyway, I didn't really care for It Ends With Us, and I *did* wonder about some of those bougie clothing choices, but the main thing I hated about it was the LENGTH of it. It needed about 40 minutes chopped off.
And I'll never trust a man who noisily proclaims himself to be a male feminist. Stop podcasting and directing shitty movies and start *acting* like one. Donate to worthy causes quietly. Call other men out on their bullshit. That's what I'd personally like to see from male allies.
Regarding all the respectful dialogue here on The Squawk...*phew.* I actually appreciate the paywall because it seems to filter out those folks cited above who send deranged messages about y'all serving at the behest of certain celebs and being on their payroll.
Wow. WHAT?!
I also want to say that I inhale what Stephanie writes! Yes, I pollute my brain with plenty of reality television and I'll never stop, but it's definitely her way with words that keeps me coming back. Ditto Sarah's reviews, even if I have zero intention of ever carving out enough time in my ever-waning lifespan to watch something like The Brutalist. Kathleen, I LOVE the Refinery 29 posts that Lainey gives links to! And Duana...that last slightly-barbed post about Golden Raye was a true blessing to read this week, LOL.
This comment from Erin is everything---and that first paragraph is how I feel about...EVERYthing right now. After the Heard trial, after the Gaiman revelations, after Roe v. Wade being overturned, after the election of a felon and rapist, after, after, after.... I live outside DC and I feel like I'm marinating in the Ultimate Triumph of Misogyny (TM).
Live performance being something more people need to engage with is so real. This is why theater, dance and the live fine arts are so vitally needed in the world. The audience is a part of the performance, all of those people will never be together again, you only have that one opportunity to see that particular play or musical or dance, it never happens the same way twice. It’s why try to advocate for arts funding, kids need to see theater, even if they don’t care for it at the time they experience it, to know that humans have the capacity for it, the capacity to do something night after night with no safety net and if they fuck up, they keep on going, no edits allowed. TikTok is the ugliest interface for so many reasons but the constant edits make it seem as of no one ever messes up. I’ve had the privilege of seeing the greatest actors and dancers fuck up hard on stage and keep going, SNL also allows people that opportunity even if I don’t see it on the same level as Natalia Osipova checking her balance in Giselle and laughing to herself at her near slip.
So glad you pulled this out of the mailbag. Last year we went with Duana to a super intimate improv show in Toronto on the Danforth to see our friend Ann Pornel perform and I loved it. There really is something about having a scene performed live. And I understand why actors often go back to the theatre to re-capture that spark, among other reasons I'm sure.
And your last point about fuck-ups on SNL. One of my favourite things about SNL is how they often intentionally throw each other off to get each other to lose it. The most recent one that pops to mind is the Beavis and Butthead skit where Heidi Gardner was clearly not aware of what she would see when she turned around.
That Beavis & Butthead skit is an all-timer!!!
I love it when they break, personally. The Debbie Downer at Disneyland skit where everyone loses their shit is beloved to me.
Ooh, I have not seen that one, YouTubing it now!
I'd really like to participate in thoughtful dialogue and responsible gossip regarding Lively/Baldoni, but it very much feels like if people come to a different conclusion through discernment and critical thinking (specifically women) after reading through all materials filed thus far, we're labeled as misogynists, told we hate our own gender, and that we're a "pick me." In reality, a lot of women (especially black women) are survivors of female narcisstic abuse. I've been reading all LG's coverage and stayed silent because last time I said something here I was lambasted. But as much as this site thinks Justin's entire approach is DARVO, a lot of survivors of sexual assault and female narcisstic abuse see it differently *raises hand. I do wish this site would acknowledge that the messages included in Blake's complaint were provably altered and cherry picked, or mention Lively and Reynold's attempt to buy the rights to the film franchise in September, which Baldoni declined. Maybe those things have been mentioned and I just missed them? People keep comparing this case to Heard/Depp, but to me there are more differences between the two than similarities. Heard and Depp were a married couple who existed as their true selves largely behind closed doors, had a CLEAR power imbalance in favor of Depp, and they had quite an age gap. Lively and Baldoni were coworkers on a set with hundreds of people, including Reynolds who somehow failed to intervene at any point while this alleged behavior was occurring. There's talk that the cast has spoken out in support of Blake, but not one has offered a negative experience they had with Justin or spoken out about behaviors they witnessed on set. The power dynamics in this case are different, too, with Sony holding ultimate power followed by Lively and Reynolds as a unit. I know Lainey disagrees, but numerous people in the industry also analyzing this case and discussing it on TikTok in its dying days - casting directors, script supervisors, crew members - have spoken to those exact dynamics. Both Lively and Baldoni have shown us their character over the years, and I'm sorry but I refuse to believe him feeding the homeless on Skid Row for 10 years was just a mask for his true abusive personality. We needed to have a Me Too movement BECAUSE we historically only believed one gender. We can't truly believe the solution is doing the same thing again but in the opposite direction, regardless of the evidence staring us in the face. Heard/Depp should have taught us to tap into our humanity, use our critical thinking skills and discernment, and yes, question legacy media (LG previously said Baldoni contributing to the doubt people have in legacy media was "sinister" but I live in the USA, and it's definitely the legacy media controlled by a handful of billionaires who are the sinister ones). As a survivor myself, I really wanted to defend and support Blake, but from the get go I've been intuiting in a different direction. I have no money to gain from this opinion, but I wanted to respectfully share it to encourage the thoughtful dialogue Lainey mentioned earlier. Please don't crucify me as a misogynist for it when I'm actually a feminist who believes bad apples exist in both male and female form, and that the truth is not dependent on gender.
This is a great comment and while I may disagree I honour your right to your point of view. This is what we encourage at the squawk. The difference between out there and in here? It’s not a pile on. There’s no algorithm in this community where some things are picked over and amplified and others are suppressed. So Kelsey - go off! We’re listening!
My ex fed the unhoused for longer than ten years. He was a champion of Womens rights and safe spaces for transgender individuals. He was a good Christian, a strong leader and a massive, massive predator, using these spaces to prey on vulnerable people. And he wasn’t the only one doing this.
The lengths to which people will go to hide their true selves is pretty staggering, I have found. I’m not saying this is or isn’t the case for Justin, I don’t know him and have never met him. In my day to day I interact with absolute monsters, none of whom look or act like monsters outside of very narrow windows of opportunity to do bad things without being seen. They are beloved fixtures in every community, they are great fathers and devoted husbands and it’s that juxtaposition that makes them monstrous. It’s the acknowledgement that we are all capable of incredible goodness as well as incredible evil, there isn’t always a mask to be found.
Critical thinking can lead all of us to different conclusions, that doesn’t warrant being called a pick-me girl (those are the ones, consciously or subconsciously, performing nonbelief for the men around them.) and I’m sorry if anything I have ever said in The squawk has come across that way. I will be more careful and thoughtful in the future. I try, whenever possible, to remind everyone that “having the reciepts” isn’t the same as “meeting a preponderance of evidence” required in US civil courts. That nuance, unfortunately, is hard to find basically everywhere. At the end of the day what is interesting about the gossip around this, at least to me, is that the story itself shows me how far my advocacy clients have to go to be heard and supported in community. And that’s the hardest part of all.
“bad apples exist in both male and female form, and that the truth is not dependent on gender.”
I could not agree more on this point, and much as it pains me to admit it I have definitely been burned by some female apples.
Thanks for sharing. We do all bring our own histories with us when we consider gossip, which is part of what makes it so interesting to discuss. I hope you don’t feel lambasted again. If there is disagreement to be had we can share our opinions with respect while still maybe continuing to see things differently.
I have enjoyed the Squawk for many reasons, but one unexpected one has been reading comments from people who have very strong reactions to certain celebs or stories which differ quite a bit from mine. I hope we can all have the grace to discuss with each other in good humor even if we will never agree
The points you make about Depp/Heard being married and Baldoni/Lively being co-workers are really interesting. I had never really thought about that point before.
I’m a subscriber for one main reason : this is a Canadian site and business , and I like having that connection. I visit the site daily , usually more than once but honestly only come to The Squawk when I see an email “ reminding me to “ . Or if the topics being discussed ( highlighted in the reminder email ) interest me . I might be aging out of the site though as a lot of the content no longer interests me ( I’ve been a reader for what feels like decades , lol) . I don’t watch reality tv , could not care less for the Marvel universe and feel the same apathy to most young celebrities now . But give me a good discussion about Slow Horses , or Day of the Jackal and I’m all eyes :) . I’m still happy to support though .
Thank you Lisa! And to add to your point, I know there are hundreds of subscribers to the Squawk who never actually use the forums or the chats, and maybe don't even open their Squawk emails, but subscribed ONLY because it's a way of supporting LG. So they probably won't see this, but thank you to them as well.
The *only* reason why I don't frequent the chats is because I know it would be like heroin to me and I'd be checking them nonstop every day. I pop in every now and then, but a smaller dose is better for me. Diff'rent strokes!
Ok - I am definitely going to need Emily to expand on the crazier shit you all have received over the years.
You can't even imagine! Before working for Lainey, I worked at a record label and part of my job when I was first interning was to go through fan mail for some of our artists including Avril Lavigne and Sarah McLachlan and OH MY GOD, the shit I had to see and read. It's not any different from some of the batshit emails we get. There are some very, very unwell people out there.
Who the hell is sending Sarah McLachlan hate mail??
Right? Talk about an innocuous celeb!
Those ASPCA ads make me run screaming from the room whenever they pop on, and they’re one of the reasons why I’ll never have cable, but I still love her for it and thank her for her service. I imagine a lot of sobbing people have donated to the cause because of that song and those images.
Also, I still love ‘’Sweet Surrender’’ and ‘’Possession.’’ I can’t believe I was in my late teens when those songs came out, OMG.
When I hear Building a Mystery I am right back to 10th grade. I still love that song! It is also one of those songs where I’m guessing I misheard 50% of the lyrics but I refuse to look them up bc I treasure my 15yo understanding of it
Okay…speaking of lyrics: so this is a wildly different song from a completely different genre, but I have Led Zeppelin’s ‘’Immigrant Song’’ on my workout playlist. I checked out the lyrics a few months ago, and I never knew it was ‘’on we sweep with threshing oar.’’ I legit thought it was ‘’and we sleep with no clothes on.’’ I thought they were emphasizing Viking toughness or something.
Oh me too! As soon as I hear "Adia," or any song from "Surfacing," I feel like I'm driving home from babysitting on the night Princess Diana died.
So I want a very detailed post. I will wait (drums fingers)
Where do the accusations of being on the payroll come from? I know it's not The Squawk chat right???
You're ready to throw down!!!!
No no, not here! Other platforms. It's a mess out there.
I confess that I made a PR gift basket joke in the chat after Glen Powell made the list of innovative male dressers at the Golden Globes. I stand by my disagreement (really? For a brown shirt?!😂) but I hope everyone knows I don’t actually think LG is on the take! There are a lot of legitimate questions about outside influences on journalism/scientific research/politics/etc, but I regret that my joke contributes to any aura of suspicion around LG.
No! So not the same thing! But thank you for being so thoughtful about it.
Ok good then I’m gonna keep dragging you guys for being the presidents of the GP Fan Club. Especially when Regé-Jean Page is RIGHT THERE! 😉
I am an SNL mega-nerd and this post is giving me life, as the youths used to say! I'm currently reading the Tom Shales oral history for the third time in honor of the 50th, and have been steadily indoctrinating my children for years. A couple months ago, I was in the grocery store with my seven-year-old daughter and Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" came on their sound system. She looked at me and said "Mom, do you know what this song needs? More cowbell!" Truly, I could not have been more proud.
Anyone looking for a lovely, escapist read with some heft (and some horniness) should check out "Romantic Comedy" by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's about a female writer at late night live comedy show who falls for the hot singer songwriter who hosts one week, and questions if he could truly like her back. Sittenfeld is very open that this was inspired by SNL and their phenomenon of writers landing gorgeous, high-profile women who have hosted the show.
I still check LaineyGossip daily!
That email about Blake is truly unhinged. The level of anger!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Romantic Comedy! It was my favorite thing I read last year!
Me too! I’ve read it four times now because it is so good!
If it's encouraging at all, joining The Squawk has actually made me visit the main site more. I went through a few years where my visits were pretty sporadic, but now I'm on there every day, reading almost every article (occasionally missing cleverly-embedded details like Timmy's Lime bike).
That said, I am on The Squawk for longer periods throughout the day and I do think it might be helpful to have a notification of a new article posted in the daily chat. It helps aid potential ongoing discussion and also bring new topics into the mix. And I bet it would result in more people reading each article. But make sure you make it clear which article is the daily Squawk post as well, otherwise a bunch of people will just end up commenting in the daily chat instead of adding their thoughts to the dedicated post!
Yeah we just talked about this last night when preparing the mailbag. The Squawk home page was always intended to zero in on a certain discussion topic from one post per day. So I think we'll try to keep those questions focused and a jump-off from the LG post, and then we can start threads for each new article on the daily chats too and see if it helps clean things up a bit. We've seen some feedback that the chats are so long that they're hard to follow, so maybe this will organize things a bit?
I do think dedicated subthreads in each daily chat would help make the chats more manageable!
It's awesome to see how the daily chats have grown in just the year since I joined! I remember when 100+ comments in the daily chat was an active day and now it's so much more. But yes, it does make it a bit more chaotic. I still maintain Substack messed it all up because I remember when "Reply" automatically subthreaded the reply, the daily chats were much more organized and easier to navigate. But alas...I notice it does seem to stay more organized when the first person replying creates a subthread so I think part of it is just people not knowing about the option/how to access it (it's actually harder to find on desktop than mobile).
Looks like the vote is pretty clear so starting Monday we'll start to subthread new posts. For anyone reading this who uses the chat threads, please click on the article's sub-thread and then any replies will live within that subthread. It *should* work. Someone else mentioned it would be helpful if we also had an explainer on LG re: how to use The Squawk, and I'll work on that next week so that the links from the header and sidebar will land on the explainer page, and then anyone who doesn't need that can just click through to the Squawk if they're used to going there that way.
I love this idea! Now please convince Substack to find a way to let me jump straight to a subthread that has a new comment. On the app at least you just have to scroll endlessly looking for blue
So I had no idea that there were daily chats. I thought it was only when I saw a notification and that the topic was restricted to one thing....which is why I rarely pop over here. Plus isn't wading through 100 comments a bit much for most people - or just me?
I love everyone who is as addicted as MEEEEEEE!!!! 🫣😍😉
"good storytelling is about giving the reader/viewer what they need and not what they want." Professor Duana indeed. This quote should apply to all art, all media. But with social media's prevalence, the tables have turned, and the mass public and those stupid algorithms set the direction for everything!!
It should especially apply to "news" outlets. We don't need "both sides" bullshit. We need the truth.
I am seeing more and more pieces about where TikTok users will go, and I would like to take a minute to remind everyone that Snapchat is the preferred platform of the abusers I fight every day, because the platform does not work with law enforcement at all. Please don’t use it and PLEASE don’t let your kids use it unless you can commit to sitting next to them and watching every second they use it.
I rue the day I didn’t do my homework before allowing my oldest to get Snapchat. It’s the worst and their “parental controls” are useless. We have to take the phone from him occasionally to scan it and have many, many conversations. Keeping an open dialogue seems to be helping.
💔💔💔💔💔💔
My nephews are using Snap alllll day. Le sigh
Even if my brother enforces any rules about it, his ex will not. (Despite one of them getting suspended twice for instigating bad shit on it 😩)
OH MY GOD 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔
I love the idea of linking the posts. I pop into the Squawk throughout the day but LaineyGossip is my treat at the end of the day, when I can sit down and read all of it. There are often topics that would be interesting or fun to engage on in more depth but can be difficult to find in the main chat thread, if at all, or the conversation has moved on. A dedicated sub thread might make it easier to find and engage with those topics. So appreciative of how engaged the LG team is with the community and listening for ways to continue building it.
Question for a future Mailbag.
The whole Blake vs. Justin situation has me so curious about how the various businesses behind movie making are structured. Let’s not kid ourselves - Blake is suing Justin Inc and Justin, in turn, is suing Blake Inc. So how do these various businesses / sub businesses interact and which wields the greatest influence on a set?
I bring this up as I can’t imagine this happening in a traditional (well run) corporation given the HUGE liability it opens us. Why were there no guardrails, like an ethics department? Justin’s comments to Blake: major ethics violation! Blake bringing her husband and BFF to influence a business direction, i.e. movie script: Major ethics violation! (Lol thinking about bringing my husband to work to fight a few of my battles!!). All around bad work behaviour - any average employee would know better than to behave in these ways (annual ethics trainings have muted out these bad behaviours!)