Ivanka Trump and her supporters make me so angry. We’re facing the death of democracy thanks to her dad and his lunatics. But since she’s friends with the Kardashians and is a mom let’s forget the permanent harm she willingly participated in. Fuck that. I hope karma waits around every corner for her and her evil family.
I rarely if ever click on People articles, but the attempt to clean Ivanka's reputation after the what she did in that admin has me boycotting it completely. And f*ck Kim Kardashian forever for trying to bring her back to relevance. Ivanka Trump should be in jail with her criminal father and she should be paying the same kind of fines her half wit brothers are for fraud.
Ever since “Four Seasons Landscaping”, I keep imagining the montage from Goodfellas with Layla playing. Instead of showing deaths, the montage is each of these criminals being perp walked to prison.
Please tell me someone else is old enough for the reference, lol!
Honestly this bullshit with seeing Kim posted up with Complicit Barbie was a huge reminder that these filthy rich people will pick their ilk over morals/decency any time.
I haven’t even finished reading the mailbag yet but the way my BLOOD BOILED reading “she wants to think of nothing but her family”!!!!!!!!! MUST BE FUCKING NICE NOT TO HAVE TO CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU’VE CREATED A WORLD WHERE THEY CAN BE TRAMPLED SO YOU GET TO LIVE ON THE BEACH.
I feel like the two leads of Gossip Girl (the OG!) are a good case study of FQ and IT. To my eye, Leighton Meester was the star of the show--punchy, funny, sincere, a weirdly good performance in a hilariously dumb show. But the breakout star was Blake Lively, who is not a great actress but is *excellent* at being famous. Meester's career has sort of gone nowhere and it seems to me that she was not great at navigating the actual strategic/FQ side of her job, despite having real talent and spark onscreen. Lively is the opposite--not much onscreen but excellent at managing her job.
I loved Leighton on Single Parents. Blake is famous for her marriage and friendship with a very famous woman. What does she do? I'm asking because that's really all I know about her.
So I have a story about the It Factor and how sometimes there are people you may not like, but you can't deny they have "It."
Back in the day, I used to go to a yearly convention of political and social activists. It was always a good place to learn how to practically apply methods and lessons of big scale activism to local and regional work. And I had activist friends, we'd meet up there and catch up and relax and party. A good, educational time was generally had by all.
Anyway, politicians were invited to these things, generally Democrats, but sometimes Independents and the occasional rightwing Republican. They would give political speeches and have q & a's and the like. I listened to Al Gore talk about climate change and Nancy Pelosi dissemble about the Patriot Act, etc And one year, Bill Clinton showed up.
This was well after he was president, and I didn't like him, didn't like most of his politics and REALLY didn't like how he used women and then discarded them or threw them under the bus. He is just not my cup of tea, such a sleazebag. But he was going to give a talk, and before the talk, as we filed into this auditorium, he was standing at the door, surrounded by secret service agents, and shaking hands and talking to everyone who came through that door.
As I said, I didn't like him. But before you could even see him through the crowd, you could feel something, a strange kind of energy, like it was pulsating around him and through and beyond the crowd. Upon arriving at the point where I was going to shake his hand, he took my hand and looked deep in my eyes, and it was like being held by a tractor beam in Star Trek. I couldn't pull away, I couldn't look away until he released me. He stared directly into my eyes and I could not pull my gaze away, I was trapped there. I don't know how to explain what was happening. There was a flood of pheromones coming off of him, and a crazy kind of charm, and he gave the impression that he was hanging on your every word, asking followup questions, just intensely interested in you and your meaningless peon life. It was fascinating, both engulfing attraction and repellent at the same time. When he let go of my hand to move on to the next person, my hand was tingling. And remember, I don't even like the man. 20 minutes later I got to see him have a major meltdown in front of several thousand people because someone had the temerity to question his moral compass. It was one of the most intense evenings of my activist life. Good times, good times....
At that same convention in a different year, Andrew Breitbart showed up. He came to cause trouble, and while he did make things interesting, he wasn't the thorn in the side of those leftie snowflakes he'd hoped to be. But he also had that same kind of repellent charisma that Bill Clinton had. He was intelligent, and obnoxious about it, the attraction was great and upsetting, and it wasn't staunched by the fact that he appeared to be either drunk or high every time I saw him. He, too, was a sea of pheromones and such, and the young women, women who were enraged by his political views and behavior, were nevertheless drawn to him like moths to a flame. I spent 20 minutes in conversation with him sitting outside in the sunshine one afternoon, a rather good-natured argument actually, and I was left with the same feelings I had after the Clinton encounter. It wasn't long after that that he died.
So yeah, some people have a thing, an inexplicable thing, and even when you actively dislike them, you can't deny that the thing exists.
Dylan was trying it with the locs, but I have noticed that East Asians I'm familiar with have an affinity for Black hair styles that are not created for their hair. There's absolutely no reason to sit for that long and get braids. It's perplexing. I've had the "you definitely can't wear that in America because xyz" conversations. Dylan needs someone on his team to research, but I think that's an across the board mistake. In South Africa, as an African American, there's still a line. The scarves are imprinted with meaningful designs that I shouldn't wear because it's that specific. Not everything we enjoy is to be consumed into the cultural zeitgeist because we decide we like it. Cultural gentrification happens. It's disrespectful when intentional. How are you going to consume my cultural vernacular and then make it where I have to delineate that I'm using MY CULTURAL VERNACULAR? Why do I have to make the adjustment, when you can use more words and stay in your lane respectfully??? My favorite example is that as much as I read the use of "the culture" by black writers ABOUT black people, or when black artists are talking about a black part of their fandom...I hardly read it used in mainstream publications because that particular usage is very specific to African American people (+ diaspora). It's irksome that it can be diminished as context because someone decided that they don't have to respect the culture. Maybe that's why there's "bruh vs bro" (JT saying bruh would be worse than fo shizz). There's a line. It's probably most irksome because nonmelanated people have an expected grating dismissive tone when they are told they've crossed a line. It's like those reductive conversations Ta-Nahesi Coates had with white people who can't comprehend being told the n-word should be fine because it's in a song. He understood their point because everything has belonged to them for centuries. Why should this be different? I've had to explain why the n-word is off limits to a pale male. It's draining to have to explain that it's not a group activity for everyone. The bigger question is WHY do you want to? Or why do you deserve said explanation? Black people are tired. Our culture is embracing, but is EVERYTHING on the table? If it's obvious we have a specific phrase, then why does it need to be spread to the whole? As much as JT is a punchline, he's not different from the Dylan's who think Black people stuff is fun for everyone. Hopefully, Dylan understands it's not just a fun style. There's meaning, and Black people don't have to keep reasserting their right to not be treated as a costume and phrase factory. I think we can enjoy a variety of things from everyone and leave certain things for those that made it their own.
Oh yes, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK Ivanka, Jared and their whole terrible, horrible, no good very BAD FAMILY. I wish only the worst things for those monsters for eternity.
Another Peacock subscriber! I have it solely for SNL. Does that make me a dinosaur?
I apologize if I’ve posted this here before but I’ve seen Angelina Jolie in person and can attest to the truth of that description. It was soon after she adopted Maddox. I was walking to work down W 57th Street in NY and she was walking the opposite direction, towards me, while carrying him. It was early in the morning and she looked incandescently happy, cradling him to her chest and walking along. Like even if she wasn’t famous, you would see her and think “holy shit, who is that woman?” Drop dead beautiful. I’ve always regretted not congratulating her on becoming a mom. (It was embarrassment over my dumb outfit that held me back.)
Agree - I saw her in person in Sydney with Brad up close and she was ethereal. You didn’t even notice Brad because she was just so out of this world beautiful and almost alien like in her beauty.
I maybe was on board around Thelma and Louise and dating Gwynie, but there’s something off in his face. For a low FQ pretty boy, I’d take Ben Affleck before he jacked his face over Pale Pitt any day.
So I want to feel the same rage as Lainey or Sarah (sorry, who wrote the open?) but I can’t seem to because:
1 - the People readers who have ANY empathy for female Cheeto are going to be the ones who also can stand her father, so I could care less about their sympathies
2 - whether she’s buddying up with Oldest KK or Rupert’s last co-conspirator, she is not welcome in the circles that she wants to be in, so jokes on her
Schadenfreude except !bonus! she brought it on her own little self.
Ugh this actually makes me think both #1 and #2 are the goals.
With 1, it’s casually allowing her back into pop culture. Softening her reentry with the articles trying to reframe her time. Then she starts showing up at events here and there. Right now, she’s propped up by her KK friends. Soon she starts showing up on her own or being featured favorably. Next thing, she’s at fashion week just hanging out like the cool fashionable (please forget my my time supporting my father the actual scourge on earth!!) woman they’ll convince us (not me) she is. A magazine shoot here. Some quirky tik toks there. All of a sudden it’s amnesia. The people who can stand her father don’t have the be swayed about her
2. I can guarantee she’s already hanging in some of the circles she wants to be in. We the regular masses won’t see it, but she likely is. They may not be posting her all over socials, but I don’t think she’s going to remain some kind of pariah. If her image gets softened, those circles will get bigger, she’ll start showing back up slowly.
Not an equal or really even a similar example, but I think about how the recent balenciaga scandal happened and all these celebs were so quick to distance themselves. And now, it’s fully back in closets, they’re on red carpets, etc. Not saying the brand needed to die or people need to be shamed for wearing it, it just makes me think about how many of these celebs can only hold out for so long.
Thank you, Lainey, for the analysis of Chinese fandoms and the podcast recommendation. I am craving for this kind of information because it is so difficult to understand why East Asian celebrities behave so very differently from Western celebrities, especially if it comes to protecting their dating life. What I am still wondering about is, how it is even possible to shield information about a celebritie‘s dating life so effectively. There must be paparazzi around in China or South Korea, as well. Or are paparazzi a Western celebrity phenomenon?
Anyway, my comment comes with a protection spell to protect you and your work from crazy fans. I hope it works 😊
Also, between this Ivanka Tr*mp story and the Sara Evans one yesterday, they are really going all in on dangerous and irresponsible reporting this week.
If I could get rid of one streaming platform (based on how little I watch its content), it would be Amazon Prime. But I still have it because I love that free shipping. So it seems hard to compare Prime to the other streaming services because I suspect most people are not subscribers to Prime for the streaming content only but it comes bundled with other attractive services. It has the worst user interface and I can never find what I'm looking for on there. Plus I hate that they don't really separate what is free to watch through Prime vs. what you have to rent/buy.
We get Netflix through our phone company and HBO Max through our internet provider. We have Disney+ because we have kids (though my husband would keep it just for the Marvel content) and we pay for Hulu but I don't think I'd miss it too much if we didn't have it. Isn't Hulu owned by ABC which is owned by Disney? It feels like they should all just be rolled up into one streaming service. I have no bandwidth for yet another streaming platform. I already scroll and scroll through all the platforms looking for something to watch and then end up watching nothing. It's all too much.
Some people won't include Amazon and streaming analysis because the fact that the streaming subscription is tied to the shipping stuff, and that is undoubtedly why so many people have Prime. But given that we're headed in the direction of bundles, the fact that Amazon, like Apple, has other business means they'll be able to stay out of bundling with other platforms. Which is something to think about.
Yes, I would totally ditch prime but the free shipping keeps us having it. I added Brit box to it and now I watch it all time but it just really britbox shows.
I live in a house with my disabled sister and my youngest son, his wife, and their two youngest (teenage) daughters. I have the Hulu account and the bundled stuff like HBO/Max, etc. My sister has the Netflix account. And of course I have Prime because I, too, love that free shipping. So we have plenty to watch. We do have a TV, but no one has watched it in years.
And you're right about Prime's interface, it's just awful. I don't know why they don't make it easier to search for what you want there. It's like an afterthought to them.
I have Prime streaming via paying for “free” shipping but now that I’m paying for no ads monthly, I probably won’t renew. So irritating. I’m so over Amazon. I pick up and drop max/Apple TV for certain shows. I have Netflix and Disney+/Hulu (no live tv) bc kids.
Such great questions and thoughtful answers! Lolll about Sydney Sweeney’s low BP energy. Hihi!!! Mr. And Mrs. Smith reboot is SO FUCKING GOOD! I am having withdrawals now that it’s over. Please tell me they’re making a S2! John and Jane 4eva!
What a great mailbag this week!!! Kudos to all the fabulous questions and responses from LG. The FQ vs It factor descriptions made perfect perfect sense to me. Who do you think has both high FQ and high It Factor? I would imagine BTS does. Rihanna. Jullianne Moore (my fave). And maybe...Tom Cruise?? Can you have high It factor and low FQ? Thinking about this way too hard now.
Julia Roberts has high IT and FQ, I think, after listening to a Squawker’s recommendation of the “You Must Remember This” podcast, Pretty Woman episode. George Clooney, too. Keke Palmer. Beyoncé too obviously, probably rates off the charts for both. Jessica Chastain. Anne Hathaway.
I think the people who sparkle on screen but are super whiney about their celebrity maybe have IT but low FQ. Probably though most of the people with low FQ just don’t survive long in the industry.
I have Peacock because it's the only way to see all the Premiere League games. Of course, now you have to get Paramount+ to watch the Champions League. 🙃 Side note: I've been wondering how Jacek is doing with Harry Kane moving to Bayern Munich—or was the love of Harry Kane more specific to him playing for Tottenham and less about him as an individual player? (I know he "creates space" and whatnot, but I've always found him such a mouthbreathing lunk, for lack of a better word, on the field.)
Ivanka Trump and her supporters make me so angry. We’re facing the death of democracy thanks to her dad and his lunatics. But since she’s friends with the Kardashians and is a mom let’s forget the permanent harm she willingly participated in. Fuck that. I hope karma waits around every corner for her and her evil family.
I rarely if ever click on People articles, but the attempt to clean Ivanka's reputation after the what she did in that admin has me boycotting it completely. And f*ck Kim Kardashian forever for trying to bring her back to relevance. Ivanka Trump should be in jail with her criminal father and she should be paying the same kind of fines her half wit brothers are for fraud.
YES! The justice system cannot come for these assholes fast enough.
Ever since “Four Seasons Landscaping”, I keep imagining the montage from Goodfellas with Layla playing. Instead of showing deaths, the montage is each of these criminals being perp walked to prison.
Please tell me someone else is old enough for the reference, lol!
Honestly this bullshit with seeing Kim posted up with Complicit Barbie was a huge reminder that these filthy rich people will pick their ilk over morals/decency any time.
Do the Kardashians have morals or decency? Seems like for like attraction to me!
1,000,000,000%!!!!!!! Hoping they all fall into a sinkhole in FL.
I haven’t even finished reading the mailbag yet but the way my BLOOD BOILED reading “she wants to think of nothing but her family”!!!!!!!!! MUST BE FUCKING NICE NOT TO HAVE TO CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU’VE CREATED A WORLD WHERE THEY CAN BE TRAMPLED SO YOU GET TO LIVE ON THE BEACH.
I feel like the two leads of Gossip Girl (the OG!) are a good case study of FQ and IT. To my eye, Leighton Meester was the star of the show--punchy, funny, sincere, a weirdly good performance in a hilariously dumb show. But the breakout star was Blake Lively, who is not a great actress but is *excellent* at being famous. Meester's career has sort of gone nowhere and it seems to me that she was not great at navigating the actual strategic/FQ side of her job, despite having real talent and spark onscreen. Lively is the opposite--not much onscreen but excellent at managing her job.
I loved Leighton on Single Parents. Blake is famous for her marriage and friendship with a very famous woman. What does she do? I'm asking because that's really all I know about her.
I saw Betty Buzz in the grocery store today for the first time and it was like seeing a unicorn! It is real!
This is so true! I loved Leighton on that show and thought we’d be seeing a lot more of her.
So I have a story about the It Factor and how sometimes there are people you may not like, but you can't deny they have "It."
Back in the day, I used to go to a yearly convention of political and social activists. It was always a good place to learn how to practically apply methods and lessons of big scale activism to local and regional work. And I had activist friends, we'd meet up there and catch up and relax and party. A good, educational time was generally had by all.
Anyway, politicians were invited to these things, generally Democrats, but sometimes Independents and the occasional rightwing Republican. They would give political speeches and have q & a's and the like. I listened to Al Gore talk about climate change and Nancy Pelosi dissemble about the Patriot Act, etc And one year, Bill Clinton showed up.
This was well after he was president, and I didn't like him, didn't like most of his politics and REALLY didn't like how he used women and then discarded them or threw them under the bus. He is just not my cup of tea, such a sleazebag. But he was going to give a talk, and before the talk, as we filed into this auditorium, he was standing at the door, surrounded by secret service agents, and shaking hands and talking to everyone who came through that door.
As I said, I didn't like him. But before you could even see him through the crowd, you could feel something, a strange kind of energy, like it was pulsating around him and through and beyond the crowd. Upon arriving at the point where I was going to shake his hand, he took my hand and looked deep in my eyes, and it was like being held by a tractor beam in Star Trek. I couldn't pull away, I couldn't look away until he released me. He stared directly into my eyes and I could not pull my gaze away, I was trapped there. I don't know how to explain what was happening. There was a flood of pheromones coming off of him, and a crazy kind of charm, and he gave the impression that he was hanging on your every word, asking followup questions, just intensely interested in you and your meaningless peon life. It was fascinating, both engulfing attraction and repellent at the same time. When he let go of my hand to move on to the next person, my hand was tingling. And remember, I don't even like the man. 20 minutes later I got to see him have a major meltdown in front of several thousand people because someone had the temerity to question his moral compass. It was one of the most intense evenings of my activist life. Good times, good times....
At that same convention in a different year, Andrew Breitbart showed up. He came to cause trouble, and while he did make things interesting, he wasn't the thorn in the side of those leftie snowflakes he'd hoped to be. But he also had that same kind of repellent charisma that Bill Clinton had. He was intelligent, and obnoxious about it, the attraction was great and upsetting, and it wasn't staunched by the fact that he appeared to be either drunk or high every time I saw him. He, too, was a sea of pheromones and such, and the young women, women who were enraged by his political views and behavior, were nevertheless drawn to him like moths to a flame. I spent 20 minutes in conversation with him sitting outside in the sunshine one afternoon, a rather good-natured argument actually, and I was left with the same feelings I had after the Clinton encounter. It wasn't long after that that he died.
So yeah, some people have a thing, an inexplicable thing, and even when you actively dislike them, you can't deny that the thing exists.
This was a fascinating story! Thank you for sharing.
You're welcome!
I second Kathleen. That was fascinating! Thanks for sharing.
Dylan was trying it with the locs, but I have noticed that East Asians I'm familiar with have an affinity for Black hair styles that are not created for their hair. There's absolutely no reason to sit for that long and get braids. It's perplexing. I've had the "you definitely can't wear that in America because xyz" conversations. Dylan needs someone on his team to research, but I think that's an across the board mistake. In South Africa, as an African American, there's still a line. The scarves are imprinted with meaningful designs that I shouldn't wear because it's that specific. Not everything we enjoy is to be consumed into the cultural zeitgeist because we decide we like it. Cultural gentrification happens. It's disrespectful when intentional. How are you going to consume my cultural vernacular and then make it where I have to delineate that I'm using MY CULTURAL VERNACULAR? Why do I have to make the adjustment, when you can use more words and stay in your lane respectfully??? My favorite example is that as much as I read the use of "the culture" by black writers ABOUT black people, or when black artists are talking about a black part of their fandom...I hardly read it used in mainstream publications because that particular usage is very specific to African American people (+ diaspora). It's irksome that it can be diminished as context because someone decided that they don't have to respect the culture. Maybe that's why there's "bruh vs bro" (JT saying bruh would be worse than fo shizz). There's a line. It's probably most irksome because nonmelanated people have an expected grating dismissive tone when they are told they've crossed a line. It's like those reductive conversations Ta-Nahesi Coates had with white people who can't comprehend being told the n-word should be fine because it's in a song. He understood their point because everything has belonged to them for centuries. Why should this be different? I've had to explain why the n-word is off limits to a pale male. It's draining to have to explain that it's not a group activity for everyone. The bigger question is WHY do you want to? Or why do you deserve said explanation? Black people are tired. Our culture is embracing, but is EVERYTHING on the table? If it's obvious we have a specific phrase, then why does it need to be spread to the whole? As much as JT is a punchline, he's not different from the Dylan's who think Black people stuff is fun for everyone. Hopefully, Dylan understands it's not just a fun style. There's meaning, and Black people don't have to keep reasserting their right to not be treated as a costume and phrase factory. I think we can enjoy a variety of things from everyone and leave certain things for those that made it their own.
Oh yes, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK Ivanka, Jared and their whole terrible, horrible, no good very BAD FAMILY. I wish only the worst things for those monsters for eternity.
Another Peacock subscriber! I have it solely for SNL. Does that make me a dinosaur?
I apologize if I’ve posted this here before but I’ve seen Angelina Jolie in person and can attest to the truth of that description. It was soon after she adopted Maddox. I was walking to work down W 57th Street in NY and she was walking the opposite direction, towards me, while carrying him. It was early in the morning and she looked incandescently happy, cradling him to her chest and walking along. Like even if she wasn’t famous, you would see her and think “holy shit, who is that woman?” Drop dead beautiful. I’ve always regretted not congratulating her on becoming a mom. (It was embarrassment over my dumb outfit that held me back.)
Agree - I saw her in person in Sydney with Brad up close and she was ethereal. You didn’t even notice Brad because she was just so out of this world beautiful and almost alien like in her beauty.
Wonder if her regularly eclipsing him helped damage his pale male ego enough to drive this seemingly deep seated need for revenge.
Now that is saying something! I’m not a Brad defender but he is undeniably a beautiful man.
I’ve often thought he looks like a chipmunk.
A beautiful chipmunk? 😛
A hairless chipmunk like a hairless cat.
I maybe was on board around Thelma and Louise and dating Gwynie, but there’s something off in his face. For a low FQ pretty boy, I’d take Ben Affleck before he jacked his face over Pale Pitt any day.
And I think Ben would be a lot more fun, too. Plus you know he loves his wife.
The gene lottery. He wastes his riches.
So I want to feel the same rage as Lainey or Sarah (sorry, who wrote the open?) but I can’t seem to because:
1 - the People readers who have ANY empathy for female Cheeto are going to be the ones who also can stand her father, so I could care less about their sympathies
2 - whether she’s buddying up with Oldest KK or Rupert’s last co-conspirator, she is not welcome in the circles that she wants to be in, so jokes on her
Schadenfreude except !bonus! she brought it on her own little self.
Ugh this actually makes me think both #1 and #2 are the goals.
With 1, it’s casually allowing her back into pop culture. Softening her reentry with the articles trying to reframe her time. Then she starts showing up at events here and there. Right now, she’s propped up by her KK friends. Soon she starts showing up on her own or being featured favorably. Next thing, she’s at fashion week just hanging out like the cool fashionable (please forget my my time supporting my father the actual scourge on earth!!) woman they’ll convince us (not me) she is. A magazine shoot here. Some quirky tik toks there. All of a sudden it’s amnesia. The people who can stand her father don’t have the be swayed about her
2. I can guarantee she’s already hanging in some of the circles she wants to be in. We the regular masses won’t see it, but she likely is. They may not be posting her all over socials, but I don’t think she’s going to remain some kind of pariah. If her image gets softened, those circles will get bigger, she’ll start showing back up slowly.
Not an equal or really even a similar example, but I think about how the recent balenciaga scandal happened and all these celebs were so quick to distance themselves. And now, it’s fully back in closets, they’re on red carpets, etc. Not saying the brand needed to die or people need to be shamed for wearing it, it just makes me think about how many of these celebs can only hold out for so long.
Same with D&G- people were horrified but the clothes are so nice (vom)
Thank you, Lainey, for the analysis of Chinese fandoms and the podcast recommendation. I am craving for this kind of information because it is so difficult to understand why East Asian celebrities behave so very differently from Western celebrities, especially if it comes to protecting their dating life. What I am still wondering about is, how it is even possible to shield information about a celebritie‘s dating life so effectively. There must be paparazzi around in China or South Korea, as well. Or are paparazzi a Western celebrity phenomenon?
Anyway, my comment comes with a protection spell to protect you and your work from crazy fans. I hope it works 😊
Also, between this Ivanka Tr*mp story and the Sara Evans one yesterday, they are really going all in on dangerous and irresponsible reporting this week.
Oh they have for a good decade now. Should not believe anything read in People or Hollywood Reporter
I’m excited for Duana’s show! She’s showing her work!! Congratulations Duana
If I could get rid of one streaming platform (based on how little I watch its content), it would be Amazon Prime. But I still have it because I love that free shipping. So it seems hard to compare Prime to the other streaming services because I suspect most people are not subscribers to Prime for the streaming content only but it comes bundled with other attractive services. It has the worst user interface and I can never find what I'm looking for on there. Plus I hate that they don't really separate what is free to watch through Prime vs. what you have to rent/buy.
We get Netflix through our phone company and HBO Max through our internet provider. We have Disney+ because we have kids (though my husband would keep it just for the Marvel content) and we pay for Hulu but I don't think I'd miss it too much if we didn't have it. Isn't Hulu owned by ABC which is owned by Disney? It feels like they should all just be rolled up into one streaming service. I have no bandwidth for yet another streaming platform. I already scroll and scroll through all the platforms looking for something to watch and then end up watching nothing. It's all too much.
Some people won't include Amazon and streaming analysis because the fact that the streaming subscription is tied to the shipping stuff, and that is undoubtedly why so many people have Prime. But given that we're headed in the direction of bundles, the fact that Amazon, like Apple, has other business means they'll be able to stay out of bundling with other platforms. Which is something to think about.
Yes, I would totally ditch prime but the free shipping keeps us having it. I added Brit box to it and now I watch it all time but it just really britbox shows.
Oh I do love britbox!
So good!
I live in a house with my disabled sister and my youngest son, his wife, and their two youngest (teenage) daughters. I have the Hulu account and the bundled stuff like HBO/Max, etc. My sister has the Netflix account. And of course I have Prime because I, too, love that free shipping. So we have plenty to watch. We do have a TV, but no one has watched it in years.
And you're right about Prime's interface, it's just awful. I don't know why they don't make it easier to search for what you want there. It's like an afterthought to them.
I have Prime streaming via paying for “free” shipping but now that I’m paying for no ads monthly, I probably won’t renew. So irritating. I’m so over Amazon. I pick up and drop max/Apple TV for certain shows. I have Netflix and Disney+/Hulu (no live tv) bc kids.
Such great questions and thoughtful answers! Lolll about Sydney Sweeney’s low BP energy. Hihi!!! Mr. And Mrs. Smith reboot is SO FUCKING GOOD! I am having withdrawals now that it’s over. Please tell me they’re making a S2! John and Jane 4eva!
Is it good?? I was wondering. Great, something I can start this weekend thanks for the recommendation!!!
It’s SO GOOD!!! I got sucked right in from the first minute of the opening episode. I binged it in a day and a half. You will LOVE!
Echoing yes, so good!
What a great mailbag this week!!! Kudos to all the fabulous questions and responses from LG. The FQ vs It factor descriptions made perfect perfect sense to me. Who do you think has both high FQ and high It Factor? I would imagine BTS does. Rihanna. Jullianne Moore (my fave). And maybe...Tom Cruise?? Can you have high It factor and low FQ? Thinking about this way too hard now.
Julia Roberts has high IT and FQ, I think, after listening to a Squawker’s recommendation of the “You Must Remember This” podcast, Pretty Woman episode. George Clooney, too. Keke Palmer. Beyoncé too obviously, probably rates off the charts for both. Jessica Chastain. Anne Hathaway.
As for high IT and low FQ… Britney Spears?
I think the people who sparkle on screen but are super whiney about their celebrity maybe have IT but low FQ. Probably though most of the people with low FQ just don’t survive long in the industry.
I have Peacock because it's the only way to see all the Premiere League games. Of course, now you have to get Paramount+ to watch the Champions League. 🙃 Side note: I've been wondering how Jacek is doing with Harry Kane moving to Bayern Munich—or was the love of Harry Kane more specific to him playing for Tottenham and less about him as an individual player? (I know he "creates space" and whatnot, but I've always found him such a mouthbreathing lunk, for lack of a better word, on the field.)
Just commenting to say I will now be evaluating every celebrity through the lens of FQ—thank you for introducing this to my brain.
The Mr and Mrs Smith mention made me realize Donald Glover seems like another good high FQ example.