Hello and welcome to the pop culture fix, your weekly look at all the important pop culture stories you need to know about. You are honestly so lucky to be here, now, with me, reading this. I’m so glad we decided to this together on the very same day that I ran out of fruit snacks.
Transparent
photo via Buzzfeed by Jennifer Clasen / Amazon Studios for BuzzFeed News
+ If you would like to torture yourself by watching one episode of Transparent Season Two before the rest of the episodes are actually released, you can do that! Episode 201 is available now on Amazon Prime, and you can read Mey’s take on it here.
+ Mey Rude spent eight hours on the set of Transparent and is writing all about it for you in an Autostraddle article we’re all looking forward to! In the meantime, a Buzzfeed writer apparently spent 48 hours on the set of Transparent and you can read all about that in “48 Hours On The First Trans-Centric Set In The Heart of Hollywood.”
+ Kayla’s writing a thing for Autostraddle about what you can expect in Season Two of Transparent which we’re all looking forward to! In the meantime, AfterEllen has a piece about how Syd and Ali will be giving lesbian love a chance this season. I can’t tell you anything more than that because I hate spoilers so I only read the headline and the spoiler warning before fleeing AfterEllen in a hot panic, as we do.
+ Hari Nef, the first transgender model signed to IMG and a guest star on Season Two of Transparent, talks to The New York Times about coming out and playing a Pfefferman from a time long ago.
Famous People Are More Important Than Other People
+ Holland Taylor spoke openly about her relationships with women on WNYC last week AND ALSO Holland Taylor and Sarah Paulson are girlfriends and it’s ADORABLE. They’ve been dating for about four months, as their respective twitter feeds have made fairly clear (here’s Sarah’s and here’s Holland’s.)
+ The Advocate is honoring 40 Under 40 in its new issue, which features Tyler Oakley on the cover. The only woman up on the site so far is bisexual bipolar musician Halsey. She’s awesome and you should read about her!
+ Wanda Sykes was on Ellen yesterday!
+ Here are 12 Queer Hip-Hop Artists for you.
+ Kristen Kish wears sweatpants and a t-shirt when she’s cooking at home.
+ Serena Williams, Amy Schumer, Patti Smith and Yao Chen model for the 2016 Pirelli Calendar.
Teevee and The Movies
+ “Kilgrave is the abuser that so many victims of abuse are familiar with: Everyone on the outside sees a charming, friendly, affable man. On the inside, within his relationships, he is completely and totally in control. And just like real life, he doesn’t see anything wrong with what he does.”
+ 10 TV Events to look forward to in December: Yael Stone in a cool-looking new SyFy mini-series, Netflix’s true crime series that’ll fill a Jinx-sized hole in our hearts, The Wiz and an Empire-ish Christmas special.
+ On the art of splitting one book into two films.
+ There was a secret meeting about Gender Bias in Hollywood and I’m pretty sure our invitations got lost in the mail.
+ The Daily Beast talks to Carrie-Ann Moss about playing Marvel’s first lesbian character.
Why yes, watching just one ep of Transparent WAS torture.
But at least Tig’s cameo was actually visible on camera (with a joke, no less!) this year.
Wait, what? Holland Taylor’s mystery gf is Sarah Paulson?
“No caption…” ,indeed.
The author of the out.com piece about Holland Taylor and Sarah Paulson is named Les Fabian.
If, like me, you tend to run words together while reading, you will appreciate that as the most perfect possible author of that article.
Halsey keeps showing up on my Pandora station at work and I can’t get enough.
From that Bitch piece on Jessica Jones:
“The warning signs are there early on. Under Kilgrave’s control, Simpson assaults Trish inside her own apartment. Once Kilgrave’s control wears off, he’s wracked with guilt and comes back to apologize. The problem is that Trish doesn’t want Simpson’s apology; she wants him to just leave. Trish doesn’t want to be reminded that she was attacked in her own home, or feel trapped by her own high-end security system while her attacker lingers outside. But Simpson is insistent, sitting in her hallway and talking to her through the intercom. Simpson makes his apology about his needs and his absolution, not about Trish’s needs, safety, or mental health. It’s entirely understandable, but it’s still wrong. ”
THIIIIIIIIS. So many reviews I’ve seen talk about Simpson being the good guy who turns evil because of some pills, but NOPE. He was ALWAYS terrible from the word go. Yes, he went through some incredible trauma, and of course he deserves sympathy for that, but the way he REACTS to said trauma says a lot of about him – he barges into Trish and Jessica’s lives (and homes), forcing himself in because of his needs, his feelings, and never thinking about what they need or want. This is the first article I’ve seen that gets Simpson exactly right.
Totally!!! I walked away from the show feeling like Simpson was villain to watch for #2, directly following Kilgrave. He was terrible from the very beginning.
This is so interesting because I stopped watching JJ before Simpson became a bad guy but there were IMMEDIATE red flags to me about his character and how he handled the aftermath of assaulting Trish. But then they had him become this knight in shining armor for a couple episodes? I’m glad to hear that didn’t last.
24 HOURS UNTIL THE WIZ!!
I really wish I could watch Transparent! I really appreciate almost everything about it, but watching it punches me right in the anxiety feels. Queue empathetic panic attacks!
♥
Wanda Sykes is just the best.
Yeah, great clip. Love that smoking smokin’hot wife of Wanda’s!
Hari Nef. Oof.
And I gotta watch Jessica Jones, now more than ever.
I’ve been crushing hard on Halsey these past few months, I feel like I’m 14 years old (she was everywhere on my Tumblr, it was inevitable).
That article about Jessica Jones and abuse was SO good.
Re: Jessica Jones… I’ve nowhere else to really say this, so I’ll just put it here as I need to say it: my partner has severe PTSD from childhood sexual abuse which got thrown back into full force 3 years ago (therapy is ongoing and progressing well, don’t worry) and watching a similarly afflicted person as the superhero of a show has been SO WONDERFUL. I have devoured the first half of it, confirming in my heart the bravery of my sweetie that I always knew being projected through a fictional hero. People act so skittish around this stuff in real life that it’s not a possible conversation to have and seeing it as complex and heroic on-screen has been healing for me, I gotta say. It’s not just a pop-culture escape, but therapeutic balm for the soul. Jessica Jones: the best thing.