T Lo’s Weekend Pop Culture Reading List

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Kittens, if you’re looking for a way to catch up on the zeitgeist, here are a whole bunch of articles and essays that caught our eye this week. And as we all know, T & Lo have their FINGERS on the PULSE.

There’s a moment near the midway point of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood when we catch Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) in the throes of a memory. The stuntman is meditating on his encroaching irrelevancy, as his on-set demand withers away and even his famous best friend Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) can’t save his career. Instead, Cliff’s been reduced to something like a glorified handyman, fixing Rick’s rooftop television antenna as he sips a beer and thinks back on what might have gone wrong. He recalls a time on the set of The Green Hornet where he got in an altercation with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh), and when we learn a vital bit of information: Cliff is disliked by many in the business because he allegedly murdered his wife.

Let’s Talk About That Boat Scene in ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD by Lindsey Romain at Nerdist

Vogue found the star holed up in L.A.’s Koreatown, where she gamely (and hilariously) answered our 73 Questions. Her dream travel companion? Jon Snow. “I think he’d be a little reluctant at first, and then he’d be really helpful along the journey.” Is she an early bird or a night owl? “I’m a night owl that goes to bed early and wakes up early—so I guess an early bird.” Where does she feel most at home? “Probably in an abandoned school bus, hurling insults at trees.” Who among us doesn’t?

Awkwafina on The Farewell, Crazy Rich Asians, and the Importance of Representation by Staff at Vogue

Target, your friendly American neighborhood behemoth that was never afraid to go local (as in, hip and indie) is celebrating 20 years of its Design for All program, reissuing 300 pieces from the original collaborations. This new collection will be available September 14 for a limited time, both in stores and online. A documentary about the program is even in the works.

Target Is Bringing Back 20 Years of Collaborations From Rodarte, Proenza Schouler, Missoni, and More by Mark Holgate at Vogue

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Tarantino hates women. I think he is sincerely invested in — and likes — writing women characters, and gives more thought to their interiority than some other lauded filmmakers have. But I also think that when it suits him to not think about these things, he doesn’t — that he’s perfectly comfortable rejecting even the possibility that he’s made missteps because he’s so sure of his own authorship and his right to be king of his own cinematic worlds. His love of movies and his faith that their transportive pleasures justify themselves have always set his work apart. But those beliefs are also a convenient way of dodging the fact that those movies then play in the real world, where you might find yourself sitting in a theater full of people guffawing in delight at the sight of Jennifer Jason Leigh getting belted in the face.

A History of Women in Quentin Tarantino Films by Allison Willmore at Buzzfeed

To inspire that kind of bravery of self-expression is so special. And that’s been the most rewarding thing—having it be inspiring to people that aren’t makeup artists and who are just real people. I think they’re mostly Gen Z kids who are just digging this whole new style.

How Euphoria’s Lead Makeup Artist Sparked a Gen-Z Beauty Movement by Lauren Valenti at Vogue

I want to talk about how we can rebound the motion-picture industry because it’s one of the worst polluters on the planet. While working on ‘The Hustle,’ I noticed disposable coffee cups, plastic water bottles, idling trucks, and food waste. When I finished the film, my family and I went zero waste. I’m actually putting together an environmental rider too.

Anne Hathaway’s Taking on Film-Industry Pollution with Zero Waste Founder Lauren Singer by Shalayne Pulia at InStyle

Among older women, anger is trending. In the time of #MeToo, their indignation is long overdue.

They’re Mad as Hell by NRuth La Ferla at The New York Times

The cult TNT show mixes race, class, and high camp.

Claws is a love letter to the proud, strip mall–fabulous American woman by Cate Young at Vox

“From the very beginning, Baldwin was saying that all the conversations about minority rights were actually just about discerning what the majority is and what the majority wants,” Vargas says. “All of these things that are considered out of the mainstream are actually redefining what the mainstream is. And to me, the conversation we’re having in America today and one of the things that tie all the movements together — Black Lives Matter, immigrant justice, #MeToo, LGBTQ+ rights — is a decentering of what has always been at the center. Which is what? White men.”

James Baldwin’s Blueprint For the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement by Tre’vell Anderson at Out magazine

The Duchess of Sussex is creating clothing for women’s charity Smart Works, debuting in September.

Meghan Markle Will Launch Charity Fashion Capsule by Lindsay Weinberg at The Hollywood Reporter

The force behind two major labels and 10 shows a year has built an empire of beauty and is focused on steering it into the future.

Miuccia Prada, Luxury-Fashion Pioneer by Keziah Weir at Vanity Fair

Winged liner and heavy eye makeup is a part of the TikTok e-girl aesthetic, just as they were in the Tumblr days, but there’s also what Jessica calls, laughing, an added “‘I’m baby’ quality,” referring to the popular meme. The pigtails, along with the pink nose, eyes, and cheeks, are indicative of youth. “It’s a little DDLG,” she says, meaning the kink Daddy Dom Little Girl. Like many current fashion trends (harnesses, for instance), there’s an element of BSDM, kink, and fetish wear, too. A hypersexualized child aesthetic, which also borrows from anime, means that e-girls often look both older and younger than they are. It’s true of many teen trends, but online, age is even easier to manipulate with the help of photo-editing software, face filters, and camera angling.

E-girls and e-boys, explained by Rebecca Jennings at The Goods by Vox

[Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment/CTMG/EPK.TV]

• T Lo’s Weekend Homework