Happy Sunday, dear readers!

In this letter, we both touch briefly on last Sunday Night’s Sl*p but we are as exhausted with the “discourse” as you all probably are and so are talking about other things, too.

Daysia talks about Moonshot and one of our dream collabs and Hannah rounds-up some other jaw-dropping celeb moments from this week.

Happy reading,

<3

Daysia and Hannah

This Week's Fixations

Daysia: I could not in my wildest dreams imagine more unhinged, prolonged discourse than what has followed the infamous slap. When people tweeted about how the weeks following the Oscars would bring about some of the most left-field think pieces, I did not expect any of this. I will not subject you to too much of it, since you’ve likely suffered enough. However, these are the responses that made my jaw drop:

Probably the piece de resistance:

Will Smith has resigned from the Academy over this incident, and appears to be awaiting further disciplinary action. Smith will be fine without his Academy membership, but I can't help but think about Hanna Phifer's analysis of the carceral response to the Slap.

And lest we forget the real scandal of the night, the celebrities who crossed the picket line to party at the Chateau Marmont amid its union's strike.

In other news, Lana Condor’s new space rom-com Moonshot is out. Real ones know how much I adore Condor and think she’s the perfect romance protagonist. Real ones also know how much Hannah and I love writer Bolu Babalola’s work as well, so this tweet has us dreaming about a Condor-Babalola helmed rom-com revival:

Hannah: Longtime readers will know that my philosophy recently has been to choose peace so I abstained from watching the Oscar’s live and instead was finally finishing Emily in Paris season two with a friend (salut, Shafaq!). However, I was also checking Twitter for the winners and the general vibe (the consensus seemed to be that they were not immaculate even prior to The Slap—aside from this moment between Lady Gaga and Liza Minelli).

I mean even compared to recent years I feel like going into this ceremony people were extraordinarily super unhappy with the nominees, the cutting of televised categories, and that weird fan favorite thing I still don’t really understand.

Anyways, in regard to The Slap I truly feel like this is the closest take to how I feel:

Of course, there are a lot of underlying nuances to this situation and most of them are not being touched on by the loudest (most obnoxious) voices. The consequences from this incident are still being dealt out for Will Smith, including his upcoming Netflix film being put on hold. As Daysia said, Smith will be fine without his Academy membership and likely will also be okay if this Netflix project doesn’t get released. However, this is all plays into the wider idea of a proportional response for Smith’s actions and how the pendulum of consequences swings depending on a variety of factors (usually rooted in racism, misogny, etc.) that I still don’t fully understand.

Case in point Netflix’s response to the reaction to the transphobia of Dave Chappelle’s recent comedy special.

Make it make sense??

And in regard to the “discourse” and celebrity commentary Daniel Radcliffe is the only celeb I have seen that has gotten it right:

But although we were subjected to off the wall takes from everyone, it was refreshing to see that celebrities are going to continue to do things that are frankly bananas and then tell the world about them.

Like now we know the specifics about the family dynamics and custody arrangements of Blac Chyna and Tyga and Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian.

(A subsequent but equally thrilling to me result of Blac Chyna’s posts is that they have given us the second greatest tweet where the word “mama” is doing a lot of work. The greatest is obviously this one.)

Lastly, there is now a new player on the celebrity literacy scene: Ashley Tisdale who has done more to support bookstores than any other celeb in recent memory.

(P.S. The full video is linked in TMT Plus!)

And shows us why she continues to be an icon:

There’s nothing like a celeb poking fun at a (harmless) extra thing they did.

Has Lorde Dropped a New Album?

The Solar Power tour kicks off this weekend!

ICYMI: Harry Styles dropped a shimmery, ‘80s-tinged pop single, “As It Was”

Too Many Tabs

Rose Matafeo spoke to New Yorker contributor Coralie Kraft about Starstruck and subverting rom-com tropes.

Writer Maaza Mengiste interviewed Oscar Issac about the hurricane that changed his life, characters he’s drawn to, and Moon Knight for Esquire.

Quinta Brunson tells the New York Times Magazine’s David Marchese why the world was ready—and waiting—for a show like Abbott Elementary.

Plus… an interactive romance movie with one obvious choice, Ashley Tisdale being iconic, Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet are NOT back together, evil nepotism, and a trip to a Bitcoin mine with Ben McKenzie.