A wee Scottish Jane Austen remake anyone?
Aye, perhaps with bonnie Pedro Pascal in it.
Welcome to mostly cool stuff, a space dedicated to the the random things I come across online and offline that get my attention as per the dozens of screenshots, pictures and links in my phone to remind me about them.
Happy reading!
Coolness is like energy: it never dies, it just transforms
The V&A East Storehouse is opening its doors this weekend. Housed in a new impressive site in the former Olympic Park in Stratford, the museum is home to over 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 archives that visitors can book to view up to five objects, including a 1954 pink silk taffeta evening dress by Cristóbal Balenciaga. I’ll have to ask for it when I visit this summer.
The V&A East Storehouse in Stratford According to a recent Financial Times article the key to becoming a great thinker is to use screen less and read more books. Of course you know that already because the audience of this publication is made up of people of class who spend their days devoted to the classic works of literature to gain invaluable insights into the human soul in ways no newsletter, and much less so no TikTok video, could ever match. Because the FT article also mentions that great thinkers often assume they are wrong, I am going to concede my previous statement is a long shot and that you’ve been in fact glued to your phone for a while before I came to rescue you from imminent brain rot. You’re welcome, by the way, but do pick a book when you’re done reading this issue. We have to keep appearances.
Now that Elon Musk is stepping down from the Trump administration, and pension fund investors at Tesla are demanding he clocks in 40 hours a week, I thought he may be considering changing jobs and in case he ends up reading this newsletter I’ve found an opening for him that sounds like his cup of tea.
I have a wee soft spot for Scotland and its people, who I find very similar in character to Spanish people with the plus of having a very sexy accent despite I often get 2 out of 10 words. If like me you share this fondness for all things Scottish, you’ll enjoy listening to Alister Heather, a wee Scottish lad passionate about Scottish history, which via his instagram account historic_ally shares less well known facts and curiosities about Scotland. Heather is also an admirer of Robert Burns and champion of the Scots language and in his short Beyond Burns travel documentary for BBC 4 he explores the sense of place and use of Scotts in modern Scottish poets.
I don’t know who needs to see this but this video of the US male contestants at the 1988 aerobics national championship has restored my faith in humanity. I have the firm conviction that if we brought this discipline back the world would be a better place. Look how happy (and totally ripped) these men are, how healthy and confident in their masculinity that they only need to jump around in bright stretchy clothes to enjoy themselves without the need to start an armed conflict, overthrow democracy, or prevent international students from enrolling in universities just to reaffirm their fragile egos. It may as well have been the effect of drugs but I’m inclined to believe these men’s gleeful disposition wasn’t chemically enhanced. Or not more than necessary, it was the 80s after all.
Apparently modern adaptations of Jane Austen novels have tricked us into thinking everyone spoke with a posh accent when they probably didn’t, producer Jane Tranter said at Hays Festival earlier in the week. I am sure this is correct as regional accents have always existed even though they haven’t always been portrayed on screen, which is the case for any language, but that is luckily changing. At the same time, it is a truth universally acknowledged that the moment you see a British person in a period drama, be it from Jane Austen time or not, no one would expect them to blurt out “You right there mate?,” with a thick Cockney accent when they open their mouth. Not even if they were playing a servant. Personally, I’m perfectly fine living in this posh accent fallacy so I hope Netflix slatheres on the Received Pronunciation English and the raised pinky fingers at tea time in the upcoming Pride & Prejudice series. Unless, of course, someone is willing to make brand new adaptations with an all Scottish cast speaking in their lovely and sexy accents, in which case I’m more than happy to ditch the RPE out of the window and embrace subtitles. Besides, it’s high time for Sam Heughan to move on from Outlander if he doesn’t want to be typecast.
I have many reserves about Tom Cruise the man for reasons I hope I don’t need to explain. However, I also have a lot of respect for Tom Cruise the actor/producer and his commitment to consistently deliver highly satisfying films that people want to experience together at the same time at the cinema, especially when the Netflix’ CEO is convinced that cinemas are a thing of the past. A few days ago I watched an interview of Cruise at The Fallon Show to promote Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning -which is a great end to the franchise- and both of them brought up that time Cruise lip synched to “Can’t Feel My Face” by The Weeknd and how much fun he had. Cruise enjoying something that doesn’t involve him hanging upside down on a falling airplane at 10,000 feet high sounded unlikely so I had to look that clip up and judge for myself. I regret it. There is only so much my principles can fight against my hormones after seeing the man my younger self had a massive crush on being sexy just because he can and he will. Dam you Tom Cruise, could you at least stop being attractive for a minute to make it easier on me? Maybe that’s the final mission impossible.
London weather is of such unique nature that it is perfectly logical to buy winter clothes in June. In fact, I’ve just bought the loveliest and softest wool alpaca cardigan from Sézane -which I had been eyeing for months- and it comes with a booklet that includes a QR code at the back to claim my exclusive gift with my next purchase. Same the code only works on iPhones with iOS 16 software. If someone with a proper phone who has recently bought anything from Sezane could please enlighten me about what I am missing out on to help me decide whether it’s worthy to finally upgrade my phone, that’d be massively appreciated.
It was cold enough to justify buying this, trust me Another purchase I’ve been very tempted into recently is Diptyque’s L’Eau Papier, which sounds like the perfect scent for a book lover with that name. It smells divine too: very clean and fresh but with a musky undernote that lingers and gives the scent a less ethereal quality with a slightly woody dry down, at least on my skin. This fragrance reminds me of the scents I was generously bathed in as a child so I think in my next trip home I’ll visit the supermarket and get a bottle of Nenuco for under £5. If you want to splash the cash by all means go for the Diptyque original, which is more complex, surely has longer staying power and the bottle is not made of plastic nor has animal stickers on. Not sure whether that’s a good thing or not.
One of the things that make life worth living are highly anticipated films I want to watch, such as Materialists by Celine Song. Starring Dakota Johnshon, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, this is Song’s second film after her much celebrated directorial debut Past Lives. To set the tone the protagonist trio have shot a short clip where they test each other’s knowledge of iconic lines from romantic comedies. Very pleased to see their great chemistry, which is a good sign for what’s coming in Materialists. Also, can I just say that that I want Pedro Pascal in a remake of ALL of the films they were talking about? His delivery of that line from When Harry Met Sally was perfect. And after hearing him say that line from Pride & Prejudice I wonder whether he could do a convincing Scottish accent just in case we have to cast a wide net for the upcoming wee Austen remakes.
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The male aerobics video was exactly what I needed to start my day. They just look so happy!
100% we need to start a petition for Pedro to say something in a Scottish accent. You've brightened my day with your newsletter of stuff Cristina.