POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
Hi and welcome to Pop Culture Spirit Wow, the Substack that sometimes goes wrong.
It’s been quite a week at the Wow. First I wrote a piece about Chita Rivera that features a photo of Rita Moreno.
In my totally inadequate defense, this popped up when I googled photos of Chita, and it is a delightful photo. But it is absolutely not Chita Rivera.
This is Chita Rivera.
QUEEN.
(Thanks to the readers who pointed this out to me in the absolutely most polite and kind of ways. I deserved a lot worse.)
Then, two days of trying to crack what felt like a very promising idea for this week’s Wow collapsed like a bad souffle. Each time through I cut more paragraphs. (And There were many times through.) At this point I think I have about ten. And I like them. I’m just not sure how they’re connected.
In between I did have an interwiew with the playwright John Patrick Shanley in Vulture, which was an incredible thrill, and I got to write a piece about just how tired I am of everything to do with Ken (as in Barbie and…) which features Mary Testa swearing and the great work of Royal Family Productions.
But yes, a bit of a mess of in the world of Wow.
Still, I hate leaving you with nothing. So here’s a couple little delights (I hope) for (the rest of) your week.
JOHN OLIVER SPEAKS TRUTH TO CHEESE
I only just discovered this video from John Oliver about the history of Chuck E. Cheese. Delivered in Oliver’s characteristic style of urgency, outrage and amusement, it is a total delight.
CALVIN LEARNS A VALUABLE LESSON
This was originally going to go in my aforementioned trash heap of a Wow. It deserves its own stage.
ALICE CONSIDERS HER RELATIONSHIP CHOICES
I don’t know much, but I’m worried he may not be right for you, Alice.
JIM LEARNS A VALUABLE LESSON
Yep.
MY NEW DAILY MANTRA
I love this, but in my version the painting is filled with things that don’t quite coalesce into comprehensible objects and make you wonder Is that a horse?
I’ll be back later this week with what I hope I will be something fun, a bit of a thinker.
Until then, have a great week.