
THIS WEEK
📖 READ: A superb interview with PJ Harvey. What happened to Jane Pratt’s DeedDa? Are you crossing picket lines if you see a movie during the actors’ strike? 50 years of hip-hop in the words of 50 rappers. Is E.T. real? We’re about to find out.
👀 LOOK: IKEA taps ‘70s and ‘80s design. The best cosplay at Comic-Con 2023. The most epic ‘80s movies of all time — but we’d definitely add Fame, Pretty in Pink, and Purple Rain to the list. Flip phones are making a comeback. Virtual makeup for those early morning team meetings. Justine Bateman shares a creepy AI post.
🎧 LISTEN: Legendary Tony Bennett’s last performance with Lady Gaga. Joni Mitchell shares her magic LIVE At The Newport Folk Festival with a new album release this week. Or, don’t listen: how to stop an earworm.
🤣 LOL: The ‘90s Internet: when 20 hours online triggered an email from my ISP’s president.
🛒 ADD TO CART: These modest summer dresses are forever flattering. Stevie Nicks’ career-spanning collection. The moshi mocktail.
📣 SHOUT OUT: Thanks to our pals at Oldster for sharing our Gen-X Mixtape.🤘
📺 WATCH:
This week: Shark Week hosted by Jason Momoa (Discovery).
Wednesday: The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals, Season 7 exposes us Yanks to yet another British-born spin-off of our beloved Bake Off (Netflix).
Thursday: Trade years of your life for money in the German sci-fi thriller Paradise (Netflix).
Friday: Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson play a motley crew of spiritual experts in Haunted Mansion (Theaters). Nicolas Cage is the passenger from hell in the neo-noir Sympathy For The Devil, which plays out in real-time over the course of a carjacking (Theaters).
STORY: I Sent My Anxieties Downriver — On a Grapefruit
By Melissa Rayworth
A hand reached out of the darkness to give me the pomelo. The hand belonged to my 12-year-old son; the pomelo, a Southeast Asian grapefruit, was mine. On this night, alongside an urban creek with the sounds of rush-hour traffic rumbling in the distance, that pomelo was about to become something magical.
I tried to act casual — as casual as is possible for a 51-year-old woman standing in the dusk holding an outsized fruit stuffed with four carnations, a small candle and a scrap of paper. I don’t know whether it’s legal in America to float a flaming piece of citrus fruit down a creek. But I wasn’t going to ask. I had one shot at this, and it mattered. I couldn’t wait a whole year for this opportunity to come again.
A man peered at us through the moonlight from a public bench, watching as we approached the rocky edge of Pine Creek. I pulled a book of matches from my pocket and struggled to light the candle in the November wind…
TUENIGHT 10: Tanya Dalton, Best-Selling Author & Trailblazer In Purposeful Leadership
Your Age: 49
Basic bio: Tanya Dalton is an acclaimed best-selling author, motivational speaker, and productivity expert. Recognized nationwide, she empowers female executives and entrepreneurs to embrace purposeful leadership and unlock their full potential. Tanya’s books have been translated into eight languages; notably, her debut The Joy of Missing Out was honored as one of Fortune Magazine’s Top 10 Business Books of the year. Her podcast The Intentional Advantage has been downloaded millions of times by listeners around the world.
Beyond the bio: I’ve been in a period of re-pacing and finding the rhythm of work that actually works for me. This whole shift in my relationship with time became the inspiration for my Oxford Talk. I no longer am feeling like I’m racing time and that feels amazing…
The one and only, loved by generations, RIP Tony! 😔🎤
Hey TueNighters, We know how much you enjoy this newsletter because you tell us! How about asking a friend to subscribe this week? Just forward to one good friend you know would love the newsletter. They can sign up for free or join our paid community to support the team that puts this together — and they’ll get extra goodies like asking Gen-X Approved questions, Margit’s occasional musings and more. Thank you. 🤘