Happy Thursday y'all. Happy December. Happy Holidays. And more importantly HAPPY #NANOWRIMO IS OVER. I made it a personal challenge this year to write a consistent 2k words a day and whew boy, I have never been so sick of my own writing in my life. But I! Am! Free!!!

I'm diving right into what I'm going to call the cheese factor. Yep, buckle in, I'm going to chat about rom-coms. This all began when I saw the trailer for Jennifer Lopez's new movie Marry Me, which, if you haven't seen it, you are missing out. It is one of the cheesiest things I have seen in the last year. It's about a singer (JLo) who is supposed to get married in front of 20,000 streaming fans, but her fiancé cheats on her. But oh my goodness, Owen Wilson, a recently... single dad (I think) is holding a sign near the front of the stage that says "Marry me!" and buddy, she says yes.

Everything about this trailer is absolute gold. The multiple times JLo (her character has a name. I don't care) says that she doesn't want to be the punchline - buddy! You already are! The way Owen Wilson is weirdly appropriate for this type of film?? Like it's so cheesy and eye roll-y that it goes right back into sincere? Why does Sarah Silverman, the friend of Owen Wilson, have three tickets to what looks like a super expensive concert? How did they get so close to the front that JLo could even see them?? How is offering $5,000 enough money to make Owen Wilson go away? The fact that, in my fourth time watching, I was like "so did he sign the legal paperwork backstage once the streaming ended?? Is there a fucking prenup?!"

But in my tenth or so time viewing it (and forcing my mom to watch too. But before you worry too much, this woman lives on a diet of Hallmark movies), I realized - who cares?! In a world of Youtube channels that ding every single plot hole or weird contrivance, it's almost refreshing to have films that are truly "turn your brain off and enjoy" types of stories. If superheroes can ignore the whole "Superhero Insurance" companies that must've popped up as a response to all the destruction they've caused, JLo can fall in love with a math teacher she sees at one of her concerts.

Will I be first in line at the theater when the movie comes out? No, y'all, we're still in a pandemic. BUT. I'm definitely putting some coins in JLo's pockets for this absolute masterpiece of a film. 

Another one that crossed my twitter feed was this delight, starring one of the guys from Misfits (yes he was in Game of Thrones. No, I don't care), Iwan Rheon. He plays a heavy metal rocker (??) who wrote a beautiful Christmas song for his sick sister (niece? Who cares, that's not why I'm watching this). But Freida Pinto plays someone who needs to get a British boy band their number 1 Christmas song and apparently, this song! Is! That song! So what happens is a... contest?? Whoever gets the better spot on the charts wins? What a weird fucking concept! But really? Who cares!? There's just something so incredibly delightful in turning your brain off and watching people fall in love, despite the circumstances. And! Christmas! Maybe those Hallmark movies have something right!

(And I won't go on too long but I recommended Crash Landing on You a few weeks ago and I just finished my re-watch and... y'all. If you like romances, and want to see what the perfect man looks like in action?? Watch this. It's less "turn your brain off" of a romance that the two I mentioned, but the way you get invested in the characters? How you want them to succeed so badly?! I legit cried the entire final episode which is bad because that episode is almost 2 hours. I was dehydrated when the credits finally rolled).

Whatever fam, it's time for the only potion of this newsletter people like (or not? idk if anyone reads this far down), the recs!

• I'm a huge fan of Anne Helen Petersen. I've mentioned her before but her newsletters are always a fascinating read and she has some incredible pieces (if you haven't read her article on Armie Hammer [pre-cannibalism], you're in for a treat). But she also has fascinates pieces and books about working culture. I just finished her book, Can't Even about how millennials have essentially been trained to work until we die starting as children and are, as a result, completely burnt out. I personally remember my parents telling me, at like eight? That I had to get good at a sport to get into a good college. Jokes on them! I can barely run. She has a new book coming out soon, Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home, and for promo for the book, she was on the podcast Vox Conversations, talking about how most of us didn't learn how to work from home last year; we learned to survive. Idk, it was a really fascinating listen. Also her book is out next week, and did not think I would be someone excited for a book like this, but, well, here we are. 
   
• So this is dumb, but there's a Youtuber who does deep dives into things (I just described half of Youtube), but I find this one, Super EyePatch Wolf, fascinating. I think my favorite part is when you can tell he's minutes away from like, drop kicking his mic in frustration when a topic becomes too ridiculous. Which is why I picked his video on Riverdale! Truly, where in the hell has this show gone?? I don't think even the writers know! Warning - it's over a half hour long, but I promise you, it's an interesting watch. 
   
• I stumbled on the "Being Beyonce's Assistant for the Day - DON'T GET FIRED" twitter thread again and y'all I am cackling. I forgot how great this was. I made it pretty far but, alas, I threw the wrong person off the plane. :(

Well, that's all fam. I hope your Friday is short and your weekend is long. Also I'm watching Cowboy Bebop for the first time and this screencap made me laugh a lot.