Tuesday, December 02, 2025 |
Where editors share their weekly musings on pop culture—and recommend what to watch, read, and listen to right now. This week, we discuss Hamnet and ghostwriters. |
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| Lauren Puckett-Pope, culture writer: A fun question for you today, Erica: Have you ever considered writing a memoir? |
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| | Erica Gonzales, deputy editor, digital content: Not yet, but give me a few years. |
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Lauren: Well, if by that point you're famous enough, you might decide—like many modern celebrities—you'd rather not write the thing entirely on your own. Ghostwriters with literary cache are becoming this fascinating sort of status symbol amongst Hollywood A-listers and other public figures with book deals. Which leads me to my next question: If you could collaborate with any "serious" literary author to ghostwrite your memoir, who would it be?
Erica: Great question. I've always been a fan of Taffy Brodesser-Akner's profiles (and Fleishman Is in Trouble, of course). I'd love to see her writing in memoir form, even if it isn't mine! Who's your pick?
Lauren: Elena Ferrante, but only so I could talk to her. She doesn't need to write the book; I'd never expect that of her. I'd just love 10 minutes on the phone. Or five! I'm flexible! |
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During the period in which William Shakespeare wrote his famous tragedy Hamlet, the names "Hamnet" and "Hamlet" were, according to scholar Steven Greenblatt, "entirely interchangeable." That fact has led many—including author Maggie O'Farrell, who wrote the 2020 novel Hamnet—to wonder if the untimely death of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet Shakespeare, might have inspired Hamlet itself. Chloé Zhao's 2025 film adaptation of O'Farrell's novel, starring a stupendous Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, explores that possibility, depicting the love story between Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, as well as the loss of their son to the bubonic plague. Hamnet is a gorgeous film, and Buckley is a force to be reckoned with.—LPP |
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Stranger Things has exploded into a Marvel-sized phenomenon after its first season, which pulled at our heartstrings with a charming cast of kids and nostalgic references to the '80s and Spielberg's classics. In its fifth and final season, the Netflix series is ending on a big, ambitious note, tying together the characters and many layers of sci-fi lore it has amassed over the years. These final, movie-length episodes will be released in three volumes. The first, which dropped over Thanksgiving, ends with a surprise cameo and a big twist that will change how the gang faces off with Vecna and other threats in the Upside Down.—EG |
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On the surface, The Heir Apparent seems like a modern Princess Diaries. Our protagonist, Lexi Villiers, might live on a farm in Tasmania, but she is, in fact, a princess, and she's pulled back into a life of royalty when her brother and father are killed in a tragic accident…making her the heir apparent to the British throne. But where Meg Cabot's beloved coming-of-age story follows a teenager embracing her new role and responsibilities, Rebecca Armitage's Lexi has publicly defected, doing everything in her power to escape the monarchy. As her grandmother, the queen, gives her one year to decide if she'll now accept the throne, Lexi must face the sorts of questions that fans of The Crown will find familiar: What is a monarch's duty to her people? What matters more: change or tradition? And where does love play into it all? Out this week, Armitage's debut novel is a juicy one.—LPP |
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WHAT YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO: |
Little House by Rachel Chinouriri |
Not much new music dropped the Friday after Thanksgiving, but Rachel Chinouriri's new EP, Little House, was a great find for a relatively quiet weekend. The six-track project might sound gentler than the bigger, more pop-leaning sounds of her 2024 album, What a Devastating Turn of Events, but it's nonetheless an undeniable display of her songwriting talent. These soothing, acoustic melodies kept me calm during Cyber Week shopping.—EG |
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I want to live inside Michelle Yeoh's brain. The actress, who stars as Madame Morrible in the Wicked films, recently went viral for this kooky but creative tagline about her villainous character. You see, the Oscar winner is noticing things that the rest of us aren't. There's a secret significance behind her character's initials of MM: When flipped upside down, they spell WW, a.k.a. Wicked Witch. Turns out, Madame Morrible, not Elphaba, was the real wicked witch all along. Fans have noticed that Yeoh has said this on almost every red carpet and press appearance ahead of Wicked: For Good, and so, the saying spread like wildfire on TikTok. It is the "holding space" of 2025, and I can't stop saying it.—EG |
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