these are the celeb couples that i miss
maybe a little harry potter
Hi guys,
Happy Variety’s Actors on Actors Week! I really love this series that Variety does where actors interview each other. I’ll rank some of my favourites next week when all the videos have been released but for now, I do want to recommend this adorable one with Glenn Close and Pete Davidson.
This week in the newsletter I’m talking about vintage celeb couples that I *shipped*, that Harry Potter series, and more. Let’s get into it:
throwback celeb couples i miss
It’s easy for me to go classic here and say, Brad Pitt and Jen Aniston, I will ship these idiots until the day the good Lord takes me from this earth. I will ship them in heaven. I can also make a very good case for Jen and Justin Theroux. Also even though I know he’s slightly trashy, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. And there is apparently rumours that Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor are in the process of getting back together so that’s one less couple to pray about. But here are my slightly more contemporary favourites:
Selena Gomez and The Weeknd - My idea for this list originally came about after I saw a throwback pic of these two on my Instagram explore, and I was like ‘awh man I miss them’. I don’t what it was about this pairing that I loved so much but they just seemed so different but seemed to genuinely like each other. I’ve never been in the Justin/Selena or Abel/Bella camps so this was such a breath of fresh air. They both seem to have long since moved on, The Weeknd did write a song where he said he considered donating a kidney to Selena, but who knows what will happen in the future?
Robert Pattinson and FKA Twiggs - Man, I love this pairing, they seemed to have the right amount of odd energy about them. They were like the coolest kids in every room that they walked into. But alas, they did not last even though they were engaged for a period. FKA Twiggs has said recently that she received so much racist hate when she was dating him because his fans saw him as a ‘white king’. And TBH she does not deserve that, so if being apart from him gives her peace, I support that. But dammit they looked good together.
Tessa Thompson and Janelle Monae - Okay, this one was never officially confirmed, but come on we all knew it. When they went as dates to the Black Panther premiere, the love triangle drama with Lupita, they had so many ‘hush hush’ rumours about them. Also added to that the fact that we never see them hanging together anymore, definitely shows they were more than friends. But FFS, they were adorable together when we got a chance to see them and the music videos they did on Dirty Computer, omggggg.
Chris Evans and Jenny Slate - Okay this from the school of thought that the love of your life might be in someone else’s marriage. So back in the day when Jenny Slate was still married to her first husband I was listening to an interview with her and Chris Evans on Anna Faris’ podcast and the chemistry was electric. I was not surprised when she got divorced a couple of months later and then was dating Chris Evans. However, it was not built to last and now she is married again and expecting a baby. In an interview with Vulture, Jenny said that it was difficult dating him because she was so used to her privacy and he was such “one of the most objectified people in the entire world.”
Ariana Grande and Big Sean - I know I will get a lot of flack for this from Jhene/Sean fans but there was something so cute but this pairing. It was young love but they had very steamy chemistry. Also in the ‘thank u, next’ video when she wrote ‘can still get it’ next to him, I like that she threw a bone to us shippers.
What celeb former couples were you a fan of?
there’s apparently going to be a harry potter series
So a couple of weeks ago, we spoke about the Sex and the City revival series, and apparently, now HBO is planning to make a Harry Potter series. Long story short, Warner Media owns both the HP filming rights and HBO, and it’s a lot cheaper for them to invest in IP’s that they already own.
I’m going, to be honest, if you had told me five years ago that they were making a Harry Potter series, I would have been elated. I’m a millennial, I love HP, I have merch everywhere. Also, I wasn’t as much of a fan of the original movies as everyone else was, there was just too much left out or changed. And I do think book series with that much world-building and subplots are better adapted to shows than movies.
I think it would have been better than Fantastic Beasts but the tide has changed. JK Rowling has outed herself, not only as an abuse apologist but as a transphobe as well. We don’t need another Harry Potter property in 2021. It’s the HP flop era, and they need to ride it out. HBO is denying that there is a series in the works so maybe they have listened to the backlash from fans.
What do you think? Here for the series or Nah?
more celebrity couple thoughts
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker - the only new celeb couple worth talking about this week is Kourtney and Travis. I really like this pairing, because they’ve been friends for a while, they are both fairly mature, have kids. I’m rooting for them.
recs:
Film: One Night in Miami - I really enjoyed this drama film by Regina King about Muhammed Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown meeting in a motel room and the conversation which took place there changing their lives forever. You can watch it on Amazon Prime and can find my review for Channel24 here.
Special - Euphoria: Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob: The second Euphoria special focused on Jules and her journey throughout season 1, as well as her relationships with her parents, Rue, Tyler/Nate, and how she framed her femininity. It was beautiful and so enlightening. You can watch it on Showmax and can read my review for Channel24 here.
Comedy: Marc Maron: End Times Fun - I’ve been a begrudging fan of Marc Maron’s podcast for years. I don’t always agree with him, sometimes he annoys me, but he is a really good interviewer, and his podcast is always interesting. This was his first standup special that I had seen, I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It was brilliant, I found it extremely funny, it was incredibly well-written and now I can’t believe I’m a Marc Maron stan. You can watch it on Netflix.
Podcast: Starring Cupid - This one was an instant favourite but I wanted to listen to a few episodes before I recommend it. Starring Cupid is a South African podcast by Zama Gxarisa that explores romantic relationships in film and TV. They have covered everything from Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca to David and Patrick in Schitt’s Creek, to Rachel and Nick in Crazy Rich Asians. They offer insightful analysis into the couples, the properties that they come from and the positive and negative aspects of the relationships. You can listen to it on Spotify here.
what’s ign crushing on
This week on the podcast, I was joined by filmmaker Amy Jephta. I’ve been a fan of Amy’s work for a long-time because her writing is so rich and seeped in Cape Town culture. She avoids stereotypes, her characters are full and nuanced and I just respect the work that she has done so much. She wrote the feature film Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story, the short film Barakat, is the showrunner of the upcoming neo-noir drama Skemerdans and the director of the upcoming film, Barakat. You can listen to my conversation with her here.
