In the first song of Anais Mitchell’s song cycle-turned-musical Hadestown, Hermes tells the audience everything they need to know: “It’s an old song,” he sings. “It’s a tragedy...but we’re gonna sing it again.” The main (and side, such as exist in this mostly five-person musical) characters are introduced: Persephone, Hades, Hermes himself, Orpheus, and Eurydice. The audience, he assumes, already knows how this will all end. Boy meets girl; girl dies; boy tries to save girl; boy fails. But maybe, Hermes says, it will turn out different this time. So, we’re gonna sing it again.
Read moreSister Hilde for the Win
Scivias-Codex Plate One
Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating it BECAUSE women be multi-tasking.
Here’s a strange question: do you have a favorite nun?
I think Maria von Trapp, played by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music is a good answer, even though she gave up the sisterhood in order to marry Baron von Trapp (and take care of all those children).
And, yes, I adore Sister Helen Prejean, too. She is one of (if not the) leading advocate for abolishing the death penalty and has written two passionate books on the subject: Dead Man Walking (1993) and The Death of Innocents (2006).
Sister Helen is also practical. Back in August, I heard her tell Terry Gross on an episode of NPR’s Fresh Air that one of the reasons she doesn’t wear a traditional nun’s habit (and hasn’t for decades) is because she’s from Louisiana and it’s just too hot. Yes, sister. Yes.
But my favorite nun? Hildegard von Bingen.
And maybe she should be yours, too.
Read moreBachelor in Paradise S6 Week 6: I Learned a Lot, But at What Cost?
Susan: I, like many Bachelor Nation fans, thought this week’s episodes were the last ones. But in a very dramatic turn, I was wrong. So let’s get into this pentultimate recap so we all go into the finale ready to watch some 24-year-old influencers get engaged to their starter husbands.
Emily: One might argue this was the biggest plot twist of Bachelor in Paradise history. I really thought we were done with this show. And I think a lot of people are feeling this way. It’s September, y’all. The pumpkin spice is a-pumping. BiP fatigue has set in. But Susan and I finish what we started, even at the cost of our sanity. So yes. Let’s go.
Read more10 Weeks Of Spooktober: It Chapter 2 (Week 3 of 10)
Emily: Okay, so when I decided I was going to do 10 weeks of Spooktober leading up to Halloween, we knew I had to do It Chapter 2, the most anticipated horror movie of 2019. And we also knew I wasn't going to be able to do a movie this important on my own. And so with that in mind, I have Kelli baby here to help me tackle this monster of a movie. And it is a monster of a movie at nearly three hours long. Just to give you some perspective, the first two horror movies I've done for this series were about an hour and a half, if a little bit shorter. So combine those two movies together and you get this one big giant It Chapter 2 movie.
It does make sense that the film is so long if you look at the source material. Stephen King's It novel is 1,138 pages. But did this movie make the most of its bloated run time? Is this second part of the film, which follows the Losers Club 27 years after the first It Attack, as compelling as the first?
YOU GOTTA READ TO FIND OUT OK. And also, unlike the previous two Spooktober posts, this will have spoilers. So go see the movie. Take a nap. Come back. We'll be here.
Read moreYA Book Club: Warcross
Hello, and welcome to another installment of YA Book club, the place where Emily and Mary talk all things YA! This month, we’re talking about Warcross by Marie Lu. This novel follows Emika Chen, a young woman on the brink of financial disaster, unable to pay her rent and in debt. When Emika hacks into a Warcross tournament, she unintentionally catches the eye of Hideo Tanaka, the founder of the Warcross games and a tech billionaire. As Emika and Hideo grow closer, Emikia is tasked with finding a dangerous hacker who threatens to jeopardize Hideo’s business--and his life. This novel has been compared to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, but is notably different because it features a female protagonist and a less sweeping (though perhaps more personal and dangerous) plot. Join us, as we discuss Warcross!
Read moreAre You The One? Season 8|E12: This Doesn't Look Sanitary At All
I am about to get emotional, because this is the last episode of Season 8 of Are You the One!
So much happened on this, the last episode of the season. Pies were thrown. People got naked. Last minute hook-ups were had. Love was found. BUT DID THEY WIN THE MONEY? Read on to find out. I’m not here to spoil the final episode of this wonderful show without your consent.
Read moreSurvivor s39: First Impressions
Hello! We are only a couple weeks away from the premiere of Survivor: Island of the Idols, the 39th season of the powerhouse reality show that has cornered the market on people on an island kicking other people off the island. (Also, if you are hankering for more Survivor content and missed our ode to the Queen of Survivor, then head over and check that out!)
So today, Mary and Todd are bringing you our professional opinions about who will outwit, outlast, and outplay all others when Survivor returns on Wednesday, September 25.
Read moreBachelor in Paradise S6 Week 5: No More Mustaches for Me
Emily: Hi Bachelor Nation. It’s me, ya girl. This week, Susan is busy with some work thing (she told me but I already forgot because I’m that friend). Anyway, we’re all sad Susan can’t be here. But I’m happy to announce my husband and BFF Ben will be joining us this week instead! Say hello to the people, Ben, and maybe tell them a little bit about your thoughts about this season so far and The Bachelor franchise in general?
Ben: Hello to the people! It is great to be here experiencing the 20-car pile-up known as Bachelor in Paradise. And I mean that in every sense of the metaphor. There’s been a lot more stalling, yelling, and waiting around than action this season than past seasons, and I’m blaming ABC for this one. They ramped up stability this season with a more grounded opening cast to prep their delicate viewers for the decade past-due “bombshell” of a bi-sexual woman on the reality small screen. Maybe they’ve never seen MTV? But I digress . . .
Emily: So now that our introductions are out of the way, let’s get into the episode? We return to where we left off, with Nicole reiterating that Clay makes her feel “sexy and confident and proud” before dun dun dun… Angela shows up.
Read more10 Weeks of Spooktober: Malevolent (Week 2 of 10)
It’s Week 2 of Spooktober, and we’re edging ever closer to Halloween, week by week.
This week, we’re looking at a horror movie starring Florence Pugh about a group of young adults who get more than what they bargained for when they accept an invitation to a strange place. Okay, no, it’s not that movie. It’s the OTHER Florence Pugh horror movie. The one from director Olaf de Fleur about a group of twenty-something “ghost hunters“ who are actually just scam artists feeding off of other’s need for closure in the face of grief and loss.
But then things get weird.
Read moreAre You the One? Season 8|E11: Tonight Our Theme is Take Your Son to Work Day
It’s baaaaack!
After waiting two weeks to find out of we can keep shipping Jax or if our Max and Justin ship has been sunk, this week we got our answer. And I’m not going to wait any longer to let you know the answer. Max and Justin are officially not a match, which means Paige and Jenna and Danny and Kai are a match.
Let’s take a minute to let this sink in while Max melts into a pool of tears and crushed dreams. We now know five of the eight matches: Brandon and Aasha, Jonathan and Basit, Jasmine and Nour, Danny and Kai, and Paige and Jenna.
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