Timing is Everything [#133]
Plus: Instant noodles, Kate Middleton, and another cycle of the exhausting pro-marriage discourse.
Hello from Indian Wells!
I really wanted to see Rafael Nadal play professional tennis (amid the widespread expectation the injury beset champ may retire soon) and he BOWED OUT before we got here. But there are many other tennis luminaries (like Coco Gauff) to see in the desert, at the second-most important tennis tournament played on U.S. soil.
Thank you to those of y’all who wrote in with your feedback and suggestions for content. One request was more reading on Gaza, and I found a link below from an obscure journal that you probably haven’t read already.
Reading
The best time of the day to nap, exercise, shag, quit your job, and everything else the writers could think of. Digital life is killing teen subcultures. Kate Middleton’s “disappearance” has turned us all into conspiracy theorists. It’s not just that Biden is old, it’s that he’s being reckless. On Russia after Navalny. The best thing I’ve read on Gaza recently is from a Michigan professor who teaches the Korean War, on how the lessons eerily reverberate. The status quo in Gaza is … death. “South Koreans consume an average of 77 instant noodle servings a year, second only to Vietnam, at 85, and far above the United States, at 15.” A more powerful Ozempic is coming. Ugh, the pro-marriage discourse to “save civilization” is still happening, so let’s recall that this conversation “fails to engage with the reality on the ground that heterosexual women from many walks of life confront: the state of men today.”
Werk Werk Werk
This is Uncomfortable from Marketplace just dropped its episode featuring the Korean feminists at the center of my book Flawless, with some setup from me. It’s a powerful story featuring Haein Shim, who is one of the thousands of women whose decision to reconsider her relationship with her body upended her life, and her trajectory.
Dropped in on Planet Money to talk about having kids in South Korea, for their episode on the perks that various countries offer to pump up their birth rates.
Went on The Stacks, a beloved books podcast, to dish on the process of writing Flawless but mainly to gush about dozens of my favorite books and influences. Later this month we will be discussing the book Interior Chinatown for a separate book club episode, so please read along with us!
With a stack of some of my favorite books. Talked with an HR leader, Lars Schmidt, for his LinkedIn podcast about turbulent times for journalism, how the digital world is changing us, and what I’ve learned in the twenty years(!) I’ve been working.
Forgot to mention! TED Talks Daily, which I’ve hosted for the past few years, ended 2023 as one of Spotify’s top ten most listened to podcasts on the globe. We were heard in at least 166 countries, and the most shared episode (according to Spotify) was from the “death doula,” Alua Arthur. Her talk got instant buzz when she gave it in Vancouver in April and I’m thrilled to see it continue to reach people’s ears and hearts.
Watch and/or Listen
Bottoms is on Amazon Prime, stars the winning Ayo Ediberi (from The Bear), is deliciously campy and is the perfect length for a movie: 90 minutes.
Behind the business of school fundraising, an illuminating Planet Money episode (h/t Rachel)
The long slog to the Academy Awards is almost over. Be prepared for the show with this Oscars preview from Vibe Check, the podcast co-hosted by Zach Stafford, Sayeed Jones and my good friend Sam Sanders.
The TikToker whose videos I reliably watch all the way through is Molly McPherson, aka the “PR Crisis Lady,” who recently broke down the complex struggles of Kensington Palace in this moment of multiple health issues among the Royals. I am HERE FOR THIS analysis.
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All right that’s it from me from here in the greater Coachella Valley. As always, your comments, quips, complaints and questions are welcome. And be sure to share the newsletter to any friends who might be into it.
Later gator,
E
That figure on South Korean noodle consumption is fascinating. I mean, many still see Americans as having terrible food habits because of all those burgers, but... I guess it depends on what you see is the "worst" food ever, nutritionally?
Equally as fascinating: ramyun as a tool of soft power. I am seeing ramyun cafés open here in Manila.
That npr episode was incredible, I felt the revolution was going to happen around 2016 and it’s fascinating to hear the inside story on the ground. Thank you and looking forward to reading your book!