Lately #6: Hollywood gold, Garfield and your next hobby
Five things to entertain you, and one piece of advice.
It’s time for another Lately catch-up…
On a Sunday, one of us (Yara or Gillian) – or a guest writer – shares some of our favourite recent stories and finds. Give yourself a few minutes to sit back and scroll, and please do share what you’re watching and listening to in comments.
Happy weekend! Gillian
Something we should all be watching…
Can I get back to you on this when I’m caught up on every single episode of Bridgerton? I’ve fallen into the Bridgerton well - late to the ball, I know…
P.S. See the Bridgerton siblings and Lady Pen in their natural states…
A podcast you’ll want to share…
If you like our film backstories, you’ll love this one. I’ve been listening to Hollywood Gold, a talk show podcast that pulls back the curtain on the making of iconic movies, through interviews with producers and filmmakers.
It’s hosted by Daniela Taplin Lundberg, founder of Stay Gold Features (a female-led production company), who has worked on films like The Kids are Alright and Beasts of No Nation.
There are lots of episodes to choose from covering films from Legally Blonde to Apocalypse Now - but for Father’s Day you could start with the recent Father of the Bride episode with the film’s director, Charles Shyer, here. Apparently, the original script was truly awful and Diane Keaton almost didn’t get the role…
A memorable backstory read…
June 19 - Wednesday - is of course most famous as my sister’s birthday, but it’s also National Garfield Day in the US. Who’s a fan of the pasta-loving ginger cat? (Did anyone else have the stuffed Garfield with suckers on its paws to attach to your window??)
He’s back in cinemas right now in The Garfield Movie, voiced by Chris Pratt, and this article from Life gives you the story behind Jim Davis’ creation - our favourite cartoon feline.
“Davis … designed Garfield to appeal to the widest possible audience. In dreaming up the chubby character, Davis studied comic strips that were popular in the late 1970s and took notes. He’d noticed numerous high-profile offerings centering on dogs, most obviously Peanuts, with its anarchic beagle hero Snoopy. So he chose to create something for the world’s many cat lovers, taking inspiration from the felines who lived on his parents’ farm in Fairmount, Indiana.”
Something that will surprise you…
Is needlepoint really making a comeback? This article from the BBC says yes. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Bridgerton, because this doesn’t seem so strange (how are your pianoforte skills and needlepoint work?).
Apparently the “traditionally fusty” craft of needlepoint, which can be traced as far back as 1500BC to ancient Egypt, is increasingly popular with Gen Z and young millennials.
But, BBC, is this old news and has needlepoint been around the whole time?
Taylor Swift gave Ed Sheeran that famous ‘friendship needlepoint’ 10 years ago, Julia Roberts says Sally Field taught her needlepoint on the set of Steel Magnolias in the 80s, and at a needlepoint exhibition in Monaco in the 70s, a reporter quoted Grace Kelly as saying, “sometimes my husband just doesn’t quite understand when I say in the evening, ‘I must do at least one more row before I will put my needlepoint down.’”
Something for a brain break…
We couldn’t tell you about the glamorous world of famous needlepointers without showing you a few…
One piece of advice:
We love @words_of_women on Instagram - here’s a favourite from earlier this week:
I think I could get into needlepoint!
I 100% fell down the Bridgerton rabbit hole - just finished it on the weekend! The costumes! And.. all the other.. stuff...! IYKYK. I can play the pianoforte and enjoy needlepoint, therefore firmly believe I was meant to live in the Bridgerton era, though I might possibly have ended up whisked away to Wales like poor old Cressida..