The State News discusses issues and the cultural impact of entertainment news including TV & film, fashion, music and more.
Welcome back to House Lights, your one stop shop for everything you need to hear about this week in the world of entertainment. As always, I'm your host, Liz Nas, and I am joined by my beautiful, wonderful cohost
Claire:Claire Donahoe.
Liz:Who is now in this seat.
Claire:Yeah. We still do.
Liz:Because I'm just let's change it
Claire:up because it's a new year.
Liz:It's a new year. Yeah. It's a new House Lights. It's a new us. And there's a lot of static in this in this place.
Claire:Yeah. If there's a static
Liz:If if you hear me, like, a, like, I'm it's because there's static in my headphones
Claire:because it's
Liz:sweater weather. And yeah. Okay. What are
Claire:we talking about today, Liz?
Liz:We're talking about a little bit of everything, and that's why it's only us because we're the only ones. Well, and, of course, Taylor, but Taylor's contractually obligated to, stand hearing us talk about something that's not, like, on a topic.
Claire:So Taylor asked me how was my winter break, and I just kind of couldn't answer because all of my notes are just things that I did over winter break, and I didn't wanna have to put Taylor through that twice. So Right.
Liz:Well, because and it's been really hard for us because we try and have the policy of not podcasting before the podcast.
Claire:But we are friends.
Liz:Unfortunately, we are friends. We do hang out every single day. And one thing is that we're gonna see each other every single day this entire semester.
Claire:Yes. Because Liz and I not only work here together at the State News, but we also work at the writing center on Michigan State's campus. And, also We have a class together. Class together and, also, our friends that schedule time to hang out outside of those obligations.
Liz:So it's a lot. So I don't know who's gonna sick of who first.
Claire:If you notice anything in upcoming episodes, whether it be, like, good or bad, just know that that shift is likely just a reaction to us spending every waking moment together. Guys, it's not gonna be bad.
Liz:It's not gonna be bad.
Claire:Yeah. It won't be bad. Don't say that. Anyway.
Liz:Anyways, let's talk about winter break. Let's talk about winter break. I, you know, I wrote down a lot of entertainment stuff. Mhmm. I wrote down just some, like, activities that I was doing.
Liz:Yeah. Would you like me to start with just my general
Claire:break Yeah. I think we should just follow our note sheet. So we'll open up with what we did, and then get into Wonderful.
Liz:Reads, watches, listens. Yes. So Makes sense. You, like, went places. I didn't.
Liz:So I very much, like, don't. I went from East Lansing to home back to East Lansing. Mhmm. So what I did is quite boring. And I would like to okay.
Liz:So there's a couple things that have to do with, like, past episodes of House Lights. Okay. One of them is I read a Colleen Hoover book, which I have, in the past, maybe, shit on a little bit Mhmm. Maybe. But I actually really enjoyed Verity by Colleen Hoover.
Liz:It it's I think it's because it's not a romance and she just really loves to, like, go crazy on, like, terrible, terrible, like, trauma, romance stuff. And this one was more like a mystery. So I think that's what made it better. Okay. So I did read it in 1 night.
Liz:I read it in 6 hours because when I re I okay. And this is me actually proving my literacy because I know that I don't read often, and it may seem like by the way that I am that I don't know how to read. I when I when I want to read and I make the time, I can read books in, like, actual hours.
Claire:You might get here first, everybody.
Liz:But only if I let my phone die first. If you put your phone in a lockbox. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I'm like I'm such an iPad baby, but I let my phone die.
Liz:Or I'll just, like, chuck it across the room. Do not disturb. Chuck it across the room, and I can read for 4 hours straight and finish a book.
Claire:And you gotta do what you gotta do.
Liz:And I did that. I made some playlists as I do. There's a new disco one. There's a couple that deal with my emotional state at the moment, and, of course, a cowpoke function.
Claire:What? Playlist. Do I even wanna Country. Oh, duh. Just a
Liz:little bit of country. It was country. House Lights favorite.
Claire:Who asked if he could come back on to talk about Yellowstone, which will Talking about cowboy. Get into yeah. Speaking of country playlist and such, and we had to tell him no. You've hit your quota. But if the people hear that and are there's an outcry for Jack Williams to return, Do not be shy.
Claire:Let us know.
Liz:Do not be shy. Let us know. And, also, he's gonna have his own podcast very soon. And plugging oh, I forgot if it's reeling it in or reeling in. Reeling in.
Liz:Reeling in. I've been getting it wrong for weeks. It's reeling in, and it's gonna be next Tuesday. I think it's the first ever episode, so it's very exciting.
Claire:We just hope he doesn't forget his roots here on House Lights, and now he's spread his wings and he's doing his
Liz:own thing. Talk about movies even though we we literally talk about
Claire:He just wants to come back on house, whatever. He just, like
Liz:he wants his own and it's a bit of appropriation, but it's fine. So you
Claire:made a playlist
Liz:with him I made a playlist cowpoke? I made a lot of lists in general. I used my notes app quite a bit.
Claire:Thank you for being honest about that because Yeah. I really
Liz:I love it if you change that. Honestly, if you open my notes app should
Claire:have its own lock. We should do an episode going through our notes app. I would. Right now. Or it was, I think.
Claire:Like, booed off the Internet, I think.
Liz:No. Because the first thing I'm about to talk about is notes at poetry in your childhood bed.
Claire:Well, what else is winter break for? Exactly.
Liz:That's what I'm saying. So, like, I did a lot of, like, really bad notes at poetry, because you just have a lot of thoughts and emotions because you're finally left with it when you don't have school work to do or work. And you're back home. Absolutely. And, so I did that.
Liz:I also listed out all of my least likable traits in my notes app.
Claire:Wait. About me. Oh.
Liz:And I I think it's a really good exercise to do. Maybe not for your mental health, but I think that it's, like, good to just, like, be aware of things because that's the first step. And so, like, one of my New Year's resolutions was, like, be a person that, is likable. And so I just so I was like, okay. How can I fix this?
Liz:If you just write down all of your least likable traits. And then, also, I read it to many of the closest people in my life, and they said, you're crazy.
Claire:We, unfortunately, don't have all the time to get into all
Liz:of that here on this episode. Lights. Oh, we house lights.
Claire:So But we will be off camera. Just know Yeah. And talking about that. And okay. And with that,
Liz:I also started up my letterbox
Claire:again. Girl's gotta release. What can we say?
Liz:Girl has to write the no. And, honestly, the biggest, like, the biggest part of, like, all these things, like, connect each other is that I've never been able to just have an opinion in my head once. People have to know about it. It has to be written down. It has to be somewhere outside of my own brain or else did I even have that thought?
Claire:Certainly. There's
Liz:more to that. A list of things like, talking about my brain, I made a list of things on the way back from my, like, driving down home of, like, what I can blame my frontal lobe development on, Like enjoying using a electric toothbrush. I feel like that's a frontal lobe development and all that.
Claire:As in, like, you're maturing? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yes.
Claire:I also play
Liz:some video games. Oh. I reconnected with Mario Baseball. Thank you, Jack Williams. We now have a leaderboard in our house, and I am the reigning champion of Mario Baseball.
Liz:Thank you. And then I also downloaded cooking mama and papa's wingeria for iPhone.
Claire:Taylor is giving 2 thumbs up behind the camera.
Liz:But yeah. So papa's wingeria, absolutely fire. Cooking mama, there's a little too many ads, and and you just eat. That's not what I experienced on the DS. So it's just, like, not matching my childhood experience.
Liz:What'd you do over break? Thank you for sharing Yeah.
Claire:Those things. Oversharing? No. Never. Mainly, I hung out with my dog.
Claire:I drove my little brother to the gym, and I nursed an unhealthy Instagram obsession, and I applied to a lot of jobs.
Liz:Talk about Instagram obsession. I don't care about your jobs.
Claire:I was about to actually say no further comment on the jobs because
Liz:Oh, well, me neither.
Claire:Reject my nerves. Obsession. We talked about this on here before. I just love that stupid app. I just think it's funny.
Claire:I think it's silly. I don't care that I'll dump a 1,000,000 things at once, and then
Liz:leave We're hearing from the newsroom that people like it.
Claire:And you know what? We're hearing
Liz:from the newsroom.
Claire:To my heart because I don't know. It's good exposure therapy if you think that you are sometimes irritating doing something like this and just being like, it's an app. It doesn't matter. This is hard to explain outside of my head, but it's just so funny and silly, and I love it. Love it.
Claire:With that, I I posted a lot of pictures. Love a story. Post a lot of pictures from my trip to Hawaii that I went on It was beautiful.
Liz:With my extended family.
Claire:It very much was. It was awesome. When I came back into town, I wrapped up winter break by going out in my hometown, which was a unique experience. Oh, god. Because I've lived in the same place my whole life, and they just added a couple bars.
Claire:And I turned 21 Yeah. Yeah. You know, almost a full year ago. Nice. But this was the first time I really was like, okay.
Claire:I'm gonna go out in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I'm gonna get a drink with my friends. It was very fun.
Liz:Did you see anyone from high school?
Claire:No. We we went on, like, a Tuesday night. We just got drinks. It was just wonderful. Usually, I can't go anywhere without seeing someone from high school, and that's it is what it is.
Claire:Winter break is all about seeing where you grew up in a slightly different light. And by different, I also kind of mean, like, a little bit uncomfortable. But fortunately, I was able to see a lot of friends from home, so that makes it better
Liz:returning home.
Claire:And hanging out with my family is cool too. In that same vein, I went to my cousin's cheer competition, which was held at my rival high school. Oh. It was nothing short nothing short of a life changing experience. I don't know if you've I don't know if you've ever been to a cheer competition.
Claire:Been in one. Have you now? I have. They're crazy. Insane.
Claire:So she's she's in middle school, but oh my god. You would have thought this was like
Liz:Oh, yeah.
Claire:They're bringing it on. The Olympics. It's Bring it on what's the are standing up in the stands doing the cheer back. Awesome. Then I learned that there's there's cheers that sometimes the parents are sent in advance so that they can participate so they know what's happening.
Liz:The coaches sent that? Well, no.
Claire:Me and my grandma rolled up. We they sell stuff. We we rolled up. We sat quietly to ourselves. We passed tables and tables of, like, bows you could buy, all this stuff inside the gym.
Claire:Then we found out that the high school varsity competition was right after, and I was like, oh my god. And I heard that one's even more intense. The gym was full. I was like, this is a crazy talk about St. Hill from high school.
Claire:I was like, woah. This is crazy. Wow. For some context, I played soccer, and soccer parents are generally pretty intense. And I ran cross country, and cross country parents are generally not intense.
Claire:It's probably the chillest sport you could put your kid in because they run-in circles and stop. There is no buying merch on the way. I I was just fascinated.
Liz:Put it
Claire:that way. People. It was a lot. She did really well, so that was great.
Liz:Yeah. My mom was a very, like, chill cheer mom when I was in cheer. She was just like, you don't really like like any of the moms here, so I'm gonna go down the street for a couple hours while you do this, and I'll come pick you up. And I was like, period. But I also was in dance and musicals, and those parents are very parents
Claire:are also. Yeah.
Liz:They, like, have their own, like, boosters and everything. So they can, like, do the fun fun,
Claire:like, power tool. But, yeah, my aunt and uncle, just on the record, they are not crazy cheer parents. They're very chill about it. And my parents were not crazy soccer parents. My dad actually sat purposefully, like, on the opposite end of whatever bleachers took a little far there.
Claire:But, anyway, I became attached to a photo of granny Smith over winter break. Granny Smith is a cat I almost adopted. I was kind of, like, a rash decision off of the Michigan Humane Society website. Yeah. She's a 10 year old cat.
Claire:I was like,
Liz:I thought that I was supposed to know who Granny Smith was. So I'm like, who Put that
Claire:in there for Shaq value a little bit. Yeah. I think she's been adopted actually though, but No. This note is to kind of draw attention to the fact that I've decided I need a cat eventually. Yes.
Claire:And I was, like, checking every day if she was getting adopted. Like, she's gonna wait until May.
Liz:Like, granny's gonna wait?
Claire:Like, granny knows. Granny's 10 years old. Like, she's not Oh. So I'm glad she got adopted. But She is a granny.
Claire:That was a lot of conversation my parents and I had about me getting a cat. And then I spent a lot of time doing New Year's prep, which we could talk about briefly because, I made a bingo card because Liz made a bingo card.
Liz:Did a lot of
Claire:journaling, made some some goals, did a healthy amount of ins and outs. So That's awesome. Some highlights of those being screaming, eating more protein, being conversationally off putting. Out or in? In.
Claire:These are all in. Okay. And then carrying a book around. This one sounds pretentious, but carrying a book around with me instead of scrolling on my phone when I'm in, like, a waiting room or something. You know?
Claire:Just try
Liz:and What kind of book? Oh, just Like, one that's, like, purposely gonna make you seem, like, really smart?
Claire:No. Just just anything except doomscrolling in public. That has really
Liz:taken me to the point of view. It's just, like, cringe when you see someone, like, doom scrolling. Like, obviously, you're doing it at the same time and usually don't see other people doing it because you don't, like, watch them because you're doing it yourself. Right. But, like, the idea of watching someone, like, like, hunched over.
Liz:Like yeah. No. I get it. But if you're reading a book, you're Try to
Claire:do a little more of, like, slower consumption in the new year.
Liz:I like that.
Claire:Like or even listening to a podcast while I'm waiting for something. Something that's taking a little longer than
Liz:listening to news podcasts in
Claire:the morning. Scrolling it up. I spent a whole,
Liz:like, year listening to news podcasts every single morning last year. And then this past semester, I was like, I don't you know, I was I was listening to more music and stuff in the morning, but now I'm back on my newest podcast grind.
Claire:What a time.
Liz:Which is great. I mean, it's just, like, it's just The Daily from The New York Times, and then sometimes I listen to, like, The Voxes. Yeah. Like, pod like, news podcast.
Claire:But Eva and I were just talking about NPR and Washington Post because they do, like, short ones in the morning. Just listen to those.
Liz:It's nice.
Claire:So, yeah, those were the highlights of my break.
Liz:What's out?
Claire:Oh, I don't have that listed, but You're
Liz:going off the top of my head?
Claire:A lot. Something I've been thinking about a lot is that, like, worrying is, like, worshiping the problem. And when I saw that, albeit on TikTok, I it struck me. And I was like, oh, I don't like how that made me feel because I do that. So worrying, general, and disrespecting my own time is a big one.
Liz:Like Yeah. We were talking about this.
Claire:Yeah. We were talking about this. Like, if if we made plans, I wouldn't, like, bail on you last minute or just, like, decide I'm fully not gonna do it, etcetera. So if I make a plan or wanna do something for myself or, like, this is when I need to do x y z or maybe not doom scroll for 2 hours before I go to bed. You know, just just be a little more conscious of my time.
Claire:Right. Totally. It's in, so disrespecting it is out. You get it.
Liz:Yeah.
Claire:I'm I'm off the top of my head here. So No.
Liz:I I mean, I I know we wanna have a full podcast episode about this. Mhmm. But TikTok is now off my phone because I deleted it the minute it went down because I was, like, I'm free. Yeah. I'm free finally.
Liz:I was I was talking for days before about how, my life is gonna get so much better, with TikTok on, and then they brought it back immediately and but you can't redownload it. So I'm You can't? No. Because it's, like, you'd still have the app store, I think.
Claire:I did not know that.
Liz:So So yeah. I can't redownload it. Instagram reels, scary place scary place, and it makes you not wanna scroll. So, therefore, I've been journaling.
Claire:Good.
Liz:I've been journaling. Good. And that was on my bingo card. I put a lot of things on my bingo card were, like, number based because, like, that's how I see my goals, like, kind of, which is, like
Claire:Okay. I
Liz:know. It it it's easier to track. It's a little capitalist, but it's easier to track. So it's, like, 25, 20 read 25 books.
Claire:Right.
Liz:Go on 15 hikes. Save $5,000, stuff like that. So it's like it's easy. Because it's like, if I just put down, like, read more books in my head because I'm crazy, I would be like, well, you didn't read enough. And then I and then I failed myself.
Claire:It's hard to measure.
Liz:It's hard to measure things anyways.
Claire:Bingo cards were fun. And Yeah. Yeah. I think we should do a whole episode on TikTok. TikTok channel because
Liz:because we're we're just chatting today.
Claire:We're just chatting today. And keeping the mood high.
Liz:Yes. Talking about that, I wanna just go over a couple things entertainment wise
Claire:Yes, please.
Liz:Of my binge watching. Specifically, binge watching. Like, I didn't really watch a lot of shows, but, like, when I do watch shows
Claire:show so.
Liz:I I absolutely binge it, and it was with my roommate. So we they're really stupid. Pop culture jeopardy. You might not think it's a thing. It is.
Liz:It's on Freevee.
Claire:That's what House Late is.
Liz:Thank you. Actually. Colin Jost is the host. Can someone get him a job?
Claire:Not Pop Culture Jeopardy. Is he in debt? Rent was due.
Liz:Rent rent was due. And so pop culture jeopardy is basically jeopardy for, dummies. And so me and my 3 roommates and it's also in teams of 3. So it's, like, me and my 2 roommates. We've been, like, really hitting it and we've been playing along.
Liz:And low key, if they do another season, we're auditioning because Perfect. We and it's good. We all have different skills, I think. Like, I'm hitting the musical ones. Mhmm.
Liz:We all were good at the Kardashian part. I mean my my good friend, Mia, who's awesome Love. Is really good at, like, the fashion brand stuff.
Claire:Okay.
Liz:And, like, fashion houses and I was like, period. But, yeah, really fun. I watched whole season of it. Love it. House Hunters International is the other one that I watched a lot of, and it's just there's something so comforting about the formula of it that you just look at 3 houses, you hear the people complain, and then in the end, they're very happy with what they chose.
Liz:And also, there's a formula, like, to their stories as well, where, especially with international, they're all just picking up and moving across the country. Or I'm sorry, moving across the world. Not the country, the world. Oh. And they're like a lot of them are like, oh, like, we don't wanna spend that much in rent, because we don't have jobs yet.
Liz:Why are you what do you mean? What do you mean? But it also made me hopeful because it's like, at any moment, you could just change your life.
Claire:That's how I felt about, eat, pray, love, which is one of my movies that
Liz:I watched.
Claire:But yeah. It's a good one. I was like, girl, what are you doing? But then all of a sudden, it worked out. She's free.
Claire:Spoiler alert.
Liz:I also watched Monte Carlo Oh. Which is, like, the same it's, like, Eat, Pray, Love, but for, like, Disney Channel. Teenage Girls. Yeah. Teenage Girls.
Liz:Great movie. Oh my god. Great movie. I need
Claire:to rewatch that.
Liz:I think and it's, like, they just sort of drop their lives to do, like, volunteer work because, like, that pays literally doesn't. It's in the description. And the other girl who, like, is in college and apparently just, like, hates her life because she's, like, so straight laced and stuff, she just goes and backpacks for a whole summer. No job with this guy she just met, and I yeah. In my review, I think I wrote, like, it's funny that they literally kidnap a person, steal a private jet, and yet the plot still revolves around them getting your European boyfriends.
Liz:And that's why that movie is so awesome. Continue.
Claire:It is. Okay. I watched randomly a lot of Tiny Desk concerts. Just a lot of YouTube in general. I I'm just, like, gonna say it really loud and proud here.
Claire:I just love YouTube. I've always loved it. It's a social media for me that will absolutely never go out of style. Yeah. So tiny desk concerts for that.
Claire:I had every intention of reconnecting with, like, Jubilee and Cut videos, but I didn't get around to it.
Liz:Oh my god. Let's see. Yeah. Cut's really good. What's your favorite tiny dust concert?
Claire:Oh, the Billie Eilish one was really good. I'm I really like the Maria's Mhmm. Tiny Dust concert. That was one I watched. Dough Cheese was really good too.
Liz:Was really good. She's just good, bro.
Claire:Yeah. I'm probably forgetting. Sabrina Carpenter's was good. Oh, yeah. That was good.
Claire:Crazy amount of people in her band. It was awesome.
Liz:Yeah. Have you ever heard company revival broad, Broadway cast, tiny dust concert, that one's really Sure.
Claire:I finished Yellowstone. Amazing. I watched I've binged a lot of Yellowstone. I also finished Suits. Awesome.
Claire:I also binged nobody wants this.
Liz:Can you give me, like, a quick review? Because I really wanna watch that.
Claire:Like, nobody wants this.
Liz:Yeah.
Claire:Would you recommend it. Okay. Okay. Kristen Bell and, I believe, Adam Brody.
Liz:Oh, he's so cute.
Claire:It was awesome. I didn't didn't think I was gonna like as much as I did, and I just was informed by my friend that they're doing a season 2, which is amazing. I'm trying to binge Ted Lasso, but I don't have Apple TV, so I'm trying to figure that out. I got you. Oh my god.
Claire:Thank Thank you.
Liz:I literally got you. Everyone has my Apple TV password. I wouldn't be surprised if I was late to the whole newsroom. I How did you drop it? I give out my Apple TV, like, free freaking candy.
Liz:Like, everyone in my family has it, and I'm not dropping it.
Claire:Sorry. Oh, well
Liz:I'm not dropping it all off.
Claire:Binging Tundrazzo. And then moving into moving into movies. Eat, Pray, Love, as I mentioned. Crazy stupid love, which I rewatched. Interstellar, didn't love it.
Claire:I'm gonna say something controversial. I didn't love it. Well, I just
Liz:my brother Who would hate that you just said that like Jack? Jack would be like Whatever. Just donuts.
Claire:My brother and I were watching it, and then it was just very long. I mean, it was a good movie, but it was so long. And that's that.
Liz:Yeah.
Claire:And not Overbreak, but I just watched Carry On. And the reason I didn't watch Carry On Overbreak was because I was traveling
Liz:so watch
Claire:via via aircraft. So I didn't wanna watch it because knowing me, I would panic. So I didn't watch it, but I I watched it and I liked it.
Liz:That's awesome. And those are my movies. So I watched The Substance. It was really, really, really good. I really enjoyed it.
Liz:It was a lot of, like, body horror, which I usually don't love and, like, gore and stuff, but I just like horror movies in general. But there it was funny because, like, there were, like, crazy moments. There was, like, blood splurting everywhere and all this stuff, and it's, like, that was, like, normal for me. Like, I was fine with it, but then there was, like, this one part where, like, her like, Margaret Qualley's teeth were falling out, and I was like, nope. I had to, like, I love Margaret Qualley.
Liz:Sorry. Not that I'm great. Emmy Moore is great. I'm pretty sure that they just, I didn't see the Oscar the Oscar nominations this morning. All I know is that challengers has actually 0, which is just, like, so messed up a
Claire:situation That must be really
Liz:hard for you. For the score. And I was really, like, banking, like, bank banking on them winning. Also, I don't know. Everyone knows this about me.
Liz:I bet on the Oscars every year. Everyone knows this about me.
Claire:I did not know that about you.
Liz:Bet on the Oscars every year. So I do have to watch the nominations, like, tonight so I can start getting in my bets now.
Claire:You'll be hearing this.
Liz:Gambling's a sin, though. So, I watched baby girl. A lot of people have been asking a lot of people have been asking. Like like, the viewers know. Just people in my life.
Liz:A lot of people have been asking what I thought of baby girl. Tell us. Tell us. Too much implied sex. I need to see it.
Claire:Like like like, I was expecting I can't believe I just followed what you just said, but I need to see it. You said too much implied sex. I go, I need to watch that. What I meant separately is is that my roommate saw Baby Girl, and I wasn't there. And I've been meaning to watch it.
Claire:It was really implied sex.
Liz:Everyone calm down. Well, that's well, see, but I'm worse than you because I'm saying that there was, like, not enough, like It's
Claire:like the guy in the college. Yeah. Like, I'm sorry.
Liz:Those plates is is turning rated r right now, and I'm so sorry. But it was good. Just needed a little bit more
Claire:Actual sex. What is this motion? Just, like,
Liz:not like, knocking it out. Alright. And then I watched It Ends With Us Oh. Which I for the first time. And I absolutely hated it.
Claire:Did you watch it? Okay. Let me ask you something because I highlighted here we need to talk about Justin and Blake, which was the biggest celebrity
Liz:drama. I I feel like there's too much, and I haven't kept up with it.
Claire:Too much. Here's the thing, though. Did you watch this is us because you've read Colin Hoover before, or did you watch it because of all of the media circulating currently with Blake and Justin?
Liz:I did not read it before. Okay. I did wanna I did, however, want to see it before the the drama because my
Claire:But did you see it before the No. I didn't. You see
Liz:you knew
Claire:of all the drama that you
Liz:watched Yeah. I wanted to watch it, but then I just, like, didn't because, like, I'm not paying movie theater prices for a Calvin Hoover movie.
Claire:See, I saw it before all the drama broke out.
Liz:Okay. And what'd you think?
Claire:I didn't read the book. And the movie, you could just tell you could very clearly tell it was an adaptation of the book, which, hey, that's it's gonna happen. Like, the book is usually always better than the movie. I didn't love it. I thought I that's a lie.
Claire:I had seen a little bit of drama about Blake Lively before
Liz:I had seen the movie. Of course, everyone saw, like, the even before, like, this lawsuit came out, like, all the, like, drama with her interviewing and, like Right. Her not wanting to talk about domestic violence in her movie. Like, her hairline.
Claire:And it was funny because I
Liz:of course, I had her hairline. Her hairline. But But I I thought the way that we were talking about it, I just assumed that domestic violence was, like, maybe one of the themes in it, and that's why she wasn't talking about it. No. It was No.
Liz:It's, like, the actual plot that it was the full plot of the movie. And it's like, okay. So it is ridiculous that she, like, was shying away from that. So
Claire:But then I heard and we could also talk about this forever and ever, because I've been following this unfortunately way too closely for some reason. But when the lawsuit came out
Liz:Okay. Daily Mail. Literally.
Claire:When the lawsuit came out, it was Blake kind of saying, like, he, you know, developed, like, this smear campaign against her, which is why we saw all of that, you know, kinda dirt on her even before seeing what we hated her. And then I I feel like I read somewhere that there was some contract that she had signed or, like, something that had happened where she wasn't allowed or she wasn't encouraged to talk about domestic violence on the press tour as much, so she was, like, purposely keeping quiet, but then Justin Baldoni was. So I don't really know if they just signed different contract. There's so much to that whole thing. I don't
Liz:know. I don't know. Like, I
Claire:don't know.
Liz:Part of it, it's just like it's just like a lot of, like, communication from both sides. I feel like in a lawsuit, usually, your lawyers tell you to, like, shut up. And then instead, there's just, like, every single day, it feels like there's,
Claire:like, a new thing. The New
Liz:York Times
Claire:did a really good investigative, like, minute minute and a half Instagram reel, I saw, breaking down, like, what she's suing him. Not suing him directly, but suing, like, the production.
Liz:Right. It's because it's not just him. It's like
Claire:Yeah. It's like the production team in a way. Because they co directed or co produced. It's all very messy, and then he claps back with, like, all these receipts, and then she Yeah.
Liz:And then Did you see Jack Jack Schlossberg? No. Took him on as a client. Justin Baldoni. Everyone was really mad.
Claire:Oh my god.
Liz:Like, Jack Schlossberg is supposed to be, like, this, like, feminist. He's a Kennedy, and he's, like, an Internet person.
Claire:Justin Baldoni's whole thing is that he's a feminist, like, whatever the yeah. It's Talking about men that are possibly terrible but claim they're feminist, one
Liz:of the things I wanna bring up towards the end Mhmm. Was I'm noticing an influx of men listening to Claro and Lizzie McAlpine, at least in my own life. Mhmm. Do you think this is a green or red flag?
Claire:I feel like my instinct is to say I don't know. It it's very different.
Liz:Wanna say green, but it's I know that it's
Claire:I feel like did your girlfriend introduce you to that music?
Liz:That's the thing.
Claire:Because then It's
Liz:like, who taught you that?
Claire:Exactly. Or are you doing this there's 3 categories. Aw, your girlfriend introduced you to Claro. That's adorable. I'm so glad you like her.
Claire:Okay. Or you just were listening to, like, a bedroom pop playlist, and you were like, oh my god. This is super great. I start you start to kind of, like, happen upon, like, the Clarissa That's
Liz:a green flag.
Claire:Great. Or you know what works, and you're doing that to populate the demographic of people listening, but I don't really know. So I would say it's subjective. I can't quite say green or red fully. Right.
Claire:Because I love to give people the benefit of the doubt all too much. I'm probably just gonna say it's green, but I'm treading with caution. If I'm on a date with a guy who's like, I love Lizzie McAlpine, I'm gonna say, that's super awesome. Why?
Liz:So how about you annotate 5 of her songs and come back to me? Yeah. Because What did you take from that?
Claire:Like, when you listen to soccer practice, sir, what do you think about?
Liz:Receipts, MLA format, bibliography format. Like, oh my god.
Claire:I love her song, pushing it down and praying. What?
Liz:Why?
Claire:Now disclaimer, this is not to say that one form of art or one singer is just for one demographic or one type of person, but it just makes you think. Try it with caution. If a man overly likes Lizzie McAlpine and is also trying to, like, get in your pants. I feel like Claro's different, though. For some reason, I'm like, if a guy likes Claro, I'm like, I just wanna hug you.
Liz:Yes. No. See? And I'm like the opposite because I feel like you're, like,
Claire:kind of friends that like Claro.
Liz:Worse. That's worse because, like, let's make out finance. Like, she had her moment on TikTok. She was popular, whatever. But, like, if you like Claro, like, there's so I I can't I I don't know.
Liz:You don't know.
Claire:You can like Claro in, like, the way that some guys are like, yeah.
Liz:I just, like,
Claire:love, like, movies Like, like,
Liz:what a Jack myself a cinephile.
Claire:For some context, Jack's in a class with someone who literally introduced himself as a cinephile, and Jack was like, okay. Like, where's the black turtleneck? Where's the
Liz:Yeah. Literally.
Claire:So if you're like, yeah. Scary. I like Claro wink. Like but
Liz:I have
Claire:a couple guy friends that like Claro, so I guess that's why I'm feeling like I need to defend them. You know what? And I trust them.
Liz:Maybe I should just stop judging. 2025, Liz is done judging. That's a lie.
Claire:But if you That's not
Liz:gonna happen.
Claire:I don't know.
Liz:I don't know.
Claire:I don't know. I guess, also, we should probably mention we're, like we're talking about very specific type of
Liz:Yeah. It's not like it's not It's
Claire:not all men, guys.
Liz:Honestly, not all.
Claire:It is.
Liz:Honestly, if you listen to House Lights, you know what we're talking about.
Claire:Yeah. Because people that listen to we're wary of.
Liz:It's being clear.
Claire:Right.
Liz:And that's it. Thank you.
Claire:Anyway
Liz:And, like, our close friend, PJ Pfeiffer.
Claire:Yes. And he would know. Hi, PJ. And he would know. He knows exactly.
Claire:He knows exactly what we're talking about. Probably likes Clare and Lindsay McAlpine, and that's that's brilliant. God. PJ.
Liz:Okay. We love you.
Claire:So let's oh my god. Perfect segue into music.
Liz:Yeah. We need to, like, wrap up.
Claire:We do need to wrap up. We do it to our other job.
Liz:But music, do you just wanna boom.
Claire:Yeah. I mainly just listened to my 2024 Apple wrapped. Okay? Did the job. The new season album, love.
Claire:Oh, really good. This album called Bismillah by Peter Katz Recording Co, I stumbled upon. Incredible.
Liz:I'll be listening.
Claire:And then just a handful of, like, Doctor. Dog, Radiohead Yeah. Current Joys. I just made a big playlist for my my plane ride and just Love. Fell asleep listening to that.
Claire:So that's in there.
Liz:The last thing that I wanted to say before we go is that me, Clare, and Jack are having movie nights recently.
Claire:Yes.
Liz:And so you'll be hearing maybe on his podcast, maybe on ours.
Claire:You'll have to listen
Liz:to both? You'll have to listen to both. Some of our reviews on that. I just wanna say one thing that Clare said after watching Les Mis. She, and I'm I forgot, like, you're not in the room.
Claire:I don't even know what you're about to say.
Liz:Like, half no. Quarter watched this movie while doing other things the entire time, and Jack was, like, low key, like, like, like, trying to, like, translate it because you kept asking questions right before the thing that would happen next was happening. So you would ask Jack, like, is this gonna happen? And then he would answer it, and then it would happen in, like, 2 seconds later. And then right at the end, she just goes, viva la revolution.
Liz:That's not the message to take away from Les Mis. That's crazy. Anyways, I just wanted to say that because that was one of the funniest things ever, and it did go in my Letterboxd review of
Claire:I have a really bad habit of asking which what are entirely rhetorical questions. Like, oh, my god. Is he gonna live, like, if someone gets shot in the movie? And Jack finally all loved him. He just goes, I don't know.
Claire:He knows. He's seen
Liz:the movie. But So when we watched Hulk then
Claire:Obviously, he's not
Liz:gonna tell me. And that's a question.
Claire:When I was watching Yellowstone, it's a pretty dramatic show, and I'd be like, oh my god. How could they do that to this group of like, how could they bomb them? And my dad's like, keep watching. The episode is not over, which I know logically. So, Jack, every, like, couple of scenes, Jack had to be like, so currently, just to help you out here, this is what's happening.
Claire:Because not only were you
Liz:asking questions, you were also not, like, particularly watching the movie.
Claire:Hulk was even worse. I fully did homework.
Liz:You fully didn't watch it?
Claire:Like it's a great movie. But I love our movie nights. So I love our movie nights.
Liz:Me too. Love.
Claire:Okay. Well Closing thoughts? No. I have none. I have none either.
Claire:This was a great I am none.
Liz:I think we yeah. We we caught up. It's been really hard for us not to talk about, like, entertainment for the last couple weeks. Yeah. But, I think some of the next episodes you're gonna see, we're gonna talk about TikTok.
Liz:We're gonna talk about sweeping just sweeping thoughts on that topic as well as I really wanna talk about dating reality shows.
Claire:Mhmm.
Liz:That's one thing that I watch over break that that I didn't wanna talk about because I wanna do a whole episode on it.
Claire:And so Yeah. In that vein, I would like to talk about trends or messages on social media that turn people away or toward, like, dating shows or, like, online dating and just, like, how that Yeah. Rhetoric impacts us all in the modern age.
Liz:In the modern age.
Claire:Yes. And that's been our episode.
Liz:Yeah. I feel like we're gonna make the last season of House Lights the best one.
Claire:So true. Thank you for listening. Thank you for catching up with us.
Liz:Bye. Bye.