Naomi Biden to D.C Press Corps: Forever Hold Your Piece

By Tarpley Hitt

The Fourth Estate was denied the opportunity to report on her first-dance song pick

Naomi Biden got married over the weekend. Mazel tov, Naomi and random husband. A reasonable reaction to this news item might include asking, “Who is Naomi Biden?” Or: “Who did she marry?” Or: “Did the groom’s mother write a book about having died during a 1999 kayaking trip in Chile, and subsequently meeting ‘a group of 15 to 20 souls (human spirits sent by God)’ who greeted her with ‘the most overwhelming joy’ she had ever experienced and could ever imagine?”

The answers to those questions are:

1. Hunter Biden’s daughter and Joe Biden’s granddaughter.

2. Her boyfriend of three years, recent law school grad Peter Neal.

3. Yes, the book was called To Heaven and Back: A Doctor's Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels and Life Again.

But the White House Press Corps and select other journalists are asking themselves something else: Why were reporters not invited? Continue reading

By Claire Carusillo

And a new archetype: annoying

I’ve criticized Archetypes with Meghan in the past for Her Fabulous Duchessery Markle’s unwillingness as a podcast hostess to abandon the premise of dismantling said archetypes — whether that’s “bimbo” or “bitch” or “diva” or “weird ugly loser” — in favor of letting interesting conversations flow naturally. I’ve also criticized her understanding of egalitarian feminism as just a touch “college freshman Intro to Women’s Studies in the year 1999.” The combination of which frequently results in hour-long episodes that only a royalist superfan moonlighting as an intrepid blogger could love. (It seems the numbers agree; according to the Daily Mail, last week’s release with Jameela Jamil currently sits at 77th place on the U.S. Spotify chart, bested by a collection of lullabies for babies.)

Well, apparently, Meghan’s been reading my critiques and has decided to heed my advice to go crazy (sorry, I know I shouldn’t say that word) with it, because there’s been a breakthrough on the Archetypes front: This week’s episode actually approaches what could be considered good.

On today’s show, Meghan is taking onan archetype inspired by a piece of art that a friend gave her. The art, which is in her sitting room, says, “Humankind. Be both.” Continue reading

By Allie Jones

‘Chrisley Knows Best’ has reportedly been canceled

It may surprise you to learn that Chrisley Knows Best, the USA Network reality show focusing on the wacky life of the blonde real estate family the Chrisleys, has been canceled after Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to prison this week for fraud and tax evasion. Todd, the titular Chrisley who allegedly knows best, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, and Julie, his long-suffering wife, was sentenced to seven years.

The Chrisleys were both indicted in 2019 and convicted in June of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and tax evasion. Julie was additionally found guilty of wire fraud and obstruction of justice. According to the Justice Department, the Chrisleys used fake statements to defraud banks near their Atlanta hometown to get more than $36 million in loans, which they then spent on fun stuff like cars and real estate. Todd filed for bankruptcy after spending all the money, and the couple failed to pay taxes for several years. Continue reading

By Olivia Craighead

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star in a faithful retelling of a story that doesn't pack the same punch the third time around

Five years ago, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke Hollywood (if only briefly) when they reported out the numerous sex crimes committed by super producer Harvey Weinstein. Their reporting catapulted the MeToo movement into the public consciousness, led to other abusers being outed, and then a bunch of actresses wore black to the Golden Globes. Two years later, Kantor and Twohey wrote a book about their reporting, and now that book is a glossy movie.

She Said, directed by Maria Schrader, sticks to the thesis of the book. The “he said” part of the expression is omitted for a reason. This is a movie about women, the ones who were Weinstein’s victims and the ones who broke their story. When the journalists are reporting out the victims’ stories — the clock ticking as the Weinstein machine is always one step ahead until it’s not — the movie hums along. But at other times, She Said attempts to spin too many plates, and inevitably some of them break. Continue reading

By Adam Nayman

“Stories can become so powerful that they take over your life.”

“I totally forgot that you were about to call me,” said Will Sheff over what sounds like a highway whipping by at high speed. The 46-year-old singer is currently touring his new solo album Nothing Special, and he’s conducting our interview from the passenger seat. “We’re on the early morning part of the drive where we toss stories back and forth about Frank Sinatra and Randy Newman and Devo and Mick Jagger,” he explained while switching to headphones. Suddenly he’s coming through loud and clear. “It’s the rock and roll anecdote part of the van ride,” Sheff said. “I am in my rock n’ roll anecdotage.”

Rock n’ roll anecdotes — annotated, apocryphal, and somewhere in between — were a big part of the songwriting style Sheff perfected as the co-founder and frontman of the Austin-based indie band Okkervil River, a shifting musical collective whose mostly terrific discography dates back to 1998. Initially lo-fi and highbrow in the thoughtfully scrawny tradition of Elliott Smith or the Magnetic Fields the group toughened and broadened their sound in their mid-2000s incarnation, which featured a raw guitar attack (most strikingly on the gory, horrifying breakthrough single “For Real”) and the spare, furious drumming of Travis Nelsen, who became Sheff’s closest and most mercurial collaborator. Buoyed by a pre-poptimist, Pitchfork-centric blogosphere whose scribes were equipped to follow (and gobble up) Sheff’s bread crumb trails of musical and literary allusions, Okkervil River achieved an impressive level of critical and commercial success while always remaining a bit too thorny and thoughtful for Next Big Thing status. Continue reading