Entertainment
Flirting IRL is having a major pop culture moment
There’s a unique feeling that comes with watching two people flirting wildly with each other. You’re a spectator to something that feels intimate, yet public, both of them dancing around the idea that they clearly fancy each other but haven’t yet plucked up the gumption to shoot their shot. On the one hand: Should I…. leave you guys to it? On the other: Sorry, but I just can’t look away.
This is how I felt watching the latest Chicken Shop Date episode with Andrew Garfield, an 11-minute flirt-fest of “powerful vibes” with Amelia Dimoldenberg that I had to watch in instalments because I couldn’t handle the chemistry between the two. I literally felt jealous watching it.
Garfield, who’s currently promoting his latest romantic movie We Live In Time which also stars Florence Pugh, declares in the interview that he and Dimoldenberg have had, in fact, two meet cutes. We all saw their viral first red carpet meeting back in 2022, in which Garfield sauntered up to Dimoldenberg and declared “I think you’re great” before proceeding to tell her he’s seen all her “Chicken Shop things.” “I’m asking you out right now,” Dimoldenberg says in the very same clip.
Their second meet cute happened at the 2023 Golden Globes on the red carpet. But, this video also mentions the fact that the pair were at a party together where a) Amelia was wowing with her dancing and b) Andrew asked for her number. Hello? What?!
“This is called flirting, Amelia!” Garfield bellowed at one point in their latest meeting. “This is called flirting.” Yes, Andrew, we can see that. And, so did more than 5.3 million viewers who tuned in to watch the mega-viral video, which topped the YouTube trending videos over the weekend.
Flirting is having a major pop culture moment right now. And the internet’s reaction to the latest Chicken Shop Date forms part of a landscape of our current cultural fixation on the art form of a good old fashioned flirt. The internet was ablaze with a kind of high-school K-I-S-S-I-N-G energy, along with an abundance of memes, shipping, and general commentary. Some hailed the video the “the best rom com of the year,” others focused on the granular blush-worthy details: “I think something is wrong with me because I am blushing at Andrew saying ‘I don’t like games Amelia.'” Side note: there’s nothing wrong with you, we were all swooning.
But it’s not just Andrew and Amelia and our hope that they will soon be betrothed. The internet is crushing on multiple couples, both real and fictitious, for their excellent flirting on main.
Running parallel to the Chicken Shop Date buzz this past weekend was another swoon-worthy interaction between Suki Waterhouse and fiancé Robert Pattinson. For an ELLE video, Waterhouse prank-called Pattinson, pretending that she’d been asked to be the new host of Love Is Blind. Pattinson’s voice sounds like he’s smiling as he talks to his beloved and, as one commenter aptly put it: “he talks like he is kicking his feet and twirling his hair while talking to her.” A true highlight (which prompted many memes) comes when Pattinson asks, “Darling, have you gone mad?” Stop it, you guyssssssss, I can’t cope.
Speaking of IRL couples, brat summer isn’t just about partying and living unapologetically as oneself, it’s also about being publicly cutesy with your fiancé. Charli xcx had the entire internet begging her fiancé, producer George Daniel, to please do the “Apple” dance that swept TikTok, created by Kelley Heyer. It all started when the brat artist posted a doe-eyed TikTok video of her asking George, “Babyyyyy, why don’t you want to do ‘Apple’ though?”
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More adorable content came our way when Charli followed up her request as a birthday present. And then again when TikToks emerged of the singer performing “Girl, so confusing” during the co-headlined Sweat tour with Troye Sivan, when she called out George onstage for not singing along. “George, I don’t see you singing,” she said (with autotune), before smiling at him and shouting, “Come on!!!” He’d better be singing now!
Seriously, though, I want what they have.
Crossing over into the fictional realm, we’ve been blessed with a decent run of TV series with protracted, infuriating sexual tension-ridden storylines. The kind where you’re yelling “kiss!” at the screen. Disney+’s adaptation of the 1988 Jilly Cooper romance novel Rivals is one such example. Alex Hassell plays beguiling yet incorrigible rake Rupert Campbell-Black, who’s bewitched by Taggie O’Hara (Sex Education’s Bella Maclean), and their palpable chemistry is both mesmerising and infuriating as they continue throughout an entire series to not even so much as kiss on the lips. Get a grip, please!!!!!!!
That’s not even mentioning Rivals’ slow-burn, eked-out romance between Cooper stand-in Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson) and businessman Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer), the appeal of which Parkinson puts down to the rarity of long-game romances in the online dating era. “I’m not sure how many slow burn relationships are allowed to happen in a world of Tinder and so on,” Parkinson told the audience of a Rivals preview screening in London in September.
Not remotely debauched, but just as swoon-worthy is Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, which helped reignite every millennial’s teenage crush on Adam Brody of The OC’s Seth Cohen fame. The series, which has thankfully just been renewed for a second season, is a refreshing break from tired rom-com hetero archetypes, in which we watch a self-actualised female protagonist fall for an emotionally unavailable male counterpart. Noah (Brody) is kind, reassuring and open-hearted in his courtship of Joanne (Kristen Bell). In short, he’s the unproblematic romantic ideal that we have all been yearning for.
So, what’s the deal? Why’s everyone so obsessed with flirting right now?
My theory is that the pandemic has had a profound impact on the way we regard flirting. During the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, going on dates wasn’t possible, casual sex was banned, and our only way of interacting with potential partners was through our phone screens. Romance was temporarily on hold. Many of us single folk experienced something called touch hunger or even touch deprivation, where we don’t receive enough or any physical contact (something neuroscientists tell us is a vital human need).
Many of us retreated into a fantasy world of romantic fiction (with the encouragement of SmutTok — TikTok’s dedicated community of bodice ripper lovers), and since then romance and erotic lit has seen an astronomic rise in popularity in the publishing world. Since 2020, U.S. print sales of romance and erotica books have doubled from 18 million in 2020 to over 29 million in 2023, as reported by the Guardian. In the UK, sales of romance novels have increased by 110 percent over the same timespan, bringing in £53 million ($69 million) a year.
At the same time, meeting online is now the most popular way U.S. couples meet, according to 2019 research by sociologists at Stanford University.
Slow burn romances are, as Parkinson says, a rarity in the age of rapid swiping and job interview-esque first dates. Somewhere along the way, we adjusted our expectations and decided we wanted everything all at once: we wanted to fast-track our online dating matches into IRL boyfriends without the fun part… the lingering eye contact, the lust-filled looks from across the room, the buzz you get when their leg touches yours for the first time, the way their eyes light up when you walk into the room. As much as I’ve accepted that dating apps are not going anywhere, I also miss the pre-dating app days (yes, I’m a millennial) when we’d have blazing crushes on people we’d met organically and, every now and then, we’d muster the courage to awkwardly ask someone out.
I think we’re currently obsessed with watching people flirt — whether it’s a fictional couple in a TV series, or two celebrities who are either dating or should be — because in our disillusionment with dating app culture, we are seeing a resurgence of old-school romance. We’re turning to offline dating events to try and claw back the coveted chemistry you get from spending time with someone in real life developing a connection.
Flirting is having a moment right now because we’ve all realised how much we missed the feeling of lusting after someone in real life. Perhaps it’s time we all went outside into the world and flirted brazenly with a sexy stranger.
Entertainment
Beaches: A New Musical review: Jessica Vosk gives her all to a disastrous Broadway adaptation
Be sure to read the fine print about Beaches: A New Musical, now on Broadway. This is not an adaptation of the beloved 1988 movie, in which Barbara Hershey played advocate and lawyer Hillary Whitney, and Bette Midler brought bawdy brilliance to singer C.C. Bloom. The Broadway stage musical Beaches is instead based on the movie’s inspiration: Iris Rainer Dart’s 1985 novel about the highs and lows of the friendship of outgoing actress Cee Cee Bloom and sheepish preppy Bertie White.
The author has a heavy hand in this stage adaptation, writing both the book — with the help of playwright Thom Thomas — and the lyrics, while Mike Stoller, who once co-wrote songs for Elvis, composed the music. This makes for a stage show that is shockingly disconnected from Garry Marshall’s cinematic tearjerker, as the plot is starkly different, especially for Bertie/Hillary. However, directors Lonny Price and Matt Cowart fight hard to bring the Beaches that movie-goers loved to the stage in some capacity. And leading lady Jessica Vosk does her damndest to bring a Midler-level moxie to every scene and song.
It’s just a shame that Dart’s book and lyrics are less the wind beneath her wings and more an anchor sinking the whole production.
Beaches on Broadway ditches most of the movie’s songs.
Samantha Schwartz, Bailey Ryon, Jessica Vosk, Kelli Barrett, Emma Ogea, and Zeya Grace as Cee Cee and Bertie in “Beaches: A New Musical.”
Credit: Marc J. Franklin
Only “Wind Beneath My Wings,” which won the Grammy for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, makes the playlist for the stage musical Beaches. In the movie, Midler also sang moving covers of “Under the Boardwalk,” “The Glory of Love,” and “Baby Mine.” None of these makes the stage. And bad news for fans of Midler’s playful performance of “Otto Titsling,” the comical story of the uncredited inventor of the brassiere; that daffy track doesn’t make it to Broadway either. Worse news: This last omission sharply reflects how Dart leaned hard away from the movie’s most fun and campy bits.
Beaches — in both versions — begins with a grown-up Cee Cee (Vosk) rehearsing a song for a big show, when a mysterious phone call causes her to race away. Then, the story flashes back to decades before, when Cee Cee was a fiery little girl (Samantha Schwartz) who befriended a shy, posh little Bertie (Zeya Grace) on a beach in New Jersey. The two became pen pals, supporting each other through fights with their overbearing mothers and frustrations with boys and then men. For a stint in their 20s, they’d live together in a cramped but beloved apartment as Cee Cee tried to make it as an actress, and Bertie helped out at the theater — mostly to avoid her mother and Michael, the boring man she was expected to marry.
Both women will marry soon enough. But while Cee Cee’s career takes off, Bertie (unlike her movie counterpart, Hillary) fails to realize her dream of becoming a lawyer. However, she does still have a daughter that she adores. A big misunderstanding will keep the two friends estranged for years, but they’ll ultimately reconnect over Bertie’s pregnancy, and then again when she gets fatally ill.
Despite all the highs and lows of their relationships, the songs that Dart and Stoller write all feel achingly one-note. “You Believe in Me,” “Wish I Could Be Like You,” and “My Best” all share the sentiment that these two are so different yet love each other more than anyone else. Even “God Bless Girlfriends” — sung by their annoyed husbands — echoes this. And none of these numbers has the emotional wallop or the visual language of “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Instead, they all feel like mediocre AI-generated imitations of that great song.
Beaches on Broadway presents confounding characters.
Brent Thiessen (left) and Ben Jacoby (right) as husbands John and Michael in “Beaches: A New Musical.”
Credit: Marc J. Franklin
Seeing Beaches the movie made me curious about Beaches the musical, but Beaches the musical does not make me curious about Beaches the book. The songs are frustratingly forgettable, but moreover, the story feels vexingly dated and thin.
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In Mary Agnes Donoghue’s script for the movie, Hillary’s ambitions as a lawyer made her equal to C.C. in ambition. In Dart’s Broadway show, it’s hard to understand who Bertie is, as the author/playwright leaves gaping holes in her story. Bertie has dreams of becoming an attorney, but when they go nowhere, it’s unclear what she’s done instead. Likewise confusing is, who is Aunt Neetie? Bertie’s daughter Nina brings her up repeatedly, qualifying her as her “real” aunt as a means to show disdain for Cee Cee. And while both “aunts” seem in contention for raising Nina after Bertie dies, because Neetie isn’t on stage, she’s a distracting obstacle with no grounding. What we do know is Bertie says she has no sister. So maybe Neetie is her sister-in-law? But after their divorce, Michael has no relationship with his daughter Nina. So, what’s the likelihood Aunt Neetie is Michael’s sister? It’s a perplexing plot hole that becomes more grievous in the show’s final act.
Dart also ignores Bertie’s privilege with a song called “Normal,” where Bertie taunts Cee Cee that the brassy star could never have a “normal” life. But all her examples are about being wealthy, like having servants on hand. And these are all things the affluent Bertie has had access to since birth. Her husband, Michael (Ben Jacoby), gives no further insight into who she is, as he’s a thinly sketched creep in a suit coat. By contrast, Cee Cee’s husband John (Brent Thiessen) is a creep in an open denim shirt. They come off as the same guy in different fonts.
Now, you might wonder if that’s intentional to bolster the queer undertones that existed in the movie. Queer audiences have long speculated whether or not these women were actually in love with each other. Well, a lyric in “The Brand New Me” might have you think so, as Bertie sings about realizing she’s in love with a girl. But it’s a misdirect; she means the brand-new her. Then, the women share a double wedding on stage, where both are giddily dressed as brides. Here, the six actresses who play Bertie and Cee Cee as children, teens, and adults frolic together, while the grooms are a bland accessory. (Like an unconvincing beard?)
Jessica Vosk and Beaches directors try to bring the camp and Midler flare.
Jessica Vosk stars as Cee Cee Bloom in “Beaches: A New Musical.”
Credit: Marc J. Franklin
This is a thankless show for the cast. The songs are awful. And all of the adult actors, aside from leads Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett, are tasked to play multiple thin roles, including teen Cee Cee (Bailey Ryon), teen Bertie (Emma Ogea), Cee Cee’s mom (Sarah Bockel), and nuns, TV studio techs, nurses, and people waiting for a plane. It can actually be confusing when all of a sudden the actor who plays Cee Cee’s husband is in a scene as a different character, with no attempt at disguise beyond a suit jacket. But props to Zurin Villanueva, who is given a smattering of bit parts, and manages to be dazzling and funny in every one. Here’s hoping she’ll get a role worth of her charisma soon.
As for Barrett, she commits completely to Bertie’s agonies and ecstasies as Dart’s script has her character turn on the head of a pin, from furious to benevolent. It’s not her fault that it doesn’t work. It’s the unconvincing lyrics, made-up cliches possibly snatched from Hallmark cards. Barrett is at her best in the dialogue scenes, where she can play with Vosk, whose vivacity lifts everyone around her.
Vosk gives her all to every underwhelming song. And while I can’t remember a single lyric from the new Broadway numbers, I can remember the way my heart soared as she hit a high note with a broad smile. She’s a stunner who understands why the audience has come. She’s working hard to give us Midler-like oomph. And that is echoed by her teeny counterpart, Samantha Schwartz, who is a dynamic pint-sized showgirl with charisma and chutzpah to spare.
Zeya Grace (left) and Samantha Schwartz (right) as Little Bertie and Little Cee Cee in “Beaches: A New Musical.”
Credit: Marc J. Franklin
Vosk sinks her teeth into Cee Cee’s zeal, jealousy, and earnestness. Directors Price and Cowart support her by bringing in Midler allusions, like a scene where the staging suggests Cee Cee is performing at a bathhouse, as Midler used to, or a double-bunned red wig that recalls Midler’s look in Hocus Pocus. Likewise, some costume choices — including the little girls’ outfits — recall the movie directly, gladly playing on the audience’s nostalgia. You can feel in these choices the attempt to please an audience of women who connected to Hillary and C.C.’s tumultuous story and to the queer audiences who love Midler’s brassy bravura. But these flourishes, while charming, cannot wrestle Beaches from the banality of Dart’s writing.
Plus, the rest of the staging is a mess. Rather than physical set pieces, a collection of columns affixed with projectors blares suggestions of a setting, like street signs or graphics, which do not evoke mood or location effectively. The front of the stage is a sandy beach dune, with fronds poking up for the girls to play on. Then, in the final act, when they are on a beach, the backdrop is painted. After so much projection, in this final moment, where the beauty of the beach itself could help anchor the heavy emotions about to flow, they went with a backdrop that looks like a motel room painting.
More thoughtless, though, was the blocking. A platform on the stage creates a second stage, which is used as a beach house veranda, a TV studio set, and a variety of other theater stages for Cee Cee to strut upon. This was multipurposeful and smart. However, the blocking often has the actresses sitting or lying down on this stage. In my orchestra seats, there were times I could not see who was singing without moving my head to crane around the person in front of me. I’m short, admittedly. But at the intermission, I switched seats with my guest, and he, who is not short, still had issues, despite the person in front of us not being exceptionally tall! Maybe this is a show better suited for the cheap seats?
All in all, Beaches is a profound disappointment. Vosk gives her all to racy jokes, high notes, and an iconically bold heroine. The supporting cast is asked to sing, dance, and play a bevy of small parts and thinly written characters. The directors try to weave in elements from the movie and Midler’s broader impact to appeal to fans of her and the film. But in the end, this show is doomed by Dart’s underwhelming writing.
Beaches is now on Broadway, and will begin national tours this fall.
Entertainment
Stuff Your Kindle Day is live now — score 150+ free ebooks for 1 day only
FREE BOOKS: The latest Stuff Your Kindle Day takes place on April 23. The Cozy Mystery Book Blast, hosted by Cozy Mystery Book Club, isoffering cozy mystery books for free.
This has been such a huge month for Stuff Your Kindle Day. We’ve already been blessed by a number of free giveaways, and we’re not done yet.
The Cozy Mystery Book Blast, hosted by Cozy Mystery Book Club, is offering participants the chance to download 150+ ebooks without spending anything. Everything that you download is yours to keep forever, so take this as your sign up to stock up ahead of the summer reading season.
Looking to make the most of the latest Stuff Your Kindle Day? We’ve lined up everything you need to know about this popular event.
When is Stuff Your Kindle Day?
The Cozy Mystery Book Blast takes place on April 23. This free giveaway only lasts 24 hours, so you will need to act fast to download everything you want to read. Clear your schedule, make a list of priorities, and add to your TBR list with this limited-time promotion.
Which ebooks are free?
The Cozy Mystery Book Blast has a helpful hub page with everything on offer organized by sub-genre:
You can find these free ebooks from the Kindle Store and other popular retailers. There really is something for everyone in this latest book blast.
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Is Stuff Your Kindle Day the same as Amazon Kindle Unlimited?
Everything you download on Stuff Your Kindle Day is yours to keep, and there’s no limit on the number of books you can download. Stuff Your Kindle Day downloads don’t count towards the 20 books that Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscribers can borrow at the same time, so don’t hold back.
The best Stuff Your Kindle Day deal
Why we like it
These popular e-readers let you take your entire library on the go. With weeks of battery life and an anti-glare display, you can read anywhere and anytime with the Kindle. Plus, you can get three months of Kindle Unlimited for free with your purchase for a limited time.
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on April 23
We’re almost at the First Quarter which means the Moon is almost half illuminated. Each night it gets a little brighter, and this will keep happening until the Full Moon when the reverse will then occur and each night it will appear less.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Thursday, April 23, the Moon phase is Waxing Crescent. Tonight, 41% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.
If you’re looking at the Moon with just your naked eye, you should be able to catch a glimpse of the Mares Serenitatis, Tranquillitatis, and Fecunditatis. If you have binoculars, the Mare Nectaris and Endymion and Posidonius Craters should also come into view, appearing from halfway up the Moon to near the top. And, finally, with a telescope you’ll see all this plus the Apollo 11 and 17 landing spots, and the Rupes Altai.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.
What are Moon phases?
NASA says that the Moon completes a full orbit around Earth in about 29.5 days, during which it passes through eight stages. Although the same face of the Moon is always turned toward us, the portion illuminated by the Sun shifts as it travels along its path, producing the familiar cycle of full, half, and crescent shapes. These variations are referred to as lunar phases, and there are eight altogether:
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
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Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Point guard Caleb Foster returning to Duke for senior season
Phillies C J.T. Realmuto (back) placed on 10-day injured list
