Last Week In Hive Mind
Hello Hive,
I hope you all had a wonderful Presidents Day kissing paintings of George Washington or whatever it is you do to celebrate.
I thought I was going to spend the intro of my newsletter discussing the outstanding performances from the Heathers in my sphere of consciousness- Heather Young from Selling Sunset getting the stupidest tattoo imaginable:
Heather Gay telling Lisa Barlow she should write a book that she won’t read during the RHOSLC reunion, and Heather Martin showing up in a minivan to the gates of The Bachelor compound. It was going to be a frivolous, fun time.
But then Chris Harrison opened his dumb mouth and said some dumb things and now I have to use my precious internet real estate on a situation that could have been avoided if The Bachelor franchise would just hire someone to do background checks on its contestants.
Or better yet, train their host to be antiracist and send a publicist with him when doing interviews.
But Chris was all by himself and was able to express some wild opinions. I’m baffled by what he claims was acceptable behavior three years ago, and his classification of anyone calling out bad behavior as the “woke police,” all while talking over Rachel. And I can only imagine how exhausted the Black members of Bachelor Nation must feel after this weekend. Rachel Lindsay articulates that exhaustion as only Rachel Lindsay can on Higher Learning :
I found her explanation of what it means to be a Black woman on TV especially helpful in understanding the full context of her alarming conversation with Chris.
Chris Harrison has since announced he’ll be stepping away from the show for a while.
I hope we can take him at his word and he will do better. But I think this is a problem that extends beyond Chris Harrison, and while the show has taken steps in the last year to cast more BIPOC contestants, it still struggles to address race and the racist actions of some of the white people who have appeared on the the series.
Look. I love The Bachelor. I think it’s the funniest show on television. I look forward to it all week. I owe my entire writing career to early Bachelor recaps. But it might be time for this show to end? I’m not sure The Bachelor can survive without Chris, and Chris has demonstrated he is not up to the task of taking the show in a direction it desperately needs. Maybe the franchise execs can learn from this and do more to protect their contestants of color, include more conversations about race on air, and hire a young, antiracist host. I’m not holding my breath, though.
We’ll be discussing all this and last night’s episode on today’s Hive Mind. If you’re not caught up, here’s our recap of episode 6:
And I’ll be sending an email for Bachelor Week 8 predictions later this week. Will I send the correct link this time? We’ll see!
In less disappointing news, we were thrilled to have Taylor and Jordyn of Girl Meets Show join us to fawn over Search Party season 4:
And, because all of two people asked for it, Emily and I decided to do a podcast episode for each night of the RHOSLC reunion:
In addition to our RHOSLC recaps, Emily and I are recording Patreon exclusive Bridgerton recaps. My husband/producer called episode 5 “very punchy,” so make of that what you will. Subscribe to Patreon and for $3.00 a month you can access all past and future exclusive episodes.
But television isn’t all we cover here at Hive Mind. I’m thrilled to introduce our new podcast The Hive, featuring Hive Mind contributors interviewing musicians, restaurateurs, and interesting people around Utah. For the first episode, contributor Jon Eyre interviewed Dane Sandberg and Spencer Sayer from Quiet Oaks:
Jon also published his interview on our site, and wrote about what the band means to him.
“I first saw them in May of 2017. They were the local support act for Matt Vasquez, the lead singer of Delta Spirit who was in the middle of a solo tour. As a short person, I always arrive to shows early so I can be front and center, especially at a venue like Urban Lounge, where the stage is only a foot or two off the ground
When the band took the stage, I wasn’t expecting much. But boy was I wrong.
Quiet Oaks did what every opener is supposed to do — whip the crowd into a frenzy and they did that and more. One song in and I was hooked. They sounded like Aha Shake Heartbreak-era Kings of Leon, but only if the Followill brothers were raised on a steady diet of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.”
If Jon’s piece makes you miss live music, contributor Jordan Davidson is here to remind you that music lives on, even in a pandemic, with her roundup of the five best releases of quarantine.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic eviscerating the music industry on nearly every level in 2020, new releases continued to come out, giving all of us something to cling to in the stormy times we were enduring. While I’m grateful for many of the records released last year, a few stood out among their contemporaries. Here are my picks for the five best releases of 2020.”
Coming This Week On Hive Mind
We’re slowly tackling the Golden Globes best picture nominee list on the Hive Mind podcast, starting with The Trial Of The Chicago 7. Nick Morley, my brother and OG Hive Mind host returns for award season coverage, and he, Eli, and I treat this like I think normal people treat sports playoffs. I’m prepping our Academy Awards bracket months in advance.
Irene and I will be covering the latest episode of The Bachelor, and Emily and I will overanalyze the second hour of the RHOSLC reunion as well as Bridgerton episode 6 on Patreon.
Contributor Spencer Anopol will give us a tour of Salt Lake eateries in his latest piece, and tell us where to take out-of-state friends when they visit. And Christy Gilbert will tell us where to find the best burgers, fries, and shakes in the state.
Around the Internet
I made the TikTok pasta. It was fine? I think it would be a lot better with fresh, garden tomatoes in the summer. I guess I’m just a side-parted, skinny-jeans-wearing, marinara-making millennial at heart.
It’s a couple days late, but I would not be upset to receive any of these RHOSLC valentines in the mail.
Yesterday my daughter happened to walk into the office while I was watching a cat video and immediately demanded to see more. It felt like 2009 again in the best possible way. I spent the next hour teaching her the history of cats on the internet, a curriculum that covered Keyboard cat through I’m not a cat lawyer, and together we decided the best cat video is this one:
Feel free to try and prove me wrong in the comments.
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