Good Clothes and Good Vibes
Plus a defense of the Gold Card
Midbrow Summer
This summer is shaping up to be one of the most mid of summers to have ever happened. Two weeks ago, we got Thunderbolts. Next week, we get Mission: Impossible. We’re also getting a new John Wick, a new Wes Anderson, a new Superman, Jurassic Park, Freakier Friday, Fantastic Four, F1. We are in for a treat.
Now at the Midbrow Culture Club, Mission: Impossible is maybe the highest of all the holidays on the calendar. And we will be talking more about that in a pod coming out this week. However, right now I want to talk about how fun this summer can be if we just embrace it.
Two weeks ago, I walked out of Thunderbolts really disappointed. I mean I was ready to give it two stars. I hated the way it ended, I hated some choices they made, and I hated the way the climax was resolved. However, throughout the whole film I laughed, it felt well paced, the acting was good, and aside from a few choices I really like the story. But I let perfection be the enemy of the good. And after sleeping on it, I realized this and have since changed my opinion on the movie. I now give it three stars - out of five - and look forward to watching it again when it comes on streaming.
This summer there are going to be plenty of movies like that. Mission: Impossible won’t be one of them, it will be perfect; but many movies will be good not great. But that’s still good! Here at Midbrow we are going to be celebrating the fact that we even still have movie theaters and encourage you to do the same. Sure, these are all existing IP and will be unoriginal and predictable. But they will probably also be a lot of fun and if we’re so focused on perfection we’re doing it miss out on a lot of fun. Embrace mediocrity. Go to the movies. Have you mind blown at some big stunts. It’s going to be a blast.
The Winners of the Met Gala
Here at the Midbrow Culture Club, we believe that the reason you do anything is to win. That applies to fashion shows as much as it does baseball games. It’s why I write this newsletter. So, who won the met gala? I’ll tell you.
In third place: Sabrina Carpenter
Clean, elegant, and - as I saw someone say on twitter - something Bugs Bunny would wear. If you’re checking those boxes, you can’t go wrong. Sabrina kills it in this outfit.
In second place: Usher
Honestly, it’s hard to say whether it’s the outfit or the man, but something here is stunning. If you can’t tell already, I like a clean look. These enormous, unwearable outfits aren’t for me, so I’m a big fan of this classic look on this legend.
In first place, to the surprise of nobody: Zendaya
It’s just not even fair. She looks like the drawing this designer created when they sketched it out. How do you even compete against her. Should be disqualified from consideration next year.
Honorable mentions:
In most looks like the Joker: Andrew Scott
And
And in I really loved this outfit, but not enough to make the top three: Lupita Nyong’o
If you want to see the rest of the looks from the gala, you can see them here.
Two Good Things, I Guess
This administration has by and large been a disaster. I like a lot of the goals of the administration, but the means by which they are attempting to achieve those goals range from stupid to illegal to disgusting.
However, there are two proposals I have really liked.
The Gold Card. Trump proposed what he’s calling a gold card. Basically, you pay $5,000,000 and you get a green card. To some it could be seen as elitism or another way Trump is helping billionaires. To me, it’s a way to attracted highly skilled people with lots of disposable income who will immediately contribute to the economy. And again, it’s just a green card, not citizenship, they could still have everything revoked if they don’t pass muster, but by that point we already have their $5M.
This most recent drug pricing executive order. This week Trump signed an executive order basically saying drug companies can’t charge more to the US than they do to other countries. Now, normally I’m opposed to price caps. Big free market guy here. However, what do you do when other countries are setting price caps so then prices go up in your own country? Most economists think that all this will do is maybe slightly lower costs in the US and raise them dramatically in most countries, meaning they will become unaffordable for many people.
This would obviously be a tragedy for second and third world countries but the executive order specifically says “comparably developed nations”. According to my understanding, what that means is first world countries that we are subsidizing will have to pay their own way. Good. Let prices go up, let them come to the table and ask us for a deal. In the case of NATO, I’m actually happy to subsidize Europe, in the case of healthcare I’m really not.
One Last Thing
If you didn’t catch it, Pope Leo was at the world series in 2005. The White Sox are now adding a plaque near his seat in the stadium. USA! USA! USA!