hiiiiiiiiii!
All week long I was stressin’ I had no content for this week’s episode and then last night I had a solo extra dirty martini with goat cheese stuffed olives at the Hillstone bar while waiting for Mike and suddenly the creative juices were flowing! I actually had to cut some material and save for next week! No wonder Hemingway and Fitzgerald were alcoholics!
Speaking of Hillstone, while this isn't directly pop culture related, I must state my latest venture is a GoFundMe for a Tribeca/Financial District location. I’m sorry they would CLEAN UP down here. It never made sense that there were two 25 blocks apart in midtown, I guess it did for the office crowd, but now that 53rd and lex closed a few weeks ago, there needs to be a second location. AND IT NEEDS TO BE DOWNTOWN. I got there at 6:59 last night and they had stopped taking walk-ins. 6:59! The bar was a madhouse but luckily I befriended two pals and we negotiated a trade off to box out some finance bros so FINALLY we were blessed to enjoy the perfect dinner of spinach and artichoke dip, a spicy tuna roll, the kale salad, and the crispy chicken sandwich. Scatter my ashes at a Hillstone affiliated restaurant! Actually specifically the new Tribeca/ Financial District one that I am manifesting and beginning a pitch deck for investors the second I conclude this episode.
DRAMA in the awards world this week! Last week when the Oscar nominations came out, there were naturally some surprises and upsets. The biggest one was the inclusion of Andrea Riseborough as a Best Actress nominee for her performance in To Leslie. Literally this was shocking. There was a collective audible gasp after her name was announced. Never heard of her or this movie? Me neither. It’s a low budget, limited release, v indie film that was on virtually no one’s radar until the last week and a half of Oscar nom voting.
Admittedly I have not seen it yet. I was going to watch the other night but I threw on the trailer and decided I was not totally in the mood for a sad Texan alcoholic woman to become poor and estranged from her son. I am sure it’s good, just not the easiest Tuesday night watch for me. It scored a 97% on the other tomatoes and received rave reviews especially for Andrea Riseborough’s performance so what’s the problem???
Well the WEEK of voting, things got a little sus. All of the sudden some VERY famous friends like we’re talking Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Ed Norton, Jennifer Aniston, Amy Adams, Helen Hunt, Mia Farrow, Charlize Theron, and MORE publicly voiced their praise and support. Dirty rushing vibes. GP hosted a screening, Amy Adams and Kate Winslet did Q&As on it. Still nothing explicitly wrong with that, in theory it’s great to see friends helping friends and hyping a movie that NO ONE SAW. (It’s actually one of the lowest grossing movies to receive a nomination, EVER.) What was weird about their messages of support is that EVERYONE used the exact same phrase “a small film with a giant heart” aka a campaign slogan lol so people started doing some digging. Turns out she has a hell of a well connected agent. He and the director of the movie’s wife (a veteran tv actor) began this grassroots campaign for her nomination and there’s some dicey receipts to prove it. Some emails were uncovered and they aren’t GREAT. The directors wife hosted a party at her home (you cannot do that), one email specifically urged posting on social every day before voting closed (not technically against the rules, but pretty aggressive call to action), a few Academy members claimed they were directly asked to vote for her (illegal), someone famous tweeted something to the effect of “Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, Viola Davis, and Danielle Deadwyler are locks, select Andrea Riseborough as your 5th nominee”. But THEN neither Viola Davis or Danielle Deadwyler made the cut. (They obviously are two women of color and here's a kind reminder Halle Berry is still the only black woman to win Best Actress…back in 2002) SO IT’S JUST SOME SERIOUSLY BAD OPTICS GUYS. These two Vanity Fair articles detail all the complications of this mess much more thoroughly and thoughtfully than I just did, but generally it called the Academy’s supposed meritocracy into question and exposed some unfortunate truths on privilege, money, and influence.
So who cares? Is this really against the rules? Doesn’t everyone campaign to a degree? Especially big studios? Did they really do anything wrong? Honestly, no, no, yes, yes, and no. While The Academy launched an investigation which would have resulted in rescinding Riseborough’s nomination, ultimately they did not, but trust me this is still quite the scandal. People are UP in arms. Imagine if it was a Netflix exec who was accused of this and not two semi randos? Would be a much different outcome. Even between yesterday afternoon and today I’ve seen double the articles and opinion pieces on the controversy. It sucks for Andrea (first time nominee) because it doesn't seem like she really had anything to do with the campaign and was just along for her agent and the director’s wife’s ride and now that’s all anyone is talking about in reference to her performance.
I’m going to jump right off my high horse about this now because IMAGINEEEEEEEEEE the lengths Mike and I would go to if I was ever nominated for Best Actress. HAHHAHA!!! Corruption would take a new human form. You want our “IN” at i Sodi or a table at Via Carota? Better be voting for Tricia! Have you ever been to Hotel Il Pellicano? We’ll take you if you vote for Tricia. There would be so many “private screenings” at our Hamptons house it would be re-zoned as a movie theater. Wow I’ve officially changed my tune on this whole thing, I get it. I would’ve done the same and more lavishly like some Harvey Weinstein Shakespeare in Love level shit. Honestly they were pretty classy about it all things considered!
The BAFTAs (British Oscars) are February 19th and the SAG Awards are February 26th so scandal season is just beginning! 6 week countdown! What else could go wrong? I swear I don’t love the drama, it loves me!
Anyway, I thought I could go a week without talking about Paul Mescal, but alas, j’cannot. It was his birthday yesterday (feb 2) and HARRY STYLES bday the day before (feb 1). As I am mildly in love with these two blokes, I, a 30 year old married woman, began a google search on our astrological compatibility. I knew I loved Aquarians but the results speak for themselves -
Paul Mescal has officially overtaken Pete Davidson’s spot in the very exclusive club of tricia’s tomatoes celebrity crushes. I’m out on his shaved head. It’s giving Dr. Evil.
Who is on your celebrity crush list?????? Drop a comment or DM! I want to know by Valentines day for a special edition newsletter… or just because I am nosey!
Thank you as always for reading, sharing, and subscribing. I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback lately and since I am an egomaniac who thrives on compliments, it means the world to me! Keep it up! If there’s anything specific in the world of celebrities, movies, general pop culture (or restaurants) drop a comment or send me a DM. My inbox is open for you to slide into with anything you’re seeing on IG/Twitter/Clock App and would love an official comment on.
Special shout out to my TWO PAID subscribers! My father and Mike have both pledged their financial support for tricia’s tomatoes. The irony is not lost on me that both of these men are my benefactors in real life as well as in this virtual written world. Thanks guys! Coffee on me since both of you order plain black brewed coffee. I don’t have latte money yet, maybe when I open Hillstone Downtown…
Ciao!
A few months ago I developed a massive crush on Andrew Garfield that is only getting stronger by the day. Concerning because the role that solidified the crush was him as a Mormon detective in 1970s Utah…