the dinner table #2
what we're watching, reading, listening and talking about this week
july 7th— july 21st
welcome to the second edition of the dinner table! a biweekly newsletter of what everybody’s talking about online. some buzzwords are hard to keep up with, and if you have a job, you probably don’t get half the pop culture memes flying around. so this is that—a fun space where i tell you straight-up what people are doing, so you can always join the conversation.
what we’re watching
what you’ll actually binge instead of scrolling endlessly through Netflix
f1: the movie
a turbo‑charged ride starring brad pitt as a retired f1 legend who’s pulled back onto the track. packed with real grand prix footage from monza to abu dhabi, it’s equal parts spectacle and feel‑good mentorship tale.
the summer i turned pretty – season 3 (drops july 16)
are conrad stans ready? the final summer’s here (well about ten days out) and it’s looking fun: belly and jeremiah announce a wedding, conrad re‑enters the scene, and that love triangle just got nuclear. perfect combo of beachy nostalgia and dramatic choices!!
the buccaneers - season 2
the gilded‑age soap returns darker and more ambitious: nan is duchess of tintagel, juggles an arranged marriage while secretly longing for another man, her friends face scandal and scandalized husbands, new cast additions (leighton meester, greg wise).
my only issue with this, same with the summer i turned pretty is that a new episode drops weekly instead of all at once.
what we’re reading
books worth putting down your phone for
the girls who grew big by leila mottley
about: a gripping, character‑driven novel set in a panhandle florida town, following three teenage mothers—simone, adela, emory—as they grapple with family drama, poverty, and stigma. mottley captures their hearts and hardships in lyrical, sometimes raw prose, painting powerful scenes: from a makeshift home‑brew abortion to cliffside alligator scares.
the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy by brigitte knightley
about: a clever enemies‑to‑lovers romantasy featuring osric, an assassin from the fyren order, and aurienne, a healer from their sworn enemies. when a deadly pox outbreak forces them together—him sick, her forced to heal—their banter crackles and tension simmers.
i’ve been wanting a new romantasy book for the summer and this is it!
what we’re listening to
tunes and podcasts to make your playlists less basic
musicwise:
popculture-wise
what we’re talking about
the viral stuff everyone’s texting about but won’t admit
cierra ortega has left the ‘love island usa’ villa following the discovery of her racist remarks online.
her exit from the villa just a week before the finale comes after resurfaced instagram stories from 2015 and 2023 featuring racial slurs aimed at asian communities. she’s the second contestant this season sent home for racist language, following yulissa escobar.
her family issued a statement urging compassion amid intense online backlash—and called out producers for a possible double standard
miley cyrus gets a hollywood star
miley is officially the first female born in the 1990s to receive a walk of fame star, adding another milestone to her career that began on disney and goes all the way to recent music milestones!!
kanye west banned from australia
australia’s government just revoked ye’s visa after he released his pro‑nazi track “heil hitler” in may. home affairs minister tony burke called it unacceptable promotion of hatred and reinforced that australia doesn’t tolerate antisemitism or islamophobia.
"I think that what's not sustainable is to import hatred... We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry."
trump & elon musk: the girls are still fighting
on july 1, trump reignited his feud with elon musk after musk slammed trump’s “big beautiful bill” and announced the america party. trump warned they’d “take a look” at deporting musk—even though musk’s been a u.s. citizen since 2002—and said doge might be unleashed to cut musk’s government subsidies
