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We’ll be putting a ton of great stuff behind the paywall going forward and doing just one free newsletter a week, so if you were going to order this wonderful book, it is a great time to do it.
Hey all. I narrowly escaped the East Coast blizzard last night to come to Phoenix for a work thing and don’t hate me, but it is sunny and golden and last night I got to hang out with one of my favorite people in the world, Nora McInerny. One of Nora’s many love languages is picking people up from the airport and despite being a person who rarely drives and hates having to find parking when I return to my house, I really want to be someone who does more of this. We all have limited time and finding moments to get in hangs isn’t always easy. Hugging Nora in the airport and getting to have a quick catch-up and life pep talk made my week (maybe my month).
On the plane I watched the movie The Roses, which is a loose remake of the Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner divorce flick from the eighties, War of the Roses, where a previously happy marriage implodes into competitive, ego-driven destruction set off by a wife who moves from the domestic sphere into the workforce. This one starred Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as a married couple of Brits living in California who see their relationship upended when his architecture career fails and her career as a chef soars.
It is hilarious and dark and has so much to say about gender roles, ambition, ego, parenting, and trying to be people who make a mark in the world and who gets to do that.
It felt really fitting to watch it right after reading this story in The Times about the White House’s Very Manly Week.
To recap, last week Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was on camera bench pressing over 300 pounds and reminding himself to keep his glutes glued to the bench. “Don’t touch it!” he yelled at his teenage son when the poor kid tried to spot him.
Meanwhile Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted what USA Today called an “erotic workout video” with Kid Rock.
Are we meant to believe that the new mark of manliness is bro-ing out in a teeny tiny sauna with another man without your shirt on in too tight jeans?
Who rides a bike without shoes? No one asked to see RFK’s feet. I will now never unsee those feet.
Is RFK Jr., a never nude? Has he never heard of moisture wicking atheleisure?
I’m only here for this type of sauna manliness if those men are hot twenty something hockey players who are going to start making out in the cold plunge.
But watching two old guys sweat through a healthy dose of body oil, their leathery chemically tanned skin stretched taut over wrinkly bellies and chests that no one asked to see, is not something the general population is craving right now. Especially not after spending the past two weeks cheering on real athletes in Milan.
Oh and speaking of Milan, America’s self-nominated top Bro, FBI director Kash Patel popped over to Italy to chug a beer and frat out on America’s dime with the US Men’s hockey team on Sunday night.
But what does all of this say about how Americans define manliness these days and why should we care?
Order Parisian Heist today and I will upgrade you to a paid subscriber for one year for free.
