2-22-2026 MY FAVES: shocking morning!

 what i'm watching...

sib and i binged the first part of bridgerton season 4, focusing on benedict bridgerton's cinderella story. how to these producers make each sibling turn hotter when it's their season. this needs to be studied. 

per usual, sib and i were having fits of shock and hysteria as any regency fine lady would among these rakes. while the plot at first felt too on-the-nose with the cinderella trope, the slow burn, the "written for women" moments get me every time, and episode 4 got us running laps around the house because the tension was too high. 

"our cortisol levels spiked" as the kids would say nowadays.

sib and i gave in - we went and saw wuthering heights, featuring margot robbie and jacob elordi. sib and i both read the book, albeit more recently. we did not have a fantasy of heathcliff at 14. 

i'm conflicted. i genuinely liked the soundtrack, the costumes and visuals, as well as the set. margot robbie's portrayal of catherine was good enough that i disliked her. linton was a sweetheart, and he did not get enough love. 

onto the stuff i disliked. spoilers ahead:

heathcliff - being white. this story has such tormenting layers, heathcliff's race was the crucial detail of this whole story. then, him not even being super brutish (at least not enough). he was too likeable. both cathy and heathcliff have to be evil to each other and those around them.

thirdly, removing the brother and creating a father with dual personality was stupid and shallow - the brother being super evil and the dad being super nice gave heathcliff more character. finally, removing the second part and no ghosts?! emily brontë would be appalled. 

overall, it was aesthetically pleasing, but a shame to call it what it was called. could emerald fennell not do what the author of 50 shades did - just make your own fanfiction loosely based or inspired by wuthering heights. a cool period piece, but this was not wuthering heights. 

our third period piece of the week that we watched was gone with the wind. our mom loved this movie a lot, and we may have seen bits of it growing up, but this time we got the 2-part dvd from the library. this technicolor masterpiece portrays a very turbulent time in american history - the civil war, but most importantly, it shows white privilege in its full glory. scarlet o'hara and cathy from wuthering heights both seem like troubled semi-spoiled brats, uninterested in learning from their privileges. only perhaps when it's too late, do they realize the horrors they've done not only to themselves, but the ones around them that actually "frankly gave a damn."

the technicolor scenes are breathtaking, and the gowns were stunning. i think vivien leigh has such a timeless look, and her raised eyebrow is just *chef's kiss*.

for movie day at work, we watched the perfect movie for this season - princess and the frog. honoring black history month with the first black disney princess, valentine's day just passed so you got the fairytale story, and elements of mardi gras and new orleans traditions.

after an urging by bestie nicole to watch love story: jfk jr and cbk, i caved saturday night and finally watched it. the kennedy dynasty is very mythological, almost sacred to me. for many girls online, cbk has been my style icon as well. because of their sudden death and their seemingly turbulent but also private relationship, there's still so much intrigue. i was a bit iffy on wanting to watch it, after jfk jr's nephew jack schlossberg called ryan murphy out for the "weird obsession" and basically defaming two dead people that happen to be his close family, it was a reality check for me too - am i idealizing this couple too much? perhaps. but oh well. nevertheless, i saw episode 1, and i did not hate it as much as i worried i would. the casting seemed fantastic (except for jackie o), and i think the storyline is close to being accurate. we shall see how it plays out. i'm guilty - i am hooked.

what i'm listening to...

when i'm stuck on period pieces, i usually am also stuck on the soundtrack.

currently i'm revisiting all of bridgerton soundtracks and the violin covers. here's a few faves from each season:

thank u, next - vitamin string quartet (season 1)

wrecking ball - midnight string quartet (season 2)

if i ain't got you - alicia keys + queen charlotte's global orchestra (queen charlotte spinoff)

lights (stripped) - archer marsh (season 3)

bad idea right? - caleb chan (season 4)

that's not all the modernized interpretation of period era media that i've been into. charli xcx's wuthering heights album came out and i enjoyed her extremely "now" sound translated into an eerie brontë inspired album. emily brontë would totally be a brat.

as i mentioned, i've read wuthering heights a couple years ago, and it stayed pretty fresh with me. i think charli's album did more accuracy than what the film is trying to convey. 

what i'm reading...

finished from the adriatic to lake erie: a history of croatians in greater cleveland. it was very educational, eye opening and empowering. i judge the diaspora a lot, and i feel like i understand and get the best and worst of both worlds, having lived in croatia, and in the community outside of it. our history is complex, but at the same time our heritage is rich.

delved into my old magazine collection and read architectural digest october 21 edition.  as well as november's edition of dazed and confused (uk) magazine which i bought impulsively at the airport on my way back to the usa from europe. 

from dazed, on emerging female designers:

as with anything in life, you have got to work twice as hard as a designer if you're a woman - and, with ai evolving, maybe even three times. but human minds are incredible. keep exploring. take more accountability for the world we live in. slow down, life's too short to run through. 

torishéju dumi. designer

the following book on the list is a coffee-table book, by croatia mountaineer stipe božić - svete planine svijeta (the holy mountains of the world). it's a wonderful picture book of some of the world's most magnificent mountains, with cool bits on their mythology and religious ties. it goes to show that no matter what part of the world you're at, our myths and religions match and overlap. take, for instance, the story about noah's ark: hindus have a similar story from decades earlier.