Content Consumed: Fall cocktails, Milly Alcock, and sports injuries
Goooood afternoon! How is everyone’s Tuesday going?
In today’s edition of Content Consumed, we’re chitchatting about…
🍸 Consuming… autumnal cocktails!
🐉 Ode to Milly Alcock of House of the Dragon
🥴 Why we can’t look away from gruesome sports injuries
🎥 Is Margot Robbie a hypocrite?
Lining up for fall cocktails
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about cocktails lately, mostly because I’m still in Oaxaca attempting to figure out our his-and-hers offerings for our wedding bar. Naturally, they’ll probably be mezcal-based. A notorious tequila hater, I’ve actually become quite infatuated with its Mexican cousin since first visiting Oaxaca in 2020.
So what’s your fall line-up look like? According to Punch, here’s what to expect at bars and restaurants.
- Get ready for White Russians. Yes, even for the dairy-free like myself! The 90s are (still) back, and White Russians are ideal for bars to experiment with “housemade alt-milks.”
- More cocktails in cans. They’re not going away anytime soon; ideally, they’re still improving.
- Dessert whiskey. You’ve heard of cinnamon-flavored Fireball and peanut butter–flavored Skrewball, but what about infusions of fig nectar or strawberry brandy?
- Sophisticated mocktails. Part of our wedding prep includes picking a nonalcoholic option, and I’ll be damned if they’re not just as good or better than the alcoholic versions. Expect more versatile nonalcoholic products and more ambitious zero-proof cocktails from bartenders.
- Not rosé, but orange wine. I’m all in favor of out-of-the-ordinary wines. My favorite of the moment is a Lambrusco from Portland’s local New Seasons. It’s not orange, but it’s unusual.
Speaking of drinks, pour one out for a legend. Fred Franzia, the founder of Trader Joe’s iconic Two-Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw), has passed away.
I can’t wait for more of Milly Alcock
What is it that made Milly Alcock so damn good as Rhaenyra Targaryen in the first half of House of the Dragon? Surely her appearance has something to do with it—the suggestive eyes, the full-lipped pout, the well-fit wig, the endless smirks. She oozes Targaryen power and confidence even when she’s at her most insecure.
But let’s be honest (and please, I beg, put the incest plot aside for a moment) it’s her chemistry with Matt Smith as Daemon. Whispering High Valyrian to each other at Rhaenyra’s wedding to her gay cousin (again, hold your judgment); intensely flirting in the middle of a crowd of people? It’s so, so well done.
Sure, Emma D’Arcy will be great as an older Rhaenyra. But I wish we got a full season of Milly Alcock. Just brilliant casting. This breakout role will surely lead to an incredible career ahead that I’m excited to follow.
Should we be turning away from gruesome sports injuries?
Last night, Buffalo Bills player Dane Jackson’s neck nearly snapped. Shockingly, he was immediately able to move his extremities and suffered no major injuries to his neck and spinal cord, according to the team.
I turn away when The Boys’ Butcher or House of the Dragon’s Daemon breaks someone’s neck. But I zoom the hell in on any gruesome sports injury I see on screen.
I think about (trigger warning) Kevin Ware frequently when these injuries are broadcast across the nation to millions of sports fans. What was his life like after that, the open fracture of the tibia that forced March Madness watchers to see a bone popping out of a shin? How often do people think about that when they hear his name?
I frequently wonder about the ethical issues that come with the voyeurism of watching an individual suffer a possible career-ending injury on a national stage. Is it like a car wreck on a highway? Maybe watching these things makes us feel harder and deeper than we normally do in our day-to-day lives. That’s why we love sports, after all—the drama, the emotion, the life-altering events.
If you want to see the video of Jackson’s Monday Night Football injury, well, here it is.
Is Margot Robbie a hypocrite?
During the peak of the Time’s Up movement, Margot Robbie pledged to not be silent about sexual abuse in Hollywood for W Magazine. She also produced and starred in Bombshell about the Fox News / Roger Ailes sexual harassment scandal, and Promising Young Woman about rape and revenge.
Yesterday, she walked the red carpet with David O. Russell, who directed the anticipated blockbuster Amsterdam, in which Robbie stars.
Fans’ responses have been mixed.
margot robbie after producing promising young woman and starring in bombshell, both movies about sexual assault and the violent impact it has on women: i think it’s be a great idea to work with a man who assaulted his niece and admitted to it!!
— Twitter user Feralwhat David O. Russell did was inexcusable and a crime. I just think THAT should be the point of focus. It just boggles my mind that somehow, someway, folks just feel more comfortable finding the nearest woman to blame and vilify. We’re still policing women’s behaviors, while the actual abuser is running around without any real consequences. Punishing Margot Robbie for David O. Russell’s crimes is not accountability.
— Twitter user Jenny Grace
Shit, I might be a hypocrite too. If I wasn’t, I’d boycott Amsterdam. But I’ll be watching it. Because it stars some of my favorite actors, the plot is fascinating, and the cinematography interests me.
How do we reckon with one awful man being part of an otherwise great piece of art? Should actresses like Robbie refuse to work with men like Russell?
And that’s it for today. Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow.
Cheers,
Casey
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