What to Read, Watch and Listen to this Weekend...
An Oldster Magazine Friday Link Roundup. (Handsome Leading Man edition.)
I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.
While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive. - Sari Botton
“Oldster is excellent reading for anyone interested in the business of getting older and just being human.”
- Martha Bayne, co-editor of Nothing Compares to You: What Sinéad O'Connor Means to Us, author of the Range of Motion newsletter, and Oldster contributor.
RIP Robert Redford, who died this week at 89. - Tricia Escobedo at CNN.
Jane Fonda Jane Fonda Remembers ‘Beautiful’ Co-star Robert Redford. And Barbra Streisand, Meryl Streep and other eulogize him, too. - Jennifer Zhan in NYMag/Vulture.
Congrats to Keanu Reaves and his wife Alexandra Grant, who’ve revealed they had a secret wedding this summer, at 60 and 52 respectively. (He had a birthday earlier this month, so he’s 61 now.) - Matthew Acton at Radar Online.
Jeff Bridges Finds Gratitude and Love After Lymphoma - Future of Personal Health.
Gloria Steinem, now 91, is still at the center of vital conversations. On Tuesday, she gathered a circle of nearly 30 women at her home to talk about women’s health. - At The New York Times/Style, Alexis Benveniste writes: “The Living Room Where History Still Happens”
Tickets are selling briskly for the first Oldster Magazine in-person event in Kingston, October 1st at Unicorn Bar! Are you coming? I had fun rehearsing for it with pianist Paul Leschen.
Bobbi Brown Tells Her Beauty Comeback Story: The cosmetics mogul reveals how she started all over again, with Jones Road, after leaving Estée Lauder. - Ruth LaFerla in The New York Times/Style, on the occasion of the imminent publication of Bobbi Brown ’s memoir, out next Tuesday, 9/23.
I’ve got to see Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
“Two new songs show that [Lou] Reed, the late songwriting engine of the Velvet Underground, remains alive and kicking in our cultural conversation…” - at Lou Reed biographer Will Hermes’ newsletter, word of two new songs dedicated to the icon, one by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, the other by Wand frontman Cory Hanson. Here’s Tweedy’s:
Long May They Rock: Nine Trailblazing Women Who Rewrote the Rules of Music - This is the W Magazine piece from May that Kate Pierson mentioned being featured in, in her Oldster Magazine Questionnaire that I published on Wednesday. It’s by Alex Hagwood and it’s great.
Why June Squibb, 95, Has No Plans to Retire Anytime Soon - Hayley Santaflorentina in E! News.
Nice to see Jean Smart, 74, and Katherine LaNasa, 58, win Emmy awards this week, for their brilliant performances in Hacks and The Pitt. - Television Academy.
Did you read Jean Garnett’s July New York Times Magazine essay on heterofatalism? Over at Memoir Land, my other magazine, Erin Williams responds, with a smart, moving graphic essay about the realities of dating in her 40s after getting divorced, and getting sober.
Aging for Two: How a longtime husband copes with his changing appearance. Humor helps. - Vincent O'Keefe shared a link to his Next Avenue essay in response to last week’s open thread on men, hair, and aging:
The immortal influence of Little Edie Beale: "Grey Gardens" turns 50, but Edith Bouvier Beale's inspiration on fashion and queer culture never ages. - Andi Zeisler in Salon.
Are wellness supplements the new 'anti-ageing' con? - sam baker in The Shift With Sam Baker.
I’m excited for my friend Kera Bolonik’s new newsletter, Recording Memories: “Essays and musings of a queer Gen-Xer about the way music triggers memories.”
Your Social Media Feed Is Full of Plastic Surgery Photos. What Does That Do to Your Brain? "Mindf*ck" might not do it justice. -How Not to F*ck Up Your Face writer and occasional Oldster collaborator Valerie Monroe in Oprah Daily.
Speaking of Val Monroe, she and I will do a Substack Live on October 14th about hair issues, and hair care, as we get older…)
When I'm 64 by Christina Kelly in Another Jane Pratt Thing, PLUS: Editing Christina Kelly by Jane Pratt.
Last week saw the release of two podcast episodes I was interviewed on: The Uplifters with Aransas Savas, which you can listen to here, and Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle Erasmus, which you can listen to here.
Congrats to Girls of a Certain Age writer (and Oldster contributor)
Kim France on her forthcoming advice column for women over 40, to be published in NYMag/Strategist.
An early-in-life milestone for half the population: getting your period…then dealing with it for the next 35 (or more) years. Check out nonprofit TMI Project’s new Period Power video podcast series, a collaboration with a club at Kingston High School and HudsyTV.
Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein in Psyche.
How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?
Okay, that should be enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all from completely losing our minds occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.
Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep doing everything I do here without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari
How how how did I not know Keanu and Alexandra Grant had got married?! And thank you so much for including my supplement piece
Thank you. I just read the Psyche article. The author's experience is similar to mine. I was relieved when my mother passed (after 20 years in and out of ERs, doctor's offices and hideous hospital gowns) now she visits me in my dreams and I miss her.