Link List: Some Movie and TV Show Chatter

It was only after Sandra Oh won her Golden Globe that I finally watched Killing Eve. I had heard a lot about the show when it was originally running, but wasn't sure if it was something I would enjoy. I think I had envisioned something more dour and serious, which isn't quite to my tastes. Instead, it turns out that Killing Eve is wickedly funny, and that the two leads, Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer, are excellent, both perfect in their roles. I would try and describe the show more, but I don't think I would do it justice. In short, I highly recommend Killing Eve!

1. // This series of comments from the wonderful, thoughtful Courtney Milan (seriously, she's the best, everything she has to say about problems in the profession, law school, and the institution of the federal clerkship is always super on-point, as someone who has been there to experience all those things, and from following her Twitter account for months now, her general sheer brilliance as a person is also in full view all the darn time) regarding some of the harsh truths about success in law school and the, er, general inability of professors to give good advice about whether the law school investment will pay off, is super accurate.

I adore my professors from both college and law school and credit them with a lot of good and important things, but providing me with career advice or actually knowing anything concrete about what I've faced in student loan repayment or in building my career are not among them. The best advice my favorite undergraduate History professor gave me (theirs was a field I loved dearly, though that wouldn't have prepared me to pursue graduate studies) was that I should absolutely not, under any circumstances, make the decision to go straight to graduate school in their field without having spent at least a year or two doing something else. I was honestly a bit heartbroken to hear it, but dang, it would have been a bad life decision if I had ignored their advice. 

2. // Definitely check out this interview with Lulu Wang, the director of The Farewell, a new film starring Awkwafina, which just premiered at Sundance. The premise is something I hadn't realized might be a more widespread Chinese cultural practice, but it is something that has happened with my extended family in Taiwan, with my maternal grandfather. (In my family's case, there was only a very short period of time between his lung cancer diagnosis and when he passed, so the situation was less... complicated than it is for Ms. Wang's family.) 

3. // There's currently a lawsuit going on between Chanel and TheRealReal disputing, among other things, TheRealReal's ability to reliably authenticate Chanel products. (There's also a r/femalefashion advice discussion, though I should note that one's ability to fully discuss a legal case might be limited if one hasn't reviewed the papers. I also haven't looked at the filings for myself.) This case is in its earliest stages (there's apparently been a motion to dismiss, and now an amended complaint), which means there's been nothing but allegations thrown around, no actual evidence has yet been assessed by the court, much less a jury.

Although I am, on balance, a fan of TheRealReal, I know that some bloggers I follow and link to have had mixed experiences with their quality control. (I don't think anyone I read has reported issues with suspected counterfeit product, though.) I'm also generally aware that there are lots of fake designer bags out there, some of which might be difficult to discern from the real thing, at least when looking at photos. Thus, as a customer with no real firsthand experience with designer bags anywhere particularly close to the Chanel price point (and who can't, therefore, reliably authenticate any purchases on her own), I'm inclined to being nervous about any company's ability to have a 100% accuracy rate when authenticating an incredibly large volume of items from a wide range of brands. There have also been other allegations about TheRealReal letting fake designer items slip through, though that was about clothing, not bags. Because I've only ever bought anything from TheRealReal that they priced in the $50 to $100 range, I'm not actually that worried about my items being fake. Still, these allegations may be important food for thought for anyone considering a more expensive purchase from them.

4. // Luxe wrote about using a credit card perk, car rental insurance from Chase Sapphire Reserve, to recover slightly over $6,000 in fees. What a saga, and as she explains, it was extraordinarily time-consuming, took ages, and must have been quite stressful! Thankfully, it had a happy ending. I commented there about my own experience with using a credit card insurance perk (travel insurance from Chase Sapphire Preferred, an offer that may have since been discontinued), but my experiences (with only ~$200 at stake) were definitely far less lively. 

Audrey wrote about her bullet journal layouts - we seem to share the practice of keeping a bare-bones and un-prettified bullet journal. Mine are, alas, not presentable to the public, even in blurred out or redacted form. My handwriting is too messy, and even with a notebook with gridded pages, I have a hard time drawing neat, straight lines. Michelle has been sharing photos from her new apartment, including her living room. I always like seeing how other people decorate their living spaces!  

Please note that this portion of the post contains affiliate links that could result in a commission, typically a few cents, for me if you click. Thank you for your support!

5. // I've been doing a bit of window-shopping lately, though I haven't seen many items in those searches that have made it onto my shopping list for more serious consideration. I can't help it, I swear, I just really like to browse shops online! 

This isn't quite consistent with my sense of my own personal style (which doesn't have much use for a leopard-printed skirt, though I like leopard print on other things, particularly shoes) but I found this J.Crew outfit from their website extremely compelling (but for the shoes and headband). I'm quite fond of the idea of whimsical printed sweaters, but can be very picky about the print or design, so I rarely see ones I would actually want to buy. This particular sweater seems to be just the right amount of whimsical to me, not too cutesy while still being fun. 

Uniqlo seems to have brought back that long, open linen-rayon blend cardigan I loved so much last year. I can't tell if this year's blue shade is identical to last year's, but they've brought back what looks to be the same gray one. I really like wearing these cardigans over both my work and casual dresses once the weather warms up, and I wore mine throughout the whole summer last year. Also, I was intrigued by these new linen-rayon blend "short sleeve long shirts" until I realized they aren't dresses. To me, they definitely look long enough to be worn that way (as long as the side slits aren't cut scandalously high for that purpose, but that can't be easily discerned from the website photos).