Do they explain how it is that a twenty-something could afford an apartment AND a renovation in that building??? The cheapest current listing at the Belnord is priced at $2.5M. That’s partially because they don’t have many smaller apartments in the building but at the actual Ansonia a smallish 1BR is still close to…

That’s the trick of these high end places though - I agree that the really obsequious service is cringeworthy, especially when it’s bound up with race in addition to class (which is really obvious to me in places like Thailand since I’m Asian-American). But again, workers a truly first-class place would instantly…

There is also a level of service delivered in Asia that doesn’t really exist in the US, for better or worse. I once went to an Aman resort in Thailand for lunch (as I could never afford to stay there) with a friend who didn’t grow up with a lot of money and expected to feel uncomfortable there. I told him they would…

If HBO is involved I’m sure they won’t settle for anything less than a resort that’s $1K+ per night with very rich if not billionaire-class guests. But I definitely picture something that’s woo-woo as all get out, particularly given White’s previous work on Enlightened. Maybe even a place where they openly try to have…

I do think there is a lot of opportunity to continue to mine issues of class, race and power but agree there needs to be something different. I definitely wouldn’t want to see another honeymooning couple with a big income gap as Shane and Rachel so thoroughly explored the issues around this, for example, but they…

Question for everyone - where should Season 2 be set? There are PLENTY of places where rich tourists flock that could lead to cringe-inducing encounters with far less well off and indeed exploited staff. Here’s some of my ideas:

Anyone who’s ever met rich people has met Rachels, and it was great to see this look at how they come about. Some trophy wives couldn’t care less about how much of a jerk their rich husbands and just bang a tennis pro on the side, but others just can’t get past it. I see Rachel having a kid thinking that will give her…

There’s also the incredible pressure women can face to “marry well,” even today. And Shane is certainly conventionally good looking. Makes it easy for someone to talk herself into thinking she is “in love” and to ignore obvious red flags. Plus in one of the “behind the scenes” videos Daddario said the backstory was…

Eh, if you’ve ever read about women who marry billionaires (think people like Wendi Deng) it’s not so much about looks beyond a certain threshhold, but rather how much they want it and what they’re willing to do to get it. There are way more gorgeous 20 and 30 somethings out there than super rich guys who are up for…

I think Mike White is a lot more subtle than that. Having Rachel marry Shane to basically survive would kind of let her off the hook - it puts her more in the role of someone like Kai, who has to cater to rich people to keep a roof over his head. By comparison, Rachel seems like she was getting by OK, and doesn’t have…

I think you are giving Nicole waaaay too much credit. White Lotus isn’t cutting any of its characters much slack and White is clearly presenting Nicole as both a narcissist and a control freak (as witnessed by her frequent rearrangement of furniture). She was initially nice to Rachel in a somewhat condescending way…

This could be a whole series - cooking things differently from how they shoudl be cooked. Next I think you should try the infamous boarding school trick of baking cookies on an iron! I never did it myself and am curious as to how it works. There are also a ton of prison recipes that would qualify. 

You can certainly make cookies from cake mix - not the best cookies I’ve ever had but faster and certainly tidier than making them from scratch. There are lots of recipes online for these.

Ding ding ding. I would imagine that when people were looking to hang out at Starbucks, you might have more people order regular drip coffees since it’s a cheap way to be able to work from a Starbucks or take a meeting there. But if you’re just looking to buy a drink, Starbucks isn’t going to be most people’s first…

Living in NYC I’ve had some mixed luck with this, in part because I’m planting my scallions in a not-huge pot. In general it’s like each new iteration of scallion is coming from another layer in so the scallions get smaller and smaller as I cut and reuse them, after a couple of rounds I need to start over. However, my…

Last year I made that social media-famous Alison Roman carmelized shallot pasta sauce, and I thought it tasted basically exactly like these onions. I literally took the leftovers and put them on burgers and hot dogs rather than make another pasta dish out of it. Worked great as a condiment but thought it was the most…

Seriously. Backstory doesn’t make a character, but rather a good actor and good writing that shows the character behaving in a real and consistent way. And while this show does have a satirical tone, for the most part it’s nailing that. 

The de facto sequel to this show was “I Wanna Marry Harry,” where they shoved a bunch of Bachelor rejects into a British manor house and got them to believe some redheaded dude was Prince Harry. I don’t even remember how it ended! 

Ultimately this quest doesn’t seem to be about fitness at all but rather about looking for a specific kind of role model/aspirational fantasy. Choosing a woman who is rich, famous and beautiful by conventional standards as that role model is ALWAYS going to lead to feelings of inadequacy and that is by no means the…

Yes, while I’m sure some people may have visions of a robot bartender and think this is cool in theory, the reality is. . . not that. Instead this looks a lot more like the Mr. Tea Father Guido Sarducci advertised on the old SNL: “You add the hot water and tea bag, Mr. Tea do the rest!”