The Sunday Magazine: My Favorite Non-Perfume Things of 2019

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For those of you looking for my top 25 new perfumes of 2019 it will be posted tomorrow. Today I take a break and list some of my favorite non-perfume things of 2019. There is a small devoted following to this column which has always made me happy which is why I like to have a year-end list for them, too. There is more to life than perfume here are some of the things which make it better for me.

Favorite Movie: “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”- I am an unabashed fanboy of director/writer Quentin Tarantino. I think this might be the best movie he has made. It is his version of 1969 Hollywood part reality, part fantasy. It has been an interesting aspect of the recent films by Mr. Tarantino in that he likes to imagine some “what-ifs” then plays them out within his films. This movie captures the moment where the lines between movie stars and tv stars started to blur. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are fantastic as an action movie star and his stunt double. They are the core of the movie. What elevated the entire movie was the performance of Margot Robbie as actress Sharon Tate. When she goes to a movie theatre to see her own performance, with an audience, she exudes the joy of seeing herself on screen. Mr. Tarantino has always worn his love for movies and moviemaking on his sleeve. This movie was a big valentine to all of it.

Favorite TV Show: “Watchmen”- Oh boy did I expect to find a god-awful mess in this update to the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Damon Lindelof, who oversaw this, is a creative mind who sometimes finds a way to sabotage his own good work with endings that don’t hold together. None of that happened here. Mr. Lindelof honored the source material while spinning it in an entirely different direction. It gave new perspective on the original while telling its own new story. This time the ending was perfect with a final shot I have been thinking about since the screen faded to credits.

Favorite TV Episode: Season 3 Episode 10 of GLOW “A Very GLOW Christmas”- Before Watchmen appeared GLOW season 3 was going to be my favorite show of the year. There are times when a series finds everything that makes a show special and wraps it up into a gift to its fans. That was the way this season finale played out. With the framing device of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling putting on a version of “A Christmas Carol” in the ring. The characters are each given moments to find their truths. The final one coming on an airplane jetway between the main female protagonists was brilliantly done because of the acting of Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin saying the words of Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch. The show premiered in August, but I re-watched this just before Christmas and it was even better.

Favorite Album: Vampire Weekend “Father of the Bride”- It had been six years since the band released anything new. I have enjoyed the previous releases because they have felt like an extension of early bands like The English Beat. In this latest album the continuing evolution of that sound surprised me with its poignancy. The music still makes me want to move but the lyrics keep my feet on the ground.

Favorite single: “Hallelujah” by Haim– It has been a fun year to be a fan of the sisters Haim. They didn’t release a new album. Instead we got new releases via YouTube drops out of the blue. The last one of the year, came just before Thanksgiving. “Hallelujah” was inspired by the loss of Alana Haim’s best friend to a car accident when she was 20. The song builds to her verse as each sister finds the thankfulness for their bond before Alana closes with words to her friend. “Hallelujah” has become the new song added to my Holiday playlist even though at first glance it might not seem to be one. For me it is this time of year when we do remember to say Hallelujah for our friends and family.

Favorite Book: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James– This is the best introduction to an epic fantasy series in years. Marlon James tells a story from the perspective of a character who might be an unreliable narrator. There are all the accoutrements of classic fantasy. The difference is this ability of the reader to know whether they are being given the whole truth. My understanding is the remaining two books of the trilogy are going to be the same events narrated by a different character in each book. Mr. James has hit upon a fascinating way to tell a story. I can’t wait for the other two books to complete the story.

Favorite Comic Book: House of X/Powers of X– I’ve lost count of how many times they have rebooted The X-Men over the last twenty years. For the first time writer Jonathan Hickman has made me interested enough to become a consistent reader of the X-books again.

To all the readers of this column thank you for reading throughout the year. Happy New Year to all of you.

–Mark Behnke

The Sunday Magazine: Netflix’s GLOW Season 3

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There are so many streaming series I wish would have the smarts to stop after one season. Too often a second season is just more of the same instead of doing something new with the story. The series which take advantage of this new way of telling stories in a creative way are few and far between. One of them is the series GLOW on Netflix which just streamed its third season.

GLOW stands for “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling”. Writers and creators of the series, Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch thought about basing a series around the real-life GLOW after seeing a documentary. They got the idea that a series set in the 1980’s would have lots to say about women in the workplace even in an odd occupation like wrestling. Over three seasons they have explored many of the pressures women faced trying to have a career at that time. In this third season they took the setting of the original television show, Las Vegas, and turned it into an off-the-Strip casino show. All the women in the cast have to leave their home in LA for three months in Vegas.

The core relationship in the show is that of hopeful actress Ruth Wilder, played by Alison Brie and her best friend successful soap actor Debbie Eagan, played by Betty Gilpin. The writers have turned the state of their friendship as the central plotline through which a season runs. One of the brilliant decisions for this season was to have the other members of the cast be roommates in Vegas. It created interesting options for the characters to use their roommate as a sounding board.

I must mention one new character for this season played by Geena Davis. She plays entertainment director for the casino, Sandy Devereaux St. Clair. She is a touchstone for many of the women who want something more. As we learn how she made it from showgirl to executive she also makes clear the choices necessary to achieve that specific success. One character embraces it, another sees it as too high a price to pay. Ms. Davis seems to be having a fantastic time in the role which mirrors the enthusiasm the rest of the cast brings to the screen.

As much as the dramatic moments resonate this is also a comedy. How couldn’t it be? There are laugh out loud funny moments. None better than when the wrestlers, in character, re-tell “A Christmas Carol” in the ring.

As I said most streaming series only have enough story for one season. GLOW has evolved every season and it is why it stands apart. Based on where this season ended the same re-invention will happen in season 4.

–Mark Behnke

The Sunday Magazine: Netflix’s GLOW

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A year ago, as I was working my way through the first season of the Netflix series GLOW I listed it as a guilty pleasure. By the time I finished the season there was no guilty attached to it. The show surprised me with where it finally ended up. I just finished watching the second season which took the show to a higher level.

The show is based on the original syndicated television show Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling-G.L.O.W. If you were up late at night in the late 1980’s it was likely you ran into this show while channel flipping. The actual show had a crew of wrestling stereotypes putting on their promotion at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. It was done on an elaborate faux-ballroom set with a wrestling ring trimmed in pink in the middle. It was the epitome of cheesy late-night television. This reality is the inspiration for the fictional GLOW.

The series is created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch after they saw the 2012 documentary on the original syndicated series. Their concept was to chronicle the women’s movement in the 1980’s. The series which has come out of that speaks to the present by looking back at that time.

Betty Gilpin (l.) and Alison Brie as Liberty Belle and Zoya the Destroyer.

Season one introduced us to Ruth Wilder an aspiring actress played by Alison Brie. She is discouraged as she goes on audition after audition never getting and lasting acting gigs. Her best friend is Debbie Eagan, also an actress, played by Betty Gilpin. Debbie has gotten a regular acting job on a soap opera. These are the two tentpole characters through which we experience GLOW. I use the word tentpole because GLOW is a kind of circus and the other characters are equally memorable; starting with the ringmaster.

Marc Maron as Sam Sylvia

Actor Marc Maron plays director Sam Sylvia. Sam is the renowned director of b-movie horror films who has been hired to direct GLOW. He works with the producer Bash Howard played by Chris Lowell. They are really the only two men who have stories which continue.

All of Season one is the creation of the wrestling promotion introducing us to all of the other wrestlers. Because this is wrestling the characters are broad stereotypes based on ethnicity and appearance. There is an ongoing theme throughout as we learn these women, who are more than a stereotype, feel empowered by having a job which gives them the ability to make decisions for themselves. It is touched on throughout season one but in season two it is hammered home in an episode where two of the wrestlers who are mothers interact with their children. It is where the show really begins to spread its wings commenting on social issues which have meaning today.

This is all done with a comedic tone around the serious ideas. At every turn GLOW surprises as the characters grow into their roles as empowered females. The show doesn’t diminish the power men still had over these women, but they also show triumphs. One of them negotiates her way to becoming a producer showing a woman finding her way in the decision-making process of a business.

Finally, I like that everything the women hope for is hard earned. Nothing comes easy. Including the friendships.

If you want to watch something great check out GLOW on Netflix, it is one of the best television shows of the year, no guilt involved.

–Mark Behnke

The Sunday Magazine: Non-Perfume FAQ July 2017

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One of the great joys of writing Colognoisseur is the amount of e-mail I receive. The interaction between reader and writer has sparked many story ideas on fragrance. When I started Colognoisseur I wanted to spend one day a week writing about non-perfume things. I always expected those to be my least read piece of the week, or month. What has been a pleasant surprise is some of the readership is also interested in the same things I am. I also get e-mails about that too. Because the perfume ones eventually get answered through a story I thought I’d take a week to answer some of the questions which have been asked about The Sunday Magazine topics.

The question I have received, particularly in the last three weeks, several times now is what convinced me to write this column. “What do you think of Twin Peaks: The Return?”

The volume of this question spiked after the airing of Episode 8. First as I replied to everyone who asked; no I have no idea what exactly was going on for that entire episode but I expect some of it will become clearer by the end of all 18 chapters.

To the larger question I have really found myself immersed in the vision of David Lynch and Mark Frost twenty-five years later. I think Mr. Lynch is telling the story in a way so different that it can be hard to embrace. Halfway home I am happy.

I received a half-dozen emails on the graphic novel “My Favorite Thing is Monsters” by Emil Ferris. With the question is there anything else like it to read? Short answer; no.

Better answer is Ms. Ferris uses graphic storytelling to tell her story in an unconventional way. If it is that which you are looking for “The Best We Could Do” by Thi Bui tells the story of her Vietnamese-American family and the immigration experience in the United States. It is timely and poignant.

What wine should I serve with BBQ? That’s an easy one where I have recommended the same thing for many years. The best BBQ wine is the reds from France’s Cotes du Rhone. They all come in at under $20 a bottle and provide an ideal counterpoint to the smoky barbecue. The best ones are from Guigal, Vidal-Fleury, and Louis Bernard.

Nobody asked but my favorite recent guilty pleasure is the Netflix series GLOW. Loosely based on the story of the first televised women’s professional wrestling show it captures the Los Angeles 1980’s milieu hysterically well. It is mostly played for laughs but the underlying point of women figuring out how to own their own lives by dressing up as wrestlers; is heartfelt.

Which leads to the number of responses my column on strong women in pop culture generated. From “not good enough; yet” to agreement with most of my hypothesis. I am happy that we can have the discussion with so many examples to choose from. I am looking forward to seeing Charlize Theron as Atomic Blonde next weekend. I don’t think that movie ever gets made five years ago.

Please keep writing to me and I’ll do this periodically when there are enough responses.

–Mark Behnke