Albert Maysles
Best Weekend: Albert Maysles’s ‘Iris,’ Maria Bello’s New Book, + More
What we'll be listening to, watching, and reading to sate our pop culture needs.
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A nonagenarian icon, a 21st-century family mold-breaker, a paranormal-prep-school’s-worth of fascinating characters—we’ve packed your weekend with so many wonderful weirdoes you won’t know what to do with yourself. Or, we should say, you’ll know exactly what to do with yourself. Happy Friday!
‘Iris’
Who could better capture the verve of 93-year-old style icon Iris Apfel than the late, great documentarian Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter)? His intimate portrait of the famous New Yorker reminds us why we love them both—Apfel for her quirk, vitality, and continued relevance, Maysles for his exceptional way of showcasing staunch women and letting their stories flourish.
‘Whatever…Love Is Love’ by Maria Bello
In this collection of deeply personal essays, the award-winning actress explores her own relationships (with both women and men), the modern family she’s created, the labels we place on ourselves, and, especially, the harm they do. She gave DAME even further insight in a candid Q&A with our sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel, take a look.
‘Inside Amy Schumer’
Season 3 of the Comedy Central sketch show Inside Amy Schumer started two weeks ago, but if you haven’t taken the time to watch it in full, now’s your chance. Schumer is on fire, skewering rape culture, beauty standards, and, with the help of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patricia Arquette, and Tina Fey, media’s treatment of older women in instantly classic bits. If you’ve already seen the episodes, who cares? Watch them again, they’re even funnier the second time around.
‘Deep in the Iris’—Braids
The third album from this Montreal-based trio is like a study of love lost, a lyrical gathering of mementos from taste to touch to strangely specific bygone moments. Pairing glitchy electronics with classical piano, the group’s magnetic melodies are tied together by lead singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston, whose confessional vocals draw you in fast and deep.
‘Super Mutant Magic Academy’ by Jillian Tamaki
This graphic novel compilation of Jillian Tamaki’s webcomic has a bit in common with Harry Potter—it is set at a high school for mutants and witches. But the students at Super Mutant Magic Academy are much weirder, from an immortal boy to a girl with cat ears and every mutant in between. Their predicaments, however, are still firmly set in the young adult world of crushes, angst, and endearing awkwardness.
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