Sign in Subscribe
cats

Loving to the Nines for 9/9

It's the first weekend of September, and I'm loving a line of feline shirt designs, a meme that knows the vibes, celebs in drag, beer and cream puffs with a side of Chicken Dancing, no-makeup makeup for nails, and more!

Leigh Hoopes

• 6 min read
A still from John Carpenter’s 1982 movie, “The Thing”
Me when I realize there three different Oktoberfests to hit up three weekends in a row!

Welcome to The Enthusiast, the newsletter thats all yum, no yuck! Every weekend, I'll be sharing five things I'm loving right now. The challenge for me is keeping it to just five...

It's the first weekend of September, and I'm loving a Louisville-based line of feline designs, a meme that speaks to my soul, celebs in drag, embracing my German side with beer and cream puffs, no-makeup makeup for your nails, and more! Y'all ready for this?! (bomp bomp bomp)

What I'm Loving for September 9th:

A collage of seven shirts from Cat Magic Punks: one long sleeve, two white short-sleeve, three black short-sleeve, and one dark gray tank top.
You bet your ass I have seven different shirts from Cat Magic Punks, and there will be many more!

Cat Magic Punks

You probably saw the iconic CLAWS: Cat Lovers Against White Supremacy design popping up during the 2020 summer of our discontent, but Louisville-based Cat Magic Punks have been cranking out gorgeous, goth-ish, socially-minded designs for cat lovers and those who love them for several years now. They usually donate a portion of their profits to organizations like animal rescue as well as to bail funds for racial justice protestors, Southern Poverty Law Center,  international aid for Ukraine, etc. The shirts aren't too pricey, and if you want a deal, they usually have at least a couple sales before the big holiday rush. And yes, there's a design for dog lovers, too!

This meme might be almost five years old, but it's eternal in my heart. Source: @IvoryGazelle

See You In Hell, You Stupid Fruit

That's it. That's the meme. And it's been living in my head rent-free for months now. It popped back up into my awareness around Pride month, but the original meme without the prism of corporate rainbow-washing somehow sticks with me more. Is it the the model's absurd posture? Her clearly forced smile and the glimmer of cruelty in her eye? I truly do not know, but I was able to use it in a work presentation last month, and is therefore perfect and eternal.

The full line up of eight celebrity drag queens competing on season 2 of RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race.
I'm 3 for 4 on guessing the identity of the eliminated queens so far, and I'm 99.9% sure on Chic-Li-Fay (far right), Donna Bellissima (2nd from left), and Poppy Love (center).

RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race S2

One of the newer entries in to the RPDRCU, Secret Celeb Drag Race has finally found its footing (and budget) in its second season, leaning into The Masked Singer approach to where we (the viewers AND judges) do not actually know who the celebs are. The new format has made it much more fun to watch on a weekly basis, and while I figured out most of them almost immediately, I've still been surprised by a couple and am stumped by a couple still left in the game. I'm pulling for Poppy Love or Donna Bellissima, but truly it's still anyone's to win. The next queen gets eliminated tonight on VH1 at 8/7C, and I think Paramount+?

A photo from a recent Cincinnati Oktoberfest, where a massive crowd of people who are mostly drunk are squished between big downtown buildings and over the expressway instead of nestled next to fountain square like they should be.
The accursed Zinzinnati location since 2016. I want my Genius of Water!

Oktoberfest Season

This is a deeply Cincinnati thing, so I dont expect anyone outside the Tri-State area to truly understand the magic of Oktoberfest season. I used to look forward to Zinzinnati every year and go early on Sunday to beat crowds and avoid roaming packs of drunkos in leiderhosen, but I haven't been since the city changed the location from Fountain Square (iconic) to the Banks (way too crowded, loud af from the Expressway), and then COVID made it even less appealing for the past couple of years. This year we're checking out the Covington event, on our side of the river and still in quaint, historic (and yeah, rowdy) Mainstrasse, and I'm so excited for it. I need to be able to gaze at a fountain while drinking my märzen from a souvenir mug, and I don't think thats asking too much.

Me holding the Zoya Naked Manicure Perfecting Bonus Kit, with base coat, perfector, top coat, and bonus serum and hand cream.
Full disclosure: I got another shade of perfector and the satin seal top coat, too, because I wanted free shipping and they had an additional discount. 🤗 

Zoya Naked Manicure System

This whole product line seems like it shouldn't work, but it totally does. It consists of (at least) 3 different polishes and is supposed to look like just a natural, buffed nail, which, spoiler alert: it totally does. There's a base coat, several shades of tinted perfector, and a seal satin top coat, along with an additional glossy seal topcoat you can apply overtop of that. I've been really working on strengthening and growing my natural nails, and this system is a safe, subtle way to get them there. Zoya also just came out with a hand serum and cream and I must confess: I love them. I picked up this set a couple weeks ago and have already been seeing an improvement!

Chris Pine, the second best of Hollywood Chris and perfectly content to be so, taking an analogue snap shot of co-star Florence Pugh resplendent on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival.
Pine & Pugh, the real MVPs of the the DWD Drama (getty)

Rounding Out the Nine

🫢 Drama: The movie itself doesn't sound all that earth-shattering, but the insanity around Don't Worry Darling and the meticulous play-by-play reporting around it has been the exquisite celeb chaos I didnt even know I was craving in my little life. Knowing that Harry Styles is British makes me absolutely certain he definitely spit on Chris Pine for whatever reason, regardless of how twee and dreamy so many think he is. And yeah, if Olivia Wilde were my boss reducing my demonstrated acting skills to just the sex scenes, I'd be a petty little bitch about it like Florence Pugh, too, and then show up to the function looking truly spectacular and unbothered. For the record, I'm Team Pine/Pugh all day, every day, even though I will most likely never see this movie.

🏚 Bad TV: Amanda Mull at The Atlantic continues to be one of my favorite chroniclers of American culture, and her encapsulation of The HGTV-ification of America is another must-read analysis of the ongoing flattening of "reality." Why is everything gray? Why are all doors barn doors now? Why do Chip and Joanna Gaines still have a rabid following when they just do the same thing over and over and over again (and apparently continue to attend a church that hates LGBTQ+ folks)? All important questions, babes.

A still from “Go Flip Yourself,” the eighth episode of the fourth season of What We Do in the Shadows on FX.
Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak) is primed and ready for his mancave reveal with Go Flip Yourself co-host Bran Daltry (Randy Sklar). (photo: Geek Girl Authority)
🧛🏻 Good TV: Speaking of mediocre home improvement shows, hands down the best episode of What We Do in the Shadows this season was their manic, gruesome, and completely hilarious send-up of those very shows. Definitely check out episode 8, "Go Flip Yourself," and if youre not already a fan of this weird, wonderful and consistently great wacky-roommate sitcom, I'm willing to bet a yard of shiplap you will be.

🛸 Classics: John Carpenter's The Thing just had its 40th anniversary this summer, and I am begging you all to please, for the love of all that is good and horror in this world, read this insanely good 2010 short story "The Things," by Peter Watts, told from the perspective of The Thing itself. You'll see shades of Roy Batty's final monologue, pulling from another basically perfect movie that premiered in 1982, Blade Runner. (Along with E.T., Tron, AND Star Trek: Wrath of Khan).

And that about does it for the week of September 9th! Thank you for reading The Enthusiast and here's to a happy and well-hydrated Oktoberfest season to all who celebrate!

Prost!
LKH