Wear, Watch, Want #175: The Two Jacket Social Experiment Edition
Wear: Kuhl Bomber Jacket
I am in the market for a good raincoat. Like, I’m prepared to spend hundreds of dollars on a high quality raincoat, with the goal of never buying a raincoat again (or at least for the next decade+). I went ot REI to try on some coats, because I am very particular about weight and material and hoods, so I need to do hands-on research, not just order online and hope for the best. I did find a raincoat, more on that some other time, but I also found this jacket, which was inexplicably on sale (it’s listed as “new” on the Kuhl website and isn’t on sale on REI.com), and I had to buy it. It’s warm and substantial without being overly heavy. It’s the perfect length and has long enough sleeves. It’s easy to class up or throw on over leggings to run to the post office. It is a perfect jacket. I got it for 30% off but it might be worth going wild and paying full price.
Watch: The Wilds
First, a digression. First I want to talk about a show from 2010 that me and probably 4 other people watched called Persons Unknown. I use it often as an example of a show with an intriguing premise that kind of went off the rails. It was on network TV, it was very serialized, it could have benefitted from streamlining in a LOT of areas… but it was a great premise that, at the end, made you go “ARGH! That’s where we were going? That’s a good idea!” It got cancelled and forgotten.
The Wilds has a (kinda-sorta) similar premise to Persons Unknown. But it corrects a lot of the mistakes of Persons Unknown, AND it’s getting a second season, so we actually get to see where some of these good ideas are going. Occasionally, The Wilds would get frustrating and I’d think, “Ah another Amazon show that seems like it would be good but actually kinda sucks” (This is true for…. the vast majority of Amazon original shows), but then they’d do something that made me go, “Ooooohhh” and I’d be sucked back in. Anytime you’d think the show was lagging or getting predictable, BOOM! Here’s something new to keep you interested.
Quick synopsis I guess: A bunch of teenage girls go on a retreat to Hawaii to learn about female empowerment. The private plane (immediate red flag, raises 100 questions, but OKAY) crashes and the girls are stranded on a deserted island. BUT WAIT, the plane crash wasn’t an accident! There are hidden cameras everywhere and they’re being studied by Rachel Griffiths (in a facility that is super high tech and expensive for a… social experiment?). You flash back to the girls’ lives before they got on that (again, no one thought, “that’s weird”?) private jet, and also forward to them being questioned by the FBI after their rescue. It’s compelling and they’re doing some interesting stuff, but if you know even a tiny bit about research, ethics, funding, methodology, or even just basic logistics, the “study” will infuriate you. Just try and turn off your brain and not think about it. ALSO:
Why won’t they say Nora is autistic? This bothered me the whole show, where they just present her as being… weird? And then in the final episode when you meet Quinn who is clearly meant to be autistic?! I don’t understand the reasoning here. It doesn’t make sense!
I love that they did makeup to actually make these girls look like they’re barely surviving on a deserted island for a month. They have sunburns! Their skin is peeling! They’re dirty!
I wish they explained more about WHY Rachel Griffiths thinks this in particular is a good idea, but also I don’t, because this experiment makes no sense, and only gets more nonsensical when they tell you how, oh, ANYTHING is being done.
The casting, the characters, the whole vibe is just so, so well done. Here’s an article about it!
The ending is DIVISIVE. Not the final FINAL scene, but the exploration of Rachel Griffiths and how she got here. And I LOVE IT. For a show that is all about the female gaze to take a turn and be like, “Also this is a critique of white feminism, surprise!” is just… Ooooh! It’s a risk! It’s going to be misinterpreted by a lot of audiences! Maybe I’m misinterpreting it (I don’t think I am!)!
Want: Columbia Long Vest
I love an insulated vest. in the Pacific Northwest, it’s Insulated Vest Season most of the year. One thing I don’t like about my vests, though, is that they don’t’ cover my hips. I tend to get joint pain in my hips, and it gets worse when they’re cold. The worst case scenario is when one of my hips just “gives out” and I end up suddenly sprawled across the sidewalk. NOT GREAT. So If I’m going to be outside in cold temps for a long time, I prefer to have a coat that goes past my hips to help keep them warm and moving properly. Then I get overheated on a walk, but I still need that hip insulation.. it’s a whole thing. That’s why I was THRILLED when I discovered Columbia makes a long vest! The only issue was that it is NOWHERE to be found in a size larger than teensy tiny. After over a week of checking every website, even down to weird sketchy sites I’d never heard of, I found it on Amazon. I had to preorder, so I’m not only waiting for it to be shipped, but also just to EXIST, but hopefully it all works out and I can wear a vest without having icy hips.
