Essentials Week spotlights unexpected items that make our daily lives just a little bit better.I’m in a love-hate relationship with Twitter. I love the online friendships I’ve fostered through K-pop fancams, Gossip Girl memes, and media industry woes. And I hate the fact that everything I’ve learned about NFTs has been against my will because some cryptoperson tweeted it into the ether and it has now been retweeted onto my timeline. In the spirit of truthfulness, I feel extremely validated by retweets, likes, and positive replies. I am a Virgo. I run solely on coffee and validation from others. But, ultimately, I hate how addicted I am to this app. My iPhone tells me that I currently spend more than 15 hours a week on Twitter, or just a little over two hours a day — and that’s not accounting for all of the hours I put in on my desktop throughout the work day. I’m not alone in my habitual need to stay chronically online. The average person spends two hours and 24 minutes per day on social media apps, and for older members of Gen Z, that’s closer to 3 hours. I joined Twitter in February of 2009, when I was a sophomore in college. According to the archives, I mainly tweeted about pop culture, pulling all-nighters in the library, and … salads. As my job as an entertainment reporter became increasingly intertwined with my online persona, even affording me a coveted blue check mark, Twitter started to feel like a necessity; it was an essential marketing tool for young people to break through corporate barriers and hone their voices in real-time. In 2012, Twitter felt like a revolution. I told you my old tweets were harmless and embarrassing. Credit: Twitter/crystalbell Almost 10 years later, it feels more like a cautionary tale. Don’t get me wrong: Twitter can still open doors for marginalized writers and creatives, and it can foster a real sense of community and belonging. Yet, it has also become a space where racism and violence fester. That disproportionately affects women, especially Black women, who are 84 percent more likely to receive abuse on the app, according to a study conducted by Amnesty International and Element AI. I can’t speak for all Twitter users. Everyone’s experience on the app is different. I reached a breaking point in February, when the online harassment got so bad I made my account private and re-evaluated my entire approach to Twitter. As a woman online who writes primarily about music and fandom, I have experienced the ire of passionate fan bases. Sadly, it comes with the job. There have been times when those criticisms can lead to real, constructive discourse. But as Twitter becomes increasingly weaponized by stans, those instances have become few and far between. After all, it’s hard to search through hundreds of instances of threats and abuse to find the people who want to give you helpful feedback. Even engaging with those tweets results in more harassment. It just became too much. And it made me too sad amid a pandemic that had already destroyed my confidence and self-worth. Every time I opened the app, it was like ripping open a fresh wound. And the worst part was that I was knowingly inflicting the pain upon myself. Tweet may have been deleted So upon a recommendation from a friend, I finally changed my app settings. I closed my DMs. I muted hundreds of words, names, hashtags, and accounts — 716 in total, across several languages — like a woman possessed. I limited my notifications so that I can only see replies from the people I follow. (If I’m not already following you, I literally can’t see a single thing you tweet me. I have never known such peace online.) It took me less than an hour to radically, and positively, impact my time on Twitter. I know this sounds obvious. Because it is. That’s what those settings are there for, to customize your online experience. But for years, I thought that in order to do my job well, I had to be as online as possible — to always accommodate others, to answer their DMs and wittily engage in the discourse of the day. How would others know that I'm good at what I do unless they see it? Unless I have a following and a presence that can validate my authority? By simply changing my notification settings, I’m less consumed by what people are saying online and more present in my own life. But the less I engaged with people on Twitter, the more I actually started to enjoy it again. And the strange thing is that it completely changed my relationship to the app and to tweeting in general. I'm still on Twitter every day, but now I never check my notifications — and I no longer have the sick, twisted impulse to search my name on the app to see what people are saying about me. (Whatever you do, don’t do that. Though, it is how I learned that some stan accounts refer to me as “that crystal ball girlie” in online spaces, which I find amusing.) More importantly, I no longer feel anxious if I haven't tweeted all day. Yes, I do spend two hours a day on Twitter (to be fair, I am a digital culture editor, so I do have to be somewhat online), but would you believe me if I told you that it used to be worse? By simply changing my notification settings, I’m less consumed by what people are saying online and more present in my own life. SEE ALSO: A decades-old missing persons case and an obsessed true crime reporter puts Twitter's newest policy to the test It’s not a perfect fix. I will occasionally satisfy the urge to look, ever so briefly. When a recent tweet of mine was ratioed by a fandom, I had no idea it was even happening until an angry fan emailed me to demand I delete the years-old tweet. It was surreal to realize that for once I was being harassed and I didn’t even know it. I was living in blissful ignorance. Of course, then I spent 20 minutes looking through tweets, but the dread I used to feel — the pit in my stomach that would eat away at all of my remaining self-esteem — was nowhere to be found. For the first time in my professional, online life, I could exhale. I know that Twitter isn’t the ideal forum for empathy. At the end of the day, we’re all just pixels on a screen. I used to think that the only validation I could get was from others, like the people who replied to me, liked my tweet, or even retweeted something I wrote. But my online experience is so much more enjoyable now that I’ve learned how to validate myself. Even more essentialsI love my embarrassing lumbar support pillowHow to get in-stock alertsTricking out your iOS group texts is worth the tiny bit of effortLove organization? You need Notion.......

If you’ve finished the first season of HBO Max’s Gossip Girl, you’re probably asking yourself a number of questions right now. What’s next for Luna and her country boy? Is Monet making a play for the queen bee crown? Will Audrey, Aki and Max actually be able to make their throuple work? And most importantly, […]......

You’ve already watched everything on Netflix and Amazon Prime, huh? Looking for a different selection of films while you waste away on your couch? No worries! We’ve got your back. Peacock’s catalogue has grown in both quality and quantity as it continues to reclaim NBCUniversal properties that had been until now living on other streaming platforms. So, just for you, we did a deep dive to find the best titles now streaming on Peacock.1. Back to the FutureThe movie that transformed Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd into icons and taught a generation what a flux capacitor is, Back to the Future’s status as a master work remains uncontested. What’s more, since Director Robert Zemeckis has publicly said that another installment is out of the question, we can count on the original franchise remaining pristine in our collective memories, unbesmirched by subpar reboots. This coming-of-age, sci-fi, adventure comedy bends genres — and timelines! — seamlessly. It’s exciting, unpredictable, and is bursting with heart. When teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent to the past by eccentric inventor Doc Brown, he accidentally alters his parents’ meeting, threatening their relationship and his present-day existence. And so a legendary film was born. How to Watch: Back to the Future is streaming on Peacock.2. The Motorcycle DiariesPart coming-of-age story, part biopic, The Motorcycle Diaries tells the story of two young men, one a med student and the other a biochemist, setting off on an epic motorcycle trip from Buenos Aires to Peru. There are hookups with beautiful women, encounters with kind strangers, and jaunts through some of South America’s most stunning landscapes as the two friends learn more about the world around them. Oh, and did we forget to mention that one of these men will eventually become the famous Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara? Right, yes, that’s a key detail. The Motorcycle Diaries is based on Guevara’s own memoir, which details how this exact motorcycle trip opened his eyes to the rampant inequality of his time and planted the seeds of his eventual radicalization. Though this historial inner journey is depicted in the film, director Walter Salles is anything but heavy handed about it, giving more space and attention to the universal story of how adventuring and growing up can sometimes go hand-in-hand.How to Watch: The Motorcycle Diaries is streaming on Peacock.3. Goodfellas Look, it's the Goodfellas! Credit: warner brothers/Getty Images It takes less than five minutes for Goodfellas to deliver one of its most-quoted lines: "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." And it never slows down from there. Martin Scorsese's masterpiece draws you into the colorful underworld of the Brooklyn mob through the ravenous eyes of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), charting his rise and fall over the decades. It's downright intoxicating at first, all that glamor and danger — so much so, you might not even notice how tight the noose has become until that white-knuckle third act. Goodfellas has rightfully earned a towering reputation for its swagger, style, and substance, and its influence can be felt in countless other movies and shows released since. But it's also just a fantastically good time from start to finish — quite possibly the zippiest two hours and thirty minutes you'll ever experience. - * Angie Han, Deputy Entertainment EditorHow to Watch: Goodfellas is streaming on Peacock (beginning Nov. 1).4. Harry Potter (The entire series!)And now, the franchise that needs no introduction, Harry Potter. This eight movie series starts as a charming coming-of-age tale about a boy wizard learning about magic, and ends as a serious and emotional allegory about fighting facism and the lengths we will go to protect the people we love. Harry Potter is our hero, Ron Weasley, our goofy best friend, and Hermione, our actual hero, because, duh. Though the quality of the movies can vary based on the different directors at the helm and the age of the young leads, the strength of the source material and the prodigious gifts of the many, many storied British actors who fill out the sparkling supporting cast assure a satisfying watch. Most agree that the final two movies, each covering half of the last book in the series, are the most enthralling in the group — but you’ll have to watch them all to get what’s going on, so you might as well start with number one, The Sorcerer’s Stone, and go from there. Poor you! You’re about to have a really great time!How to Watch: Harry Potter is streaming on Peacock.5. Notting HillWill we ever not swoon when we hear “After all, I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her”? No! Because Notting Hill, a 1993 romantic comedy about a bumbling, British bookseller Will, (a peak Hugh Grant), falling for a glamorous, international movie star (a radiant Julia Roberts) is a perfect movie. No notes! It’s hopelessly romantic but surprisingly grounded, exploring the real life consequences that would come with dating an A-list icon. Its side plots are equal parts tender and rewarding, as Will’s friends and family advise on his love life while stumbling into romances of their own. There’s simply no reason not to watch this deeply lovely movie. How to Watch: Notting Hill is streaming on Peacock.6. The Bride of FrankensteinWe can’t talk about the best movies on Peacock without visiting the storied halls of Universal’s Classic Monsters. Few golden age monster flicks remain as entertaining and genre-defining as 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein, a sequel that has overtaken its predecessor in both popularity and respect. The movie continues directly after the events of 1931’s Frankenstein, but there is no need to make it a double viewing — Bride stands on its own two homunculus feet! Dr. Frankenstein discovers his former mentor is working to build a mate for the famed monster, who has escaped into the world and despite his intentions, is met with fear and scorn. The Bride of Frankenstein is simply iconic. The costumes are legendary, the score feels as integral as the plot, and the acting is surprisingly subtle for a monster flick. This trip back in time is made all the more fun with this little behind-the-scenes tidbit: the actor behind the legendary monster (Boris Karloff), the scourge of 1930s nightmares, was a famously kind and gentle man. Aw!How to Watch: The Bride of Frankenstein is streaming on Peacock.7. Meet the Parents Stiller vs. De Niro Credit: hillip V. Caruso/Universal Studios and Dreamworks LLC/Delivered by Online USA/Getty Images As long as you promise to not become that guy who says “I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me?” at every family get together, then we give you the green light to give Meet the Parents a rewatch. We say rewatch because there’s no possible world in which you haven’t seen this movie. It was everywhere. And then its lower quality sequels were everywhere. And when we say the name Gaylord Focker, you’ll picture Ben Stiller pretending to milk a cat while Robert de Niro looks on in a quiet rage. This is the king of “meeting-the-inlaws” movies, because in this one, de Niro is a former CIA agent who surveils, interrogates, and antagonizes his future son-in-law, pushing the character into Stiller’s acting comfort zone: freaking the f*@# out. Like most 2000s comedies, there will be some jokes that no longer work (the humor of Stiller being a male nurse comes to mind), but the chemistry between the two leads still crackles. How to Watch: Meet the Parents is streaming on Peacock.8. Long Way NorthThis absolutely stunning, animated kids film is not well known, but its emotional impact is immense. Sasha is a 15 year old aristocrat living in 19th century St. Petersburg. Determined to find her missing grandfather, a famed explorer, and clear her family’s name, she locates a vessel and sets off with a motley crew into the unforgiving arctic landscape. Long Way North is both an epic adventure and a human drama, exploring themes of empowerment and empathy. What truly makes this 80-minute movie special, though, is its unique artistic style. The snow-covered landscape might be stark, but Long Way North makes the icy world feel both beautiful and alive.How to Watch: Long Way North is streaming on Peacock.9. Far From HeavenFar From Heaven seeks to destroy the rose-colored, sanitized reputation of the 1950s — and it handily succeeds. Julianne Moore sparkles as Cathy Whitaker, a housewife whose life changes irrevocably when she discovers her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) kissing another man. She finds comfort in a new friendship with Raymond Deagon (Dennis Haysbert of Allstate commercial fame), earning her gossip and scorn from her wealthy, white neighbors since Raymond is Black. Over the course of the film we witness racism, homophobia, misogyny, and the desperate yearning of its characters to be free from their society’s oppressive standards. It’s a beautifully crafted piece with a nostalgic style reminiscent of 50s cinematography: a smart technique that forces us to question the sugar-coating of our past. A sincere and poignant film that can’t be missed.How to Watch: Far From Heaven is streaming on Peacock.10. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial It's a bird, it's a plane, it's an...alien on a bike? Credit: sunset boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images A little known tidbit about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a universally beloved smash hit, is that it was initially rejected by studios. Columbia Pictures didn’t think it would be commercially viable. Whoops! Universal purchased the script for $1 million, and when it debuted, E.T. surpassed Star Wars and became the highest grossing film of all time — a title it held on to for a decade until another Spielberg hit, Jurassic Park, broke the mold. It’s no surprise now that E.T. is, and was, such a hit. It’s a family-friendly story with deep emotional resonance. When Elliott and his friends discover a stranded alien, they take it upon themselves to protect him from the government and help him get back to his people. It’s a warm, nostalgic adventure that makes you feel like a kid again. This is no accident: Spielberg placed the cameras at the same height as the young cast, encouraging us to identify with them by literally filming from a child’s point-of-view. So often, masterful films are singularly concerned with bleak and devastating subject matters. E.T. is a delightful reminder that art can also be joyful.How to Watch: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is streaming on Peacock.11. The Big LebowskiBoth the Coen brothers' most indisputably hilarious film and the greatest cinematic tribute to nihilistic philosophy in history, The Big Lebowski is more than a movie. It is, dear reader, a way of life. Jeff Bridges stars as "The Dude" — a simple Los Angeles man seeking justice after a case of mistaken identity leads a stranger to urinate on his living room rug. Enjoy. - * Alison Foreman, Entertainment ReporterHow to Watch: The Big Lebowski is streaming on Peacock.12. About a BoyBased on the Nick Hornby novel of the same name, About a Boy is an offbeat comedy-drama that sneaks up on you. What starts as an unlikely friendship between a misfit kid and a bored, rich guy, becomes an unexpectedly touching meditation on the meaning of family. A slightly older, but no less charming, Hugh Grant breaks out of his rom-com mold to play the languishing millionaire while a young Nicholas Hoult (in his first movie role!) shines as the oddball kid. Toni Collette and Rachel Weisz, both queens of being absolutely perfect in every one of their films, round out the sparkling cast. It’s heartfelt, kooky, and deeply human — and will leave you wanting to give the world a great, big hug.How to Watch: About a Boy is streaming on Peacock.13. Apollo 13Tom Hanks. Kevin Bacon. Bill Paxton. Gary Sinise. Ed Harris. Apollo 13 is peak 1990s cinema, and it still packs a punch. Following the real life events of the failed Apollo 13 mission, this tense and emotional drama underwent great pains to tell the story right. New lunar and command modules were built, some using pieces from the actual Apollo 13 modules. The suits worn by the actors were exact replicas of those of the Apollo astronauts. And Director Ron Howard even shot multiple scenes in a reduced gravity aircraft to accurately simulate weightlessness in the space shuttle. The result is a thrilling masterpiece that will remind you why you still, to this day, get chills when you hear "Houston, we have a problem."How to Watch: Apollo 13 is streaming on Peacock.(*) denotes writeup came from a previous Mashable list.......

The Gossip Girl reboot provided fabulous Gen Z-approved fashion, but from Max to Obie, the men of the show had some of the most dapper outfits of all.......

John P Fleenor/NetflixWhere does a fugitive go once he’s stalked and murdered his way through both New York and Los Angeles? In You Season 3, Penn Badgley’s misanthropic bookworm Joe Goldberg is stuck in a new hell of his own making: Suburban life with a serial killer and their unborn child, whom he’s desperate to protect from his wife. (Because her murderous tendencies are totally worse and more villainous than his.)Madre Linda, where newlyweds Joe and Love Quinn make their home in Season 3, is You’s first fictional location. Creator Sera Gamble says the gossip-obsessed town was inspired by several bedroom communities in Northern California.“We were intrigued by the notion that on the outskirts in and around Silicon Valley, there are a lot of people that have made their fortune in industries that are at least adjacent to surveillance,” Gamble told The Daily Beast during a recent interview. “It cut to the heart of a lot of what we’ve been saying the whole time about how privacy is dead and at this point we’re all both voyeurs and exhibitionists and there’s no going back.”Read more at The Daily Beast.......

On its surface, The Last Duel looks like a prestige drama perfectly suited to Oscar season. It’s an epic period piece bringing to light a dark historical moment with a modern awareness of its socio-political meaning. Its helmer is three-time Academy Award-nominated director Ridley Scott. Its screenplay is a collaboration between Academy Award-nominated scribe Nicole Holofcener (who should have won for Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and Oscars ‘98 Golden Boys, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, with their first screenplay-reteam since the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting. Naturally, this film is stuffed with highly acclaimed stars, including Damon and Affleck, as well as twice-nominated leading man Adam Driver, not to mention Jodie Comer, the Emmy-winning ingenue of Killing Eve. Add to all this the understandable presumption that The Last Duel will be a Westernized Rashomon, exploring three conflicting perspectives on an alleged crime, and you might think you know just what to expect from this film. However, there’s no way you could predict how joltingly funny and unnervingly entertaining Scott and his incredible team have managed to make something so regal, so grisly, and so bleak. To be clear, though this historical drama focuses on a rape trial, sexual assault is never a subject of mockery. Instead, the barbs are saved for the men in power, who are painted as simpering fools, snarling frat boys, and egocentric scoundrels. While this film is presented in three chapters that might be described as “he said, he said, she said,” The Last Duel is not subtle about which side it’s taking. Based on a real-life trial by combat that occurred in 14th-century France, The Last Duel centers on a rape case that pitted the word of a knight’s wife (Comer) against her husband’s (Damon) frenemy, a courtier (Driver) favored by the local lord (Affleck). Bookended by the beginning and end of the eponymous showdown, the narrative is presented in three chapters, each with a title card that proclaims “The Truth According to…” and then whoever’s perspective will be presented. First, Sir Jean de Carrouges lays out his case, defining himself as a soldier of bravery and fortitude. Then, Jacques Le Gris defends, undermining Carrouges’s account, while presenting himself as a clever and diligent servant to his liege. While the film might be dominated by the men, whose chapters make up most of the screentime, it is defined by Lady Marguerite de Carrouges, who gets the last word and the strongest chapter. Jodie Comer won't be sidelined in "The Last Duel." Credit: 2oth century fox Early on, a shrewd edit hints at willful omissions in Jean’s story. A pivotal scene of confrontation between him and the lord who loathes him is abruptly abandoned, comically cutting to him recounting the encounter to his doting wife. What went down will later be revealed — almost gleefully — in Jacques’ chapter, along with various salacious sexcapades that slyly build the squire's defense with the callous tactics of a playboy. However, even within this chapter that’s meant to be all about Jacque, Scott includes reactions shots from the women of the court that don’t align with this cad’s perspective. An eye roll here, a heavy sigh there, a panicked glance — each is a clue that there was more going on in these moments than this self-important squire could see past his upturned nose. An eye roll here, a heavy sigh there, a panicked glance — each is a clue that there was more going on in these moments than this self-important squire could see past his upturned nose. Marguerite’s chapter expands on these omissions and eye rolls, not by retreading the tales of these men, but by offering the lives of women they pompously overlooked. Hers contains moments of sisterly gossip, snarling judgment from a cold mother-in-law, and vexing advice from male doctors whose concept of women’s bodies is harrowingly superstitious (and all too familiar to anyone following the abortion rights debates currently raging). Yet even within all this darkness and drama, Holofcener, Damon, and Affleck have made space for humor. This proves a necessity, not only keeping the film from being a grim tour of a battle against rape culture that is soul-crushingly timeless, but also reflects a defiant hope for something better than these boorish men in power would dare provide. The clearest example of this almost satirical comedy is Affleck’s lord, Pierre d'Alençon. Ripping a page from Nicholas Hoult’s The Great playbook, the Boston boy brings a full-chested arrogance into the court, backed up by an unapologetically insatiable lust for pranks, booze, and orgies. When Jacque barges in with worrying news of the rape allegation, Pierre greets him with a booming voice that commands, “Take your pants off!” It’s hilarious in its absurdity, but within this boisterous buffoon is a keen criticism of the self-aggrandizing frat bros who’ve charmed their way into congress, the supreme court, and even the presidency. Simply put, not since Gone Girl has someone cast Affleck so divinely. He makes an absolute meal of this wicked royal, completely understanding the assignment and relishing in every bullying beat. But that’s not all. Alex Lawther, a British inge-dude who has made a career out of playing whimpering creeps, is the king who oversees the gruesome duel. His wormy smiles at the sight of blood and childish giddiness over life-or-death stakes are sickly amusing but also a crisp condemnation of an entitled class that sees the struggles of others as spicy entertainment. These crucial performances support the leading three, whose portrayals smartly shift from chapter to chapter, displaying distinctly how these characters see themselves and others. Matt Damon and Jodie Comer play husband and wife in "The Last Duel." Credit: 20th century fox In his own story, Jean is a white knight, noble, and suitably lacking in self-awareness. In other chapters, he’s a stuttering outcast and a vicious brute. Damon, who has long rested in good guy roles, throws himself into each incarnation with riveting intensity. Matching his energy and surpassing his screen presence, Driver transforms from a cajoling sidekick to a Littlefinger-like mastermind, to an all-too-familiar villain. Playing seductive scoundrels has become his brand, from Girls to Star Wars to Marriage Story. But here, the subtle shifts in performance, aided by the context of his casting niche, bring the true Jacque into mercilessly sharp focus. Finally, Margeruitte transforms from a girlish bride to a savvy seductress, to a far more complicated figure, rich with aches and awareness. Comer, who has transformed over and over in her hit TV show, makes these moves with the ease of a master ballerina, holding her own against actors who’ve got much more acclaim and many more movies under their belt. Taking on this big story, an all-too-relevant and tricky topic, three perspectives at war, plus a final battle that will explode in graphic violence and unblinking horror, The Last Duel clocks in over two and a half hours. Remarkably, it doesn’t feel long. An astonishingly judicious cut by editor Claire Simpson keeps a brisk pace without cutting key character moments. The punching-up humor of its screenwriting trio keeps a heady levity and sharp wit that punctures the darkest moments, keeping the darkest bit from feeling like a slog. Smartly, Scott is not preaching to the choir, making a rape drama that is hard to watch. He has made something star-studded and prestigious and knowingly accessible, alive with charisma and humor. Yet, his approach is not a compromising spoonful of sugar to help the medicine of hard-to-swallow societal truths go down. This brightness is a rebellious reminder of why the fight must be had. Because even when the odds are stacked against you, there is joy to be found — even if it’s in tearing these bastards down. The Last Duel opens in theaters on Oct. 15.......