The Gilded Margin

By Shyanne Gines

There are Fridays when I have a very specific favorite to talk about.

And then there are Fridays when I have about twelve things bouncing around in my head at once.

A book I want to read. A movie I’m waiting for. A show I just finished that I absolutely loved. An artist I’m watching from afar. A lunchbox I bought because apparently back-to-school shopping is now part of my entertainment radar.

So I decided that’s what Favorites Friday can be. I also can do a favorites Friday every Friday or once a month. I just don’t know what all the radar brings.

However, I do know it doesn’t always have to be a review. I don’t have to have finished everything. I don’t have to tell you something is amazing just because it caught my attention.

Sometimes it’s simply:

“This is on my radar right now.”

And that’s where this month’s August Release Radar comes in.

I haven’t read every book here. I haven’t seen every movie. I haven’t tried every product. Some of these things I am genuinely excited about, and some I’m just curious enough to keep watching.

That’s the point.

First, let’s talk about Dolly.

August 13 marks 50 years since Dolly Parton released All I Can Do, her 17th solo album.

Fifty years.

That just blows my mind.

There is something about Dolly’s music that makes time feel a little strange. Songs that were released decades before I was listening to them can still feel completely relevant now.

And that got me thinking about all the songs that don’t just become popular for a little while.

They stay.

That’s really what I love about Dolly. She has managed to create music that can be funny, heartbreaking, clever, sentimental and brutally honest, sometimes all within the same catalog.

So I’m calling this little anniversary moment 50 Years of Dolly: The Songs That Stayed.

Because fifty years later, we’re still listening.

That’s pretty special.

And while we’re talking music, Ella Langley is still firmly on my radar. She’s coming to Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on August 15, and while I’m not going, I’m definitely watching from afar. That’s actually going to be a new category around here:

Not Going, But This Looks Good.

I’m also still keeping an eye on Hilary Duff. From a distance, obviously. And Anne-Marie stays on my radar because I will always want to know what she’s doing next.

That’s the thing about a radar. Not everything requires me to be there in person.

Sometimes I just want to know what’s happening.

Books are where things get dangerous for me.

Because I can very easily convince myself that I need another book when I have perfectly good books sitting around waiting for me.

Unseen by Heather Critchlow caught my attention because it involves a true-crime podcaster who becomes convinced that a man convicted decades earlier may have been the wrong person.

That premise immediately grabbed me.

And, naturally, my brain went straight to evidence.

What happens when the evidence doesn’t tell the story everyone thought it did?

There’s a difference between researching a case, investigating a case and consuming true crime from your couch. That’s something I think is worth talking about, especially now that podcasts and social media can make everyone feel like they’re one Google search away from solving a case.

So Unseen is on my radar, and I could absolutely see myself turning it into a bigger Gilded Margin conversation about true crime, wrongful convictions and the difference between watching an investigation and actually conducting one.

Then there are the books that are becoming movies.

Verity is one of those.

The movie is scheduled for October 2, and I’m very curious to see what they do with it. If you’ve read the book, you already know why that sentence needs no further explanation.

I’m not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t.

I’m just going to sit over here and wonder how exactly they are going to make that into a movie.

And then there’s The Nightingale.

This one isn’t coming out in August, but it absolutely belongs on my radar because Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning are finally starring together as sisters in the movie adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s novel.

I’m interested in the story, obviously, but I’m also fascinated by the fact that real-life sisters are playing sisters.

There’s just something about that casting choice that makes me want to see it.

And then we get to the movies.

Honestly, I’m mostly just doing a Practical Magic 2 countdown right now and biding my time.

That’s where I’m at.

Practical Magic 2 is coming September 11, and yes, I will probably watch the original before I go see it.

Maybe more than once.

I also want to see Super Troopers 3, because sometimes you don’t need a serious cinematic experience. Sometimes you just need something ridiculous that makes you laugh.

And then there’s PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie, which falls into the category of movies that enter my radar because I have kids.

That’s how life works.

One minute you’re talking about a supernatural sequel with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and the next you’re talking about dinosaurs and the Paw Patrol.

Both can exist in the same week.

The Whisper Man is another one I’m watching. Netflix is bringing Alex North’s bestselling novel to the screen on August 28.

The story involves a missing eight-year-old, his widowed father, a retired police detective and a decades-old serial-killer case.

That combination is basically catnip for my brain.

Missing children. Old cases. Evidence. Detectives. Family trauma. Investigations.

There is so much potential there.

It also gives me another excuse to talk about something I find fascinating: the difference between fictional investigations and real ones.

Fiction tends to make investigations look very clean.

• Evidence appears at exactly the right time.

• The detective asks exactly the right question.

• The old case suddenly connects to the new one.
• Everything comes together.

Real investigations are rarely that tidy.

And that’s one of the things I love about being able to watch these stories through both lenses — I can enjoy the entertainment while also noticing the places where the storytelling takes liberties.

Which brings me to the show I just finished.

Furious.

I was addicted.

That’s really the best way I can put it.

I kept saying I was going to watch one more episode, and then I was still watching.

I loved the series.

But I also noticed some things that made my victim-advocacy and investigative brain pause.

There were some portrayals of human trafficking that I didn’t completely agree with.

One in particular really stood out to me. The series referred to one of the girls as a trafficker, when her role seemed much more in line with what is often referred to as a “top girl” in trafficking situations.

And I think that distinction is important.

A top girl can be given power or responsibilities within a trafficking operation. She may be used to recruit, manage or control other victims. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she entered that position as someone who was simply an independent trafficker. In some situations, these are people who have themselves experienced significant exploitation and abuse.

That doesn’t mean accountability isn’t complicated.

It doesn’t mean everyone in that position should automatically be considered a victim.

It means the reality is much more complicated than a simple victim-versus-trafficker storyline.

So yes, I noticed it.

There were a few other technicalities throughout the series that made me stop and think, “Okay, that’s not exactly how I would describe that.”

But I digress.

I still loved the series.

I don’t need a crime drama to get every single detail technically perfect for me to enjoy it.

I can notice the inaccuracies. I can disagree with a portrayal. I can recognize where something has been simplified for television. And I can still be completely hooked.

Honestly, I think that’s a much more interesting way to watch crime television.

We can enjoy the story without pretending everything about it is accurate.

And sometimes the inaccuracies themselves give us something worth talking about.

Now I’m watching Tiny Beautiful Things, because apparently my brain needed to go from crime drama to Kathryn Hahn.

Completely different direction.

I’m okay with it.

There’s also a little DFW radar happening.

Ella Langley at Dickies Arena on August 15 is the one currently catching my attention.

Again:

Not going, but this looks good.

I think that status is going to become a permanent part of Favorites Friday.

Because I am absolutely going to find things happening around DFW that I think look amazing without actually buying a ticket to everything.

I have bills.

I have children.

I have responsibilities.

I can admire an event from a distance.

And then there is the product that somehow made it onto the radar.

The kids’ back-to-school lunchbox.

I bought the GoBe Kids Lunchbox with the detachable snack spinner, and I actually really like the idea behind it.

You’ve got the larger sandwich section and the rotating snack compartments, which means I’m not sending the kids to school with approximately fourteen tiny containers that I will eventually have to locate, wash and somehow put back together. Or one million ziplocks filled with random crap that eventually gets lost in my car on the way home from school.

I got the coral pink one and the baby blue one.

Obviously.

We’ll see how it holds up once we’re actually using it every day, but for now it’s officially moved from “I saw this online” to “I bought this.”

That distinction matters.

And yes, I’m including the link because if I’m going to tell you about the thing I actually bought, you might as well be able to see it (not an affiliate link just a real purchase I want to share).

My drink situation is considerably less exciting.

I’ve basically been living on water, coffee with oat milk, Electrolit Zero Sugar and Zero Dr Pepper.

And I’m actually trying to cut back on the zero-sugar soda too.

So my current drink goal is basically:

Drink the water.

Drink more water.

Stop walking around with the same water bottle I filled three hours ago.

You know.

Exciting stuff.

I’m trying to make some changes, and right now keeping my drinks simple is one of them.

So don’t expect an elaborate August drink recommendation from me.

My seasonal beverage is apparently water.

So that’s what’s on my radar.

Dolly Parton’s All I Can Do turning 50.

Books that are making me curious.

The Whisper Man coming to Netflix.

Verity becoming a movie.

The Fanning sisters in The Nightingale.

Practical Magic 2 getting closer.

Super Troopers 3.

PAW Patrol.

Ella Langley coming through Fort Worth.

Hilary Duff.

Anne-Marie.

A lunchbox.

A lot of water.

And two completely different television shows fighting for space in my brain.

That’s what I like about Favorites Friday.

It doesn’t have to be polished into a perfect list of five things you should buy or watch.

It can just be the things I’m noticing.

The things I’m curious about.

The things I’m counting down to.

The things I loved.

And occasionally, the things I loved even though I noticed some things I didn’t agree with.

That’s real life.

And that’s a much better representation of how I actually find things.

So tell me:

What’s on your radar right now?

What book are you waiting for? What movie are you counting down to? What song won’t leave your head? What show has you saying “just one more episode”?

Or what completely random thing did you buy that you are now weirdly excited about?

Because that’s where Favorites Friday can breathe.

And I’m here for it.

-The Gilded Margin