TT Vol. 78

Spencer, Gladys Goose, Best Of 2021 & Laurie Ellen

Tourist Trapp

Jan 02, 2022

Clockwise from Top.

Spencer

Over holiday break, we decided to watch Spencer, the Pablo Larraín-directed Lady Diana film that is now streaming.

It stars Kristen Stewart as Princess Di, who gets A LOT of screen time and is quite excellent.

Spencer takes place over Christmas at Sandringham, and we thought it would be a like a holiday themed episode of The Crown. It turns out it was really like The Shining meets The Crown, with some really excruciating scenes revolving around a pearl necklace provided by Mouawad.

Because Stewart is a global brand ambassador for Chanel, the iconic french maison provided nearly all the costumes for the princess. LOTS of great looks, including these sunglasses Stewart wears in her Porsche, this yellow double breasted kit with a pirate hat, and this Ontario Provincial Police hat.

Gladys Goose

Somehow I ended up reading Alan Heller’s obituary last week, and noticed this intriguing photo:

Heller was the designer behind a plastic children’s night light he named Gladys Goose. The originals from the 1970’s go for hundreds of dollars on 1stDibs or Ebay.

It’s unclear who owns the trademark to Gladys Goose at this point. Someone - maybe us? - should buy it and start making these again. If the secondary market is any indication, there is still some interest in these!

Year End Lists

We’re behind on our Best of 2021 readings! These year end compilations are always a great checklist for things to read, watch and listen to during the holidays.

Listen to the 100 best songs of 2021 here and here.
The ten best books of 2021, according to the New York Times (confession: we had not heard of any of these books) (see also 100 notable books of 2021).
The best restaurants of 2021.

Holiday Snacks

We are noted Harry & David fans over here, which may or may not be in style again. But we found a worthy successor - Laurie Ellen, who used to bake for the iconic Tartine in San Francisco. Ellen uses beautiful looking packaging, unlike most of her competitors in the holiday foodie gift basket space.