The Gilded Age of Posting
Cynthia Nixon, we salute you.
I hope you’re not checking your work email while relaxing at the pool/beach?!!? It’s okay; these are fun, relaxing stories. Visit Japan! Revel in Schadenfreude! And most important, see who on The Gilded Age is good at the internet. —Emily Gould
TRAVEL ISSUES
Tourism Has Turned Kyoto Into a Hellscape
But if you still want to go there, it helps to find a guide with a healthy resentment of the bros in kimonos.
“The Canadians had only a day in Kyoto and were trying to pack 1,200 years of history into approximately 12 hours. “You’ve got to do all the TikTok stuff,” one of them said. They had already tracked down a viral matcha tiramisu and were about to call an Uber for the half-hour drive across town to Arashiyama, a spectacular forest of supertall, skinny bamboo stalks. After that, another Uber to Nara, an hour south, which is famous for the wild deer that mingle with people in the streets, before the group hustled back to Kyoto Station for a train to their hotel in Osaka. It was already midafternoon, and I didn’t see how they could possibly fit everything in. “Well, ChatGPT says we can,” one said. Their faith in machine learning was undiminished by the fact that it had sent them to an abandoned Hello Kitty café.”
Is it still possible to have an okay time in overrun Kyoto, which unlike other Japanese tourist destinations is hemmed in by mountains and can’t physically expand? Reeves Wiedeman finds out.
RICH PEOPLE THINGS (1800S EDITION)
Which Gilded Ager Has the Best Social Media?
It’s obviously Cynthia Nixon, but who’s second best?
This is maybe too much of a shower thought, but it’s that kind of Monday: The reason The Gilded Age is so satisfying is that it’s a TV show for people who really love TV shows and also Actors. As Vulture recapper Alice Burton points out, there’s just something magical about seeing Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald having a conversation a full century and change before they would go on to co-found a law firm on The Good Fight. When it comes to these performers — be they Broadway legends or Ryan Murphy muses or literally Miranda Hobbes on a day off — we viewers are bringing a lot of extratextual information to the table. And one other important source of extratextual information is the Gilded family’s social-media personae. Here, ranked in order of how delightful they are, are the cast’s best contributions to the art of posting.
1. Cynthia Nixon. Has this bitch (complimentary) had a great week or what?? As documented on her Instagram, she partied with Zohran Mamdani as her former gubernatorial-race opponent Andrew Cuomo conceded the mayoral primary. She was fully nude as Miranda on And Just Like That ... And hello, it’s still Pride!
2. Morgan Spektor has embraced the fact that he is train daddy and has begun to do mini-recaps of the episodes in his IG captions. Maybe my bar for cute is too low, but that’s cute of him.
3. Carrie Coon posts capsule reviews of whatever movie she’s watching and retweets dire news of climate change and ICE raids but also finds time to be sassy.
4. Kelli O’Hara posting her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it And Just Like That … “cameo” is actually so funny.
5. Audra McDonald talking about how much she is going to sweat onstage is admirably Real.
6. Rounding out this list, I appreciate how committed Harry “Larry” Richardson is to posting BTS photos of the cast and also to being open about dressing like this in real life, in public.
RICH PEOPLE THINGS (2025 EDITION)
New York’s “Elite” Are “Freaked Out” That Zohran Won
Omg nooo! Someone go fetch them a Xanax!
“What were [Eric Adams’s] alleged sins, again? Free upgrades? At least he took their calls and advertised his openness to doing business in his “City of Yes.” The night after the primary, a group of major donors, including hedge-fund manager Dan Loeb, reportedly convened to hear Adams make his comeback pitch. (Earlier that day, Loeb had taken to X to declare it “officially hot commie summer,” seemingly oblivious that he might as well have been writing ad copy for Mamdani.) “There are definitely people in the real-estate world who have convinced themselves that this was a fluke and Eric Adams can be resuscitated with $100 million,” one adviser to a former mayor told me. ‘A mass psychosis has taken hold, and that is what they believe.’”
Andrew Rice calls around to see who the billionaires are thinking they’ll back against Zohran. And Matthew Sedacca reports that even real-estate brokers are skeptical that the ultrawealthy will actually flee en masse.
Click Your Way Out
One more Rich People Thing: “Is this destined to become a summer scene? Sure, it’s behind Newtown Lane, but it’s also, and perhaps more, in front of the shared parking lot behind the Stop & Shop.” In an exhaustive look at Hamptons restaurant scene (mostly bad, universally expensive, and overcrowded). Matthew Schneier reveals where the truly élite eat.
“It is clear that Zibby and her fans have decided that no matter what is true in this moment, their ‘fear’ should be prioritized. This is absolute delusion.” Book influencer Traci Thomas calls ’em like she sees ’em.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve already spent way too much time reading about how I was born too late to get any of the money Condé Nast was burning back in its salad days (yet still somehow early enough to be old). I did learn a few things from this NYT analysis, like the interest-free housing loan one Wired editor received that they just forgot to write down and the Reddit IPO that’s keeping the lights on.
In other Gilded Age news, the hot doctor took over for Tom Francis in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway. I forgot to figure out a way to mention that above. He’s not really online, bless him.
Cynthia Nixon does a really well job, of getting her opinions out on social media sites. Besides, who loves . The Gilded age? I am a fan of the show.
Hi! I’m Lilipod — I write essays mixing pop culture, love, friendship, and the beautiful messiness of growing up. If you’re into honest, thoughtful, and sometimes funny reads, join me at lilipod.substack.com ✨