Hangover Cure: You Know What Rebecca Black Says, It's Friday

Victorian medical history; drag queens competing to throw the best dinner party, and boppy "fashion people."

Hey, hi, hello, Happy Friday. If you’re getting this in your inbox, you’re a paid subscriber of Hugging the Bar, and let me just say, I appreciate you so much! And one of the ways I’m saying “thank you” is with this little weekly round-up of fun, non-beer recs. So, without further ado…!

READ: “The Butchering Art” by Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris

I have one of those nagging feelings I’ve mentioned this book in the newsletter before…? (Can’t imagine why, but I’ve found stranger crossovers to make.) But it is one of my all-time favorite books and deserves a full, proper spotlight here in this non-booze recommendation series. Joseph Lister is the man we can thank for the fact that we don’t have to almost expect to die when we go under the knife: he pioneered the use of antiseptics in surgery, and fought a stubborn and skeptical medical community for years to do so. Germs, they’re obviously the culprit re: infections! Yet most Victorian-era doctors and professors did not seem to think so!

This period of history was rife with game-changing medical discoveries that pushed us into modern history; interestingly, a lot of this was happening in Scotland, specifically. Dr. Lindsay Fitzharris weaves much of it in, too, to her absolutely fascinating exploration of Lister’s career and it’s monumental impact on medicine. Her style of writing makes this like a juicy, page-turner novel, but, you know, you’re learning stuff! Read “The Butchering Art” now, because she’s got another book out I know I’m itching to get to called “The Facemaker,” about facial reconstructions for World War I soldiers, and a third book in the works now.

WATCH: “Drag Me to Dinner”

I feel like no one is watching the magic that is “Drag Me to Dinner” on Hulu…? Or, I guess, just no one I know. And I must try to help fix that! It’s a reality competition show, but pokes fun at that whole concept in that no one takes it too seriously and some contestants even take absurd approaches to the challenges. There are two teams of two drag queens each, and they are tasked with throwing together wild themed dinner parties, which are then judged by Neil Patrick Harris, Bianca Del Rio, and Haneefah Wood. The incomparable Murray Hill hosts, and teams have included some of the most talented queens in the biz, from Jinkx Monsoon and Ben de la Creme, to Jackie Beat, to BeBe Zahara Benet and Trinity the Tuck, to Latrice Royale and Manila Luzon. It’s a little camp and community theater with love, humor, hijinx, and sequins, and it’s just so fun. You can turn your brain off and savor that low-stakes entertainment.

LISTEN: “Fashion People” by Joel Plaskett Emergency