Good Weekend indeed: Six fun things to do

Six of the best diversions, including what to watch, read, eat and buy.

SPOTLIGHT / Star Witness

The world binged Gwyneth Paltrow’s trial like a Netflix drama. Credit: Getty Images

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Trial Is Her Best Role in Years declared a recent headline in The New Yorker – and it’s not wrong. The Academy Award winner was the subject of a civil suit in a Utah court regarding a so-called ski-and-run accident in 2016. The actress was accused of running into a fellow skier while holidaying with her family. She said au contraire – he ran into her.

The court found in Paltrow’s favour (#Gwynnocent) but no one really cared about the nuts and bolts of the case. Instead, the world binged it like a Netflix drama, tuning in to check out Paltrow’s daily court looks (she’s wearing a turtleneck!) and quoting her most iconic one-liners, including the new meme: “Well, I lost half a day of skiing.”

It’s the latest in a long line of celebrity court battles to have captured the public fascination, stretching back to 1995 and OJ Simpson’s “trial of the century”. Last year delivered Johnny Depp v Amber Heard, which spawned a parallel trial on TikTok in which social media users declared Depp the innocent party and Heard guilty of, well, everything. A timely reminder, perhaps, that treating the courtroom as soap opera can have troubling real-world consequences. One worth remembering, given the next celebrity to take the stand will be one Donald Trump – a man who knows the power of performance better than anyone. Thomas Mitchell

SHOP / Swap shop

The HuskeeCup, $20, is a stylish reminder to choose to reuse.

Flaunting a fin-shaped design and made from repurposed coffee husks, the HuskeeCup is a stylish reminder to choose to reuse. Drinkers buy a cup, which come in a range of sizes, from a participating cafe (8oz cup in charcoal or natural, $20) when ordering their caffeine fix, then return it when placing their next order (no need to even wash it). The “deposited” cups are sanitised and put back in rotation, with customers leaving with their fave brew in a “new” one. In due course, all cups, lids and saucers can be returned to Huskee or its swap partners – an app shows their locations – for end-of-life recycling. Frances Mocnik

EAT / Golden brown

The sweet and smoky Golden Vadouvan spice blend, $22.50.

Spice up your weekend with a teaspoon of Golden Vadouvan, a sweet, smoky spice blend of roasted onions and garlic with turmeric, mustard seed, bittersweet fenugreek and more (150g, $22.50). It’s Indian but also French, said to have been created by the French colonists of Pondicherry (now Puducherry) on India’s south-eastern coast, and it will take your salmon kedgeree to the next level. Beat it into butter to pan-fry fish and melt over carrots, or just sprinkle over your weekend eggs for an instant wow factor. Jill Dupleix

READ / Role reversal

Ever wondered why good-looking, talented women often date average-looking but interesting guys, while the reverse rarely happens? In Romantic Comedy by American novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, Sally is a divorced 30-something writer for a hit TV comedy show. Fed up with seeing gorgeous female celebrities hook up with the show’s dorky male writers, she writes a sketch about it. Enter Noah, a handsome rock star and guest on the show. The sexual tension escalates as they banter their way through lockdown via email. Among the book’s pithy one-liners: “Hot eventually gets boring but funny never does.” Sittenfeld has form in analysing relationships: she’s the author of bestselling 2020 novel Rodham, which reimagined the life Hillary Rodham would have had if she’d not married Bill Clinton. Nicole Abadee

WEAR / Step right up

Etymology’s ’Ito” Penny Loafer.

How many pairs of shoes does a man need? Four, according to the founders of shoe company Etymology – Gabriel Abi-Saab and brothers William and Albert Phung. A loafer or two, an Oxford and something not black. The Sydney-based trio founded the company during the pandemic and this month released their four-pair debut collection, which leans heavily into the loafer. The all-leather shoes are handcrafted in family-run workshops in the Spanish shoe-making capital of Almansa, and retail here online for $425 a pair. The inspiration? Abi-Saab’s Lebanese-Australian heritage: “My dad always wore this pair of loafers he found in Lebanon, even when going to the greengrocers. He took pride in the way he dressed.” Taking following in dad’s footsteps to a whole new level. Melissa Singer

WATCH / Dead Ringers

British actress Rachel Weisz stars alongside herself in Dead Ringers.

It’s always a concern when a TV series or film casts an actor to star opposite themselves; the double-up can be great but can also be a gimmick used to paper over a thin plot. It worked a treat for Eddie Murphy in Coming To America but not in The Nutty Professor, while John Malkovich proved there is no such thing as too much Malkovich in Being John Malkovich. Thankfully, British actress Rachel Weisz is so charming in Dead Ringers (Amazon Prime) that you never get sick of seeing her star alongside herself. In this modern take on David Cronenberg’s 1988 thriller, Weisz plays twin gynaecologists whose desperation to change how women give birth pushes them into ethically questionable territory. Thomas Mitchell

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.