From the Group Chat: Tom Brady’s Cryptic Instagram Stories, Haggis the Pygmy Hippo, and “English Teacher”

EDITOR’S NOTE

Happy Sunday. What a year this week has been. So I’m treating myself to some extra scrolling this weekend. Among my discoveries: People are wearing jeans covered with over 200 Beanie Baby-like stuffed animals (I can’t unsee them if I tried); Vogue named JLo and her “mullet-esque boots” the frontrunner in its Freaky Shoe Olympics; “jelly donut blush” is apparently the latest viral TikTok makeup trick (when will the madness end?); and Reese’s launched a Deconstructed Peanut Butter Cup Kit (meaning, you can enjoy the egg’s objectively superior chocolate to peanut butter ratio all year). That sounds like the perfect snack as I attempt a new hobby: junk journaling — essentially, scrapbooking’s less intense cousin.

— Melissa Goldberg / Senior Editor / Washington, DC

EDITOR’S NOTE 

Happy Sunday. What a year this week has been. So I’m treating myself to some extra scrolling this weekend. Among my discoveries: People are wearing jeans covered with over 200 Beanie Baby-like stuffed animals (I can’t unsee them if I tried); Vogue named JLo and her “mullet-esque boots” the frontrunner in its Freaky Shoe Olympics; “jelly donut blush” is apparently the latest viral TikTok makeup trick (when will the madness end?); and Reese’s launched a Deconstructed Peanut Butter Cup Kit (meaning, you can enjoy the egg’s objectively superior chocolate to peanut butter ratio all year). That sounds like the perfect snack as I attempt a new hobby: junk journaling — essentially, scrapbooking’s less intense cousin. (For more wellness content, sign up for our Skimm Well newsletter.)

— Melissa Goldberg / Senior Editor / Washington, DC

🧘‍♀️ Is “face yoga” the secret to smooth, sculpted skin? Honestly, as long as chair pose isn’t involved, we’re willing to give it a shot.

👶 The kindergarten class of 2030 is about to have a lot of girls named Tom, Harry, and Steve — because some of the most popular baby names for 2025 are literally your best friends’ dads’ names.

💅 Leave it to Queens of Method Dressing Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to try and make method manicures a thing. 

🍗 As if Thanksgiving wasn’t stressful enough, there’s now the added “pleasure” of Thanksgiving outfit planning. And while you could wear the season’s trendiest blazer or shearling shoes (note: not slippers), we’ll be…sticking to sweatpants.

It’s official: Tom Brady is Going Through It™ — at least, according to his Instagram Stories. Amid his ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen, moving on and his broadcasting career getting off to a rocky start (to put it mildly), the seven-time Super Bowl champ has exhibited some…questionable social media behavior. On Tuesday, after a recent on-air blunder, Brady posted a lengthy excerpt from President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous “The Man in the Arena” speech (along with the red heart, prayer hands, and sparkles emoji, no less). The passage — which also seems to be the inspiration behind the name of Brady’s ESPN docuseries — praises the man “who strives valiantly” and “who errs, and comes short again and again.” 

Now, this is hardly the first time Brady has posted what’s essentially the modern-day equivalent of an AIM away message. Last year, hours after Vanity Fair published an interview with Bündchen about their divorce, Brady posted a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote about success. And last week, precisely one day after it was reported that Bündchen and her jiu-jitsu instructor boyfriend are expecting their first baby together, the former quarterback once again took to Instagram, posting a picture of a sunset, accompanied by a clip of the Chicks’ “Landslide” cover. Naturally, we can’t help but wonder: Are all of these dramatically coded messages intended for Bündchen? And if so, what, exactly, is Brady trying to communicate — particularly given the rumors that Brady’s refusal to retire from the NFL caused their divorce? (For the record, Bündchen has called these allegations “very hurtful” and said Brady’s career was just “one piece of a much bigger puzzle.”) Or, did the man who has eaten a total of one strawberry in his life simply forget to share with only his Close Friends list? (It happens.) Who knows what the answer is, but we’re already thinking about what rich literature Brady will post to the ‘gram next. We’ve got our money on a Mary Oliver poem.

Just in case Moo Deng was getting a little too comfy as the Internet’s Most Obscenely Cute Influencer, another baby pygmy hippo is here to keep her humble. Enter: Haggis, the Edinburgh Zoo’s adorably tiny, mud-colored pygmy calf — named after Scotland’s, shall we say, interesting national dish (think: a pudding made of minced sheep’s organs). While it’s not yet clear whether the newborn will share Moo Deng’s propensity for biting and screaming into the abyss, Haggis’s “personality [is] beginning to shine already,” according to the zoo, which jokingly took a jab at the OG hippo influencer in an X post — prompting a perfectly diplomatic response from Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo (where Moo Deng lives) and mostly playful reactions from social media fans. Still, to ensure that peace remained in Viral Hippo Land, the Edinburgh Zoo issued a notes-app style apology, saying they “were wrong to pit Haggis and Moo Deng against each other” and that there’s plenty “of space in this world for two beautiful pygmy hippo divas.” Truer words have never been spoken.

How do you respond after lifestyle icon Martha Stewart falsely claims you’re dead? Exactly like this.

In the span of 23 minutes, you can do a lot of things, like cleaning out your fridge or emptying your inbox. But why be productive when you can watch an episode of FX’s English Teacher instead? The laugh-out-loud series, which has been called “the year’s best new sitcom,” follows Evan Marquez (played by Brian Jordan Alvarez of TikTok fame), a gay, high school teacher in Austin, Texas, trying to juggle his job and love life — especially after a parent tries to get him fired for kissing his then-boyfriend and former colleague in front of students. While under investigation, Evan is banned from dating other faculty, which is exactly when the school hires an attractive new teacher, Harry (Langston Kerman). Add in an equally entertaining cast of co-workers — including Evan’s best friend and history teacher, Gwen (Stephanie Koenig), and the rough-around-the-edges PE teacher, Markie (Sean Patton) — and we’re giving the series an A++++. 

How about Broadway? Suffs, created by Tony Award®-winner Shaina Taub, follows the fierce, funny, and unapologetic suffragists (or “Suffs” for short), who fought for the right to vote at the turn of the 20th century, bringing their struggles, triumphs, and raw determination to center stage. With standout songs, stellar performances, and lessons from history that are anything but textbook, it’s for anyone who’s ready to get fired up. If you’re looking for a night of powerful history, this is it — see it before it closes on January 5th.*

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