Hey, thank you.

By Lauren Duca

Dearest Reader (And Also Mom & Dad),

Hi! Thank you for reading this every week and not just hitting "Unsubscribe" or deleting it along with all that spam from that one timeyou used Groupon to get a sale price on a brow wax.

It's been such a pleasure writing Middlebrow since we started it in back February. There are lots of things happening in the world that are infinitely more important than the intricacies of pop culture. But what I hope is that this newsletter has done a good job of using entertainment news to think critically about what these sometimes superficial realities mean about us.

What do you think? If there's something you love (or, just, like, really hated so much it made you sick) you should email me. If there's something you'd like me to write about, a set of FAQs or even questions that come up in response to individual topics, always feel free to reach out to lauren.duca@huffingtonpost.com. 

Now, The Non-Denominational Series of Holidays is upon us. Also, Christmas. It is time to sit back and worship the Gods of Consumerism by buying gifts, and then drink lots of champagne on New Year's Eve while wearing sparkly things. All of that is coming up real soon, so this will be the last of Middlebrow until we pop up from our fizzy hangovers and enter 2015 with resolutions to lose 15 pounds (I'm really doing it this year -- I have a FitBit now! This is really not product placement.)

As 2014 comes to a close, let's do a version of Everything Else You Should Know before all the presents, and alcohol and good will towards (wo)men. Here is a (very brief) recap of the year, with things to read and think about once more, as we head into another 365 days of the highbrow, lowbrow and everything in between.

Eagerly And Gratefully,
Lauren Duca

Everything Else You Should Know (End Of The Year Edition):

• Jennifer Lawrence (and some other famous people that America cares about slightly less than Jennifer Lawrence) had their privacy flagrantly violated by the nude photo hacks back in August. Read Jessica Valenti's piece for The Guardianon how Lawrence's response to the whole thing is the end of the "shamed starlet." (And cross your fingers we never have to talk about this again.)






• ... Speaking of hacks, Sony is currently dealing with its own issues as internal documents are disseminated throughout the Internet. No, Judd Apatow, it is not the same thing as The Fappening. But it is troubling and an interesting look at the way Hollywood works now. Read Vulture's insight from seven insiders on what the leaked emails reveal.



• In October, Renee Zellweger returned to the red carpet looking different and the grossly sexist double standards of Hollywood reared its ugly head(s?). Read Anne Helen Petersen's brilliant take on the whole thing for BuzzFeed.



• There was anal sex on "The Mindy Project"/broadcast television! It brought some controversy and also some interesting questions about what consent should look like. Generally speaking, it was a progressive year for sexy scenes. Read Margaret Lyons' piece for Vulture on why female-centric sex is everywhere on TV now.






• Taylor Swift broke up with Spotify and, as the now well-trodden word play would have it, they are never, ever, ever getting back together. Read Mario Aguilar's "What Taylor Swift Doesn't Mean For Spotify" over at Gizmodo.



• And while we're talking music, if it seems like everything sounds super similar, there's a reason for that. Read Derek Thompson's "The Shazam Effect" from the December issue of The Atlantic.



• Laverne Cox rose up as our queen, tackling ignorance every time she appears in public. Read Saeed Jones' "Laverne Cox Is The Woman We've All Been Waiting For" over at BuzzFeed.






• Also, the rom-com was resuscitated, and "Obvious Child" (which, yes, is a rom-com) marked perhaps the first truly honest film about unplanned pregnancy. Read Lauren Duca (okay, that's me, and this self-promotion) on how pop culture can change the way we talk about abortion.



• Lots of celebrities said they were feminists (or had dumb reasons for not being feminists) and then Beyoncé totally glamorized the the movement at the VMAs. Read Arwa Mahdawi for The Guardian on the issues with feminism becoming "trendy" and Samantha Allen for The Daily Dot on how the word means nothing if we don't put it into action.



• Movies continued to hone in on the franchise, a model which has reached critical mass lately. (Glass half full: At least we got some non-white-male superheroes this year!) Read Mark Harris' piece for Grantland on what these box office trends mean for the future of movies.






• The booty finally happened! Just kidding, booties have existed since literally the dawn of the human race, but Vogue discovered them, so that was fun. Read Kate Brown's take on the whole thing over at Jezebel.



• "Serial" was the best podcast ever ... and then there was backlash. Read Anna Silman's guide to it all over at Salon.



• And, finally, for perhaps the most canny look at the way we've consumed things (like "Serial") this year, read Willa Paskin's piece on overwrought cultural manias for Slate. You'll be obsessed with it, I swear.