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Ten years ago the Democratic Party faced dire election prospects, similar to those it faces today, with widespread disappointment in the economic recovery and too much complacency among Democratic voters and a fired-up right wing opposition. Barack Obama's re-election may look like a foregone conclusion in the rear-view mirror, but it very much was not. As the New York Times noted at the time, Obama had to overcome "powerful economic headwinds, a lock-step resistance to his agenda by Republicans in Congress and an unprecedented torrent of advertising." In what was perhaps a bigger surprise, Democrats managed to overcome those forces to gain two seats in the Senate, even as Republicans held control of the House.

Blame the Tea Party. That far-right movement was focused not only on pushing Democrats out of office, but also on seizing control of the GOP. On that front, they had considerable success. But as the 2012 election demonstrated, it came at times at great cost, as radical-right candidates who performed well in primaries often faltered on the main stage. The most notorious case is that of Todd Akin, the Republican who lost a Missouri Senate race to Democrat Claire McCaskill after claiming that no rape victim needed an abortion, because, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."To those who followed the religious right's rhetoric, the comment came as no surprise that's pretty mucha standard belief in the anti-choice movement that dominates the Republican Party. But for ordinary voters who don't follow politics closely, it was a shocking wake-up call that led to Akin's loss.

RELATED:Virginia election: Democrats left listless without Donald Trump

In the decade since, however, Republicans haven't moderated on these issues at all. On the contrary, the strategy in 2022 seems to be to go all-out on pushing a radical religious right agenda. The examples just from recent weeks are overwhelming.

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In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxtonissued a directive that parents who support trans children should be investigated for child abuse, even though that means doctors are supposed to report parents for taking the best medical advice.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is supporting a billthat would allow parents to sue teachers who acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ people, even in small ways such as allowing kids of same-sex parents to talk about their families during "show and tell."Florida Sen. Rick Scott releasedan 11-point GOP plan for America that states heterosexual marriage is "God's design for humanity," which isn't just an insult to LGBTQ Americans but the nearly 50% of all adults who aren't married. Florida Republicans also invited legislative testimonyfrom an anti-choice activist who argued against legal birth control, claiming, "The contraceptive mentality is what fuels the bloodthirsty abortion industry."

In Michigan, all three GOP candidates for attorney general affirmed support for a state's "right" to criminalize access to birth control. In the same state, Republican gubernatorial candidateGarrett Soldano said rape victims should not be allowed abortions, but instead should be told to be happy because, "God put them in this moment" and that we should "protect that DNA" instead.

And in Ohio, the frontrunner for the GOP senate primary, Josh Mandel, has been declaring that the separation of church and state is a "myth." (The phrasecomes directly from Thomas Jefferson himself.)

RELATED:Democrats can win the culture wars but they have to take on the fight early and often

What is remarkable is how none of these fools seem worried about these outrageous views coming back to haunt them in a general election, as they did for Akin. These aren't politicians from deep red states, after all. Florida, Michigan and Ohio all are swing states, as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, both Democrats, can attest. Even Texas, which has been controlled by Republicans for decades, isn't a sure bet. Abbott's opponent in the general election will be former congressman Beto O'Rourke, who got within a couple of points of beating Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterms. That was before the disastrous statewide blackouts and massive COVID-19 debacle that happened on the GOP watch.

Republicans aren't worried, however, because they're likely counting on two things: The increasing nationalization of partisan politics and the fact that most voters just aren't paying enough attention to understand how far to the right the GOP has gone.

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On the former, the bet is quite simple: Voters are blaming Democrats for our currently bleak landscape, because a Democrat controls the White House. Republicans want to make the 2022 elections a referendum on President Joe Biden's supposed failures to end the pandemic or bring inflation under control, even though the former is wholly the fault of Republicans themselves for encouraging vaccine rejection and the latter is not something, say, re-electing a Republican governor of Texas will change in any way.Indeed, the laser-like focus on national politics is such that Paxton blew off a primary debatelast week in favor of attending theConservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

On the latter, well, Republicans have a good reason to believe those moderate and swing voters they need to win will never find out about their extreme statements and actions. As political scientistsYanna KrupnikovandJohn Barry Ryanargued in the New York Times in 2020, "most Americans upward of 80 percent to 85 percent follow politics casually or not at all." They will never hear about Republicans pushing to allow birth control to be criminalized, or Republican candidates calling rape-caused pregnancy a gift. So conservatives can happily play up far right bona fides to their rabid base, content in the belief that the majority of voters will never know how terrible they are.

RELATED:First, the book-banners came for CRT and LGBTQ. Now they're censoring women's history

We saw how this worked in the Virginia gubernatorial election, where Republican Glenn Youngkin was able to win with a two-pronged strategy. For the deeply invested right wing base, his message was pure MAGA, which successfully turned out the hardcore Republican vote. For the rest of the public, however, he hid behind a demeanor of normalcy that lulled Democratic voters into feeling it would be safe not to vote and allowed moderates to believe he's not one of Those Republicans. Now Youngkin has gone all-out on a far-right agenda of defunding essential programs and banning books. His approval ratings are already underwater, which is rare this soon after an election. Virginia voters apparently are surprised at how conservative Youngkin is, even though even a cursory examination of his past would have revealed that fact. But most people simply don't pay enough attention, until it's too late.

The situation is incredibly dire now, as there's been a dramatic decline in the public's interest in the news and politics in the past year. As Axios reports, just 34% of Democratic voters report paying a "great deal of attention to national news in 2021, compared to 69% in November 2020." Independent voters have also tuned out dramatically. Republican interest, however, has barely dropped off at all, relative to these numbers. Republicans are counting on the people who would be alarmed at their extremism not paying enough attention to notice.

The situation isn't impossible, however. The reason why Akin's comments about "legitimate rape" actually hurt him in the general election is that Democrats went after him hard and made sure the public heard about it. And not just in Missouri, either. High profile Democrats, including Obama himself, made a point of rebuking Akin by declaring "rape is rape" frequently. They nationalized the debate over whether or not some rape victims are "legitimate" and in doing so put Akin's offensive views on the radar of less-engaged voters.

RELATED:Republicans pick Putin over democracy and Rick Scott's creepy blueprint for America shows why

Democrats need to Akin-ize the Republicans by making a spectacle of the grotesque, sadistic, far-right views their opponents are touting. It shouldn't be hard. Republicans aren't exactly hiding what they believe. They flat-out banned abortion in Texas!They are running a nationwide campaign to ban books, something more than 85% of voters oppose. They're coming for birth control and want to shape the law to make heterosexual marriage compulsory. People hate this crap and will vote against it if they know about it.

Unfortunately, President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech Tuesday night largely focused on a laundry list of important-but-boring policy priorities. It's a troubling indicator that Democrats have not learned their lesson. While Biden did defend trans rights, he skated over abortion rights and ignored the red-hot book banning issue. Democratic policies may be popular, but this snooze-fest approach is simply not enough to penetrate the wall of ignorance surrounding most voters. Democrats need to give people something to vote against.

Biden seems to get it on the issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he nodded towardsthe unpopular pro-Putin viewsespoused by Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson. Baiting Republicans into showing who they really are is smart politics. But Biden and the Democrats so far seem reluctant to go for it on all the culture war issues that have a chance of actually waking voters up. If they don't start taking the fight to Republicans, November really will be an ass-whupping.

More:
Why aren't Republicans worried their fanatical culture war will hurt them in the midterms? - Salon

(Photo by Joe Raedle via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trumps political operation continues to steer money to a firm run by Jan. 6 rally organizers, while other organizers of the rally before the deadly Capitol attack are sponsoring this years annual Conservative Political Action Conference, widely known as CPAC.

Trump is slated to speak at the CPAC convening organized by the American Conservative Union on Saturday.

A newly-filed campaign finance disclosure shows Save America, Trumps leadership PAC, paid Event Strategies Inc. more than $837,000 in January this year.

Trumps political operation has paid more than $5.1 million to Event Strategies since the start of the 2020 election, the firm named in a permit for the rally that also employed two individuals involved in the demonstration. Some of those payments came in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 rally.

While some political committees continue to pay Event Strategies, the firm and its partners are becoming controversial even among conservative circles. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation terminated Event Strategy partner Tim Unes from his role in helping plan former Sen. Bob Doles funeral after learning of his ties to the Jan. 6 rally.

The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol subpoenaed Unes, one of the Jan. organizers paid by Trumps campaign.

In total, Trumps political operation reported paying more than $6.8 million to people and firms that organized the Jan. 6 rally since the start of the 2020 election.

Jan. 6 rally organizers sponsoring CPAC 2022

The three groups behind the March to Save America rally on Jan. 6 before the Capitol attack now sponsoring CPAC are Moms for America, Turning Point and Tea Party Patriots.

This is the first year Moms for America, one of the 11 groups partnering on the March to Save America rally, has sponsored CPAC.

Moms for America is listed as a presenting sponsor, a sponsorship level second only to the top sponsor slot held by Fox Nation.

The 2022 sponsorship prospectus does not specify the cost of being a presenting sponsor, noting instead that This unique and customizable opportunity is CPACs top level sponsorship. The next tier down costs $75,000. Last year, the presenting sponsorship package had a starting cost of $100,000.

Moms for Americas entire 2020 fundraising haul was about $408,000, according to its tax returns, up slightly from the prior year when it raised around $300,000.

Tea Party Patriots Action, another group that helped organize the Jan. 6 rally, is a $35,000 supporting sponsor of this years CPAC.

Tea Party Patriots Action was not listed as a sponsor of last years CPAC, which was held weeks after the Capitol attack. But a panel on protecting elections featured Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin. This year, Tea Party Patriots returned as a sponsor and its cofounder gave a talk titled Patriots Unite.

The 501(c)(4) Tea Party Patriots Action was the second biggest 2020 election donor to its super PAC, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund. The super PAC spent about $1 million supporting Trumps re-election and the 501(c)(4) that helped fund it does not disclose its donors.

Turning Point, a nonprofit conservative student group that flourished under the Trump administration, is a $15,000 contributing sponsor of this years CPAC after being a $20,000 supporting sponsor last year. Turning Points 501(c)(4) nonprofit arm, Turning Point Action, is one of the 11 core groups that helped organize the Jan. 6 protests.

None of the groups that helped organize the Jan. 6 rally and are now sponsoring CPAC have disclosed their donors.

Groups at the helm of efforts pushing unfounded and disproven claims of voter fraud around the 2020 election are all listed as sponsors of this years CPAC, including the Public Interest Legal Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and Judicial Watch. The three nonprofits share a small circle of wealthy conservative donors with a revolving door of staff and consultants, according to an investigation by the Guardian using OpenSecrets data.

Another sponsor of this years CPAC is Lindell-TV, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindells online TV show.

A group called Voter Safe House is also listed among CPACs sponsors.

Our dedication to offering an extra layer of accountability, especially in the case of a discrepancy with the official count, means that we strive to offer a real-time vote polling system while ensuring that every vote is counted and that no voice is silenced during a time of election, Voter Safe Houses site reads, claiming you can maintain your individual votes and watch in real-time as others throughout the nation log their votes.

Voter Safe House lists one partner on its site: Our Freedom Media Group, part of an alternative social media network that sponsored CPAC last year. Its services include a Facebook alternative called Our Freedom Book and a YouTube alternative called Our Freedom Tube.

Other alternative social media platforms sponsoring CPAC include video platform Rumble and microblogging platform Gettr, which was founded by former Trump aide Jason Miller.

In addition to Fox Nation being the sole featuring sponsor, other conservative news organizations sponsoring this years CPAC include Right Side Broadcasting Network and Americas Voice Network, which also goes by Real America News, two outlets that often broadcast Trumps rallies.

Another media sponsor of this years CPAC is the Epoch Times, a news outlet that has ties to members of the Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement banned by Chinas ruling Communist Party. The Epoch Times publisher, Epoch Media Group, has been criticized for favorable coverage of Trump and backed Stop the Steal protests in Taiwan that drew a reported 8,000 people supporting Trump after his loss in the 2020 election.

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Anna is OpenSecrets' Editorial and Investigations Manager. She is also responsible for OpenSecrets' dark money research and researches foreign influence as a part of Foreign Lobby Watch. Anna holds degrees in political science and psychology from North Carolina State University and a J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia School of Law.

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CPAC bankrolled by Jan. 6 rally organizers and groups spreading 2020 election fraud claims OpenSecrets - Center for Responsive Politics

Call it making up for lost time, but as a recent invitee to the great tea party, I have been on an almost manic consumption spree of any and everything related to tea - the worlds number one drink after water. From resolutely having resisted the beverage all my life, to suddenly stocking my pantry with artisanal and rare teas from around India and the worldand making sure I visit at least one new tea producing region every yearmy reverence...nay, obsession with it is a new and ever-evolving one.

No big surprise then, that, as an equally voracious reader, my reading list features all kinds of books related to tea. Be they historical accounts laced with assorted tales of espionage of how tea was first smuggled out of China to make its perilous westbound journey. Or simply guides on how to brew the perfect cup of tea. I have been enjoying my newest dalliance to the hilt.

And so, it was with unbridled fascination that I recently chanced upon and subsequently gourmandised my way through this book. One that proved to be the perfect companion to my many quotidian cups of tea. Black. Never with milk. Always with lemon and honey.

Bringing together her culinary expertise as a trained chef and tea sommelier, along with her wide-ranging travel, Pallavi Nigam Sahay imbues her latest book A Sip In Timewith oodles of passion and reverence for tea. She does this by deftly juxtaposing her personal experiences of drinking various kinds of Indian teas with their individual nuances and qualities that make them coveted worldwide. All this, while giving our indigenous tea varieties, both a historical context, and updated currency.

The author talks of discovering Indias first brew, aka.phalap, as she journeys into the densely forested areas of Upper Assam. Handcrafted by the Singphos, a local tribe, this ancient variety of black tea that is first smoked and then brewed is as different as it can get from what most of us know as just plain old tea. Sahay also talks of the curative properties of tea as kadhasmedicinalconcoctions believed to cure a number of ailmentsmade using tea as a base along with an apothecary cabinet full of herbs and spices.

Nostalgia is another main ingredient of this book as we are given glimpses into great affinities like tea and the rains. Or tea and train journeys for that matter. Speaking of which, the reader is shown the great socio-cultural diversity amidst unity of India through the prism of tea. Be it with Mumbais notorious cutting chai, Haryanas khadi chammach waali chai, Hamachal Pradeshs Kinnauri chai or even with relatively unknown iterations (to me, at least!) like Punes amrutulya chai or Rajasthans nagori chai.

From the very propah English custom of enjoying evening high teawith a variety of savoury snacks, pastries and the ubiquitous scones with jam and clotted creamalong with our very desipropensity for afternoon chai sessions over hot pakoras, crispy matris and aloo bondas served with a variety of chutneys, snacks and tea time are a marriage made in culinary heaven. Keeping this as the main thrust of the book, the author comes well-equipped with an arsenal of easy-to-follow recipes.Over 60 tea time snacks and savouries to be specific.

Recipes and cooking techniques that she has collected from a plethora of sources like friends, colleagues and most importantly family members. This means, we get anecdotal takes on typical Indian tea snack recipes like that for the fennel and cardamom-infused Bihari thekua (pg.19) and Gujarati methi thepla (pg.75) among others that dot the book. Each comforting in their familiarity and rustic appeal.

Tips like using oil instead of butter in a cake to keep it moist, while adding buttermilk to it enhances its crumbliness (pg.129), among scores of others are invaluable nuggets of information. Ones that seem as though coming from a kindly friend who wants to help you do better in the kitchen.

Further into the book, we are introduced to more exotic treats like the semolina and orange syrup-infused basbousa cake (pg.109) from the Middle East thats teamed with Assam orthodox tea. Even a hipster-chic rendition of the very au courant avocado toast (pg.157) manages to find a place in the book. This one, the author chooses to pair with the bergamot orange-infused, floral tasting earl grey tea.

But speaking of tea and more so for a book that pivots around this all-important axis, its a little disappointing to find not a single recipe for renditions of the beverage. I would have loved a few recipes for versions of tea like the mint-imbued Parsichoi (yes, not chai, but choi!) that we taste so much in places like Bombays iconic Irani cafs. Or even for a fragrant Kashmiri kahwa, for that matter.

And while the author does speak in fleeting words of dishes like lahpet thoke, the Burmese fermented tea leaf salad, there are also no recipes provided in the book using tea leaves or even tea water as an ingredient! Not even for a Punjabi chhole that gets its colour from the addition of black tea water to the boiling chickpeas.

Also in terms of layout and design, not only are the photographs of the corresponding recipe dishes not evocative enough in their colour scale, but the choice of printed paper is way too dull for a book on such a vibrant subject.

I also found the idea of breaking up the recipes (especially the ingredients list) over two pages in numerous instances quite disconcerting and odd given the otherwise generous dimensions of the almost coffee table sized book.

But these are just minor, observational critiques. Ultimately it all boils down (do pardon the pun) to the act of enjoying a fine book that ensnares the reader,keeping one hooked onto its refreshing goodness.

Quite like the very beverage that it helps celebrate and champion down to the T!

(A wearer of many hats in the food and travel space, Mumbai-based Raul Dias is a food-travel writer, a restaurant reviewer, and a food consultant)

Check out the book on Amazon

About the Book

A Sip In Time - Indias finest teas and tea time treats

Pallavi Nigam Sahay

Hachette India

256 pages; 799

Published onMarch 04, 2022

Read more:
A Sip In Time Indias finest teas and tea time treats - BusinessLine

Get Weekend Reads from IdeasA weekly newsletter from the Boston Globe Ideas section, forged at the intersection of 'what if' and 'why not.'

Her private correspondence and her published work highlighted this. Warren was subversive in her messaging, using tools like satire to make rebellious points when so much of America remained divided over the concept of a revolution and complete divorce from Britain. She was among the most notable early masters of using pop culture to make political arguments on behalf of the revolutionary cause.

Warren was born in Barnstable in 1728, the third of 13 children. Girls werent afforded educational opportunities at the time, but she circumvented that by remaining present at her brothers lessons. When she was 17, Mercys father, James, was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, perhaps igniting her interest in politics. Mercys brother James Otis Jr. is famous for his turn of phrase Taxation without representation is tyranny, which became a rallying cry for Revolutionaries throughout the colonies. In 1754, Mercy married James Warren, who would go on to serve as a general in the Continental Army.

It was through these connections that Mercy Warren would meet her two most notable friends: John and Abigail Adams. The Adamses served as confidantes, and Warren, who was reluctant to share work under her own name, sent drafts of her poetry and plays to the original American power couple.

In a letter to Abigail Adams in February 1774, Mercy enclosed a poem about the Boston Tea Party, which had taken place two months earlier. In fact, John Adams had requested that she write one.

Warrens poem was all in favor of the Tea Party revelers. In an introductory note, she lauded them for sacrificing several cargos of tea to the public welfare, and in the poem itself, she assailed British greed, noting that luxury creates such mighty feuds. Even though Warren herself, as well as all colonists, had much to lose financially and otherwise in a potential failed revolution, she committed to the cause and tried to bring others along with her. The poem was largely metaphorical and used imagery from Greek and Roman mythology in lieu of Redcoats and colonists, but the message was clear: The Tea Party was glorious.

It was a compelling piece of writing, but Warren was apprehensive about releasing it into the world. In her letter to Abigail Adams accompanying her poem, Warren asked that the Adamses keep the piece private, at least at first. Warren also wanted to be sure Abigail showed it to John for his critique:

I will not trust the partiallity of my own sex so much as to rely on Mrs. Adams judgment though I know her to be a lady of taste and Discernment. If Mr. Adams thinks it deserving of any further notice and he will point out the faults, which doubtless are many, they may perhaps be corrected, when it shall be at his service.

Why would Warren, with her progressive way of thinking, seek out John Adamss approval for her writing instead of Abigails? Within the social structure of the time, a female poets chances of finding success were low, and John was well connected as an attorney and delegate. His endorsement would have meant more to Warren. Indeed, John loved the poem and had it published (anonymously) on the front page of the Boston Gazette on March 24, 1774.

Warren and Abigail Adamss correspondence picked up in mid-1775 following the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19. On May 15, she wrote to Abigail celebrating the uprising. She expressed pride in being so closely connected with many people (including her husband) who were willing to act so noble a part as to rise up against the British.

Mercy and Abigail were more radical in their loathing of the British than most members of the Continental Congress. The Congress started meeting in an official capacity on May 10, 1775 a few weeks after Lexington and Concord but it made a concerted effort to keep the relationship with Britain intact. In fact, on July 5, 1775, the Congress sent King George III the Olive Branch Petition, which suggested reconciliation between the colonies and the motherland.

John Adams believed war was inevitable, and he privately opposed the document a stance that Mercy Warren encouraged. On the same day the Olive Branch Petition was completed, she wrote to him with a scathing report on how the British were treating Bostonians in the aftermath of Lexington and Concord. She claimed that Britain now lacked the generosity and humanity which has long been the boast of all civilized nations. And while the plagues of famine, pestilence and tyranny reign within the walls, the sword is lifted without and the artillery of war continually [thunders] in our Ears. Mercy lauded the rebels who lost their lives at Lexington and Concord, claiming they had a sense of honor, freedom, and valor.

King George III refused to read the Olive Branch Petition and wouldnt address its grievances. Perhaps that was because of a letter that John Adams wrote to James Warren in which he advocated that every British official be taken prisoner. The letter was intercepted and shared with Parliament. Before long, the Continental Congress was resigned to the idea that war was inevitable, and it formed a committee to write what would become the Declaration of Independence.

Meanwhile, Mercy Warren continued her furious pace of correspondence with such people as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. She also stirred up support for the Revolution in writing designed for public consumption.

In 1776 she wrote a play called The Blockheads. Even though the British were laying siege to Boston, Warren imagined a satirical world in which the Redcoats were trapped and the local Bostonians were terrorizing them and their Loyalist supporters. It was the sort of humor that would have made for a very entertaining show at the time. The opening lines, delivered by a British general named Puff, describe the British as being in a sorry state. They had thought theyd easily ransack Boston, but we are shamefully confined within the bounds of three miles, wrangling and starving among ourselves.

Warren also wrote a character, a bumbling Loyalist named Surly, to lampoon the numerous colonists who still supported the British. Trapped in a saloon with the British, Surly laments that my tenants and my oxen would have been much more agreeable companions than these herd of stalking poltroons.

That would have stung. Poltroons means gutless cowards, and it was not an insult thrown around lightly in the 1770s. In fact, this was such an inflammatory play that Warren released the work anonymously. Nonetheless, it emboldened the Revolutionary experiment.

Nowadays, although many historians remember Warren for her contributions, she lacks the mainstream exposure of her famous correspondents or even her brother James. But her legacy is no less important. She was a woman who understood the power of her pen and was able to carve out a niche from which her views could be widely shared. She was a crucial communicator to Congress about the goings-on in Massachusetts during the most desperate days of the Revolution. She even wrote a complete history of the American Revolution in 1805 the first by a woman.

Considering all that, its unsurprising that John Adams heaped praise on her in 1774, when he wrote to James Warren and asked him to encourage Mercy to produce a poem on the Boston Tea Party. But for want of this same poetical genius [as Mercy] I can do nothing. I wish to see a late glorious event, celebrated, by a certain poetical pen, which has no equal that I know of in this country.

Jon Mael is a freelance writer in Sharon who focuses on history. Follow him on Twitter @jmael2010.

Excerpt from:
The woman whose subversive writing spurred the American Revolution - The Boston Globe

Kate McKinnon says Greta Gerwigs Barbie movie script is one of the greatest things shes ever read

The SNL star cant believe that is lucky enough to be involved with the film - which is a live-action tale centring around the Mattel doll starring Margot Robbie as the titular character - after they roomed together at NYU.

While appearing on The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon, the 38-year-old actress told host Jimmy Fallon: A Greta Gerwig Barbie movie I cant believe my good fortune! I went to college with Greta, we lived in the same disgusting dorm suite. The script is one of the greatest things Ive ever read, its going to be (makes chefs kiss sign), just you wait.

The movie - which also stars Simu Liu, America Ferrera and Ryan Gosling as Ken - is co-written by the Lady Bird directors boyfriend Noah Bambuch, who wrote and directed Netflixs Marriage Story.

Greta - who has collaborated with Noah previously on Frances Ha and Mistress America - shared about how she once formed a hilarious improv group after failing to get into the main one that Kate was in.

In 2015.

She said: It was called the Tea Party before the Tea Party. The most illustrious member of this group was Kate McKinnon. We were in the same class and did theatre and stuff together, and we got rejected from the main improv group. So then we started our own improv group and would hold our shows at the exact same time so that people would have to choose who they wanted to be friends with more. It was hilarious. I love improv. I would love doing it again.

More here:
Kate McKinnon thinks Greta Gerwig's Barbie script is 'one of the greatest things' she's ever read - Crow River Media