Watch With Jen™

It's always such a joy when I can bring on a friend I know IRL who lives in my home state, so it is with great pleasure that I scheduled a Zoom hang with the critically acclaimed, wondrously creative, and darkly comedic journalist-turned-author Amina Akhtar. More of a breezy, nostalgic chat about life, Gen X, print journalism, and the '90s, than a traditional episode devoted to the movies, with the release of Devil Wears Prada 2 right around the corner, it was the perfect time to talk to Amina about the twenty years she spent working in the fashion magazine industry. Accidentally stumbling into a full time position at Vogue after a month working as a fact checker, Amina was the assistant to Anna Wintour's second in command, and worked along with Lauren Weisberger, who no one in her office realized was secretly writing and getting ready to publish the thinly veiled satire of her work life with Wintour at Vogue in The Devil Wears Prada. Light-hearted, funny, and eye-opening, Amina shares her insights and memories, and we discuss how the film, starring Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and Meryl Streep, reflected and differed from the real thing.Bio: Amina Akhtar is a novelist and former fashion editor. Her satirical first novel, #FashionVictim, drew critical acclaim. Kismet, her second book, was set in the stunning and creepy world of wellness. Almost Surely Dead, Akhtar’s third novel, was published by Mindy Kaling’s imprint. Akhtar is currently working on her fourth novel.Akhtar has worked at Vogue, Elle, the New York Times, and New York Magazine, where she was the founding editor of the women’s blog The Cut. She lives not too far from Sedona, Arizona.Originally Posted (3/29/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/154266082Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless ShopDonate to the Pod via Ko-fi & PayPalTheme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Two of my favorite buddies, New York Times bestselling, award-winning KING OF ASHES author S.A. Cosby and WBUR and Spliced Personality film critic Sean Burns, return to the podcast to celebrate the career of the great character actor Delroy Lindo. Originally conceived at the end of last season before life and scheduling got in the way, with Lindo's recent Oscar nomination for SINNERS, this winter/spring was the perfect time to discuss one of our favorite scene-stealers of the last 35+ years on Watch With Jen. Referencing everything, including our favorites like HEIST and GET SHORTY, in this episode, we took a closer look at MALCOLM X, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, THE CORE, and A LIFE LESS ORDINARY to illustrate that he's always one of the most compelling parts of any movie, no matter how it turns out in the end. The result is a fun, thoughtful, and rollicking conversation.Originally Posted on Patreon (3/22/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/153670188Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless ShopDonate to the Pod via Ko-fi & PayPalTheme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive