Pop Culture Mondays/8.24.20

The “I ❤️ NY” Edition

Brooke Hammerling
Pop Culture Mondays
12 min readAug 24, 2020

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Welcome to my brain…

HAPPY Monday my Pop Culture junkies and welcome to the 2nd to LAST Monday in August. It has been a hell of a week..which is saying a lot considering all the weeks we have had. From the fires raging in California and an entire redwood forest GONE, to another UNARMED black man being killed in front of his children in Wisconsin, to a storm in Iowa called a derecho, a storm I had never ever heard of, which has destroyed lives and homes and 35% of the state’s corn but HAS VIRTUALLY no coverage in the media which is just ridiculous.

Sure we have had some beautiful moments this week including last Monday after I wrote about Selling Sunset on Netflix being so over the top and yet the most addictive show ever and then OF ALL THINGS, my neighbors and I found a little lost doggo and I spent the rest of my Monday trying to track down his owner by doing some MEGA NANCY DREW stuff and….turns out the owner was Christine, the star of the show and that was some art imitating life imitating art imitating life MADNESS. Anyway, she was lovely and sweet and sent me two dozen long stem red roses which is more than I can say i have gotten from any boy in a while so it made my day.

I digress. As always. But this week is tough to avoid what I have always set out to avoid …TRUMP (for you amazing NEW subscribers, PCM is a TRUMP-FREE ZONE). I mean there is a lot on that front. From his wife literally taking all the color out of the rose garden which is MAYBE the most ON BRAND thing the Trumps can do so there is that…to the whole, really hard to witness, Conway family drama which I have decided to refrain from saying anything snarky about the parents due to the clear crisis those kids are in. It’s just all so sad. SO…I am trying to escape that and make this a little escape. AND finally…this is the I ❤️ NY edition — ironic as I write this from my new home in LA — but I will never give up on NYC. My TRUE HOME is in NYC and it always will be. While I am taking a minute, NYC is the best place in the world (except from January-March and I will always say this…). We will discuss a little more below…

V O T E

THE NECKLACE:

I have thought about it all week…how on earth am I going to cover all the magical viral moments that came out of the DNC and not talk about the current commander in chief? Well I am going to try. There were some amazing moments…there were some real CRINGY moments. In my opinion, there were some moments WAY better produced than others. Like I JUST WISH Lebron James and Laurene Powell Jobs and their team who produced that whole Graduation special we all saw months ago had produced it…it just could have used a bit of magic in my opinion. Funnily enough, I actually bitched about it to a media executive about how badly produced I thought the network putting it on had done and he explained to me…because apparently I am AN IDIOT…that it was on EVERY NETWORK. HAHAHAHA..I mean sure enough…so we will just leave it there.

I have broken down a few of my fave viral moments but NONE more amazing than “THE NECKLACE”. Now obviously, Michelle Obama’s speech and SHADE of “it is what it is” was an incredible speech, but her necklace became center stage. A beautiful and delicate necklace perfectly placed sending her message to vote. The necklace is from one of my favorite jewelry designers BYCHARI (unlike Michelle Obama who is spreading inspiration, I have a BYCHARI necklace that spells out my NAME 🙄 ) And not only was our Queen, Obama, highlighting the message to vote…she was also shining a light on an incredible black female entrepreneur Chari Cuthbert. And sales went thru the roof apparently. I highly recommend CHECKING THIS STUFF OUT. Whether you want to give someone a gift…or treat yourself…I am OBSESSED with it all.

If you missed her speech or only saw clips, well I got you…

Other moments that rose to the top were:

OH NO SHE DIDN’T:

I thought I was having some psychic break when I was watching this like my mind altered reality but nope this was real and it was GLORIOUS:

And then this moment from Brayden Harrington, a boy with a stutter who met Biden earlier this year and was so inspired by him. This is one of the bravest things I have ever seen:

If you want to read more on the above moments:

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

NEW YORK IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT DEAD:

Yes yes…this is RICH coming from me, one of those New Yorkers who high tailed her ass to LA during the pandemic. TRUST me, I see the irony. I made the move for personal reasons but my home and my heart are very much still there. And OH how I wish I were there now as it shows itself to be the beautiful and strong city it is with the outdoor dining and spontaneous concerts on the streets and the strength and the kindness New Yorkers all have. Yes there has been an upswing of violence and homelessness (everywhere I will say) but the city has shown itself to be an incredible and vibrant place and one of the most resilient places in the world. So, while the narrative of “NY is over” has been growing the last few months, it hit its peak when JACKASS James Altucher who I am seemingly friends with on Facebook and I recalls seeing long posts from in the past I think about how he like gave up all his possessions in the world and chose the life of a Nomad (ok boo, go be a Nomad) wrote an essay on LinkedIn about how NYC is dead and all the reasons why. I find it really hard to understand how a Nomad who lives nowhere and has no earthly possessions signs a lease in Miami but whatever I digress:

And man did it get people HOT under the collar. I saw so much chatter I just wanted to hop on a plane and go home immediately. And one of the smartest takes, unsurprisingly, was from NYC-VC Fred Wilson who breaks it down honestly and succinctly and beautifully:

AND then there was Jerry Seinfeld. I mean this was GREAT JERRY Seinfeld. You know how comics — when they get super rich and older tend to not be as funny or relatable (enter Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, etc.) and Seinfeld was there for me. I mean I love some of his stuff he’s done post-Seinfeld, BUT the edge was somehow different. BUT he comes back swinging today with his response to James the Nomad and others and it IS spectacular:

Speaking of NY…

TIK TOK TREND: NYU QUARANTINE FOOD PLAN

So, an interesting story after my whole NYC is amaze post but IT IS WHAT IT IS. So in my ever increasing addiction to TikTok (sorry, if I am late to a Zoom call and I apologize and say a call ran over please know I am likely LYING and that I had just lost track of time watching TikToks but I digress…), I noticed a trend popping up where college kids — specifically NYU students — posting videos of their horrible food boxes being delivered during their quarantine. Let me back up and explain as I am SOMEWHAT of an expert on this whole NYU topic. Not just because my apartment is in the heart of NYU land BUT ALSO because of ONE LOUIE SWISHER. Louie is the brilliant and talented son of Kara Swisher and Megan Smith. Kara and Megan took him on a lot of college tours. I mean they were amazing parents and invested SO much time in seeing the colleges around the country. And then enter ME. One Saturday morning, a VERY hungover me had the privilege of being the person Louie wanted to go with him on his NYU college tour. CRAZY AUNT BROOKE at your service. I am not going to lie, it was a rough morning for me, BUT as always, I pulled it together. I sat in the room with all the other prospects and their attentive parents though maybe I was slightly different as I kept making Louie do things for my Insta stories because….CONTENT. As we walked around the Village I pointed out my favorite places…bars, cafes, restaurants, though Louie asked actually important questions about the library hours and the dining options. ALL in all…we had an amazing time and YOU KNOW WHAT? OF all the schools he could have gone to…he CHOSE NYU, because CRAZY Aunt Brooke MAYBE had a little inspiration. But really, he just fell in love with NYC. And on top of being a great student and a great athlete, he is a CHEF. I mean really and truly…he has gone to cooking programs in Italy. SO, when I heard that NYU was making its out of state students quarantine in their dorms for 2 weeks with STRICT guidelines including not going out for food and having meal plans being delivered to the kids rooms, I knew Louie would be creative (Megan and Kara raised amazing boys) and he would be resourceful and make most of his food. TRUE STORY. But not every kid can do that nor has the dorm set-up Louie has…so they took their frustrations to TikTok and it is something. These kids got sad sad horrible meals. Some didn’t get delivered until mid-day. Some were missing items or had moldy ones. I mean I give it to the kids for making content and having a sense of humor BUT…these kids are locked up…away from everyone they know…and not even getting fed appropriately?? SHAME ON NYU FOR THIS ONE. SHAME SHAME. And NYU had to issue a statement on the whole situation.

Here are some examples:

And here is the famous Louie Swisher (PS: I had his CONSENT to write about him this week…)

Have I been living under a ROCK??

AUDIENCES ARE PAYING FOR CONTENT.

We are all paying for content. Hulu, Netflix, Spotify, HBO Max, and….ONLYFANS?? So, a week ago I had no knowledge of OnlyFans…clearly making me one of the few. DID YOU KNOW?? I mean maybe I need to UP MY GAME in the adult content space but regardless…whereas I had not known about it a week ago, it now comes up in conversations MANY MANY times a day. I was trying to understand it…basically it’s a subscription to content where you pay a monthly subscription to your fave people (adult, celebs, influencers) for their own original not seen elsewhere content. So this is no t their Insta or TikTok content but more like the old school peep show content. Or at least a lot of THAT. It is definitely big in the gay community and the adult community — and since they are ALWAYS ALWAYS the trend setters…it is now moving into the pop culture community with influencers and celebs getting in on the action.

HONESTLY, I could try to explain it all here but I think these guys are amazing and tell the whole PAYING FOR CONTENT story the best…I highly recommend watching this whole video because you will be smarter:

So whereas we pay a monthly fee for ALL of Netflix…with OnlyFans, you pay a $4.99 monthly subscription to a person ( I THINK this varies quite a bit)….and you can also TIP them. Whether adult content, or behind the scenes of making a TikTok…I still have SO MUCH TO LEARN.

And this week, former Disney star, Bella Thorne, who is another Disney star who has chosen to rebel from the manufactured bubbly gum sweet child star into a more…um…well…grown up woman navigating early adulthood, by launching her own OnlyFans page and it BLEW up the Internet:

So I somehow missed this amaze NYT profile on it last year….which calls it a paywall for porn but it is clearly NOW morphing into something beyond STRAIGHT up porn…but alas, time will tell:

AND THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS….

I have to get back to my day job though maybe I should start selling subscriptions to PCM instead if everyone is paying for content these days? I mean maybe that would cover the cost of treats I get for 🥔 the dog (to be faire, I have to buy a specific kind of treat as he is allergic to everything and the treats cost more than avocados at Citarella or Bristol Farms so there’s that…) There has been some breaking news since I began writing this like Jerry Falwell, Jr. stealing a storyline from Legally Blonde and disclosing his wife has an affair with the pool boy named Giancarlo who is now blackmailing them…Me thinks there is MUCH more to this story but yet..I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU JERRY FALWELL JUNIOR:

But here are some of the other crazy things from this week that need to be highlighted:

  • “Sexy” or I say TERRIFYING Willy Wonka on TikTok has become a sensation. THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES:

Try wrapping your head around this one:

  • NBA Twitter GOT ME last night. One of our fave people ever (AND PCM SUBSCRIBER MARK CUBAN) who owns the Dallas Mavericks had a HUGE moment last night when the world seemingly stopped and all eyes were on this game and on the most incredible basketball player of the moment, Luka Doncic. Even for me, someone not paying attention to sports all that much, it took over and I was riveted. Doncic ended the night with what ESPN tells me is CRAZY: 43 points, 17 boards, 13 assists and the game winner for the Mavericks against the LA-Clippers who had HAD a 21 point lead at one point. Even I know that’s INCREDIBLE. This was the most exciting thing I have watched and think about this…they are in this bubble in Disney World…there are NO fans, and yet you still feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. INCREDIBLE.
  • Follow this up with a viral video of bats…filmed upside down has taken over the socials:
  • AND OMG this kept me up last night thank you VERY MUCH HBO MAX…BUCKLE UP because this is nuts:
  • And LAST but certainly not least, the “I AM AN ACCOUNTANT” trend on TikTok. I cannot even explain it so I will let Taylor Lorenz show you:

Until next week, my Pop Culture Junkies. I mean I have NO idea what the next week will hold but we are on a tear…and the last week of August when I am usually on a beach somewhere with an out of office on instead will be one waiting for the next viral moment. Have an amazing and safe and calm and drama-free and HEALTHY week everyone.

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