Pop Culture Mondays/10.2.23
The “LAS VEGAS SPHERE” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. I am in recovery from an incredible weekend in Las Vegas, which we will get to, but this is why this newsletter is LATE today, which it will undoubtedly be, but it IS WHAT IT IS. I am particularly proud of my Baby Yoda image today because I used the NEW ADOBE AI PHOTOSHOP editing tool, which they unveiled last week at the CODE conference, and OMG, it is so cool! I found this image online, but it wasn't entirely right SO….I fixed it. Was that the most dramatic thing I saw at CODE this year?
It. Was. Not.
Many of you have asked me about this, and for those of you who have NO idea what I am talking about, grab a drink for this one.
There was a lot of drama last week, especially on Twitter, about the interview of Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of Twitter/X. The extraordinary Julia Boorstin of CNBC interviewed her as the final interview of the legendary tech conference, CODE. In the interview, you watched a seasoned broadcast journalist become a LEGEND, and I hope every major news network is clamoring to get her a massive contract and put her on ALL the TV. Not that Julia wasn’t already a star, but LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING…this was a career-changing moment. And that’s because she found herself in a very awkward and uncomfortable situation, and yet she navigated so incredibly and beautifully; we all should celebrate that.
But let’s back up.
The CODE conference was started 20 years ago by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Then it was called the D Conference (their media brand was called AllThingsD, and the conference was shortened to “D”), and it was THE event…a must-attend tech conference. MUCH has been written about it. I co-hosted legendary poker parties that many have gone on to try to replicate. It had a fantastic run. And incredible and tricky interviews happened there including of Mark Zuckerberg and Carly Fiorina who both melted down. Legends like Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison and Bill Gatesd all sat for tough interviews. But things do come to an end and Walt retired, and then Kara stepped aside last year, and the event was handed over to three new hosts: Nilay Patel of the Verge, Casey Newton of Platformer, and Julia Boorstin of CNBC. The three of them, who were excellent, secured speakers, and a group of people gathered in the lux Laguna Beach hotel to watch interviews and see demos of new technology as well as network and nosh. BUT…the buzziest interview was by far the one closing the conference with Julia and Linda Yaccarino.
The conference biz is hard. A high-profile speaker drops out, and everyone is in a scramble. And that’s what happened the week before. Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, obvs had to drop out due to the UAW strike. But that’s a big hole. And the team came together to try to find a last-minute replacement.
And Kara did. But these things take time. And LATE Monday evening on Yom Kippur, Kara was able to secure Yoel Roth, the former head of Trust and Safety at Twitter, who had had a nasty experience with Elon that led to major safety issues for him and his family where they needed to move to a new location. He wrote about it here (GIFTED ARTICLE BTW:
Now, these things take time to confirm and organize, secure, and finalize, and it’s not a snap of the finger. So once the team had everything finalized and sorted, Linda and her team were notified Wednesday morning that Yoel was now speaking, and she was given the opportunity to speak BEFORE him so as not to have to address anything he raised.
She declined that.
There has been a lot of misinformation about this being an intentional sandbagging situation…IT WAS NOT. THERE WAS NO SANDBAGGING.
Sandbagging would have been not telling her this was happening at all. Sandbagging would have been bringing Yoel out on stage with Linda. Or presenting documents never seen before to Linda on stage.
None of that happened.
She and her team had over 8 hours to prepare, a lifetime for a prepared CEO. And frankly, she could have walked. Of course, that would have become headline news, BUT that would have been a quick hit, and then everyone would have moved on. Instead, which now lives for all the world to see, she came out on FIRE and indignant about the Yoel interview (who was lovely, BTW, and said nothing negative about Linda AT ALL), and Linda could not move on from Yoel. The best thing she could have done was come out in a way that created a bond with the audience vs. being clearly very agitated. Julia could have asked her the question on how to respond to anything Yoel has said about Twitter, and she could have responded like this:
I appreciate Yoel had his own experience. He was at a different company from me. He was at Twitter. I am at X. And let’s talk about what’s happening at X!
BUT, that’s not what happened. If you have the guts and the nerves to watch this whole interview, then HERE YOU GO:
WOO BOY. I mean, this poor CEO didn't know what TELEGRAM was and thought Julia was referencing an actual telegram. I DIE tbh. Also, I felt personally attacked by her “chuckles” line…because that was MOST def me, and I wouldn't say CHUCKLING was the right term. It was more like shocked laughter, sighs, questioning moans, and so forth. CHUCKLES was not how I would describe it.
And of course, the INTERNET’S fave was when she showed her phone and her home screen not only showed some cute BOOMER apps…it did not have X on it. ROOKIE MOVE.
So…as many have pointed out. MAYBE…just MAYBE…get yourself a comms team.
Anyway, I know there is a pool going around on the over/under of how long she remains as CEO as a result of this interview. Last I checked, it was about 4 weeks.
TIKTOK has exploded around this as well once the video (FINALLY) went live. The fact is, once they moved on from the Yoel stuff, the CEO showed she just SIMPLY didn’t know simple facts about the business. A fatal error.
So that is all I want to say to that. HUGE props to Julia for handling the interview with grace and strength, and huge props to all of team CODE for all their work. For an excellent write-up on it, check this out:
OK, so it's an unusual opener of PCM, but I felt I needed to get this one out of the way since I am still getting SO many questions about it.
AND if you missed last week’s pod…well, it was all about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and it was a fun one.
But we are NOT done with those two by a long shot…so grab ANOTHER drink or coffee and some Haribo candy and those headphones and ENJOY.
ACHTUNG BABY!
If you follow me on social media, then this post will come as NO surprise to you being my lead story. But if you don’t or you are not sure of all the details, let me give you an explainer.
Jim Dolan is the much-disliked owner of venues like Madison Square Garden and Radio City, and he owns the NY Knicks (a basketball team) and the NY Rangers (a hockey team.) He is disliked for a variety of reasons, but the main point seems to be that he has a habit of throwing fans out of venues and banning them if they say things about him he doesn’t like. He also installed facial recognition software at his venues that can show people that he has issues with, and then he has them escorted out once the software spots them.
DARK SHIT.
But I am not going to lie. I mean, that’s sort of the dream, isn't it? If I could have software that removed all of the people I do not like and have been mean to me from places I am at…I mean, that’s THE DREAM. WHAT IS THE POINT OF BEING RICH if you cannot do that? I digress…
I had it in last week’s PCM, but just because it is so good and explains what the SPHERE IS and how it came to be, please read Katie Rosman’s piece in the New York Times HERE :
I respect Jim Dolan for trying to build his own legacy and create a new type of music experience, which is what he did with the new SPHERE in Las Vegas. This new venue is unlike anything you have ever seen. It is a perfect sphere; on the outside, it is entirely a giant screen. I mean, the upkeep will be insane, and I do feel nervous that after a few months, it will start not to look great. EVERY SINGLE screen I saw along the strip was missing a lot of lights; therefore, the videos they were showing or ads they were running looked sad and beaten up. Carrot Top was like missing an eye in one of them. SCARY SHIT. My thoughts and prayers go to the engineers that will need to ensure every single pixel of every single screen on the outside AND inside of the sphere is always working.
I really had NO idea what to experience and frankly, I was afraid that all of the hype was going to ensure it was a giant letdown.
It was not.
The Sphere had its grand opening with OBVIOUSLY my favorite band of all time, U2. ONLY U2 could open it. IT WAS FLAWLESS.
U2 will be at the Shere for a limited residency that goes through December, and if you can, get out there to see it. You can make it a trifecta:
U2 @ The Sphere.
Gaga (Jazz & Piano) @ MGM
Adele @ Caesars.
Oh and DO NOT FORGET the F1 Grand Prix IN Vegas in November.
AND omg…the SUPER BOWL in January.
Vegas is having a moment.
But let’s get back to the Sphere. AS incredible as the space is…and IT IS…and as wonderful as each and every person working there was…the success will entirely fall on the experience itself. It is not a venue for a singer to just arrive and start playing. The entire backdrop and ceiling is a giant screen. It makes IMAX look like a giant TUBE TV from the olden days. The creative team behind this were Es Devlin and Willie Williams, who gave the audience an UNREAL immersive art experience, including works from:
Brian Eno
Marco Brambilla
Treatment Studio
Industrial Light & Magic
Moment Factory
John Gerrard
And…Es and Willie themselves.
Guys…..GUYS….when I explain how insane it was and what a mind trip of an experience it was, that doesn't do it justice. I mean, the band sounded great — even with a drummer filling in for Larry Mullen. The drummer is a VERY handsome Dutch man. But it is U2 + ART + IMMERSIVE Experience and IT WAS INCREDIBLE.
Rather than I tell you…LET ME SHOW YOU.
First, let’s start with one of my TikToks which has gone viral:
That entire thing is a screen except for the band who IS REAL, who are on top of a turntable stage designed by Brian Eno.
We are not outside. We are not in the desert. We were in a venue filled with over 17,000 people who were LOSING THEIR MINDS.
Let’s look at some more:
Here is another of mine where you see the sunrise…I WAS NOT ON DRUGS but I felt like it tbh:
Here are some from different perspectives:
And I love this one because I watched the drone flying around each night, and I was excited to see what it would capture:
It really was an incredible experience, from the performance to the sound to the visuals to the way it all made you feel. I cannot say enough.
But I can say…from a pop culture perspective, it was amazing to see so many huge names come out to celebrate it, from celebs like Oprah to Dr. Dre to Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel to my fave podcaster Jason Bateman (SMARTLESS IS SO GOOD!!!) to John Hamm to tech people like Jeff Bezos and Sheryl Sandberg …it was QUITE the show in the audience as well.
Read more here:
And DEF try to go if you can. IT IS WORTH IT.
WE ARE ONLY AT THE BEGINNING:
Another PCM, another Taylor/Travis post. But SO much has happened since we last all met on Monday. TBH, you have likely seen the trend that really rose AFTER I published PCM, which is where women are baiting their fathers or brothers or boyfriends or husbands about Taylor making Travis a well-known person. But just in case, here are a couple of my faves:
And the Kelce brothers themselves had fun with it on their podcast, which now I think is like the most popular podcast:
Though people did try to switch up the Taylor/Travis trend but it didn't work as well:
And there was also the video capturing Travis looking up to see Taylor in his suite, and his reaction broke the Internet:
BUT here we are Monday morning, and the world exploded AGAIN…Because for the second week in a row, Taylor has shown up to his game. This time in NY against the Jets, and she had a POSSE with her. I mean she brought in reinforcements! Sophie Turner. Blake Lively. Ryan Reynolds. HUGH JACKMAN.
GAME ON everyone.
And the Chiefs beat the Jets, so thankfully, she is not going to get a BAD LUCK moniker in the way other celebs have when dating a football star.
But how the NFL has leaned into this…as well as sports media and other sports leagues…is insane. I love it so much.
From the Chiefs TikTok:
I mean FFS, NBC even got the rights to this song by Taylor Swift for their promo of the game and watch til the VERY end where they use the clip of Travis seeing Taylor in the suite. I MEAN YOU GUYS I AM DEAD.
And overnight…little girls (and big girls!) are becoming obsessed with football:
I mean, there are a million more.
There is also rising speculation that this is NOT a brand new relationship, and they have been together for some time and just kept it under wraps, which would mean a TON of easter eggs like this are being tracked down by Swifties:
CAN YOU EVEN?
Regardless of the truth, this is a moment of worlds colliding. And the power this couple has over us is unlike anything we have seen.
I leave with our darling Stephanie Ruhle:
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
There is more! SO MUCH MORE.
Let’s start with NYC.
The flooding in NYC due to the crazy rains was insane and all captured on social media.
The current NYC Mayor, Eric Adams, is maybe the worst mayor NYC has ever seen, and that’s saying a lot — I am looking at YOU, de Blasio.
But when criticized for not closing the subway in advance and warning citizens not to use it, his response was:
“If anyone was caught off guard, they had to be living under a rock.”
GTFO Mayor Adams. BYEeeeee.
Take a look at NYC:
Yeah pretty grim.
What climate change?
BOY MATH!
So this is a new trend but before we go there, you need to know this is in reaction to the GIRL MATH trend, which was basically showing you how we come up with making expensive or unnecessary purchases:
I fully agree with everything she says. Sometimes, if I pay cash for something vs. putting it on a credit card I think it was basically free.
OUR MINDS ARE WILD.
So here is BOY MATH.
SO GOOD.
Cardi B is a history stan…
The more you follow Cardi B, the more you realize she might be a time traveler brought to the world today to save us. I am serious. I love her. She is so talented and so modern and so relevant and SO full of surprises.
She did an episode of Hot Ones where she was interviewed while eating very very spicy wings. And in this episode, she discloses her unusual obsession:
You need to watch the whole episode…I love her so much:
Girl films her terrible first date:
She claims this was totally real, and it starts crazy and goes OFF the rails,
I won’t post all the videos, but here is one more doozie:
But she posts a follow-up explainer, which INCLUDES voice memos from him….I mean, she is BRUTAL. Love it.
Lock your daughters UP:
The boys from the Idaho prison system are on the prowl!
You get the idea.
Politics went viral:
Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett had THINGS TO SAY.
FUN.
WERE YOU a Scandal fan??
I was. I AM. And I cannot think of more sexual chemistry on screen that that of Olivia Pope and our President, Fitz. I mean. THEY SMOLDERED. If you ever need help getting all hot and bothered for whatever reason…watch the two of them together on screen. Here is an example:
And THIS:
“Stolen moments aren’t a life” — MY GIRL Olivia Pope with the wisdom.
Well, for a moment…we got them back. WE GOT THEM BACK.
And we were all like my favorite creator, Jake Shane, at that moment:
AI IMAGES:
Have you guys seen these?
We are so fucked.
Though I do hope this creator knows who Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are!
A stolen cat has us CAPTIVATED:
This man got out of his Lyft and was going to lean in and grab his cat, who was in a carrier, but the Lyft driver took off with the cat in tow. We are all invested.
There are a lot more….
BUT despite what seemed hopeless…the story has a happy ending!
It is terrifying that apps like Lyft and Uber don't connect you to a human IMMEDIATELY when there is a problem. TERRIFYING.
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
I am sorry this is SO late, but I recorded this week’s POD with special guest TAYLOR LORENZ and had to pause writing. So check out my podcast THIS THURSDAY!
I am off to get my flu shot AND COVID booster, so I HAVE TO GO! I am skipping over some stuff, like around Dax Shepherd, because he bores me, but if it is still happening and a topic next week, I will, of course, discuss it.
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Xx,
Brooke
