Pop Culture Mondays/11.7.22
The “WE HAVE A LOT TO DISCUSS” Edition
WELL, hello my darling pop culture junkies. I am BACK. I am sorry for the unannounced break last week and thank you to ALL who checked in on me that I was ok! I am totally OK but it MIGHT take me a minute or two (aka a few hours) to get my groove back, not because I missed a week but because basically, the world is on fire. Not literally, though who knows, that’s probably coming. Frogs will fall from the sky. But yeah, these are crazy crazy times and I don't know about you but DAMN I really wish I could teleport BACK to the summer of 1980 when my biggest concern was whether to play in the sprinkler at home or go ride my bike to my friend’s house (no helmet obviously) and play in HER sprinkler which had this cool clown thing on it. I miss piling into the back of a station wagon, I mean PILED in, with all of us facing different directions but needing to have a view of a window so we could pump our arms at trucks to get them to blow their horns as our moms drove us to the Ground Round. And at night, vs doom scrolling through Twitter, the only noise at least in the summer was the sound of tree frogs and we would count lightning bugs and our moms would read us books like “BFG” to us until we fell to sleep. YEAH, nostalgia is at an ALL time high for me at the moment.
BUT here we are. And look, I had the Sunday Scaries since Saturday knowing HOW much I was going to have to tackle today. But then the online social media world exploded Sunday night so that just added to the drama. I am going to be honest here…I cannot tackle everything today. From what’s happening on Twitter to the trends that are happening elsewhere, I am not going to hit EVERYTHING. I am cherry-picking because otherwise, I would be writing until Tuesday.
But before we kick things off…I spent a lot of time with nostalgia over the weekend and it made me realize, despite my personal involvement in helping promote the consumer internet and social media and the idea of a global community…that I kind of wouldn’t mind a SMALLER world. I don't need to know every thought in every person’s head. I don’t need to know every little thing happening everywhere. I like the idea of smaller communities. I think that is the key to survival at this point.
So with that, grab your headphones and maybe a Xanax or whatever you need to take the edge off…and here is this week’s PCM…
CAN THE REAL ELON PLEASE STAND UP:
I don’t even know how to tackle this. Depending on how up to speed on things you are…either you live a BLESSED life and literally have no idea what’s going on at the moment. Or else you are in the camp of people that sort of heard rumblings about chaos happening post-Elon acquisition of Twitter but you have paid it no mind but wouldn’t MIND knowing a CLIFF’S NOTES version of what’s happening…or else you’re like me and know TOO much and want to hide under the covers until someone other than Elon invents a transporter. But alas, let me try to tackle this best I can.
Full disclosure. I am not a reporter. I am not going to cover every detail that has happened. I am just doing a general GET YOU UP to speed that includes maybe some memes and snapshots to give you a visual storyboard. Cool? Cool Ok…
So we know Elon basically was forced to buy Twitter for an absurd amount of money. More money than the company was worth. Also we know, a majority of the money used to purchase Twitter is NOT Elon’s money. There is private equity money and there is money from the big banks and there is money from some billionaire friends of his. It is not all his money. He is merely the face and gatekeeper. Sure he has his own money in there but the majority is NOT his. And I think that’s important as someone much smarter than me who is a billionaire and a founder said to me, “he has too much money from outsiders to run it on a whim…”
And yet is all seems rather whimsical (not the fun kind of whimsical I should say) in how he is approaching running this train. Another very smart person said to me, “It’s amazing to watch how fast he is flying this plane into a mountain.” And by the way, something to point out…new owners of companies always come in and fuck around with the business and tinker away. But it is behind the scenes. Here, we have it ALL playing out on the platform and that is totally wild.
So first we have Elon entering the Twitter HQ for the first time with a bathroom sink (I mean I guess it could be for any room that would have a skink but I have chosen it to be a bathroom) and godspeed to whoever was mandated to acquire said sink for him.
HE posted a video of him walking into the SF HQ and said:
Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in
HAHA Elon is FUNNY. I mean ok if that’s what he thinks is funny and making light of a situation where everyone working at the company at that moment in time is wondering whether that have a job. But got it. It was sinking in or people had a sinking feeling or he was clearing house of everything but the kitchen sink….you choose. But this is how it started.
WOO boy.
Then Elon hung with the staff. Cool guy Elon: Hey let’s go have a beer or a coffee with him and pray if we make eye contact with him he will not fire us.
This picture reminds me of those videos you see of a lion playing with its prey before he kills them. Like the baby impala thinks she is just having a little fun with this new FREN in the wild and then….well we know how this story ends.
Sorry baby impala. 😔
As expected, mass layoffs hit a few days after this picture. Last Friday.
There were TWO emails that went out…one alerting you to your job being eliminated and one saying your job was not impacted. People got packages that met the requirement so that Twitter/Elon could not be sued by the state of Californina for employment issues. Blah blah blah.
And SOME…got an email that their job was safe.
Entire TEAMS were let go. And teams that would probably be helpful to Twitter in this moment in time.
Well, you get the idea.
But wait….um…there was an OOOOPS moment. Hey that’s what happens when you run a company on whimsy, with no real due diligence and someone who thinks HR and Communications people are DUMB and unnecessary. Well, this was fun. Casey Newton of the PLATFORMER I THINK was the one who got the scoop that Elon and TWitter realized they MAY have fired the wrong people.
That’s right. That’s some mistake.
OH and sidenote, just to make things a little weirder…many news channels ran interviews on the day of the lay offs of two guys with boxes looking forlorned about being laid off. These interviews were covered by local and national news:
“I got to touch base with my husband and wife….” I mean. It’s funny but also, too close to reality.
And this took it even further:
Have you heard of the RAHUL LIGMA meme? According to THIS article:
As per dictionary.com, the term “Ligma” refers to a made-up disease associated with an internet hoax shared by internet user ninja_hater, who claimed Fortnite video game streamer Ninja died as a result of the disease. It is also an explicit slang term used by Gen Z on social media frequently.
Rahul, on the other hand, is a common Indian male name. The identities of these men were not verified by the media outlets who were interviewing them, and this is where the meme game began, as the interviewers did not know that they were being duped and pranked.
So what’s the ligma joke from? Yeah well, according to Dicationary.com:
In the case of ligma, when someone uses ligma, the goal is to get another person to ask “What’s ligma?” The response is something along the lines of “ligma balls,” with ligma meant to sound like “lick my.”
YEP. That’s correct. 14 year old boy humor. Classic. So guess who thought it was the best thing ever? Resident 50 year old billionaire and new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk. OBVS there is an eggplant in his tweet.
Let’s have Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post break it down for us…
But the fact is, MANY mainstream media covered this story. CNBC, FOX, ABC…the list goes on and on. SO…let’s just be the devil’s advocate…you MAYBE get why people don’t trust all the media and why Elon can say, “now hold on a minute guys…you are not all truth sayers…”
Which brings us to where we sort of are.
During ALL of this….we all know that the husband of Nancy Pelosi was attacked by an intruder or how the right wing media refer to him, “intruder” and there are a lot of rumors and speculation around this.
AGAIN to play devil’s advocate and because I know my friends who I texted are reading this I need to be honest. Last Friday, when the attack happened I was awake at 5AM watching this news break in real time and I did say to a few friends, “Please don’t let this be a gay lover gone wrong” story with Paul Pelosi. I mean our brains go there..or at least some do! I am a liberal Democrat but I am also a realist. And we have seen this movie before.
My friends who were all media people were like no that’s not his vibe if anything it would have been a woman…BUT I digress. I do not care about the sex life of octegenarians (Unless you are CHER btw. YES GIRL — CLICK HERE).
But I texted a few of my friends. I did not Tweet it. But you know who DID tweet a conspiracy theory in response to Hillary Clinton tweet? Right after taking over Twitter?
Correct.
I mean….this is the world we are living in now. The tweet DID come down hours later after I assume his advisors were like, NOPE dude you went too far. (Actually I don’t believe that’s what happened but more like his lawyers but WHO knows.)
BUT funny to see him tweet this crazy conspiracy theory only to tweet this a couple days later:
Ok SURE.
SO yeah, ALL of it set off a shitstorm of news stories. And Elon shows his colors a bit more…he doesn’t give a fuck about where the story came from whether it was a conspiracy theory site or mainstream media…he has made his point tbh. WHAT DO WE BELIEVE. WHO DO WE TRUST.
And then…if you are still with me…we get to SUNDAY. Yes, yesterday. I mean am I skipping over stuff? Yes. Is it even still Monday? I have no fucking idea I am “BALL’S DEEP (more on that after this Elon post) in this and I am just scratching the surface. Sorry to be vulgar…but it requires a BIT of vulgarity don’t you think?
SO yesterday, celebs like America’s Sweetheart Valerie Bertnelli and comedian Kathy Griffin changed their Twitter display names to “Elon Musk”. Like, my user name is BROOKE but when I tweet people see it as BROOKE HAMMERLING and then next to their display name is their handle. So on Twitter it appears like:
So when I retweet something it comes up as “Brooke Hammerling Retweeted” not my handle. So these ladies and many others changed their display names to Elon Musk and began retweeting women’s rights tweets. I have to say it was amazing. My whole Twitter feed yesterday morning was like “Elon Musk retweeted: RIGHTS FOR WOMEN!” I will say it got me for a second. For example:
Or this…
So you get the idea. I mean this is NOT a new concept…people did it to Trump and others. It was funny. I mean it says RIGHT next handle the real name of the person.
But as we know the story as OLD as time…BULLYS are thin skinned. That is why they bully.
SO faster than you can say HYPOCRITE, accounts of people like Kathy Griffin and others who had changed their name to Elon were “permantently suspended”.
I say hypocrisy because only on October 28th he tweeted:
But it’s not. Now of course his advisors weigh in on what IMPERSONATION vs PARODY means and it is ALL boring. Taylor Lorenz AGAIN sums it up perfectly:
So all of this is happening and by the way…where has JACK been who got them INTO this mess to begin with. Likw why did Twitter have an 80 person comms team (sorry guys but really why??) The day of the lay offs, Jack said NOTHING. Silence. Then on Saturday morning, he tweeted this gem:
I was triggered by this tbh because I have had a few bad boyfriends and this is BAD BOYFRIEND SPEAK. This is BAD BOYFRIEND WHEN YOU BREAKUP speak. It is quite telling.
But Jack popped up again on Sunday responding to Elon and it gets us to the point of WTF IS HAPPENING. So Ladies and Gents…let us reflect on the world we are in now by this convo and my belief is either one or both were high as fuck last night:
After debating a name, Jack says “Name Doesn’t Matter” which is like wtf you were just calling out a name. I give up.
Has Elon quieted down? NO. HE is tweeting WW2 Nazi images and that’s fun.
So that’s where we are kids. IT IS CRAZY out there. I honestly would miss the humor I find on twitter and real connections with people I have never met but we converse with a lot via the platform but at this point if feels very much like , let’s just burn it all down.
WOW. It is LONG past my self-imposed publishing time and I am just getting to some of the fun (and some of the despicable stuff) so I apologize to my friends across the pond how LATE this is getting to you. But let’s just get to it.
- Let’s get to a couple of TikTok trends so you understand what your kids or colleagues are singing all the time. Let’s start with Gnarls Barkley…remeber him? I do love how TikTok brings back old songs and makes them hits again so here we are.
Admitedly, this girl’s voice is incredible. These creators seem to be in an empty garage or some kind of amazing space for acoustics. Well this has set off a trend and I love it.
So you get the idea. Mega viral.
The other trending song the last couple weeks has been Meghan Trainor’s new hit single, “Made You Look”:
And a trend began…
EXERCISE TREND ALERT. And thank you Joanne Bradford for bringing this to my attention now that I am a VERY proud owner of a treadmill. I was clearly ignoring workout trends for a WHILE but alas they exist. SO let me introduce you to the now OLD trend of:
12. 3. 30.
You walk at a speed of 3. An incline of 12. For a total of 30 minutes. And it gets you FIT according to all the kids.
And I love this creator for keeping it real:
Moving on to some bad stuff we really need to get a handle on and actually we can blame Twitter IN MY OPINION for thespread of racism around the world…truly it is not UNRELATED. But the last few weeks we have seen more and more racism. Did you see the kids that thought in 2022 black face was fucking funny?
This went so viral, rightfully so, it prompted the Utah Governor to make a statement:
“We strongly condemn racism in all its forms and we call on every Utahn to reject such offensive stereotypes, slurs and attitudes,” Cox told The Daily Beast in a statement. “We must do better.”
And JUST this weekend in Kentucky, this University of Kentucky girl has gone viral for calling the student who was working at form check in the N word and fighting with her before the police got there and finally arrested her. There is outrage at the University and it is headline news today. WHAT IS HAPPENING to this country??
And let’s throw in some good old fashioned transphobia in here. But transphobia coming from….CAITLYN JENNER?? Yeah so that happened. Dylan Mulvaney, a trans creator on TikTok was invited to the White House and she is an outspoken trans person and it was really wonderful to see her representing:
And I am not going to share the Caitlyn Jenner content but essentially she misgenders Dylan among many other awful things. LIKE WTF is wrong her?? But Dylan responds beautifully:
We can do better can’t we?
Heidi Klum is known for taking it to the next level on Hallloween but this year she decided to literally be click bait…like that is what this is a metaphor for right? You probably saw this everywhere…
We had a lot of costumes but we are in November and I am over it. But Tara Reid has entered TikTok recently and it is really something to watch…
So, it’s a girl in my opinion who might need some help. Another person everyone jumped on to gawking at was JESSICA SIMPSON who I love and again I cannot say enough about her memoir but I digress. She did a video with Pottery Barn and people tore her apart as they have always done it seems. But much of it was mounting concern for her health and wellness. I happen to think she probably is medicated but also not great in staged bits vs just being herself:
PICK-ME GIRLS:
Ok, a lot of people have asked me about this term as their daughters are talking about it more and more. I am sorry I have not talked about it sooner. It is complicated as it meant something and then meant something else if you get what I am saying? It’s like a term that’s morphed…and it has a few ways of being defined. According to Urban Dictionary, our authority on everything:
A pick-me girl is a girl who seeks male validation by indirectly or directly insinuating that she is “not like the other girls.” Basically a female version of a simp. Characteristics of a pick-me girl: lets men walk all over her because of her “CaReFrEE” demeanor, only hangs out with men because they’re “unproblematic”, exerts qualities/characteristics of her male counterparts that were not initially present to be more likable and relatable to them, etc.
Honestly, I am so glad I am not in high school during social media time. But this is a good explainer on this phenomenon:
GAS APP:
I have been getting a lot of questions on this too. This is taking high schools by storm and I mentioned it before it was a HUGE thing but it is HUGE now…another social media app with the idea that people need more positivity though my fear is these things tend to shift fast. We shall see. According to THIS article:
- The app uses location data to let users choose their high school
- Users are served multiple choice questions about fellow students with superlative-style answers (e.g., “the most beautiful person you have ever met”)
- Users are anonymous by default, but an upgraded version lets them see who said what about them
Here is a WSJ video explaining it a bit:
And it is growing FAST:
And here is their story:
AND LASTLY…CONTENT:
I watched a LOT of TV this past week so let me present my faves.
Remember earlier I used the lovely term “BALL’S DEEP”? Yeah well it is now my fave term and I think the last time I used it I was 16 but look, I am like the female Elon. I am 48 going on 16. But I brought it back into my vernacular after watching the MOST BONKERS documentary ever, called GOD FORBID on Hulu and guys it is bananas. It brings the story of fall of Jerry Fallwell Jr story to LIFE and I LIVE for it. We have dumb pool boys. We have amazing older sisters. We have everything you could want.
On a more wholesome note, we have the Selena Gomez doc, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me on Apple+. It was very very sad at times, and very compelling at others. A little slow in parts and it might take you a couple of tries but I am glad I watched it. Being a Disney star really fucks kids up guys.
There is a lot of social drama going on around her right now but it’s mean girl stuff and I am ignoring. This girl has been through enough.
I am LOVING HBO’s Season Ywo of The White Lotus. I mean I cannot get enough.
Another one from HBO or HBOMax whatever I cannot figure it out is that crazy MURDAUGH family story which is BANANAS. And tragic. And Fascinating.
And I mentioned it before but if you have not seen Apple+’s BAD SISTERS you are MISSING out…it is delectable. I have never hated a character more than the male lead in this he is so good at being hateful. But the stars ar the sisters and of course…Ireland.
And speaking or Ireland…we have Bono’s Memoir, “SURRENDER”. A good connection as his daughter, the incredible Eve Hewson is the star of Bad Sisters.
Buy the book HERE from a local shop…..
And try to see his Book tour:
THAT IS IT MY DARLINGS…
THIS ONE DRAINED ME!!!! If you missed my last podcast please take a listen…it is with the one and only Julia Boorstin od CNBC and BEST SELLING author of “When Women Lead”
ALSO, PLEASE VOTE.
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