Pop Culture Mondays/12.11.23
The “Person of the Year” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. I hope you had a beautiful weekend and are ready to face the week. Though does it seem to you that we are all slightly more checked out than usual? Like, it seems to me more and more people have out of offices on or are just saying, “Let’s get to that in January.”
I mean, yes, the below is a skit, but it feels real because after everything going on in the world, whether it was all the strikes or the international turmoil and the conflicts everyone is having right now…CAN’T EOD MEAN “End of December, aka the new year?”
I just got back from DC, and that felt like a ghost town. Did everyone go on break after they got George Santos out of office? GHOST town. And now, Georgie has claimed he has made MORE money in two weeks on Cameo than his entire annual salary in Congress. God bless America.
It kills me. I really hope the networks do NOT put him in shows like Dancing with the Stars…but who are we kidding? OF course, they will. So gross. And we have Space Karen, who last year on Twitter, claimed his first child died in his arms and therefore, he would never have mercy for someone like Alex Jones, who has made the lives of the Sandy Hook parents miserable; let Alex Jones back on the Twitter platform.
Perhaps because his firstborn DIDN’T, in fact, die in his arms as he said. As the mother of that child refuted at the time:
SO, not a shock that not only did Elon bring Alex Jones BACK onto Twitter he then held a VERY real Twitter Spaces (or whatever the fuck they call it now) with a few other of the world’s biggest losers: Vivek Ramaswamy (who forgot he was not muted when he got up and PEED during this convo for all the audience to hear) AND…Andrew Tate. Literally, it is the greatest marketing campaign to finally get us off Twitter/X. Run it into the ground, baby.
The man left it up to the PEOPLE, he claims, to bring Alex Jone back or not.
People? Bots? Trolls? WHO is to say? Elon also left whether or not he should remain as CEO of Twitter just about a year ago if you recall:
He eventually relinquished the title six months later…but in NAME only as a real CEO runs Product for the company (sorry, not sorry.)
Some reactions to this moment:
OK, you get the idea. Anyway, the reason I even include this is because a lot of people asked me if this Spaces really happened or if this was a joke…and it really and truly happened. Yeah, we are doomed.
Let’s move on to more fun things. If you missed last week’s pod…DO NOT FRET…never too late to give it a listen. SO have at it.
Grab some candy or whatever treat delights you and some headphones, and enjoy!
Xx,
Brooke
OBVIOUSLY:
Woo boy, did this choice really upset a certain group of insecure white men. From Chris Wallace to Scott Galloway to Stephen Miller….these boys got their panties in a BUNCH over this. And others were very upset with the photos…loads of women I heard from were like, “But the photos were so terrible!!!”
My response to everyone? In the words of Kara Swisher (Happy Birthday Kara, btw!):
BITE ME.
And our favorite ghoul:
And let’s go back to the photos.
I mean I have NO idea whether this is true but the photos to ME show different eras…maybe not TSwift eras but like how are they not obviously showing her from different times?
The one with her ragdoll cat, Benjamin Button, feels VERY ‘70s to me.
The one with the layered clothes and barn jacket is SO ’80s…
…and the pin-up one is ’50s or ’60s. At least THAT’S my takeaway.
I loved them.
And the cat one set off a TikTok trend. Obviously.
And moving on…to the actual ARTICLE.
Don’t listen to anyone who might have told you this was a bad article. It was SO well done. And you should really read the entire thing:
BUT, the part that got juicy and had the socials going fully mental last week was her LONG GAME revenge on Kim Kardashian. For those of you who might not remember, years ago, Kanye came out with a song, “Famous,” with THIS lovely lyric:
I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex
Why? I made that bitch famous (Goddamn)
I made that bitch famous
He believes he made Taylor famous years earlier when he interrupted her VMA speech (classic bully) to claim Beyoncé was more deserving, and the feud went from there. When this song came out, Taylor and fans were shocked, but then Kanye and Kim K, his wife at the time, claimed TSwift had approved the lyrics, and they released audio from their taped phone conversation. Which apparently was EDITED. This was when things started to fall apart for Taylor, who people turned on, and she retreated. And Taylor has said nothing about this for years….
… until now.
West wrote a song with vulgar lyrics about her, and claimed that Swift had consented to it, which Swift denied; West’s then wife, Kim Kardashian, released a video of a conversation between West and Swift that seemed to indicate that Swift had been on board with the song. The scandal was tabloid catnip; it made Swift look like a snake, which is what people called her. She felt it was “a career death,” she says. “Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me.”
It was a bleak moment. “You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar,” she says. “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
Later on in the article, she says this though it could be about Kim K but also about all the people who have gone against her:
There is one thing I’ve learned: My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.” She considers. “But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies,” she says. “Trash takes itself out every single time.”
And for the theatrical version:
And GURL….talk about a MIC drop.
This is my fave response…from Cindy Crawford:
And the Swifties have gone crazy on Kim K’s Instagram comments. A couple of examples:
The 🐍 emoji got a huge audience last week.
So there you have it.
PS: TayTay also confirmed what I said here in PCM many moons ago…that she and Travis had been dating for some time before we were made aware. The first game was MOST def not their first date.
OBVIOUSLY.
Let’s move on…
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
I am skipping over so much this week because…you know, my actual job. BUT here are a few things that are dominating the pop culture world this week:
Red Truck Hauling a Christmas Tree:
If you have Christmas decorations around the house or cards from friends and family…the chances are you have on at least ONE of them, a vintage truck hauling a Christmas tree. And this hysterical observation and trend is now alive on TikTok:
And some reactions:
PS: Ms. Rachel is a HUGE YouTube star..huge with the kids and parents of the kids. She has a YouTube series called Songs for Littles, which is meant to help kids with language skills.
This video has over 78 million views…to give you an idea of her reach:
McDonald’s Unveils CosMc’s:
I am not going to lie; I am pretty sure if I had to pick my last meal, it would be ALL McDonald’s. I really and truly mean this with every fiber of my being. A quarter pounder with cheese? Large fries? Chocolate shake? Their fountain soda, Diet Coke? I mean, guys…it is legit my favorite meal. I love it so much that in college, my friends threw me a surprise party for my 21st birthday at MICKEY D’s, the largest McDonald’s (at least at that time), located in Orlando.
And this past week, maybe to appeal to TikTokkers, I have no idea…McDonald’s launched a new concept beverage & breakfast spaced-theme drive-thru ONLY restaurant, and its first location is in the HOTSPOT city of Bolingbrook, Illinois (outside of Chicago). Apparently, for a limited time. An example of their menu DOES include a lot of ice cream and cookies so not sure about the BREAKFAST aspect, but ok:
REALLY healthy, you know? 🫣
Honestly, the food aside…this seems to be a direct hit on Starbucks:
MAYBE because it turns out that 75 PERCENT of all drinks sold at Starbucks are COLD. How ‘bout them apples?
GTA 6:
Many of you might not know, but I started out as a gamer girl. That was my JAM back in the late ’90s. I had every game system I could, and I also got into PC and mobile games. My career took off thanks to the gaming world, where my clients were companies like Imagie Media (PC Gamer, NEXT GEN, IGN, etc.), Sega, JAMDAT, Zynga, and several others over the years. I am a game junkie, so much so that years ago, I decided to get rid of all my game systems as it became a true addiction. In fact, I remember a weekend back in NYC, probably around 2002, where my friend and I sat and played GTA nonstop for 48 hours with a few naps on the sofa…lots of pizza and soda and no showers.
HOT.
I have a Nintendo Switch now, and I had to lock THAT away after losing myself in Animal Crossing for too many hours.
I DO think…I say this knowing how problematic this can become…that I will be investing in a PS5 soon enough. If I start skipping PCMs, you will know it is time to take the controllers out of my hands and get me a cold shower and some veggies. JUST giving you the heads-up now.
The latest GTA game is set to be released in….2025.
TWENTY TWENTY FIVE.
And yet here we are, talking about it. This is how big this brand is. The much-hyped trailer was meant to be released on December 5th, but the trailer was leaked thanks to X and a now SUSPENDED account. So Rockstar Games, the maker of GTA, had to release the trailer early. It caused a LOT of commotion. Here is the trailer, which already has 141 MILLION views:
HAHAHA…’MERICA. But as shocking as this may be to some people…I legit cannot wait.
This was my fave TikTok this week because OMG:
Name a Woman Trend:
This is a trend happening on TikTok that has gone in a few directions. Basically, a woman (generally a wife or girlfriend) asks the man, out of the blue, to name a woman to see how they will respond. If they don't name their wife or girlfriend or sister or mother, then the girl is supposed to get mad.
Viral Gifts:
There are SO many I cannot put them all here, but here are a few and a few links to more!
The MUST-Have toy, which is basically a Tamagotchi:
Read about it here:
This pricey but gorgeous personalized lip balm. Buy it here:
A SKINCARE FRIDGE. Yes. That’s correct. The kids love this:
The Lulu Lemon Everywhere Bag:
YES guys. I know. I know.
For more lists:
And two recent discoveries of mine!
URBAN GOGGLES…because you need them. I mean, it's hilarious and yet awesome.
Buy them here:
AND these gorgeous pieces of art that you can call PHONE JEWELRY from myAleph:
And you can buy your fave HERE:
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
BACK to the coalmine, they say…though I do need to do some holiday shopping today, so the lists above were really for ME, and I hope you find them useful!
I did skip over this new movie on Netflix starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke, which is my favorite genre: apocalyptic thriller. BUT the Internet is divided. I have seen people SO pissed off at this movie they cannot see straight, whereas others have praised it. I am watching it tonight and will report back!
Love you lots. Hit me up with comments, feedback, questions, tips.
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Xx,
Brooke
