Pop Culture Mondays/12.12.22
The “HOLIDAY PARTY EDITION”
Well, hello, my pop culture junkies AND HAPPY MONDAY. We are really getting into the weeds now…how many holiday parties have you checked off your list and how many more do you have to go to? I am guessing more than a few on either end. And YES, COVID AGAIN is on the rise, the flu and RSV have made a trifecta of disease but the parties continue as everyone does what is most comfortable for them. Vaccines and immunity are helping people feel comfortable going to parties…but also…everyone wants to gossip about SPACE KAREN. I have never seen anything like it. It’s either:
What do YOU think of Space Karen (Elon?)
Is he insane or just evil?
WTF is wrong with that guy? He is literally getting the QAnon crazies to target private citizens?
Will we ever be rid of that guy like can’t he go to Mars?
And then every so often, I encounter the…..
I love him. Look, he’s doing what he needs to do to shake things up and we are going to be better for it.
Those are the people I EVER so slowly walk backward from when I encounter them at a party and just smile and forced smile and say, WHILST walking backward, have a nice holiday, and make a mental note to yell at whoever hosted the party that they have weird friends.
BUT HEY, that’s JUST me. The man has waged a war on private citizens, like on the former safety head of Twitter, Yoel Roth, who has been doxxed and faces real danger as a result. He and his family will like have to uproot their lives to be safe. WTF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
ANYWAY…last week, we talked ALL about AI, and that was fun. If you missed my podcast, I sat down with my friend Brandee Barker who not only comes from a strategic communications background (first head of comms and policy at Facebook), but she also has a blonde Frenchie who is named DONUT (and POtato’s ACTUAL cousin), and now Brandee focuses on social impact. She ALSO was one of the first to notice the discrepancy in the AI pics we were all getting back. In terms of what the boys got and what many of us girls got. It’s a good one:
This is a hodge-podge week with a bunch of different things that have gone viral. I never try to put EVERYTHING in PCM each week as that would become a full-time job. I just cherry-pick a few things. ANY special requests, just lmk.
Grab your headphones, maybe some Tylenol, and enjoy. And have a beautiful week!
BRITTNEY GRINER IS RELEASED:
Maybe because I am writing this from a hotel room in Washington, DC that I feel everything is out of a John Le Carré novel, and we are all part of a world where dark things are happening around every corner. I mean, I was in DC for 5 minutes before someone pointed to a building across from my hotel and said,
“That’s where that Russian got thrown out of the window and died right there,” they said while pointing to an area just yards away from a Starbucks. We were at a stoplight, so I stared at the area and looked up to the window and could see it clear as day in my brain because we have all seen that movie.
“Which Russian?” I asked.
The response was one I anticipated before my friend even said it.
“I can’t remember. In DC, they are all thrown out of windows eventually.”
And there it is. This town gives you that ominous feeling like espionage and back alley dealings are at every turn, and every so often, you will see a Russian being thrown from a building. It happens. It is almost 2023, but it feels more like 1983 in terms of our frosty relations with Russia.
AND THEN of course, we have the trade. And the entire scene felt like it was taken out of a Jason Bourne movie. (WHY ARE ALL FICTIONAL SPIES JBs? James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer. WILD.) I digress.
Brittney Griner was traded for a deadly arms dealer, Viktor Bout, who was in prison in the US for over 14 years for money laundering, arms trafficking, and conspiring to kill Americans…NBD. I mean, the guy is LEGIT out of central casting:
I mean, we were one step away from this tbh:
But I digress. Both people are free in a swap of the ages. And perhaps this was Russia’s plan all along? I mean, Brittney was detained for having a small amount of hash oil in her luggage. A mistake, yes, but she was held in prison for 10 months and was sent to a penal colony what was going to be for years. COMPARED to a man who literally is a BOND VILLAIN. My opinion, TBH is we should have gotten her home; no matter what it took to get her home, and YES, there are other Americans in prison in Russia, but for different reasons. ANYWAY, I am not a diplomacy expert, so no one needs to hear my opinion. Here are just some things that have come out:
People feel real conflict. Grateful she is free, but not happy about the swap:
Brittney and The Bond villain actually walk BY one another on the tarmac.
Brittney’s wife was in the Oval Office with the President and Vice President when she was informed Brittney was out of prison and on the ground.
And because we do need to show the bad with the good here so you are aware and can know what the growing narrative with SOME people is becoming…and that is a lot of people are speaking out on this trade and trying to turn people against Brittney by suggesting she is not a woman at all and it’s sad to see how much this is happening:
So, that’s where we are. Obviously, Space Karen has an opinion on this, as he has on everything:
Let’s move on…..
THIS IS MOHSEN SHEKARI:
This young man, 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari, became the first protestor in Iran to be executed. EXECUTED for protesting along with tens of thousands of others, the brute force of the Iranian regime. Best described by this BBC article:
Mohsen Shekari was hanged on Thursday morning after being found guilty by a Revolutionary Court of “moharebeh” (enmity against God), state media said.
He was accused of being a “rioter” who blocked a main road in Tehran in September and wounded a member of a paramilitary force with a machete.
An activist said he was convicted after a “show trial without any due process”.
The heartbreaking, and I really mean heartbreaking, footage of his mom learning her son was executed made the rounds on socials:
AND just today, another young protestor was executed. 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard, was hung for the same “crimes” as Mohsen was and for which more than 15,000 people remain in jail since being picked up at protests. This is a very grim reality.
It seems like the world is spinning out of control.
AND SOME OF OUR FAVORITE (OR MOST DESPICABLE) THINGS:
Yeah, a heavy PCM this week, so let’s try to find some light stuff though not always light…but SOME light.
- Neil Diamond has made some of the songs that have become soundtracks of our lives. And he has been suffering from the debilitating Parkinson’s Disease and has not performed in over 5 years. Well, get the tissues. He performed last week at the opening of his new Broadway musical, A Beautiful Noise:
And here is a look at the new musical:
- Harry & Meghan. FOR the love of all things holy, these guys are just one of everyone’s favorite topics these days. PEOPLE love to hate. So I watched the first three episodes of their new Netflix docuseries…everyone is talking about it, and most I talk to are UP IN ARMS. THE AUDACITY, they say. I might have a different perspective on this as my mom died just a couple of months before Diana did, and I was still pretty much a basket case, and Diana’s death triggered even more emotion. I was glued to the TV and my bed for much of that and remember a young Harry looking broken, walking behind his mom’s coffin on the WORLD stage, and I thought to myself, how could he do that? How can someone make anyone’s child go through that? I was covered in snot and was barely able to function at my mom’s funeral, and have no idea how I would have been damaged had cameras and all eyes been on me. I have great sympathy for him as a result. And like Harry, I found solace and comfort in Botswana when looking for peace and escape after losing my mom and dad and found myself escaping there in the early days of their passing. So maybe, in a weird way, I can relate to this young former Prince. But he and his bride maybe need a bit more self-awareness, or whoever their advisors were for this series…maybe they needed better ones who had their fingers on the pulse of SOCIETY and where people are. But alas….they come across to many as spoiled and out of touch and in this particular instance, callous. At least Meghan is for mocking her first meeting with the Queen (this was taped before the Queen died and SHOULD have been edited)…
It was not awesome, and I admit that. I understand the concept in 2022 of a human. having to BOW or CURTSY to another human is slightly preposterous, BUT that’s a tradition and the Queen was beloved and just passed away, and this was not smart of them to keep in the series. ALSO, as many pointed out…Harry did not seem comfortable with the whole situation, and one could say he looked aghast at his wife’s behavior but was boring his tongue. This has been analyzed a lot.
The comedians, though, have had their fun:
And here is a brief look at the series:
Anyway, the series is bombshell after bombshell, and I don’t see how the family doesn't stay fractured over this. And then we have Harry’s book to look forward to:
I have seen some clever Brits add (ME) after the title of the book. But I am not a Brit and I am looking forward to reading this, obviously.
- Australian Youtuber, Brodie Moss, visited the “forgotten islands” in northern Vanuatu and came across a rarely seen Indigenous tribe who seemed VERY happy to see he and his mates. LIKE…very very happy.
Honestly, the comments on this are pretty hilarious. And the whole YouTube video is amazing really.
- AND this man has taken over my TikTok, and I am obsessed with him and will probably never speak to my friend and PCMOT guest in the past, Britt Morgan-Saks who has known of Stomrae for a LONG time. She kept him from me….TikToks keep being taken down so check out Belgian artist Stromae on TINY DESK (NPR) and you are WELCOME:
I have been familiar with him without knowing it was him for SOME TIME as a song from 12 years ago which was a hit also recently became a TIKTOK trend. And because of that trend his career has seemingly taken off with a new generation. You remember this?
This was the trend…
And he is now referencing it in his concerts:
- Legendary soccer journalist Grant Wahl, who went viral at the beginning of the World Cup for wearing a rainbow t-shirt to the stadium in Qatar and was detained for a while as a result, died suddenly over the weekend. In the stands of the World Cup. There was a huge outpouring of shock and grief, and many believed his death to be suspicious as he had just published an article critical of the human rights violations in Qatar. But we are told he had been sick with a serious respiratory illness. I don’t know….the jury is still out on this one. His brother released a video initially where he tied his brother’s death to his wearing the t-shirt:
Here is a beautiful tribute to him:
And everyone who met him adored him and shared that. Including LeBron James:
- And proof we are maybe going backward in time…this photo took over this weekend that shook people to their core. Not because it was Katie Holmes but because it is KATIE IN 2022, NOT Katie in 2002. This means low-rise jeans are coming guys…
She is wearing a dress over jeans. WE ARE BACK IN A DARK PLACE.
To truly understand the horror, this creator explains:
- Please don’t make me explain what SOMETHING NAVY is and who Arielle Charnas is…for the love of god, please. Instead, if you must know, here you go:
- And lastly, this is NOT a spoiler newsletter for THE WHITE LOTUS. Not everyone has seen it. You crazy kids, go watch it. It’s amazing. The whole series is amazing. But in case you want to know the meme of all memes that you will see everywhere…here you go:
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
I hope you see this edition since I am JUST fixing my email list problem (I HOPE!!!)
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Xx,
Brooke
