Pop Culture Mondays/2.12.24
The SUPER BOWL Edition (Obvs)
I am going to apologize to those of you who did not watch the Super Bowl and do not care about American football because this week’s PCM is a lot of Super Bowl. But not just the football. You came for Taylor Swift but….BUT we have a lot more. A LOT. There are so so SOOOOOO many memes so I promise you that you will get something out of it. I am tired. I am still full from all the wings I ate last night. I ate a lot of wings, which is my go-to Super Bowl treat. I have left parties mid-game when I learned they don’t have wings. It's a total deal breaker for me. I need wings and a room of people who want to actually watch the game, the ads, and the halftime show. That is how my night went last night, and I couldn’t have been happier. Because WHAT A GAME. Ok, ok we will get to it….and all the memes! And the ads. And Beyoncé.
There were a few other things that happened this week. DO I have to talk about Tucker and Putin. Not realllllly. But the memes MUST be looked at. So we shall. If you missed last week’s podcast, here you go. I was mad at Tay Tay but as of last night, all is forgiven:
Speaking of politics…we are TRUMP-Free and always have been, so I am not going to post his ridiculous TRUTH (LOLS) SOCIAL post about how Taylor Swift has him to thank for her success. What a goober.
Our current President posted a Tweet (I call them tweets and shall call them tweets) after the game that has everyone on both sides melting down as his team is most def trolling the MAGA peeps. Obviously, it was his team who knew exactly what they were doing. You see, there is this fringe conspiracy that the NFL was rigged to deliver the Chiefs as the winner in order to push the LIBERAL AGENDA with Taylor being deemed a liberal and Travis Kelce being a Pfizer-rep, and the MAGAS are all spun out about it. SO, the Biden team tweet this:
I mean. This is where we live now.
Let’s get to it. Grab your headphones and check your sanity at the door for a few minutes. Have fun!
Xx,
Brooke
SUPER BOWL LVIII
Guys, I honestly am overwhelmed. I do NOT even know where to begin. There are so many fucking layers to go through it is overwhelming. So I think I am just going to let you see how my brain works and free write this thing in categories. From the game itself to the people watching the game to the halftime show to the ads…it is A LOT. Like the above picture…GENIUS. This was from Tay Tay’s suite, where the geniuses turned this iconic photo into an even more iconic photo. I mean, it is perfect.
This is where it started:
So, let us begin at the end. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime 25 to 22. It was a NAIL BITER of a game, and it felt like, for most of it, the 49ers were in control. I was convinced they were going to win, and then, with seconds left, they lost. A wild ride. But you don't come here for a summary of sports, thank God. You come to see what the memes are all about and the viral moments. There is NO chance in hell I can aggregate all of them, or we would be here for months. But below are some of my fave from different moments.
Travis Kelce yells at his coach, Wilford Brimley:
We saw our darling Trav lose his shit on our beloved Wilford. I mean, COME ON, is he NOT this man?
You KNOW Mama Kelce had words with her son after and Coach Reid will get a big ole gift basket with an apology note. But for now? NOW we have the memes:
We were all expecting the Biebs to come out with USHER. So…
Or this take of one of my fave memes:
And a few more:
YES….this one is about us learning there has been a remake of TWISTER called TWISTERS and the trailer dropped during the game:
I miss the OG cast. SIGH.
Ok, moving on.
Jason Kelce:
So, a ton of you sent me this…and it IS genius. BUT for those of you who saw it and loved it, I am sorry to say it is a fake. While I would not put it past Jason Kelce to be this insane and genius, he did not arrive at Allegiant Stadium to watch his brother in the exact outfit Zach Galifianakis wore in The Hangover. This was a fake:
This would have been too good:
But don’t worry, we have more Jason memes. Like him talking to Ice Spice:
Mama Kelce:
Nickelodeon Super Bowl:
SO…apparently, you could watch the game on Nickelodeon, but it was for kids, so it was Spongebob-themed, and OH boy…I AM OBSESSED:
I mean Nick and Spongebob were UNHINGED. Loved it:
Halftime Show:
The sound for Usher was a bit rough. It took a while for it to get better. The Internet reacted:
And then this happened…
This was, in fact, H.E.R, but many people apparently DID think it was North West.
And... at one point during his performance, Usher was rollerskating, which I, IN FACT, enjoyed.
We had some Alicia…
But when Usher held onto her, the memes about her husband, Swiss Beatz reactions, went wild:
And people’s reactions to Usher's performance:
I mean, this one is genius:
And Usher did sweat a lot:
And this one killed me.
Because this was his outfit:
And this happened to a LOT of us:
Oh and this one….Because it’s true.
Beyoncé:
Taylor used the Grammys as a place to announce her new album.
Bey was like, HOLD MY BEER, and used a Bajillion-dollar Verizon ad at the Super Bowl to announce hers. Sort of. A tease at least in this genius ad:
She dropped new music right after the video aired:
NOW…the cowboy look she has been sporting lately MAKES SENSE.
And the memes:
Joining Bey and Jay Z in their suite was former Manorexic Ayahuasca-using Rick Owens-loving Twitter co-founder and guy who messed it all up, Jack Dorsey. Who seems to have found food again and gold chains…and wearing a Satoshi t-shirt which is the pseudonym of the person who invented Bitcoin. IMAGINE IF IT WAS JACK ALL ALONG.
And the ads…well, the memes around the ads:
Jesus had a BIG night. Some org paid a LOT of money for an ad on Jesus about feet washing. Like surely, that money could have gone to helping a lot of people vs an ad, but ok, you Christians. You be you. This one…for personal reasons, was my fave take:
And have you heard of TEMU? Your kids SURELY HAVE.
Temu is like Amazon but Chinese. And that’s not fair to Amazon, which Alibaba is a more direct comparison. Temu is owned by a Chinese company, and it offers SUPER SUPER discounted products that get shipped directly from China. Something is weird, let’s be honest and the government should be looking at THEM vs the other companies it wastes its time looking at. Temu had FIVE ADS during the Super Bowl.
FIVE.
(And then two more aired)
Ok, here are some other ads I actually liked:
And the Wicked Trailer omg…but it is not coming until THANKSGIVING:
And this ad divided a LOT of people and I am not sure it actually aired DURING the game — -did you guys see it? It may have been when I was getting my 3rd helping of wings tbh. But first the ad:
An ad for a face cleanser the kids love. They never me ntion Taylor’s name. BUT THE POWER. THE POWER.
But there was a problem. This ad was apparently a direct rip off of an actual creator who posted these videos about how Taylor and football were bringing her and her stepfather closer:
I mean…there were a lot of other creators who shared these similar stories so it’s hard to say. But I got a LOT of feedback.
BONUS
MY LEAST FAVES:
And one of the most egregious and wasteful ads I have ever seen was this RFK Jr. for President ad. I mean we ALL had the ICK. Collectively.
But what’s hilarious is THEN RFK Jr. Had to apologize for the ad and to his family saying he had NOTHING to do with it as campaign rules mean he could not be involved….BUT…BUT the moron and I say that in the nicest way possible, pinned the ad as his pinned tweet. LOLs.
Freud would have a field day with that family.
AND VW decided that you know, in the year where antisemitism is at an all time high, NOW would be a good time to remind everyone if the history of VW. Yeah. OK. SURE THING VW.
Moving on from ads, to close this MONSTER OUT.…our Tay Tay. It has not gone unnoticed by many that she usually has a drink in hand when at public functions. Is it her trying to be relatable or are we going to see Taylor taking a “break” at some point? WHO IS TO SAY:
WOW….this was a lot. I am only scratching the surface. There were after parties and memes and content from there but I am OVER it. Let’s just quickly look at a few other things this past week….
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
Liek I said….Just a few things I am going to highlight because this PCM is now officially way too long and I am way too tired.
British Vogue Did It:
For Editor Edward Enninful’s last British Vogue, he did the impossible. He got ALL of these ladies in a room together. You think it was photoshopped? IT WAS NOT. And it brought warm fuzzies to the Internets. Oprah? Jane? Miley? Serena? Posh? I mean…what a feat.
And from the beauty Jameela who is basically related to me because we share our beloved dogwalker. I mean she has no idea who I am but I pretend she is FAMILY:
WHAT A MOMENT.
And the opposite of that moment was….
DIPSHIT INTERVIEWING MONSTER:
In an interview that ran over two hours and felt like watching a lion play with its dinner for a couple of painful, tragic, cringey hours where you are finally like please lion, just kill the sad little creature because we cannnnnot take it anymore, Tucker “interviewed” Putin. It aired on Twitter lols. It was actually tedious and boring for most part with a history lesson filled with propaganda from Putin. AND NEVER ONCE did Tucker push back or question his supreme leader, Putin. The ONLY good thing to come out of it was him asking about WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich (he HAD to ask) but when Putin claimed he was a spy found with confidential docs, Tucker did NOT push back. Liek how about, no he is a journalist and that’s what journalists do…but Tucker would not know this as he not NOT ONE.
But I digress.
The memes kids….roll ‘em:
They are all so good.
IN other news…
Um…did you see the “leaked video?”
We are PG 13 here…ok, maybe R at times…but most def X so I am not sharing the almost impossible now to find “leaked video” that posted on Twitter last week that allegedly showed Drake um….pleasuring himself in bed. Which wasn’t even the news tbh. I cannot write more on this subject without a drink and it is still too early even for me. You will get the idea:
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
The fact that there are a MILLION things I am skipping over is how insane this week was and the Super Bowl alone was in terms of pop culture. But I need a REST NOW. I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition though.
AND…If you aren’t already a subscriber and you want this in your inbox, please send an email to:
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Have an amazing week.
Xx,
Brooke
