Pop Culture Mondays/2.6.23
The “BALLOON Edition”
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. If you watched the Grammys live and are East Coast, then you are pretty slow today as that was a LATE one. And if you WENT to the Grammys, then I hope you are still sleeping and avoided any drama that SURELY unfolded after Beyoncé was robbed of Album of the Year Grammy. We will get to the show shortly. As well as the CHINA BALLOON and some other fun stuff (hint: Pamela Anderson, Daddy Pascal on SNL, Kim Mulkey TikTok AMONG other things). So let’s JUST get to it. If you are new here…welcome. You will figure it out. Or you won’t. It’s ok.
If you missed last week’s pod, omg THIS was a great one. To discuss #mascaragate was the QUEEN of lashes herself, Sahara Lotti the founder and CEO of THE lash brand, Lashify. Check it out:
So grab some sour powers and some headphones and enjoy…
Xx,
Brooke
LOOK UP:
All I kept thinking the moment I heard about the Chinese Spy balloon was how bad this was going to be for TikTok when they appear in front of Congress in March. Also shows you how much our brains are now wired — or at least mine is — to think TikTok as soon as something about China pops up. AND POP it did…hahaha sorry that’s what we call a DAD joke.
ANYWAY, when I first started seeing videos of the balloon I ignored it thinking there was an easy explanation. Well, I mean there WAS. A spy balloon! WHO knew? Apparently a lot knew…I mean under the Trump guy, apparently several were found. This is like a THING. I suppose we have our own zipping around the world too. I mean is Willy Wonka up there? The Wizard of Oz? It just seems so DATED like don’t we all have invisibility shields now I mean it is 2023 people! And because it’s 2023, I learned about this initial UFO through social media and people in Montana were like, “BRO WHAT IS THAT??” We soon learned and truly I feel SO lucky to have been watching the press conference with the Pentagon live because General Pat Ryder is my new OBSESSION.
First of all, this man should be the press secretary for AMERICA like have him run all press conferences all the time.
Second of all, watching this man respond to this question in this matter gave me life.
Yeah bitches…if local residents want to know where the balloon is…LOOK UP, BABY. Flawless.
Anyway, we all were riveted by the balloon which was lingering over Monatana which is where US has nuclear silos and so forth so it is all concerning. Also, apparently this happens a lot, but we the public I guess just have never looked up. Or didn’t take to TikTok before the government could rip the videos out of our little hands. Alas, the government had to deal with the public on this one and we were glued to this balloon and they finally took it down all captured video, naturally:
This guy is VERY excited:
And this is a close up:
Yeah we are super going to war. So that’s fun.
BUT you come for the memes, am I right? So here are some for you savages:
Ahh…CHINA BALLOON WE HARDLY KNEW YOU.
MUSIC, FASHION, MEMES!
I did not anticipate watching the Grammys tbh and assumed I would just watch the highlights. I moved yesterday as I am having some renovations done and I was TIRED so I just didn’t think about it. But like a moth to a flame, I soon found myself with a glass of rosé watching the red carpet which I said to myself, “Ok, ok after the red carpet, back to unpacking.” YET, that did not happen and like 8 hours later I finally walked away from the screen (the thing ran LONG). There were some amazing moments we shall highlight and some not so amazing ones. My Twitter was VERY confused: half my feed was like this is the greatest Grammys EVER. And the other half was like, this is horrifying the show is done the Grammys org is done and doesn’t understand culture.
I AM SO CONFUSED. BUT, I think ultimately the hate was due to Harry winning the Album of the Year vs Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar. And when Harry said THIS…I knew the kid was going to get destroyed:
I mean I am not sure what he meant by that…a kid who worked in a bakery and won a talent competition and then broke off from boy band and became hit solo act? Yeah, I mean that doesn’t really happen to a lot of people. But, as a white male performer — a great performer don’t get me wrong — but it happens ALL the time. I love Harry you know I do. BUT Kendrick and B’s albums were LITERAL works of art. I mean I guess we should all exhale in relief it wasn’t ABBA(who were nominated!) because I am sure war would have broken out. ANWAY, Harry definitely will NOT win any awards for his speech. He had less than zero charisma at the podium and perhaps that’s just who he is IRL and it is ALL saved for when he is performing.
But who has charisma both on and OFF stage? OUR GIRL LIZZO. I mean I was CRYING crying:
There was a LOT of fashion, but like the one who really did it for me was CHRIS MARTIN of Coldplay. Like, who is trying to hurt him? He is dating one of the most iconic women fashion-wise on the planet and he has stylists but for some reason, none of that played a part in his outfit last night. Some of my favorite responses:
Classic.
NOT classic was CBS’ decision to allow JAMES CORDEN to present the Best Dance/Electronic Music Album Grammy which even he implied made NO sense. CBS…the guy QUIT you, why are you giving this to him. ANYWAY, I have seen Corden out on the town and he wears sneakers and hipster-wear which WOULD have been more appropriate TBH than his talk show host suit but I digress…
The award went to Beyoncé which was the award that made her break the record and become the person with the MOST Grammys ever. Only to have it presented to her by James Corden? Reactions were amusing:
AND moving on to what SEEMS like the most talked about event at the Grammys….BEN AFFLECK and his tortured expressions. Let’s GET into it.
Ben was accompanying his bride JLo and was in prime seating, obvs. But the camera people were having TOO much fun with this one.
OK ok let’s get to the performances. These were my fave:
Chris Stapleton AND Stevie?? Sorry Ben Affleck but this was NUTS in the best of way…I would have been smiling ear to ear:
And THIS right here was really a showstopper…I urge you to watch it again and again and again…
We have Questlove to thank for this. It was amazing.
And the last performance of the evening got a little heat because while they tried to make it seem live, it was pre-recorded. And many joked that there was no way Jay would have done it live after Bey lost to Harry. But the set is amazing tbh…though I am not a DJ Khaled kind of girl tbh:
I just kept thinking about what was going to happen to all that food.
A LITTLE THIS, A LITTLE THAT:
And some highlights (and lowlights) of some OTHER pop culture-y things that have gone down this week. I cannot cover everything because there is a LOT, but here are some of my chosen ones.
- BOREDOM. A hell of a drug. We have entered into the “Tom Brady sharing sexy selfies” stage of things:
- PEDRO PASCAL. We do not deserve him. He hosted SNL this past weekend and there are too many gems I could do an entire newsletter just on that episode. But one of my favorites was him not ONLY acknowledging all the FANCAMS of him on TikTok, but also that he was the DADDY of Gen Z (and a surprise cameo by the MOMMY of Gen Z) so it’s cute when they acknowledge they see you and are in on the joke. A POP CULTURE DREAM COME TRUE and everything you need to know about GEN Z terms is right here:
And I knew it was going to be an amazing SNL when this teaser came out and if you are “LAST OF US” fans then this will live in your brain all week:
- I am not a fan of watching sports on TV. It’s just not my thing. College, Pro. Boys. Girls. Equal opportunity disinterest to be honest. But thanks to TikTok I learn new things and THIS week it was KIM MULKEY TikTok. She is a former basketball player and current coach of Lousiana State University Women’s Basketball team and she is ALSO someone who understood the assignment. Meaning, she knows there needs to be a show and TikTok is now obsessing over her:
And here is a tutorial if you were not familiar with her:
- For those who follow me on socials, you know I am a bit of an interior design junkie. And millions others are as well, hence why the Architecural Digest socials are SO popular. And last week, we were given a glimpse into the beautiful and eccentric home of Lily Allen and David Harbour in New York. And kids, let me explain to you how much I love this house. I have been VERY lucky to have been in their house a few months ago and before it was shown to the public I basically showed everything to my designer and said, “ I WANT THIS.” Their kitchen, their living room, their rugs and fabrics and CARPET IN THE BATHROOM. I DIE. I love these two so much.
I believe my first words to Lily were, “please adopt me and let me live here…” It is a special home.
- Did you know what white nail polish means? Neither did I. But I guess I will be getting a pedicure asap.
It turns out WHITE means single and ready to play. Blue apparently means taken. OK kids.
- If you have a teenager who is buying a TON of liquid foundation it is because there is a trend going around where they use a ridiculous amount of foundation because a beauty ifluencer showed them this her routine. Another trend are these ridiculous headbands people are wearing to protect their hair when doing make up to washing face. I would not have survived my teen years if I was a teen today!
This is the OG creator:
AND here is the headband…
- Our girl Tinx launched a salad dressing with Tabasco because she has been telling us forever to normalize hot sauce as dressing. AND IT IS DELISH I had it last night on salad and as a dip and I love it so much. It’s got some heat and some sweet and I love it. GET SOME.
- Yeah Miami…this was a TERRIBLE idea. Like WTF is wrong with you?
- And lastly, this documentary was amazing. I am so impressed with Pamela Anderson and her sons. This was a beautiful and painful thing to watch. I cried.
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
I hope you have a beautiful week. I am ignoring the trying to guess who Jeffree Star’s NFL boyfriend is but if you have questions, just send me a note!
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Xx,
Brooke
