Pop Culture Mondays/3.15.21
The “Women Should be Able to Walk Home Safely” Edition
Happy Monday my DARLING pop culture junkies. I am not going to lie…I have been sitting here looking at that dreaded blank white screen for literally HOURS with no idea as to what to write or how even to start. I must have written this first line dozens of times only to delete it and start over. We shall see if this one makes the cut but it just is ONE of those days. Maybe because it is dark and rainy and gloomy and cold in LA which throws me off my game. Maybe it’s because I am getting on a plane later this week for the first time in almost a year and have some low level anxiety about that. OK, maybe some HIGH level anxiety about that. Maybe because there is SO much going on at the moment that it’s hard to figure out where to start! I mean from NFTs (by the way Baby Yoda today is from artwork by BEEPLE, the artist who just had a his art sell for $69 million) to the Grammys to women being thrown to the ground and arrested for being at a peaceful vigil in London. THERE IS A LOT. SOOOOOO…enough with this pre-amble and I am just going to jump in. THREE HOURS after first sitting down at this computer but better late than never.
Welcome to my new subscribers and readers. PLEASE enjoy this brief reprieve from all that you have going. And if you are reading this during that 15 minute window you have to wait after getting vaccinated then THIS NEWSLETTER IS DEDICATED TO YOU. YOU DID IT!!!
This is a safe, sugar-free,Trump-free guilty pleasure…
#SHEWASWALKINGHOME:
NOT all pop culture news is fun or about celebs or memes. What’s happening in the UK is 100 percent a cultural moment and one that has given us images that MUST make us stop and think and it is bringing us hashtags that tell a story and memes that shame the old guard. For those of you who may have NOT see what’s happening or have seen the growing outrage but unsure where it comes from or seen the controversy over the #notallmen hashtag, let me TRY to break it down though forgive me as I oversimplify it.
Around 9:30PM on March 3rd in South London, 33 year old Sarah Everard, a marketing executive, was walking home alone when she disappeared. And it turns out she was taken and brutally murdered BY A POLICE OFFICER in the Metropolitan Police of London AKA The Met. There are more gory details I am not going to get into but will have links at the bottom if you want to read more but it has kicked off a MASSIVE movement where women are now actively trying to take back the streets. AND the response from leaders and police is that women need to make the change…vs the men. The Met were telling women to stay home in order to stay safe. YEP. That’s their response to this. Women were like OH HELL NO how dare you? And truthfully, HOW DARE THEY. First of all, it was one of their OWN who had been complained about in the past, who attacked and murdered this woman. And their answer is for women to be punished vs taking more action to protect them?
Women started sharing their stories about times they felt unsafe walking in London no matter the time of day and how crowded the streets were. How regardless of doing everything “right” with regards to taking precautions they still were in danger.
Women not only started sharing their own experiences with being harassed or accosted while walking alone but also how they were made to feel like it was their fault…men will be men.
AND THEN the #NOTALLMEN hashtag started popping up. I understand some men were trying to share their support about how not all men are murderous harassing psychopaths…but they missed the point. The point being that of course not all men are this way, but a lot of men are…maybe not murderous nutjobs, but enough men feel it is ok to call women names, or walk behind them closely or make some lewd comments or to follow them to intimidate or just be a nuisance. AND…there are plenty of men who do nothing. They walk by, they ignore, they don’t interject or they laugh or they shrug their shoulders. Or they tell women…don’t walk by yourself…this is your fault.
So then there was a peaceful vigil held in honor of Sarah Everard. It was a peaceful vigil by all accounts. The police were there. The same police department who had just arrested one of their own for the murder. Patsy Stevenson, a 28 year old student who by ALL accounts was just standing there was thrown to the ground and arrested and the photographs went all over the world showing exactly the issue play out in real life. Again, another tweet from actress and activist Jameela Jamil highlights the way police in the UK handle different situations:
We are seeing a moment in time where women and people of color around the world are no longer staying quiet when it comes to showing the differences in how they are treated from others. We all know how differently things would have gone in the US at the Capitol if the people were Black. WE KNOW THIS. We call them protestors if they are white…rioters if they are Black. And here in the UK…women are saying ENOUGH. They will no longer be made to feel like it is their fault, and they have to stay at home and men have NO responsibility. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
NOW THAT WAS SOME GRAMMYS!!
SWITCHING GEARS. First of all, Harry Styles opened the show so if I need a reason/excuse as to why I am using a picture of him vs anyone else that could be ONE reason why. But let’s be clear, it is my newsletter so I can do as I like and I LIKE Harry Styles shirtless with his butterfly tattoos singing about WATERMELON SUGAR (ahem…) with a feather boa. I LIKED IT. In fact, I liked the entire show. I NEVER LIKE AWARDS SHOWS. I like moments, or I like the fashion or I like hating the fashion. But the ACTUAL show is painful to watch most of the time. But if there is ONE silver lining to come out of this horribly tragic year, it is that people have innovated in ways we never would have otherwise. We have innovated on how to work and we have innovated on how to get married and how to have conferences and to have fashion shows and everything in between. But I will say I was most surprised by the Recording Academy who has NOT BEEN known for making good decisions. They made a great one and YES it was because they were FORCED to but they could have gone other directions and instead they ripped up the playbook and created an entirely NEW kind of event. One that was FUN and also serious when necessary. One that was THOUGHTFUL. One that was modern AND relevant. One that had incredible performances and set design and I just have to say I hope they keep this format moving forward. It felt like you were in a really intimate setting with the most incredible musicians performing the way they wanted to.
It also felt like TikTok came to life as SO many of the songs this year were made insanely popular because of TikTok. BUT…you can watch the recaps…you can see the clips. Today, I am highlighting the memes. There a re a million…these were some of my favorites that will help you follow some of the biggest moments:
Harry and his boa:
AND FOR THOSE OF YOU who did not know what WATERMELON SUGAR HIGH is about….this is for you:
TAY TAY:
Oh my gosh there are so many more we could be here for hours. The performances were amazing…I mean really really great and timely and relevant and political and sexy and BTS closed it with an unreal performance from a stage in Korea they built to replicate the stage in LA so as it would feel like they were there. AMAZING.
And the most memed fashion moment was from Miley Cyrus’ sister who I honestly didn’t know about because I am old but collectively the Internets came together to roast the dress but alas everyone is now talking about her:
Some of my fave performances:
AND FOR A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS:
I make no money from PCM (I WILL HAPPILY TAKE YOUR MONEY if you are an advertiser or a network who wants to develop this into something HUGE or if you just want to send me cheese that’s cool too) but I say this because I have now been sitting here for 6 hours and THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT. I am sorry, there just is SO much that it is impossible sometimes. So this week, I have just summarized a lot below.
- NFTs. HERE WE GO AGAIN. Gaining steam faster than anything I have seen, NFTs are exploding in the art scene and I am here for it as a way to pay artists for art they normally might not be able to get paid for. And now it MIGHT make more sense as the Square/Tidal deal tbh but NFTs are way for people to make money off of digital content by authenticating it and making originals of value. And the digital artist BEEPLE, found his art selling for the record breaking $69 MILLION in auction at Christies last week. I am just saying, I will HAPPILY NFT this newsletter guys. for HALF of that.
- NIKE. Nailed it. AGAIN. And frankly while this was launched in honor of Mother’s Day (in the UK this past Sunday) it resonates for a lot of reasons we should not even be having to discuss in 2021. But the fucktard Tucker Carlson, the racist and misogynistic FOX News broadcaster who woke up and realized with Trump AND Rush Limbaugh gone he had the opportunity to crank up the hate to an 11 and he did. He went on a rant about how making maternity flight suits for pregnant women in the military was “making a mockery of the US military” -> said by a manboy who has never served a day in his life. And voila Nike, perfectly timed…
- Nature’s Cereal. What is this? Well it wasn’t invented by Lizzo but she BLEW it up into a movement the last week and while there is a lot of hate, there is a LOT OF LOVE and people I know and trust have tried it and said they loved it. Whats is it? It is fruit (most use berries and pomegranate seeds but ANY FRUIT WILL WORK) and COCONUT water instead of milk…and ice cubes. VOILA…YUM YUM viral food sensation:
There are a million TikToks of them tbh so no chance I can go thru all of them:
- My favorite things I watched this week:
kid90 — OK…so this movie made me realize it is pretty remarkable I am alive today. It is remarkable most of us who had our teens and early 20s in the ’90s are alive today. I am not going to lie, I did a lot of crazy things I am not proud of that involve drugs and alcohol and crazy stupid horrible decisions that should have left me and others maimed or worse. I am grateful I do not have video of any of it though. I mean sure there is the occasional photo that pops up like me in 1994 dressed as a slutty french maid tripping on LSD whilst holding a bottle of Jaegermeister…but there is NO video. But for Soleil Moon Frye aka Punky Brewster, there is nothing BUT video. You want to talk FUTURIST? She is one and before anyone else was walking around documenting everything they did, she was doing it it in the heart of LA with the heart of the young Hollywood world from Charlie Sheen to Brian Austin Green it is the most incredible time capsule. SHE SAVED ALL HER ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGES!!! It is also a remarkable look at the lifestyle they had but also many people my age I know had outside of LA.
And I cannot say enough about the Biggie doc. I loved it so much. I learned so much. And OMG how I miss Jamaica. This was everything.
So that’s all I have. 7 HOURS this sucker took me. I need to bathe and brush my teeth and I might make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because that is my comfort food and I need it like I have never needed anything more in my life.
Stay safe, stay healthy, stay kind. AND GET VACCINATED AS SOON AS YOU CAN.
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