Pop Culture Mondays/3.30.20
It’s STILL March Edition
Happy Monday my darling pop culture junkies, and welcome to the “OMG IT IS STILL MARCH” edition. I mean to be fair we are ALMOST in April, but this has been some month. Any babies born this month and moving forward for a while are going to be part of Generation C, so in 20 years we will see what becomes of this wild group of kids born into quarantine. But really, we are ALL Gen C now and we are collectively figuring it all out. There was a lot this week that brought us together so buckle up…but if any of you want to talk about the Elton John & friends thing on TV last night that showed musicians at home chatting and singing, I am NOT your girl. I tried..I gave it my all…and while the purpose was important and raised money for Feed America DONATE NOW NOW NOW if you can, it was too hard for me to watch. Though I was there for the Billie Joe Armstrong singing “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” which seemed more relevant than ever before, I was there to see Elton jam and yet Elton had NO piano in his house saying it was the only house he has ever been in without a piano so that’s a no. But if you want to check it out, here you go:
So, let’s GET to it and go curl up in your leggings and hoodie and Clorox bleach wipes and put your bread in the oven (more on that below) and grab some Oreos or Haribo Gummis and make sure to click on the hyperlinks for extra extra viewing. AND as always, this is a TRUMP-free zone for our sanity!
TIGER KING:
SOOOO if there is anyone here who has not seen this show yet on Netflix or at least HEARD about it, please lmk IMMEDIATELY because you are a rare breed and I salute you for living this past week with blinders on. For everyone else, WTF is wrong with us? Humor me while I set the stage JUST in case there are people here who have no idea what I am talking about. Netflix — the clear winner during the pandemic — released its series called “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” which follows Joe Exotic, a man who runs a “zoo” in Oklahoma and once ran for governor of Oklahoma and loves buying and selling and breeding big cats among other animals and has a real passion for straight boys he apparently feeds meth to in order to get them to marry him. BUT I digress.
It is also a series with SO many layers as it turns out Joe Exotic is just ONE character in a cast of characters in the big cat community. We have cults, we have meth, we have murder for hire plots, we have amputations, we have fashion, we have reality show antics, AND we have abuse of animals JUST to top it off. It’s really got everything. After the 1st or 2nd episode I realized why ‘Merica is not going to have an easy time getting rid of the pandemic because THESE PEOPLE.
Let me say this. I will give it to Joe Exotic for bringing us all together at this time. Everyone seems to love the show from ARod to Cardi B who “stans” Joe Exotic so much she wants to start a GoFundMe to help set him free (spoiler: he is currently in jail.) I mean the guy is an animal abuser of EPIC proportion so it says something when seemingly sensible people have all come out of this loving him, but CRAZY TIMES KIDS. Crazy Times. Anyway, the real praise in MY opinion, should be reserved for the filmmakers, Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, who stumbled onto this crazy story while filming a piece on reptiles. Also, BONUS FACT: Eric Goode is a fascinating character who is one of the owners of the Bowery Hotel in NYC and the Waverly Inn, a Greenwich Village restaurant, and who happens to have a MASSIVE turtle obsession (making him a TRUE VSCO Girl, sksksk and I oop) so for more on HIM, please read the wonderful profile on Eric Goode by PCM subscriber katierosman here:
AND if you haven’t watched it yet, I urge you to - whether for entertainment or for a deep look into a crazy subculture and to see how horrible humanity can be. LIKE REALLY BAD. EVERYONE IS BAD IN THIS. NO ONE IS A GOOD HUMAN NOT ONE. OK….I will breathe…
And for more content on all of it, check out:
#HASHTAG NATIONAL COWBOY MUSEM SOCIAL MEDIA STAR:
The real winner this week is OKLAHOMA — the state, not the musical though that is delightful as well. NEVER in all my years did I think I would spend so much time thinking about Oklahoma let alone writing about it. But here we are — the TRUE FLIP side of Joe Exotic is American hero Tim, the head of security for the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. While the museum is closed, Tim announced on the Twitter that he was going to be in charge of the museum’s social media account during this time. What do we know about Tim? He is a grandfather. He is new to the Twitter. He LOVES John Wayne. He loves “Toy Story” and he LOVES POP CULTURE. And he loves to use hashtags. I mean he SPELLS OUT HASHTAG and we all are here for it and need this more than ever. Also, not sure about you, but I VOW to make a trek to this museum when we are out of quarantine and back to living our lives. WHO IS WITH ME?? Email me at subscribePCM@gmail.com for reals.
Here are a few examples of sweet sweet Tim:
Tim, to his grandson Lucas:
#hashtag:
THE WORLD COMES TOGETHER TO 👏:
Look, it takes a lot to make me cry. Unless it’s about animals, or kids, or a break up, or a beautiful meal, or an old man sitting at a restaurant by himself, or a beautiful pair of shoes, or painful shoes, or the thought of skiing and being cold, or the thought of never swimming in the ocean again, or the thought of any kind of math…..ok, so maybe I am not the BEST example of a non-cryer. But even the most hardened of hearts have to admit, seeing the world unite to applaud the healthcare workers putting their lives on the lines for all of us, was something. I am not entirely sure where the idea started but I will just say the UK as that’s when I first noticed it — I also am an Anglophile so I follow a lot of English people on the Instagram because they are just better in every way (do not @ me!). My socials became filled with people standing on rooftops, or in backyards or on balconies, or at windows at the same time to applaud for their healthcare workers (I should also say, this means fire departments and police and everyone on the front lines at this time). It was joyful to see and even the heir to the UK monarchy and the spares got into the action and while we all know they are in a castle with gardens we can only dream of, it was ADORABLE.
AND then even AMERICA, the land of the Tiger King, got into it and people applauded across America. Cities applauded together, people at sea, and even Dude with a Sign:
So, even in a world that is so scary and foreign to all of us, humanity prevails and we can be really awesome and come together for good. I see that with all the amazing people I know helping feed people and helping restaurant workers and restaurant owners feeding people all across America. We will always come together for the greater good….and it’s awesome.
SOURDOUGH FTW:
Between all the “Tiger King” watching and Oreo cookie eating and clapping for healthcare workers, I could not help but notice my socials becoming more and more filled with people’s loaves of bread — and more specifically, their SOURDOUGH. It was everywhere I looked. Insta, Insta stories, Twitter, even Facebook which is where I only usually see baby or dog videos…there was bread. BREAD BREAD BREAD. I mean this is a trigger for anyone on a no carb diet, or a gluten free diet or just for those of you who find sourdough the worst of all breads. But it was taking over regardless. Whilst eating my homemade nachos last night, I innocently tweeted about this phenomena and asked if I actually knew people who DID NOT MAKE A LOAF OF BREAD this weekend…and WOO boy, did the community respond — and continues to respond:
I have tried to respond to everyone but there are a lot of responses and a lot of feelings but I do have to shout out to Vanity Fair corespondent Nick Bilton who clearly made an award-winning sourdough loaf and why I have used his picture because we are all unworthy tbh. But wow did I learn a lot:
- People either love or hate sourdough, there is NO in between.
- A lot of people could not find flour or yeast in their local markets because PANIC BUYING
- There is a thing called a starter. To me, a starter is shrimp cocktail or a nice tuna tartare. BUT apparently, a starter is what people who really know how to make bread use to start. They make their own yeast essentially! Even Vice was like WTF is happening and I have never felt more seen:
I am still not going to bake bread because I happen to be sheltering in place in a household who would look at me in horror if I fed them a carb of any kind, but I DO have a new appreciation for all you bakers out there!
SOME GOOD NEWS!:
I mean I could launch an entirely new newsletter entirely focused on all the homemade content people are putting out right now. Late night talk show hosts doing their shows from home, to podcasters in quarantine to all the musicians sharing their music. And then there is America’s Sweetheart, Jim Halpert from “The Office” AKA John Krasinski. Now that I am finally able to spell Krasinski I am going to use it all the time fyi. So John Krasinski decides to launch his own show: “Some Good News” where John — as newscaster - shares stories of the week that bring joy. Stories about community and love and funny celebrity digs along with an interview with Steve Carell that I could watch over and over and over again. OMG did we need this. And he interviewed another star of the week, teenager Coco, who upon her return from her last chemo treatment this past week, was met by her entire neighborhood who threw a hell of a social distancing party, greeting her. I dare you not to cry:
I urge you all to subscribe to SGN because it is everything:
There are a lot of other things to talk about but I need to get back to plotting out what I will make for lunch and for my afternoon snack and for dinner so I have summarized below. I did ask for you guys to send me books they are loving but NO ONE DID. MANY sent TV shows so I think most of us need to just tune out a bit but again if you have any good book suggestions, please email me at subscribepcm@gmail.com!
- Samantha Bee doing Full Frontal from the woods behind her house and filmed by her husband is MUSTSEETV:
- Cardi B has become one of the most rational voices during the pandemic:
- Staying In with Emily & Kumail podcast is a must and all profits go to coronavirus charities so, even better:
- Turns out, David Geffen is tone deaf (but I am not going to lie, his boat is really really awesome)
- We learned where TRISCUITS got its name!
- Moms realizing Dads can’t be left alone with the babies:
- Lots of people talking about “Unorthodox”
So until next week my Pop Culture Junkies….PLEASE stay safe everyone, meditate, talk to friends (ALL THE TIME), bake cookies OR SOURDOUGH, get some fresh air, do all the workout videos using cans of food as weights (I DID THIS!), try to sleep, watch The Tiger King and everything on the TV…WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
I’m playing around with the formatting and sign ups, so if you want this in your inbox (or if you want to provide any feedback or send me snacks) PLEASE send an email to subscribepcm@gmail.com and PLEASE do send me things you want to see in next week’s edition. Or send me French Bulldog pictures, a sure way to my heart. Also please feel free to share this with anyone you know who could use some PCM right now.
