Pop Culture Mondays/5.28.24
The AI IS GOING GREAT Edition
Happy TUESDAY, my darling pop culture junkies. I am so so sorry. I know I promised you I was going to publish on Monday despite it being a holiday, but I failed you. I failed myself, really. But I had a really great reason, and that was live music. Specifically, one of the most incredible music festivals out there is Bottlerock. I am generally not a music festival kind of girl. I like to have easy access in and out. I like bathrooms. I like access to food and water. And if I am hot, I like to go somewhere to cool down. AND vice versa. And that, my friend, is Bottlerock in Napa Valley put on by Live Nation. Let me be perfectly clear: one of my clients is Live Nation, and I love them; I love their business, their team, their love of music and artists, and everything in between. So, it’s been a busy week for all involved — in case you missed the news. But if you ever want to talk about ticket prices and secondary markets for ticketing and why your Taylor Swift tickets were so much less expensive in Europe, then I am YOUR GIRL. But also read this piece by Bob Lefsetz, who explains it all pretty perfectly, tbh:
OK, back to Bottlerock. Why did I end up not writing on Monday? I was going to leave Sunday and head back to LA. I figured two full days would be plenty, and I would see Stevie Nicks one night and Pearl Jam the next. Like, what a weekend. But then, I was having too much fun. And I looked at the lineup on Sunday and saw Stephen Sanchez, and I reconsidered everything…as many of you here know, I love him. I mean, he’s 21 but a very, very old soul. He is like Elvis meets Roy Orbison and Harry Styles; I am here for it. Seeing him live was too much of a temptation. Then I saw the Offspring were playing, and if you know me, you know I love some nostalgia — though it is pretty hard for me to get my head wrapped around The Offspring being a nostalgia band, but hey, it’s impossible for me to believe I am 50 now so what do I know. And then…I realized that I would miss seeing Ed Sheeran if I left, and it was all too much to face. So I stayed. And I DO NOT REGRET this decision. Other than letting you down.
Stephen Sanchez is a star. At least 8 girls fainted during his set. GRANTED, it was HOT and the hottest time of day at 3 PM in the dead sun with no shade. I will give you that. But I think the combination of the heat and Sanchez knowing what he was doing with his eyes and hips was how I imagined girls would be when Elvis first came onto the scene. Except Sanchez has tattoos. I love his tattoos.
IN case you are not connecting him with the man I have talked about a lot here in the past….here is a reminder. BUCKLE UP, my little darlings:
A few more things on Bottlerock. I got to meet Baba Booey. If you are not a Howard Stern fan (what is WRONG with you, btw), then you might not know who Gary Dell’Abate is, but you should. He has been Howard’s producer forever, and on air, he is one of the Stern crew members and someone I have listened to for over 35 years. I started listening to him in 7th grade, which would have been around 1986 and 1987 when he was on KRock radio in NY. I was most definitely not allowed to listen to him, but I would set my clock radio alarm to 30 minutes before my mom would come and wake me up and listen to the show, which was definitely not appropriate, but it was SO much fun. But Baba Booey and Howard have been in my life longer than most people. Longer than my parents, so it was very emotional for me to meet him and he and his wife were so lovely, and I am still buzzing about it. BY the way…Howard is one of the best interviewers out there right now. By a long shot. For example, this Benny Blanco interview was incredible. I listened to every word. Check out some of the clips:
Even though Benny is doing most of the talking, that’s the point. Howard gets him there. He creates a place that inspires people to talk and to open up and it’s a gift for us all.
Just the best.
OK, I DIGRESS. Back to Bottlerock. Ed Sheeran. I mean….this guy. NO words. He plays the entire show solo. SOLO. He plays all the instruments himself, so to speak. He has a guitar, but he uses — I assume — a loop machine of some kind and makes music on stage using keyboards and other tools. He then loops them together and plays to all of us adoring fans non-stop for almost 2 hours. IT IS SO INCREDIBLE to experience I cannot even explain. That kind of talent is hard to imagine. I was blown away. I was also blown away by the video my friend Kaitlyn got of me as I made my way to the bathroom during the show, but it somehow directed me to nearly getting on stage, and I had a real Penny Lane moment. Ed was probably like who is this insane woman coming towards me?
Let’s get to a little pop culture summary this week. Just a quick summary this week since we are ALL in catch-up mode from the long weekend. But if you are thinking about MAYBE checking out Bottlerock next year? DO IT. The music? The Food? The Venue? You will not regret it.
Grab your 🎧 and some 🍿 and enjoy.
Xx,
Brooke
AI HAD A WEEK:
It always happens. As soon as I publish PCM on Mondays, big pop culture news breaks later that day. It happens over and over. And by the time I get to it a week later, it is old news. This is why I put the podcast out on Thursdays, so I can cover the things that break in between publishing days. If you missed last week’s, I do get into this whole disappointment of SAM ALTMAN a bit more, so check it out:
Ah yes….SKYGATE. A quick summary in case you missed it.
More than ten years ago (it blows my mind), the movie HER, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, came out.
The premise was ScarJo, as Samantha, was the voice of the OS running Joaq’s life, and he fell in love with her. Spoiler alert: it did not end well.
So fast forward to last week when OpenAI announced voices for ChatGPT the other week; there was a voice named Sky who sounded a lot like ScarJo. This clip doesn't really do it justice, but here you go:
Well, it was close enough to get under ScarJo's skin, and for good reason. On Monday afternoon, she dropped the bomb, letting the world know that Sam Altman personally had reached out to her about voicing Sky, and she had turned it down. Now, Sam Altman did not help his case with this dumb tweet:
And that tweet was enough for ScarJo (and I Imagine her very pleased lawyers) to let loose with this statement:
Despite OpenAI claiming the voice is not a copy of hers, Sam’s tweet suggests otherwise. And some of the replies to it were genius:
We shall see how this all plays out. I mean, there is ALWAYS a tweet!
But this wasn’t the end of the AI drama this past week.
Thanks to GOOGLE, we now have GLUE GATE. Or ROCK GATE. Lots of gates.
This is what people get when asking silly questions about the new Google AI search feature. The AI has scanned all things, including jokes on Reddit, which the AI could not tell was a joke, and VOILA, here we are.
People began trying to find mistakes, and the results were endless:
And some were dangerous:
Some funny memes:
So much to look forward to!
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
A few other things popped up this week that may or may not have made your radar.
First, let’s start with FOUR SEASONS ORLANDO BABY. We talked about her last week, but IN case you forgot:
Well, that baby has gone far and wide. And the Four Seasons Orlando is loving it.
We have all been following this baby so closely for a week:
And she is still at it:
CONTENT IS COMING!!!!
CUE THE TEARS:
The trailer for the new Celione doc about her disease has dropped, and we have all the signs that there will be a lot of tears. From her. From us.
This will premiere ON Prime Video on June 25th:
AND…I am READY FOR THIS. JULES FOREVER:
Coming to Hulu June 13th:
You’re welcome.
LION KING LIVE:
The Lion King had its 30th Anniversary LIVE show at the Hollywood Bowl this past weekend, where many of the OG performers sang as their characters.
I would have loved this.
But what has everyone bent out of shape is that North West, the daughter of Kim K and Kanye, played Young Simba. I am not here to critique a kid, but many others have, so I will leave it to YOU to decide. I will say one thing: Could they have not done better with a costume? Many call it nepotism, and many say Kim pulled strings to make this happen. It did feel a bit like we were all watching a performance at a small private school for K-8.
JELLY ROLL DROPPED A NEW SINGLE:
And the song has given everyone the feels.
First, the song:
And now some of the reactions:
LOVE Jelly Roll for this. And I love the men being courageous enough to show their emotions.
SOUTHPARK COMES FOR LIZZO:
And Lizzo gives the best response. First of all, nothing more cringe than a bunch of old, rich white dudes mocking a woman’s weight…or I guess I should say, talking about a woman’s weight in ANY capacity. BUT…the actual point — to be fair — is incorporating her body positivity message as the antithesis to weight loss drugs. But they tried to destroy her.
And Lizzo didn’t take the bait. Her response was flawless.
AND THAT is how it is done.
THE NEW IT SHOE:
If you have started noticing these shoes on people, then you are NOT alone. Welcome to the world of New Balance 327s. And if you are still rocking your $500 Golden Goose, then this is your moment to turn a new leaf, if you will. Because the Golden Goose era NEEDS to come to a close. But these are DEF the IT shoe of the moment. They are cute, and most are VERY affordable, starting at around $99, and amazingly comfortable but also becoming a collector's dream. New Balance knew what it was doing in terms of creating a moment. I would say I saw this shoe in 35 different variations at Bottlerock alone. There are so many different colors to choose from whether you go to their site directly or look for an even broader selection on GOAT for example.
Nerd chic baby. I am here for it. And NOW you know.
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
I decided not to get into a few things as either they seemed so far away now, like a drunk Jojo Siwa at Disney…or I had grown bored with the subject, like Harrison Butker and some responses to him from teammates. But for anything I missed, check out my podcast on THURSDAY!! Subscribe to POP CULTURE MONDAYS ON THURSDAYS wherever you get your podcasts.
We are switching off of Medium SOON….so expect an update there. NOT SUBSTACK do NOT worry.
And remember, 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…good luck in catch-up mode.
Xx,
Brooke
