Pop Culture Mondays/5.4.20
The “May the 4th Be With You” Edition
Hello my darling pop culture junkies and welcome to another Monday -but a SPECIAL ONE, as it’s the first Monday in MAY! Normally, this day is filled with starving celebrities being spray tanned and cinched up into waist trainers while all the ladies soak their feet in CBD oil in order to lessen the agony of those 8 inch crazy heels their stylists and publicists and managers force them to wear as they try to navigate the stairs of the Met and we all watch to see all of it from the crazy outfits, to Kanye, and seeing who shades who and who might take a fall down the stairs. Even non fashionistas around the globe tune in to see WTF are these people are wearing. Again. Kanye.
But as have all good things in 2020, the Met Gala was cancelled. So we are all deprived of this annual rite of passage and today is just another BLAH Monday. Though I do wonder what they will do for next year. Anna Wintour, aka NUCLEAR WINTOUR, may I suggest ATH-LEISURE? We can just watch all the celebs show up in their best tie dye sweatsuits (again, Kanye) or perfectly loungey Aviator Nation hoodies. I personally would be fully supportive of this move. Can you imagine having to put on a party dress and heels right now? NOR CAN SHE:
It was my birthday last week and for a brief moment I put on a non-form fitting dress — a flowy Zara little number — and an actual bra and my Quarantine wife Deborah (don’t ever ever ever call her Debbie) and I made frozen rum drinks called Golden Eyes (MY FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH) to pretend we were celebrating in Jamaica. A few things. I wore Birkenstocks because HEELS ARE OVER. I started to break out in hives from being in normal clothes. And I lasted 48 minutes before I tore the dress off of me, and the bra, and put my ath-leisure back on and I could feel the life coming back to me and that is my new normal.
SO we have no Met Gala to obsess over, but there is plenty of CONTENT my little junkies so buckle up and dig in to some of it I’ve brought to you so you DO NOT have to search around for it because we are all BUSY. As a heads up to all the new subscribers, we are a TRUMP-FREE zone and LORD do we all need a break from it (PS. I recommend muting the word “Trump” from your Twitter feeds so you can a tad bit of sanity for a bit of time), so brush those crumbs off those sweatpants and curl up on your sofa aka new office, grab some Haribo gummi bears and enjoy…
HOLLYWOOD REIMAGINED:
I recently made the decision to “relocate” to LA for a year. I am a NYC girl thru and thru and that will never change, but this lockdown has taught me that for the moment I need space as in outdoor space for my dog, and sunshine and flowers. AND MY DOG NEEDS AN AGENT. The call to LA was strong and all consuming in a way I have never known, and even with ALL my own LA-stories over the years that include several boulevards of broken dreams (and broken hearts, sorry) I stayed put in NYC.
But I am being drawn to the west coast purely for reasons of real estate and weather — but for many others, since the dawn of movies, they have been drawn by the promise and allure of fame and fortune. Last year, there was a movie about Hollywood in the late ’60s (yawn, don’t @ me), but to me, the real Hollywood story was the Golden Age of the ’40s and that is EXACTLY the period of time the geniuses Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan give us with “Hollywood”, a binge-worthy series on Netflix. Literally a binge as I watched all 7 episodes in one day and I wanted SO much more and I ended up dressing up in my Grey Gardens gear and I LIVED IT.
I mean you guys THE CAST. The set design. The costumes. The beautiful naked bodies…ok I digress. But the premise is genius and beautiful — a re-imagination of what Hollywood COULD have been and the impact this would have had across all of society around the world. Imagine if diversity was accepted in the ’40s and if a film studio was led by a woman and run by people with convictions? Imagine if minorities were given leading roles and won awards and were allowed in the room (Hattie McDaniel won the Best Supporting Actress for Gone with Wind in 1940 but due to segregation was only allowed in the room to accept the award. I MEAN CAN YOU EVEN COMPREHEND THIS???
Imagine if the people making movies then, cared about doing the right thing and cared about their team and their casts and stood up for their actors vs just delivering what they believe will make money? Imagine if you could be gay and out and accepted and celebrated? It’s a doozie of a series depicting real people like Rock Hudson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Wilson, Hattie McDaniel along with fictional characters with a cast including Eva Peron aka Patti LuPone, Darren Criss, Jim Parsons, Mira Sorvino, Queen Latifah, Holland Taylor and so many other incredible talents. I could go into all the details but what fun would that be. But I will say it is a powerful moment seeing Mira Sorvino playing the role she plays knowing the battles she fought against Harvey Weinstein, and a brilliant moment giving her the outcome she deserves.
I first learned of the series from Kara Swisher, who has GONE HOLLYWOOD HERSELF, and her interview with Ryan on her Recode Decode podcast last week. It was really really good and I mean all of her interviews are great but it takes a RARE subject to actually get Kara to stop talking (sorry, love you Swish!) and Ryan just is such an incredible storyteller you can’t help but hang on every word. Not just about WHAT inspired him to make this show and all the sad stories of the people depicted who could have had such different outcomes, but also his creative process and reasons for leaving Fox to work with Netflix. BONUS — He also talked about a road trip he and Kara took when they were interns at The Washington Post back in the ’80s where Kara drove them from DC to NY to see Sandra Bernhard on Broadway, and Ryan chain smoked. This shows me that Ryan is indeed a superhero and also how lucky we are to still have him, because KARA IS ONE OF THE WORST DRIVERS IN THE WORLD AND YOU COULD NOT PAY ME TO LET HER DRIVE me anywhere. (Apologies but I am assuming there will be no PCM next week as Swisher will have me killed). Anyway, I digress….I hereby insist you listen to this interview:
The show is a delight and the fairy tale we kind of all need right now. It is bonkers and mesmerizing and heartbreaking and uplifting and SEXY AF and totally the opposite of the other Hollywood movie made by what’s his name (if you have to ask me my thoughts.…) because it is bright and fun and wacky but with passion and a heart and made by someone that has all of that inside them. And that’s that.
NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES:
No truer words, as Will Reeves is the SON of our beloved Superman, Christoper Reeves. So he knows a thing or two about being a superhero as he was raised by one. I don’t know about you but I had NO idea that Will Reeves was a reporter or on Good Morning America or anything at all about him other than the tragedy around his parents, but that all changed last week. Unless you live under a rock and even then I am pretty sure you still saw this, Will did a segment, from his home, on GMA about pharmacies delivering prescriptions via drones (like really? I WANT THAT PHARMACY).
Nothing unusual about this as we have all adapted rather quickly to seeing people reporting from home. I will say we have seen the tech get better, and people have stepped up their efforts with hair and make-up and those AMAZE RING LIGHTS which make us all look so much better. Our PCM hero John Krasinski has made it fun to see what he is wearing on his bottom half each segment and while we imagine people are probably in their sweats, our hero Will took it to another level and was caught wearing his underwear due to his lack of expertise in the camera operator department. It happens. Now I got a little shit for my tweet asking HOW hard is it to put pants on. I meant NO disrespect I assure you. I for one, think more men should wear less clothing as this has been the standard for us ladies now for SOME TIME. So I see it as a great equalizer. I am just saying, it seemed like a weird FLEX like he was caught off guard he was about to be on national TV. The marketing brain in me thought for a second it might have been some weird marketing campaign for some hot new underwear company which I could totally get behind tbh but I guess that’s a line journalists aren’t really able to cross. AT any rate, Will, we salute you. I mean you lost me when you came out saying they were not your panties but instead shorts because if those are shorts, I am hanging with the wrong dudes.
I mean again to be fair, his father famously wore a skintight suit that made a real impact on all of us so MAYBE his idea of shorts are skin tight biker shorts that fit well, like a second skin. And you know, I fully approve. This is our new normal. We are becoming a take it as you come society…what does this mean for the Kardashians? For the eyelash industry? For the high heel industry? For the PANTS industry? Only time will tell.
SPEAKING OF HEROES…
For those who know me, or are loyal PCM readers, you know I am a bit of an Anglophile. And when I say a BIT I mean, I am LITERALLY (I say this with a British accent more like “LIT-RA-LEE”) obsessed. I love the country, I have loved several of their men, I love their music, their women are some of my best friends, I love their style, I love that minced meat pies don’t have meat in them but fruit, I love the Queen, I love the incredible artist Charlie Mackesy who makes the most perfect drawings for us in the world we live in now, I love “Love, Actually” the most bonkers movie ever, I love pubs in the Cotswolds, I love racing crabs in Suffolk…and I LOVE the NOW Colonel Tom Moore. Now I don’t know the Colonel, but his story is the most British ever and so heartwarming and INCREDIBLE.
The World War 2 vet had vowed to walk 100 laps in his garden (10 a day) to mark his 100 birthday to raise money for the NHS to thank them for his new hip. He was hoping to raise £1000. I mean if this story doesn’t bring you to tears then you are without a soul and that’s ok, just accept it and move on. His story captivated the nation — and beyond — and he received hundreds of thousands of birthday cards that have ALL be opened and displayed at his grandson’s school apparently:
And then there is that little fundraiser of his. Well he has broken Guinness Book of Records and has raised over £32 million! THIRTY TWO MILLION POUNDS. Thats like $40 million for you crazy US Nationalists who don’t know about other currencies. It’s a lot. And the latest feel good part of this story is that the Queen officially promoted him to COLONEL from Captain and he got a Royal fly over by the Royal Air Force and well, this is proof we are still good. at the core. I LOVE YOU 🇬🇧!
IT’S TIME TO BECOME A GAMER NOW:
I used to be a gamer. TRUE story and one more than a few of you can back up. Early in my career I did PR for the video game world…Video game publications like Next Gen and game systems like the Dreamcast. I mean I go back. I remember the day I actually had to stop being a gamer which was after a 3 day epic GTA battle in my apartment with friends where we had empty pizza boxes piled up and I hadn’t had a drink of water because I needed no interruptions like having to pee and I am quite sure I hadn’t showered in 3 days and well…enough was enough. Out went the Xbox and in came a new obsession with shoes and handbags. UGH I AM SO BASIC. But I digress…again. The point is, I am not a gamer anymore, but man…I really really think I need to be. If not just for the new ways to hear live music. Now, I am not going to discuss Animal Crossing here (I leave this to the amaze Gary Whitta) because I truly do not understand it and I BEG YOU TO PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL EXPLAINING IT, but let’s talk “Fortnite” just for a moment.
I remember last year, pre-COVID, the news around Marshmello holding the first ever Fortnite concert and I was really fascinated by it. I was told it was a gimmick. Not something that would ever become a thing. But I was still fascinated by it. So you go in your virtual world to see a real virtual concert. I mean there are so many layers to it, it got my head spinning. Well now here we are and to launch the new NO WEAPONS PARTY MODE (I mean probably a good idea to have a concert with no weapons virtual or not), Diplo performed a LIVE Major Lazer set.
But more my kind of thing, last week Travis Scott performed a bunch of concerts in Fortnite to a record 12.3 million participants. 12.3 MILLION. I mean that is some audience. And I am totally into seeing more of this. It’s a mind fuck, I am not going to lie.
GOOD DAY SIR:
I will say I found it quite comforting to learn this past week that out very own Willy Wonka — a sadistic genius who toyed with people for sport, all while inventing beautiful and magical and fun things, Elon Musk owns Gene Wilder’s (the man who immortalized Willy in the movie) house. Creepier still to connect the dots that the last movie star to play Willy Wonka was Johnny Depp who famously was married to Amber Heard who then went on to be Elon’s girlfriend. BUT WE ARE NOT THE DAILY MAIL. So I just like the Gene Wilder House. And we know about the Gene Wilder House because Elon went on an Elon tweet storm, the likes we have not seen in a while. And while announcing he was giving up ALL his possessions but was putting a protection on Gene Wilder’s house…he also then announced that IN HIS OPINION, the Tesla stock price was JUST TOO DAMN HIGH. Yes, we all remember when he tweeted that Tesla stock would get to 420, a good ganja joke that got the SEC all up in a tizzy. But then I guess he decided it was FUN playing with people (SO Willy) and he tweeted the price was too high. And what Elon wants, Elon gets. SO…the stock tumbled like Willie Wonka making his grand entrance…apparently wiping $14 billion off of Tesla’s value. Now, I am no stock market expert so I have no idea how it really works and I am guessing these things rebound but that was SOME reaction to a tweet. The Twitter exploded with many people expressing concern for his mental health and asking Elon if he was ok. Some thought he might be stressed as he and his GF are about to have a baby but considering he has like 19 other kids, I cannot imagine it was that. I mean I think it is just one long long troll that he is playing a la Willy Wonka, a la the Wizard of Oz. And we just keep falling for it.
I am no psychiatrist. I mean I am close as I DID take Psych 101 for one semester in 1993 so technically I mean I am close to having a PhD but IMO, this is a scene I am guessing Elon has studied over and over and over again.
I for one am grateful to Elon. We all need a little Willy Wonka.
So that’s it for now. It’s beautiful outside which is like one of the first days in months so I am going to walk 🥔 the dog and practice making TikToks because I have caved and am a slave to all platforms at this point. But here are some more of my favorite things from this week!
- I Porn, You Porn, We Should Make Love, Not Porn: I am so lucky to have incredible female mentors in my life, one being the AMAZE Cindy Gallop. I mean I could write an entire newsletter about her and her martinis which have left me bedridden LIT-RA-LEE for days (no coincidence she is a Brit!) As the woman who broke the glass ceiling in the advertising world, she is now an entrepreneur breaking the glass ceiling in the SEX TECH WORLD. And we should ALL pay attention.
- Welcome to the world you preppy little perfect Wyatt Morgan Cooper
- Obviously, Murder Hornets
- RIP to this legend, a remarkable man who was both brilliant and kind- Gil Schwartz, aka Stanley Bing.
Until next week my Pop Culture Junkies….PLEASE stay safe everyone — Binge on Hollywood, eat ALL the carbs, stop making sourdough starters and start making bagels and pizza dough, and give yourself a break.
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