Pop Culture Mondays/6.29.20
The IS WHAT IT IS Edition
Happy Monday my pop culture junkies. I am not going to lie, I am freaking so confused. Isn’t it all supposed to get better? Aren’t we told that the good thing about bad movies is that they end? SO WHEN DOES THIS FUCKING END? When do crazy Karens stop freaking the fuck out in grocery stores? When do Crazier Karens and their husbands Darren stop holding assault rifles in front of their mansions to keep peaceful protestors out? When do presidents of the United States stop tweeting white power videos? When do people realize that wearing a mask saves lives? I AM SO OVER IT.
BUT I am grateful for the fun and crazy things this past week that helped me escape. There was a lot so BUCKLE up…and an FYI when I share TikToks with you guys please know it is not the real way to watch TikToks and your kids will mock you endlessly so be warned and you should just get the app but ALSO be warned it is highly addictive entertainment (the opposite of Quibi). And as always…I try as HARD AS IT MAY BE…to be TRUMP-free because…he blows. Also, there is a LOT of PCM-worthy stuff this week…but alas, I do have a real job so only have a certain amount of time to write this so I have only picked a few!
And if you want to share this with your friends…that would be awesome. I want PCM to grow and grow and grow I mean who knows…a podcast on Spotify? A show on Peacock? I AM HERE FOR IT. Enjoy it kids…and eat your sugar.
JUST A FEW OF THE KARENS:
I mean another day and another Karen. While some are truly just funny to watch like the lady throwing her things out of the cart because she was NOT HAVING it when asked to put a mask on:
We had another grocery store fiasco, right here in Los Angeles at our beloved Trader Joe’s…like I mean I get losing your shit for something worthy like if they were to run out of EVERYTHING BUT THE BAGEL seasoning, but losing their shit for being told they have to wear a mask??? I just don’t get it:
And then yesterday, the doozie of “Karen and Darren”, filmed in St. Louis pointing their guns at peaceful protestors who walk by their mansion. First, there is Karen aka Patricia McCloskey barefoot and in leggings pointing the tiniest little gun I ever did see..I mean is it a lighter? Or perhaps a TEENY tiny vibrator that reminds her of her husband (sorry NOT sorry)?
Either way, she waves that little thing around furiously while her husband Mark, while in his pink polo and his FRONT PLEAT khakis WHILST barefoot, is brandishing an AR-15 like a madman. It will surprise NO one these are personal injury aka ambulance chasing attorneys who live in their over the top mansion paid for by taking advantage of many. SO there you have it…we are a world gone wild my friends:
It will NOT surprise you that this crazy ass couple also come with ZERO taste (SHOCKING):
And then we have this doozie. The “I HAVE A BLACK HUSBAND” Karen, though after watching this a lot, it is clear this woman has some sort of mental health issue and I do hope she gets the help she needs. But the story is Karlos Dillard followed a woman — a woman who cut him off in her car and gave him the finger and he also claims called him a horrible name — to her driveway to confront her as to why she did that. He filmed it and was calm and asking her why and she just lost her shit. I mean, LOST her shit. People have different opinions as to whether he should have done that but he was super calm and just wanted to understand. It’s hard to watch:
She did at one point scream she had a black husband so Karlos has used his viral fame to turn that phrase into a t-shirt which he explains is entirely his prerogative as “white people have profited off of everything black people do in this country.”
IT IS WHAT IT IS AKA WTF IS HAPPENING:
I am really actually 100,0000 percent not going to do this whole thing justice but at least I am giving this to you to ponder and research and if you have more questions please reach out to the amaze Josh Constine or Taylor Lorenz who definitely have more insight but let me at least TRY. So there is this meme that I maybe saw here and there but paid no attention or thought it was just another code like 👉👈 which means awkward or shy. Like if you see people in a TikTok holding their 2 index fingers together thats what it means like “um awkward” or basically “I am shy.” Like this:
I at first this trend and then like all of 5 minutes later, at 46, I am now using this signal when I am trying to convey this and I have no idea what has happened but IT IS WHAT IT IS. See what I did there? OK so that brings us to the EYEBALL MOUTH EYEBALL emojis.
So before this 👁👄👁 thing started popping up, there was a “It is what it is” meme going around TikTok. Not using the emoji, but the phrase. A little more can be understood here:
But then I started seeing the emojis on Twitter and I got very confused. And almost at the same time I started seeing it, Taylor Lorenz, the New York Times reporter who covers Internet Culture tweeted:
And then just like that, I was seeing it everywhere. It was like having a mosquito bite in between your toes…like you cannot ever really itch it to satisfaction and it is annoying AF and not going away. And then Josh Constine, formerly of TechCrunch, dedicated his newsletter to it. It has SINCE been updated for the grand reveal but at the time it seemed like it might be a marketing hyped new buzzy start-up that was getting people JONESING to get to the bottom and inevitably be invited to whatever ultra-exclusive app it was going to be.
BUT (SPOILER ALERT) it was a joke. Maybe a lesson here by pointing out the obsessive and absurd trend of exclusivity culture. Anyway, the joke turned out to be a GREAT thing as it has raised over $100K for racial justice philanthropies. I hope much of that was from the VCs who were like, “I WANT IN ON THIS ASAP!!!”
Josh’s newsletter:
And a statement from the 👁👄👁 team:
So are you less confused or more confused? While you’re thinking about it, may I suggest donating to the following orgs they suggest:
SWIMMING POOL BABY:
So, one of those weird little things about me which if my parents were alive I am sure my mother would insist on writing a footnote to this with some sort of authoritative statement like “This is absolutely true and I take 100 percent credit for this..”
The fact is we had a pool in the house I grew up in and I spent most of my early childhood in Puerto Rico (shut UP Quincy) so my parents were very nervous about me not being able to swim. So before I actually knew how to walk, I knew how to swim. Photos I have seen of this also explain a lot about who I grew up to be as the person teaching my 8 month self to swim was a REALLY handsome and tanned swim instructor, but I digress…
Now that I am TOTLLY all in on TikTok I saw this video and I must have watched it 100 times just over and over again because I was like HUH this seems strangely uncomfortable like surely this is going to be a thing people freak out on? AND SURE enough….so, first you be the judge:
Now, I learned to swim at 8 months which is an achievement I have worn like a badge of honor my whole life. But this baby is barely 2 months in and the instructor tosses that baby in like it’s a pool toy. This was NOT the method for which I was taught to swim by any means by my ADONIS of a swim instructor. I mean drowning scares the hell out of me — I have a CUSTOM FIT life preserver for my doggo for whenever he is even NEAR water so this was hard for me to watch. And apparently, it was hard to watch FOR a LOT of people as the mom got a ton of backlash and even death threats. SO, I was so happy to see David Mack of Buzzfeed write a story on it which gave the mom an opportunity to explain this controversial methodology which I still don’t agree with but you be the judge!
The comments/posts do amuse me to no end though. And the good news is, that baby is FINE. And some therapist will make a KILLING at some point.
IT’S BRITNEY BITCH:
Guys. We have to have a conversation about our Britney. Depending on your age, you surely remember where you were when certain crazy unbelievable things happened in this world. For example:
- Princess Diana And Prince Charles wedding
- OJ Simpson Bronco Chase
- Princess Diana car crash
- Britney Spears shaving her head
These were HUGE moments that captivated the world. Britney, America’s sweetheart who danced in teeny little naughty school girl outfits while sucking on a lollipop in pigtails dancing in a high school asking someone to HIT her one more time…I mean WHAT COULD POSSIBLY go wrong here? So everything, it turns out.
We watched her collapse into the throes of mental illness and it has been heartbreaking to see especially as she has kids and it just shows that living under a microscope or being sexualized at a young age…it CAN BACKFIRE. And with Britney in full control of her socials we have begun seeing more and more of it. From the never really cleaned face (like always smudged black eyeliner) to her prancing around showing off strange outfits to her announcing nonchalantly she burned down her gym (oops…)
Oh, OK so yeah…got it…OK B.
So those who follow such things have noticed more and more of this strange behavior. People were starting to ask how can they help Britney. SAVE BRITNEY. She is still under guardianship of her parents, she does not have primary custody of her kids but no one has taken custody of her phone…and so we are left with all of this.
AND THEN WE HAVE THIS. Pride. Britney decided to speak to the LGBTQ community…Or something along those lines, you’ll see. It is all sorts of crazy. From the outfit and the whole look, to the words coming out of her mouth, to the yelling…it’s a whole situation that has the world SHOOKETH.
The responses have been amazing:
There is more to say here like she actually has also updated us on her burned down gym but it’s too exhausting and I think I speak for a lot of us in that we really hope she gets the help she really needs!!
AND THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS….
So, if you made it this far especially as I am sending this SO much later than I normally do, well WELL DONE and I salute you. There was SO much more that happened this past week so for a quick snapshot, check it out:
- SACHA BARON COHEN is a hero. He is at it again and apparently infiltrated some right wing festival and get people to singalong to a ridiculous WUHAN FLU song while dressed up as farmer Bob or something:
- I am only keeping this towards the bottom because otherwise my newsletter runs the risk of just being a FAN SITE for “Hamilton” which I am actually totally ok with but I think I MIGHT lose some subscribers! But this came out on Fallon and it is EVERYTHING and please watch every second as it will restore your faith in humanity.
- The “Hood Baby” challenge on TikTok is everything to me. A great song that people are doing their own thing to which generally means one person takes one lyric then another and then another and then all look up and down to the lyrics. But people are also doing it with their dogs and I have no idea how and it’s everything like this:
- AND THIS. Because LeBron and Maverick will save us. With $100 million to build a new media empire to save our brains. Click on this link as it won’t let me include the BusinessWeek cover story in Medium weirdly (paging SIPPEY!).
Until next week my Pop Culture Junkies. If you have ANY FEEDBACK or suggestions please lmk and as always please share this with EVERYONE!
Anyway, please stay SAFE. Wear 😷 when you are out in public and be kind to one another.
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