Pop Culture Mondays/6.7.21
The “COUGARS RULE THE WORLD” Edition
Happy MONDAY my pop culture junkies! I hope this is a refreshing break in your day though I admit the one thing I could write endlessly about we have made the ONE RULE at PCM about not writing about. It’s been SUCH a nice break the last few months with the former President out of the cultural zeitgeist. But alas he is back…PANTSGATE but I will let others delve into that one though again…I COULD TALK ENDLESSLY about those pee pee pants. BUT I DIGRESS.
We are in WEEK TWO of Whiteyy18 mental breakdowns and I think maybe only NOW is it losing a little steam…for me it was the 18th video of him lip syncing Manilow’s “Mandy”. But William White has gone on to show us — US being cougars and MILFs and gay men and the husbands of the cougars and MILFs and boyfriends and husbands and boyfriends of gay men and then of course even the lesbians are getting into it and frankly it was all of us — his modeling pics which are very cute but look, unless there is an eye roll/flutter thingy, it is JUST NOT THE SAME. I didn’t want to write ANOTHER whole post on our global crush but the news continues so just a little moment to honor him. Here you can see his modeling shoot:
AND MAYBE the biggest achievement of my life THUS far has been to be named by gossip blogs as one of the reasons behind his popularity which is NOT CORRECT BTW but the fact they describe me as a writer was all I needed for my revenge fantasy of an English teacher in boarding school who told me my writing was a disgrace….WHO IS THE WRITER NOW SIR? TOOFAB SAYS I AM! 😇
For more on THAT:
So, we are a little light on news this week since it really was Whitey and PANTSGATE but I have done my best to make it fun. Enjoy this calorie-free break in your day.
WORLD MEET PAXTON SMITH:
I weirdly remember my high school graduation very well. I had been categorized as the bad kid early on…some would say it is because I looked a little like Drew Barrymore as a teen and she was the WILD CHILD and I therefore was defined as that early on and then sort of just leaned into it. Trust me, I was actually really way more comfortable staying at home and playing Trivial Pursuit or Uno with my parents or watching “Masterpiece Theatre” with them BUT I had this persona to keep up and I guess when you’re a teenager having a ROLE is better than not. At least back in the ’90s when we were basically all horrible spoiled self involved brats. My high school graduation had JULES KROLL as our keynote speaker which tells you everything about where I grew up but I digress. I had a purse that had my Marlboros and a fluorescent mini pink lighter in it with my car keys and MAN I thought I was the shit. I, along with many pf my peers, rolled my eyes throughout the ceremony itching to be done with school and do keg stands at the parties later.
I can assure you I was not ever in the running to be valedictorian AND NO ONE at my school who was, ever would speak out and be disruptive or controversial. We were the MOST IMPORTANT people in the world in our minds and everyone was just there to amuse us…ok at least that’s how I viewed the world back in 1992.
Which is why I am constantly impressed with so many GenZers. Like the complete opposite of who I was at that age and so many carry the courage to stand for things to believe in which may not be popular choices. HELL they believe in something which AGAIN I can speak only for me, was not where my brain was at that age. I envy and admire it SO much.
So that brings me to Paxton Smith, the 2021 valedictorian of Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, TEXAS. And like probably MOST schools, Paxton had to have her speech pre-approved before she gave it. And that speech was meant to be about media and content.
RECORD SCRATCH.
Because Paxton then, with shaking voice, pulls her speech out of the front of her gown and proceeds to give a speech about the dangers of the Heartbeat Bill which was passed in Texas outlawing abortions after 6 weeks even in the case of incest or rape. Yeah. TEXAS. Rather than me explain, please watch it here:
THIS WOMAN IS AMAZING. You can also feel the nerves in her and I imagine afterwards when the adrenaline was running out, her whole body probably started to shake. I also can imagine the anger and shock some people felt from teachers to students. BUT she got a huge amount of support from the audience to make up for those not clapping and millions more of us are clapping non-stop for her and grateful the school did not cut off her mic as they threatened to do to anyone going off script. Paxton is going off to UT Austin in the fall and I cannot wait to see what she does. So proud of this woman I do not know. More on her here:
And THIS from the Editorial Board at the Houston Chronicle which was awesome:
🐝🐝🐝🐝 BEE SCANDAL!!!
Welcome my darlings to BEETOK. This lady is Erika Thompson also known as the TIKTOK BEE LADY. She is a Bee person in Texas who has OVER 6 million followers and perfectly coifed blond hair like her blowouts are amazing especially in that Texas heat. And she basically free hands thousands of honey bees. NO ANNOYING BEEKEEPING SUIT FOR HER!! And MOST def no annoying hat and screen what would hide her gorgeous blow outs. NOPE. This lady goes in like she just stepped out of the salon and she scoops bees up like I reach into a bag of Doritos. Again, rather than me TELL you, let me SHOW you:
Her soothing voice on top of everything else has proved to be addictive. People CANNOT GET ENOUGH of BEE LADY.
And while she is doing a massive service by saving these honey bees and bringing them to her sanctuary so they can survive and thrive, the haters/critics have come after her. From accusing her of being unsafe, to being a conservative Trump supporter, the critics are coming at her.
I DON’T WANT POLITICS IN MY BEETOK. Leave politics at home people. Though some of the funniest and probably correct thoughts on why people are coming after her is because she talks about matriarchal societies a lot because…BEES…and how the boy bees are not really necessary for much and the girls do everything including lead and the HUMAN DUDES are sick of their ladies hearing about this and their masculinity is threatened so they attack BEE LADY. I mean….it doesn’t shock me!
AND AS USUAL, The Cut gets RIGHT INTO the Bee Drama perfectly:
AND JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (AND SOME DESPICABLE ONES TOO…)
There were a lot of one offs this week that I wanted to highlight but not necessarily write lots about. And also yes Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had their baby daughter they named Lilibet (Lili) Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. The story goes that Lilibet was the childhood nickname of the Queen which is cute and seemingly more American than British to do but what do I know. Babies are cute and that’s that. OK so in OTHER news…
- OH KIM K. OF COURSE there is a video editing fail. This is a family that pretends they are not manufactured in a plastic surgeon’s office and use facetuning apps and editing apps with reckless abandon, we have their latest. Kim’s SKIMS ad which has gotten a lot of play on TikTok but not for the reasons she would have hoped. If you don’t know SKIMS it is her social media frenzied and much talked about SHAPEWEAR.
For a closer look:
- We have CougarTok. We have BeeTok. Have you heard of JESUSTOK? Well of course this exists and I will admit my FYP does not generally find me on Jesus Tok but LORD it’s a thing. I could do an entire newsletter on it but let’s just point out this young man who is really passionate about Jesus and believes if you are not then you will go and burn in Hell. HE IS FUN (I say this with all the sarcasm I can muster). And he is always crying.
And just an example of reaction videos:
- Did you guys see Anonymous is going after Elon now? Like WE ARE ALL LIVING IN A SIMULATION.
- YES THERE WAS A BOXING THINGY on Sunday night. With World CHAMPION Floyd Mayweather and horrible human social media personality Logan Paul. They probably made tens of millions of dollars. Logan is 26 and weighs like 45 lbs more than 44 year old Mayweather and has like a lot of inches on him and while this was yet another example of a celebrity fight, what people assumed would be a bloodbath by Mayweather turned into a fight that lasted 8 rounds and Logan did not get knocked out so no one really won? I don’t follow boxing but this seems like a bad outcome for the sport or for Mayweather’s legacy.
AND for the best boxing pod/videocast, check this out and I cannot wait to see what they say about this fight. BUT this is from last week:
- And my new fave show is ONCE again on Discovery+ and GET THE XANAX READY because “PUSHING THE LINE” is an adrenaline rush/nail biting/wtf is wrong with the kind of show. OBSESSED:
THAT IS IT. Go watch “Cruella” and think about how much money they spent on the music because THAT SOUNDTRACK IS BANANAS. Also, I have watched this movie 3 times now I love it so much.
Be safe, be kind.
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