Pop Culture Mondays/7.19.21
The “Everything is Better in France” Edition
Happy Monday my darling pop culture junkies. Well, here we are. It feels a bit like groundhog days these days with mask mandates coming back and the news around the numbers going up and the impending terror many feel that lockdowns will make their way back into our lives. IF you are reading this and you have made the CHOICE not to get vaccinated…I am not here to lecture you or call you names or blame you for the clear fact that the rise of Covid once again has everything to do with the unvaccinated…no, there are plenty of others to do that. I am just here to tell you that your excuse that “there isn’t enough science/research for me to be comfortable” or “My cousin’s wife’s nanny’s father is a doctor and says it changes your DNA structure” or “I am afraid of needles so it’s a no for me…” I am here to tell you that I am a magnet for all bad things to happen to. LIKE for real…cancer? Had it. Open heart surgery? Had it. Am I in a boot now for a foot injury? YOU bet. Allergic to IV meds they give you in a hospital? Sure yup it me. Food poisoning the first day I go back to NYC? OBVIOUSLY. So I PROMISE YOU if the vaccine was going to affect someone disastrously, IT WOULD BE ME. Just because that’s the way it works. MY BODY LOVES DRAMA. Think of the content I could have created HAD the vaccine magnetized me or made me a sonar for alien communications? I WOULD HAVE MILKED THAT SHIT. So for the love of all that’s good and holy….please, get the vaccine.
And for you rich tech dudes on the Twitter all up in arms about masks and using the platform to spread your discontent whilst lounging on a boat in the middle of the Med…BITCH please. And MAYBE be more concerned about the really VERY inappropriate sexts you have going on with multiple people WHO ARE MOST DEF NOT your significant others. #justsaying 🔥🔥
Welcome to my new subscribers. PCM is a newsletter…..with a little bit of SPICE obviously. It is where you come to escape the drama for a minute and to catch up on all the memes and trends and try to sort of navigate what the kids are talking about. Oh and as always we are Trump and Trump-adjacent FREE.
XOXO….
THIS IS A GIFT:
I really do not know if there ever will be a greater photo ever taken. For those of you who are loyal PCM readers, you know my love for Timothée is expansive. I understand as a 47 year old woman to be totally enamored with a young man who seems like maybe a teenager is problematic but at the end of the day he is over 21 and I AM ONE OF MANY WOMEN AND MEN who feel this way so that’s my story and I am sticking to it. I mean I follow the Insta account that documents his outfits and I have actually started to DRESS like Timmy at times which is weird and maybe better suited for my therapist than a newsletter but the point is the others in my life I have had other obsessions with over the years ARE IN THIS PHOTO. I mean what can we say about Tilda other than SHE IS A FUCKING ICON and I cannot even imagine being able to form words if presented with an opportunity to talk to her. I would probably become catatonic. And Bill Murray…I mean obviously. I once very drunkenly got on the back of a moped with him a bajillion years ago because IT WAS BILL MURRAY and I fully expected we would crash and I would lose body parts but I felt this was well worth the story and experience and you know what….it was and while I didn’t end up in the ER that night, it would have been worth it if I had. AND WES ANDERSON, ZADDY THANK you for this gift of a moment.
So back up if you missed this. The people in this picture are some of the stars of Wes Anderson’s new film “The French Dispatch” and it is from Cannes and maybe the first picture of any red carpet situation where I would very much like to have been there. AND it kicked off a meme of memes…and this seems to be a meme that hit multi-generations and sectors…my tech circle got in on it, my Gen Zers did and my friends whoa re moms on Facebook. It really was a bring the world together kind of moment. Here are some of my faves:
Media Twitter had fun:
Honestly I was really proud of mine but not many others were but still I am standing by it:
I mean this picture ironically doesn’t do the film justice as the cast IS without question BANANAS. From Frances McDormand to Benicio to Saoirse Ronan to Jeffrey Wright to Elizabeth Moss I mean that’s not even half of it…here is the trailer and all I can say is VIVE LA FRANCE!!!
“SHOT GIRL SUMMER”:
Yes we have established already that I am 47 going on 17 in many ways but maybe no more so than how much I love Olivia Rodrigo who is without question the Gen Z queen of the moment. She is edgy like vanilla ice cream in a CONE with sprinkles is edgy. See what I did there? BUT she is the ultimate pop princess at the moment and she dresses like I did in the ’90s which is to say I wore weird little sexy suits from BEBE (I was 23 and had no money and it was the ‘90s!!!) but always always did I wear crazy platform shoes from Steve Madden or whomever was making them at the time. I have rolled my ankles MANY A TIME as a result of those decisions I might add. So here we have 2021 Olivia wearing what I can only say MY fave outfit of mine from 1998 as in BIZ up top and PARTY CLUB MONSTER on her feet…to THE WHITE HOUSE where she did a press moment to help get people on the vaccine bandwagon which was smart of the White House tbh. Here she is reading tweets with the Fauci:
Can we just talk about how adorable it is when Fauci spells out “PPL” instead of reading it as “people” and Olivia explains what MANCRUSH MONDAY IS to THE FAUCI?? But I mean Olivia is so perfect for a media moment because she’s darling and has the biggest songs out in the world and she wears tweed with platforms and bobby socks but like she’s still approachable and sweet.
AND as always…the Internets did not disappoint:
This is in reference to Olivia’s ex:
And in case you have not heard the SUMMER anthem by Olivia (meaning you don’t have a child or a car radio or drive with your windows open or leave the house at all) here you go….
AND just a little segue but there HAS been controversy around this song and that is it sounds AN AWFUL lot like a song from Paramore from 2007. Give it a listen:
ALSO…cheerleaders.
ANYWAY….it’s a tough week guys!
AND JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (AND SOME DESPICABLE ONES TOO…)
There were a bunch of one off things this week from trends to memes to scandals to viral moments and I am only showcasing a few because there were SO MANY!!!
- OK so there is this band that I saw on TikTok ages ago in what I thought was a viral moment then but it has come back around with SO much momentum that it is now definitely the most viral thing on TikTok at the moment. If you don’t know the band Greta Van Fleet, well that’s about to change. JAMIE LEE CURTIS’ fave band (read here) is getting the TikTok treatment times 1000. For reference here is the original video:
And now for the talented creators takes:
THIS ONE KILLS ME:
And this guy is totally right:
It’s actually from an SNL appearance that was panned but like it’s now priceless and we love them.
- SOOOOOOO…I am so sorry to do this but in case someone makes an avocado joke around you and you’re like wait what I don’t get it and then they start laughing at you and you feel really out of it and old, let me explain what has happened as elegantly as I can. SOMEONE (it’s hard to track down) tweeted, “Avocado tastes like clean d.” D being short for 🍆 . Yeah so…..OK? and now we have this:
- EVERY so often I get to be an old lady to the youth and make fun of them (with love) because sometimes they make it SO easy. Like this young woman who has deduced that acne DID NOT EXIST in the 1980s or the 1990s and only exists NOW because of “modern diets”. BITCH PLEASE…I burned 18 layers of my skin off with Noxzema and Sea Breeze…we did this SO YOU GUYS CAN have PROACTIVE or whatever it is you use today so NO…nope no no. The socials let her know though what they thought.
- AND hold on to your stomachs, but uber hipster ice cream chain Van Leeuwen (I lived down the road from one in NY and I still have no idea how to pronounce it) came out with a new flavor inspired by the Gen Z fave meal….IN collaboration with Kraft…they dropped this:
FRENCH ICE CREAM?? I am sorry France. This must be very upsetting andI am sending thoughts and prayers during this trying time. But even worse…Eater says it is actually GOOD???
- WHO GOT CANCELLED THIS WEEK? Glad you asked. Actually no, I am not. I am over this whole cancel culture moment tbh. While I understand people will and SHOULD be called out for bad behavior and hypocrisy, the idea of cancelling people has just gone too far (unless you’re Matt Gaetz and gang). BUT here we are and this week, a D list white actress decided for SOME reason to do a sarcastic take on the dance trend from Black creators I wrote about last week that went viral and lets just say, it didn’t go well. AND she added fuel to the flames by posting a crying video about how upset she was and the vibes were off. Here is a clip of the original video:
Then the subsequent apology though I didn’t include HER whole apology but rather the take of a Black creator to the apology which is very thoughtful:
And this slightly mean girl take on the mean girl:
- FAKE NEWS OF THE WEEK. Many of you saw and even some of you shared this photo of a car in Germany that was almost entirely submerged due to unprecedented and tragic flooding this past week. The picture showed the car had a “Fuck You Greta” sticker on it:
BUT THIS IMAGE IS A FAKE YOU GUYS. See….you fell for fake news. NO ONE IS IMMUNE tbh.
THAT IS IT. Have a beautiful week my lovely readers and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get the vaccine.
Be safe, be kind.
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