Pop Culture Mondays/8.12.24
The “THAT’S A WRAP, OLYMPICS” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. And truly, where do we EVEN begin? We have had five years of pop culture in one week. From political memes upon memes upon memes to Taylor Swift terrorism drama and the incredible reaction in Vienna, to more Olympics drama — both the exciting kind and the baffling and yes…I am talking about THAT BREAK DANCING moment, sorry, sorry, I mean that BREAKING moment everyone is talking about and what my AI-generated image of Baby Yoda is meant to represent…to Hollywood movie drama, influencer unearthed racism drama, and a few things in between.
GET ME A DRINK!!
No time for dilly-dallying…let’s get to it!
BUT…before we do, please check out last week’s pod when you get a chance. Save it! Subscribe to it! Enjoy it. And welcome to my brain…
Grab your 🎧 and your 🍿 and enjoy…
THE LAST OF THE OLYMPICS 2024:
The best part of the closing ceremony to ME was the reminder that it was going to be held in LA (yeah, nothing says Hollywood like Tom Cruise doing some crazy stunt, but like that dude lives in London now, so whatever, I digress) was the fact that I will ONE THOUSAND percent rent my house out for as much money as humanly possible and go live it up on an island somewhere during the Summer Olympics 2028. So, if you are in the market…have your financial advisor call me. HAHAHAHA. I am milking this, I know.
But let’s get into ALL the mental and beautiful things that happened this past week…and it was a lot.
It would be wrong of me to not address the 800 lb gorilla in the room IMMEDIATELY because it is top of mind for everyone. And that is, yes…the Australian break dancer, Raygun. And frankly, you have all seen all the memes, or at least a lot of them, so what more can I add? ALWAYS more…there is always more. And there is always someone who has not seen something others may have seen. So, I have collected some of my fave moments. BUT, tbh, I was worried about her mental health after all of this madness (same goes for the FEMALE boxer from Algeria, Imene Khelif, who has filed a legal complaint for online harassment, and I hope she takes ALL the Harry Potter money…all of it…) but I have to believe the hate on Ray Gun might have had a toll on her. But she seems to be rolling with it tbh.
So good for her. But here are some of my fave memes and takes on this whole moment in time. Oh wait, BTW…did you see Adele address it in her concert in Munich?
What a time to be alive.
Ok, so back to some of my fave memes:
I mean, they are all so great, and there are a million more.
But then it took a dark turn…and this person had a lot to say about it. Could it be this was all some dark experiment that would be used as a case study on culture?
Ah well, we can’t have fun things before the people blaming WOKE culture come in and ruin everything.
Moving on…
To my favorite moment of the entire Olympics:
This couple? LIFE GOALS.
This is Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband, Hunter Woodhall. Tara is an Olympic champion who won the gold in the women’s long jump this year, and these pics show her celebrating with her husband, who is a Paralympic champion who won the bronze for the men’s 400 m in the 2020 Paralympics. Also, these two are babies. They are 25 and have been a couple forever, and it seems like a partnership of real love and respect and man…LIFE GOALS, as I said. Hunter had his legs amputated when he was 11 months old due to fibular hemimelia, which they had tried to fix during those 11 months to straighten his legs to no avail. The grit and the determination these two have is inspiring.
The video of his reaction to her win gives you ALL the feels:
Hunter is very open with his story:
And Tara? Well, this woman is a queen:
And now…we have basketball. Because WHAT a moment in time! Steph Curry really decided to be a superhero for the US Men’s team. I mean, earlier in the week, it looked like they were going to be knocked out by Serbia, which would have been an epic fiasco for the team—the team of SUPERSTAR pro athletes.
But they pulled it together in the second half.
So they matched up with France in the finals, and this is where the superstar power came shining through. According to THIS USA TODAY article:
Curry scored a team-high 24 points — all coming on 3-pointers — and four of those 3s came in the game’s final 2:47, each one bigger and more important than the previous one.
The coup de grace came with 35 seconds remaining. Hounded by France’s Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier, Curry launched a deep, high-arching 3-pointer that put the U.S. ahead 96–87.
And then he did his good night move. Anyway, enough of me talking…let’s roll the tape!
I mean this pic:
And then this one…
And some of the memes:
And another athlete who blew us away with maybe the greatest video of all time:
Loved that moment.
And what may be the most horrible and offensive moment of the Olympics? The decision to strip US gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal and require her to return it due to an appeal made about her win.
But this is not going down without a fight. And the US has her back.
And the USA Gymnastics team is fighting for her, too:
I hope they figure this out, and Jordan gets to keep her bronze. What a mess.
So there was a lot more from the Olympics, especially around the closing ceremony, which not only took place at the stadium, unlike the opening ceremony, but also back in LA, or at least the live music was throughout different parts, and people in the stadiums watched it via screens. Which some didn't like, but my understanding is that the next country always has events back in the place where the next games will be, which is in LA. Which is why everyone was confused that this happened:
Yes, they were in Long Beach and not Santa Monica or Venice. But guys…little ones who were all worked up…Long Beach IS in LA. So just calm down.
Let’s move on to non-Olympic things now.
A SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS IN THE TAYLOR SWIFT ERAS TOUR:
We all know by now that Taylor Swift had to cancel her long-awaited Vienna shows due to a VERY real Terrorist threat that was discovered just in the nick of time that was surely going to be responsible for a lot of loss of life. This is on the heels of the horrible attack in the UK at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party for kids, where three little girls died from their injuries. A full-on tragedy that clearly shook Taylor to her core. And then this. In what was a huge win for the International Security teams, including the US, they uncovered a plot by Islamist extremists to pull off a massive attack at the Swift concert. Three have been arrested, and chemicals and other weapons have been found. But it was too risky to proceed. Taylor has not made any statements yet, which could be due to a few reasons. She could be fucked up emotionally, which I surely would be, to be perfectly honest. And it could be under the advisement of all the law officials. Who is to say? But the point of THIS post is about the reaction to the canceled shows in Vienna. Because not just all the people from Vienna and Europe…but people from all around the world who had flown in for the shows and made a whole trip out if…they all came together. And it was something:
Fans took to the streets to sing and come together. And I assume to let Taylor know, they love her.
Are you crying? Because I am.
I mean, I am sobbing…but this gives me faith in the world.
And this:
And this…
And Swarovski did a thing:
And well said by this creator:
A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT:
Ok, I need to breeze through the rest of this, so forgive my brevity. It's amazing not to have politics as the lead stories this week. Because I was dangerously close to becoming a political newsletter and podcast…but not today, SATAN. But we have a LITTLE politics to discuss so let’s get to it.
LITERALLY, my favorite gaffe thus far in the mind-blowing campaign of JD Vance. I mean, his team must hate him, right? So they created a sign that says KAMALA CHAOS for JD to give some speech in front of. But like the brain trust forgot to see what it looked like when people stood behind him on risers…well, this is what it looked like. JD VANCE is campaigning for Kamala. I die. It is literally my favorite thing.
But it doesn't end there. JD Vance tried to seem badass and cool by showing up on the tarmac where the VP’s plane was and the media and gave an impromptu presser, but man…did it backfire:
Lols, HIS new plane. Stop.
And then this photo:
AND JD thinks it is super cool he tweets this:
The Internet felt differently:
But then Kamala decided to answer JD accusations she doesn't speak to media:
And the memes:
My faves:
Oh and this one goes out to the one and only, Britt Morgan-Saks:
And, of course, we have all the memes around the MAGA people crying that AI alters the pics of her crowd size, but I am ignoring them.
What I am NOT ignoring is this post from Celine Dion, which came after this was revealed:
THE TITANTIC THEME SONG. I mean…I CANNOT with this team. DYING.
So apparently, was Celine Dion who released this ACTUAL statement…closing it out with the killer line:
And moving on to Hollywood drama unfolding on TikTok:
It Ends with Us was a MASSIVE book and now is a movie starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Justin is a fascinating dude who first came ot my attention as the star of the amazing show, Jane the Virgin. But I learned over the years he is a writer and a director and a podcaster and seemingly a very loyal family man and gives us life goals. And he bought the rights to this book, wisely, a few years back. And he was going to direct and produce, apparently, but NOT star in it, but then stories say the writer of the book wanted him to star in it after Blake Lively was cast. Anyway, here we are.
TikTok SVU, as I long to call all the investigators on TikTok, have decided there is MAJOR drama between the stars due to some sleuthing and the fact they're not being photographed together at all or doing interviews together, which would indicate there is some issue for sure. And public opinion is slowly changing as well around Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, who apparently was very involved in the movie-making even though he wasn’t in the movie.
AT any rate…the drama!
And the turn on Blake:
For MORE on this breaking news…
There is also trouble in influencer land.
Brooke Schofield is an internet influencer and personality and, of course, podcaster we have talked about before. She is a darling of the Gen Z’s….well, she was. Until, of course, racist tweets were discovered. I mean guys…come the fuck on here. Get it together. A. Don't be racist. And B. If you were young and dumb on the socials, then go and delete it and also address it head-on vs waiting to be outed.
Alas….
Yep.
Her co-host of the aptly named “Cancelled” podcast, Tana Mongeau, came out with the surprising decision of explaining she booted Brooke for the time being…which did not go over well even with the people upset with Brooke:
Alas, the drama never ends.
But I DO END as it is already noon PM, and I am behind behind behind. but I will end with this for all you brand people out there, whether you work at a brand or in advertising or in marketing. THIS was genius. This GM dealership in upstate NY has a very savvy social media creator on their team that started a series for their dealership in the style of “THE OFFICE.”
For example:
Well, this grew in popularity. And you know who noticed? The brilliant minds over at GM. And look what happened:
The CEO of the GM and some of the team get involved; the team does not break character, and this is genius. Truly. Watch this whole things:
SERIOUSLY…They should totally change the name of the Silverado to the RADO. I am here for it.
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
That is that, my darlings. There was just a big ole earthquake in LA as I was writing this, so I am done now.
We are switching off of Medium SOON….so expect an update there. NOT SUBSTACK, so do NOT worry. IT IS COMING…
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Have an amazing week!!
Xx,
Brooke
