Pop Culture Mondays/8.14.23
The “Maui” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies. I hope you are safe wherever you are, as I know many of you have strong connections to Maui. You lived there for a bit, or you got married there or had the best ever holiday. You may have a home there now or friends who live there or have friends from there. It seems you can find someone with a deep connection to Maui all around you, and the tragedy seems to grow more profound as the days go by and more people are getting their stories and videos out, which has been hard to do because of the lack of connectivity. We have all seen the destruction, but seeing it from a personal POV, as in someone’s own storytelling vs the news, hits differently.
And perhaps some people might think it was a matter of jumping into the calm blue ocean to escape the flames. That’s just not what happened.
And I am not in the mood today to shame people — I know, I know, SHOCKING. But there are a lot of tourists, both celebs and normals, who are frolicking away in other parts of Maui or flying in despite everyone asking them not to…so there are other people to shame them for that. Look, you have Oprah there helping in shelters, and YES, she had a film crew, but she was there. Jeff Bezos and his fiancee have given $100 million to the recovery of Lahaina. So if you have any public profile PERHAPS, think about the optics….But really, no one should be there on holiday at the moment.
And then, of course, the famous Banyan tree that everyone posted pics of on their socials when they heard it had been destroyed. We don’t know if she will survive, but…a big but…she is still standing.
Here are some orgs you can donate to if you are able:
And then, on a personal note, some dear friends of dear friends of MINE, who have lost everything, are making their way to California because their daughter is starting as a freshman at college in California with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her father, a well-known chef in Hawaii, has been feeding his community but now needs to help his daughter start over. These kids lived through lockdown and a surreal existence for years and now this…breaks my heart.
OK, so let’s get to some other things that have been happening on the socials this week that your kids or colleagues are talking about, but yet you have NO idea what’s happening. I got you.
If you missed last week’s pod, here you go:
And a housekeeping note! I am taking next week off from the newsletter and podcast as I explore Israel AND go see the one and only YONI BLOCH crush some live shows in Tel Aviv. As I have said before, live music is at my core, and I will travel the world and back for a rock show.
HERE WE GO AGAIN:
It feels like JUST yesterday we were in RUSHTOK Week, but alas, an entire year has gone by. A documentary has since come out on this phenomenon, and an entire new freshman class has come in to take us on an even bigger and bolder adventure than last year. These are kids who were born in a digital world. They didn't know a world without camera phones and the Internet. And they are outdoing the last few years, and we are just starting. There are dances. There are OOTDS (outfits of the day). There is unreal dorm room decor. There are the clear stars of Rush. And the girls you are rooting for. There are Cartier bracelets and David Yurman jewels and Hoka and Golden Goose sneakers (which can cost $500 or more), and well, let me show you some. And let me say that many schools have Rush this week, but for some reason, Alabama has cornered the market. Last week, we focused on the Montgomery River Brawl…this week, SORORITY MAYEM. Roll Tide kids…
We have dances:
And just so you see, it’s not just Alabama. This is from ASU:
And this is from Oklahoma:
And this guy says what we are all thinking….with a BRING IT ON reference I am here for. IN case you are unfamiliar, Bring it On was an ICONIC cheerleading movie from 2000.
And so you have context:
And there are always the stars of RushTok, and this year it seems to be these two and don't worry if you can’t tell them apart…it’s tough. They have wisely made their TikToks unshareable on other platforms, but this creator does a good job summing up a few things happening:
Some examples of OOTD videos:
And how about an example of a GRWM? Oh, come on, little ones, have I taught you NOTHING?? GRWM → Get Ready With Me:
The amount of time it must take to make these, I mean, I cannot imagine. Before we move on, let me explain my college experience at a school known for being a party school, but we also has Rush and had dorm rooms we built out.
My outfits during Rush were from like the Gap and the Limited. And we all had the Tiffany Bean and some bracelets so I will give them that. You were picked for a sorority basically if you didn’t pass out or get too high. That was literally the bar for which we had to navigate.
My dorm room. OMG, my freshman dorm room. We did pay this 3rd party company that came by move-in day to build lofts in our room. So our beds were built high up, and we had wooden ladders up to our beds but not fancy wood, wood that would give you freaking blisters. And we nail gunned old tapestries to the base, so we had little privacy nooks under the beds. We had a small tv (with no cable) with a VCR built in, which was AMAZE, and a mini fridge, and a lava lamp. The room was dark and sad despite all of this and smelled like stale beer, bong water, and patchouli. My parents were like here is $200 and some old sheets…have fun.
The rooms of today are insane:
Here is some good insight from RUSH CONSULTANTS. Yes, this is a job:
And in case you want MORE, this is a fun doc that’s on Max or HBO Max or whatever the fuck it’s called now:
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
There were lots of one-off things this week, and I cannot get to all of them, but here are some of the best ones:
THIS AIDAN JACKET:
This has been going around for a couple of weeks, and look, I need to be honest. I have NOT watched this “And Just Like That…” season because it is too depressing to me and not representative of my life or one I aspire to, unlike Sex and the City, and I just cringe at all the clips I have seen. Which is why I have ignored this jacket situation. AND…it’s a situation.
And thanks to Vulture for saying what everyone was thinking:
WHO is Lil Tay and WHAT IS HAPPENING??
If you read The Daily Mail or Page Six or were on social media last week at all, you likely heard that teen social media star, Lil Tay, had apparently tragically died. It was announced on HER Instagram, and the socials lost their minds. This was posted on her Instagram account:
We saw images like this:
We saw TikToks with “RIP LilTay” just flood our FYPs:
And background on Lil Tay:
Yeah, but here’s the thing. Lil Tay? NOT dead. Thankfully. Was it a homegrown hoax? Was it a hack?
Apparently, the parents had no idea what was going on despite the news going global:
And then Meta, the company behind Instagram whose CEO is Mark Zuckerberg, who was BRIEFLY popular for a red hot second when everyone was relieved he was not Elon but then became like Elon when it came to entertaining their dumb MMA fight…I digress…
The Internet is a wild and crazy place. Stay safe kids.
Taylor’s Last LA show had everyone talking about…
Please note the IT shoe of the summer…the SAMBAS…which were the sneakers I wore in high school so the ’90s are MOST def back. BUT let’s move on….Because there is nothing society likes more than focusing more on girl drama than anything else. And not even factual drama, but all made up by media and social media drama. So, a known fact that Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss were very close friends and even really started to look alike. There were lots of Karlie and Taylor moments like:
And of course…
But then there seemed to be a lull….no more selfies or anything together, and both moved on from their well-photographed friendship. And the gossip went nuts from people suggesting they had been lovers and had a bad break-up to Taylor being angry about Karlie’s friendship with Scooter Braun to the Trump stuff to everything in between.
And the fact is, no one knew anything. But everyone was an expert.
And then Karlie came to the last night of her US tour…and the kids went wild. Also, pointing out that she was not in the VIP section and that took a whole crazy narrative:
Moving on!
Who IS Bobbi Althoff?
Bobbi is a TikTokker and social media influencer who launched her podcast earlier this year called, The Really Good Podcast. She is funny I have to say…she is deadpan and sarcastic and has an attitude that I had as a teen but in my case, UNIRONICALLY or done with the intention of being humourous…I was just a petulant bitch. But this is NOT about me.
Here she is interviewing our fave, Mark Cuban:
She’s a young mom who always makes fun of herself and it has been fun to watch her success grow:
Adorable right? Well, while she is already famous on a social media level…she was catapulted to GIANT fame by getting Drake to sit down for an interview on her pod. I will show some TikToks of it because I cannot show you the pod video because it has been removed, and they have unfollowed one another, and we have to discuss.
So everyone is speculating as to what could have happened to cause this beef, but as this creator probably APTLY points out….likely a PR stunt:
Though this video is still up, which is funny because while she’s being funny, this would be me at a Drake concert. SORRY NOT SORRY I am not a Drake fan…come at me; I don’t care.
ANYWAY, I like her:
THE OGS:
We knew it was coming. It was going to be iconic. The ladies we grew up aspiring to be and starving ourselves to be like reconvened for a Vogue cover. Lots of people have been talking about it. Check it out:
Can Dwayne Wade start a finishing school for guys?
I mean we already knew he was an amazing athlete. And husband. And dad. And now….? Now we know he is also an amazing son. He was honored at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and he gave a speech that will make you cry unless you are dead inside and even then…it might change that. Here is a clip:
But I urge you to watch the whole thing…get your tissues:
And lastly…a little content for you.
When I heard Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights was making a comeback in a new Netflix series, I was like, YES, BABY. When that show turned out to be a devastating account of the Sackler family and the horrible nature of Oxycontin and the impact it has had on the world, I was like, OK, ok. And I watched every moment and while there was another show that looked at this very thing called Dopesick, which I also loved…this show was different.
PAINKILLER has some dark humor to it…it is just was another way of telling a very similar story. And an all-star cast including Matthew Broderick, Uzo Aduba, and yes, Tim Riggins, aka Taylor Kitsch, who was INCREDIBLE. Also, a newcomer who some will label Nepo Baby: West Duchovny, the very talented daughter of David Duchovny and Tea Leoni.
Watch this show:
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
Ok, so I skipped over the Death Cap mushroom lady and the Below Deck drama; thanks again to Bravo. But there is ONLY so much time in the day.
I will see you guys in two weeks…love you, mean it!
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Xx,
Brooke
