Pop Culture Mondays/9.26.22
The “HAPPY NEW YEAR” Edition
Happy Monday my darling pop culture junkies. And HAPPY NEW YEAR to my family and friends and all of you. It’s been another wild week with a lot of tragedy tbh, but also a few things that have brought a lot of joy and then of course there is Adam Levine so we will get into ALL of it.
I do want to kick this PCM off with a little story time as I DID AS PROMISED and I went to see Don’t Worry, Darling on opening weekend. I am not going to tell you not to see it. I actually really enjoyed it…maybe not for the reasons the people who made the movie might have wanted but I enjoyed it NONETHELESS. My friend Frances on the other hand would have gladly left the theatre after twenty minutes but the theatre was HALF the fun. I am telling you this theatre was PACKED. Harry stans were there in droves. This was a big theatre in West Hollywood on Saturday night for an 8:30PM movie and I think it will be a night FEW in that theatre will ever forget. Because we were all unified by the end of the film. We laughed together in ways I have not laughed before for some time. It was SO funny…strangers came together on the brink of full-blown hysterical laughter.
The ONLY problem was….it’s not a funny movie. Or not meant to be. BUT IT WAS FUNNY. Look, sure…I am not suggesting you do drugs but I could see someone on acid or mushrooms REALLY enjoying themselves. But if you listen to my podcast or have read previous PCMs, you know I love me some Harry Styles. I do. I LOVE HIM. So it pains me to say this…but as a friend pointed out,
“He can sell out 15 shows at MSG. Isn’t that enough?”
Look, he is an incredible talent…a true performer. He is apparently also just a really lovely guy. A wonderful friend. A terrific golfer. He has a LOT going for him. But ACTING? It might just not be his THING. I think the movie would have been slightly more impactful with a stronger male lead and again it pains me to say that but the film could have also used a lot of editing. Though there is a fun sex scene or two let’s be clear. I am not a reviewer, just my $.02 but the thing is I would go see it again simply because Florence Pugh is so fun to watch in this regardless of how the movie ends up. She is a magnificent actor. Here was a good take on all of it tbh:
Again, this is not a movie review newsletter but so many people asked me what I really thought of the much-hyped, much-talked-about, much- memed movie so I felt it needed to be addressed.
And IN case you missed last week’s MOST excellent pod…please give it a listen when you have some time. The incredible Britt Morgan-Saks and I had a lot of fun.
Let’s get into it! Grab some headphones and enjoy…
PROTESTS IN IRAN:
I heard from a lot of you last week that the first you heard about what was unfolding in Iran was from last week’s newsletter. It had not gone mainstream yet…Most US media were not yet covering it early last Monday. I said as soon as the media saw it trending it would become a news story. And it has. And tragically, more people continue to be killed due to the protesting. But the murder of Mahsa Amini has ignited a firestorm in the people and women and men both in Iran and around the world are protesting and supporting in any way they can. I have tried to gather some of the content that tells some of the stories happening. It is both tragic and inspiring if that makes sense? The Internet has been shutdown making it very difficult for people to get their stories out but people are and people around the world are sharing too.
Many are showcasing how Iran used to be before the revolution. Women were independent and lived with freedoms and choice. This TikTok shows what Iran used to be like decades ago to today with the death of Miss Amini and the resulting protests. It’s a lot to comprehend and a reminder that democracies are fragile:
This is a video claiming to show a young woman cutting her hair at the funeral of her brother who was killed while protesing this past week.
This video went viral showing an Iranian woman preparing to protest. The bravery these women show while they confront police in protest and not wearing the hijab which is mandatory is beyond. The video also went viral as it was reported this young woman was killed after this video was shot…but she was not. But others have:
The protests are happening all over the world, in front of Iranian embassies and throughout Iran.
Here are some recent articles worth a read:
L’SHANAH TOVAH:
We needed some good news and this weekend we got it in the form of The Miami Boys Choir, a Jewish singing group led by a Rabbi that has been in existence for a while — apparently since 1977!!! But a video from 2007 took TikTok and the entire Internet by storm over the weekend and we now have a new genre of pop: Orthodox Pop? Or J Pop? Still working that one out. As the kids say, the song is a real banger. First, we had this video which went mega viral and showcases some of the amazing soloists including David Hershkowitz who brought the house down:
If you had not yet heard this then welcome to partaking in what has been in everyone’s heads all weekend. The love that went around from this video was really powerful and perfectly timed for Rosh Hashanah.
David himself got into the fun…now a grown married man, he seemed to take the viral fame in stride.
Something tells me David was QUITE the star at summer camp.
And then part 2 came out and it got CRAZY. We had more soloists and more harmonies and dancing and a saxophone and the RABBI and we all have lost our minds in the best of ways.
People made reaction videos like the one I made here which really was just me showing my pure joy.
This kid’s reaction is amazing:
And exactly this….
OK I could go on and on will be very invested in this singing sensation for a while. Jewish Summer Camp is going to be LIT this summer.
AND HE WE ARE:
Just after I published PCM last week, a TikTokker posted about her “affair” with Maroon 5 lead singer, Adam Levine. Adam is married to Behati Prinsloo, a model, who is the mother of his two children and pregnant with their 3rd. And that’s apparently the catalyst for what was unfolding on Monday. A young woman named Sumner who identifies as an Instagram Model, showed us the receipts from a relationship with Adam that seemed to be at best very flirty but at worst like an actual affair. She claims that after not speaking for a while he recently reached out to ask if she would mind if they named their baby Sumner if they had a boy. The young woman claims she was so stunned that she shared this chat with some friends, one of whom apparently went to try to sell to a tabloid forcing this woman to go public on her own and I guess OWN her narrative. So in case you missed it…
I found it weird that she opens by saying it was a man who was “married a to a Victoria’s Secret model” tbh but then all subsequent videos from people refer to Behati not by name but just as VS model or something along those lines. ANYWAY, the Internet went nuts and a million memes were started — we will get to that in a second. But something else happened and that was that people on TikTok went after Sumner. I mean they went AFTER her, and some claimed she in fact never had a friend that was going to the tabloids this was all set up to launch her. But who knows…
This woman’s take got a lot of attention:
Here is Sara Foster having her say:
Well this video got under people’s skin and our girl EMRATA came out in defense of the young woman which was interesting because her now ex-husband had reportedly been cheating on her:
Her take is not wrong. I see both sides but Emrata is not wrong at all. While this was happening, Adam Levine decided to issue a statement on his Insta, either at the behest fo a terrible crisis comms person or more than likely due to his own crisis reaction from panic as this was not the right approach:
This statement annoyed me for a few reasons but mainly because of his grammatical error….this guy went to Brentwood School, a prestigious Very expensive private school in Los Angeles. This is him trying to be something he is not and it’s annoying…almost as annoying as his tattoos. But I digress…
I had to wonder if this was going to get into a new convo about what constitutes sex. The Gen X peeps like Adam Levine might not think its sex unless their is actual physical sex whereas the Gen Z gen who are digital natives will think of sex whether via Facetime or phone, as real sex. It’s a whole thing. But also inevitably after Adam’s statement, more women came out with their own personal stories.
But it was the memes that stole the show. So here are a few of the very funny ones making light of what his texts apparently were:
There are SO many more we could be here ALL day. But it is sad all around but like don’t slip into people’s DMS if you are not single. And if you are FAMOUS??? Literally get a hold of yourselves and pull it together and get some really good therapy and better friends.
AND NOW FOR SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (OR SOME OF THE DESPICABLE ONES…)
I am hustling through this one as I am on the East Coast this week and I have things to do!!
- Our amazing Rihanna basically broke the Internet yesterday with this tweet:
She has been on a hiatus from performing for the public for over 5 years. She has built a make-up and fashion line and had a baby but our girl is coming back in a hell of. way…SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW HEADLINER. I have no idea where the game will be and we have no idea who will be playing in it but none of that actually matters. The countdown begins now…
- I had no idea chess was so scandalous. Have you heard about the anal beads cheating scandal?? Holy moly on this one.
- NO, NYQUIL Chicken is not a thing. It’s an example of a trend being manufactured by rumors. Leave it to the good ole US government to give us this little number. What started as a silly meme on places like Reddit but never actually as a THING became a thing after the FDA issued a warning about it. I CANNOT. Clearly, the FDA needs a little PCM in its life. (Call me, boo.) But this was what the crazy kids at the FDA were reacting to:
Sleepytime chicken…I mean I am sure a few people did it for the content but it was not a trend in any form. But that didn’t stop them:
And of course…of COURSE, searches shot up as a result:
BUT an example of an ACTUAL viral food moment is….THE BUTTER BOARD. You’re welcome:
- And many many people rejoiced that Adnan Syed was released from prison after 23 years. He had been convicted of the murder of high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee and the story was the subject of the first viral podcast, Serial. I remember when this podcast came out and I was into getting fake eyelashes at the time which would take AGES to do and you would sit there with your eyes glued shut basically. And the podcast was what got me through it but sometimes they would finish before the pod finished and I was like, I am just not moving til it's done thanks. But that was almost TEN years ago…and during that whole time, he has stayed in prison while many people fought for his freedom. Which was finally won.
- Jeffrey Dahmer is the subject of a new 10 part series on NetFlix starring Evan Peters who has played some pretty fucked up roles and we all hope he is OK! But this is a really disturbing yet really well-done show…not for the faint of heart I will not lie:
- This TikTok trend of people showing their animals as demons is really funny to me:
THAT IS IT MY DARLINGS…
Have a most magical week. Keep sending me your fave memes and viral videos and I will see you next Monday when I am back in LA. If you aren’t already a subscriber (PLEASE PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!!!) and please do SHARE this with all your friends…and IF you want this in your inbox, please send an email to:
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