Pop Culture Mondays (Tuesday)/11.9.21
The “BILLIONAIRES ARE JUST LIKE US” Edition
Happy ummmm TUESDAY my pop culture junkies and I am so sorry this is getting to you a day late but sometimes life gets busy and PCM had to take a back seat to life this week. BUT ultimately I blame the end of Daylight Saving Time (I have been corrected on the Twitter that it is IN FACT “saving” and NOT “savings” which is news to me.) But it just really does take me a week to acclimate to the madness. It is the worst.
But let’s get to it. THERE IS SO MUCH. It has been another week that’s for sure. As for the Travis Scott/Astroworld events, my heart is broken for all affected. As many of you know, I proudly work with Live Nation, and as a result, I am not going to cover this in today's PCM.
But, there is a lot of other stuff happening that everyone is talking about, so let’s get to it. Also….We are and always will be TRUMP-free. Generally, we try to avoid the thing that seems to divide everyone lately, politics. That said, the fart heard around the world happened and I really don't want to get into it so if you click HERE you can read all about it. YOU’RE WELCOME.
Grab some headphones and maybe some Advil and take some deep breaths and enjoy…
WHAT ARE OUR FAVE BILLIONAIRE BOYS UP TO?
This might become a new regular segment in PCM because…THESE GUYS…am I right? They just continue to be the gift that keeps on giving. Let’s discuss two of our absolute faves, the men who went from NOT to HOT, thanks to money and doctors and all the baby placenta there is in all the land, Jeffrey Bezos and one of our patron saints of PCM, Elon. (He doesn’t know he is a patron saint to us just an FYI.) Let’s start with him though…
WE ARE MICE. ELON IS CAT:
I recently asked Elon at a dinner, if rather than investing in space and cars if INSTEAD, he could figure out a way to keep our dogs and just ALL pets alive longer that would be GREAT. He didn’t dismiss me and in fact, nodded in understanding and I could tell he at least thought about it and that is why he must be protected at ALL costs because if ANYONE CAN GIVE OUR DOGGOS LONGER LIVES….it is Elon.
Here is the deal. I am one of those people who truly does believe crypto will change the world. I also believe DAOs will basically run the world. And I ALSO believe Elon will be the world’s first trillionaire which is cool especially if that goes to 🐶🐶🐶 and DESPITE all of this, the guy still plays it fast and loose (but with intention…) SO he decided to put it out to the Twitterverse and ask them (us?) what he should do tax-wise…well, let me show you in case you missed it:
This is how founders of the future, billionaires, maybe all of us…will make our decisions on huge things maybe? Bring it to the collective…in this case the over 3 million people who voted on Elon’s tweet and the majority of whom support his proposal of selling 10% of his Tesla stock. He says he will abide by the results and my guess is that THE DUDE ABIDES. But he was probably too busy to address this yesterday as the SpaceX astronauts came splashing down yesterday in Florida after 6 months in space. SIX months….anyway, MAZEL to the SpaceX crew and apologies to the other billionaires for the precedent Elon is setting. 🔥
BUT…moving on to yet another SPACE COWBOY…
We have a BIG social media moment with our favorite book nerd turned billionaire with a BOD and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez who we all know were embroiled in el scandolo that ended both their marriages but have brought them together so much so that she attends meetings with world leaders and posts lots of loved up Instas. Those crazy kids are in LOVE. NOTHING WILL STOP THEIR LOVE…..
ENTER STAGE LEFT….Leo. Does Leo need a last name here? OK, let me set the stage. LA has had a few very fancy events in the past week that are THE places to see and be seen. LACMA (LA COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART) has an annual gala and it attracts all the Who’s Who. Well….a camera caught the most perfect moment between Jeff Bezos, his girlfriend/fiancé, and JACK DAWSON aka Leonardo DiCaprio, and well..let me just show you…
Don’t worry, you watched it a few times right? We all have tbh. CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP. The socials went crazy. And then Barstool tweeted it and despite Barstool having their own issues at the moment (click here to read the BI “investigative” piece on Barstool creeper founder Dave Portnoy which has its own problems tbh but I digress…), JEFFREY BEZOS decided to LEAN into this whole narrative and tweeted the story with a response to LEO:
HAHAHA billionaires are funny too right? Not weird AT all, right? This is all so relatable! OK, I joke. TBH no one is having a better week than Lauren Sanchez. She knows it. They know it. WE know it. But man, the Internet is CRAZY you guys.
TIKTOK SAVES LIVES:
Look, are we at war with China? Probably in some way yes. At least we probably will be at some point. Does TikTok collect all our data and basically act as an intel gatherer for China? YUP. Is it like having a spy in your phone? Probably. But putting that ALL aside for a moment, IT IS SO MUCH FUN. Like, rot my brain and steal my face and data because the benefits are ALL good. BUT I am actually serious because TikTok has now been shown to have saved a young girl this week who was kidnapped.
So let me explain. For a while now, there has been a trend on TikTok that shows women hand signals to use if they are in distress. It started as a way for women to communicate via Zooms during lockdown to show someone they are in a domestic abuse situation but because the abuser is around all the time, they cannot call for help. The hand signal was created by a Canadian women’s organization and this spread on TikTok.
So this brings us to NOW. a 16-year-old girl who was reported missing in North Carolina used this hand signal while in the passenger seat of a car driving thru Kentucky. I guess she was able to have her hand out the window and she kept flashing the hand signal she saw on TikTok and someone in another car recognized the hand gesture as a cry for help from TikTok. They called 911 who were able to pull the driver over and rescue the girl who was indeed in need of help. The cops and the 911 dispatcher had NO awareness of these hand gestures but truly, thanks to TikTokkers, she was rescued. It is a hell of a story. The media have had a field day but it is one of those stories that reminds us that despite all the bad, there can be a LOT of good from social media.
AND JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (AND SOME DESPICABLE ONES TOO…)
There were so many little viral moments or stories, I shall just compile them all the best I can. BUCKLE UP KIDS:
- Chris Pratt, the movie star who ALSO went from schlub to stud like our aforementioned billionaires has found himself embroiled in drama of his own doing. Look, I don’t know why famous people use social media unless they're famous FOR social media. If I was a movie star I would probably just do something different to stay connected to my fans. But some cannot help themselves and he posted a pic of his wife (Arnold and Maria Shriver's daughter) looking at him adoringly while he himself looks at the camera. There are other issues with the post but before I get into it, see for yourself:
SO…we can break it down…at least because that’s what the interwebs have done. Some found this misogynistic. Some found it cringey all around. Some took it to be an insult to his first wife and child who was born with health issues (I cannot imagine he intended this but he's maybe NOT THE BEST COMMUNICATOR he is an ACTOR). BUT socials went nuts. Here is a great example of how many view this:
But some (I am going to say from what I have seen the SOME generally are DUDES but I digress) come to his defense:
BUT I do think some people are going for him as he has sort of evolved into what ONE MIGHT CONSIDER a cliched TRUMP SUPPORTER might look like. He wears AMERICAN FLAG clothes. HE wears a lot of hunter/camo gear. He talks a lot about Jesus.
So here we have his follow-up to the post. His commentary if you will on how he was feeling after the viral shitstorm his post caused. I mean there is a lot to dissect here but we know one thing…He has become VERY religious which is a TREND right now (CLICK HERE) so he is very on-brand I guess:
So let this all be a lesson…guys, get your Christian music aka HILLSONG HITS from a church that is anti-gay among OTHER things, and run through the woods and GET YOU SOME JESUS to run alongside you.
I bet Jesus is wearing his AllBirds and probably made a KILLING in the IPO. I am guessing Jesus along with the FRAT BOY BESTIE GROUP OF SILICON VALLEY all get to co-invest together on all things. (Another post for another day.)
- OK, THIS IS WHAT GIVES ME ALL THE FEELS. I am guessing this is NOT a wedding Chris Pratt would find himself at, and that’s just fine. If I ever get married to a human, I want to do this (the OG was deleted so I found this on someone else’s TikTok):
- Another moment that shows that maybe some celebs need either more media training or should not do interviews or such because this was a funny one. Supermodel/daughter of a Real Housewife/social media star Bella Hadid REALLY did go on and on about how she did;t get anything designer until she graduated high school. The struggle is real my girl.
- And in ROLL YOUR EYES news, Quentin Tarantino…someone for personal reasons, I care not to write about ever actually, BUT because I happen to know a LOT about his dislike and distrust of technology and his rants to me about technology and the assholes behind it to the point of making me cry…has figured out technology is cool when it makes him MONEY. Moral compasses are hard to come by sometimes. So, he has OBVIOUSLY announced NFTs of some Pulp Fiction moments. OBVIOUSLY, this is what’s in my brain at the moment:
But alas you can read about this here:
ANYWAY, I am all for NFTs. I just think this one for ME is amusing.
- Did you love Queen’s Gambit? I am thinking this MIGHT be a stretch too far for you though? Or maybe it’s genius? Where do you stand? THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT BOARDGAME…that’s NOT chess:
- Everyone is talking about Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson. Or else they are talking about Phoebe Bridgers and Paul Mescal (I am here for this). But then SOME are also talking about the new besties, Insta and Twitter. Last week it was announced that they are rolling out the ability to have a preview of your insta IN a tweet. Meaning you can see a thumbnail of the pic in your feed vs just a boring link no one clicks on. It’s actually a fascinating story behind the whole long feud and Casey Newton breaks it down beautifully here:
- And it’s my newsletter so I get to do what I want. And I want everyone to listen to new artist, Tiarlie, aka Charlotte Freud who I have watched in awe over the years grow into a magical young woman with amazing musical talent. Enjoy!
- And back to TikTok…an evergrowing global audience has really continued to break thru on TikTok. This kid, Kili Paul who says he is a dancer and content creator on Instagram has a TikTok that's getting millions of views:
- And lastly, KILLING it for the New York Times is Katie Rosman with this MUST read profile on FANATICS, the company and its founder, Michael Rubin.
THAT IS IT my darlings. I am sorry this is a day late, please forgive me. But please everyone take deep breaths and…Be SAFE. Be kind to yourself and each other.
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