Pop Culture Mondays/5.8.23
The “Sausage Fingers” Edition
Happy Monday, my darling pop culture junkies.
So many people reading this are impacted by the writer’s strike, and everyone I have spoken to directly involved seems to think this will go on a long time…maybe to September, maybe even into the fall. Longer? A LONG TIME. If anyone reading this is on the studio side…your vibe of “get back to work and get over it...” well, it’s wrong. Like, so wrong. From streaming to AI… writers need more protections and more access, and more money. Remember shows on network TV? Yeah, barely, but there are still a few. These would have 30 episodes a season…30! And now we get what? 7? 8? Maybe 10?
A great explainer about parts of the strike was this epi of “The Daily”:
And, of course…we come for the memes and pics and tweets and so forth, so here are a few before we get to the rest of PCM:
And my personal fave:
At least the weather has gone from being blah to being WOW PERFECTION for picketers in NYC and LA. But this is not the case for my London pals where the rain is seemingly never ever ending. But joy! You have a new King…and Queen, and we will definitely get to that. We will also talk a LITTLE Met Gala which feels like a lifetime ago so if you want to listen to last week’s podcast where I speak to my friend and colleague, Rebecca Unger, who used to work for Anna and gives us a little inside baseball insight into the Met Gala of years past, check it out!
And there is some new Tay Swift romance news, and OH MAN, there is THAT profile on Elizabeth Holmes in this Sunday’s New York Times, so let’s get to it.
THE KING & QUEEN OF DINNER THEATRE IN BOCA:
I have said it many times here before….I am an Anglophile through and through. I love all things about Britain…the history, the architecture, the countryside, the men (too many exes of mine have come from this little island), the Pims, the standing outside a pub with a pint and a cigarette at 4:30 PM with ZERO judgment. I love it all. Mince pies, Selfridges, crisps, dogs off leashes in the parks. I mean, the list goes on and on. Like their eggs are so amazing you don’t have to refrigerate them. It’s perfect there. And I don’t hate the Royals, and while I think it might be a little silly, I don’t hate them or think they should go away. I don't envy them, either. But FFS, if we are going to give our support, you have to give us something in return. And all we want in return is some goddamn GLAMOUR. How hard is that??
Like this:
And this…
And this…
But we instead got Sausage Fingers and your Aunt Karen from Milwaukee, but I digress. Let’s look at what the socials have done (amazing) and thank goodness for the youth because it was the young royals who brought the glam. But I found the Coronation to be underwhelming…the felt banners, the scepters, the ridiculous crowns…it really did feel like a high school production of a Coronation. I remember being a little girl and waking up at dawn to watch Diana marry Charles. Now THAT was glamour. And yes, we now know all the horrible drama that was going on behind the scenes and the tragedy it all turned out to be…but sorry…it all felt icky to be once again up before dawn watching a spectacle spectacular but instead of Diana, it is instead the mistress as Queen. I don't understand why she was made Queen, but again, what do I know?
I do think this creator found the perfect look for the new King and Queen like Charles is SO much better looking like this!
And here are some of my fave looks at the FASH-UN:
And look, I feel for the King. He clearly has some medical condition that cannot be pleasant. Whether it’s gout or arthritis or something even worse, his hands LOOK painful:
And the socials had fun:
Here are some of the best memes from the festivities:
I love this Succession reference:
I mean, tbh this WOULD have been perfect…wait for it…
And people really were jazzed by Penny Mourdant, who seemed like the MC, tbh and it turns out she is the leader of the House of Commons:
And LOTS of talk about the Grim Reaper making an appearance..
And this killed me. This was a real guy like, not a cast member from the Love Boat or Three’s Company but an actual person. And the jokes about it being Megan went far and wide:
I mean, he was too perfect:
Turns out he is a real dude, Sir Karl Jenkins, who is a composer.
But honestly, I thought it was Cousin Oliver from the Brady Bunch pranking all of us in the longest-game prank ever.
And let’s just wrap up with a few more funny takes from creators.
There was buzz about William and Kate being LATE which caused all sorts of commotion.
And Katy Perry not being able to find her seat launched a million memes:
Princess Anne got a lot of attention for her outfit…she is apparently the GUARD of her brother, the King. And her seat and feather seemed pretty calculated in their placement:
And really…what we were ALL thinking.
And Harry apparently was there for less than 24 hours:
So, we are in a boring slightly tacky era of the British monarchy. We will get through it. Thankfully we have Kate and Charlotte, who are SIMPLY perfection.
CALL ME LIZ:
A little-known fact about me is that my first name is Elizabeth. I am Elizabeth Brooke Hammerling. My dad got me a VW Cabriolet (obviously, I am that girl) when I got my license with a vanity NY license plate “EBH1,” which was not only MORTIFYING but also confusing because I always forgot those were my initials. I never went by Elizabeth or Liz or Lizzy or Betsy or Bitsy or Beth or the million other names that come from Elizabeth. My mom thought Elizabeth Brooke sounded better than Brooke Elizabeth and so I have gone through 49 years of headaches at the DMV or on insurance forms or in doctor’s offices. Etcetera etcetera…
BUT theoretically, if I wanted to start my life over in a new town with new people, I could simply and easily start being Elizabeth and no one would be the wiser. I wonder who Elizabeth Hammerling would have become. AT any rate, this is where we are supposed to suspend our beliefs for a moment and think that the CONVICTED CON ARTIST, Elizabeth Holmes, is, in fact, not that person at all but a soft-spoken, laid-back little girl stunted by trauma who was led down the path of darkness by everyone else because she was a victim and easily manipulated and her name is LIZ. YES…she’s rebranded herself!! Elizabeth is harsh and cold and didn't blink and wore red lipstick badly and had crazy eyes. BUT LIZ…LIZ??? What can we say about Liz?? Well, guess what…you don't have to because writer Amy Chozick, a former New York Times writer, got the interview and, as a result, got a cover of the Sunday Business section of the New York Times with this doozie of a story.
And man, has this story taken over a lot of oxygen in the last 24 hours. I mean my phone blew up. From media friends. From PR friends. From people who had known “Liz” or her husband. From friends who are not in tech at all but found the story baffling. I tweeted my thoughts:
I have more thoughts. In my fantasy, there was no crisis comms person involved (there likely was) and instead, it was an INSIDE JOB. It all feels very “Rich Jenni Kayne Mom” vibes. Like I imagine Amy, the writer, does yoga in CA with a friend of Liz’s and over a matcha with their dogs, the mom friend said, “You know, Amy, I think Liz would talk to you…” and then with that in MY fantasy, Amy went back to her old paper and said, “Boy, do I have a story for you, but I want the cover” … Sunday Business and the deal was done. I mean Amy could live in NYC…same story, maybe not matcha but a cold brew from Jack’s in Tribeca. AGAIN…this is FANTASY. Likely this was ALL brokered by a crisis comms strategist who went through a laundry list of women writers who they thought would have empathy and power to get a big placement. But I like my Jenni Kayne mom idea.
A lot to unpack here, but the Internets LOST its mind and it was fun to see. The creative thinking was great tbh.
And this creator said it best:
What really got me were some of his points. First of all, there is a story in this article relayed by Elizabeth to the writer about how this ER doctor, while treating her very sick child, took the time to say how much she looked like “that horrible woman”. Like, what ER doctor says that in the midst of treating a patient? WHERE IS THE CONFIRMATION THIS HAPPENED??? Did the writer speak to the doctor and confirm he said this? It seems NOT.
Also, I feel horrible saying this and POOR Balto the Siberian Husky but the whole story that a mountain lion came onto their porch and just grabbed their Siberian husky away…I mean if my friends told me this happened to them I would believe them because they are not known liars but I would ask questions. Was Balto sick? Incapacitated? I am not saying it is impossible but I am saying huskies are not timid little doggos:
And like the idea that LIZZIE ran through the woods and hours later found her beloved Balto torn to pieces…like WTF is happening.
This article was a mess. It was manipulation at best, and dangerous BS from a sociopath at its worst. If I were the judge in the sentencing, I would be like. “OH HELL NO GIRL. HELL TO THE NO.”
This was a big get for any reporter. Elizabeth aka Liz has not done press in a long time. YEARS. It could have been done so differently. Start with not putting yourself in the story as the writer. How about asking her directly about the victims? About the suicide of her former employee? About the trying to ruin people’s lives who spoke out? How about fact-checking her stories?
I could go on.
But I am done now.
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT:
There will be more Elizabeth “Lizzy” Holmes memes coming out this week. Any that you see that are amazing, send my way!
Here are some highlights (and lowlights) of some OTHER pop culture-y things that have gone down this week.
MET GALA:
Welcome to my new favorite place on this planet: “PEDRO PASCAL’S SLUTTY KNEE”. This was the most viral thing to come out of this year’s Met Gala…forget about COCKROACH or the toothpaste carpet…it was THIS KNEE that launched a billion memes and videos.
Many think Pedro did the knee reveal on purpose after this viral moment and no, no…nope…I am NOT ok.
I think on the pod I connected this to a different designer, but this was Valentino and we all lost our minds.
Ok, ok…a few other things from the Met Gala that were amusing…not hot like that knee but amusing.
This sums it up best:
And I love this creator’s take on what the carpet SHOULD have looked like:
Then we have, “Hi honey, how was work tonight?” and you respond with this video:
Poor cucaracha:
Well, that was fast! I mean it takes me like two years to recover from a break-up, but nothing keeps TSwift down, and whereas I will stay in bed and eat my way through a break-up EVEN if it was me who did it, Tay Tay just is like BYE BOY and jumps to a hotter and more famous one.
The rumors which seem pretty substantiated now are that she is together with the 1975’s Matty Healy who we have talked about in PCM before. And boy do I get it. This is the exact type of guy I fall for…hard partying rock and roll guy with an accent who is ONE GIANT RED FLAG.
NOTHING hotter. That is until he gets fat, loses teeth, cheats, steals…but we still have time my little ones. For now, what a ride.
And he was spotted with her squad at her show:
AND spotted in a car together…
We are in a really weird moment content-wise, where many movies from the 1980s are being remade into dramatic series.
AND THEY SHOULD NOT BE.
Also, two of them were movies starring Jeremy Irons and NOTHING STARRING JEREMY IRONS SHOULD BE REMADE. Jeremy Irons is perfect…yes yes he meets all my HOT RED FLAGS criteria I know. But look, there is nothing hotter than naughty Jeremy Irons (an oxymoron).
This is the 1992 sexy AF thriller, “Damage”:
And here is the recent remake from Netflix, “Obsession”:
Both have lots of sexy sexy time but come on…JEREMY IRONS AND JULIETTE BINOCHE??? It starts and stops THERE.
But, we have yet another remake of an incredible Jeremy Irons movie, “Dead Ringers” which was a terrifying and mad movie I still remember lying to my parents about seeing.
And we have the remake now on Amazon Prime Video which I tried watching despite my friend telling me it was, “Without joy….” and she was right. It was NOT for me.
And lastly, we have “Fatal Attraction” which did not star Jeremy Irons, but a naughty Michael Douglas who was just as hot and red flaggy as Jeremy.
I mean we all remember…the scariest movie of all time that brought us the greatest term ever: BUNNY BOILER:
AGAIN…WHY did this need to be remade??
And according to all I know who have seen it…literally unwatchable.
As my friend so perfectly said:
Leave the 80s alone. We weren’t perfect. But you can’t replicate or improve.
We were…AN ERA.
And with that….
THAT IS IT, my darlings…
And I will see you next week!
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Xx,
Brooke
