The Trend Report™: Gagitas
A quick recap of trends big and small, with a focus on memes.
Federal health officials clear second Covid booster shot
Should You Get Another Covid Booster?
SLAP ME THAT FOURTH SHOT BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
California task force: Reparations for direct descendants
This is progress, even if it’s somewhat limited.
Amazon workers on Staten Island vote for a union
Huge win for Christian Smalls, who has been fighting for Amazon unionizing since the start of Covid.
Celebrities Crossed a Picket Line
Speaking of, seems like celebrities at The Oscars crossed a picket line in order to party.
Concerns about Bruce Willis in recent years
Another bad Hollywood thing: people have known something was up with Bruce Willis but continued to work (or use) him. Elder abuse?
"Russia's war against #Ukraine is a criminal offense.”
Germany is taking Russia’s aggression and excuse for genocide very seriously. Meanwhile in America? Biden says he bad but clearly those words are only so meaningful.
Sarah Palin says she is running for Congress
Thanks, John McCain!
House approves bill legalizing marijuana
If the dumbass Democrats gave a shit about 1.) winning and 2.) about people (especially young people), this accomplishment would be front-and-center followed by axing student loan debt and then taxing Jeff Bezos to hell.
Drunk Tweets Can Get You 150 Hours of Community
In the UK! And, um, this seems like a personal liberties and freedom of speech danger?
Apple, Meta Gave User Data to Hackers
I know the big news this week was how Facebook paid to bad mouth TikTok but this story seemed to get overlooked in the noise.
Returning to the Office, Just to Sit on Zoom Calls
Cue the AHS line, you stupid sluts.
“can’t be a police officer & advocate for black people”
No cops are good cops, even if they try to be!
LinkedIn profile might be a computer-generated fake
A new form of business scam, to drive up sales, is fake profiles with fake people. Welcome to the future!
Scientists Finally Mapped Whole Human Genome
This feels big! And good!!
Microplastics found in human blood for first time | Plastics | The Guardian
This feels big! And very, very bad!! This TikTok explains it well too.
My week was very busy so we get a big-lil-trend round up instead of an essay! Enjoy, my feral Gagitas!!
Home of Phobia: With the Don’t Say Gay Bill, it seems like homophobia is back. Fox News has been going full anti-gay while it’s been posited that homophobia is the new anti-gay agenda. This seems like a non-thing since homophobia has never “gone away,” as we discussed last year, but the difference is very clear lines between kids in Florida being attacked and the new bill being passed. Cause and effect.
Not That Old: A funny meme thing is happening where Gen Z’s idea of old is colliding with what actually old is. An E! Tweet about how great for-a-big-ager Anne Hathaway looked only for people to clapback that she is 39. Happening simultaneously is the realization that people look their age and saying someone “looks young” is a sort of strange cultural gaslighting we all keep doing.
Remix Grande: I keep hearing remixes and new takes on Ariana Grande in niche dance spots. There was Tearz’s (incredible) “Broke Again” and Exael’s Pleasure Gallery mix and, most recently, Martyn Bootyspoon’s Beats In Space mix. It’s funny! And the results have been great.
Feral Jackie: My favorite trend has been feral Jackie O. This is both an emerging meme and not as a Tweet using this went gay viral earlier this week, but has been catalogued since December 2021 likely with roots to the iconic “JFK had to give her bacon bits” Tweet. I love it. I hope it continues to grow and grow, to the point where Meghan McCain Tweets that such a meme is rude because the families of politicians are saints to be revered in this wannabe monarchy that is America.
Gagita: My other favorite emerging meme? Tiny Lady Gaga or, as one post I haven’t forgotten about called it, Lady Gagita.
Bad Takes: What’s up with bad takes lately? Whether it’s wondering why there aren’t serial killers anymore or what has happened to all the artists who were addicts, we’re in high time for bad takes. Why? Because we’ve all lost our minds? Unsure. This relates to a certain award show too.
Fish Sandra: I’ve missed this but, apparently, fancy takes on fish filet sandwiches are all the rage. At least in LA, this dish has popped up at Little Fish and Checker Hall and Eszett. It’s a thing!
Bad Dog: If I had more cares, I would write at length about how The Oval Pawffice represents all that's wrong with Democrats. But, I don’t…so, here, enjoy these two recent bad posts from the account and draw your own conclusions.
Boob Cups: …are the latest fashion trend? My big takeaway from all things red carpet this past week is that there were so many dresses with features that cup individual breasts. We’re gonna see this runoff into Fashion Nova any second now.
Slap Me: Everything about the Oscars and “the slap” was bad and I want to be over it. The trend here is overthinking. Was it Chris Rock’s non-verbal learning disorder? Was it his forgetting about alopecia? Was it the ensuing selfishness? Does the White House need to do something? I don’t know. I don’t care if he resigned, even if I do care that the Academy is trying to pretend they’re not Polanski-ing him. Either way, it represented the end of comedy as the runoff from this event was that no one could tell what was real or not, calling into question everything. I have a story about new age liberal puritanicalism in the works, to hopefully bridge how we get from “Advocate for women!” to “Amy Schumer is bad because she oppressed Kirsten Dunst at an awards show!” None of the takes on this have been good. No wonder people have deleted so many of their bad Tweets.
Underwhelmed: In any event, the biggest thing I have been thinking about lately is that most things are underwhelming. Perhaps when things are so bad, the common – awards shows, fashion – become trivial. That was the feeling of both watching the Oscars and going to Frieze earlier this year: nothing took a risk, nothing made a splash, nothing did or said much of anything. The gestures were meaningless and safe. If Will Smith hadn’t slapped Chris Rock, there would have been nothing to say. Art in all forms save for writing is struggling now because there is an inability to wrap the arms around this time. I’m not sure any movie or television show or visual stimuli will be accomplish much for a while because they simply do not seem important right now. We’ve reached that point. The bubble has burst.
Biggest Vertical Farm in the U.S. Wants to Give Strawberries a Try
This is fascinating! It’s objectively good, yes, but will be funny to one day have all our vegetables come from warehouses.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson First Black Woman SCOTUS
Some of the best cultural commentary on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s hearings, from the always incredible Hannah Phifer.
AUNTWAVE: a funky, love-filled trend
This is so fucking funny, that the aesthetics of “aunts” are the new cool kid de jour. I love it!
Restaurants Rethink Gender's Role in Service
My bb Rax has a story about gendered language in restaurant service that’s quite good. Get into it – and use more inclusive language!
NYC Skyscraper's Elevator Breakdowns Strand Tenants
A lot of things are hell but this is a lot of hell.
Dyson's new headphones include an air purifier
This is a choice? But also, honestly, it is the future because we’ve fucked the planet. They’re intense looking though!!
Pedro Almodóvar's Oscar Diary
One of the cutest, best recaps of the Oscars!!
YouTube Is Facing An Identity Crisis As Its Creators Burn Out
A good state of the union for creators. We’re all burnt out! No wonder they are too (and, again, all content is failing because all the bad in the world has squeezed us dry).
Miu Miu Mini Skirts, Kim Kardashian & The "End Of The BBL"
I’m tired of the Miu Miu dress discourse but I’m thankful that it has killed the BBL body.
"where was her oscar nomination?"
Excellent question. Excited to see her in Paw Patrol!!
"Nothing…could have prepared me for the end of this"
What a derp.
“first day attending a climate conference”
We’re fucked. Related and unrelated is this NPR TikTok, about how basketball players performed better when they weren’t travelling.
"We look ridiculous."
And they say lesbians don’t have style!!!!
“new concept for emoji”
I need her. Now.
“girl what the fuck”
This is literally deranged. So is this. I need fashion creators to gain self-awareness.
"Oscar Outfits as Public Health Graphs"
Best Oscars related content.
"and I vote"
EXTREME AMERICA ENERGY
“some of the most powerful britainology”
I cannot process this.
"a simple bag of takis would take these people out"
This is incredible and, somehow, it also manifests the TikTok lingo convo we talked about last week.
"FAM!!!"
Abuelitas with vision impairments are valid!!!
And, finally, a look at me in high school.
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