yes, celebs can be mean.

On the business of celebrity dissolving fandom and why Elon style libertarianism is spreading.

FEMA Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert
Literally everyone in America’s phone will go off on October 4.

Tight Race Against Trump
The first Times 2024 election polls are out and Trump and Biden are…neck-and-neck. Enthusiasm is low for both, as a “neither of the above” faction seems to predict 2016 all over again – but maybe trending to favor the Democrats.

Inside Ron DeSantis' awkward comeback
I love this fool. He is so bad at his job! Which reminds: I am obsessed with his shaming a child for drinking a Slurpee.

BofA Joins Fed in Reversing Recession Call
Good? I guess??

Man Fatally Stabbed After Vogueing
Very sad. A moment of Black, queer joy ending in the worst possible way.

Henrietta Lacks' family settles lawsuit
Justice? Reparations? In my America? Well.

Movie extras worry they'll be replaced
His Hollywood star was rising
Hollywood’s Slo-Mo Self-Sabotage
Three great stories about Hollywood and the strike: one about how extras were basically scammed of their identities, one about the (very LA) culture of survival jobs, and one on the decade’s long deterioration of the industry. Meanwhile, CEOs are on vacation. If anything, because this is an industry steeped in public-facing media, it’s empowering so many to stand up. Good! Finally Hollywood does something right.

What to Know About Niger's Crisis
The coup in Niger is shaping up to be more serious than expected, playing into a recent series of government collapses (and might be connected to Putin).

Justin Trudeau and wife separating
My prediction is Justin is going to “be gay” for clout. Suitors are lining up!

Smoking rates have fallen globally
Good! But, let me tell you, I would not believe this living in Europe. Smoking is still very in!!

Riding the COVID-19 waves
Not now, Covid!! Seems “fine” but something to keep watch of.

I think Doja Cat is right.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Last week Doja made fun of her fans, calling them weird for calling themselves her “kittenz,” for spending too much time thinking about her instead of having a job, and summed up her relationship with her fans as “I don’t even know y’all.” Was she right to say this? No, of course not. It’s rude! But is she allowed to say this? Absolutely. Did she lose half a million followers as a result? Sure. But you know what? She isn’t wrong.

Doja’s turning against her fans, a strange and darkly delightful reclaiming of oneself against the masses, is a bit revolutionary. Yes, you can argue that Doja has all the power and that her fans have none. I get that. It’s a valid argument! But, in the age of not giving a fuck and an artists’ image being squeezed for capital, Doja is striking for herself: she isn’t pleading helplessly to fans like Halsey but is communicating that she isn’t content to be obsessed over and objectified. She, in keeping with her serious musician (rapper) image of the moment, is creating a narrative and doing a job. She doesn’t have time to suffer you, who didn’t like that she shaved her head.

Fans will always have power. As long as there are entertainers and entertainment, the followers will dictate culture and reap rewards because capital can rub its fattened belly as a result. But, as the strikes show, those who entertain are people don’t have to do what you say or behave as you think they should behave. They’re not perfect, they do wrong, they misbehave: they are like us. They aren’t special! Enter Megan Fox – whose fans shat on her for sharing a GoFundMe for her father – and Miranda Lambert, who was called a grinch for scolding fans for taking selfies during her show. The reality is that we, as a culture and as a culture that has born brand culture, have fed fans to the point that we’ve created lemmings on steroids. Books get review bombed before they’re published. Artists get shit thrown at them onstage. Movie franchises are born and burned out due to fan service fatigue. Critics are being replaced by influencers. Television is too scared to confront the issue. Parasocial celebrity relationships have gone too far, where the masses think they “own” performers and treat them however they wish. It’s complicated!

This is why the news of Lizzo’s misbehavior is so unsettling: she and her fans are tight, an airtight bond steeped in shared identity and openness. Hearing that she may be sizeist and ableist and all the other bad things dancers have accused her of has been a shock to the system: this is not the Lizzo we know! While this issue is getting messy – Lizzo created hostile work environment, Lizzo hires Bill Cosby’s superstar lawyer, Lizzo’s accuser’s timeline is questioned – it boils down to something that culturework put so well in on TikTok: Lizzo is allowed to be mean. She is not required to be a good boss or even a good person: the contract we, as listeners and fans, have signed with her is to make good (“good”) music and be fun. This lawsuit and these problems are, to me, less about a macro, systemic issue but are about the realities of Hollywood as a business: it is a brutal, mean industry predicated upon using, exploiting, and taking advantage of the human body. If you believe otherwise, you’re living in your own la-la-land. Having lived it and worked it, I can tell you the industry isn’t for the faint: it is a mill that functions on human dreams. I believe the accusations but also: Lizzo is maybe a bad boss and kept a bad company. What we, the audience, saw of her was a performance. Why? Because she is a performer. (That said, her issue – guilty or not – is one of reputation. Win or lose, right or wrong, this was a means to capitalize on a hunger to take down such a performer.)

I think we’re entering a moment where the fan economy is breaking down. People are starting to realize how stupid and repetitive the Pop Crave world is, given that it’s a soft brained wonderland that lures clicks. Stans may start at age seven now, which is great when you’re trying to build something like Barbenheimer. The results? Accidentally beautifying a mass murdering of Japanese communities. As Garbage Day put it, this was all because brands were creating a cute moment on Twitter. While many are replacing church with concerts, the results are deeply fallible and build around flawed priests (i.e., performers) who you pay to make you happy. Dorian Electra put it best this week on the RA podcast: fandom is the new religion of our capitalist society.

But fandom isn’t for nothing. Just look at the very sad loss of Paul Reubens and the celebrations of his life. What’s wrong is the power dynamics, the lack of point of view, the things that we talk about when we say that entertainment is dying: people are messy. No one is perfect! Neither are entertainers, neither are creative projects. Again: the oppression Olympics and era of the victim are ending, one Doja Cat post at a time. None of this would be a problem if we had more of a life, instead of investing so much in someone else’s.

Pixar's Elemental Has Gone Hot
This story is so interesting, given that this Pixar film went from “It’s a flop!!” to a quiet $400 million success story. Never discount late bloomers!!

Immersive Van Gogh Goes Bankrupt
This is not funny but very funny.

New art project to put works onto moon
We’re sending a quarter-sized drive full of art to the moon to ostensibly communicate with aliens. Some dumb alien is gonna eat it. Just watch.

Behind-The-Scenes of A24’s “Scrounging”
The Fox Is Black did a lil interview with photographer Wade & Leta who shot the pictures for a new A24 cookbook! I love how they considered where this food might be, which helped them create scenarios to go with the food.

Most popular dog wasn't bred for heat
Climate change is coming for French Bulldogs. Pour one out!

“Tater Tot went on an adventure”
"Tater Tot breaks free"
Tater Tot leaves the internet grieving
In case you missed it: the saga of Tater Tot, a disabled kitten that the internet was rooting for, passed away. Thanks for the memories, lil angel!

"Grownups have taken over the playground"
The cop slide fail went very viral this week. Here’s a fun look at what was happening at the site.

MrBeast Sues His Food Delivery Partner
Company Accuses MrBeast of Bullying
I love this beef. There is a larger story here about the state of influencer and celebrity brands.

Stream Rayo Mix 2022
I’ve been revisiting the works of Elysia Crampton as it feels very of-the-now, which started with the anti-colonialist American Drift from 2015 and ended with discovering this mix from 2022. When I think of techno cumbia, I think of this set: melting FM tracks set to Mexican diasporic beats. Come for the mezcla, stay for the incredible “The Way It Is” reimagining at the forty minute mark.

We all may know this but I have found the elephant in the room of Elon Musk.

This person, who says one thing and does another, has a very specific worldview designed to counter and question in public forums, positioning him as a discount subscriber of Socrates. What is this way of thinking? Is there a name for it? Yes, and it’s been leeching everywhere for the past two decades: it’s libertarianism, a way for otherwise unremarkable and “mainstream” persons (men) to claim that, yes, they are “outside” of the system. They’re not Democrat. They’re not Republican! They are Libertarian, you dweeb. They make stupid anal jokes for clout! Try as a billionaire might, this way of thinking is what non-creative minds consider to be “alt.” It’s counter culture, minus any idea of culture. It is “Yet you participate in society. Curious!”-ism run wild.

This has been taking over my mind as of late because, in the age of white guy “oppression” and the rise of identity-based approaches, many interactions with men of a certain age (Xillennial and Gen X, let’s say) always end with this feeling of having been forced to the edges, to be on the defensive until you collapse. There is this seduction to be on the outside, a nascent boil of 1980s and 1990s nerdom that has resulted in contrarian “I’m not for the state! Let people do what they want!” behavior that literally favors no one but the island of them. This “vibe” has been mapped for literally decades and is exemplified by beyond Musk by persons like Peter Thiel and Ron Paul. These are people who disguise opposing positions as “intellectualism,” whose gotchas benefit literally nothing – especiallyelections. It’s all noise without solutions. The frustration is the point.

On a technical level this way of operating is called countering, an abusive trait of narcissists deployed to maintain control of others. This behavior means always taking the opposing position, eliminating discussion and discourse while gaslighting others to defeat. When those deploying this technique aren’t poor and are white and aren’t queer, it’s a grasping to be an “other,” slamming fist to the table to demand their difference be seen as they fit into a larger constellation of loners. This behavior seems to start at an early age – high school boys who are politically oriented skew conservative – but never coalesces into anything meaningful. The killer here is the value of individual freedom, the me before the we, as this way of thinking is technically individualist and always changes opinion to be oppositional.

This is why the Elon simps will never win: the culture is the act of disagreeing, the making someone feel like they’re on the outside or that they have lost. That’s an exhausting position to be in! No wonder the male thinkpiece economy continues to thrive: it’s a self-hating, anti-cohesive culture with a head of state who relishes in making people feel bad. The point is the pain, as it only feels good to one person: Elon.

“texting Lizzo”
"was evil"
“Lizzo’s PR”
“truth hurts”
“toxic gossip”
“imagine Lizzoo”
Some Lizzo-is-bad memes.

“dios mio”
“estoy cansado”
“#gamer”
“si que si”
This meme about technology worked to death has me rolling.

“dying with their mouth wide”
“calling me peepaw”
“can't wait”
“#”
A crusty older person filter has made some great posts on TikTok.

“cannot romanticize 2014”
Wanna feel old? Gen Z/A cusps are romanticizing 2014. This has been building for a few weeks now.

“Roam”
"Rock Lobster"
You should follow The B-52s on TikTok. They are making amazing shitposts. The first post is maybe a best of 2023!

"forever tarnished her legacy"
I’m not a Housewives girlie but am very tempted by her. Amy Odell agrees!!

“Trisha Paytas in Barbie”
The only Barbie post that mattered this week.

“had me worried”
Maybe don’t push everything down stairs.

"This photo genuinely scares me"
“my fyp”
“Youth is fleeting”
Three posts about older gay men having sex. The first is bleh (speaking from experience), the second is lol, the third is inspiring. Also, with the first one: who is that in the background??

"i’m listening"
Can we all date this person?

“greatest TikTok of all time”
Shout out to you, Richard D. James. What a great lover!

“It’s official”
I, too, am a DILDO.

“quiet up”
When he says “chocolate maker,” you will scream.

“put the ranch away”
Put the ranch away.

"put your hands up"
"Filmed in Zagreb"
This song has been going wild and I think this is my goal for next week while I’m on vacation. Speaking of: I’m on vacation this upcoming week! And I don’t think there will be a Trend Report™ next Sunday! Stay tuned. Also: here is live footage of me vibing to this song.

And, finally, my girl dinner.

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