EPISODE 701 THE PRANK IS THAT THERE’S A REAL GUY IN HERE
Being polite to rude strangers is oddly thrilling. Also they don't like it.
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
Heya, hiya, hoya, welcome to Season 7 of this here thing right here that you are reading on some form of glass right now. Or maybe paper? Does anyone print this thing out, and if so does that make me a novelist? Because I would like to be that without having to figure out how to write 400 pages, I will let you write the copy for my dust jacket if you can make this happen and also make the novel good, please and thank you.
Actually I got a little bit of rage in my social media inbox this last week and among it is maybe the second greatest comment anyone has ever said to me, which I want on all my entirely fictional dust jackets forever:
If I could offer just one edit, I’d prefer it if this said “The more I read him the less I like him.” Agree with him, eh, who cares? But I appreciate the sentiment.
And if someone wants to make me really happy I would love it if you tweet that at me, or other hostile comments. I know reading mean things about you has a tendency to make people crazy, but sometimes I think maybe in the proper doses from well-intentioned people it can kind of work like a vaccine, too.
If you’re new to these here parts, welcome to the Wow, where I ramble on about lots of different things related to pop culture, social media and sometimes also queer stuff, nature, life, God and everything else. It started with me writing a lot about “Star Wars” early in the morning in a coffee shop where I never had to wear a mask because it was 2015 and yet in my mind’s eye remembering the scene I am immediately like “What is wrong with me, where is my mask?”
The 2020s, my friends, like head lice that may someday kill you. If you have other options, I do not recommend them.
(I seriously want there to be a “Doctor Who” episode where the Doctor arrives in the 2020s, looks at the clock to confirm it, and then is like, eh, this decade is just absolute garbage, and then they leave, and it’s fine because as long as we’re with them it’s like we stowed away and we don’t have to be here either.)
Anyway, it started there, and now it’s here, and that’s a fun story isn’t it?
This is a long and distracting way of saying yes, this is a day late and I blame the 2020s.
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My favorite meme right now.
It’s from this sketch, which you should definitely watch right now.
I have been watching this A LOT. That, and also these opening credits for the new superhero show Peacemaker, which no, is not a musical.
Don’t ask me why, but I swear the more you watch those opening credits the more emotionally satisfying they become.
Meanwhile I think the Robinson sketch is hitting for me because it tracks so well with the last month. Basically, omicron is all the layers of latex that are suffocating Robinson and I just want to rip the !@#%!%! head off.
I also love the whole argument about kicking the table. “What’s that do for the greater good?” is basically my feeling about pretty much every very important cause that is asking for our attention right now. They are all definitely important, but also I can’t see shit out of the sides of my eyes, you know?
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Speaking of Spider-Man, here’s a great interview with man of the hour Andrew Garfield.
Truly, between Spider-Man, Tick…Tick…Boom! and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Garfield has had one of the best years for an actor in forever. You should definitely find a way to see all three of these movies.
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And speaking of great articles, I’m going to say this piece about how Britney Spears’ dancing was a form of resistance and liberation in the midst of her nightmarish captivity is one of the best articles you or I are going to read all year. Yeah, I know it’s only January. It’s that good, and also January was like 470 days long, so, yeah, take that.
(One really fascinating takeaway: Spears would pull back on her choreography just a bit to make it easier for kids to be able to dance it themselves. That’s how much she wanted them to have that same experience of freedom and self-expression.)
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How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions? As the kids say, LOL, amirite? I actually have still not picked mine, as I’ve just been too busy. Maybe by Easter?
I will say The Guardian did this wonderful piece on simple things you can do to make your life better without really trying, and in a way I wonder if just trying to do some of them might not be enough. Basically relish your life a little more. Wouldn’t that be nice?
I also thought it might be fun to compile a list of my own. If you were going to list 100 simple things, what would you include? Try it! See if you can come up with ten.
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THREE TWEETS
Feeling this.
Also This.
Also This, in a “Man, Keira Knightly Would Have Been a Way Better Anakin” Way
Sometimes I put links to stuff I’ve written, but it’s kind of been a busy month. I will say this: if you like Wordle, I made this for you; if you like All Creatures Great and Small, I made this for you (heh heh heh); and if you want to meet an amazing woman, please read this.
It’s good to be back. Hope you feel the same. Don’t lose hope; I know she tends to wander away sometimes but it’s definitely better when she’s around. When things start to look dire come back here so we can all laugh it off together.
See you next week!
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