EPISODE 816: WHAT CONNIE CHEUNG BUILT
Also, Godzilla's Whereabouts (May) Have Been Ascertained
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
Hi and welcome back to Pop Culture Spirit Wow, that three minutes of your week where I unintentionally get you to go, Wait, what? I’m your host, the Wait What Guy.
So what’s going on?
THE WOWND UP
The really big news this week was that a guy who a lot of people thought was really awful was really awful again, and a network that didn’t have any trouble covering him before covered him again, then got lambasted by its own people and everyone else, and they were like, but he’s a candidate tho, and I guess here we go again.
Also, there’s a new Legend of Zelda game and everyone is talking about it and I feel like I should know about it, starting with who is this Zelda anyway, but I was too old when it came out and at some point there’s just no fixing my life is there.
Elsewhere, the Obamas attended Sasha’s graduation from USC over the weekend, and they were apparently very much just “parents and big sister sitting in the crowd,” except with Secret Service because The World. And people, predicably were Freaking Out.
And still elsewhere, the Writers Guild strike continues, and in LA that means Picket Karaoke and Singles Events, which I find absolutely hilarious. I was on a line in Brooklyn at 5am on Friday. There were about 20 of us at three different entrances to a studio. And if that sounds early, it turns out that studios, in an attempt to enable their people to not have to cross a picket line, have started making their call times earlier. But the writers keep showing up earlier, too.
Note to Networks and Studios: You know you’re in trouble when writers are willing to get up at 5am to picket your offices.
WHAT POPE FRANCIS DOES WHEN HE HAS A FREE MINUTE
I bet you thought it was going to be something like playing cards and smoking cigarettes, didn’t you…
THREE PHOTOS OF THREE TWEETS BECAUSE TWITTER REMAINS BROKEN
All three of these tweets come from the wonderful writer Abraham Josephine Riesman, who was recently back in North Carolina and discovered these cartoons in the local newspaper. They are um, interesting.
That’s right kids, car wrecks are not hospitality. Get it straight.
You heard the boy, give him back his fireworks.
I don’t even understand what this is.
WE ALL SCREAM
This weekend I made an important discovery: eating ice cream is good for one’s spiritual life.
Now, I realize that on the surface such a claim might seem a little suspect. If you want to eat ice cream, just eat ice cream already. Don’t drag us all into some whole “And this is how you meet Jesus” kind of a thing.
But here’s the thing about ice cream—and to be clear, I’m talking here about ice cream bought at an ice cream parlor and put in a cup, not a scoop of Breyer’s from the freezer that you put in a bowl—It’s impossible to eat ice cream fast. You’ll get a headache, of course, so there’s that, but what I really mean is, when you get a cup of ice cream, whether it’s one scoop or more, it’s packed in really tight. And also somehow, because ice cream parlors are magic in a way that freezer ice cream simply is not, the ice cream is really thick.
Thick ice cream packed tight—it’s impossible to gobble that up. Each time you dip the spoon in, the ice cream holds onto it, as though it’s alive and fighting its ongoing demise.
As a result, each bite becomes its own little moment. And little by little, you enter into a different, slower, more contemplative kind of space.
The next time you need to take a beat, seriously, take yourself to go get some ice cream. See if it doesn’t help.
This post paid for by White Mountain Creamery in Chestnut Hill, Ma., where I spent a lot of this weekend.
I BET IT’S GOOD THOUGH
I dare you to read this headline and not immediately need to read this article. Victor Hugo has never seemed more interesting.
But even more than that, you have to read this article about the women named after Connie Cheung. It’s really something.
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
I am always fond of a monster quote. If you need one right now, this one’s for you.
That’s it for now. Have a great, great week!