WMDs 2: Electric Boogaloo
¿En esta economia?
Hi!
Thanks for opening this email / reading this post.
Honestly, I don’t know what to do. Like, I can share a lot of bad news and be flippant and goofy about it, or I can ignore that and go braindead mode talk about Love Island. Maybe a little of both?
Giving a cartoonishly evil oligarch carte blanche to gas predominantly Black communities, just so that other ever so slightly more fortunate Americans don’t have to think too hard to make a fucking grocery list, is cool and socialism is evil.
I would support this war if the only people it killed were these guys.
Your sleep-tracking device could be keeping you up at night.
“Mule-riding Kentucky man accused of unleashing raccoon in bar after being turned away”
If you are watching Love Island, or are familiar with the concept, walk with me. There’s a lot of chatter about the difference in racism and how POC “islanders” are treated across the franchises (US, UK and Australia - ranked from kinda sus to egregious), but something else that strikes me, is that the Americans all act like they are at WORK. The “Huda crashouts” don’t look that volatile from where I’m sitting, as someone who worked at a talent agency pre-#metoo and consumes mostly Bravo and NBA. The boys seem aligned by the common goal of bringing down Jeremiah (another man), further proof of my thesis that Gen Z men are true misogynists, while millennials just dabble in classic chauvinism. Imagine a guy ignoring the scantily clad beauties around him to plot against another dude that rubs him the wrong way? Where is the LUST, let alone love?! The women are way too polite to each other, consumed by a vague concept of sisterhood. The guys have mealy-mouthed explanations for their couplings, ones that have the same vibe as explaining, “why I’m right for this job.” Outside of Amaya howling, “WE DON’T WANNA DO THAT,” where is the passion? Everyone is performing to TikTok, clip-farming as they say, and toeing the line of entertaining and palatable - they are media-trained. The goal seems to be staying on the show the longest for the best brand deals, most followers, whatever. I’m not saying you don’t get hints of this in the UK. Even in the first season, islanders were accused of being production plants. But in the US, it’s so much worse. These young, hot people could all easily be employed by NBC/Universal with nary the HR violation. The one person with a problematic past was shoved in a pillowcase in the middle of the night and was smuggled back to South Florida in a crate of Ariana’s hair extensions. The remaining islanders play by the rules, twerk on command and think the most important part of a romantic relationship is… family? The horniest girl has been voted off mere days after spitting in someone’s mouth, as if that is not a traditional Love Island custom. The front-running couple has the kind of chemistry you see in Marvel movies (derogatory). What have our young people become? Where are the sleazy flirts? Death to hustle culture.
Tunes to start the week with:
This Fred again and Skepta track rules, even though listening to Brits rap always makes me chuckle a little, like ok, guvnuh. Still good.
Hotline TNT has a new album - this is real deal pop punk/post-emo, like the kind you’d find in 2006, when the white boys were still in their garages. Great stuff.
There’s a 10-year anniversary release of SOPHIE’s Product that will take you back to the early days of hyper pop, when things seemed a little brighter!
xx
❤️