Meme Report 10/1
The Lioness Does Not Concern Herself with The Fire Ache in Her Soul
Hi New Subscribers! If you’re getting this in your inbox, it’s from a recommendation from the wonderful Aidan Walker from How to Do Things With Memes. This was automatic when you signed up for his newsletter. I tend to be more pop culture-focused in my coverage, but I hope you stick around! If you are interested in Taylor Swift, I just wrote a very long piece about the upcoming album and covert pivot to privacy.
I would also like to say, to subscribers old and new, I am 100% vindicated in my take that the NFL is going woke and courting a liberal audience. They’re by no means radical leftists, and their end goal is ultimately more money, but it would be easier than ever to capitulate to the current administration’s cultural interests, and instead, they’re teaming up with Bad Bunny to provide the audience and arena for his only US tour date. Sure, it’s an empty symbolic gesture, but someone has to play the half-time show, and I’m glad it’s him and not Jason Aldean.
Big Rock/ Glass Bridge
Hold the line. We cannot let the AI slop get to us, even ironically. I’ve been good so far. I don’t care about Italian Brain rot. I don’t care about what countries would look like if they were dogs. I don’t tell all of you about them because I’m protecting you. I’m protecting us. But on the app formerly known as Twitter, our brightest pseudo-intellectuals can’t resist ironic commentary on viral Facebook AI slop. Thats. how. they. get. you. I can’t emphasize enough how much of a black hole this is. We’re standing on the edge of it, but we can’t stand there forever. Eventually, we will get sucked in.
One Battle After Another
Best Movie Ever Alert! If you were anywhere adjacent to film Twitter or leftish Twitter this weekend, you might have heard that the best movie ever made came out. It’s called One Battle After Another, it’s directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and it stars Leonardo DiCaprio. Oh, it’s based on a Pynchon adaptation, so you know the boys went crazy for it. When I saw it Friday night, I had a headache and was in an atrocious mood, so I’m tepid on the picture. I thought this movie would lift me out of my problems, and maybe that was asking too much. I thought it was fine with some really spectacular parts, but I don’t feel how everyone else felt.
Good thing I spent all weekend reading short reviews about how it’s the best movie ever made. It’s October, so award season is ramping up, and I’ve found my villain. It’s not that the movie itself is a villain; I’ve just seen how this has played out before, and while a total shutout would be criminal, I’ve never been more ready to say a movie was fine and I liked whatever female melodrama is being thrown under the bus in order to praise to heap more praise on a film that undercuts its female characters. I know, I know, I’m making up people to get mad at, but I went to film school, and I remember Ladybird. I know how this goes. But I also hated Nomadland, so it’s really anyone’s guess. I might love Smashing Machine (I won’t). Anyway, this is where the fun starts. From here on out, it really is one movie after another.
Today I walked [x] Miles and Had [x] for Dinner
This is all we were ever supposed to do with social media—pictures of where we are, where we were, and what we ate. The original version of this is posted every day by the same user, hikingshawty, who walks 5 to 8 miles through the English countryside and eats an incredible-looking dinner (which occasionally includes Wing Stop). Now people are trying to imitate or follow in the footsteps of the original poster. Unfortunately, this is a vibe that cannot be replicated and should not be disturbed. We think everything online should be (or is) a meme. Some things are just their own thing—the unique point of view of an individual. Everyone must forge their own 8-mile path, followed by a nice meal both in life and on social media. If you’re not walking 8 miles every day and eating beautiful meals, maybe get your own format. Even if you are, mix it up a little bit.
Geese
About 3 times a year, an artist is exalted to darling status. It takes the right mix of a young and cool figurehead, new-sounding music, and good enough visuals. This combination creates the groundwork for the next big thing, or, because it’s almost always indie, the next medium thing. Geese/Cameron Winter is the next medium thing. They’re already big in the indie world, so you missed the opportunity to say you were there first, but if you get on the train right now, you can know who they are when people start referencing them in jokes about Brooklyn or before you hear them as the closing music to a TV show.
Personally, I’m not a geese girl. I think some of their music is good, but I’m not the kind of acolyte they need right now. I think of Cameron Winter as a shinier, newer MJ Lenderman, and instead of an equally talented musician ex-girlfriend, he has a somewhat interesting polyamorous Park Slope mom. MJ’s whole thing has an aww-shucks shyness to it that I find much more endearing. Cameron is that stand-offish art boy. (North Carolina vs. New York City). But ultimately, when I look at both of them, I think about Alex G.
TikTok
6 7
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I have been avoiding 6 7 because it makes me feel old, and also there’s not much to say about it. It means nothing. It’s kids being kids. They keep repeating something that is fun for them to say and confuses the adults around them. It feels good to be one less grown-up giving away their harmless secrets. It’s especially fun because it’s not inappropriate, it’s just annoying. Now that it’s back to school, we’re getting dispatches from kids and teachers about how 6 7 manifests in everyday life. In some schools, they’re already over 6 7. In others, teachers are still fighting the good fight and must deal with kids saying 6 7 in that cadence constantly. They must either give in or find ways to outsmart the kids. I love watching this war play out. I take no sides, mostly because I know time will win in the end. Schools are their own cultural ecosystems, each one will tire of 6 7 in their own time. Kids outgrow things; it’s just a question of whether this will be better or worse than the next thing. Will their teachers be praying for the day that it was only as bad as 6 7?
Last Weekend of September
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This one was for cool hot girls who never got over their weird 7th-grade obsession with the French. It’s such an adolescent attempt at being cool and it kind of still hits. It’s too late to participate in this trend now, but next year, when you’re cooler and hotter, you’ll be able to mouth along with the French accent, right on time. You’ll stay up until 3 am, waiting for the fire ache in your soul to go out.
One man on TikTok has been trudging along, still making “The Lion does not concern himself” memes, and because of that, we have a resurgence on TikTok. It’s more popular than ever to call oneself the lion or the lioness. It’s nothing new in terms of culture; we’re still all low achievers who don’t read our emails and stay up too late. We’re all playing it off like we do it on purpose and it’s part of a larger plan, as we did the last time and the time before. This is more of a lesson in persistence. You will own something if you do it long enough.