Meme Report 11/20
Baby... It's 3 am I must be Lonely
Twitter
It’s Even Better In Person
This is how all the other American cities vie for relevance. We learn about their distinctive buildings via Twitter and hope it sticks. Some are making an impression, others are trying really hard. We have our usual tier 2s (Philadelphia, Chicago) showing off in the way only Certified Tier 2s can. What I like about this meme is that I’m seeing some tier 3s trying to move into tier 2 status. Minneapolis, I see you trying hard to be the Boston of the Midwest. Good luck with that!
I Love The [x]
This has to be some kind of Trump trauma response. This looks like something you would see on the 2012 internet. Obama Era Hipster posting. Returning to familiar things because it’s easier. We’re still in the denial phase. We have until January so let’s indulge in the version of posting that doesn’t challenge us or make us think. We get to be the smart ones in this fantasy scenario that’s a play on a movie from 15 years ago. The present can’t hurt you right now.
Look-a-Like Contest
This is our Woodstock and it will end with our Altamont.
TikTok
I Like My Suitcase
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Some of you are marks and some of you are paranoid. No piece of media about the Trumps is neutral, especially when it comes to Baron. There is a short list of concrete facts we know about him. We don’t even know what he sounds like now. It’s not that this video is particularly revealing besides the Slovenian accent but it’s being used by all sides to further their narrative. Some people think it’s cute. Others think it’s an insidious piece of propaganda. I’m personally invested in the idea that Baron Trump still has the accent and that’s why he doesn’t speak now. Somethings up. It’s just not clear what yet.
Elphaba Riff
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
You want to say things like theater kids get a bad rap, especially when it comes to Wicked. Everyone who is trying to be cooler than Wicked is missing the vibe. Sure it’s a bloated mess and it’s not going to be “good” in the same way other things are good. It doesn’t have to be. It’s Wicked!!! Speaking from personal experience, every time I’ve tried to be cooler than Wicked I’ve been sucked back in and my true self is always revealed. That being said when it comes to this meme, theater kids are proving why they’ll never be fully rehabilitated into polite society. We get it! You can do the riff and so can all your friends! This meme is proof of ability when most peoples love for musicals comes from admiration and understanding of the work. I need fewer memes about the riffs and more about the real star: the Dragon Clock.
#WomeninMaleDominatedFields
One of the major tenets of feminism that I think will get us a lot farther than what we currently have going for us is that women are not unequivocally good and men are not uniquely evil. We need to see more women in male-dominated fields being annoying the same way men are. A fair amount of complaints that women have about their husbands and how men in general behave are behaviors that are available for them to take up at any time. It’s going to be hard to be the first woman you know who does a bad job grocery shopping but it’s important work. The easiest way to cut down on your to-do list is to stop doing half the things on it.
Don Julio Jump
We have to get sillier. It’s the only way to survive. I want people in public with their friends silly as hell and I want to see results on TikTok. The first time I saw this trend I watched the video 10 times in a row. It was mesmerizing in its carefully constructed and well-executed silliness. Get to work.
Sticky
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
First post-election culture boom. Last time we had the oddly eerie Black Beetles by Rae Sremmurd. It scored November 2016 as we tried to make sense of the new world. Sticky is that but this time it’s going to be fun. It’s a high-energy bop with an edge. It overwhelms the listener as it should. It’s accelerating the rise of Glorilla and Sexxyred, two people I want to be a part of the new future. Say what you will about Tyler the Creator but I think he’s earned the right to have the post-election hit. He’ll be the sound of Thanksgiving 2024 and become synonymous with this time when everyone is still figuring all this stuff out. When we look back on this time there will be no clear signs that we will be able to point to that indicate what the future was going to be, but we’ll remember sticky and a few of us might even remember the dance.