Looking Camp Right In The Eye
When Cultural Historians trace the perception of the Met Gala in the public eye(😉), they will cite the Camp Year as the one where the Twitter hoi polloi latched onto the event. We all look back at it fondly as one of the more fun Met Galas in recent memory. We all remember the fun we had on that night, or at least we all pretend we do. Because the camp met gala looms so large in our collective memory, everyone wants to claim authority and say Remember when we all laughed at this together. Except our collective memory doesn’t remember much. The only thing anyone seems to remember is the Karlie Kloss meme, but remembering the meme has become a meme itself. No one really knows what they’re saying anymore about it, they’re just evoking the memory so they can sound like a wisened historian. Everyone wants to say they remember looking Camp right in the eye, but I have a more Woodstock-like approach to it. If you can remember it, you probably weren’t there.
The Rehearsal
You guys have got to chill out. It’s good. It’s fun. We all love Nathan Fielder, and we all think he’s a genius. Now that that has been established, we can stop tweeting vague things every Sunday evening to this effect. Part of Nathan Fielder’s talent lies in his ability to find willing weirdos, you guys can’t lose your minds every time he finds one. Maybe I’m too worldly or informed, or I’ve seen too many tweets, but cloning dogs barely registers as weird to me anymore. I can’t believe the rest of you are so bowled over by all of this, all the time. The Rehearsal is impressive and funny, but I think at a certain point the audience has to chill out at Nathan’s ability to find these people, and also his desire to build scale models. That’s the show! It makes his achievements less impressive if every time he does anything, people lose their minds. I think you could all learn to appreciate him more by accepting that he will deliver his standard weirdness every time, instead of doing Benson Boone style backflips every time he does something he built his career doing.
TikTok
Zendaya’s Big Hat
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There are many ways for a celebrity to have an Achilles heel that makes them more likable overall. One of them is to be a dork as a child and show us all footage of that. Zendaya is special because she was already famous when she showed off her funny and awkward side. She has since grown from a Disney Channel star into a beautiful young woman. We can playfully make fun of her past while still being able to love her in the present. One of the favorite examples of Zendaya’s previous silliness was her big hat of “mhm mhm let me not forget my big hat” fame. Those with even a passing familiarity with Dandyism knew that a big hat was on the way. TikTok began to prophesize it, and sure enough, there she was on the carpet with a big hat in tow. Not the big hat, but a more mature and thematically relevant big hat.
You Are Under Spells
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When arguing with an idiot, it is important to meet them at their level. After listening to their point of view for long enough, the only conclusion that makes sense is a supernatural one. It helps that this sound comes from one of the oracles of our day, Tokyo Toni. It gives the words more power.
I'm So Hungry I Could Eat
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Fun while it lasted. Certain trends are funny but only for so long. With something like this, I couldn’t tell you exactly when it was a bridge too far, but I’m not laughing anymore. I think something shifted with the participants. The first round were those comfortable enough to film their families and close friends in a casual environment and think of something funny. As time has gone on, the people doing it are those who are less online and took a while to think of someone or something funny. It’s clear to me they aren’t the ideal candidates to make these funny videos. They lack the spontaneity of the first round. Or they’re making up fake scenarios for the future, which is also boring, in addition to being less dynamic than the first round.