2014 Vibes & Blue Balls 😰
Today we’re starting with a BIG shout out to the 14 new ✨SYSCA SUPPORTERS✨ who’ve joined us in the last week!
Become a ✨SYSCA SUPPORTER✨ and get access to our weekly 🍿Culture Vulture newsy🍿, our special 📚bumper book list📚 and our 🎶SYSCA playlists🎶 (or just support us coz u love us 🥺)
Angels!!! SO glad that so many of you loved all the Aotearoa content in yesterday’s newsy - I defs don’t take living in this beautiful place for granted AT ALL and I love sharing it with you. In fact, I thought we’d start today off with a cute snap I took yesterday while I was out on a hot girl walk where I listened exclusively to Folklore and Evermore.
OOOOOH I also wanted to tell you that I watched the best film EVER the other night called 'The Prestige' (yes I know it's a Christopher Nolan film and therefore famous and therefore I am late to the party), but it has Hugh Grant and Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson and it's about two rival magicians and fuck it was soooo good.
And now let me share some wholesome messages I got from you yesterday because if you’re going to take the time to write them, I’m sure as hell gonna take the time to share them (and yes, I read all your responses 🥺)
From Leanne:
“I think it is just sooo cool that you do this for all of us. And I don't know how many people are reading the newsy, but the way you write it makes me feel connected to all of them.”
And Sarah:
“this may seem super weird but every morning I read your newsy at the gym in between my sets. The gym dads look at me when I laugh at your funny remarks. They think it’s hilarious and oddly weird.
I also tell my friends and colleagues about this newsy like once a week. They all love the Instagram account. As do my high school students (I’m a 21-year-old High school teacher) anyway my students will often say to me “Miss did you see this post?” It is often the only way they hear the news so thank you.”
LOVE IT, LOVE YOU, NEVER STOP BEING MY PEN PALS 💘💘💘
People are nostalgic for… 2014
The Nala Stomp
Our bumper book list
NZ is slaying at the Commonwealth Games
Lewis Hamilton on the cover of Vanity Fair is 😍
Why were we all taught that ‘Blue Balls’ was basically life threatening?
This tweet is sending me
This is wild to me for so many reasons. It’s giving… me, when I was a teenager, becoming obsessed with all of John Hughes’ movies and wishing I was in the Brat Pack. But let me clear it up for anyone dreaming of going back to 2014. I was 17 in 2014 and honestly??? Tumblr was making us depressed, Ask.fm was making us depressed, and I think we’d just moved out of the american flag singlets and galaxy tights moment, but I can assure you that a tackier trend was waiting to take its place.
What I can say for 2014 tho, was that it was pre TikTok, and super early insta vibes (Snapchat ruled the roost at my school) so living online may have been slightly simpler (or at least slightly less archived), and I think that must’ve been nice.
The Nala Stomp
A lot of you tell me that you love this newsy because you’ve deleted social media and this is the only way you keep up with what’s happening over on those hellish platforms. Well, this week (in less hellish news) we have the Nala stomp! My flatmate Hayden started doing this weird dance before 7am yesterday morning, and he was calling it the ‘Nala Stomp.’ Naturally, I asked wtf he was doing (though this isn’t that out of the ordinary for him) and he showed me this TikTok account of a dog called Nala, and its owner Chris, doing a lil dancey dance in front of beautiful landscapes. This dance? None other than the Nala Stomp. Unsurprisingly, when I opened my inbox and started catching up on my fave newsies, Embedded had just done a dispatch all about it. Here’s how they described the stomps:
“The stomps—and subsequent zoomies—almost always take place in front of a backdrop of majestic mountains, or a snowy trail, or any number of other wonders of nature that Chris and Nala like to hike a few times a week. Camping content is its own genre on TikTok and YouTube (extremely gentle guy internet), and requires lots of work just to keep setting up the camera while climbing, trekking, and otherwise adventuring. Add a golden retriever into the mix, and you’ve really got your hands full.”
And you can go and watch Nala stomp here, as a lil morning pick me up:
📚Our bumper SYSCA book list📚
One thing I’ve loved as I’ve been on my ✨working holiday✨ is the AMOUNT OF READING I’M GETTING DONE (compared to normal.) Naturally, as I’m reading I’m going to be updating our bumper SYSCA book rec list (boutta add my latest read onto here today which I ADORED 👀) and I thought I’d remind you that if you’re a ✨SYSCA Supporter✨you have access to all our recs (and books you shouldn’t waste your time/money on.) I was also inspired to re-share our book list after receiving this cute message from Brittany:
“Lucy!
I have just finished “Under the Whispering Door” and I have to say this was one of the most beautiful books I have ever read! I would never have picked this up if it wasn’t for your bumper book list and holy crap I am so glad I did. I have semi-recently come to terms with loss and I can’t begin to describe the effect this book had on me. It was beautiful.
Thank you immensely for everything you do! I am very excited for some of the other books I’ve taken from their book list (when I am finally at the top of the library’s excruciating long waitlists!!!)”
Check out all our recs here!
NZ is slaying at the Commonwealth Games
I know you don’t usually come to me for 🥇sports coverage🥇but my flatmate Flo won’t stop telling me about just how incredibly NZ is performing at the Commonwealth Games, so I thought it might be time for a lil medal round-up.
It’s currently NZ’s most golden games with:
🥇20 golds🥇
🥈12 silvers🥈
🥉17 bronzes🥉
Go off NZ!!
Also in sports-ish
Look at Lewis Hamilton on the cover of Vanity Fair (also read the article.)
And one more for luck:
Also can we talk about this tweet:
Because I can't stop thinking about it and I'd LOVE to hear any of the weird/wrong things you were taught about puberty/sex/growing up!!
Also, have you ever faked a phone-call?
Got a lot of replies from women saying they do it all the time when they're walking alone/ waiting for the train/ feeling uncomfy, and I've DEFINITELY done this! Turns out:
76% of you have
24% of you haven't (now that's a dif type of condifence)
Rec!! You HAVE to go and watch Thirteen Lives - the incredible story of the boys who were rescued from the Tham Luang caves in Thailand! (Our partnership with Prime Video)
If the First World War was a barfight (NZ History)
How to Embrace Doing Nothing (The Atlantic)
Period Dramas & Mental Health in Music (Culture Vulture)
Taylor’s Swift Jets & F1’s Silly Season (The Shit Show)
Our Love Island Debrief (Culture Vulture)
SYSCA playlist (✨Supporters only✨)
Our HUGE SYSCA reading list! (✨Supporters only✨)
