📚A Harry Styles Uni Course 🎸
Today we’re starting with a BIG shout out to the 21 new ✨SYSCA SUPPORTERS✨ who’ve joined us in the last week!
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Mōrena my angels!!! Yesterday was the first time in a few WEEKS that Liv and I were back in the studio together to record both our Love Island debrief (just dropped) and our usual Culture Vulture ep (this weeks episode is all about the dark true story behind Where The Crawdad's Sing and drops tomorrow) and it was SO good to be back!!
Liv's also going to write a FULL explainer on the story behind Delia Owens (Crawdad's author) and its wild parallel to the book/ movie (spoiler - a real-life murder allegedly takes place) for our Culture Vulture newsy which drops every Saturday (exclusively to our ✨SYSCA supporters✨) so come support us if you want to receive that!!
You absolute LEGENDS also surpassed our goal of getting 2k signatures on Mind The Gap's petish (thanks to everyone who said they loved that I shortened 'petition' to 'petish' - you're my people 🥺🥺🥺) to get businesses in Aotearoa to start reporting their gender and ethnic pay gaps - it's almost hit 4k already!!!! You are such bloody caring and action-y people and I love you so much for that!! If you haven't signed it, it's super easy and you can do so here (also, share it with your mates if you want??)
I've been having a little bit of trouble getting to sleep lately - as you know, I have to listen to a podcast to fall asleep each night, but lately, it's just 💤not been doing it for me💤 so do you know what I've been doing? Leaving Schitt's Creek playing on my phone as I fall asleep. It's SUCH a comfort show, and it's like listening to a podcast because their voices are ALL so soothing.
Is it healthy that I have to do this? Probably not. Will I continue to do it because I need to be distracted so I don't lie awake thinking every thought one could possibly have? Why yes I will.
Lol when did you even ask??? Let's get into the news!!
A whole damn Harry Styles uni course
Has your TikTok feed been full of Italian sandwiches?
MOVIE MADNESS ON LOVE ISLAND
Dozens of sea turtles found stabbed off Japanese island
The heatwave is still... heating
More pay gap chat!!
A whole damn Harry Styles uni course
Yesterday I had a great interaction on Twitter (I know, how often can you say that eh?) Here’s how it went...
First, the author of this tweet (and soon-to-be teacher of this course) - Dr Louie Dean Valencia - tagged me in this:
And I said:
And Louie said:
Naturally, the highly trained 🕵️♀️investigative journalist🕵️♀️ in me reached out (via dm) to know a bit more, and Louie kindly filled me in:
Essentially the first thing I needed to know was "is he a fan???" And don't you worry - he is:
Listening to 1D and Harry got me through grad school in NYC. I’ve been to several 1D shows and four shows since he’s been solo (with many more to come). Whilst doing concurrent research on the history of HIV/AIDS in Europe, this summer I’ve visited his hometown, an exhibition feature his fashion in London, and have seen him in Manchester and Paris. I will be seeing him in concert again next week in Madrid.
On why he wants to teach a Harry Styles course:
During the pandemic, I wasn’t able to go do my normal research for over a year because of restrictions—so I started to think more about the world that influences him—music, film, literature—, and how he influences the world. Since I’ve always studied youth culture, it felt natural to also study fan culture around him. Just like any great artist, I believe we can study and learn from his work.
In short, as an historian, I want the class to get to really see how the world has changed in the last 12 years or so, but also how to put that into historical context, through the lens of Harry Styles—and how they can learn from him and his art, activism, and philosophy, like any great artist.
And what's actually gonna be in the course?
Assignments will include his music, films, and we’ll read selections from Murakami, Bethan Roberts, Susan Sontag, Charles Bukowski, Rumi, Alain de Botton, Richard Brautigan, and more. Students will also be responsible to create and develop a podcast series.
He also told me that the class proposal was 23-pages long (!!!), and was "vetted by a panel of professors, approved by deans, department chairs, and program directors."
I can't help but think about how lucky we are to be living in an age where fandom is starting to be taken seriously - and universities are genuinely seeing it as a phenomenon worth studying (outside of just the 'hysterics' of Beatlemania.)
I'm so jealous of anyone who gets to actually take this course (and Louie, if you ever want a guest lecturer on how Harry Styles has also become a pillar in a young media/ news business - I'm your gal!!)
PS, this course is gonna be taught at Texas State University Honors College - and if I were there... I'd be signing up 👀👀
Love Island Movie Nights Never Disappoint
Actually, in the words of Davide: I am a "liar," because last year it did disappoint (remember the producers messing with Teddy and Faye for no reason??) But THIS YEAR we've just had the movie night, and no spoilers but everything that was played on screen was... kinda fair??? Like it all had to be aired out. Luca needs to take a bit of a chill pill, but you can hear the rest of Liv and I's commentary in our latest Love Island debrief!!
A Love Island Debrief: Movie Madness - Culture Vulture | Podcast on Spotify — open.spotify.com
Luce and Liv debrief episode 34-40 of Love Island!
Has your TikTok feed been full of Italian sandwiches?
If Davide wasn’t already making me thirsty for a visit to Italy (sorry that was gross) then my ENTIRE FYP BEING TAKEN OVER BY MOZZARELLA AND PROSCIUTTO SANDOS HAS SEALED THE DEAL. Idk what it is, but I keep seeing user @donatodecaprio3 slicing up HUGE slices of bread (sometimes pulling out the inner bread), and adding huge balls of mozzarella, and lots of meat... every video is CHAOS but I kinda love it.
Here’s one of his most popular videos if you wanna know wtf I’m talking about:
"#Donato#mollica#senza#😋😋😋😋😋neiperteeeeeeeeee#"
Dozens of sea turtles found stabbed off Japanese island
Sorry for the slight tone shift, but who the hell is going around stabbing turtles? BBC reported this morning that around 30 turtles "have been found dead on a beach of a remote Japanese island, with many having been stabbed in the neck." What's more? Green sea turtles are actually listed as an endangered species by Japanese authorities and global conservation groups.
Locals on Kumejima island found them last Thursday, and at this point one fishing operator has admitted to "wounding the animals to remove them from fishing nets."
"I disentangled some of the [turtles] and released them into the sea, but I couldn't free [the] heavy ones so I stabbed them to get rid of them."
Not sure how his story quite lines up with killing 30 of them, but police are looking into this on the grounds of animal cruelty :(
The heatwave is still... heating
I know it's probably all you're seeing on your timelines right now, but the heatwave (currently occurring on the other side of the world) is... still heating. The UK is set to have its hottest day on record (41C) to the point where the Met office has had to issue it's first ever red extreme heat warning. The hottest day on record has already been reached in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are suffering too - and as I said yesterday, there are fires... everywhere.
The Verge is also here to remind us that "The UK’s blistering heatwave is just the beginning," as this isn't just going to be a one off 'extreme heat' event. It's sorta poised to be an issue that the UK is going to have to prepare for much more often.
“We hoped we wouldn’t get to this situation,” Met Office climate attribution scientist Nikos Christidis said in a press release on Friday. “Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the UK."
Would you prefer to work at a company that publishes their gender/ethnic pay gap?
This was our mundane poll yesterday, brought to you by our mates at Mind The Gap, and surprise surprise:
95% of you said yes
To the other 5% of you: ???
Please, if you were one of the 95% that voted yes, head to the petition to help make gender and ethnic pay gap reporting mandatory in NZ 🥺🥺
Our Love Island Debrief (Culture Vulture)
Bennifer got married in Vegas (Vanity Unfair)
Paramore are going on tour (Billboard)
Elon Musk wants Twitter trial to wait until February 2023 (The Verge)
Assassinations, Resignations & Abominations (The Shit Show)
Doja Cat, Noah Schnapp, & Elvis (Culture Vulture)
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