š¶A Taylor Swift NYU Course š¶
MÅrena lil shits!!
Iām on holiday-not-holiday again! For that reason, youāre getting an edition of the newsletter that was mostly written on Friday (so apologies in advance if this isnāt extremely āØon the pulseāØ.) Today is the day we observe Waitangi Day (which was yesterday!) For those of you who donāt know/arenāt from New Zealand, Waitangi Day acknowledges the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, The Treaty of Waitangi, on 6 February 1840. In that year, reps of the British Crown and over 500 MÄori chiefs signed what is essentially New Zealandās founding document.
I wanted to point to people and writers who can speak much more meaningfully about Waitangi Day than I can, all from The Spinoff (who do it like no other and who we are blessed to work with on a literal daily basis.) Weāve got legend Leonie Hayden talking about How to celebrate Waitangi Day at home, and then the year before talking about what itās like to spend Waitangi Day at Waitangi.Ā
BONUS CONTENT: Toby Morris - illustrator extraordinaire and king of making things make sense, created a whole ass COMIC with Ross Calman and Mark Derby explaining Waitangi Day which you CAN LITERALLY DOWNLOAD HERE!
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In todayās newsletter:
Some Spotify/ Neil Young takes that you should read if youāre not sick of it yet
You should add Wordle to your home screen
Did you know that SLOTH is one of the 7 deadly sins???
You can take a course on Taylor Swift at NYU
Is it wrapped or rapt?
Do you prefer Wizards of Waverly Place or Hannah Montana?
Some Spotify/ Neil Young takes that you should read if youāre not sick of it yet
Obv you should first start by listening to our episode of Culture Vulture about it, but then you should go and read this piece by my bestie and mentor Dunc (I preface him in that way in the name of disclosure and to embarrass him), titled āItās cool that Neil Young is off Spotify. But heās still on Facebook and YouTube and Amazon andā¦ā. He has lots of thoughts lots of the time about Big Tech Energy and likes to find a way to weave them into most things, but in like, the smartest way. I loved this part:
āThe internet has enabled curious people to head to search engines and social platforms to immerse themselves in all kinds of arcane subjects, all the while silently training free platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Facebook to serve them more of the same so that they stay longer, and can be served more and better advertisements.
This is the animating spirit of a lot of people sitting on a continuum between contrarian and conspiracy theorist, and beyond the most egregious (Alex Jones for example, who Rogan has also hosted) it seems hard to know where the ban-line should be drawn.ā
You should also go and read Roxane Gayās piece in The New Wordle Times: āWhy Iāve Decided to Take My Podcast Off Spotifyā where she talks aboutā¦ exactly that. One excerpt in this one that I particularly liked was:
āI would never support censorship. And because I am a writer, I know that language matters. Thereās a difference between censorship and curation. When we are not free to express ourselves, when we can be thrown in jail or even lose our lives for speaking freely, that is censorship. When we say, as a society, that bigotry and misinformation are unacceptable, and that people who espouse those ideas donāt deserve access to significant platforms, thatās curation. We are expressing our taste and moral discernment, and saying what we find acceptable and what we do not.ā
Don't worry - I'm sick of talking about Joe Rogan/ Spotify now too!
Did you know that SLOTH is one of the 7 deadly sins????
The other night a bunch of us were playing a game and one of the questions was "name 5 of the 7 deadly sins." Now, I'll be honest (as I always am with you) I don't think I could name more than one deadly sin (does this mean I never sin????) Anyway, someone said "Sloth" and Liv and I roasted him so hard... BUT SLOTH ACTUALLY IS ONE!!! WHAT SLOTHS DO TO DESERVE THIS???? (Nothing, obviously.) Anyway, I've just been on deadlysins.com and in case this ever comes up in a quiz/ game that you're playing, here are the 7 deadly sins:
PrideĀ is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.
EnvyĀ is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situations.
GluttonyĀ is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.
LustĀ is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
AngerĀ is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.
GreedĀ is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.
SlothĀ is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.
You should add Wordle to your home screen, here's how:
My flatmate Tom sent this to our group chat the other day. I donāt often listen to him, but today I will.
If youāre on an iPhone itās easy! You just go to Wordle in your browser and press the little square arrow button:
Then you press āadd to home screenā
And boom! Itās there!
You're welcome!
New Taylor Swift Course Announced at NYUās Clive Davis Institute
Probs the only course I could get an A in. Or actually I could get an A in niche One Direction facts as well. Oh, look at me! Making it about myself again before I've even explained the story! Basically, New York Universityās Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music (exhale after reading that) has launched its first-ever course on Taylor Swift to be taught by Rolling Stone writer Brittany Spanos.
In terms of what you'll actually learn, Variety says that:
"the class will trace the evolution of Swiftās career as a songwriter and entrepreneur, discuss the exploitation of youth and girlhood within the entertainment industry, examine the politics of race in contemporary pop music, consider the legacy of country and pop music, and more."
I AM SO HERE FOR LEARNING CONCEPTS THROUGH POP-CULTURE MOMENTS THAT WE ALL KNOW!!!! The more of this the better!
The Shit Show!
Wordle, Wild Pigs, & WTF is happening with the stock market? - The Shit Show ā open.spotify.com
Nick and I are on ONE this week. From an explanation on how the stock market works, to pigs running wild in the U.S, to MORE BORIS JOHNSON PARTIES and Wordle being bought by the NYT - it's just... a lot.
Culture Vulture!
Sydney Sweeney, Jay-Z, & Spotify's Podcast Politics ā open.spotify.com
Listen to this episode from Culture Vulture on Spotify. This week before we even get into the episode Liv spills a HUGE secret (one you won't want to miss.) Then we talk about Sydney Sweeney, a potential Fyre Festival 2.0, someone crashing into Taylor Swift's house and why rap lyrics shouldn't be used as evidence in court. AND THEN THE MAIN EVENT - JOE ROGAN VS SPOTIFY and the idea that when you pay someone to be on your platform you have more of a responsibility to keep other people safe than if they were just uploading podcasts themselves.
I was wrong about Succession
Not me of course, I was right about it. So right about it that me and Dunc (yes, you met him earlier) did a whole episode of Culture Vulture on it. Anyway here's a piece in Gawker about someone who judged Succession before they actually gave it a chance. And for any of you sceptics, I encourage you to read it.
As a follow up to this, you should read "Vaulter From 'Succession' Is Probably VICE, Right?" because... yeah.
Do you say wrapped or rapt when youāre really happy with something?
33% of you say wrapped (wrong)
67% of you say rapt (correct)
Wizards of Waverly Place or Hannah Montana?
I'll be honest, the poll above wasn't exciting enough for me. This one, however, is much more up my alley.
46% said Wizards of Waverly Place
54% said Hannah Montana
I can't say I agree - I love them both (obv) and feel like I'm living a double life like Hannah some of the time so there is a relatability factor there, but idk there's just something a little edgier about Wizards of Waverly place and Alex Russo was genuinely so funny and well-acted. Sorry!!!
THE STOCK MARKET, EXPLAINED (The Shit Show)
Thatās How It Works When Youāre a Woman on the Internet (Substack)
Anthony Kiedis Debuts Hot and Confusing Irish Accent (Vulture)
Barbie Ferreira's Vision Is Taking Her Places, so Hop In (WhoWhatWear)
Why Tesla wonāt stop (Recode)
Are We āBrain Washedā during Sleep? (Boston University)
Sydney Sweeney, Jay-Z, & Spotify's Podcast PoliticsĀ (Culture Vulture)
GET A 14 DAY FREE TRIAL TO WATCH EUPHORIA OR YELLOWJACKETS! (Neon)
You can listen to us talk about all things pop culture on Culture Vulture, about THE WORLD on The Shit Show or watch us explain the internet on Extremely Online.
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