👽Are the aliens in the room with us now?🛸
+ Some of Sinéad O'Connor’s most iconic acts ❤️🔥
Um let me start this newsy of by saying a big HIIIIII to all the new besties who’ve found their way to the cutest part of the internet - I’m obsessed with the fact that you’re here, and feel like I owe you a lil intro (apols if you’ve seen this before, but I’m just doing my #job!!)
By way of intro, I’m Luce - I write this newsletter for ALL OF YOU from Monday-Thursday, and in it, you can expect a round-up of pop culture, headlines from around the world, internet-y things, and whoever I’m crushing on at the moment.
You can also expect to hear from Bel, who ‘Chimes In’ every Wednesday with softcore philosophy and cute musings on life, and Laura, who writes our ‘Shit You Should Cook About’ column every Thursday and helps people who hate cooking (me) actually do it (and even enjoy it.)
Now, back to me for a sec. Last night I watched Barbie as Rapunzel (this was MY Barbie movie) and I felt more nostalgia than I ever have in my goddamn life. The sound of the footsteps? The magic paintbrush? Creepy little Otto? The sound of the little girls’ voices? This movie is actually everything, and it seems that a LOT of us shared this feeling because I put it on TikTok and you all went WILD over it:
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Also, the soundtrack is the most beautiful thing I’ve EVER heard and it makes sense because it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra! Please, if you need a hit of nostalgia injected directly into your veins, watch this movie (or my TikTok at least) and let me know what you think.
The last day of our sticker sale!!
It’s the last day for our sticker sale and I’m gonna write you all cute notes and send you off some stickers (it’s like we’re pen pals!!) If you want SYSCA stickers AND 10% off an annual subscription AND the knowledge that you’re my fave person in the world because you’re helping us stay afloat, please come and sign up!!!!
AND THE FINAL THING I NEED FROM YOU!!!
We've come to the end of our podcast series Own The Feels (you know - the one all about breakups???) and we would absolutely LOVE if you could reply to me/ leave a comment with any of your thoughts and feelings about the series. We really want to be able to keep making things like this for you all, and this feedback lets us show people that this is NECESSARY WORK and that they should help us make more episodes!!! (Love you for this in advance xxxx)
Are the aliens in the room with us now?
Some of Sinéad O'Connor’s most iconic acts ❤️🔥
This week in podcasts
And the stories I would have written about if I had more time xxx
Are the aliens in the room with us now?
Are aliens real? Based solely on Hank Green telling me about how big the universe is - probably. Is it any of my business? Nooooo thank you. BUT it is what everyone is talking about right now (and no I don’t think it’s a conspiracy to cover up X thing happening in the world - I think it’s simply that when you mention something we can’t explain, like whether aliens exist, the people are fascinated and will all try to explain it.)
Anyway, the reason everyone is talking about aliens rn is because yesterday the House Of Representatives held a landmark panel on “unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAPs), known more colloquially as UFOs.” Everyone lost their shit a lil over this, because it’s “the most serious acknowledgement yet that mysterious sightings deserve scrutiny at the highest levels of government.”
BUT WE HAVE TO NOTE THAT THE HEARING DID NOT PRODUCE ANY SIGNIFICANT OR SERIOUS BOMBSHELLS. There was no ‘confirmation’ of anything - people are simply going wild over this because there was a major hearing about it.
Here’s what went down AT the hearing (via the BBC):
“Retired US Navy commander David Fravor once again recounted his encounter with a "tic-tac" shaped UAP in 2004 that moved in a way that baffled aviators, footage of which was released in 2017 and publicly verified by the US Navy two years later.
"The technology that we faced was far superior than anything that we had, have today, or are looking to develop in the next 10+ years," Mr Fravor said.
David Grusch, an ex-Air Force intelligence officer, hinted that government officials had suppressed information and punished whistleblowers, but claimed he could not elaborate further in public due to classification laws.”
One interesting thing about this is how little people actually care about aliens anymore. Yes it will trend because we all like to talk about it and when things don’t have an answer it’s human nature to try and find one (enter: conspiracy theory 101) but we’ve been through enough shit in the past few years that… the idea of aliens just isn’t that shocking anymore (lol - imagine explaining that sentence to our 2015 selves.)
Some of Sinéad O'Connor’s most iconic acts ❤️🔥
Yesterday we got the news that Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor had passed away at 56 years old, and the tributes have been rolling in. Most of the conversation online is about her courageous acts to stand for the things she believed in, so I wanted to note a few of them here so that you can all see what an incredible person she was too.
In 1992, she tore up a picture of the Pope on SNL to draw attention to sexual abuse within the Catholic Church
“At the end of her second performance of the show, a cover of Bob Marley’s “War,” O’Connor intoned gravely, “We have confidence in the victory of good over evil.” As she held tight to the word, stretching it like a castigation, she grabbed a photo of Pope John Paul II and held it up to camera. When she let the word go, she punctuated her exhale by tearing the photo three times, followed by an exhortation to “fight the real enemy.” She tossed the fragments to the ground, removed her in-ears, and stepped off the stage into culture-war infamy.”
Her actions brought with them dire consequences. She was exiled from the pop world, and banned for life by NBC, there were protests against her in the USA, copies of her records were publicly destroyed in Times Square, and she was mocked, particularly on the episodes of SNL following her performance.
“The following week’s host, Joe Pesci, took direct aim at her. “I’ll tell you one thing: She’s very lucky it wasn’t my show. ’Cause if it was my show, I woulda gave her such a smack.” Cue laughing and clapping from the audience. He continued, “I woulda grabbed her by her … eyebrows.” More laughter. At one point, he triumphantly held up the taped-together pope photo, like a feckless politician stirring up his base.”
To this day you can find Joe Pesci’s performance on SNL’s YouTube channel, but not Sinéad’s.
In 2021, in response to this, Sinéad simply said: "I'm not sorry I did it. It was brilliant."
She sent this email to Piers Morgan, and then shared it with all of us:
Some other things that make Sinéad O’Connor a legend:
At the 1989 Grammys, Sinéad wore her son Jake’s onesie tied around her waist as “a middle finger to the executives at her record label who had warned her that motherhood and a career were incompatible.” She also had a “massive man in the crosshairs of a gun” painted onto the side of her shaved head to stand in solidarity with the rappers who had been erased from the program. (“For years, the powerful white men who controlled the Recording Academy had dismissed rap as a passing fad or considered it dangerously subversive.”)
According to Vulture, when explaining her reasons for not wanting the national anthem played before her shows, O’Connor told the global audience [at the MTV music awards], “It’s the American system I have disrespect for, which imposes censorship on people, which as far as I’m concerned is racism.”
Sinéad dedicated her 2023 RTÉ Choice Music Award to Ireland’s refugee community, saying: “You’re very welcome in Ireland. I love you very much and I wish you happiness.”
Sinéad refused to attend the 1991 Grammys (even though she was nominated in four categories and won one for Best Alternative Music Performance.) Instead, she wrote an open letter to the Recording Academy “in which she criticized the music industry for promoting false and materialistic values rather than rewarding artistic merit.”
Sinéad strongly campaigned to raise levels of awareness and education around HIV and AIDS at a time when many public figures shyed away from it. During a 1990 appearance on The Late Late Show, she wore a Dublin AIDS Alliance t-shirt (the charity which would later evolve into HIV Ireland).
In 2017, Sinéad posted on Facebook in search of an organisation where she could donate “30 yrs worth of gorgeous and ordinary clothing” to Irish Trans youth.
In 2019 Sinéad paired her black hijab (the singer converted to Islam in 2018) with a rainbow pride flag during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.
I could go on and on, but for the sake of your time and mine, I’ll stop there. I encourage you to go and stream some of her music, or read up on the things she did to try and make things a bit better for everyone in her short time here xxx
The final episode of Own The Feels!!!! All the lessons you learnt from your first breakups!!!
It’s exactly what the title says - all the best shit YOU learnt from going through your first break-up (ugh we love you and we love all your responses 🥺🥺)
Spotify:
Apple Pods:
Culture Vulture: Ariana Grande, Matty Healy, & A Love Letter To Our Local Library!
This week it’s me and BEL on the mic to talk about…
Why you should fall back in love with your local library
How Harry Styles has reintroduced uninhibited joy to us
Ariana grande and her husband Dalton Gomez splitting up (and who she's rumoured to be dating now)
What the 1975's statements have meant for queer youth in Malaysia
and our cute new book club group chat which you can join here!!
Spotify:
Apple Pods:
The Shit Show: Elon And His X's
What you can expect from this ep:
The British man who stole hundreds of thousands of Cadbury Creme Eggs and has now been sentenced to 18 months jail
The story behind that Albert Einstein photo where he's poking his tongue out
Singapore is executing a woman for first time in almost 20 years
Elon rebranding Twitter to X
Americans leaning into NZ culture by becoming obsessed with real fruit ice creams
Taco John's letting go of their trademark on 'Taco Tuesday's'
Spotify:
Apple Pods:
And the stories I would have written about if I had more time:
North Korea’s Kim shows off banned missiles to Russia’s Shoigu (Al Jazeera)
Ethan Slater’s estranged wife breaks silence, blasts Ariana Grande: She’s ‘not a girl’s girl’ (Page Six)
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Oh, very random (and I haven't listened to the pod yet, so apologies if you address this) but I saw the most brilliant thing this morning that said "If you're a freelancer or someone who goes to cafés to work, please think about going to your local library instead. They need your support and they're quiet (!) so perfect if you're trying to write or study. If we don't use libraries, we'll lose them." And this hit hard. I adore everything about my local library. Books are my escape and I can't afford to buy all the ones I'd like, so borrowing is perfect. I love seeing all the people there of all ages, and the library staff are extraordinary. Yay for libraries ❤️
My mum is a fan of Sinéad and told me about her as a teenager, the thing I mostly knew her for was that episode of SNL which even than I thought was incredible, but knowing now just how strongly she stood for the things she believed in makes me appreciate her even more. I hope she's resting peacefully.