🤩Are you obsessed enough?🤩
➕ Bel's latest chime, China eases Covid quarantine and lockdown measures, & some Matty Healy predictions 🔮
OMG, it’s so nice to have so many new paying supporters after we sent out our book list (you give me security that I can keep doing this for you - and that is immeasurable 💘💘)!!! FYI, if you want the list, it’s available forev, to anyone who supports our work 🥺
Also, love that so many of you had such gorg things to say about Bel’s first cameo on Culture Vulture!! She’s a spesh one alright, and that obv won’t be the last you see of / hear from her (she’s even got a chime for you all today - LUCKY!)
Finally, before we get to the good stuff, it’s the second to last day to vote for Culture Vulture in the NZ Podcast Awards!!
If you could all take ONE SECOND to vote for our podcast Culture Vulture in the NZ Podcast awards that would mean EVERYTHING!!! Liv and I love doing this for you every week, and even though awards are not what we do ANY of this for, it does help a lil independent media company like us 🥺🥺
Here’s what you need to do:
Podcast name: Culture Vulture
Input your email
Link to podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1S4dIkyvrrWMR0tJrelYHB?si=eee854c83a8247a4
Leave a lil comment if you want
I think you can vote from anywhere in the world so if you could take one sec to do this for us I’ll love you FOREVER!
🔔Bel Chimes In: Are you… obsessed enough??🔔
Speaking of obsessed, your 2023 Matty Healy predictions
China eases Covid quarantine and lockdown measures
Disney’s latest AI tool de-ages actors in seconds
Today’s mundane question: What is the difference between a cup and a mug?
🔔Bel Chimes In: Are you… obsessed enough??🔔
This section is written by my crush, the refreshing-as-a-house-chardonnay-on-a-steamy-day, Bel Hawkins. You should check out more of her beautiful words here.
Morning besties! I’m coming to you live from under my duvet after getting home late from ~ band practice ~ and yes, one day soon, we’ll stop talking about it. But not just yet! Ugh, how hectic is this time of year? Sometimes I just want the world to stop and catch up on everything… we do what we can!
Ok, hear me out, because I NEVER want these to be all about me, like those times you run into someone you vaguely know in the supermarket and they don’t ask you any questions about YOU or YOUR life….
BUT you may’ve heard on Culture Vulture (which was a true joy to cameo on this week, j’adore j’adore) me talking about my life feeling cinematic lately. And this came from:
a) the hectic quick cuts of too much going on at once but mostly and
b) getting to see one of my fave bands (Big Thief) play live and feeling the camera zoom out on my life like a movie itself!
I’ve been obsessed with their music/lyrics for years, which got me thinking….
How important is it to have an obsession?
Because it’s so weird, right, the older you get, the less time you feel like you have for things that bring you joy/fun/reward that’s not on a schedule. There’s more to do, more responsibility, more money you have to make as life gets more expensive, and more weird societal pressure for your life to get bigger (a whole other Chime here on never using other people’s life progress as a gauge for your own success… ugh we always have so much to talk about and so little time!).
But that’s where obsessions come in. Do you have one? Maybe you should? I love them because they can be anything (healthy ones, obv, but never judging!). Like, for example, atm I’m obsessed with learning to knit (hoping to bloody tell you I’ve finished my first basic project in January lol), walking up the hill behind my house at this exact time of the day when the light is very yellow, and nothing else exists for a period of time, live music (lol, there's the band again) and spending time with my friends on these specific rocks by the sea where we jump off into the ocean and once again, time suspends itself.
Obsessions are so important because they make us feel alive. And useful. And Useless. And connected. All at once.
That song you always play before you walk into work? That’s someone else’s favourite. That colour you always wear? Someone else’s bedroom is covered in it. That niche sports team you stream on Sundays? There's a whole bar somewhere of people cheering them on. I think sometimes we can feel reluctant to totally lean into things out of fear of being judged or embarrassed, but I feel like (once again, healthy) obsession can be a hot energy. It makes you/someone interesting and really care about something!
One thing I love so much about being a part of the SYSCA universe (and yes, this includes all of you!) is how unashamedly obsessed we can all be about all the things we love (Harry, Matty, each other, how we feel, what we want the world to be, bad stories turning into good news) and how that’s kinda… what keeps this world turning?
All my love, as always. And especially to all the grinches out there — we got you. Thank you for your sweet messages.
Til next week! x
Speaking of being obsessed, people on Twitter have been sending us their 2023 Matty Healy predictions and some of them are unhinged (but not that unimaginable)
I’m gonna drop some honourable mentions in here:
From @prior_parker on Twitter:
fox news will talk about him
he’ll announce a solo album
he’ll come back to tumblr under an alias
he’ll bring back the mullet
he’ll date an instagram model
he’ll cry on stage
From @ross_face75
he’ll get someone pregnant
he’ll have a spiritual awakening and turn into a Buddhist
From @brieswrldd
he’ll go on strictly come dancing
From @couettedetoiles
he’ll contract e.coli through raw steak consumption
Now I just need someone to make us bingo cards to see what comes true!
China eases Covid quarantine and lockdown measures
After civil protests erupted across China last week over their ‘zero covid’ policy, China has announced that people with mild enough covid will not have to be separated from their families/ enter into forced facilities and that they will “no longer need to show tests for most venues, and can travel more freely inside the country.”
These changes come as the country is grappling with its biggest wave of infections - over 30,000 each day.
According to the BBC:
“It's the strongest sign yet that China is moving away from its zero-Covid policy and looking to "live with the virus", as is the case elsewhere in the world. This comes as the country is seeing its biggest wave of infections yet.”
This is kinda huge - not just because it’s ✨China ✨sorta backing down a little, but because it’s been influenced by protesters and the people!!
Disney’s latest AI tool de-ages actors in seconds
In the latest freaky time-saving & performance-optimising tech, Disney has created an AI tool that will “de-age” actors in seconds.
Remember when making actors look older or younger in movies was a huge deal? The amount of postproduction work to achieve realistic results was immense back in the day, but now, researchers from Disney have revealed FRAN, a new artificial intelligence tool that can convincingly age or de-age an actor in a fraction of the time.
FRAN (which stands for face re-aging network) was trained using a database of people’s faces at varying ages, so it can come up with a prediction of how a real person’s face would age, and then overlay those new details onto them. It’s like a deepfake or Snapchat’s aging filter, but Disney-ready.
This new tech comes at a time when we’re seeing HUGE advancements in AI tools (like the new AI chatbot that Squish is going to write about for you all tomorrow) or that AI that does your portraits through the ages. It’s exciting, unnerving, and deeply interesting to me, so I’ll keep you in the loop!
Today’s mundane question:
What is the difference between a cup and a mug?
Leave your answer/ theory in the comments of this post!!!
Protests in China, & Gaslighting, Explained (The Shit Show Podcast)
A Ye Update, and Bel Chimes In (Culture Vulture Podcast)
Issa Rae’s media company teams up with Walmart to “support Black creators” (Tube filter)
Georgia Senate runoff result: Democrats solidify Senate control after Warnock victory (BBC)
Club Q shooting: Colorado suspect faces 305 criminal counts (BBC)
MSCHF’s ATM Leaderboard Is Ranking Users’ Bank Balances At Art Basel And Diplo Is Winning (Stereogum)
My boyfriend, a writer, broke up with me because I’m a writer (The Guardian)
Is everything copy? (End Of Ze Internet)
Good Morning After (Rodeo Break)
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A cup is a broad generic category whereas a mug is a specific type of cup.
Like boat vs yacht. A boat can be a yacht but isn't always a yacht, whereas a yacht is always a boat.
I truly, truly felt my body lift off my chair with each sentence of Bel's chime in today. Obsessions are so so so important. Corpos call it "passion". Sporty ball fans call it "loyalty". The rest of us call it what it is: OBSESSION.
Also and btw, the difference between cups and mugs is quite simple"
Mugs = handles
Cups = no handle