Gen Alpha has decided their version of 'old people' names
+ Taylor Swift vs SouthEast Asia, and things in the NZ media landscape are not looking good
Angels! I’ve come off one of the BEST weeks of my life (seeing Taylor Swift, seeing the Jonas Brothers, seeing my RUBES) with none other than our old friend Covid, so I’m sorry in advance if this is the only newsy you get for a few days (it’s taken everything in me to roll out of bed and type this out but I love you and wanted to explain.)
All I have to say is that after seeing the Jonas Brothers’ play ‘I Gotta Find You,’ ‘Introducing Me’ and ‘Play My Music’ from Camp Rock, my life is now complete and I am a fully realised woman.
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU (and hi to all our new paying supporters who are here because they’re nosy and wanted to read the AMA I posted last week - I’m obsessed with you and I would’ve done exactly the same.)
A sick lil Luce xxx
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Look What Taylor Swift’s Exclusive Singapore Shows Made Its Southeast Asian Neighbors Do
It seems there is a little bit of Bad Blood brewing among Singapore’s neighbouring governments as allegations have arisen that authorities specifically brokered a deal for Taylor to perform only in Singapore.
“Speculations of an exclusivity deal between Singapore and Taylor Swift’s were first brought up by Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who told a Bangkok business forum on Feb. 16 that he had heard from Swift’s concert promoter Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) that the Singapore government had offered up to $3 million to Swift’s team for each of the show’s she would put on in Singapore, in exchange for a promise not to perform anywhere else in Southeast Asia during her Eras Tour.” - TIME
Exclusivity deals (or grants) like this come at a cost, not only to the other countries but to the fans who live there. Singapore is the most expensive city in Southeast Asia, for the 700 million people that live in the region, travelling to concerts is out of the question.
What do you think about this?
Further reading:
Bad blood over Singapore Taylor Swift Eras tour subsidies (BBC)
Look What Taylor Swift’s Exclusive Singapore Shows Made Its Southeast Asian Neighbors Do (TIME)
A terrible day for NZ media
Last week we had some devastating news for NZ media with the announcement that Newshub, after 43 years on air, would be shutting down.
This closure not only leaves hundreds of staff without jobs, but also likely means that television viewers will only have one choice for their local news, and that would be Government-owned TVNZ.
I don’t need to explain to you all how bleak it is to have the only on-air National news broadcast being a government-owned source, but if you want some further analysis of it, there’s only one place to go - and that’s to our very own Slam Dunc.
Every time something else shitty happens in journalism/ media (see this piece I wrote less than a month ago) I can’t help but feel the biggest surge of gratitude that somehow, among all of this, I still have a job. And that’s solely because of you, because you support the media you love.
Without you, there is literally no Luce, no SYSCA, and to be totally honest - without you, I’m not even sure where I would go (considering the state of things.)
So thank you, I fucking appreciate every single one of you, and I do NOT take this for granted (hence while I’m still here, covid and all.)
Further reading:
Five key questions about the massive layoffs at Three and Newshub, answered (The Spinoff)
Journalism in New Zealand Is Collapsing, by
in
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Gen Alpha says names like Amanda, Ashley, and Erica are the new 'old people' names
Sorry to dive into generational warfare, and sorry to all the Amandas, Ashley and Ericas out there - but apparently Gen Alpha reckon they’re old people’s names.
When I say ‘apparently’ I mean based on what one kid said in one TikTok, but I found this soooo interesting because OF COURSE there are going to be new ‘old names.’
"My daughter told me a kid in her class has a dad name," one user commented. "Kid's name is Josh."
This made me think about all the really popular names of the kids in my classes growing up - all the Hannahs, Olivias, Georgias, Nicks, James’s - it’s going to be so funny to see us all become the ‘old ones.’
PLEASE comment your predictions for what will be “old people’s” names for the next generation, and sorry for any offence caused by this section. I love you x
So many of us have grown up having everything available and accessible to us all the time - which is AMAZING for so many reasons, but there is a cost to free things - even if you can’t see it.
In a world that feels more mystifying by the day, where journalists are constantly being laid off, and misinformation spreads faster than a leaked Harry Styles song, finding media that you trust, understand and actually want to read is so important.
I know you value what I do - so many of you email me saying how much you love the newsletter, thanking me for explaining topics you might not have heard of, and telling me how much it means to you that you’ve got a friend on the other side of this thing (🥺🥺🥺) If you believe in paying for the media (or the person???) you love, then please consider becoming a supporter.
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Normy is a name for the ages!
I think there are three facotrs which make a name very dateable. Firstly, any name which was top 20 popular in the 90s, but did not remain in the top 20s through the 00s and into the 10s is now going to become an old person name. This is because those names are more obviously dateable as they can be tied to a period in time. So for example, even though they're both in the NZ top 10 for 1998, Caitlin is much more dateable than Olivia (which has persisted in the charts to this day). Also, any names from 20-30 years ago which fit a pattern. For example, for our parents generation it was the karen/sharon or brenda/kendra/Linda pattern. I'm not sure what this is in todays terms - Hannah, Anna, Emma? Even though those names weren't individually super popular, they're more easily noticeable as "old names" because we associate them with other similar names of the era. And of course, any names that are celebrity or character driven e.g. Hermione and Daenerys, as these kids grow up their names will be very obviously from a certain era.