Here, Have Some Oscar Nominations!!
Mōrena lil shits!!
Yesterday I received a really cute photo from a wonderful reader - Stella, of her newsletter reading situation - it included a vegemite (I prefer marmite myself) and cheese bagel, a coffee, and her laptop - and it made me feel so whole!! A lot of the time when I’m sitting here writing this thing it can feel like I’m sending it off to float around in the stars, not entirely sure where it’s landing, which is why I loooove when you all respond to me/ we get to have a chat and it feels, idk, real???
Anyway, I showed Liv Stella’s photo and she felt the same way, and suggested that I ask you to reply back to this email with photos of how YOU read each day!! Honestly, I’d love that so much - I’d love to see this baby in the wild & how you all read!! So plz send me thru ur pics!! (Also there is a chance I’ll use them on ✨the internet ✨ so let me know if you don’t want that!!)
PS, BIG NEW EPISODE OF CULTURE VULTURE ABOUT EUPHORIA AND… IDK IF YOU’RE READY TO HEAR THIS…
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In today’s newsletter:
Why the Internet Loves Euphoria but Hates the Man Who Made It
The latest on Russia/Ukraine
A Harry Styles Wordle
The internet turned “money” into a hobby
Oscar nominations!!
How do you pronounce 'niche'???
Why the Internet Loves Euphoria but Hates the Man Who Made It
Ok, so I don’t want to ruin today's podcast because I know ALL of you are gonna go and listen to it, but Liv and I have been absolutely consumed with Euphoria for the past month and honestly, we’ve been seeing it get absolutely ripped down by some - to be honest, super nasty and baseless claims on TikTok, so we thought we’d look into them - especially into Sam Levinson, and see if the calls for him to go to jail/ die were backed up by crimes that fit the punishment (spoiler, they weren’t.) There’s a whole other conversation to be had about Levinson and Malcolm and Marie - which we get into on the podcast, but when it comes to Euphoria, people (especially on Twitter and TikTok) have been taking issues with… idk the plotline not living up to their expectations??? and then bandwagoning behind a bunch of rumours about Sam Levinson which that at this point have not been confirmed and calling for his death/ removal from the show he created/society. It’s kinda scary! There’s so much context lacking (which is why I hope you listen to the podcast) and rumour believing, and clickbait headlining and it’s been so interesting to get to the bottom of it! This article also explains my thoughts and feelings extremely well so please go and read it!
ALSO PLZ LISTEN TO THE EP BEFORE COMING FOR ME 🥺
Everything We Thought About Euphoria Was Wrong - Culture Vulture — open.spotify.com
This week we unpack ALL the rumours and criticisms surrounding Season 2 of Euphoria and its creator Sam Levinson. Are we holding Euphoria to an extremely high standard because we were so obsessed with Season 1????? Are there facts to back up the intense TikTok slamming??? Do we wait with bated breath for every new episode anyway???
The latest on Russia/Ukraine
I gave a topline explanation of what’s happening over there yesterday, but since then, old mate Putie has chatted to French Prez (wait… tell me that people call the French President the French Press??? Wasted opportunity if not) and said that Russian forces would not ramp up the crisis near Ukraine's borders:
"I secured an assurance there would be no deterioration or escalation," Macron said before meeting Ukraine's leader.
However, Russia said any suggestion of a guarantee was "not right" so who knows. Wow, that update kinda sucked didn’t it?
A Harry Styles Wordle
It was brought to my attention (by a LOT of you) that yesterday in my round-up of Wordle adaptations, I missed perhaps the most important one - the Harry Styles Wordle. I actually just played it and got it in 3!
Wordlerry 10 3/6
🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
The internet turned “money” into a hobby
This is something I’ve been thinking about since we recorded our Gamestop episode of The Shit Show and Squish introduced me to the ins and outs of ‘money-as-a-hobby’ or the gamification of money (gamification is where you make things feel like a game.) With the rise of crypto, NFT’s, platforms that make investing from your bed SO easy, and sports betting, money has become a toy, a personalty and… a hobby (and yes, you can add the word privileged in front of each of those things I just listed.) Rebecca Jennings (who I loooove) just wrote a REALLY GOOD THING all about this which you should read here, but here’s a lil excerpt that I loved:
“Because of the ways in which this type of information disseminates — in subreddits, in breathless Twitter threads, on niche Discord servers — the world of betting and investing is dominated heavily by people who are already well-represented in tech, finance, and internet culture, which is to say that it is overwhelmingly young and male. Proponents of crypto love to talk about the benefits of decentralizing the financial system, how it can allow for historically underrepresented groups to build wealth, and how NFTs can be used to fund projects supporting charitable causes. Celebrities, from A-listers like Matt Damon, Reese Witherspoon, and Gwyneth Paltrow to Z-list Bachelor influencers, evangelize cryptocurrency as an almost philanthropic cause; what goes unspoken is that they stand to profit from more people investing after them.
Yet in practice, buying and selling crypto often amounts to a whisper network of people already in the know advising each other in private group chats what to buy and when. To an outsider, it can look like a perfectly legal form of insider trading, entirely shielded from any sort of oversight.”
Again, go and read it!!
The Shit Show!
Wordle, Wild Pigs, & WTF is happening with the stock market? - The Shit Show — 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.
Here are the Oscar nominations!!
I’m gonna put them ALL here to save you some clicks (PS, not to break the fourth wall, but if the email looks like it cuts off, there should be a lil button that says ‘view entire message’ or ‘view online’. I got you!) Also the Billie nom for No Time To Die and the Andrew Garfield nom for Tick, Tick … Boom! 🥺 AND I just watched King Richard the other night (it’s about Venus and Serena Williams and their Dad, played by Will Smith) and it should genuinely win all the things. An amazing film!!
Best Picture
Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Best Actor
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick … Boom!
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Best Supporting Actor
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Best Original Screenplay
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person in the World
Best Adapted Screenplay
CODA
Drive My Car
Dune
The Lost Daughter
The Power of the Dog
Best Costume Design
Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
Best Original Score
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Encanto
Parallel Mothers
The Power of the Dog
Best Animated Short
Affairs of the Art
Bestia
Boxballet
Robin Robin
The Windshield Wiper
Best Live-Action Short
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run
The Dress
The Long Goodbye
On My Mind
Please Hold
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul (… Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Writing With Fire
Best Documentary Short
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Best International Feature
Drive My Car, Japan
Flee, Denmark
The Hand of God, Italy
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, Bhutan
The Worst Person in the World, Norway
Achievement in Sound
Belfast
Dune
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Production Design
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Film Editing
Don’t Look Up
Dune
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
Tick, Tick … Boom!
Best Cinematography
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Visual Effects
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
Best Animated Feature
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Best Original Song
“Be Alive,” King Richard
“Dos Oruguitas,” Encanto
“Down to Joy,” Belfast
“No Time to Die,” No Time to Die
“Somehow You Do,” Four Good Days
Do you pronounce 'niche' like NEESH or NITCH?
Thank GOD only 6% of you say NITCH. Thank god.
Everything We Thought About Euphoria Was Wrong (Culture Vulture)
Why the Internet Loves Euphoria but Hates the Man Who Made It (Slate)
I Tried to Deep-Fry a Shirt Like Homer Simpson to See If We’ve Reached Peak Fried Foods (MEL)
Is Web3 A Scam? (The Atlantic)
New Kardashian Trailer (Youtube)
Winter Olympics hit by deluge of complaints from athletes (BBC)
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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LOVE YOU THE MOST, LUCE XX
