Joe Rogains Subscribers
Mōrena lil shits!!
To all my Tamaki Makaurau besties!!! I’m doing a vibey speaking event called ‘Tech You Should Care About’ in mid May and you should totally come!!! It’s free, but if you choose to pay, the proceeds are all going to support Ukraine (which makes my heart happy as hell) AND I’m talking alongside my pal Danu Abeysuriya (founder of RUSH - the company who developed the NZ Covid Tracer App!!) I can’t promise expertise (from me) but I can promise fun, swearing, and that I will ask the questions that we all want the answers to!!!
You can get tix here if you’re keen (I wanted to let my wonderful newsy readers know early in case space fills up!) See you there!!
🥺 If you want to pay for the media you love and make sure I can continue to do this for you, PLEASE, become a SYSCA supporter here - I need you! 🥺
Bel Chimes In: What do you call that rising feeling? It’s phoenixing
I Like Harry’s Big Toe and I Cannot Lie
An investigation into SiSSYFiGHT
Joe Rogan “gained two million subscribers” from recent controversy
Myanmar sentences ex-leader Aung Sunn Suu Kyi to jail for corruption
Do you sit down in the shower?
Bel Chimes In: What do you call that rising feeling? It’s phoenixing
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.
OK, back to my favourite word of the moment bullshit because my dream job is to invent words for a living (which is, in some ways, what I do already so, live your truth), today I bring you: Phoenixing.
Inspired by the simple title of The Order of the Phoenix, this is a hot description for the period after things have been bad. It’s about the time that comes after everything’s burned down, difficult things have happened, and you come out the other side better, cuter, wiser, shinier than before. The bad times are the ashes. And you are the bird.
You can phoenix after a bad hangover, a breakup, a bad time, a bleak patch, a blue period. It's special cos it reminds you of the passing of time and that feelings are just waves. When it happens, don’t question it.
I Like Harry’s Big Toe and I Cannot Lie
I did not write this headline. The Cut did. But this is what it's talking about:
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An investigation into SiSSYFiGHT
For the past week or so my newsy’s have contained a lil bit of old PC game nostalgia - Club Penguin, those weird Wonka games, (does anyone remember Moshi Monsters??) Anyway, in response to one of the segments I wrote, newsy reader Robyn suggested I look into a game called “SiSSYFiGHT.” And thank god I did (ps this is also one of my fave things about the newsletter - you all teach me SO much shit.)
According to its website, SiSSYFIGHT is:
“...like, an intense war between a bunch of girls who are all out to ruin each other's popularity and self-esteem. The object is to physically attack and majorly dis your enemies until they are totally mortified beyond belief. You'll never come out on top without making the right friends, so be careful who you're nice to. Because in the end, only the shrewdest will survive with their social status intact!”
According to one of its developers, Eric Zimmerman, it’s kinda... feminist?:
“SiSSYFiGHT 2000 was a pioneer in many ways. It was the first browser-based game with real-time chat; a feminist intervention into the boy's club of gaming culture; an adopter of retro game aesthetics long before "indie games" was a thing.”
It was a popular, buzzy game, launched in the year 2000 - and, it kinda made a resurgence in 2015 when Ranjit Bhatnagar, Naomi Clark and Eric kickstarted and re-launched the game to work in contemporary browsers. To do this, the team had an aim of making $20k, and they actually surpassed it! Here’s their Kickstarter page which explains why they’re bringing it back - for anyone interested.
PS for research purposes I did try to play it, but when you enter a game you need at least 3 ‘girls’ to make it work, so I only got as far as creating my account and picking my look (arguably the best part anyway.)
Joe Rogan “gained two million subscribers” from recent controversy
Liv told me about this yesterday & then I was catching up on my newsy’s and Hot Pod had covered this brilliantly. Here’s how it opened:
“From the department of any press is good press: Joe Rogan says the recent firestorm around his ongoing vaccine misinformation and past use of a racial slur only added to his fan base. “It’s interesting, my subscriptions went up massively — that’s what’s crazy,” Rogan said on an episode Friday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “During the height of it all, I gained 2 million subscribers.””
I guess it’s easy enough for him (and his un-named sources) to say this himself without providing any confirmation, but I mean, it kinda makes sense. It’s also what sucks about us, as humans who are interested in drama and controversy. When Neil Young announced he was pulling his music from Spotify because of Joe Rogan, it made me want to listen to some Neil Young. For others, it would have made them want to go and see what Joe Rogan was all about. And fair enough! So I’m not surprised at this, nor am I disappointed, I guess I kinda expected it.
Myanmar sentences ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi to jail for corruption
Here I am talking about Myanmar again - a court has just ruled that former leader (and Nobel peace prize laureate (what does that word really even mean? Oh, it’s “a person who is honoured with an award for outstanding creative or intellectual achievement”) good to know) anyway, she’s been found guilty of corruption and sentenced to jail for 11 years (she has previously been found guilty on other charges.)
According to the BBC:
In December, she was convicted of inciting dissent against the military and breaking public health Covid rules. In January she was also found guilty of having contraband walkie-talkie radios in her house and breaching more Covid rules.
Ms Suu Kyi still faces 10 other corruption charges, each carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years, as well as charges on electoral fraud and violating the official secrets act.
If convicted on all her charges, she would face a total jail sentence of more than 190 years, by some estimates.
Ms Suu Kyi denies all of these accusations, and rights groups have said that these secret trials are a sham - the doors have been shut to the public and the media, and her supporters say “the charges have been trumped up by the junta regime to ensure Ms Suu Kyi, who remains highly regarded in Myanmar as a democracy icon, is jailed for life.”
I'll keep you in the loop.
Do you sit down in the shower?
45% say no never
47% say sometimes
8% say every time they shower
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