Kate Middleton Wins Oscar For Best Manipulated Image
on Kate Middleton conspiracies and the Oscars, duh
Hi angels!!! I was seriously out of office over the weekend getting back in touch with my bogan roots by watching my cute uncle race very fast boats. It’s inexplicable if you’ve never been around it, but something about being out there by the lake, surrounded by people who have a need for speed and snapbacks just gets me going. What can I say? Give me a pair of earmuffs and a stubby and I’m utterly
And this one’s for the extremely online people:
In between mincing around the pit and cheering on my fave boats I also found a little bit of time to read some of the drafts you sent me for culture vulture (I now have 60 unread in my inbox - y’all are CRAZY) and it’s giving me LIFE!
Here’s what I’ve managed to publish since putting the call out last week:
And if you’re an internet or pop culture writer who wants to be published, check this out!!!!
OK. NEWS TIME. WOOSH.
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AP news issued a ‘kill notification’ over the newly released Kate Middleton photo
Don’t worry my friends, I’m still not a conspiracy theorist, but there does appear to be something funky going on with the Royals (what’s new.) Since I last wrote about Kate and her BBL there have been two photos ‘released’ of her. The first was this one:
And the latest was this one (shared by the Kensington Palace):
Now of course, internet sleuths were already OBSESSED with finding anything to prove their theories correct (that’s the trap of conspiracies - you’ll find anything to prove yours right), but unfortunately (for everyone) it seems there actually were issues with the photo. Issues big enough that AP news released this statement, which reads “AT CLOSER INSPECTION IT APPEARS THAT THE SOURCE HAS MANIPULATED THE IMAGE. NO REPLACEMENT PHOTO WILL BE SENT.”
People on Twitter have of course been quick to point out which bits they reckon were manipulated. For example:
Anyway, that’s enough of that because it’s all a bit silly, isn’t it? I hope nothing too nefarious is going on, but I did want to leave you with this, which made me chuckle:
The Oscars happened too
You can see all the results here, but here are the highlights (imo):
Cillian Murphy has become the first Irish-born actor to win a Best Actor Oscar (and dedicated it to the peacemakers all around the world)
Jonathan Glazer (the director of the Auschwitz-set film The Zone of Interest), made a speech in which he decried what’s currently happening in Gaza.
Celebs like Billie Eilish, Ramy Youssef, Ava DuVernay and others wore red pins in support of a cease-fire in Gaza. (Organized by the group Artists4Ceasefire.)
Emma Stone won Best Actress for her role in Poor Things
1,000 Gaza protesters rallied outside and blocked traffic, causing delays
Ukraine won its first-ever Oscar with Best Documentary for 20 Days in Mariupol.
From Mstyslav Chernov, who’s behind the doco: “It’s been almost two years since Mariupol was occupied, every day we thought of them and other cities. (The film) represents all those cities that have been destroyed. It’s a reminder to the world how to stop this invasion.”
“I’m standing here, my heart is in Ukraine. People losing their lives, losing their homes, fighting for their land. I hope this win elevates the story to more people and they will see us.”
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.
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Not to crush people’s theories, but every royal photo undoubtedly gets edited, and this was probably just poorly done. It also may likely be an old photo edited to look newer, but in terms of the “disappearance”- ABDOMINAL SURGERY IS MAJOR! IT TAKES FOREVER TO RECOVER FULLY WITHOUT ANY COMPLICATIONS! In all likelihood, Kate is probably just taking extra time to recover, or she may have had some sort of minor complication that lengthened her recovery. I think this is all people really underestimating how long it takes a person to recover from such a major surgery lol
OMG My brother races one of these boats too - I completely understand the obsession