💫Only Good News Today 💫
If you were around on the 28th of September last year, you’ll know it’s a special and sensitive day for me. Today is my little brother Jimmy’s birthday! He would have been 22 today, but he passed away just a few days after his 19th, back in 2019. Jimbo knew no global pandemic, he isn’t here to see Max Verstappen smashing Lewis Hamilton in this year's F1 season, and he only knew SYSCA as a small Instagram & a dream between me, Rubes and Liv (his other sisters.) I reckon he's up there pretty shook by all of the above tbh!!!
In case you weren’t around last year, on Jimmy’s birthday, I choose to only talk about good news! Because that’s what he’d want! And that's what I want! Here’s what I wrote a year ago (I don’t think I can put it any better today):
“But, since I can’t talk to him, I figure the least I can do is dedicate him a newsletter (how 2021 of me.) And while I want him back with every letter I type and breath I take and bad joke I tell and Family Guy/ The Office/ Spongebob episode I watch, I think he’s probably doing something fucking lovely right about now, so I’ll leave him to it.
If you don’t mind, today I only want to talk about good news. Hopefully, I can find something about ducks or Formula 1 to include in here. The man had simple passions.”
My other request on Jimmy’s birthday:
If you were going to become a SYSCA supporter today, please don’t!! Instead, I’d love it if you could donate whatever you can to Ranui House. They looked after us while Jimmy was sick and made an unbearable time... bearable. And they do this for so many families! Truly angels on earth.
Happy Birthday, Jimbo! God, I miss you with everything I have xxxxx
Family Guy & Fandom
Harry Styles & Daniel Ricciardo's mutual friend
NASA just crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid to see what would happen
Some duck stories
I went on an F1 podcast
We also have a new episode of Culture Vulture!!
Carlando Content
Come have a coffee with us!?
Family Guy & Fandom: A perfect mix of our interests
Growing up, my brothers & I were obsessed with Family Guy, to the point where James's Youtube was basically a mix of camping/ f1/ family guy compilation videos. So it seems INCREDIBLY fitting when I stumbled upon this headline: "‘Family Guy’ Producers Tease Upcoming 400th Episode As a Take on Obsessive Fandom." Here's a lil tease:
“Family Guy” continues to bring a satirical eye to its scenarios, and in the anniversary episode, the show will take a deep dive into social media’s obsessive fan — a.k.a. “stan” — culture.
Episode 400, which is expected to arrive in November, follows Stewie (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) as he becomes a crazed fan of a famous pop star. That obsession takes him to some hilariously wild lengths. It was MacFarlane, who knows a thing or two about having outspoken fans, who first pitched the idea to producers.
Let's be honest - I don't imagine this episode is going to do many good things in terms of the representation of fandom & taking young women seriously (which is kinda my whole shtick), but we'll wait and see...
Harry Styles and Daniel Ricciardo have a mutual friend, another merging of interests
This is too much for me to explain but go and read all about how this infamous photo came about (pictured below) here!!
NASA just crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid to see what would happen
One thing about Jimmy??? He loved anything to do with space - so when I saw this story it seemed incredibly imp that I wrote about it. Basically, NASA just did a Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) where they launched a spacecraft into a distant asteroid to see what would happen. They're testing this to see whether space rocks that are threatening the earth could be diverted and... the results are looking promising.
So what happened?
They got a bullseye. The spacecraft successfully collided with Dimorphos (the 160m wide target) making the test successful!
“We’re embarking on a new era of humankind, an era in which we potentially have the capability to protect ourselves from something like a dangerous hazardous asteroid impact. What an amazing thing. We’ve never had that capability before.“ said Lori Glaze, Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, soon after the impact.
Some duck stories
Another thing about James??? He looooooved ducks. We actually had one for a while called (it was a duckling called 'Quackiston' that Jimmy looked after) (Quackiston is a play on our last name lol) and you might remember that I got this lil tattoo for him!!!!
Some rubber duck races (they seem to be quite a... thing?)
While on my niche hunt for 🐥good duck news🐥 two stories came up that happened within the last week, and both were to do with rubber duck races!
Springdale schools raise over $30k at Duck Race
In Spingdale's 5th annual duck race, over 3000 rubber ducks raced down the river, (ducks costing $10 to enter) raising $32,000USD to go towards grants for Springdale teachers - we love that!!
Meanwhile in Georgetown...
Another duck race was going down! This time 300 ducks raced to raise funds to send a local student to college!! Again - love this so much!!
Also, meet the worlds largest rubber duck
"The Detroit skyline gained a new addition this past week.
She's tall, yellow, and shaped like a rubber duck. In fact, her name is Mama Duck and she is the world's largest rubber duck to exist."
Here's an excerpt from an article about Mama Duck that I found funny:
Mama Duck has been breaking the record for the world's largest rubber duck since 2014.
And the idea for her came about as many ideas do: with a drink and a friend.
“After you’ve had enough beers most any idea sounds good," Samborski said. "And I thought that was a really good idea.”
James, you'd be proud, I went on an F1 podcast
I know I didn't want a bar of it when you were here with me, but now I'm obsessed!!! Sorry I ever doubted you and your F1 obsession, this one's for you xxxx
Two Girls 1 Shit You Should Care About - Two Girls 1 Formula — open.spotify.com
Formula 1? Now that's some Shit You Should Care About!! In the collab of a lifetime, Kate and Nicole are joined by Lucy, also known as the mastermind behind the iconic Instagram account, newsletter, and podcast, @shityoushouldcareabout. The three girls dive into the origins of SYSCA, share their fangirl identities, and Kate and Nicole answer Lucy's biggest F1 questions.
We also have a new ep of Culture Vulture for you! Yay!
Taylor Swift & Romanticising Your Life - Culture Vulture — open.spotify.com
This week we threw all structure out the window and just had a big old debrief with you all! Luce shared some stories from her time in the states, Liv told us about her chaotic camping trip (of course it was... it's Liv) and we got to talk about our fave thing... Taylor Swift!
Carlando content 🥺
Carlos is my fave, Lando was Jimmy's, so naturally you're getting some Carlando content 💘
Come have a coffee with us!!??
So as you may or may not know, we're about to head on a SYSCA roadie, from Auckland to Dunedin (full timetable coming soon, but it starts earlyish Oct 👀.) Anyway, for those of you who don't go to uni, or who aren't in the lectures I'm speaking at, but wanna come hang out, we're gonna put on some coffee catch ups!! Our mates at Allpress are hooking us up with some of their fave spots in each ✨big✨ city to sit for a couple of hours and hang out with whoever wants to come! It's super chill - not a planned chat or anything - we just really want to meet some of you!
BUT FIRST PLZ DO THIS:
We'll give you locations closer to the date, but for right now YA GALS NEED SOME NUMBERS! Please, if you're keen to come have a coffee with us (they'll all be in the morning at some stage) tick some boxes on this lil form so we have a bit of an idea of how many of you we're gonna be seeing!! Feel free to drop in for as long or as short as you like - we just gotta know how much coffee we'll be getting through.
Register your interest here!!!
Hope you liked this edish Jimbo!!! And to the rest of you, have a gorg day today, hug the people you love xxxx
Canada Stabbings and New Prime Ministers (The Shit Show)
Taylor Swift & Romanticising Your Life (Culture Vulture)
Who is Danny Ric and Harry Styles' mutual friend? (Engine Failure)
SYSCA playlists (✨Supporters only✨)
Our HUGE SYSCA reading list! (✨Supporters only✨)
