This just in: Beyoncé is a Swiftie too
+ The Shit Show with Squish is back, and Rubes and I spoke to the White House????
OK, I’m starting this with a very important question for you all: WHEN DO YOU LIKE GETTING YOUR NEWSYS?? I’ve noticed that since moving here I’m feeling a little bit more disconnected from you all than I used to, which isn’t surprising since I’m on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD, but my FAVE part of writing this cute thing is reading and replying to ALL your emails, and seeing them come through as SOON as I hit send, so I’m wondering if I should start sending them out at the time I used to when I was back home (like, at the time you’re getting this one!) I’m gonna pop a poll in here, so lmk when you like receiving them!
PS don’t think about ME when you cast your vote, sending them at the old time could actually be quite nice bc it means I can write them throughout the day rather than early in the morning! (Plus I live to serve u, so I’ll write em whenever you’ll read em.)
Giving you all a little taste of the Close Friends story to bait you into coming and supporting the media you love (you really do get all of my intrusive thoughts over there.)
I’m OBSESSED with chatting to you all in the DMs too - remember, if you wanna come hang out over there with me, you know what to do!!!
Also, you can preorder Make It Make Sense (our upcoming BOOK) here!
Have y’all been seeing the META AI celebs?
Israel-Palestine updates
THE SHIT SHOW WITH SQUISH IS BACK!
The Many Ways of Viewing Tube Girl
Even Beyoncé can’t resist being a Swiftie
Have y’all been seeing the META AI celebs?
The other day I watched this video on TikTok from Jules Terpack and it FREAKED me the fuck out (which takes a lot to do these days.)
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In it, she explains how META has paid celebrities (allegedly $5million for six hours of work) to create virtual characters of themselves for META’s new AI chatbots. Zuck calls them “AI assistants” and announced that while they’re only ‘text-based’ for now, they will, in the future, have video capabilities too, meaning they can “interact with the users through the actual voices and expressions of the celebrity making it more personalised and interactive for the user.”
Kendall Jenner’s likeness has been used for “Billie”:
Mr Beast has been used for “Zach:”
And Charli D’Amelio is “Coco:”
But like… is anyone even USING these chatbots? I would love to chat to someone (NOT an AI bot) who actually goes to one of these characters for companionship or for help deciding what to cook for dinner, rather than for what I assume is just to try to “break” the AI or get funny screenshots. Seems like a very expensive endeavour to…. simply prove they can do it? Idk. Let me know if you’re into it!
Israel-Palestine updates
As usual, pointing you to the journalists out there who are covering this in depth!
And a personal note from me to thank you for being so kind to me (and to each other) while everyone is figuring out what feels right to say and do. I really appreciate you all.
THE SHIT SHOW WITH SQUISH IS BACK!
A very exciting edish of The Shit Show this week, because thanks to overwhelming demand (and because we missed each other) Squish is back!!!!!
In this weeks ep:
Fat bear week!!
Did you know you can rent Shrek’s swamp?
The NZ election is coming up
Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been freed from prison in China
An update on what’s happening in Israel and Palestine
CULTURE VULTURE: The Many Ways of Viewing Tube Girl
SO many of you reached out after last week’s episode where Laura and I briefly mentioned Tube Girl and the different takes we had on the trend (is it about confidence, is it pretty privilege, is it showing us that the way we perform for social media is more important than the way we act in real life?) so I had to dive a little more into it for you all! I also chat about how:
Olivia Wilde shared a tweet saying "I wish Taylor Swift would date a climate scientist" and the world forgot how to critically think
Doja Cat wore a t-shirt with the face of an alt-right dude on it and is just... taking the trolling a bit too far
Robin Williams' daughter Zelda speaks out against AI replicas of her Dad's voice
Even Beyoncé can’t resist being a Swiftie
It’s nice to know she’s just like us!! Last night Beyoncé attended the premiere for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour film, and even Taylor was shook. She captioned an Instagram post:
“I’m so glad I’ll never know what my life would’ve been like without @beyonce‘s influence. The way she’s taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms. Her generosity of spirit. Her resilience and versatility. She’s been a guiding light throughout my career and the fact that she showed up tonight was like an actual fairytale. 😇🙏🥹”
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These AI Assistants actually make me feel ill 🤧 I can't believe so many celebs have signed up to it, especially while SAG-AFTRA are STILL on strike for these exact issues!!!
I‘d love to get the newsy in the evening (europe time) again!
Usually don‘t have time to read it in the morning, end up forgetting & sometimes don‘t read them at all 🥲
But when it comes in the evening (like today) I read it right away!