This newsy could have been written in 2008 ๐ธ
Didn't think I'd be covering the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez in 2023 but... here we are ๐น
Good morning my angels, and happy Monday to all who celebrate! This weekend Hayden, Flo and I finally made it to Whitianga (four tries lucky!) and it was just the best. Iโm saving the stories I got about a drunken night at โSmittyโsโ where we hung out with some VERY cool listeners of The Shit Show (thanks to Hayden for introducing us by handing out SYSCA stickers to everyone in the bar) for this weekโs Diary Edish (for paid supporters on Fridayโs) but my god, is there anything better than a spontaneous night with new friends in a local pub??
On that note - thank you for all the love/ sweet messages/ support after reading my diary entry last week!! Itโs a lifeโs work having/ writing about all these weird experiences and then trying to make sense of them in this very newsy, and a job Iโm honoured to do ๐ฅบ๐ฅบ
And also - thank you to everyone whoโs taken our survey so far!!! Itโs so important to us that we know as much about you as poss so we can make this thing the best it can be, so please, if you havenโt yet taken it, go & do it!! ๐
Selena Gomez deleted TikTokโฆ and fair enough
The Jonas Brothers released a new song and itโs so Luce-coded itโs crazy
๐บ Around the world ๐บ
A shipwreck in Italy, the end of the Dilbert cartoon, hostages freed in Papua New Guinea and more!
Did the sound of the bathtub (when you took the plug out) scare you as a kid?
Selena Gomez deleted TikTokโฆ and fair enough
Over the weekend Flo has been drip-feeding me information about the latest in the Selena/ Hailey/ Kylie/ Taylor situashe (imagine being so famous that I could just write your first name yet you all know who Iโm talking about???) It seems that the old flame (the Selena/ Hailey feud - if we wanna call it that) was reignited over some misinterpreted videos/ Instagram stories about Selenaโs eyebrows:
Drama stirred up again this week when Jenner, a friend of Bieberโs, posted a video of the two showing off their eyebrows, which some interpreted as a dig at Gomez, who recently posted about her accidentally over-laminating her brows. TikToker Nuha, @devotedly.yours, broke down her interpretation of the โshade,โ prompting both Jenner and Gomez to respond. โThis is reaching,โ Jenner wrote in the comments. โU guys are making something out of nothing. This is silly.โ Gomez agreed, later commenting that she was a โfanโ of Jennerโs.
For context, ever since Hailey Baldwin married Justin Bieber (Selena Gomezโs ex) the internet has taken great joy in assuming thereโs a feud between the two and picking a side (making both these womenโs lives hell.) So - any tiny thing (like them posting eyebrow content at the same time) gets seen as if itโs a planned dig, or a code, and the extremely online get to have their hand at cracking it (sounds an awful lot like what can happen with conspiracy thinkingโฆ) The โfeudโ dates back to 2014, and has even required Hailey to specifically ask people to stop commenting about Selena on her social media pages.
Anyway - back to those โeyebrowโ posts - while Kylie and Selena both denied there were any hard feelings here, videos โunpackingโ what was going down started FLOODING my FYP - because the only thing the algorithm loves more than us fighting on their apps, are two of the most followed people in the world fighting on their apps (even if itโs reaching.) So, from then on my (and Iโm sure Selena and Kylieโs) feed consisted of people dragging up old clips of them both, pitting them against each other, and at some stage, this clip - of Hailey โgaggingโ when someone mentions Taylor Swift on the show โDrop the Micโ in 2017 - was brought into the mix.
It seems that this was the final straw for Selena (who no doubt had logged on to TikTok and scrolled through video after video of people unpacking a โfeudโ about her and feeling like she had no control over her own narrative) so she commented: โSo sorry, my best friend [Taylor Swift] is and continues to be one of the best in the game.โ People quickly came for Selena, asking why she would comment on a resurfaced old clip, to which she reportedly replied โI have every right to defend my friends. Say whatever you want about me but MY people, Iโd die for. Thanks so much.โ
Since then, Selena announced sheโd be leaving the platform entirely. She jumped on a TikTok live and said: โIโm very happy, Iโm so blessed. I have the best friends and the best fans in the whole world and I just couldnโt be happier. Iโm gonna be taking a second from social media โcause this is a little silly and Iโm 30. Iโm too old for this.โ
And honestly - I think weโre all a little old for this. The thing that Flo and I keep coming back to is the need for us all to put our critical-thinking hats on before we comment/ make videos about things like this online. When we see old clips resurfacing of someone, itโs about asking ourselves when they were made, what โsocietyโ was talking about back then, what the context around the clip is etc. And then before we comment on things, asking ourselves why weโre weighing in, WHO is it actually benefitting and how we would feel if someone was sifting through every move you EVER made and trying to find meaning in it?
No final thought here, justโฆ letโs all go touch some grass eh?
The Jonas Brothers released a new song and itโs so Luce-coded itโs crazy
Ever since I heard that Jon Bellion (my ALL TIME FAVE ARTIST) was producing the Jonas Brothers' latest album, itโs awakened the dormant Jonas Brothers volcano that lies within me. I was a HUGE Jonas Brothers stan when I was little - Camp Rock is legit my favourite move - blah blah blah you all KNOW this about me. So, you can imagine when the first song from the Jon Bellion era dropped (Wings) I ate that shit up. BUT itโs even better, because they put superfan Haley Lu Richardson (who we all love from The White Lotus) in the music vid!! For the uninitiated, Haley was on The Late Late Show With James Corden last year, and she got to FaceTime Nick and tell him what a fangirl she was when she was younger:
"Nick, can I tell you something? I just wanted to tell you that you're a huge part of my childhood and therefore life forever. All of my Converse, as I said earlier that I had in grade school and middle school, had your name on them. And I'm so proud of you. And going to your guys' concerts now as adults, I feel so proud of the three of you and I'm so happy for your lives and your creative endeavors and your families, and I love you!โ
I want to believe that after hearing this they decided to put her in the music video (and that this wasnโt all just marketing) because we just love to see a fangirl winning!!
PS, the song is very, very fucking good.
๐บ Around the world ๐บ
Europe
Italy shipwreck: At least 58 migrants killed off Calabria coast (BBC)
At least 58 migrants - including a baby - have died after their overloaded boat sank in rough seas off southern Italy. The vessel, which was carrying about 150 people, broke apart while trying to land, and bodies have been surfacing at a nearby beach resort.
Asia
NZ citizen released by Papua New Guinea kidnappers (RNZ)
The New Zealand professor I wrote about the other day who was taken hostage in Papua New Guinea has been released. Bryce Barker (who now lives in Australia) was held hostage for over a week with some other members of his research team, and after a week of negotiations, has now been set free.
Desperate for Babies, China Races to Undo an Era of Birth Limits. Is It Too Late? (NY Times)
โIn China, a country that limits most couples to three children, one province is making a bold pitch to try to get its citizens to procreate: have as many babies as you want, even if you are unmarried.โ
Australia
Anthony Albanese becomes first Australian PM to march in Sydney Mardi Gras (The Guardian)
Iโve been seeing so many photos from my pals whoโve been attending/ celebrating Sydney World Pride, so naturally, I wanted to include this story about Anthony Albanese being the first sitting prime minister to join the Mardi Gras parade.
โPeople want to see that their government is inclusive and represents everyone, no matter who they love, no matter what their identity, no matter where they live,โ he said. โWe need to continue to argue for equality.โ
USA
Dilbert comic strip dropped by US media over creator's racist tirade (BBC)
Dilbert - a comic that has been huuugely popular in US newspapers - is being quickly stripped from them after itโs creator - Scott Adams - made incredibly racist comments. A quote from the BBC:
โMr Adams, 65, later acknowledged that his career was destroyed. He said most of his income would be gone by next week.โ
Todayโs mundane poll:
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The only reason the plug coming out of the drain scared me so much was because I was realllllyyyyyy into the Lord of the rings movies from the ages of 2-6 and I was TERRIFIED of the orcs, so because I loved to sit in the tub until all the water had gone down before getting out, my mom told me that the sound of the water moving through the pipes was actually the sound of the orcs coming to get me if I didn't get out right away. Genius idea on her part but totally freaked me out as a kid ๐๐๐
soooo many people need to touch some grass. people create the narrative they WANT to see and run with it. without realising how stupid they are!!