What happened to romcoms? 💘
Mōrena lil shits!!
I've got a real chunky edish of the newsy for you this morning, so I'll keep this lil intro light (I also don't have much to fill u in on from yesterday.) But! We do have a new ep of Culture Vulture for your ears - all about romcoms - so that should provide a nice lil break from the news cycle.
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In today’s newsletter:
Is the Rom-Com dying?
I finished reading To Paradise so you don’t have to
Wtf is a sanction?
How is the world reacting to Russia’s actions?
Racism at the Ukrainian borders
YOU DON'T NEED TO POST THROUGH A CRISIS
Is it full-proof or fool-proof?
✨ PS!! I've had a few people reaching out wanting to advertise in the newsy - if you or the organisation you work for is interested in renting some space here, hit us up (or just reply to this email!) ✨
Is the rom-com dying??
You might remember a few weeks ago, after I went to go and watch “Marry Me” I wrote this:
“The other night Liv and I went to a cheeky advanced screening of ‘Marry Me,’ that new romcom with JLo and Owen Wilson and… if I had my smart Culture Vulture hat on, I would say it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, it’s extremely predictable and idk… technically not good??? BUT if I’m being honest, as normal newsletter Luce, I can’t lie to you - I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and I was hooked the whole time (Liv even looked over at one point and I was straight vibing to one of the songs.) So it wasn’t technically good, but damn it was an enjoyable experience (so then does that make it a good movie? I guess it depends on what you’re watching for? I also realllly struggle to hold my attention on movies/anything for long, so the fact that I could really easily sit through it is also a win (lol, bare minimum!) Damn, you can tell why my job isn’t to be a film critic eh??
Anyway, it got me thinking (and I actually leaned over and said this to Liv during the movie, because I am that annoying person who can’t hold in her thoughts, as you know) about what the last truly original and beautiful romcom/ light romance movie was? In the era of Notting Hill and Bridget Jones and Love Actually, romcoms RULED! And I respected the shit out of them! Now we have The Kissing Booth and The Christmas Prince and ‘He’s All That…” I would argue that the last beautiful romcom was La La Land (which could just be my memory failing me and maybe some good ones have come out since), but would love to know if you have any others! I also did not realise I had such strong thoughts about this!!“
Anyway, Liv and I COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS, so we did a whole damn Culture Vulture episode on romcoms for you! Are they dying? Have they just been optimised for streaming rather than cinemas? Are we all just sick of love?? Tune in to find out!
Lizzo, Britney & the death of the RomCom? - Culture Vulture — open.spotify.com
Listen to this episode from Culture Vulture on Spotify. Lizzo's got a new reality TV show, Britney's got a new book and... WE NEED SOME NEW ROM COMS! Are romcoms dying? Or have they always been dying? OR, are they just optimised for streaming rather than cinemas these days? All your questions answered on this week's episode!!
I finished reading To Paradise so you don’t have to
Lol I forgot to add this yesterday!! I finished reading Hanya Yanigahara’s new novel To Paradise and I have THOUGHTS! Ok so it was such a SLOG to get through (no wonder - it was 700 pages!). I loved A Little Life (Hanya’s previous book) SO MUCH, so there is a chance that my hopes were way too high - but this book just… wasn’t really it for me. The way it worked was that it was split into three stories (which weren’t really connected.) The first one is about a man called David Bingham who lives in the 1890s in a fictional New York, the second in is about another David Bingham - a junior paralegal carrying out a semi-illicit affair with his boss, (it then splits off to focus on his father, who is from one of the oldest families in Hawai'i,) and the third is about… the way society was fucking ruined by a pandemic.
I will say, the third (and longest section) was by far the best part of the book. To be honest, it should’ve been a book on its own - but just because this section was good, didn't mean the whole product was... worth how long it took me to read it. Here’s what The New York Times said about this point: (also, Yanagihara is, by day, the editor of’ T:’ The New York Times Style Magazine!! Who knew??)
“But 700-page books will sag in places, and this one is no exception. It loses steam in the Hawaii section and only fitfully regains momentum until its gripping end.”
It was also kinda… idk jarring?? To read about continuous pandemics while we’re in the middle of a massive omicron outbreak here, but that feels like a me problem.
And I get it. Technically, it probably works together. It defs looks at progress (or lack of) and utopia (or lack of.) It looks closely at colonialism, sexuality, race, and health - it’s smart and it hits the points it needs to - it just didn’t grip me. And when there are so many things fighting for our attention these days, that’s what I really require in a book. You might need something totally different than I do tho!
Anyway, that’s just me! I’m not a book critic, just your everyday reader!!! Everyone has super different takes on the book. For example, The Guardian called it a “masterpiece,” but Vox said this:
“The big questions that review after review and think piece after think piece has been asking are: Is To Paradise a good book? And is Hanya Yanagihara a good writer? Cards on the table: My answer to both of those questions is no. To Paradise and A Little Life both seem to me to be so self-indulgent that reading them feels like a day spent gorging on candy and so dishonest that the candy might as well come from a box labeled “salad.”
So I guess you’re either gonna have to either trust me, or pick it up for yourselves!
PS how good is it gonna be when we have a book club…. Coming soon 👀
Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: Explained
Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: Explained - The Shit Show — open.spotify.com
Everything you've been wondering about what's going on in Russia/Ukraine right now, in words you ACTUALLY understand.
Your daily lesson from... Luce & Squish! 👨🏫
This section is MOSTLY brought to you by my older brother Nick (Squish) who you can hear with me on The Shit Show! As usual,, I've interrupted him & added some extra bits.
So yesterday you learnt about why Putin is invading Ukraine - today let's learn about how the world is reacting and what they’re doing to help.
How the world is reacting:
Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions. This word is being thrown around a tonne, and it might not be immediately clear to everyone what a sanction is, so let me cover that quickly: A sanction is basically like a restriction that one country puts on another to stop them from behaving badly.
Sanctions are designed to hurt a country's economy or the finances of individual citizens - like leading politicians. They can also include travel bans and arms embargoes.
So a sanction is like being punished?
Basically, yeah! In this case instead of Vladimir Putin having his phone taken off him, he and his rich mates are having their assets frozen - and instead of his parents turning the wifi off, the rest of the world has turned off the SWIFT financial system, which is like the infrastructure for moving money around the world.
Here’s a list of all economic sanctions being imposed on Russia.
And aside from sanctions?
A number of countries, including the US, the UK and Germany have supplied weapons, medical supplies and other military aid to Ukraine. As of yet no countries or NATO have agreed to supply soldiers (remember - Ukraine isn’t actually a NATO member.)
Countries bordering Ukraine have also taken on a lot of Ukrainian refugees, with Poland and other neighbouring countries now harbouring over 150,000 Ukrainians, and many other countries are waiving their visa restrictions for them, essentially allowing them free access assuming they can get there.
And a few other measures, via the BBC:
The EU has also announced a blanket ban on Russian flights, and Russian aircraft are unable to land in, take off from or fly over any EU nation. They’ve also been barred from UK airspace
The EU is also going to ban Russia's state-owned news outlets Sputnik and Russia Today
Germany has put on hold permission for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany to open
And now, an update on the situation:
We're back to Luce now, in case you were wondering. Thanks Nick!
First of all, a lot of you emailed me yesterday about the treatment of African people living in Ukraine - so of course, I wanted to touch on this before our usual update. There have been reports that African nationals in Ukraine are been prevented from safely crossing the border to flee the conflict - there are videos of people being banned from getting on buses or trains to head to the border, and that they’ve also been denied accommodation (just extreeeemely unsafe). It seems that these spaces are being ‘reserved for Ukrainians.’
In a statement late Monday, the African Union said:
“[A]ll people have the right to cross international borders during the conflict, and as such, should enjoy the same rights to cross to safety from the conflict in Ukraine, notwithstanding their nationality or racial identity.”
And here’s what Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, said:
“All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under UN convention and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference.”
In such - dare I say - unprecedented times, where everyone is literally running for their lives, racism at the borders is the last thing we need.
Here’s your daily summary from the BBC:
Five people have died after Russia attacked a TV tower in Kyiv, hitting nearby broadcast facilities, Ukrainian officials say
It comes after Russia warned residents that it was preparing to hit targets in the Ukrainian capital
It said it was planning attacks on Kyiv technology centres, urging people to stay away
A huge convoy of Russian armoured vehicles continues to advance on the city
President Zelensky of Ukraine has received a standing ovation in the European Parliament, telling them by video link: "Nobody will break us"
Freedom Square in central Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, has been hit by a strike, killing at least 10 civilians
UK PM Boris Johnson accuses Russia of "barbaric and indiscriminate" attacks
And here’s the latest from The Kyiv Independent:
YOU DON’T HAVE TO POST THROUGH A CRISIS
Now that I have your attention, I really just want you to read this from Embedded:
A sneak peek:
“In the past five years, and even more so in the past two, we’ve put increasing pressure on public figures to say something when society is confronted with a crisis—from the pandemic to the killing of George Floyd to tensions between Israel and Palestine to what’s happening today. That those with power aren’t silent in the face of inequality and oppression is, of course, important. But there’s a limit to how helpful their statements actually can be, and they have the potential to be hollow or even harmful, depending on the person saying them—especially as our definition of a public figure has broadened.
For instance, 17-year-old TikTokker Charlie D’Amelio is not a foreign policy expert. Her audience, primarily TikTok users of a similar age, likely do not have much power over what’s happening between Israel and Palestine. And yet, after an outbreak of violence in May of last year, her comments were peppered with people asking her to address the conflict. As someone with over 100 million followers, she has the responsibility that comes with being a public figure. I’d argue that an important part of that responsibility is recognizing when she is not informed enough on something to comment.”
And this from Garbage Day:
“Similar to how Hong Kong protesters were able to pull the internet to their side through a mix of relatable content, visually-impactful street-level protests, and young, charismatic leaders, Ukraine is now doing that on a national level. And it is incredible to see, but winning a content war is not the same as winning an actual war and, also, just because Ukrainians are effectively using social media to win the hearts and minds of people around the world, that doesn’t mean that American platforms aren’t turning that content into viral dog food.”
Just some very tasty✨ food for thought ✨
Is it full-proof or fool-proof?
It's obv fool-proof. And to the 9% of you who thought otherwise... wtf??
Lizzo, Britney & the death of the RomCom? (Culture Vulture)
Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: Explained (The Shit Show)
High School Forever (Vanity Fair)
Ukraine is turning to online crypto crowdfunding to fund its fight against Russia (MIT Tech Review)
GET A 14 DAY FREE TRIAL TO WATCH EUPHORIA OR YELLOWJACKETS! (Neon)
You can listen to us talk about all things pop culture on Culture Vulture, about THE WORLD on The Shit Show or watch us explain the internet on Extremely Online.
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LOVE YOU THE MOST, LUCE XX
