WHERE IS PENG SHUAI?
Mōrena lil shits!!
I feel like I should tell you about my latest podcast obsession which is Maintenance Phase (I’m probs late to the party here) but it’s this wholesome chat where Michael Hobbes (from You’re Wrong About) and Aubrey Gordon (Your Fat Friend) debunk the health industry’s (and tbh… society’s) stupid claims about the correlation between weight and health. It looks at things like the origin of fat camps, the ‘Presidential fitness test,” why BMI’s are fucked up… honestly all the good shit - you should go and listen!
Speaking of podcasts, yesterday I got some real nice feedback about Culture Vulture, and I’m here to remind you that it’s actually a Very Good Podcast (we’re recording a Jamie Lynn ep today!) so you should come and subscribe/listen to that too!
ALSO pleeeease keep forwarding this newsletter to your bosses/ friends/ family! It helps us so much and mostly just makes me 🥺🥺🥺
Help pay my rent?? 🥺 — www.getrevue.co
Subscribe to this newsletter for $5 a month because u love meeeeee (and coz you'll get bonus book lists and other fun stuff!)
In today’s newsletter:
Where is Peng Shuai?
Fight Club gets a new ending in China
The Wiggles topped Triple J’s Hot 100
A Kenyan man flew from South Africa to Amsterdam IN THE WHEEL OF A PLANE
Yes, some sparkling water comes out of the ground that way
Where is Peng Shuai?
Missing Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai (who we spoke about here and I wrote about here) has been back in the news after a group of activists at the Australian Open had their “Where Is Peng Shuai” t-shirts confiscated. Tournament officials said they did this because the materials exhibited “political statements” (... this is rich considering the whole Novak saga lmao.)
Here’s what Tennis Australia said:
“Peng Shuai’s safety is our primary concern. We continue to work with the WTA and global tennis community to seek more clarity on her situation and will do everything we can [luce note: except for allow public discourse around it] to ensure her wellbeing.”
The case of Peng Shuai is one of not only sexual assault and a government that will go to great lengths to remove someone from the face of the planet (which hasn’t made the problem go away, actually), but is again an example of how quickly we (as consumers) and me (as… the media???) move on from things (I hadn’t followed up the Peng Shuai story in about a month!!) This just shows the incredibly important role that activists play in - at the very least - bringing causes like this back to our attention (and hopefully, in this case, helping find Peng Shuai.)
Fight Club gets a new ending in China
In a new online release in China, Fight Club (you know, that really good film with Brad Pitt in it) is getting an entirely different ending. It’s not unusual for Western films in China to be altered to show law enforcement as the good guys, but it just felt pretty topical to bring this up now.
Instead of the normal ending, which I won’t spoil, the exact opposite happens in this edit. The final scene is cut, and the viewers are told that the state successfully intervened with words on the screen saying: “the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing XXX NO SPOILER ZONE XXX.”
It’s not clear whether this was self-censorship (like Disney+ not airing the Tiananmen Square episode of The Simpsons in Hong Kong) or whether the state was involved, but I thought this was a pretty telling follow up to the Peng Shuai story above.
Omg and right before sending out this newsletter I saw this headline:
So go and read that too if you want!
WTF IS AN ETF????
This section is brought to you by the wonderful humans at For What It’s Worth!!
I’ve mentioned before that I hate acronyms. I hate acronyms because most of the time I DON’T UNDERSTAND THEM - especially when they have to do with money! I mean, NFTs, ETFs, IPOs… FML.
But just quickly:
NFTs = Non-Fungible Tokens
ETFs = Exchange Traded Funds
IPOs = Initial Public Offerings
And if you want to know what all of these terms actually mean, all you have to do is read the newsletter ‘For What It’s Worth.’ It arrives once a week, it speaks in words we actually use (love that for us) and it helps us make sure we’re investing for the world we want!
You can sign up to ‘For What It’s Worth’ here (and you really should!)
A Kenyan man flew from South Africa to Amsterdam IN THE WHEEL OF A PLANE
Where the heck would he have put his carry-on luggage??? A 22-year-old man stowed away in the nose wheel section of a cargo plane and survived the journey from South Africa to Amsterdam (via Kenya.) It was an 11-hour flight (possibly longer due to stop-overs) that climbed to extremely high altitudes (obv) and freezing temperatures, so it really is a miracle that this dude survived.
While this story is wild and unbelievable to most, for someone to reach this level of desperation - to go to this length - in order to apply for asylum in another country (that’s what this man wants to do in the Netherlands) certainly says a lot about their circumstances at home. No one does this type of shit because they want to, or because they’ll get a news story written about them. They do it because often, it’s their last chance.
Yes, some sparkling water comes out of the ground that way
Yesterday’s mundane poll was a “true or false,” where I asked if you thought sparkling/ carbonated/ fizzy water could occur naturally.
35% of you thought it was true
65% of you thought it was false
When someone asked me this at the office the other day I was like “no way does it come out of the ground like that - no WAY.” Well, for once I was wrong and it CAN. As per FineWaters.com (the site says it’s not secure and honestly, neither):
“Certain rare geological conditions can produce naturally carbonated water; often the carbonation can be attributed to volcanic activity.”
“The carbon dioxide helps this water absorb minerals in high levels. Apollinaris is an example of a naturally carbonated water. Volcanic activity in the Eifel region of Germany enriches the water there with minerals, and magma gives off carbon dioxide. Other naturally carbonated waters include Badoit, Gerolsteiner, Wattwiller, Ferrarelle, and Borsec.”
Wow! We really are life long learners, aren't we?
GET A 14 DAY FREE TRIAL TO WATCH EUPHORIA OR YELLOWJACKETS! (Neon)
The world this week, wrapped up for you! (The Shit Show)
Your Doctor Is On TikTok (The Atlantic)
An OpenSea bug let attackers snatch Apes from owners at six-figure discounts (The Verge) PS well done if you could decipher what this headline was talking about before clicking on it
Filth & Loathing: Why ‘Gross’ Women Are Taking Over Literature (Refinery29)
Gen Z brought the '90s back because it feels impossible to grow up in today's economy (Insider)
NASA says the Tongan volcano eruption was more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (BBC)
How the Kardashians successfully distracted us from Astroworld (Culture Vulture)
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.
If you liked this PLEASE send it to your mates and get them to subscribe.
You can support us by becoming a paid member for $5!
Or, if you want to do a one-off donation, you can ‘shout us a coffee’ here.
And if you’re a brand that wants to work with us, hit us up.
LOVE YOU THE MOST, LUCE XX
