culture porn 3/17
our weekly playlist
screenshot me:
cocaine bear (universal pictures)
i truly did not know what to expect walking into this movie about a bear who eats a shipment of lost cocaine. fortunately, it was an absolute thrill ride – complete with comedy, ‘80s vibes, and gore (that was so over the top it wasn’t scary). an unexpected cast of characters was the cherry on top. i especially enjoyed watching the movie as a funny commentary on humans' exploitative effect on nature.
- renee lee, CULTIQUE analyst
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mh370: the plane that disappeared (netflix)
linda said: when flight MH370 from kuala lumpur mysteriously disappeared, apparently crashing in a remote part of the indian ocean, i was on vacation in the maldives and remember anxiously scanning the skies. but the mystery has never been solved, so i've been sucked into a meaty story full of speculation and conspiracy theories. was it a hijacking, a pilot suicide, or something even more sinister?
sarah said: this series delves into the 2014 malaysian airliner mystery: 239 people tragically vanished. i was glued to the first episode, mainly because reliving the horrible trauma of victims' family members was so jarring. the other episodes delve more into theories on what happened, some bordering on conspiracy. but what i longed for was what many long for - clarity and resolution on what really happened. nine years later, it's hard to come by.
- @lindaong100 & @sarahjaneunger
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history of the world part 2 (hulu)
this is a don't miss if you are a mel brooks fan. following the IP trend, the entertainment legend reboots his take on the old world with a new platform (TV) and a new cast, packed with comedy insiders: jb smoove, nick kroll, ike barinholtz, pamela adlon, and a ton of surprising cameos. any series that stars seth rogen as noah (of ark fame), and wanda sykes as harriet tubman, gets my attention!
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stolen youth (hulu)
i vividly remember reading the 2019 NEW YORK magazine article on Larry Ray and his crimes at Sarah Lawrence college. our team talked about how this would surely be made into a docuseries. because i grew up near Sarah Lawrence, i easily could transport to the new york setting. but as for the details of the story, you have to watch to even begin to understand the manipulation Ray exerted on young college students.
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anti-hero (featuring bleachers) - taylor swift
for somebody who is "not a swiftie" this is the second time i've put her on the playlist in recent months. this remix takes THE BLEACHERS and blends swift's awesome tune with jack antonoff's synth-tastic vocals and vibe. it's very catchy and i'm ready for more swift x BLEACHERS collabs!
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south park (comedy central/hbo max)
the new season of SOUTH PARK trains its searing satirical lens on easy targets like ye and harry & megan. but i was overjoyed by episode #3, where cartman, kenny, kyle, stan and the gang discover the wonders of japanese toilets. (as the owner of one, i can attest that their exuberance is well-deserved!)
insights & inspo
we need to talk about porn: an essay by linda ong
It recently came to my attention that a word in the title of my company’s weekly newsletter, CULTURE PORN, had offended some folks in our little community. I’ll let you guess which word it was.
I’ll admit that the word choice was intentionally provocative, but the goal was certainly not to offend anyone. Our aim was to nod to the myriad ways the term is used in common parlance today, as an expression of content capable of arousing excitement, voyeurism and curiosity about a specific topic.
“The word pornography, derived from the Greek porni (“prostitute”) and graphein (“to write”), was originally defined as any work of art or literature depicting the life of prostitutes,” according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Anyone who’s been to Pompeii knows that erotica has long been a marker of long-heralded, civilized societies.
But Dictionary.com does a decent job of unpacking the complexities of the word’s other cultural usages. Outside of a sexual context, “it still refers to content that people look at or interact with to satisfy a desire” and “generally refers to content that is beyond what’s readily accessible in day to day life — gold-covered ice cream, for example, or meticulously laid-out cheese boards,” according to the site.
Outside of mouthwatering images of dairy-laden food, “porn” is now metaphorically used to convey fandom for a spectrum of content: real estate (House Porn), workaholicism (Hustle Porn), racism (Trauma Porn), even language (Word Porn), which likely titillates English majors.
But I’m not saying our critics are wrong. Despite culture’s progressive advances and clever memes, “porn” still stinks of the sexual exploitation of women. Why is this?
read more here & check out the op-ed that inspired her essay
the superpowers of highly sensitive people
have you heard of the term HSP? highly sensitive people are in short, empaths, they feel it all, but the stigmas around being sensitive have mostly been applied to women. toxic masculinity has plagued all cultures since the beginning of time but as our species evolves we're seeing more and more men develop empathy, sensitivity and compassion as being less "feminine" and more just plain human.
more insights & a quiz to see if you’re an HSP here
#LOokforward🌅 with linda ong
in this week’s #LOokforward linda ong shares her multi level FLEETWOOD MAC tap in, austin’s ongoing moment on the map, and the new dairy contenders but most importantly she shared some love of her community:
.✨sarah and i got to fangirl with the team of THE ANKLER at the first NXSTREAM conference in LA, hosted by UTA. much to our surprise, their next pod was dedicated to "super listener sarah" – and janice min name-checked me as well!
like me, culture is having its FLEETWOOD MAC moment, and it's loving it. the iconic band inspired the buzzy series DAISY JONES AND THE SIX – a big draw at SXSW, just as its original song topped the charts – a first for a fictional band.
the FDA just approved use of the term "milk" to refer to plant-based beverages. at the same time, dairy processors are trying get women to drink good old cows' milk. coincidence? hmmm...
had enough of austin this week? you're just a 30-minute drive from bastrop county, the future home of elon musk's latest corporate compound – which was my go-to gas stop when driving up to college from houston.
for linda’s full debrief, head here