The Pop Culture Cold Brew is a collection of pop culture adjacency news that’s sincerely piqued our interest with frivolous diversions during these wildly unprecedented times— only without the celebrity worship culture. The Cold Brew also comes with a side of candor in critique pieces on pop culture and societal mores; get into it below.
Often writing about the perils of time traveling, sometimes the fascinating rides back to yesteryear slip through the cracks. Going through my Twitter bookmarks, I found this wholesome thread from the Houston Chronicle.
As contractors were ripping up the floorboards of a previous Texas school to create space for a new community center, they found a teen girl’s purse dating back to 1959.
The lovely immortalization of the wonderment of girlhood is why I love being a girl— despite such pain or agony. There’s immense beauty and powerful strength in the fragility of such a seemingly holy existence. While I can’t speak for all, the growing pains and unfortunate wrong turns have made me appreciate and embrace my femininity these past few years, which can be dark and mysterious yet even dangerous as girlhood. My favorite archived items found below are the nuclear attack survival pocket card, a diary, and photos of her father, sisters, and crush.
Pop culture moments are inevitable whether we engage; celebrity speculation is a full-fledged spectator sport to us, regular folks, with mindless pop culture nonsense— escapism is well-deserved. Here’s the pop culture round-up we can’t get away from— or enough of, seemingly.
The sad and avoidable downward spiral of Kanye West continues as hive-mind fans set up a GoFundMe (???) so that he may retain his billionaire status via Complex. West’s actions have culminated through time as his spiral has been digging and soiling further into the mud as Adidas, Vogue, Balenciaga, Gap, and even Goodwill have distanced themselves. Notably, this should have been the case long ago when his harassing online attacks towards countless women through the years— but the last few manic episodes and tantrums were hurled, especially his wife and mother of his children were seen as comical instead of the vile loaded sexism, misogynoir, and antisemitism. The red flags, which only got worse, were flare guns when I wrote about his self-serving narrative of religion by commodifying and using the bible for
the greater goodobvious tax exemptions. Yet West continues to live in his ego, claiming he’s being “digitally lynched.” Sure, Jan. Consequences meet your neglected old friend, actions.Usually, I try not to keep up with the notorious klan of Kardashians, but here we are— imperfect humans. Adorably cool nepo baby, North West, sported an iconic and historically archival piece of pop culture history for a Halloween costume as daughters of stunt queens do. Like, I previously wrote back when Kim didn’t damage Marilyn Monroe’s Jean Louis gown (seriously, the devil works hard, but Kris Jenner and her money work harder).
Rich people that refuse to care about cultural-defining moments and artifacts for their triviality, personal leisure, and odd collection of curiosities (the hair bit provided by Ripley’s Believe It or Not)— are groundbreaking.
As infamous yet beautiful as the klan’s Halloween efforts are, their overly stylized, highly curated, and dull-eyed photo shoots pale compared to a legend of the Halloween costume, Heidi Klum.
Yearly, I look forward to the breathtaking use of creativity with Special FX makeup and prosthetics— Klum truly took the ‘would you still love me if I was a worm’ to the final level. Additionally, it shows that a lack of charisma, personality, and overall fun couldn’t be curated if it’s not present. Yet, great gowns, beautiful gowns.
The theme for couples with not-at-all-but-totally creepy age gaps was cringe with a side of ick. The Neighborhood’s Jesse Rutherford dressed as an older man while rumored girlfriend Billie Eilish dressed as a baby— diaper and all, clearly trolling because they’re so rock and roll. Also, I’m sure she gets told she’s mature for her age, which is twenty— Billie. Girl, run.
Then there’s costumed but not MGK and Megan Fox being as shocking as two star-crossed high school teenagers being edgy.
Beloved director Henry Selick of delightfully dark classics like Coraline and James and the Giant Peach— and now Wendell and Wild— is rightfully sick of Tim Burton getting all the credit for his directorial of The Nightmare Before Christmas. In an interview with AV Club, Selick correctly throws shade toward Burton.
But Tim was in L.A. making two features while I directed that film, and I mean, Tim is a genius — or he certainly was in his most creative years. I always thought his story was perfect, and he designed the main characters. But it was really me and my team of people who brought that to life.
WASP nepo baby Gwyneth Paltrow released her in-on-the-expensive-joke GOOP holiday gift guide. For some, her cavalier approach can be relatable, as Paltrow supposedly embraces the ridiculousness of privilege, but I prefer this Gwyneth by Lisa Timmons. Also, maybe I should create a ridiculous Youthquake gift guide, but I digress.
Taking moments to step away for remembrance has been meditative, as today’s the final day of Dia de Los Muertos, and of course, I have a film and playlist for such an occasion. You can revisit my piece on the holy holiday, which is all about embracing the vitality and celebration of life, below.
Con Amor,
Naomi x