07/30/21
TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ Youtube Suni Lee Wins Gold
☞ Letterboxd OLD
☞ TikTok #EverydayOlympics
☞ Spotify STAY - The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
☞ Netflix ALL AMERICAN
☞ Twitter Snapchat
Life & Culture
With extreme weather getting even more extreme due to climate change, I personally am always happy when engineers come out with solutions to problems that make climate change worse. The latest in green tech? An alternative to window air conditioners. According to Fast Company, “the number of air conditioners is poised to surge, both because the planet is getting hotter and a growing number of people in developing countries can finally afford the technology.” One estimate says that by 2050 there could be about 5.6 billion air conditioners in use, which is up A LOT from about 1.6 billion now. So, Gradient, a SF-based company, is creating an AC that will reduce the carbon footprint by 75%. Users will be able to install the products themselves, and the company wants it to be the “most efficient technology accessible to more people” and eventually be priced similarly to the cheapest ACs on the market.
In other changing-the-world-for-the-better news, Simone Biles stood up for herself and prioritized her mental health over competing to win an Olympic medal this week. As a survivor, a fighter, and all-around GOAT, she did something powerful for herself, but probably also for the millions of athletes who look up to her and admire her tenacity, her success, and her courage. I also want to share with you all an interesting post I saw on Facebook this week that compares Simone's experience with that of Kerri Strug's in the 1996 Olympic games. Kerri was competing in the vault portion of the events, landed wrong and severely injured her foot. But, she still continued on and completed the vault again, further injuring herself but securing the gold medal for her team, in a moment that went absolutely viral at the time. Kerri was branded an Olympic hero, but now, many people are questioning what our standards for sports heroism should be. I think that Simone and Kerri are both very brave for their choices, and this 25-year-comparison shows how far we have come in what we choose to prioritize—and how we think about what strength and grit look like.
Before I share my favorite TikToks of the week, I want to talk for a second about ownership, creation, and credit on the platform. The creator of the viral Savage dance, Keara Wilson, is taking steps to secure the copyright to her dance moves. This comes after professional choreographer JaQuel Knight’s partnership with Logitech, which partly focuses on helping 10 BIPOC creators secure copyright for viral dances they’ve created. And all of this follows a strike by many Black creators on the platform, in an effort to get credit for their creations.
And of course, the two TikToks I hope will improve your weekend, just a little bit: This dog fully proves that pets love animals too, and this user contemplates our society by asking the question we all want answers to. I also feel obligated to inform you that, thanks to the entire series being added on Netflix, TWILIGHT is still alive and thriving on all corners of the internet, especially TikTok. Here is my personal favorite take of the moment. Lionsgate’s official account has of course joined the fun as well.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Film
This week I’m recommending a music festival-themed double feature. HBO’s new documentary WOODSTOCK 99: PEACE, LOVE, AND RAGE (trailer here) chronicles the disastrous 1999 reboot of Woodstock. Through interviews with the festival’s organizers, performers from that year, and cultural commentators, the documentary argues that the violence and destruction that erupted in Rome, NY, were the direct result of an event structured to tap into white male rage. If you’re a Fred Durst apologist, you can look forward to seeing intelligent people (sort of) defend Fred Durst.
The perfect chaser to the horror of Woodstock ‘99 is SUMMER OF SOUL (trailer here), Questlove’s hit documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Archival footage of the festival shows a celebration of Black music and culture with awesome performances by icons like Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, and Nina Simone. Interviews with attendees of the festival describe the event as rapturous, even mythical, and that experience is apparent from the recordings. If given the choice to travel back in time to either Woodstock ‘99 or the Harlem Cultural Festival, I’d have to go with Harlem–but if Sugar Ray had made it to Woodstock ‘99, I might have a different answer.
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
TV
Okay listen. I know that none of you need me to tell you about OUTER BANKS (trailer here). It’s advertised every time you turn on Netflix and it completely took TikTok by storm last summer. But I’m just here to remind you that the second season drops this weekend! The story follows a group of teens living in a beach town searching for $400M of gold. I binged the entire first season last summer and it was truly the fun escapism that I needed while I quarantined in my childhood home. The show packs a surprising amount of heart, friendship, and romance in the first season. Personally I’m stoked to dive back into this world because this series feels like the definition of summer.
—Erin Harris, Development Assistant
If you are not on board with THE WHITE LOTUS (trailer here) yet, I highly recommend you catch up before the fourth episode drops on Sunday. Yes, this is the second time we’re recommending it here, but now that we’re a few episodes in, we’ve got more that we need to talk about. The show itself starts with a mysterious dead body, before introducing us to the vacationers and staff whose lives intertwine during one week at a pristine Hawaaian resort. Yes, the cast is stacked, starring Jennifer Coolidge, Murray Bartlett, Natasha Rothwell, Connie Britton, and Sydney Sweeney. And the acting is amazing. But what makes the show so brilliant is the slow layering of plot twists and humor as we get to know the intricate characters. It is really weird and fresh and I find myself unable to do any sort of multitasking while watching.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Podcast
I’ve recently been making my way through LOLITA PODCAST, a detailed examination of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel LOLITA and the many ways it has been interpreted in media and culture since its publication in 1955. I recommend the pod whether you love, hate, or have never read LOLITA—it uses the novel as a launchpad for a thoroughly researched examination of the sexualization of girls in media, and it’s eye-opening. The material can be heavy, but writer and comedian Jamie Loftus proves a more-than-capable host for it, weaving lighter comedic asides into insightful cultural criticism. And if you prefer the Sunday funnies to Nabokov, Loftus is also currently airing a new podcast called AACK! CAST, an investigation of the Cathy comics.
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
