Okay, all pop stars are inherently fake to some extent, but some are a little more cynical than others. Of rather, their positioning by their label is more cynical. Lizzo is clearly very talented (her Tiny Desk Concert was amazing) but I dunno, there was something a bit Simon Cowell about the moment she had.

I’ve always thought there was something slightly off about Lizzo. It started when I was surprised to discover that Truth Hurts didn’t credit Rae Sremmurd (come ON, it is clearly based on Black Beatles) and got worse when she turned on that pizza delivery person. I vaguely suspect that it’s all marketing, that she’s…

I spent a lot of time that summer watching BB and pirating music off Napster. That glorious period between Y2K and 9/11 when it felt like the 21st century was going to be a thrilling cyberpunk adventure.

Big Brother season 1 in the UK. Nasty Nick, Anna the lesbian nun, watching primitive livestreams of people sleeping. Not being able to tweet about it. Good times.

Ben Kweller’s Ice Ice Baby is perhaps the best of the genre, partly because you don’t have to feel any guilt about the original being ruined.

In what way does this world resemble the pre-Cats world?

WILL THIS VERSION ALSO BE HAUNTED BY A LITTLE BOY WHO DIED ON THE SET?

Great link, thanks

I remember when PS2 launched there was all this bullshit hype about how you couldn’t buy more than 2 of them because the processor was powerful enough to run a guided missile system. I know this raises many, many questions, but that’s just what people were saying in 2000.

It’s totally anecdotal but I did hear it directly from a shelter.

Apparently, shelters are jam-packed with black cats right now. People don’t want them because they don’t show up very well in photos and therefore can't be exploited for Instagram clout.

The Y2K bug was a real thing. It didn’t have any dramatic effects because there was a global Herculean effort to upgrade systems and mitigate damage. There’s a parallel between Y2K and coronavirus, with people in less badly affected regions saying, “clearly Covid-19 isn’t that bad, I mean look at all those empty…

Louis CK

Images don't move either but we can still talk about motion.

Any first year film student would happily explain to you that film images are absolutely three dimensional (in fact, people stopped creating truly 2D images around the time of the Renaissance.) My personal favourite 3d image in cinema is the phone box scene in The Best Years Of Our Lives, a movie where Gregg Toland…

Somebody referred to these story-establishing monologues as “Jayfabe”, which may be the greatest pun in history.

Warner were charging $10k for Happy Birthday 20 years ago, so it sounds right.

Or to put it another way.... they used the song.

Yeah. Hate to be a party pooper but this story is missing a vital piece of context, which is what it generally costs to clear any song for this kind of commercial usage. Seriously doubt that $60k is vastly above market average.

Genuinely in awe of anyone who made it to the end of Sucker Punch.