Thank you Tatum Hunter for memorializing my thoughts in WaPo about assassin memes with maybe my all-time favorite quote: “The prevailing feeling is like, ‘This is like so stupid that it’s below me to comment,’ or, ‘I’ve given up taking things seriously so I’m just making tweets until the asteroid hits,’” she said. Ya I stand by it. Also, really good Lincoln-era anecdote in there. Didn’t know Harper’s was that funny ever!When I was six years old, my parents took me to Disneyland etc., and one of those days we spent at Universal Studios. When we walked into the “Twister” “ride,” my parents sort of forgot that I was uh six, so they didn’t tell me that what we were walking into was a FAKE experience themed to a movie that I of course had never seen. So there were all these fake TVs on the walls inside with fake newscasts warning about an approaching tornado, and I started panicking. (As real heads now, I grew up in central Illinois, where the fear of tornadoes is inculcated at an early age via school drills and monthly tornado siren tests you can hear from your house.) I was like, there’s a tornado coming here and no one seems bothered? Does this place even HAVE a basement???? (Later, we went on the Jaws ride, and I also lost my shit over the mechanical shark.) Anyway, as a result of this formative psychological damage, I have never seen the original Twister, but I *did* see the new Twisters directed by my midwestern king Lee Isaac Chung yesterday, and it was AWESOME. More movies should A) make fun of British journalists named Ben, and B) embrace the 4DX format as a way to trick your body into feeling actual fear. I have never had more fun being shaken around like that. (My only complaint is that the “wind” that blows on you is very cold, so bring a good jacket lol.) (Also, try to eat your chicken fingers BEFORE the movie starts). After the credits rolled, I got up and couldn’t find one of my sandals. Now that’s cinema. Vulture endorses. Per the acting, I think Daisy Edgar-Jones did her traumatized nerd thing perfectly again, and as for the Glen Powell thing, which you guys know I am on the fence about, I adored him in this; it’s on par as his best role with Everybody Wants Some!. Have I changed my mind about Powell’s star quality? Maybe a little bit. But embodying an internet-famous Oklahoman 11 is one thing; having actual urban center heartthrob range is another. Sorry! What are RNC parties like? Bravely, WaPo’s Kara Voght and Jesús Rodríguez found out for us:
Party reporting is culture reporting is maybe the official “talkin’ to folks at the diner” political temperature taking format of 2024, as The Cut’s Brock Colyar has also done with their Hawk Tuah party report. The vibes are……escalating. Taffy Brodesser-Akner wrote about the trauma, mostly hers, that informs her new novel, confirming conclusively that yeah, the thing that happened in her first novel, Fleishman Is In Trouble, came straight from her own experience. At one point, it occurred to me that, all these years later, I had not gotten over anything so much as I had built a city out of my suffering, a monument to my trauma. I had done hours of exposure therapy by then, and my last word on exposure therapy is that if it worked, then hiring a world-class actress to play out the worst day of my life over and over would have made it so that I am not sobbing even right now as I type this. I’ve been thinking about how Parul Sehgal wrote this critique of the trauma plot device ages ago (okay in 2021), and it makes me wonder (especially after Twisters, which is a $200M literal trauma metaphor) whether trauma as a narrative “device,” IRL or in fiction, can ever truly feel tired (or become transcended) if it’s also maybe the best framework we have for understanding….the human condition? The great Matt Starr, the genius behind the indie chic New York readings at Sbarro, Burger King, and The River (<-- he helped me throw the Hate Read event in May!) has a delightful book of poetry coming out this week called MOUTHFUL. He gave me a poem to publish here in Deez Links for you all to enjoy…
Finally, I would like to take the chance to list some of my favorite tweets about JD Vance, because in times like these it’s patriotic that we as an internet community can come together and make fun of our one true enemy: male memoirists. Having new main characters on our political stage is at least good for the content! We were really running out of Biden/Trump meme steam there…
Tune into Your Weekly Breakdown, the silly and smart podcast for busy women. You’ll feel like you’re with your girlfriends catching up on news, friend drama, and work gossip. Pull up a chair…you can sit with us. default.blog is an emotional scrapbook of the internet. we’re looking for essays, videos, and art about internet culture and history. send pitches & submissions to defaultefriend@gmail.com. Claire Akkan upcycles vintage designer bags (think 90s Gucci) offering each bag a second life. Re-lined with cast-off designer fabrics or vintage silk scarves, each piece is one of one. Because it's what's inside that counts. Shop here. CLEVER CLIENT NEEDED: Feel builds brands. We craft identities, campaigns, and sites that merge the art of making money with creative intelligence. Conspire with us: visit feel.studio, email us, or dial 1-844-GET-FEEL. Looking for a cool and free art exhibition? The Jeremy DePrez exhibition at Post Times was just selected by Artforum as a MUST SEE show this summer, so don’t miss it! Located on Henry Street in lower Chinatown, there are several other experimental art galleries on the block (all free), plus you can get 15 dumplings for $5 a few doors down! Classified ads are super good for the environment. Get in touch here if you’d like to promote your stuff in Deez Links!
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