Friday Fourteen Issue 164
This week on Friday Fourteen: Turns out US politicians don’t understand how the internet works (let alone TikTok), accordingly to gen z dome coffee lids are cancelled, a candid interview with Alison Roman that almost has us liking her again, why you should give your camera to a kid once in awhile, Tinder has banned men holding fish, loads of Sunday lunch inspo care of the Guardian, and more.
Every time we felt sad this week we re-read this ABC article about Queensland woman Mandy Watts making hats for chickens and immediately felt better
Could TikTok soon be banned? This week, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced a grilling in a Congressional hearing in the US over rising concerns regarding user data privacy and national security. Honestly, we just can’t believe that so many US politicians don’t know how the internet works. The incident has Gen Z revealing their *very serious* digital footprints, highlighting hypocrisy and racism, and making thirst trap edits of the man in charge
Talking about Gen Z — dome coffee cup lids have been officially deemed uncool. This video truly summarises the dialogue around appropriate coffee
The evolution of a book cover
If you have small people in your life, give them your camera once in awhile
You might remember US poet Maggie Smith from her 2016 poem Good Bones that immediately went viral, and this essay in The Cut about how her marriage went south after she started to achieve success outside the home is painful, beautiful, relatable reading (“When I would call home from a trip, I remember feeling like I was in trouble. I’d made his life more difficult, and I might pay for that with the silent treatment or a cold reception when I returned home. I didn’t feel missed as a person, I felt missed as staff. My invisible labor was made painfully visible when I left the house. I was needed back in my post.”)
In tech news: Tinder has banned photos of men holding fish, Instagram’s testing full length Reels replays within stories, Apple Pay Later is finally launching, Twitter has reversed it's plans to have only verified accounts on Twitter's For You
Levi’s has used AI instead of hiring diverse models (wtf). If you’re gonna use AI for fashion use it for good, like the pope wearing a puffer jacket
Fernando Alonso is having an insanely good start to the Formula 1 season, and his social media manager is having a field day: exhibit a, exhibit b, exhibit c
A candid interview with Alison Roman that almost has us… liking her again?
Two of our favourite corners of the Internet collided this week when the Substack newsletter Embedded (“your essential guide to what’s good on the internet”) interviewed John Paul Brammer, who writes the beloved advice column ¡Hola Papi!, on how he spends his time online. The interviews that Embedded publishes with very online people are always fascinating and this one was no exception
Okay you’ve heard of Chat GPT, but what about Cat GPT?
Sunday lunch inspo care of the Guardian
And in other news: This seal is serving the MOST bombastic side eye, anti people-pleasing affirmations are in, what communicating with men feels like, modern day first dates, how passenger princesses are doing their civic duty, breaking generational trauma, the algorithm is exposing congress members, standard orange cat behaviour, an easy fix for a cooking mishap, if Walter White was a student, you spin me round (like a record), we’re no different than this baby, orcas are the psychopaths of the sea, this mashup perfectly encapsulates 2012, when someone asks you to look after their stuff, the Taylor Swift anti hero dupe you never knew you needed, Miranda Kerr’s morning routine sounds horrible, and Succession is back on our screens and to celebrate we’re listening to this on repeat
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Vanessa, content & strategy director
Subscribing: To this substack newsletter called What To Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking. Is anyone else struggling with dinner motivation these days or just me??
Listening: To Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ first podcast series when it drops in 11 days. The series is called Wiser Than Me and the concept sounds excellent – Louis-Dreyfus (who’s 62) having candid conversations with women over 70
Watching: Class of 07 on Amazon Prime about a group of former classmates who get stuck together on their old campus after a tidal wave causes a worldwide apocalypse. I’ve watched five episodes and still not sure how I feel about this
