Defrosting in the sun
Wheelie bins, The divorcees of Facebook Marketplace, Walks on the web, The line dancing revolution, Memorable Olympic moments, Little Edie reincarnated, Utopian debacles, Brat lives on, and more!
Hello!
It’s finally warming up a little and the sun is out, which means it’s time to hit the pubs, parks, and public pools to defrost in the sun. It’s amazing what a little sunshine does to one’s joie de vivre.
I’m always bemused at the number of people out at cafes and pubs at 3pm on a weekday in the inner north. Like I know I’m currently unemployed but what are the rest of you doing here?
For the sports fans, we had the Olympics. My general watching experience was reflected in this tweet:
And the most memorable parts of the Olympics have been; everything Raygun, the effortlessly cool Korean shooter, the Turkish trained assassin, Snoop Dogg’s involvement (I’m convinced this man has more hours in the day than the rest of us and taking up every side-quest), and of course the Olympic logo’s cunty bob.
This week:
America just learnt about wheelie bins
Cowboy take me away
Welcome back Little Edie
The endurance of brat
What would you have done?
Cook’s ghost haunts local council
Taking a walk on the web
For sale: wife’s shoes, hardly worn
Is Ben Affleck the most divorced man?
America just learnt about wheelie bins:
Let’s start the newsletter off with something I find totally baffling. It seems America only just learnt about wheelie bins??? This is so crazy. What do you mean “trash revolution”? I didn’t know they were still living in the Middle Ages in New York. Every day I find a new reason to avoid America.
Back in February, I predicted that it would be a big year for country music and cowboys in general. I feel like this has somewhat come to fruition, at least, I’m pulling my weight on the the matter. I have a new hobby… line dancing!
I’ve also implemented some peak cult-leader-type charm and acquired a little coterie of fellow boot scooters.
Thursdays, 6pm, The Quadraphonics Club, Brunswick. Be there or be square!
Dancing Plagues:
If the US is still in the Middle Ages in regards to rubbish disposal, there’s no reason we can’t go back to the Middle Ages in regards to dancing.
“In the year 1518, a mysterious “dancing plague” took hold of a town in modern-day France, and ranged from July 1518 to September 1518. Somewhere between 50 and 400 people took to dancing for weeks, and reportedly could not stop even if they wanted to. Some sources report that 15 people died per day of exhaustion, whereas other reports state that deaths were not recorded. To this day it is unknown why this happened, although theories range from mass hysteria to religious ergot.”
Naturally, I’m praying for a line-dancing plague (minus the deaths).
Welcome back Little Edie!
For generations people have lusted after the Kennedys. 2024 is no different. John F. Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg has been doing the rounds on social media, for doing what? I’m not quite sure. A self-described “silly goose” and “fun, wacky guy”, Schlossberg has a Harvard law and business degree but is best known for his internet presence. I would encourage you to take a look through his bizarre twitter and instagram.
The other week, Vogue announced he would be joining their team as a political correspondent!
He is definitely carrying on the Kennedy tradition, however, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s that of JFKs in politics. No, what we have here is a reincarnation of Little Edie.
For those unaware, Grey Gardens, one of my favourite films, is a 1975 documentary about the eccentric, brilliant, reclusive ex-socialite mother-daughter duo Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and Edith Bouvier Beale (AKA Big Eddie and Little Eddie). They were cousins of the former First Lady Jackie Kennedy living in a crumbling 28-room Hamptons house (complete with hoards of rubbish, raccoons and old tins of cat food). Utterly charming. A wonderful reminder to rewatch it.
Jack’s Vogue position is… baffling? Is the joke on him? Is he in on it? Is it satire gone too far? I’m not so sure.
One thing we know is he’s got a ticket to ride, and he don’t care!
The endurance of brat:
Last week I experienced one of the greatest joys on offer to humans. A lovely 4-hour lunch with a friend (only cut short by my line dancing class). A million and ten tangents of conversation and not nearly enough time in the day to discuss them all (or finish a single thought for that matter).
At one stage I was explaining the lore of the girl, so confusing remix complete with lyric analysis and assessment of the marketing strategy in the back of Pelligrini’s.
So much has happened since I last wrote of brat - Charli xcx’s latest album (and shared the infamous Kamala edits). Kamala Harris was officially made the Democratic nominee. Charli endorsed Kamala. Kamala HQ (whose social media campaign strategy I am very interested in but that’s another story) changed their official twitter page to match the album cover.
I lost the original tweet but someone was writing about the role of the meme-ification of politicians in getting elected, and how this helped Trump in 2016... Dystopian and a concerning reflection of the state of politics but do politicians now have the play the game to have any chance at all?
Importantly, however coconut-pilled you are for the next few months to ensure we don’t have another Trump presidency, don’t forget the US is still funding and supporting a genocide :)
Someone also said that Tim Walz (Kamala’s VP) looks like Australia’s last Prime Ministers morphed into one and I can’t stop thinking about it.
What would you have done?
In June, I wrote about The New Yorker Fiction Podcast. Fittingly, as we discuss dystopian politics, this month, David Sedaris read George Saunders’ story Love Letter (written in 2020).
The story’s form is a letter from a grandfather to his grandson who is seeking his advice on a potentially dangerous situation concerning activism a friend is involved in. The letter is set in 2020-something in America that is under a totalitarian government. An all-too-plausible future. The grandfather writes of his regrets about not having “done more” at the “critical moments” but also advises his grandson against taking serious action now.
The story is about fear, love, complacency, and nihilism. It holds a mirror up to society in the way The Lottery by Shirley Jackson did. It also reminds me of a quote that was on a banner during the Melbourne Uni Palestine encampments that keeps coming back to me.
Cook’s ghost haunts council:
I love community newspapers, and this front page of the May edition of The Rotunda, the North Fitzroy community newspaper, caught my attention.
The James Cook memorial in Edie Gardens has repeatedly been targeted by activists and it’s become “quite a large headache” for the Yarra City Council (who are tossing up restoring it or getting rid of it entirely).
Growing up is mainly just realising that life and workplaces are really like an episode of Utopia.
“Indeed, Yarra City Council officers responded to The Rotunda’s enquiry with an email some would say reads like the script of a Utopia episode:
“Council officers have assessed the damage to the Captain Cook monument. An options report, including a condition assessment of the object has been presented to council’s visual arts panel for review. This panel will make a recommendation to the CEO of their preferred option. The CEO will make a decision based on the assessment provided by the panel. Once a decision has been made, the community will be informed.”
You can access the pdfs of all The Rotunda’s issues here.
Taking a walk on the web:
Recently, I’ve been exploring ‘alternative internets’. If you’re seeking respite from the hyper-commercialized, homogenised, mainstream social web this could be up your alley. There is a wonderful little world of niche websites and creators. An alternative to nostalgia for a lost web, that doesn’t fall into the trap of the promises of technological utopias.
“Instead of traversing the congested highways of the web, we invite you to try alternative routes: take a scroll down local streets and wandering paths, try out someone else’s commute.”
I’ll take a look at anything Kristoffer Tjalve touches. He has a Syllabus for taking an internet walk and a substack Naive Weekly where he publishes postcards with links to the quiet, odd and poetic web. Web Curios does a similar thing of interesting niche internet things.
Here are some little links to ‘pointless’ webpages, made by people making stuff on the internet for the love, fun, and hell of it.
Vending Machines From Japan - as the name suggests
Pictures of the Sea - again, as the name suggests
Vinyl Football Songs - vinyl recordings of football songs from around the world
Third Friend - sidewalks in the east village NY wide enough so the third friend doesn’t have to walk behind
Nobody Reads Ads - a collection of obscure, entertaining, and witty ads
Emotional Tupperware - basically someone’s notes app
Gathering Space - a collection of collections in the digital space
For sale: wife shoes, hardly worn
That’s the Hemingway quote, right?
I am largely a stranger to another corner of the internet, Facebook Marketplace. To strike gold, you’ve got to be sifting. Elan Ullendorff enlightened me to the divorcees of Facebook Marketplace and the “cornucopia of emotions: tragedy, triumph, bitterness, shame, hope, taboo, elation, isolation” projected onto items for sale.
The cynical side of me sees in these divorce sales yet another fulfillment of the twin American dreams of ownership and matrimony. But the more patient, tender side of me zooms out and sees something much more beautiful: objects that have borne witness to stories, waiting to catalyze new stories.
Who among us is not pre-loved, longing to be loved again?
Is Ben Affleck the most divorced man?
Speaking of divorce, this photo of Ben Affleck popped up on my timeline this week. Ben and JLo are currently going through a divorce almost as long as their marriage. (Still technically unofficial but they’ve sold their house, haven’t been seen together, and Ben bought a motorbike). But just take one look at this photo and tell me this isn’t the ultimate middle-aged man divorce outfit. Someone’s yet to top Nicole Kidman’s infamous post-divorce image, but Ben, it’s not too late.
That’s all for this month!
I reckon the next edition of this newsletter will come to you from the other side of the globe. Rome will be my new home for the next little while. As you might remember, I’m very anti-travel blogs and refuse to wear turquoise linen (an important prerequisite to any travel host, as SBS would tell us), so rest assured this won’t become one. However, forgive me if the newsletter takes a little more of a ‘white woman in Europe’ tone, alla Julia Roberts Eat, Pray, Love, Diane Lane Under the Tuscan Sun, Audrey Hepburn Roman Holiday etc. etc.
Until then, so long, farewell.
Love,
Rimini