Grills and Hot People
Today’s Thursday but it feels like a Friday so I’m in a good mood! It's been really cloudy all week which is bumming me out, but Paige Desorbo taught me1 how to do my own spray tan so I can fake the sun! Now my hands always look kind of dirty and I may be a tinge orange, but thanks to growing up in 2000s tanning bed culture that I was too scared participate in, I feel about 10x hotter than I normally do when I slather myself in tanning mousse. Between that and the at-home bang trim from last week I'm having somewhat of a budget glow up, that may or may not be making me look worse. Hard to say. Anyway, we’re starting off with some bummer news this week…
RIP George Foreman
The boxing legend, two-time world heavyweight champion, and Olympic gold medalist, who made a fortune from his signature George Foreman Grill passed away at 76 last Friday. I always loved his infomercials. Without his grill, I would have never made it through my crash diet of grilled vegetables and bland grilled chicken in my early 20s, and no bachelor would ever be able to cook for himself. A man who had 12 kids and named all five of his sons George Foreman and one of his daughters Georgetta (“I named all my sons George Edward Foreman so they would always have something in common. I say to them, 'If one of us goes up, then we all go up together, and if one goes down, we all go down together!'"). May he watch over us all and make sure we’re able to find the drip tray when we need it and ensure it's in the right place so that the grease doesn't go all over your counter.
What I’m Watching
Last One Laughing
My friend/OG PerkCulture reader whose taste I trust the most suggested I watch Last One Laughing UK on Amazon Prime and it’s so funny. The above clip is a taste of the show (and honestly, what it’s like to be on Raya). Though it’s been done in a number of countries, this iteration is a bunch of British comedians forced to be in a room together for six hours and the last one to laugh wins. So basically they're all trying to get each other to break and hilarity ensues. I would break in about 4.2 seconds. If you've taken my advice and watched Taskmaster before you will recognize most of the folks on the show. It's a great, light show to put on while you process the trauma of the incest brothers on White Lotus.
What I’m Listening To
Call Her Chappell
I went on a long walk and listened to Chappell Roan on Call Her Daddy this week. I know I say it every time I listen to an Alex Cooper interview, but this was a particularly difficult episode to get through. Obviously I'm all for the girl getting her bag and I actually applaud her for being one of the most successful podcasters in history despite being such a terrible interviewer. Monetizing your hotness is not easy! You could tell that she and Chappell just did not vibe at all, so instead of talking about real stuff she just sort of said “Oh my god! Bitch, I love you!!” at every awkward moment. Ya know how you can sort of tell when people have good, natural banter and it seems like they would get along if they weren't on a podcast? They had none of that. You can tell that they left knowing that they'll likely never speak again lol It's definitely worth skipping you can find any kind of highlight on TikTok.
GOOPY Nikki
I also listened to Nikki Glaser on the GOOP podcast. I’d never listened to GOOP before but I kept seeing clips that I just felt like maybe were taken out of context so I want to watch the whole pod. It was somewhat interesting! I honestly ended up feeling really bad for Nikki Glaser because it feels like she doesn't like herself and it made me kind of sad. She just really talked down about her looks and how she wants to get all these surgeries and how much competition she feels with other women to the point where it's actually a sexual kink for her if her boyfriend hooks up with other people and tells her about it. I think she's funny and I wish that she liked herself more! Gwenyth Paltrow kept doing that thing that really beautiful people do to funny people where they are like,“Oh my god, you're so interesting! You're such a specific person!” I once went to a dinner party and there was a model there who at the end of the night told me “You are so entertaining!” as if I had been brought to the dinner to be a clown.
What’s in The News
Jessica Simpson and Jeremy Renner
Jessica Simpson commented a fire emoji on a workout video that Jeremy Renner posted and he liked it. You can tell it has been a sloooow week in pop culture news because several outlets reported on this.
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We <3 Benny?
I think that after the entire Internet was grossed out by Benny Blanco's nacho cheese bath his PR team went into overdrive because I kind of love him now. My TikTok feed was flooded with videos of him saying really insightful stuff, giving a really sweet humble home tour, and doing an interview with his fiancée Selena Gomez where he said all the right green flag things. I feel like social media is also taking a lot of steps to try to remind me that he has blessed us with some of the greatest pop songs of my lifetime, including Britney Spears’s Circus, Ke$ha's Tik Tok, Rihanna’s Diamonds and Kali Uchi’s Moonlight.
Hot People News
Patrick Schwarzenegger and his model fianceé did a Skims ad. Sometimes actors do this thing where they play a hateable character so well that I hate them in real life and I think that's happening here because I did not care at all about this. I did however, care about the ad for Falconeri that longtime partners Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jason Statham did because these are two of the hottest people that I've ever seen and I think they do deserve to get paid just to be hot.
Departing Bonaparte
Leva Bonaparte, who recently came under fire for not allowing a group of black people into one of her establishments (with the dumbest name since Schwartz & Sandy’s- Zachary’s Daiquiris) because of how they were dressed, and for giving us absolutely nothing on this season of Southern Charm announced that she is departing the show. I think she's one most gorgeous people on Bravo but I'm not sure it's a big loss for the show.
Bye, Beauvais
Garcelle Beauvais also announced that she will not be returning to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills next year. I sort of wish that Kyle was also not returning. It will be interesting to see how Sutton fares without Garcelle. But again, I love her, so gorgeous, but I'm not sure it's a huge loss for the show in general.
Duke/Dicks
More White Lotus drama, Duke University is pissed that *SPOILER* they had Jason Isaacs wear a DUKE shirt while having violent thoughts of shooting himself and his wife. I think the outrage is hilarious. Also just so y’all know- it has been confirmed that it was a prosthetic penis he showed in that one scene. So was the one Walton Goggins showed a couple weeks ago in Righteous Gemstones. You’re welcome for being a journalist!
Utah’s Just for RHOSLC and Momtok Now
The Sundance Film Festival is moving from Park City, Utah to Boulder, Colorado in 2027. Has anyone checked on Lisa Barlow??
What’s Helping me Not Lose My Shit
With ya know, the world going to war in a text thread and people being slaughtered with my tax dollars daily, it’s sometimes difficult to find joy so here are a few palate cleanser videos that made me smile this week.
A child seeing an ad in Target featuring a kid who was also in a wheelchair. Representation is so important!! 2
Robert Irwin finding a chameleon in the middle of the road. He’s the spitting image of his dad, Steve Irwin, and it was oddly so comforting to watch.
These perfect Italian hand movements.
This seal taking a dip in the pool then kicking out a sunbather.
Okay that’s all for this week. Thanks so much for reading!
via internet tutorials
Yes, I know Target is abandoning a lot of their DEI so who knows if this will stay but this is the palate cleanser section!
Thank you for your 🍆 service!!! 🫡 💕
You’re legitimately my most trusted pop culture source. My distain for baby Schwarzenegger… ugh.