Hello friends! Happy Friday!
I’m late to the game today because I’ve spent my midmorning/early afternoon on two (great) interviews! Finally starting to feel optimistic that something might be coming down the job pipeline for my hubs and I very soon. Send all the vibes our way!!
This week has somehow managed to be incredibly busy even though I thought I had less to do? Every week I think I don’t have much going on and then somehow the next thing I know my to-do list has expanded from two lines to two post-its, longitudinally. Next week, will I have a lot going on? Survey says: ask me next Friday.
The weather was fantastic earlier this week and we went on a long walk with a trip to the Post Office and a local coffee shop, and it’s got me soooo excited for summer. I’m really loving our new neighborhood. Obviously it’s literally FEBRUARY and the fact that it was in the 70s is extremely concerning, but you know what, we gotta enjoy it while we’re here, right?
This week Twitter has been HOPPIN’ with a few main stories that actually managed to make the big boy news for once — but of course, I still have to talk about them because they’re just that outrageous. Also, on Wednesday, Survivor started back up, and I’m already completely invested in the new crews and the giant gecko challenge.
Anyhoo — without further ado, let’s get to the jazz from this week:
The Music Man
I heard a song this week that just completely stopped me in my tracks — probably because it has the word “Chicago” in it1, but also because it’s really, really good? The Chicago vibes are 100% vibing. It’d been making the rounds on TikTok, but I finally stopped to listen to the full track earlier this week, just in time to find out it’s now #1 on the Billboard Top 50 (I’m always just a few days ahead of the game, baby!). Anyway, enjoy:
And now that you’ve listened to this great song, I’d like you to know who’s singing it.
Familiar with Djo, the artist? I wasn’t either. Maybe you know him as…Joe Keery?
That’s right!! It’s this guy:
OKAY STEVE WITH THE GOOD HAIR!
I listened to the rest of the album and it’s fantastic. Highly recommend, and can’t wait to see what the next one is like (plus very much looking forward to the final season of Stranger Things)!
Brands: They’re at it again
Earlier this week, Wendy’s announced that they planned to implement “surge pricing” for their menu items in the near future. The idea was to create digitized menus at the drive-thru that could live update the prices as they changed.
WENDY. Come on now, girl.
Can you literally imagine? You’ve arrived 15 minutes before the lunch rush, and you’re sitting in your car waiting behind someone who’s taking forever to order, watching the price of your Frosty tick up??
Well, as is to be expected, the internet was like…absolutely not? And Wendy’s almost immediately retracted the whole thing. Because, according to Mr. Wendy, we all just…misunderstood. That’s all. Sure, Jan.
Anyway, here are a couple of my favorite jokes on the topic from Twitter:
Willy Wonky
Another massive story this week has been the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience, which advertised using AI images and turned out to be…well, a big concrete room with some shitty decorations and very sad Oompa Loompas in it.
One of the actors later said he’d been given a 15-page AI-generated script, which included a completely made up character called “The Unknown,” who I guess, is like Slugworth, except he apparently LIVES INSIDE THE FACTORY?
The children’s reactions here are absolutely spot on.
I cannot get over this. I mean look — people do scams. We know this. But DAMN. An event for kids, and you’re not even gonna give them three jellybeans? Jail. Jail for organizers for a thousand years!! And THE UNKNOWN?! Willy Wonka is scary enough with that scene of the snake crawling through a skull while they’re in the tunnel!! Unnecessary!
People are already planning Halloween costumes of “The Unknown,” and the event ended up with its own Wikipedia page. You’ve gotta watch this video. It’s worth reading this Vulture interview with the sad Oompa Loompa and watching this thread of videos from Willy Wonka himself, too.
Shameless Self-Promotion Corner
Finally, getting around to the third big Twitter story of the week: where the hell is Kate Middleton?? Everyone knows she was out for recovery from an abdominal surgery, but it’s been weeks without a single image of her online.
Theories are running wild, so The Belladonna put together this compilation piece titled The Belladonna Writers Speculate on Kate Middleton’s Whereabouts, which was incredibly fun:
And really, though, how have they gone this long without updates on her recovery AT ALL?? Something is UP. I have no idea what it is, but eventually, we’re going to find out, and I can’t wait. DRAMA!!
Randomly Selected Animal Cutie
Adorable video. My concern is this dog later thinking to himself “Hmm, if I’m in the can, I get chicken!” and then spending hours while he’s home alone climbing back inside, getting all dirty in the garbage, and then the owners being unable to find him until they decided to throw something away. Hope the lid seals well!!
I will add, though — this is one of the things I miss most about having a pup around — having somebody to share that last bite of your meal with (or having someone to clean up every crumb that hits the kitchen floor).
That’s it from me! I’m off to finish up some homework for a screenwriting class I’m in and eat some dinner. Have a great weekend!
K
I’m a sucker for Chicago!! Not me kicking off Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise for the 500th time…