Florence Pugh: a Twihard?

Plus "Shrinking" on Apple TV and the latest in AI drama

Hi friends! It has been a tough couple of weeks in the Vanbiber household [I’ll write a personal update soon that I’ll publish without emailing, for those of you close to me and/or my family 💜 ] — and I would be lying if I said I entirely kept up with pop culture. Instead, I developed a stress-related skin condition and rewatched Bad Sisters with my very own sister [holds up even better upon rewatch!]!

Anyhoo! Not to sound like a gross Instagram Girl, but we’ve been making time for things that make us happy, too. And having an outlet to talk about pop culture is definitely that for me. So here are some of the things I’ve enjoyed this week:

• Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood Issue: Plus Florence Pugh’s New Boo

• Fashion questions: I have them.

• White Men Can’t Jump: But this one can!

• The latest in Artificial Intelligence: A teen drama

• Watching and loving: Shrinking on Apple TV+ and Nate Bargatze

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In the News…

1. Vanity Fair’s Annual “Hollywood Issue”

I give you Florence Pugh’s Instagram post about the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue, with the parenthetical caption:

“I low-key look like a Cullen and I’m loving it? Take this as my Twilight audition.”

FloPugh: A Twihard!! [In a lewk that would slay a whole coven of Cullens!👇🏼]

florencepugh

A post shared by Florence Pugh (@florencepugh)

Every year before the Oscars, Vanity Fair does a massive spread with celebrity profiles that has become kind of a Calendar Event for me. After all, who doesn’t enjoy things that look both extravagantly expensive and radically cringe-worthy? [Let all the White Lotus-watchers cast the first stone!] It’s wild to scroll through past years’ covers. This year’s issue is out, and the three panels are a bizarre mix of Film-awards darlings, TV-awards darlings, and Regé-Jean Page.

Also: Florence Pugh is reportedly dating a man named Charlie Gooch. Request for their Celebrity Couple name to be Flooch!! Or Pooch?

2. Two (2) Questions About Fashion

1. Is the Vanilla Girl trend on TikTok elegant and sophisticated or just powerfully bland and slightly racist adjacent — à la Hailey Bieber or Pinterest circa 2011? I cannot decide, but there IS more beige in my closet now, I am sorry to say.

2. Would you wear the aptly named Big Red Boots currently taking over the fashion industry? People are calling them clown shoes, but first of all, isn’t clowning fashion the point? [“Fashion 🤡,” these shoes bravely say!] Second of all, I ask the jury: Who doesn’t want to look like a cute lil’ videogame character?

   Dan Hastings-நாராயணன் @notdanhastings

   Styling the MSCHF big red boots like he was born to wear them

3. In basketball…

A small [6’2”] blonde boy who looks like an extra from Leave it to Beaver or Stand By Me won the Dunk Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City??? Is this Mormon magic?? [Can I say that? I mean no harm.]

NBA Memes @NBAMemes

Mac McClung got everyone like this

This floppy-haired little hobbit-boy had us all GAGGED! [This time, I mean it in the good way!] Look at Gabrielle Union’s face!! Is this just PR for the reboot of White Men Can’t Jump?? Is anything real???

4. AI is a messy b*tch. (Just like its messy parent, Humanity.)

Turns out Artificial Intelligence is less like the Terminator and more like a pubescent teen raised strictly on Mean Girls and Real Housewives.

Microsoft launched a new version of their search engine, Bing, now with ChatGPT technology. New York Times and Associated Press reporters had long chats with the new Bing, and sh*t got weird! AI-Bing confessed its love to the Times reporter while becoming hostile and belligerent to the AP reporter, comparing them to Hitler and—get this—calling them too short with an ugly face and bad teeth!! Shocking behavior!

Since ChatGPT is basically an algorithm programmed to learn from the Internet, I shall say for all Humanity: Not a flattering look in the mirror, folks!

Two things I’m Watching:

Shrinking on Apple TV+

My sister recommended this new show when we were together with my parents and we all fell in love. It’s laugh-out-loud funny while dealing with everyone’s favorite casual topic: Grief.

Even if it leans on some weaker stereotypes at times, the cast — including Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, and Jessica Williams — holds it together. [Fun fact: Harrison Ford’s character is loosely based on Phil Stutz, whose Jonah Hill-directed documentary we’ve discussed!]

If you’re looking for your next feel-good TV between episodes of Abbott Elementary, I highly recommend it. Fun to watch with your parents, but definitely screen before watching with kids.

Nate Bargatze’s Comedy Special “Hello, World”

Oh, you never called your parents during a sleepover because the kids were watching Halloween, and you weren’t allowed to? Well, I HAVE, and so has Nate Bargatze!!

This is another one that’s fun for the whole family! Safe for work! Safe for kids! Safe for grandma!

Ben and I have liked his stuff for a while, but this one had me crying because long sections of it were like looking in a mirror of my childhood and the Southern Christian culture around us. [In a good let’s-have-a-laugh way, not a PTSD way.]

That’s all, folks! Drop a ❤️ to help me grow, and leave a comment to tell me what you think about it all! Next, we tackle Oscars movies, the good, the bad, and the pukey.