I’m on vacation next week so see y’all in a few!
If you’re here solely for the Manny Jacinto photos (valid) scroll to the bottom.
New Twitter font dropped
Desktop Twitter randomly changed its font and someone people freaked out, some people didn’t care and one person used this as an excuse to publicly admit that they robbed a Target.
The new font looks like the attached pic below; it’s not super different but it does remind me more of the Salesforce interface?
But the real crime of the week is changing the follow/unfollow buttons to black and white. Literally why would you do this. For years, the Follow button has been white, but now the Following button (which you click on to unfollow someone) is white?? Make it make sense. I know nothing about UX but it seems to me you should not just flip the colors of two crucial site elements with no prior warning.
Style notes/recommended listening
If I haven’t already told you to listen to “Who? Weekly” then… listen to “Who? Weekly.” It bills itself as, “A podcast where you learn everything you need to know about the celebrities you don't,” and I think it’s a highly valuable and entertaining resource in learning about pop culture!
But if you’re not going to listen to it, I’ll at least explain one aspect of it that is a crucial aspect of my speaking patterns:
“Who? Weekly” categorizes all celebrities (and things in general) into two categories: Who’s and Them’s.
Them’s are the IT people — think Beyonce, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Jordan — celebrities who everyone should know.
Who’s are… whatever the opposite of that is: Rita Ora, Bebe Rexha, Derek Hough. If you just thought to yourself, “Who are those people?” then yes, that’s the point.
Note also that it’s not inherently negative to be a Who, it just means that you haven’t broken into the canon of mainstream iconicism.
Anyways, that’s that, which brings me to my next topic:
PB&J is a a certified Them
AP Style really just said, “Who is H&C??? I don’t know her!”
For real though, I have never heard the phrase “H&C” uttered in my life, so I wonder who AP is calling out specifically here.
TikTok’s latest trending song
I’ve talked a fair amount about TikTok’s ability to blow up music, and how it’s become a crucial space for up-and-coming artists to quickly create loyal fanbases and spread their latest singles.
But I’ve talked a lot less about the interesting phenomenon of TikTok’s ability to breathe new life into older hits. It’s hard to pinpoint how it ever starts, or why certain songs pick up more steam than others, but songs from 1981’s “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers and Grover Washington to 2001’s “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliott, to 1978’s “Rasputin” by Boney M., to 2006’s “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado (if anyone is thinking that this song isn’t “old,” it came out 15 years ago, so do not come for me!!!) have all climbed back up the charts, probably, solely because they’ve started trending on TikTok.
So the latest hit to come back? “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire. And to that I say, “Hell yeah!!!” Great song. Great group. This song deserves to stay on the charts every week for the rest of eternity.
Probably the biggest video to kick off this comeback is from user @esmerelda677, which just shows she and her friend in a hotel room dancing along to “Let’s Groove.” It’s short, simple, but it’s also sweet! The vibes are extremely good (exemplified by the video’s 2.5 million likes and almost 10 million views)!
A lot of boomers love to complain about how TikTok is just a bunch of children dancing, but idk sometimes dancing is fun!! A sort of sub-trend born out of this, is this very specific dance style from user @nickanthonyy, which I can really only describe as “Timothee Chalamet 2020 edit-inspired.” If you don’t know what I’m talking about then… welcome to the below tangent/segue into another edition of “Internet things I think about once a month” so:
Sorry I talk about Timothee Chalamet too much
This video, THIS VIDEO, had such an absurd chokehold on the entirety of TikTok for like two weeks (which is an eternity in internet time). Maybe it’s because it was posted in April 2020 — that early pandemic era when no one knew what to do with themselves — or because Timothee Chalamet is that powerful, but this edit went on to become the gold standard for TikToks to come.
In it, you see a slowed down, edited clip of Timothee Chalamet dancing in a scene from 2017’s “Call Me By Your Name,” set to the song “Play Date” by Melanie Martinez. It originated as a sort of fancam edit that user @stcrvds made for her friend, but for whatever reason it left people transfixed, racking up almost 5 million likes and 46 million views. It inspired remakes with other celebrities, some highly embarrassing (watch at your own risk)thirst traps, and also some genuinely cute attempts to recreate the slo-mo dance style.
Not gonna lie, I miss this era of TikTok. It’s fun, OK??? Let me enjoy this sparkly video of Timmy in peace.
Twitter meme of the week
Another week, another meme template. Similar to the Timmy/Wes/Tilda/Bill Cannes meme, I don’t have much to say here. It’s boring, but also no hate, because I respect an easily accessible, replicable meme template.
And especially when it low key hits hard, like actually, what is going to happen to all of our fall plans…