Brät(Wurst) Summer
I do not want to know how the sausage is made
HELLO SWEET SUBS!
It’s been a minute, I know, I know. Thank you for not unsubscribing, call it my dual mission to occasionally send you deranged ramblings and then other times help you achieve inbox zero. Boys? Anything to say?
Anyways, lots happening over here. For today, may I offer you some links, reading recs, unhinged photos found on my desktop, a brief meditation on the downfall (in my opinion) of beloved hyperpop star Charli XCX, my brain post watching snippets of the DNC and feeling like I had accidentally consumed PCP in the process, my perfect beagle (she is on a diet please don’t fat shame her via email she always knows I read her the emails) Love you all! xx
Links:
When It Takes Root in the Heart: A Conversation with Fady Joudah
‘We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town
Republicans Kill Civilians For Bad Guy Reasons, Democrats Kill Civilians For Nice Guy Reasons
NO PALESTINIAN AMERICANS WILL SPEAK AT CONVENTION, DNC DECIDES
Books:
Highly recommend both of these. Also finally finished (years later) Ducks, Newburyport which was less of a reading experience and more of an immersive, roller coaster ride that I couldn't wait to get off of and yet enjoyed every minute of. Also found a very cool copy of Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven, not as good as Ringworld but still very fun. Also finally made it through Robert Walser’s The Tanners, I don’t know why it took me so many tries to get into it but, alas, I got there.
Music:
Congrats to Clairo for making good music again and severing ties with notorious bad-tastes-man Jack Antonoff. Proud of her…this album is great.
Thanks to my friend Kevin who definitely doesn’t read the newsletter so why am I even thanking him for showing me this ABBA album in Spanish. Incredible!
And thanks to my partner who does read the newsletter (hello slut) for being on the continued Amaarae horn — I hear you, I see you, she is one of the best doing it. Agreed!
Here are some reasons I have become a BRAT hater.
That is MY COLOR GREEN AND LONG HAS BEEN. NOW EVERY TIME I WEAR MY CHARTREUSE ITEMS OF WHICH I HAVE MANY OF PEOPLE SAY WOW SO BRAT CODED. NO IT IS NOT BRAT CODED BRAT CODED IS SHELBY CODED
Charli has made much better albums so it feels insincere that her explosion to new heights of fame is accompanied by one of her lesser musical outputs. For instance:
Attendant to that, because the substance feels hollow compared to previous work, the fanfare feels hyperbolic, inane, and misplaced. The obsession seems largely centered on vibes (not unlike Kamala our queen of having no policies but being BRAT, memes guys! memes matter!!!!! right???) And…the vibes are whack? What is BRAT? A USA Today article called “Kamala Harris embraces Brat Summer” (yep) sums it up as not acting like a bratty child (sounds fun!) but embracing green, arial font, dressing y2k-ish, indulging desires. I think? Wearing ugly shit and having The Cobrasnake follow you around is cringe, I’m sorry, maybe I am just old. You mean you want to wear Von Dutch and hang out with the man who would show up to my high school when we were teenagers and beg to photograph 14 year olds? The hell year is it!??
Anyways this is not Charli’s fault, an artist cannot control the reception of their work, nor the meme-ification of it. Also not Charli’s fault is the intense desire by the public and media (at least in online spheres) to give everything a name, to make everything easily consumable, hot girl summer, rodent boy summer, norm core, cottage core, glazed donut makeup. These are all monikers to make selling something easier, this is not a deep and true identification and means of connecting into a zeitgeist, this is a post-it note you’re sticking haphazardly to your back to signal flimsy allegiance and guess what so is McDonald’s and every war criminal asking you to vote for them. Ok in that sense I guess…we are all united <3
So yes. I’m a hater! Is that BRAT? Am I BRAT? Is Clem BRAT? Are rats BRATS? And yes, I watched some of the DNC and felt like I was losing my absolute mind. Maybe I will expound on that more but honestly hearing “fight song” played in earnest has shriveled away my remaining brain cell.
I am having a lot of fun with the Brat generator clearly but the only creator we need to care about at the moment is Xiaopang, here he is. As a treat for being absent for so long, here is definitive Clem size proof. You’re welcome! xoxo talk soon sweet subs!
