Hello lovely readers, simps, and enemies! Happy New Year! I know you’ve all had your busy and fulfilling lives on pause waiting anxiously to scroll through my thoughts, rambles, and links to share. Have no fear, here they are. Also I am sure you are still incessantly pondering one of life's biggest mysteries: what size is my dog today?
Hmm. A bean? One bean?
I’m getting back into writing regular essays and commentary for the…fourth year? Fifth year? Of Please Clap. Wow! It’s been a journey. Feel free to send over thoughts and suggestions for what you want to be reading in here or what you miss about ME and MY DOG since we are no longer on social media (my brain thanks me so much)– kidding but it would be awesome to know what makes this worth it for you as I am here to make your inbox just a smidgen brighter, truly!
M&M’s Finally Take A Stand:
Breaking news, for me, extremely out of the Discourse Cycle: still thrilled about the new addition to the canon of Brands Caring About Women. In esteemed company with such innovations as Bic for Her and the McDonalds sign being turned upside down into a “W” for, uh, women, please welcome:
Look the M&M’s (the female ones) are upside down…because Mars Corporation…is flipping the status quo. Someone got paid so much for this concept.
The press release has more details which are really an excellent insight into “brands using buzzy-ish words to make an alphabet soup of meaning,” see below:
A fresh, modern take on the looks of our beloved characters and more nuanced personalities to underscore the importance of self-expression and power of community through storytelling
An enhanced focus on the brand's iconic color palette and the use of different shapes and sizes of M&M'S lentils across all touchpoints to prove that all together, we're more fun
An added emphasis on the ampersand – a distinctive element within the M&M'S logo that serves to connect the two Ms –to demonstrate how the brand aims to bring people together
An updated tone of voice that is more inclusive, welcoming, and unifying, while remaining rooted in our signature jester wit and humor
I, for one, aways look to M&M’S when I want to see the importance of self-expression and power of community through storytelling. And of course, that signature jester wit! But updated!
Anyways being truly outraged by this, in the Tucker Carlson style or in the naive “can’t believe brands would do this performative shit or whatever” vein is a waste of time. Alas. Here I am. All clicks are good clicks, whether in support or in ire, and that is what is perhaps darker here, that the female M&M packet can be designed with controversy in mind—the inevitable pushback to the hollowness of it, and on the other hand, the total seriousness in which it’s taken by some to be a sign of the times, an omen, culture war gone too far. That’s simply good marketing!.
Things I have liked, or not liked, reading and watching recently:
Health Communism – not finished with this yet but it’s great so far!
Rereading Stormlight Archive. Do you have a favorite fantasy series I haven’t mentioned? Email me please!
Also read some Sarah J. Maas – smutty fantasy. So so fun.
Some of my favorite novelsI read in the past year: Revenge of the Scapegoat, Heaven, The Silk Road, Preparation for the Next Life.
I watched: The Glass Onion. My esteemed take? Too Many Types of Guys. Exhausting. I also watched White Lotus and frankly find the season of Survivor that Mike White went on more fun. I loved Andor, because I am unique and different.
Best thing I’ve been watching recently (thank you to the person who introduced me to this, and also explained to me, god bless):
Oceanic corner:
The Mysterious and Utterly Engrossing Search for the Origin of Eels
Downward Spiral: The nautilus’s lineage made it through all five of Earth’s previous mass extinctions. But can it survive the Anthropocene?
Two totally unrelated screenshots I found on my desktop:
It’s weird to say “happy to see you all again” when I am writing into the void and can only see my own reflection in the screen (Narcissus, Black Mirror, my muses) but, miss you guys, happy to be back, drop me a line or send me a carrier pigeon, hope you’re doing okay in these continual hell times, xoxo.
shelby (and clem)