A Child Culture Guide for Disconnected Adults: Who Really Won the Depp V. Heard Trial?
This week, nostalgia has taken over the Internet for young people, and all generations Y and Z have paid attention to the lawsuit involving former actor Johnny Depp and listened to the music of eternal singer Kate Bush. So, let’s get ready to get back to the present, Marty.
Heard vs. Depp lawsuit ended graciously
Everyone, everywhere, is talking about the end of the big stupid lawsuit, so let’s get it over with: this week, a verdict was reached in a dispute between 90s heartthrob, 2000s pirate and lavish squanderer Johnny Depp and actress Amber Heard. The lawsuit, which began in early 2005, ended on Wednesday with an outcome largely in favor of Depp. The jury found that Depp, star of the 2000s film The Man Who Cried, was slandered by ex-wife Heard in a 2018 Washington Post editorial in which she described her experiences as a domestic abuse survivor. did not name Depp as her abuser, and she provided well-documented evidence of her claims during her trial . Hurd’s counterclaim showed that Depp had slandered her as well. Both Depp and Heard seem pretty famous to me.
I studiously ignored this confusion from the start, so I’m glad it’s easier now. The verdict is seen as a justification by the worst people on earth (men’s rights activists, sexual abuse deniers, misogynists, etc.) and in fact it has quite far-reaching implications in terms of freedom of speech. But hey, the handsome actor is getting millions of dollars and it’s finally over, thankfully, so that’s a win, I guess?
Meet the cross-generational counterculture hero Nardvaur, a human serviette.
The other day my kid said, “Dad, you should see these videos from Nardvaur, the Human Serviette!” and it threw me back in time. Long-dormant synapses flared in my brain, and I remembered watching a 10th generation VHS rip in a friend’s crappy student apartment a long time ago in which an incredibly nerdy Canadian dude gave weird, touching interviews with alternative rock heroes like Henry Rollins and Kurt Cobain. This guy can’t still be around, I thought. But he is , and he is a hero for your children. Nardwaur videos on YouTube boast exponentially more views than pirated VHS tapes on earth – this dude has over 2 million YouTube subscribers.
These days, Nardwar interviews rappers like Kendrick Lamar , and singers like Billy Eilish , instead of Blur , but the formula hasn’t changed and the interview has the same magic I remember when: Nardwar dressed in mismatched plaids and bearing strange gifts, begins by asking everyone, “Who are you?” even if he talks to Jay-Z and then keeps asking about incredibly obscure details about his subjects’ lives, like the friends they had in 7th grade or the obscure records their father produced. Nardwuar’s absolute lack of polish or fashion leads to oddly touching and personal interviews that are about a billion times more entertaining than the usual “tell me about your new song” content. Long live Nardwar! Living proof that the only way to stay cool is to never try to be cool.
A new generation is becoming obsessed with Kate Bush
An encouraging sign for the future is that a whole new generation of smart, inventive, weird and wonderful kids is devoting a significant portion of their domestic real estate to Kate Bush. The mysterious “Running up that Hill” singer is gaining popularity on TikTok and Spotify, reaching #1 on iTunes and reaching the top 10 in 34 countries – not bad for a 1985 song! The resurgence comes through the use of the number in the new season of Stranger Things on Netflix. Known as a recluse, Bush stopped performing live in 1979, then played a few shows in 2014, and doesn’t license her music very often. Bush reportedly lent her song to the screening because she’s a fan – or as Stranger Things music coordinator says – Kate Bush isn’t going to talk to the press.
Lizard people are taking over TikTok
There is always a counterweight. It’s not just great things from the past that come up this week. The electronic generation is also delving into shitty, terrible things. Case in point: The weirder corners of TikTok talk about “reptoids,” a disturbing conspiracy theory that was last popular among idiots in the 1990s, when British sportscaster David Icke went crazy and started telling everyone that reptilian aliens rule the world. The new, amplified version of the story is spreading fast, with all sorts of videos popping up on TikTok claiming that famous people and politicians are actually space reptiles in fake human skins who want to eat babies. (I think so?) Joe Biden, Meghan Markle, Kamala Harris, Lady Gaga and Mark Zuckerberg are all reptiles anyway. (Perhaps they are right about Zuckerberg.) The “evidence” is mostly either videos with glitches in the feed (presumably the moments when the masks come off) or just footage of famous people having strange facial expressions – this video has been viewed by more than 1. 5 million people. once, by the way. All of this would be funny if it didn’t end up where all the conspiracy theories lead to: the Jews are to blame.
Viral video of the week: I survived on $0.01 for 30 days
YouTuber Ryan Trahan went viral this week for doing something good. His series of videos in which he tries to go around the country starting with just a dime is exactly the kind of exciting content you’d expect from a YouTuber, but Trahan encourages his growing audience to donate to legitimate charity Feeding America (I checked ).
In terms of content, the three videos posted so far are a tribute to the power of arbitrage and the possibilities of capitalism – anyone can do it in America – as long as they’re a handsome, charismatic white kid with boundless energy and confidence. I have no doubt that Trahan will end his cross country journey with pockets full of money and 1,000 more friends than I ever had. But hey, maybe he’ll get hit by a bus.Check out the adventure for yourself and donate some coin, why dontcha?