This movie trailer got caught using fake review quotes...why?!
These are the best things I found on the internet this week!
Hey newsletter friends,
Sorry for missing the Tuesday edition last week, I had an extremely busy (and exciting) few days reporting some stories for Forbes that are going to blow your all’s minds when they come out in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.
That absence gave me two weeks’ worth of content to choose from for my “conversation starters,” a round-up of the best, most interesting and most entertaining content on the internet. Don’t waste your time scrolling through the online abyss, I got all the best stuff right here for ya. Enjoy!
What’s the coolest story or thing you found on the internet this week? Reply to this email and shoot me a link. Would love to hear from you!
As you’re watching week two of the U.S. Open tennis, perhaps you notice all the broadcast cutaways to beautiful wives and girlfriends. For Forbes, I wrote about how those tennis-adjacent social media creators are capitalizing on the spotlight to make some serious cash. I spoke to Paige Lorenze (Tommy Paul’s girlfriend) and Ayan Broomfield (Francis Tiafoe’s girlfriend) about the boom in “tenniscore” as a fashion and lifestyle trend. Then I talked about the story on Forbes Talks.
This is one of the most bizarre controversies in the history of movie marketing. A new trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis showed quotes from negative reviews of his past movies that were apparently made-up. After Vulture pointed this out, Lionsgate apologized and pulled the trailer. How do you screw that up that badly??
At various times in this newsletter, we’ve talked about how important, and how difficult, it is to make new friends as an adult. One company has a creative solution in the 35 cities in which it operates — a pre-booked dinner with you and five strangers, matched up by the app and provided with ice breakers. One Axios writer in Denver writes up her experience.
From the department of Real Life Rom-Coms: She says she can talk with angels. He claims he communicates with a broad range of spirits and has a medallion which helps ward off spells and cure diseases. Oh, and she is the princess of Norway. Hallmark couldn’t come up with something this crazy.
I’m a firm believer that the key to becoming someone who reads a lot of books, “a reader,” is to feel free to quit any book at any time that’s slowing you down (another tip: when you finish a book, start a new one in the same reading session). Many people disagree with me here though, so The Atlantic takes the question head on: When is it okay not to finish a book?
As someone who is vocally all-in on the EV revolution (and is counting down the days until my car craps out so I can go electric) this story from Politico gave me pause. A side effect of mass adoption of electric vehicles is less gas tax, which is essential to maintaining roads and bridges (to the tune of $80 billion). The logical replacement would be a tax on number of miles driven in an electric car, but what politician can win an election after proposing that? It’s a slippery slope, leading to what some are calling a “fiscal cliff.”
In the latest example of irony winning the culture war, I present to you the hottest fashion trend in New York City this summer — jorts. Yes, those baggy, wide-legged, past-the-knee jean shorts. The Washington Post chronicles their resurgence in this “summer of slacker style.”
GQ’s Zach Baron, at this point basically the celebrity whisperer, got Brad Pitt and George Clooney to open up about getting older and the charmed life of movie stars, while sitting under a terrace in France overlooking a winery and a lake (must be nice).
Thanks for reading and sharing! On Friday we’re back talking movies, particularly the super indies of 2024 like Didi.