11/22/23

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, November 22nd.

National Jukebox Day.

I chose this for a reason. Because listen, I know this is controversial but I’ve made the decision to decorate for Christmas today. It’s a whole thing of why, but I’ve decided to do so which means that this evening I will be turning on, for the first time this year, my Christmas playlist.

And that is VERY exciting, for me.

And for Kelly Clarkson, who is about to get so many residuals from me (vaguely. Singers don’t get that much from streamers, but she’s got a dang voice for Christmas so she’s gonna be on repeat.)

And now, the news.

Israel-Hamas War

-via CNN

Let’s start with the Israel-Hamas war, where Qatar is hoping to announce a deal to release several of the hostages Hamas has held since October 7th in exchange for a pause in the fighting.

The deal would release 50 women and children in exchange for a 4-to-5 day cease fire. Sources also say that three Palestinian prisoners would be freed for every civilian hostage released.

The deal is set to be announced any minute now, so just… if there’s no record scratch there that means it went through.

Hey! Look at that.

#TwitterDrama

-via NBC News

X, the company formally and honestly still known as Twitter, is suing Media Matters over a report that said Nazi content ran on the app along ads from major corporations.

To white Elon Musk said – whoa whoa whoa – no no no, those are just my tweets. Can certainly see why you’d be confused, and frankly it’s an honor, but no no – that’s just classic Elon. Elon unplugged.

HE DID NOT SAY THAT.

But you know… some could look at his tweets and read, you know, not even between the lines. Just like, read the lines, read the words, and, you know…

Anyway, not trying to get sued.

This news broke while Texas AG Ken Paxton, who just recently avoided impeachment in the state, is investigating Media Matters to, “ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square.”

Kenneth, as someone not healthy enough to cancel my account yet, I can assure you, my guy, that it’s not the radical left that’s getting a leg up there.

This is real – I’m working on something I’m not ready to announce yet, but in prep I signed up for a twitter account under the name. Not because I want to be on Twitter, but just because I want to make sure people know about this next new silly little Kim idea.

There is exactly one tweet on this account. It’s a tweet about the Morning Show. I don’t follow anyone. No one follows me.

The only two notifications I’ve gotten are from an accounted called Donald J Trump News and one is asking if people agree WITH ELON all 50 states should mandate a voter ID (I do not. And many a court agrees). The other is asking is people support ELON’S call for the Epstein client listen to be released.

These are the pushed tweets.

I say again… Paxt – the radical left is not who’s taking over Twitter.

Missouri’s AG, Andrew Bailey, is looking into Twitter for the same thing.

The tweets are coming from within the white supremacist.

Allegedly.

…I’m never calling that site X.

Taylor Swift’s Brazilian Tour

-via NY Times

I want to talk for a second about Taylor Swift’s tour in Brazil. But if you heard that sentence and thought “I’m gonna skip forward a few seconds,” please don’t. Because this isn’t a story about Swift, but a story about what’s happening in Brazil.

So first, here in North America, her tour was record-breaking. Feel how you want, the fact is in ticket sales, in movie ticket sales, in merch sales, audience numbers, all of it… this is a record-breaking tour.

Following that, she began the international leg. As someone who has never been to Brazil, but met a lot of Brazilians as a tour guide at Warner Bros, I can assure you – Brazilian fandom is different. And perhaps the best example of this is that she was welcomed to Brazil by a projection of a shift she wore in one of her music videos on the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

But first of all – it’s very hot in Brazil right now, with a heat index of 139 degrees. And with that insane amount of heat - Time for Fun, the company managing the event, didn’t let people bring in water. They also sold 6.7 ounce cups of water for 4 times the regular cost. Also, ahead of the show on Friday, for some reason Time for Fun put wooden planks over areas of air flow. So now there’s no air, no water, and 139 degree temperature. And that’s just the stadium. That’s not the days that some people waited in line because the venue had such a large GA area for standing.

And those are the circumstances that lead to the death of one fan on Friday.

And I bring this up because one: this is news. A poorly regulated concert venue dead to the a death at a concert. But also because… it’s just so sad. And by the way, none of this has anything to do with Taylor Swift. She stopped her show multiple times to get water for people who were asking for some.

But after this young woman, this young concert-goer, died, the Saturday show was delayed until Monday because of the heat. Like, even the videos of Taylor trying to perform in the heat are awful. And people were furious about the delay.

And again, this is news, this tour is huge so this is news, whether you’re a fan of hers or not. But it’s also like… worrisome. Her boyfriend’s mom has to have security right now, while she’s in public.

This… just does not feel safe.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Yeah, that’s the story I’m ending on. I’m sorry! But it is. No getting away from it. Not only is it the story I’m ending on, it’s the last story before my little holiday break.

That’s right. It’s Wednesday, so I’ll be taking a few days off. I’ll be back Tuesday. Not even Monday, Tuesday.

Hey, we stay proud of Kelly Clarkson. I’m telling ya – voice of Christmas.

And speaking of – we are often proud of Hannah Waddingham here, but particularly today because her AppleTV Christmas Special is out today. Not an ad, no one paid me for this. They could, should they be so inclined, but until that day, and long long after, we just know this special, and resulting Christmas album, are going to be so great.

But more than… cranberry sauce, it’s also cranberry sauce day, because you make or break any event… I’m proud of you.