This week’s largest occasion was the Tremendous Bowl. Whereas the sport was a snore-fest harking back to the lopsided Tremendous Bowl blowouts of the previous, the halftime present was nothing just like the performances of Nineteen Eighties Tremendous Bowl favorites “Up with Folks.”
If you happen to evaluate the 2 performances (and it is best to), you will see how far we’ve come as a society.
Kendrick’s denims win the Tremendous Bowl
Tremendous Bowl 2025 might have been extra of beatdown than an thrilling soccer sport, however fortunately Kendrick Lamar was round at halftime to offer some a lot wanted drama. From “Uncle” Samuel L. Jackson offering a preemptive critique of the present from “mainstream” America, to Serena Williams crip strolling for extra complete yards than the Kansas Metropolis offense, to the copious Drake-baiting, plus some provocative, well timed questions on what “America” means anyway, all of it carried out in entrance of the sitting president himself, it was loads.
However even nonetheless, Kendrick’s denims stole the present.
Debates over jean size and magnificence have been very important a part of youth tradition since ceaselessly, and Ok Dot’s selection of washed, boot-cut denims—flares, even—marks a turning level. For the previous couple of years, youngsters have been sporting big, Jnco type denims dug up from the mid-Nineteen Nineties, typically accented with some chrome studs, however Kendricks “free match on prime; wild on the ankles” type is destined to be the must-wear minimize for the foreseeable future.
Hopefully youngsters will take word that Kendrick’s denims are the suitable size, and never do this “so lengthy it is draggin’ on the bottom” factor that was in style the final time individuals wore bell-bottoms. As for the way forward for denims, search for the return of thin denims; it’s inevitable.
“What’s a father?” memes take over the web
On-line wags lately rediscovered an previous clip of an interview with deceased rapper XXXTentacion, and so they have been turning out hilarious memes utilizing it on X, TikTok, and all over the place else ever since. The unique video was launched in 2022 by TheFader. In it, XXX is requested “Do you have got any relationship together with your father?” He responds “What’s that? What’s a father?” and there is one thing so performativly poignant about it—so real-but-so-fake—that the second defines cringe.
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The web piled on after the preliminary publish on X, with the consensus that XXX was corny. Then there have been makes an attempt to recreate the clip as precisely as potential:
And plenty of memes the place XXXTentacion fails to know different easy issues, like showers and jobs.
What does “reheating your individual nachos” imply?
“Reheating nachos” or “reheating your individual nachos” is an evocative piece of slang that comes from on-line fandom and beginner cultural critics. It’s used to consult with performers and/or artists, and it means one thing like “making an attempt to recapture what was good about earlier work.”
It is normally meant as detrimental criticism—nachos are usually not almost as scrumptious when reheated—but it surely’s potential to efficiently reheat your individual nachos too. As an illustration, many followers of Girl Gaga regard her new single “Abracadabra” as reheated nachos—it is obtained the identical digital beats, wordplay, and catchy refrain of her finest work—but it surely’s thought to be superior by many, resulting in the suggestion that she made the brand new nachos as scrumptious because the previous ones and/or created new nachos from her previous recipes. Like an excellent nacho cheese pull, it is potential to stretch this idea fairly far.
What does “boombayah” imply?
The slang time period “boombayah” is a euphemism for having intercourse, typically phrased like “doing the boombayah.” It is used principally on-line, typically to defeat censorship algorithms, so it is not the type of phrase you are more likely to hear stated aloud.
The phrase originated with Ok-Pop band BlackPink’s 2016 tune of the identical identify however has solely lately caught on broadly, first inside the fandom of Squid Recreation (because of this video), from whence it unfold to everybody else.
Everybody hates “Influencer Smurf”
Few issues engender as passionate a response as reboots of beloved childhood media. When the brand new model of the previous factor is finished properly, individuals completely find it irresistible, just like the response to the current Tremendous Mario Bros. film. However when it is executed poorly, the vitriol is off-the-charts.
So it’s with the upcoming Smurfs film. The plot, through which the Smurfs should enter the true world for some purpose, is seen as lazy, apparent, and likewise the identical because the story for the fairly poor 2011 stay motion Smurfs film. However there is a particular hatred for one character within the trailer: Influencer Smurf. His line within the trailer (“Smash that subscribe button!”) and his smug look are seen because the worst type of pandering, and a determined bid to create fashionable relevance in the obvious approach potential. “Influencer Smurf will result in a catastrophic occasion in July,” sums up one Reddit poster.
On the optimistic aspect of The Smurfs reactions, individuals just like the casting of John Goodman as Papa Smurf. So there’s not less than one thing good to say. There’s additionally the truth that Smurfs have been by no means something however horrible, and folks solely preferred Smurfs within the first place as a result of they have been 5 years previous. A brand new generations of 5-year-olds is primed to fall in love this summer time when The Smurfs is launched. Once more.
Viral video of the week: Doug’s winter occasion
This week’s viral video is so healthful you possibly can’t assist however find it irresistible. Taken by a Ring doorbell cam, Doug’s Winter Occasion paperwork 85 year-old Doug visiting his neighbor Michelle to ask her and her household to his occasion. “Hello, I am Doug throughout the road over right here,” Doug says. “That is an invitation to a celebration on February 15. I didn’t need to depart it within the mailbox.”
That might be pretty cute—perhaps a 5 on a 10-point adorability scale—however Michelle follows with a video displaying off the paper invitation, the place Doug writes the occasion is from “4 p.m. till the cops arrive.” That shoots it as much as 11.
An invite to Doug’s winter occasion is now essentially the most coveted ticket on this planet (or on the web, anyway), with many angling for a spot on Doug’s visitor checklist and making an attempt to impress with the dance strikes they’re going to convey. We are able to all solely hope that no bizarre strangers really present up. No one needs that, least of all Doug.
