Special issue alert!! I was writing an intro for a year-end story for work the other day and racking my brain for some lighthearted moments in 2024 pop culture, but there were simply too many to choose from. Amid the manifold horrors of the past year (which keep coming, btw), there have also been pockets of joy, shock, and delight.

There are plenty of pop culture moments that didn’t make the cut for my personal roundup (like Wicked and the Eras tour, no offense), but that’s because it’s my newsletter and what I say goes. Also, there are just so many things that get beaten to death on the internet by unfunny people trying to cash in on a viral sound or trend these days, and they lose their je ne sais quoi in literal hours.

That said, even though most of the below momes aren’t necessarily niche, they did delight or intrigue me enough that the incessant coverage did not fatigue me, I only leaned in harder.

Love Island USA 

Cast your mind back to a simpler time—the summer of 2024. I was mostly tip tapping on my iPad at the pool and drinking blue Gatorade from my beloved tumbler, but my evenings were dedicated to a runaway hit I don’t think any of us saw coming: Love Island USA. I’ve watched a handful of seasons of the original UK one (including my fave season with Molly Mae & Tommy Fury :(), but never heard good things about the US version until this year. I jumped on the bandwagon about halfway through, and got sucked in faster than the time we said we weren’t going to get a puppy but met Oswald and marched straight to the ATM minutes later. It helped that Maura Higgins and Ariana Madix were involved, but mostly I hadn’t felt that weekly (daily) show camaraderie since the first season of Love Is Blind or when I was watching The Bachelor with my friends. It was a masterpiece, it was endless cultural commentary, it was mind-numbing fun. If you haven’t watched and are in need of a lighthearted binge this winter, I believe it will bring you immense joy.

Moo Deng

Before Moo Deng was predicting the outcome of US political races (yikes), she was just a slippery, cherubic little gal. She’s been memed to all hell, but that doesn’t stop me from smiling contentedly when I think about her greasy little rolls. I don’t think we even need to anthropomorphize her to enjoy her—she need not actually be sassy, she just needs to bite her zookeeper’s leg and we’ll all lose our minds. She’s fallen out of the news cycle, but I hope her zoo still has plenty of cash to keep her fat and happy, and that she’s living the most regular life a hippopotamus in captivity could live. Love u, queen.

The Paris Olympics

My love for the Olympics is well documented, despite my not being a sports girl. It’s chock full of hot people, fascinating uniform designs, BTS of the Olympic village, and of course, the triumph of the human spirit. It’s also just fun to have going on the TV 24/7?? Some of my personal favorite moments/people from the past summer games: Ilona Maher (duh) and the US women’s rugby team, the chocolate muffin man, the track girlies doing a full beat for their races, Simone Biles just being the best girl, and Steven Nedoroscik and his pommel horse.

Saltburn 

I love a movie that sticks with me days (even weeks) after watching. Some examples in recent memory: Call Me by Your Name (I am separating art from artist here, okay?), Dune, Challengers, Anora, Oppenheimer. Come to think of it, I saw all of these in theaters… so maybe there is something to seeing movies there after all.

Anyway, Saltburn was literally perfect to me. I spent half the movie clutching onto my friend Celeste—particularly during the vampiric cunnilingus scene, my god—and the other half squirming in my seat with my mouth agape (positive). It was a visual feast, and how could we forget Barry Keoghan hanging dong?

People were all whiny about the length of the final nude scene and how it felt gratuitous, and to them I say: SHUT UP. Honestly, can we just have our little nude Irishman??? Can nothing be FUN anymore??

And that’s the thing about critiques of Saltburn—they’re too serious. This movie was just dark, horny fun, and Emerald Fennel actually bolstered it with smart storytelling and lots of foreshadowing Easter eggs. I watched it at least three more times after seeing it in theaters—an unusual thing for me—and I will cherish it always.

Domingo

”Came all this way / had to explain / direct from Domingo,” is an ear worm so powerful I don’t think I’ll ever dislodge it as long as I live. I will be 92 singing “but we did hook up thooooo,” and I feel good about it. I keep telling everyone who will listen that SNL is gearing up for a new golden age, and I do think Marcelo Hernandez is the one who will take us there. Of course, SNL did that thing it loves to do, repeating a sketch too soon after its initial success and therefore beating the joke into the ground, but we can all hold the original Domingo in our hearts, along with the first Lisa from Temecula and Pedro Pascal as the protective Latina mom.

Dancing with the Stars

Did I actually tune in to watch DWTS on cable every week? Absolutely not. But did I devour every single TikTok that came out of this recent season? Yep. Now I know every single pro and their relationships to one another (Val and OG Maks are brothers, Pasha and Dani and Val and Jen are both married with a baby, Sasha and Emma were engaged on the show, married, and now divorced, Mark Ballas’ mom trained Derek and Julianne as kids, etc.) and I’m personally invested in the romantic and platonic connections made this season. My algorithm is specifically tailored to show me every new video from Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber (god I hope they’re really dating), I slurp up Alan and Ilona content, and I grudgingly watch what Brooks and Gleb do just because I’m nosy. Living for it!!!

The Martha Stewart Documentary

Martha Stewart is the fucking best. Anyone who doesn’t like Martha Stewart is a misogynist loser and can go to hell. Okay, fine, you don’t have to like her, but you do have to respect her. I’ve been a fangirl of Martha’s for many years now, and there’s no bigger compliment to a modern homemaker who’s also a bitch than to call her “so Martha Stewart.” Pls, I’ll pass away! And by the way, let her be a bitch! She’s a BILLIONAIRE, and while I find billionaires morally objectionable, Martha gets a pass because she got there by monetizing a love of gardening and cooking and hosting?? What better way to subvert and profit off the patriarchy? They could never make me hate you, Martha.

The Final Season of What We Do in the Shadows 

Actually, I don’t think I can even talk about this. I’m utterly bereft over the fact that it’s ending, and idk if we’ll even watch the last episode for some time, because it’s that thing where if you don’t watch it, you can pretend it’s not over? It’s not often when a TV show is so funny and wam and ridiculous that it ends up in the rotation of background comfort shows (with the likes of The Office, Always Sunny, and Veep in this household), but we can watch this show until our eyes bleed, and never be sick of it. We also speak in Nandor’s voice and quote it so often that it’s part of our everyday vernacular. I will miss updates from these vampires more than I can even say, but I also respect ending something while it’s still on top.

The Reign of Brian Jordan Alvarez

Okay, was I the only person on earth who didn’t know Brian Jordan Alvarez is gay??? For some reason I really thought he had a wife and son (per his TJ Mack character) but I guess my gaydar has been smashed to pieces (and someone burned the pieces) because I was SHOCKED to find out he was dating a man. In fact, when I first watched his show, English Teacher, I was like hmm… interesting choice to play a gay man when he’s actually straight? But, rejoice! He’s a member of the LGBTQ, so my light suspicion of him vaporized and my heart made room to fully obsess over him and his little not-toned-but-not-not-toned belly gyrating to whatsthatsupposedtobeaboutbaby. Also, English Teacher might have been the best TV show of the year—we already watched it through three times, lol.

Brat

Duuuuuuuuhhhhh. Me and every other bitch had our worlds rocked this year when Charli XCX released an album so good it made my teeth hurt. Charli’s always been buzzing just below the surface of the mainstream, but she really did it with this one and finally got her flowers. Brat was, of course, one of my top-streamed albums on Apple Music this year (no, I don’t have Spotify because I’m still on the Apple Music family plan my dad pays for, kay?) because I played it on a hyperfixation loop for months straight. Charli is also just unfathomably hot, she’s engaged to a member of the 1975 (hello, crossover event!), and is bffs with Terry and Benny (IYKYK), soooo.

This Video of Veronika Is Cool and Role Model Singing Espresso

Guys, I seriously watched this TikTok a sickening amount of times when I first saw it. Something happens to my brain chemistry when I see Veronika sliver up off the rocks, and the way she annunciates “espresso” with a rolled “R” tickles me in a way I cannot explain. You know how people always ask what your death row meal would be? Well this might be my death row TikTok, even though no one asked for that. It’s so dumb and I love it SO much.

Honorable Mention Speed Round

Chappell Roan being generally unbearable as a person (srry), Challengers and the fact that we never got to see the main characters consummate (a SCAM), Jojo Siwa (or as Jeffery likes to call her, Jojo Sliwa, in the style of mayoral candidate and vigilante, Curtis Sliwa) and whatever the fuck she’s up to, Jacob Elordi’s heinous beard (never did I think I would despise facial hair on a man), the bizarre delight that was Poor Things and getting some shirtless Mark Ruffalo, Cowboy Carter which made me sort of a Beyoncé stan (who knew!), Baby Reindeer being a show I thought I would hate but I actually loved, the announcement of an Oasis reunion tour lowkey gave me the chills, Benito Skinner (Benny Drama) and Terry going strong, the lookalike contests and how the people yearned for an event in the town square, the return of Abbott Elementary even though the will-they-won’t they thing with Janine and Gregory has lost all steam, My Lady Jane being incredibly campy and hot and then getting cancelled for no good reason, Dune 2 and the new Max series that dives deeper into the lore, Troye Sivan’s TikTok presence and all the little dancey dances we got from him this year, and the horrifying train wreck that is the Costco Guys.

Need a gift suggestion for your mother-in-law’s birthday? Stuck on how to rearrange the furniture in your living room? Want to know what to do with a jar of marinated artichokes? Come to mama. Hit me up with your questions, and I'll answer them in an upcoming letter.