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Young people are always finding new ways to blur the lines between irony and sincerity, the public and the private, and every thing else: TikTokers are using a caveman schtick to tell sad romantic stories; a Twitch streamer broadcast the birth of her daughter to her adoring chat; and young people are meeting a deadly serious political moment with colorful animal costumes. There’s also a new cartoon, for some reason, from Nintendo, and the rise of slopcore.
The Portland Frog and Chicken
The young people in Portland are changing the idea of what “protesting” means. In the days since the President declared Portland a “war zone” and a “never-ending disaster,” more and more young people have been showing up to protests dressed in colorful costumes. Frog guy was first. You can see him here, bravely facing down a cadre of heavily armed men:
before being pepper-sprayed for his trouble.
And then there’s the chicken guy, whose presence in front of an ICE facility provided important context to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s recent rooftop photo opportunity. “Our reality is beyond satire at this point,” Chicken Guy (aka Jack Dickinson) told The Atlantic. “So meeting it with absurdity…I guess that’s the idea.”
Frog and Chicken seem to have inspired others to meet ICE and the National Guard with absurdity (and colorful costumes), which might be the sign of a growing movement.
Protestors have been using ridiculousness to make their point since protests began, but the instant, worldwide dissemination of videos from Portland’s “front line” is fairly new. Images of heavily armed and armored law enforcement officers staring down Portland weirdos in unicorn and panda costumes makes a more compelling point than would clashes with radicals in ski masks—you don’t have to think very hard to know which side you’re on. And there’s something so Portland about the whole thing.
Twitch streamer Fandy livestreams her child’s birth
Austin based Twitch streamer Fandy is known as much for letting her 300,000 followers in on her personal life as she is for playing Overwatch, but the 30-year-old influencer cranked it up to 11 last week when she livestreamed her daughter’s birth. Fandy started streaming as soon as she went into labor, with 30,000 or so concurrent visitors on Twitch alone watching her deliver another human into the world. She even joked around with her chat in between breathing and contractions, and Twitch CEO Dan Clancy stopped by to offer congratulations. After a routine eight-hour labor, Fandy showed her child off to the world.
Her fans seem mostly happy to be included but some are questioning whether a live birth is in keeping with the streaming platform’s terms and conditions, and more importantly, if it was fair to the child who didn’t ask to be born and definitely didn’t ask to be livestreamed.
On the other hand, Fandy’s stream takes parasocial relationships to a new level, her fans seemed happy to be included, and who wouldn’t want to have 30,000 godparents?
Why are so many TikTokers talking like cavewomen?
It’s becoming cool on TikTok for young women to talk like cavewomen. Over videos labeled “POV: We’re Cavewomen and I’m Telling You About My Ex,” folks are spilling their guts about past relationships, while replacing “I” with me and generally leaving out articles.
The trend seems to have started when @em.brdly posted this video about she (sic) disastrous introduction to polyamory:
Others followed, detailing they bad experiences with young men:
What do you think so far?
But talk like caveman old! She make video talk like cavewoman “Karen” 2024:
He talk caveman 1991:
Like me say, more things change, more stay same.
What is “slopcore”?
Slopcore is the slang term for the countless 100s of millions of cheesy-looking, unsettling, AI-generated images, videos, and songs that have hit the internet since AI was given to the masses a couple of years ago. It also describes the uncanny, dreamy, slightly menacing vibe of all that slop. I did a deeper dive here, if you want to get further into the slop with me.
Viral video of the week: Nintendo teases…something
On Oct. 7, Nintendo posted this video on X with the caption “Close to You”:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
and no one knows why. There are no credits; there’s no logo. It’s just a baby chasing a pacifier. But because it’s Nintendo’s baby, the video has been streamed over 16 million times on X alone, and everyone seems to have a guess. Some theories:
The point is there’s no way to know and it could be anything. (But it’s Pikmin, because Nintendo has released a Pikmin game for every console since the GameCube.)
