WTF happened on the internet this week?
People weighed in on Ayahuasca
Not heard of Ayahuasca? That’s probably a good thing. Knowing of Ayahuasca – the South American psychoactive beverage that makes you puke your guts up and feel something close to enlightenment – is normally indicative that you’ve had a nervous breakdown (or two). I’ve considered popping Costa Rica and ingesting some Ayahuasca, for example — fill in the gaps. Anyway! This week a video that appeared to show a load of white people experiencing the after-effects of Ayahuasca went viral over on X, inviting discussion on whether the whole thing is worthwhile, or a bit of a farce. “High anxiety millennials would rather go puke and shit their brains out on hallucinogens in the jungle than take responsibility for their lives,” said one user. The whole Ayahuasca debacle was interesting because while some responses did seem quite credible, it quickly descended into far-right nonsense, with a select few suggesting that the ritual has links to satanism. Better still, it turned out the people in the video hadn’t even taken Ayahuasca, but a frog venom called Kambo. The internet is a funny place, isn’t it?
We turned on Gracie Abrams
“her dad is literally a director and this is what her music videos look like?” reads one tweet in response to Gracie Abram’s video for “I Love You, I’m Sorry”, which resurfaced on the platform this week. Obviously, it snowballed from there. The clip – where it could be said that Abram’s delivery doesn’t exactly match up to the contents of the song – was compared to the “insufferable female lead” character coined by Instagram comedienne Delaney Rowe and used as an example of how unimaginative the contemporary indie music scene can be. Poor Gracie Abrams… At least she gets to shag Paul Mescal?
We hit peak Moo Deng saturation
Aww, Moo Deng! She’s so cute! She’s so slippery! She’s so naughty! No. I’ve had enough of Moo Deng. This week, I’ve even found myself wishing she’d bite a small child and get put down a-la Harambe. Who is Moo Deng? If you don’t know, count yourself lucky. In essence (if that’s even appropriate to say here — what is there to distil?), Moo Deng is a baby hippo that was recently birthed at Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo who’s been catapulted into superstardom because she’s a right silly goose that’s ripe for our contemporary meme cycle — namely, taking something that starts off quite nice, then shoving it down your throats (via memes and the like) to such an extent that when you glimpse Moo Deng, it incites a PTSD-esque trauma response. There isn’t really anything to say of Moo Deng other than you can’t go about five minutes without seeing her. We reckon that within the next few days (hours, even) she’ll be relegated to the meme graveyard, buried right alongside “demure”. Failing that, she’ll grow (obviously) and won’t be so cute. Did you know hippos actually kill between 500 and 3,000 people a year? No? Well, that’s Moo Deng’s future right there.
By the way, are there any kids that want to have a little play in Moo Deng’s enclosure? I just want to see something.
People went off at the Wuthering Heights casting
Everyone will remember where they were when Film Updates dropped the news about Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Starring as Cathy Linton will be none other than Margot Robbie – who’s too old, according to some users on the platform – and playing Heathcliff is Saltburn’s Jacob Elordi. The latter riled the online sphere up in particular because Heathcliff was described as “dark-skinned” in the book. As a result, Fennell’s upcoming film was accused of white-washing and there were even calls to “cancel the wuthering heights adaptation now”.
Our advice? Watch the adaptation Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank; American Honey) did. You’re welcome.
