CIA Taps into Demons, Rapid Rise in Family Estrangement, Palestinian Tattoos Can't Be White Supremacist, The Best New TV Show...is About a Nursing Home (The Five for 11/21/24)
Plus, live-band hip hop takes off. Cameron Diaz un-retires from acting for a cool spy flick. Failed legal drama that blew up on Netflix gets a spinoff.
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter.
It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Trump’s appointments have been described as enjoying a following and level of commentary “roughly equal to the NBA draft,” as one Twitter user put it.
Most have flown by at such a rapid pace that it wasn’t possible for me to keep up. Ditto for Pete Hegseth, a Princeton grad, hedge fund manager and former Army major (who received two Bronze Stars for merit in combat in Afghanistan) who apparently hosted a weekend show on Fox News. For the record, I had never heard of the guy.
Hegseth originally got under the skin of liberals for promising to “anti-woke” the military on the Sean Ryan Podcast a month before Trump nominated him to be the Secretary of Defense…where he would have the authority to do just that.
Shortly thereafter, the media dug up the story of a woman Hegseth paid off after a rape accusation (a rape kit was deployed, and no evidence was found). Apparently both were drunk, and the woman’s husband and children were staying in the same hotel. Megyn Kelly has a pretty good breakdown of the situation. The self-proclaimed “Conservative Christian” will apparently screw anything with a pulse, as he’s on his third marriage, so there’s a lot of reasons not to like the guy.
But the dumbest controversy is over Pete’s tattoos. They are as follows:
1. Jerusalem Cross (we’ll deal with that below).
2.Deus Vult—a Christian rallying cry during the Crusades.
“We the People—if you don’t know what that’s from, please repeat 4th grade.
Don’t tread on my snake—also repeat 4th grade
The symbol of the 101st Airbone
The Jerusalem Cross is a traditional tattoo for pilgrims to Jerusalem. In fact, a 700-year-old tattoo shop (you read that right) in Jerusalem has been applying faith-based tattoos since the Bubonic Plague was ravaging Europe. The tattoo shop is older than the Ottoman Empire and the entire Aztek civilization.
Tattoos are outlined with ancient stencils, then hand-applied, not with modern tattoo guns, but needle pokes. And guess what they specialize in?
Made of olive wood, once yellow but stained black by centuries of ink, the stencil showed a Jerusalem cross above a connected olive branch, for life and hope, and a palm branch, for joy and happiness. The stencil was damaged but still of use for those who want just the cross without the star, three crowns and “Iervsalem” rendered in hand-carved type.
Looking across displays of books in Aramaic, written by the handful of Christian priests who still speak the tongue of the Nazarene, and needles for tattoos done by hand, still stained with the blood of Razzouk’s faithful customers, I had other questions, deeper questions that would go unanswered for months as I waited for the chance to speak to Razzouk himself. Vanja was quick to distract me. “So, you want tattoo?”
So…this “symbol of White Supremacy” has continuously been applied in the Middle East, by Palestinian Christians no less, since the fall of Ghengis Khan’s Mongolian Empire.
If you want to criticize Hegseth, then by all means, go for the fact that he paid off his accuser to save his job at Fox News. The three marriages are fair game too.
But the tattoo angle? That’s just stupid.
[two]
The Art of Manliness podcast dropped one of the most important and timely conversations this year, in an interview with Dr. Joshua Coleman, author of The Rules of Estrangement: Why Adult Children Cut Ties and How to Heal the Conflict.
"We’ve seen a fundamental shift from the traditional moral framework of ‘honor thy father and mother’ to a modern, individualistic view of relationships, where the emphasis is on personal happiness, growth, and well-being. In the past, children were expected to earn their parents' love and respect, fulfilling a sense of duty and obligation. Today, that expectation has flipped entirely; it’s now the parent who must earn the love and respect of their children, even throughout adulthood. This shift is part of a broader societal trend towards rising individualism, where relationships are viewed through the lens of optionality—if a relationship doesn’t meet one’s ideals for personal growth, it’s seen as an act of self-preservation to walk away from it.
This cultural change is further amplified by the role of modern therapy. Therapists today often lean heavily on concepts of trauma and emotional abuse, sometimes encouraging clients to go no-contact with parents. The expansion of what qualifies as abuse has significantly contributed to this dynamic. Thirty years ago, many of the issues labeled as emotional abuse or trauma today wouldn’t have been viewed as such. While it’s important to acknowledge the reality of harmful or toxic family relationships, the current approach often oversimplifies complex family dynamics. It can inadvertently steer individuals toward estrangement as a first step rather than exploring paths of reconciliation or conflict resolution.
There are undoubtedly legitimate reasons for cutting off contact—parents who are consistently abusive, manipulative, or toxic. However, the ease and frequency with which people are choosing to sever ties with family members is something new. It’s a product of this identitarian, therapeutic culture we find ourselves in, where the message is clear: if a relationship isn’t serving your ideals of happiness and mental health, then not only is it okay to end it—you should end it. This mindset may offer immediate relief or a sense of empowerment, but it often neglects the long-term consequences of such decisions, especially the deep pain and regret many parents experience when they are cut off from their children and grandchildren. The cultural narrative has made it easier to justify estrangement without fully understanding the broader impact on family systems and generational relationships."
This is an important angle on a growing trend…but especially vital, given how X, TikTok and YouTube are full of “family estrangement” videos, post-election.
So last night I told my mom and dad that because they voted for someone who wants me dead that they no longer have the privilege of having their daughter and their granddaughters in their life. And I told them, never contact me again. I'm never calling you. I want nothing to do with you. And take me out of the will.
I have a younger brother who is also a MAGA. I said, when you guys pass away, give him the entire house. I don't want to inherit your house. I don't want anything from you. I don't want to hear from you ever again. Because I'm no longer safe being in a relationship with you. Because I'm queer, I'm autistic, I'm like half disabled, I have Lyme disease and POTS and a bunch of other shit, and I'm bisexual, I have two daughters, and my husband's also bisexual, it's like, I'm no longer safe with people like you.
You'd be the first ones to turn me into the schnazies if shit went down here, so. I just, add to anyone in the comments that's gonna say, Oh my god, that's so terrible. The left is so hateful. You guys shouldn't be cutting off your family. You know what, I'm not gonna f******g go to Thanksgiving dinner with my family and look them in the eye and just play nice anymore.
Like, I'm done doing this. I have been Gaslit and neglected and verbally abused by my family for being different my entire life. And I've cut off all my aunts and uncles, anyone who voted for Trump, anyone who's a Christian in my family, I know they voted for Trump.
One of the most interesting trends of 2024 is the reversal on therapy—once seen as the only solution to society’s ills. Abigail Shrier’s book Bad Therapy (which I highly recommend) has hit the market hard enough that the entire topic is being revisited.
[three]
Ads are back in the pop culture spotlight again, both for bein so bad…and so good.
On the bad end of the spectrum is Jaguar, the sleepy luxury British brand who has fallen dramatically in sales recently, who decided to relaunch with…whatever that is you’re looking at above. It’s luxury, I suppose, but more Met Gala than anything the brand is classically known for. Tech founder Lulu Cheng Meservy put it this way:
Someone on the Jaguar marketing team has greatly overestimated the size of the “vegan barista who wants to roll up to the drum circle in a luxury sports car” market I fear
On the other side of things, Volvo dropped an ad by Hoyte Van Hoytema, a cinematographer who’s credits include Interstellar and Oppenheimer.
It’s crushingly beautiful, and as my friend Aiden said “I’ve never seen a commercial that actually wanted to make me go out and buy a product until now.”
Finally, Budweiser dropped and ad with comedian Shane Gillis that…makes fun of ads like Jaguar just put out.
Budweiser, which held the top beer spot for decades, is now the country’s third bestseller, due to the lingering effects of the Dylan Mulvaney boycott, which was accelerated when a Marketing Exec at the company described the brand’s image as “fratty” and “out of touch.”
Turns out, the staple Bud Light drinker didn’t take too kindly to a California-raised Harvard grad spitting on them. The brand is now working hard to win that group back.
Ads are now less sexy, controversial and aspirational, and more pro-family…and at the center of conversation the way sports and politics often are.
In other words, brands are now reaching out to the non-specialized groups among us…typical white collar and blue collar families.
The revenge of the normies is upon us.
[four]
Ben Affleck had the most interesting take on AI in Hollywood I’ve ever heard…TLDR, AI will not be replacing actors or screenwriters, but your favorite shows may come out faster:
Look, AI is a Craftsman at best. Craftsman can learn to, you know, make stick furniture by sitting down next to somebody and seeing what their technique is and imitating. That's how large video models, large language models, basically work. A library of vectors of meaning and transformers that interpret in context, right?
But they're just cross pollinating things that exist. Nothing new is created. Not yet. Not yet. Yeah, not yet, and really, in order to do that, look. Craftsman is knowing how to work, art is knowing when to stop. And I think knowing when to stop is going to be a very difficult thing for AI to learn because it's taste.
And also, lack of consistency, lack of controls, lack of quality. AI for, for this world of generative video is gonna do key things more. I mean, I wouldn't like to be in the visual effects business, they're in trouble. Because what costs a lot of money is now going to cost a lot less. And it's going to hammer that space, and it already is.
Um, and maybe it shouldn't take a thousand people to render something. But it's not going to replace human beings making films. It may make your background more convincing. It can change the color of your shirt. It can fix mistakes that you've made. It can make it, you know, you might be able to get two seasons of House of the Dragon in a year instead of one.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
OUT NOW: Landman, which appears to be creator Taylor Sheridan’s the spiritual successor to Yellowstone, debuted Sunday night to pretty strong reviews. The series follows the oil business in Oklahoma. Critics are praising Billy Bob Thorton’s strong performance. Ted Danson (Cheers, The Good Place), as a Private Eye checking himself into a nursing home to investigate the theft of a valuable piece of jewelry is a hit—A Man on the Inside is a comedy, but will also break your heart—and reviews are great. I watched an episode and a half last night…and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
MOVIES: Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, real life close friends for decades, co-star in a movie about real life fictional friends as one is dealing with terminal cancer. I don’t have enough free time to go watch some sad-sack Oscar bait, but if that’s your thing, The Room Next Door looks solid (trailer). Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. may reuinite for a third Sherlock Holmes film…as a script is now complete. Now that Venom 3 has flopped in theaters, it looks like Tom Hardy is getting back to standard action fare, with his next movie, Havoc, focusing on a detective trying to rescue a politician’s son, who’s being held by drug dealers. If you’ve got young kiddos, the live action remake of How to Train Your Dragon looks cool (trailer).
TV: The upcoming Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar, a fictionalized version of a woman who faked brain cancer to grow her social media following, looks fresh and interesting (trailer). Suits, which was so-so as a broadcast show but blew up on Netflix after being cancelled, will reboot on NBC this spring, which will be called Suits: LA.
MUSIC: Beyonce will perform at halftime during the Ravens vs. Texans game on Netflix on Christmas Day. She’ll sing. You probably won’t see it. Cause, you know. Buffering issues. Irish folk/punk outfit The Pogues will carry on without their singer, iconic vocalist Shane MacGowan, who died in 2023, playing six live dates to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their breakthrough album, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. Given that Glen Hansard of The Frames and the indie-musical Once filled in on vocals at MacGowan’s funeral (seriously, check this out)…he’s likely a live replacement. I wouldn’t say no to a new Pogues album with Hansard singing…
VIDEO GAMES: Game of the Year nominees dropped, and include: Astro Bot (Ps5 exlusive), Metaphor: ReFantazio, Final Fantasy 7, Balatro, Eldentree: Shadow of Endtree, and Black Myth: Wukong (all multi-platform). I may get to try one or two of these when the youngest hits Kindergarten. For now, my “free time” is mainly diapers and dishes…
Cameron Diaz (Charlies Angels, There’s Something About Mary), who is coming off a 10-year acting break to focus on family, is joined by Jamie Foxx (Dreamgirls, Django Unchained) for what is essentially a Mr. and Mrs. Smith remake. Only this time, the spies-coming-out-of-retirement have teenage kids. Looks like a LOT of fun. On Netflix 01/17.
uhhh…wut? British pop star Robbie Williams is at the center of a biopic, but with a CGI monkey playing the lead character. I’m not into British pop, so I have no idea what band Robbie was in, nor am I familiar with his solo music. But hey, it’s directed by the guy that did The Greatest Showman, so maybe this works? In theaters this January.
[new music]
Let’s explore the 2024 trend of live band hip hop…
Tennessee-based indie rapper nobigdyl. just dropped one of the best hip-hop albums of the year—a 20-song live project with a full band, backing vocalists…and not one sound made on a computer to be found. The project was clearly inspired by Jay-Z’s 2001 Unplugged album, a fact ‘dyl acknowledges by mimicking Jay’s iconic intro “You could have been anywhere int the world, but you’re here with us tonight.”
I’m still digesting this album, but at press time it’s in the running as one of my favorites of 2024.
Washington D.C. rapper Noochie has been around since 2012, but has made waves this year thanks to the virality of an interesting take on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series with Live From the Front Porch, ion which the rapper hosts a series of videos that are a mix of his own songs, and a cadre of guests from pop, R&B & hip hop. Check out the full playlist here.
[read & learn]
If you don’t know John Deloney, he’s a popular YouTuber and radio host with the Dave Ramsey network. There are a LOT of garbage self help books out there (see story #2 in this issue), but Deloney’s book Building a Non-Anxious Life is a pretty good primer on navigating a noisy world flooded with mental inputs (social media, YouTube, email, blah blah blah), and dealing with the alarm bells in your head that we all seem to be dealing with.
Well, this is a complicated, yet fascinating, topic to dive into. Former Navy Seal and uber-popular podcaster Sean Ryan (and, oddly enough, John Deloney’s real-life neighbor, by coincidence—see above) converted to Christianity after taking the hallucinogen Ayahuasca.
Needless to say, Sean is open to discussing the paranormal, and his deep dive into the CIA’s Project Stargate, with an alleged “remote viewer” who has a proven track record of tracking down people using just her mind, and no outside info…appears to be legit.Where that ability is coming from is another matter. I’m not particularly surprised at the government’s participation in the literal demonic…
Until the next one,
-sth