It's Tricky (This or That)
The Undoing of Thanksgiving
“This speech is my recital, I think it’s very vital
To rock (a rhyme), that’s right (on time)
“It’s Tricky” is the title, here we go…
[Chorus]
It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time
It’s Tricky… it’s Tricky (Tricky) Tricky (Tricky)
It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time
It’s Tricky… Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky”-Run DMC
While a record breaking Americans flew somewhere for Thanksgiving travel because they could not forgo one year of eating their mom’s dried up turkey and gross stuffing, I binged on TikTok, Twitter and HBO’s Undone.
My new favorite trend on TikTok involves the classic 1987 Run DMC song “It’s Tricky (this or that)” which was started to crop up a couple of weeks ago in my feed. The meme feature usually features two people who show their preference for a subject featured with the text on the top and they run towards their answer. Typically, each person moves to the side of the screen that corresponds with their preference. Then on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Kardashians got in the mix with Kylie and Kendall Jenner jumping on the trend showing their preferences with perhaps some self awareness. For awhile, TikTok was my Kardashian free zone, but now it is not.
What I find interesting about this trend is the following:
RunDMC is getting their props from GenZ. There are over 1.1billion videos created as part of the “It’s Tricky Challenge.” A good groove is just a good groove. Right now I am also seeing the trending sound of Grover Washington’s “Just the Two of Us” from 1981. From Break My Stride to Last Christmas to It’s Tricky, classic 80s tunes play well to the TikTok audience. Beat drops and heavy bass are a key ingredient to going viral and a lot of 80s tunes have that formula.
While the Kardashian sisters debate who is “an insta model” vs a “super model,” they are doing this on TikTok. (Jason Derulo also jumped in on the trend Friday.) Celebs are looking to jump on trending memes along with wannabe TikTok stars, brands and cats. (I argue the cats are ahead of the brands.) Even my girl Mikayla got into the trend showcasing makeup preferences. This trend has about another week and I still need to make a video with my cats.
All of this leads me to believe that despite this summer’s executive order, TikTok is here to stay.
Also on my radar:
Yes, I binged The Undoing and I don’t want to spoil anything for you but I will say that HBO played a practical joke on all of us. We are all conspiracists. For three days straight, I kept outlining all these theories and calling my friend Paul who is a screenwriter to discuss. (I blamed Rabe. He blamed Sutherland.) Watch it and let’s talk. Also, I didn’t care for the coats. Paul thought the direction was humorless and the acting terrible. I just can’t believe how old Hugh Grant is and it seems like yesterday I went to the movie theater to see Four Weddings and a Funeral on the UES. I miss movie theaters but I do like a limited series.
After binge watching the Undoing, I decided to unwind and check my twitter at midnight of Thanksgiving. Well that was a bad idea. I saw Donald Trump sitting at a tiny desk shouting at reporters and the trending #1 hashtag #DiaperDon. Then, Trump tweeted himself “for purposes of National Security, Section 230 must be immediately terminated” in what seemed to be his reaction to the trend. Aside from wondering why he was sitting in that tiny desk, I had to learn about Section 230. Here is what I learned: Crafted by Congress in 1996, Section 230 declares, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” As the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains, “It shields websites from legal liability for the material users post on their platforms. Section 230 also gives these sites the leeway they need to moderate content that violates their community standards.” This again, is a very tricky subject.
The Grinch has been reinvented for 2020. Today, Governor Cuomo said in his press conference, “COVID is the Grinch” this time of year, and “the COVID Grinch is an opportunist and sees this as the season of viral transmission.” Also, during the Macy’s parade, NBC released a teaser debuting Matthew Morrison as the Grinch is a new musical which upset a lot of people. Unfortunately, many Americans seem more afraid Matthew Morrison than they are of contracting Covid.
The ground breaking LGBTQ Christmas movie on Hulu Happiest Season is very entertaining although the ending is as messed up as the Undoing. She should have hooked up with Aubrey Plaza. Also, I watched the Dolly Parton special I discussed last week. The plot was more interesting than the songs.
George Clooney cuts his hair with a flowbee which I am not sure is good news for the salon industry.
On a personal note, I learned this week that two people I knew died this week. One was an old friend my hometown and the other was Zappo’s founder Tony Hseih. In response to Tony, my friend and digital anthropologist Brian Solis tweeted “The Web 2.0 world was a small community. Everyone knew and helped one another. Already successful, Tony Hsieh was always present, always active. He helped entrepreneurs, startups, big companies, and non-profits alike. His friendships were true and lasting.” Like many of you who are a part of this remarkable community, I got to know Tony over the past decade on venture boondoggles in Hawaii, touring Zappos with my colleagues at CES, late night SXSW conversations in Austin and even petting and feeding carrots to his alpaca Marley at his very cool DTLA trailer park. As many of us are isolated from friends and family, it is important to find happiness in tribute to Tony. “Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and vision/meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself).”
― Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose