billionaire beef and chicken drip
+ princess nails, first-person POVs only, and the return of morkovcha
Ashe on the intro this week - and hey… doesn’t this June look a lot less colorful from our corporations in the West?
Honestly, for me, all this is juxtaposed by how fun pride looks back home this year, with Bangkok Pride going all out. I think I’m experiencing FOMO this year; stuck at my desk studying for exams.
It’s pride month and the usual barrage of rainbow logos seems to have been thrown out by many companies since it’s not profitable under the current… *ehm* political landscape. Exactly like how everyone who criticized rainbow-washing and rainbow capitalism said they would. 🤷
🗞️News
🍴The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 - the 100 to 51 revealed
🍴Theo James just opened an Italian resto in London, meanwhile The Ritz named best in the UK (could do a lunch menu for £92)
🎾 French Open: Alcaraz wins the longest tournament final in history - second longest grand slam ever - against world No. 1 Sinner. Gauff defeats No.1 Sabalenka and becomes first American since Serena Williams to win at Roland-Garros.
👟 Tyler The Creator collabs with Converse for the The 1908 Program: archival Converse with the le FLEUR* sauce.
👜 Pharrell x Jeremy Allen White: the Bear star is the new face of Louis Vuitton
🍿 First trailer for Wicked: For Good - direct sequel and final installment of the Wicked film duology - here.
🎼 Lil Wayne drops Tha Carter VI: back with the mixtapes that shaped 2000s hip hop.
🎮 Switch 2 is out, but not everyone is switching. With reviews are pouring in, the average verdict seems to be: your old one is fine - but you won’t be getting the newer games. + a viral durability test striking up online controversy. + Xbox reveals Xbox handheld after a decade of waiting - three days after the launch of the Switch 2. Oof.
🎮 Capcom, you jokester: said they’ll be ready to share info on Resident Evil 9 ‘pretty soon’… and then revealed it half an hour later.
🧂Trends
Billionaire Beef
Talk of the town the past week? Dubbed their ‘break-up’, Elon and Trump had a very public argument on X - and through interviews - over the US’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Musk criticized the bill and the people who voted for it, Trump called Musk petty, Musk said Trump only won the elections because of him, Trump said he’s cutting funding for Musk’s endeavors, Musk called him a pedophile. Word is, Musk apologized and deleted the tweets.
Ok, we’re grossly summarizing and simplifying - you can get the deets here.
This was sort of like a 2025 pseudo-political ‘Bye, Sister’. Naturally, it’s been meme’d to death: “the girls are fighting”.
Fried Chicken
Aries has collaborated with KFC on a collection full of ‘drip’.
“The idea of reverence, ritual, and indulgence evoked the spirit of a Roman feast and a celebration of excess.” Hm.
“Princess Nails”
It’s short, sheer, pinky-nude nails that’s got its grips on the trend cycle right now. Inspired by royal beauty protocols (yes, like Kate Middleton), these manicures are allegedly about emulating ‘quiet luxury’ and low-maintenance glam royalty style.
How are these truly any different than any other sort of clean girl nails? Don’t look at us, the internet likes coming up with new names for the sake of novelty.
Viral Carrot Salad
Dubbed as a way to “eat your retinol” (dermatologists say ‘not in a literal sense’) - shredded raw carrot salads are back on the menu thanks to foodtokker Cassie.
We’re quite certain this was a huge deal a year ago too: dubbed the “Russian” or “Korean” carrot salad. Cassie’s version with ribboned carrots seems to be reminiscent of this - known as morkovcha, a variant of kimchi from the Koryo-saram cuisine.
Ditching Third-Person Narratives
The kids apparently can’t read third-person books: first-person only. Some blame BookTok promoting popcorn slop books over literature in the hopes of upping overall interest in reading; but Ashe thinks the issue is something else.
There is a huge difference between preference and… well, inability. It’s hyperbole, but even then, it seems (based on the heavy X discourse) that what people ‘can’t read’ isn’t ‘third-person’ narration, but specifically third person omniscient. It seems to rattle people who are more familiar with following a character’s psyche and POV; readers say the narration seems too ‘convoluted’ and that they can’t ‘empathize with characters’. And honestly, regardless of anti-intellectualism being on the rise, and ChatGPT summaries being more rampant than the ‘just read the SparkNotes’; it’s can take some getting used to for those who haven’t been exposed to it as much.
Plus, people just don’t know what narrative point of view is anymore; cause people clearly love third person limited books on Booktok. It’s ok, not everyone was paying attention during literature classes - or has the bandwidth to remember that info still.
This week’s PTS was a little short, we know. Our lovely writers are stuck between pre-summer deadlines and work - probably just like you. We’d rather give you a shorter rundown than not at all; so you know we’ll keep you seasoned as much as possible.