Recording of our panel event on independent publishing with Clem MacLeod, founder and editor of Worms Magazine, Hope Ndaba, Communications Executive at Picador and Macmillan Collector's Library and artist Stephanie Francis-Shanahan.
Hello friend,
We hosted our first event last Thursday, joined by three brilliant speakers in the publishing space! In case you were busy grilling your skin under the sun, you can listen to our conversation in the audio clip above. We talked about authenticity, community building, how to create revenue outside of selling copies of our magazines and books, and why we bloody love being in the publishing space despite all its ups and downs.
Thank you again to Clem, Steph and Hope for joining us and we hope you find our conversation useful!
Now without further ado, let’s get into this week’s newsletter.
WYR be the daughter who embarrasses herself on Love Island or be the father watching it?
Georjia: This is such a tough one! I had to ask a few friends on their thoughts to help me figure it out. There’s another layer to watching your child be humiliated - you’d become a mama/papa bear instantaneously I’d hope, but also secondhand embarrassment sometimes feels worse than regular embarrassment. When you humiliate yourself, you can at least make a joke out of it so I’d rather be humiliated on TV than have my child do it. I know how ruthless people can get and I think it would hurt seeing your child get made into a meme or the laughing stock.
Klaidas: So as we know, most people have road rage and well, I have TV rage, so seeing someone I know or anyone related to me get humiliated on TV would have me raging at the TV. Personally I’d rather be in the situation as I would be able to have control of it and I wouldn’t feel so helpless.
Annika: From a utilitarian point of view, I feel like less harm would be caused if I was the father watching it, because I have an infinite amount of compassion for everyone but myself. If I was the daughter embarrassing myself on TV, on Love Island out of all places, the memory would haunt me for the rest of my life. I can also guarantee that my shame would be larger than the second-hand embarrassment of everyone in my family combined, so in the name of harm reduction, I’d rather be the father watching my daughter humiliate herself on TV.
WATERCOOLER CHATS
Have you been busy reapplying sunscreen instead of checking Twitter? Making sure your burgers don’t burn on the grill while news sites keep churning out articles to keep those click rates high? No worries friend, we got you.
Here are our favourite headlines you can bring up during conversations you’d rather not have as the British weather returns to its normal state:
Some poor (but probably also well-deserved) soul has to live with the shame of Tom Hanks snapping at them and telling a group of paparazzi to fuck off when they bothered his wife - an outburst big enough to make the rounds on Twitter and apparently various news outlets.
The internet and conservators lost their minds over the news that Marilyn Monroe’s dress was officially destroyed after Kim K wore it to the MET Gala, with even some of the crystals missing…
Following up on our post sharing the humiliating defeat of Piers Morgan, we can now report that he’s officially lost 90% of his audience since opening night, and as reported by Pop Bitch: “A couple of weeks ago the Telegraph ran a piece suggesting that Murdoch's finger has started hovering over the kill switch.” Maybe they’ll discuss it over a pint as Murdoch currently finds himself in London.
In a bit of an unexpected headline, Ed Sheeran’s back to gifting people giant penis sculptures. An article in the Metro reads:
The singer, 31, began by buying singer Anne-Marie a giant phallic sex toy for her birthday, with the 2002 star revealing on Celebrity Juice in 2018: ‘He got me the biggest dildo available.
‘He said, “I’ve got a present for you, come in here!” and I was like, “don’t tell me it’s a dildo?” And it was…’
In case you need a ‘head empty no thoughts just vibes’ moment of peace today, have a look at our favourite Twitter thread of Wendy Williams’ most iconic moments as her show is coming to an end:
CRINGE MEME
Not politically or socially relevant, but here’s a video of President Biden falling off his bike:
That’s it for this week! Feel free to let us know what cringe content, memes, and headlines you’ve been enjoying lately. Until then, we’ll see you in your inbox next Sunday!
Your Cringe Team x
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