Unboxing, influencers and housewives
EARLY on in this pandemic, I made this wish that we’d listen to the nerds (scientists, researchers and data analysts) more than the influencers. We need to study the physical world, continue to understand it as things unfold and make informed decisions as we all try to deal with a virus.
Except, it seems for everything you believe in, you can find some kind of “expert” to support your point of view; they’re harassing doctors and health care workers in Cebu now and we’re still quite focused on the influencers. So much for that wish, at least for now.
Last week, geeks and gamers were aghast on how celebrity Matteo Guidicelli “unboxed” the PS4 he received. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone feel as unenthusiastic about receiving a PS4. He wasn’t a gamer, he threw pieces of the box on the floor and he ripped open the part of the box that had the warranty. He even mentioned he was more interested in the yet to be released PS5. His video currently has 14,000 upvotes and 71,000 downvotes.
If you’re part of a Marketing and PR team, you want to make sure your product and influencer are a right fit. He would have been a good fit for something automotive or sporty. For anything geeky, there would be so many other places to look.
On that note, it was pretty cool to see Alodia Gosiengfiao set up a home driving game rig via a clever time lapse video short on her Instagram. She carefully treated each piece of equipment and put together and calibrated the chair, pedals and steering wheel like an absolute expert. She presented the finished project to her dad on Father’s Day.
I’m still overloaded with so much news and current events that my mind can’t find the motivation to watch some of the new, relevant films out on the different streaming services. For starters, there’s Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s “Mr. Jones” — a thriller based on the life of journalist Gareth Jones who wrote about a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine during the time of Stalin. Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film, “Selma” which is about Martin Luther King’s march from
Selma to Montgomery in 1965, is available on several platforms for free along with other films covering the race issue in the US.
I also couldn’t focus on the new comedy out: “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” with Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams.
I’m ashamed to say, I’ve done something completely out of my regularly scheduled programming.
I watched the first season of “Real Housewives of New York.” I wondered, is this where my geekiness and brain cells go to die? Nevertheless, there may still be something that show is getting right — I found out it is already on it’s 12th season. The original Real Housewives show (Orange County) has 14 seasons. There are nine current US locations for Real Housewives shows, and a 10th was on the way prior to the pandemic. There are also over a dozen international locations for Real Housewives shows and over a dozen spin-offs!
For the NY ladies, status is so important. Invitations to parties, dinners, and events like fashion shows mean so much. It’s where new connections are made and old ones are reinforced. You have to keep up appearances, and network, and meet the Queen Bees of the circles you wish to infiltrate which is a lot of work. There’s this incredible need for status, to be seen and acknowledged.
I wonder how all these women are faring over quarantine. Have any fallen from grace? Have they fled to homes in Hamptons? Have any gone through a period of reflection, reckoning or crisis?
I guess while going through a time when days look alike, when ordinary chores or the daily woes or little joys becomes the news you report — it’s something to find this other, almost alien, world of silly gossip and soap operatic lives turning.