Hey folks. It’s time for our second cultural weather report. Cyberethnographer, self-proclaimed dandy, and friend-of-the-pod Ruby Justice Thelot joins us to parse where the cultural winds are blowing this month, including the sudden ubiquity of the Labubu, and whether we should read the exploding popularity of these snaggle-toothed creatures as a form of IRL brainrot, an economic indicator, or proof of China’s rising status as a global culture producer. We also discuss why politicians are lifting weights in public, how romantasy became the new literary mainstream, memories of Y2K tech optimism (as experienced by Andrea while seeing the Backstreet Boys at The Sphere), and why more and more people seem to be using privacy screens on their phones.

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