PULP: ISSUE 17 2024

PULP

Burwood Literary Institute A

the with Night

Falling-star Disease

Jesse Carpenter

Only in am I whole. longing,

Article Talk

From Wikipedia, the free love encyclopedia

Insensato Coração (Irrational Heart) is a Brazilian telenovela produced and broadcast by Globo that frst premiered 17 January 2011, replacing Passione. It is a hard thing to replace, passion, but apparently Mike can fnd it with every early twenties, eyebrow-pierced jazz listener. You don’t have to replace Passione, it’s so much easier to replace Me. I have been so nonchalant and sexy and really super casual so genuinely what does he want? Irrational heart in the fesh I say. Irrational Heart the telenovela is created and written by Gilberto Braga and Ricardo Linhares. It revolves around unreasonable attitudes and the consequences generated that threaten to change the course of many lives. This action-flled, thrilling telenovela follows the ferce relationship of brothers Pedro and Leo Brandão. But what it really is all about is that all you have to do to replace Passione is stop fucking me.

Cast [edit]

1. Mo as Shunned Woman[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

2. Mike as Villain[8][11][12][13]

3. Lily as Anti-hero[14][15]

4. Gabriel Braga Nunes as Leonardo Alencar Brandão (Léo / Armando / Fred / Wilson)[8][16][17]

5. Deborah Secco as Natalie Lamour (Natalie Batista Cortez) [8][18][19][20]

Laurie Ann (L. A.) Paul is a professor of philosophy and cognitive science at Yale University.[1] She is best known for her research on the counterfactual analysis of causation and the concept of “transformative experience.”[3][4] Mike. Mike is the causation of my transformative experience, trust me on that one. Even when I had to fnd out from LILY’S HINGE THAT HE TRIED TO MATCH WITH. A bottle of Jacob’s Creek and I can present more counterfactual analysis

Coordinates: -33.889438, 151.190852

on how Mike’s inability to feel contentment leads to a constant sense of wanting something better2 Should I cite my sources? [ME][ME][ME] Hey LILY, wanna deal with all that cause he’ll get bored soon, I’m bored he’s bored you’re bored match with him don’t match with him delete Hinge and then download it on Saturday I’m so bored of all of it. Can someone tell me she’s not pretty, that all the girls arenrt pretty. No tht’s so bad I’m not mad ather I’m not a bitch I promise I’m so not she’s like stunning and so sweet and a bit boring but omg love her. Maybe Mike wants his own Wiki Page. I’ll be totally factual, maybe more than your hinge Mr. 6’0 “scared of women,” “loves french new wave”,.! I’m doing a great job with these ones, hooever said that journaling is good to let shit out was so right. Dear Diary, I’m throwing away the key to this baby. Who’s hearrr in the obsciure little Wikiii pages. Hi Laurie Ann, stay away from my man Laurie Ann (L. A.) Paul.

Nicola Jane “Nikki” Groarke (born 2 June 1962)[1] is a British Anglican priest. Since 2014, she has served as the Archdeacon of Dudley. She trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and was literally ordained in 2000 Blah blasbhdbfgkjrmfds ugh boring. She was a curate at Balham, South London and had been Vicar of St Stephen’s Canonbury forrr fve years. You know what esle lasted fve years? Well, three months seeing each other and then like two weeks actually dating to be precisely exactingly right, but same timeframe basically. Mike. Yep. Oh, should I throw in some more facts, is that what this article needs? Wil that appease the wikepedia gods? I hate Mike, Fact. I have lost ht eability to be Grammarly correct, Fact. I amon my fourth glass of wine, False. HAHahahaha I don’t own a glass yet. Got youuu. What are you gonna do, fag it as a non-truth? Retorcicle question bitchhh I’m not talking to you actually you are just reading this after I’ve layed on the foor for a bitandgone to Lilys room to jake myself a Hingr profle. He better see it. Makes me sad. This is why people keep telling me to get over it it literally didn’t matter and I know that, I’ll shut up soon I promise ed maybe we hdould talk anout politics or something. I promise I’m more interesting than this.

Article Talk

From Wikipedia, the free love encyclopedia

[edit] Hi Mo you gorgeous idiot a house full of people that are loving this think that Mike should go fuck himself but also that maybe you should consider therapy or fnding a hobby. Personally, I’m into crocheting at the moment, https:// headspace.org.au/ please update us. [edit] I sent Mike a link to this, we’re back together. I promise he shouldn’t go fuck himself, he’s actually quite lovely. [edit] I don’t know who added that edit but it defnitely wasn’t me, no fucking way would I be back together with that boy, I did fnish my degree though so I’m in debt and jobless currently. Is that the update y’all wanted? [edit] These updates are fake, don’t trust them. People found the girl on tiktok and she said that she hasn’t left an update here and that you should go watch her storytime. [edit] Update: I’ll take Mike if she doesn’t want him.

Mike’s References [edit]

1. ^ Coppola, Sofa. (2000) The Virgin Suicides, Paramount Pictures.

2. ^ His Ex, Long-term. (2023) “Things She Did” Crazy, vol. 1.

3. ^ Mike (2024) A Joke That Was Made on His Own Hinge Account: Explaining Why It Was Funny and Subsequently My Lack of Understanding of It. 364: 560. [Retrieved on the frst date].

4. ^ His Ex, Long-term. (2023) “Things She Said” Crazy, vol. 2.

5. ^ Camus, Albert. (1942) L’Étranger (The Outsider).

Mike (Mr 6’0, “scared of women,” “loves french new wave”)

Coordinates: -33.889438, 151.190852

Mucha, so confusing

Aden Zaki

Please, Please, Please Father:

Catholic Repression and Irish Boy Obsession

Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott, Barry Keoghan, Cillian Murphy, Niall Horan, Ayo Edibiri… the list goes on. In August of 2023, ELLE Magazine declared it was ‘Hot Irish Guy Summer’. Raw sex appeal was never our strong point, so how have these pale, lanky men become heartthrobs and Oscar darlings? !e answer lies in Ireland’s deeply religious history and how Catholicism has traditionally demonised sexuality. !is has resulted in a repressed, guilt-ridden people, who truly have no idea how to act under the spotlight.

!e myriad of media which sparked the thirst for these Hibernian Heartthrobs, I believe can be traced to the April 2019 release of Season Two of Fleabag, by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Co-starring Andrew Scott as the cool, sweary, g-and-t drinking, incredibly hot Hot Priest — the character is only credited as ‘Priest’, the internet added the ‘Hot’ — the popularity of the show peaked during lockdown. !is was followed by the TV adaptation of Normal People, Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel; the epitome of the sad-girl-lit- c genre, imbued with observations of Irish struggles with intimacy and communication. Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones bring electrifying, tender chemistry to the screen, and Mescal

embodied Connell Waldron perfectly (melancholy, anxious and repressed). And, in June of 2020, Paul Mescal was photographed on the streets of Dublin carrying a beer, a packet of chips, wearing the shortest GAA shorts ever seen.

Irish creatives have enjoyed numerous global accolades more recently, with a record-breaking 14 Academy Award nominations for Irish stories and talent in 2023. An Cailín Ciúin or e Quiet Girl made history as the rst nomination for an Irish-language Best International Film. Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, and Cillian Murphy enjoyed accolades in the 2024 awards season, and everyone is still talking about dirty bathwater and dad dancing.

To the rest of the world, Irish people have a somewhat spotty reputation, littered with stereotypes about drinking, stupidity, and violence, as well as harmful beliefs about terrorist or ma a associations. Ireland has an expansive diaspora. Every Irish person I know has a similar story of ignorance, microaggressions, and the same questions over and over again. However, Irish culture has exploded into the zeitgeist, and it’s only getting bigger.

Ireland is a historically marginalised country. Catholicism, brought over by St Patrick, was initially used to order the Pagan Irish society, with local monasteries holding political and scal power. A er the Tudor invasion, the English Monarchy attempted to inject Protestantism into Ireland and it… didn’t go well. Now, Catholicism is an important part of Irish national identity, and Irish Catholicism is referred to as an ethnoreligion; many people identify with this shared culture whether they are religious or not. It’s a distinct branch of Catholicism that’s extra big on the guilt, deeply entrenched in tradition, and hugely concerned with outward appearances.

Some Markers of the Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic guilt is not just guilt necessarily about actual sins, religious or moral, but rather a general guilt and shame at even just being alive. Irish people are experts at apologising, practised in taking up as little space as possible. !is need for selfagellation can only be bred in a pew.

With a history as battered as ours, it’s no surprise most Irish media is bleak, bleak, and more bleak. When I visit

home, my family’s favourite way to catch up is by listing the neighbours who have died since I was last there. !e Irish obsession with misery is certainly a product of the hardships the nation has endured, emphasised by the above Catholic need for humility. Recently, Paul Mescal has been spearheading the hot ‘sadboy’ movement, but let’s not forget “Ah, there goes that dream.” !is is certainly close to guilt, but more acutely presents as a nearpermanent state of embarrassment. !e unwillingness to take a compliment, the hatred of the spotlight. !is is an intensely Irish concept that is di cult to explain. It’s close to being pretentious, or getting too big for your boots, like delusions of grandeur but more like delusions of upper-middleclass. !ink Tall Poppy Syndrome compounded with hundreds of years of religious social norm enforcement. !e excessive embarrassment of Irish celebrities, the horror at being praised, is certainly to avoid appearing as someone who ‘has notions’.

Like the well-loved Australian pastime of ribbing your loved ones, Irish a ection is expressed similarly. When an Irish person loves you, they will air your dirtiest laundry and prey on your deepest insecurities to procure a laugh. Why do you think people keep bringing up that sausage advertisement Paul Mescal did? Even our own Irish Times recently said “…looking at the Irish artists who have been bothering the shortlists for Oscars, Bookers, Emmys, and Brit awards and seeing some of the innovation happening at home, there are reasons to remain hopeful.” Even in a national paper, in an article which discusses the need for funding in the arts and the richness of Irish talent, we can’t help but feel like a bother!

So, what’s the connection to the recent explosion of Irish culture? Hollywood — Americans — love Irish people. As they cling to whatever tentative Irish heritage they possess, the appreciation/appropriation of Irish culture by Americans is oh-so common. Ayo Edebiri joked in an interview about playing the donkey in e Banshees of Inisherin, which led to the internet backing her up and ‘con rming’ her Irishness. !e joke has spiralled, and the actress regularly discusses her “Irish heritage”, even shouting out various counties on the red carpet of the Emmys. I believe these bashful, sarcastic, socially awkward, painfully shy celebrities are a refreshing alternative to the overly sincere Americans or traditional, sti , and polite British who dominate silver screens. !ey’ve still got a cute accent, but without the colonial baggage an English sweetheart would carry. !e vulnerability, the lack of fake tan, the gappy teeth; these actors

are even more attractive for how ‘not Hollywood’ they are.

!e rise of the ultra-private, introverted celebrity has coincided with this Hibernophilic phenomenon. Cillian Murphy epitomises this; we saw him being dragged around during the Awards Season/ Barbenheimer press mania, and it is clear that he despises it. His Oppenheimer co-star, Emily Blunt, said “He is the world’s best actor and the world’s worst celebrity”. !e girlies’ online delight over footage of him zoning out in interviews, stuttering at journalists, and asking what a meme is. He has no social media presence and lives a very private life in Dublin City. It seems his o ine life, his introversion, only further incenses his admirers. Celebrities are retreating from social media for their own wellbeing, yet fans continue to lust a er them in spite of this.

In contrast, there is no observed equivalent hysteria for Irish actresses. Saoirse Ronan has been internationally successful for a very young age, and Jessie Buckley and Kerry Condon have received signi cant accolades in recent years. A er gaining popularity on Derry Girls, Galway native Nicola Coughlan starred in Season !ree of Bridgerton, the 6th most-watched Net ix season ever. Coughlan was subject to a cant amount of both scrutiny cation, however the reporting around her sex scenes focussed on how empowered she was; she thanked the audience at the Season !ree premiere for their support of “women with my body type…that is, with perfect breasts.” Conversely, Cillian Murphy said of the sex scenes in Oppenheimer, “no one likes doing them, they’re the most awkward possible part of our job.”Why is the reaction to Coughlan’s naked body so di erent to Murphy’s, Mescal’s, or Keoghan’s? She is certainly admired, but the internet isn’t as brazenly horny about it. Is it her appealing charm and humour in the face of the body-shaming she has faced? Maybe we have nally concluded that objectifying women is bad?

Why are we so obsessed with these men who are clearly so uncomfortable? Nothing is more attractive than something you can’t have; that’s what makes the Hot Priest so hot! !at’s why private or non-existent Instagram accounts are so desirable. !ese men are vulnerable, honest, and embarrassed. Hot, hot, and hot. We want them to be a little nervous, a little objecti ed. !ey don’t want us looking at them! It’s fun, right?

And really, a er all the money for acting school or the Trinity College drama course, surely, they should’ve expected this?

is year, a BBC reporter asked Andrew Scott about Barry Keoghan’s use of prosthetics for the nude dance scene at Saltburn asking Scott, “How well do you know him?” Scott is visibly uncomfortable, and laughs, waving the reporter o and the internet went nuts. People were horri ed, and rightly so. While many of their works include erotic or nude scenes, the treatment of intimacy in Irish media is incredibly delicate. Even in a camp lm like Saltburn, Keoghan’s character’s nakedness at the end of the lm is a symbol of Oliver’s freedom. He’s won; he can do whatever he likes in this, his mansion.

In Fleabag, when she and the priest nally sleep together, there is a spectacular moment where Phoebe Waller-Bridge looks to the camera, and pushes the lens down — we aren’t allowed to see this moment. It’s too important.

Purity culture in Ireland has made sex an especially secret, dirty thing. When Irish people are sexual on screen, there is a cultural barrier they must cross to access this vulnerability. Cultural insensitivity to this, in the form of this extreme obsession and objecti cation, compounds this !is is why the bawdy jokes about being railed by priests or dangling silver chains leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

the path’s a lone vector as you speed beneath buildings rendered in pixels above a straight blue line.

you saw some straggly gums before you dipped into northconnex where your map swi ly turned earth’s crust to an oily lm.

liquid shadow churns, cog-like as you coast through the concrete seaif you’re not careful, you lose your body to the speed which steals your breath and scales your presence nearly in nite.

when the tunnel spits you out you catch a lungful of platinum lightnotice the trees on sat nav are too plump, too spare to be the eucalypt forests humming by the road.

your eyes wander to their new leaves curling at the sky110 emblazoned to the le of the screen, you search for truth in their cycles but

draw instruction from the line. the car etches your body into a near-perfect arrow, attens wind’s churning choirs, fuses scattered roofs, and

the highway conducts each exhale like heat until you’re a single current extruding ever into elsewhere.

Two udi of fate: dated arch yp for o time

Ava Broinowski

()иц,- .,/0-1232 0456 7894и “:,;<т”, п-6п2-?ик A7п,17к69 B250Cи56 к21т-25D1EF 48212к 2т G6.,/.E п21956. (English: “O cer of the duty station ‘Debut’, ensign Uspenskaya.

Received a test call from Nadezhda... understood.”)

Thoughts on fermentation.

Holly Gerrard

Rest in Bin Weevils pieces

China Meldrum

I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. It torments me. I see them everywhere. !e Weevils. I’m losing happiness points over this. Is my nest cool? Mulch. Dosh. !e ‘Nerf Nitro®’. Bin Weevils is haunting me, and I fear that as a society we haven’t properly unpacked the emotional toll that it placed on us. Bin Weevil’s won a fucking BAFTA for Best Website, not once, but four times.

In. A. Row.

How on earth are we claiming to be well adapted human beings, when this ash game from hell lurks beneath us? Bin Weevils has injected itself into every part of my life, and we need to talk about it. Move over Club Penguin, there’s a new horri cally laggy, slightly problematic, bug riddled, deeply iconic ash game to crash your parents’ 2012 HP Spectre on.

Whilst it is o en (wrongly) called a Club Penguin knocko , Bin Weevils is the originator of vaguely anthropomorphic societyreplica ash games coming out in 2004 from the minds of the supreme council of Weevils at 55 Pixels, Nickelodeon, Prism Entertainment, and Creative Entertainment Group - truly the founding fathers of a ash game generation. Bin Weevils followed anatomically incorrect depictions of Weevils who lived in the ‘bin’. As a Weevil, you could live life carefree, assuming you contribute to the Weevil economy in its many work-based games to earn in-game currency of ‘Mulch’ and ‘Dosh’. It was known for its wildly inconsistent animation quality, horrendous sound design that can be summed up as ‘squelchy,’ and all in all, being a slightly unhinged but very fun ash game. Dedicated Weevils ocked to the Bin to play, and an army of nine year olds created an aggressively devout Bin Weevil fanbase. It became a cartoon, a movie, an app, was plastered on merchandise of every kind, and made into two (much less successful) spin o games.

A ash game goliath like Bin Weevils wouldn’t have gotten to where it is without some help though - the game was well known to partner with a slew of big brands to get the graphics department some dosh. Most notably and arguably by far the most unhinged, was their collab with the ‘Nerf Nitro®’ - a nerf gun that shot cars instead of foam ‘bullets’. For months, players were inundated with ads for the ‘Nerf Nitro®’ which eventually seeped into ‘Dirt Valley’, the aptly named Weevil themed Mario Kart knocko game. ‘Nerf Nitro®’ graphics

and cars were plastered in the game, frustrating dedicated Weevils and running many computers into the ground. ‘Nerf Nitro®’ eventually got rid of in-game graphics and returned to gargantuan pixelated billboards, but anti-Nerf sentiment plagued the Bin.

Sadly not all Bin Weevils scandals were this wholesome. In 2017, it was revealed that a group of hackers released the data of 1 million Weevils to the public claiming that they had hacked the unhackable (read: the Bin Weevils user database) and had the IP addresses of 20 million Weevils. 20 million isn’t a number they plucked out of nowhere by the way. In 2013, at the height of the terrifying reign of the Weevils, there were 20 million active users reported on the site. I’ll just say that again. 20 million reallife human people played Bin Weevils. And even more hilariously (and very grimly), 20 million dedicated Weevils got their IP addresses and emails datamined. Bin Weevils didn’t dignify the violation of 20 million people’s privacy with anything more than an automated email response. !e statement, ‘I got doxxed on Bin Weevils’ — while categorically insane — became a brief reality for some people.

!e death of Bin Weevils was swi and grim. 55Pixels, the parent company behind Bin Weevils’ creative direction, aptly described by ‘binweevilrantcentral.weebly.com’ as “incompetent, ignorant and unprofessional” and “even worse than EA”. !e company was liquidated in 2021 due to bankruptcy. Sadly no megacorp thought it was worthy of a buyout. On the last day of Bin Weevils’ reign, the Weevils gathered in Flem’s Fountain, donning some now very questionable headpieces, jumping, dancing, and crying out “Weevil On!”. It seemed like a peaceful yet saddening end to a much loved childhood classic.

55Pixels got their comeuppance for selling out, and the karmic scales of the universe rebalanced as their evils died out. We moved on. Or so we thought. Much like how other famous ash games got remade a er the tragic death of Adobe Flash Games (hi Club Penguin), Bin Weevils Rewritten was reborn just months a er the original game got shut down. Just as one Weevil dies, the blood, sweat, tears, and mulch of dedicated fans bring it back to life.

I fear that I will never know peace.

tHe chilDrEn YeaRn fOr thE baKery.

Clive Meldrum

Running out of time: Charli XCX, Children & the Environment

Sasha Blackman

On the 7th June, rave diva turned pop star, Charli xcx, released her album Brat

Sea levels are rising. Charli has turned up the heat with the album of the summer/winter. Her confessional song ‘I think about it all the time’ captures the inner con ict and uncertainty she faces surrounding having kids. !e pressure is real. She thinks about it all the time.

Currently, we are all united by the fact that the climate crisis is threatening our ability to get “bad tattoos” and cruise down “winding roads doing manual drive”. Whether or not to have kids has been highly debated in recent years, with philosophers like Chad Vance frankly stating that it is “eco-gluttonous” to do so. However, philosophers Anca Gheaus and Luara Ferracioli insist that prospective parents have a duty to ensure the next generation has access to “adequate life prospects”. How can we look children in the eye if we are passing on a limited world to them? But is it enough for Charli to be ‘mother’ of one Brat album? Or does she need a real-life, kicking, screaming one of her own?

A er many years of producing ‘Club classics’, Charli sees her life branching out before her. Should she succumb to the age-old narrative of settling down? Or continue living her party girl lifestyle? Charli explores the duplicity of choice between becoming a mother and living her life. !e reality is that women can’t have it all. But we’ve usually run out of time before this is realised. For women, the societal expectation to have children makes this even more confusing. It’s unlikely that Charli’s getting “early nights in white sheets with lace curtains” when all this is on her mind! Understood as nurturing caregivers at best, and reproductive vessels at worst, motherhood has been the assumed role. We also know that generally, their old lives are abandoned a er having kids - impossible to live because of a lack of time. Time a er time a er time, women are told that they need to have kids before it’s too late. Everything from Bridget Jones to Sakaya Murata’s Earthlings hammers this home.

!e opening minor chords of ‘I think about it all the time’ create a bittersweet atmosphere that set the stage for Charli’s heartfelt confessions. She’s pensieve and unsure. Her frankness creates the feeling that you’re lying on Charli’s bed with her, and she’s sharing her innermost thoughts, leaving you waiting on her every word.

I think about it all the time

!at I might run out of time

But I nally met my baby

And a baby might be mine

‘Cause maybe one day I might

If I don’t run out of time

As a confused girl in the world, the inner con ict is easy to resonate with. How can anyone choose between living the life that they love without kids or having children and letting go of so much? In verse one, Charli eshes out a charming scene where she meets her friend’s baby.

How sublime

What a joy, oh my, oh my

Standing there

Same old clothes she wore before, holding her child, yeah

She’s a radiant mother and he’s a b,autiful father

And now they both know thes, things that I don’t

She captures the awe, love, and excitement that she feels. Wouldn’t it be lovely to become a radiant mother? Listening to this verse conjures images of two parents, totally in love, cradling their newborn in a park as the sun covers them in a golden blanket.

But that beautiful park won’t last much longer at the rate the icebergs are melting. Unbearably hot nights listening to our K-mart fans whir and once-recognisable beaches eroded by furious winds. It doesn’t all exactly scream “perfect time to have kids!” Charli might run out of time. Maybe she already has. Vance notes that because each person contributes to excess resource consumption and carbon emissions, the harm that a child will bring to the environment outweighs any other good.

Charli has a point when she says:

‘Cause my career feels so small In the existential scheme of it all

With the amount of discourse online, in schools, and in everyday conversations surrounding the climate crisis, it’s hard to know if your daily disposable co ee cup should be replaced with a reusable one, let alone whether or not it’s inherently evil to birth a child. But maybe Charli’s career feels small because she hasn’t had kids. Clearly there is more to this puzzle.

Gheaus provides us with an alternative perspective, noting that prospective parents have a moral duty to ensure that the next generation are also in positions where they can maintain a stable population.

Charli confesses, And I’m so scared I’m missin’ out on something

What about becoming a radiant mother? Sonny Angels just aren’t enough! Charli believes that having kids provides incredible value to society.

But Vance insists that no one has the right to parenthood. Particularly in cases where children could be harmed, this seems fair. No child should have to grow up in extreme weather conditions, eating dystopian meals. Muscle Chef style, shrivelled chicken with slimy greens is too far.

Yet Charli asks, Would it give my life a new purpose? And having kids would. !ere’s certainly more of an incentive to be more sustainable if someone you care about will outlive you.

But isn’t the love Charli has for her friends’ baby enough of a reason to minimise harm to the environment? Surely we don’t all need to have brats of our own just to care. Interestingly, philosophers believe that the deepness and robustness of parental love, particularly procreative-parenting, is established simply because the parents have brought this child into the world (from literally nothing (ew)). Charli may love her friends’ baby, but wouldn’t make the same sacri ces for that child. Whereas, she knows she’d sacri ce her freedom for her own child.

Would it make me miss all my freedom?

Sorry girl, it’s unlikely you’ll be performing another Boiler Room set with an infant. So likely yes. Charli sees her life branching out before her, ripe with opportunity. If she waits too long to choose one, they will drop and rot at her feet (right to the core). !ere’s a sickly stench oozing from the macerated fruit that the climate crisis has rotted. Our freedoms are being inhibited anyway. Gheaus would remind Charli that the deep and robust love parents have for their children, plus the duty we have to provide “adequate life prospects” for future generations justi es her having kids. She’d also acknowledge Charli’s uncertainties—more children does mean more carbon.

Nothing lasts forever. Whether it’s relationships, our ability to have children, or our society as we know it. !is is neither comforting, nor helpful, but Charli’s openness and vulnerability in ‘I think about it all the time’ provide us with an insightful dissection of gendered expectations, existential uncertainty, and tender desires. A er snottily sobbing in full star sh position on the oor of my mouldy sharehouse, I too, think about it all the time. Looking back at captured moments of my family and I from my infanthood, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to recreate that. I’m paralysed, unsure whether to maintain hope that the world might magically be xed, or if I should get on with the grieving of potential futures. For now, let’s listen to Brat and be comforted by the fact that Lorde and Charli nally worked it out on the remix.

Ruins of Eternity