Back in 1998, I was 20 years old, just a few years younger than she was at the time. Superficially, I looked a little like her — the plus-sized body (though she was probably smaller than me), the round face, the modified “Friends” haircut. People literally would yell out “Hey, Monica!” to me on my way to class at NYU. She lived just a few blocks away from my dorm…
I was originally thinking to do a separate post about what podcasts I’m listening to (there are a lot), but then I thought I should instead do a post about all the pop culture I’ve been consuming in the month, hence my new blog feature: Pop Culture Brief.
So, for the first edition of the Pop Culture Brief, here is all the pop culture I’ve been loving or hating:
An observation: the years have been good to Monica Lewinsky (39C-27-38, W:H ratio 0.71, 5 ft 6 in, 159 lbs, 1973- ). One wonders about those measurements, though. They seem reasonable but given Ms. Lewinsky’s sheltering of her private life, it seems unlikely that she volunteered the information to anyone. So where exactly where do celebrities’ widely available personal statistics come from?
An observation: the years have been good to Monica Lewinsky (39C-27-38, W:H ratio 0.71, 5 ft 6 in, 159 lbs, 1973- ). One wonders about those measurements, though. They seem reasonable but given Ms. Lewinsky’s sheltering of her private life, it seems unlikely that she volunteered the information to anyone. So where exactly where do celebrities’ widely available personal statistics come from?
The power of Beyoncé is hillary clinton saying she wants to be as good as president as Bey is a performer even after she savagely reminded the whole world about hillarys husband cumming on monica lewinskys gown. #pettyonce
Bill Clinton’s portrait artist just revealed that he hid a secret reference to Monica Lewinsky in this painting. Do you see it? (If not, here’s the reveal.)
I know that the demographics on this site run young, and this reference I honestly before my time as well.
But I think it would be really helpful if people went back and looked at the Clinton impeachment and the cultural treatment of Monica Lewinsky during and after.
Because while the specific situation is, obviously, radically different than the current Depp v Heard situation- really thinking about the way that pop culture takes really fucked up and complicated interpersonal situations and turns them into mass entertainment by dog piling on the woman as an excuse to spread vicious misogyny masquerading as comedy?
We are going to look back at this in 30 years and feel deeply disgusted at how this is being portrayed.
I don’t know if anybody else here has been watching the American Crime Story: Impeachment mini series, but wow is food a supporting cast member.
I mean, in the second episode alone, Monica’s (and in this case, Linda’s) Starbucks cups shoulda received a paycheck for their acting chops.
There’s also this hilarious scene in episode three where Linda Tripp has a mini meltdown at work because she had worked on an itinerary for when “Major Dad” Gerald McRaney visited an Air Force base. Well, he cancels and she goes silently psycho. She opens a drawer and gets out a bag of Utz Sour Cream and Onion chips while everything goes deaf around her.
The one I noticed the most in that second episode was Diet Coke. The first time Bill was alone with Monica he offers her a Diet Coke. He was like, “wOULd yOU LIkE A dIEt cOkE?”. As the episode progressed, Diet Coke Cleary became a euphemism for other things:
Monica later said in her book “Monica’s Story” that she always left Bill’s office with a Diet Coke because: “it looked a little more friendly and less sexual.” 1 He even offered he one right before he cut contact off with her in episode three.
Bill loved his Diet Coke, I mean there is even one buried in a time capsule in his Presidential Library. 2
Oof he even had three! Diet Cokes (and a Canada Dry ginger ale and two glasses of water) during his videotaped grand jury testimony in September of 1998. 3
