Friday Five: July 11, 2025
Happy 7-11 Day, get a slurpee!
Happy Friday, Consumers. I’m back with your Friday Five, your weekly dose of catharsis, joy, and weirdness from across the corners of the internet and my cobwebby brain. Let’s get right into it.
Music Video: To celebrate the launch of Netflix’s Too Much, Fergie and Meg Salter teamed up on a redux of the music video for “London Bridge.” It is so fun, so silly, and so perfect, and it’s the hit of nostalgia I needed to get me through a bleak week.
Honestly, I really miss Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas and for some reason (depression? societal ruin? impending recession? D) all of the above) their music has been in heavy rotation for me as of late, so this couldn’t have come at a better time for me personally. This BTS carousel from the shoot is also worth perusing:
When this song came out, I was a teenager with a dog named London — we adopted her and I felt strongly about not changing her name — and my mom and I would turn up the volume when this came on in the car, hoping London would understand her name in the chorus. She didn’t, but I’d like to think she enjoyed the extra attention. I hope London is reunited with my bestie Ariana’s dog, coincidentally called Fergie (Duchess of Pork; the two dogs mostly tolerated one another), on the big Tower Bridge in the sky…
Anyway, Fergie ferg aside, here’s another hit of nostalgia via a Vice article from 2018: an oral history of Disney’s Bug Juice, the documentary about summer campers in Maine that surprisingly captivated a generation of children, myself included. I’d recommend reading this if you were a fan on the show because it’s longer than anyone would ever expect. Honorable mention to the catchy theme song and my friend Samar who once belted it at random in the middle of computers class (‘Software Apps’ to be specific). It was one of 10 times I have scream laughed at a decible audible only to dogs (shout out to Fergie and London once again, wow).
Next up we have a cathartic poem from Jackie Sabbagh, Having a Great Time Being Transgender in America Lately. It’s a mix of living fearlessly and living in fear. The poem was published only a year ago and I’m devastated that things have gotten worse for trans people both in America and in the UK in the short time since. My favorite line? “I am excited to do this for the rest of my life and be terrified.”
New Instagram Account to Follow: Taryn Delanie Smith is one of my favorite creators and a dream interview subject for My Stories Are On. She is brilliant, funny as hell, and has RANGE!!! For days. For years, even. Consistency is great but range is even better. She can be everything from a benevolent, goofy receptionist at the gates of heaven to the second coming of Jason DeRulo. On the topic of range, Taryn just purchased a home in upstate New York that was built in 1791! She started an Instagram page to document her journey with it, and it’s full of surprise and delight, with peaceful mornings with her perfect Great Dane and then the horror of finding bats in the attic. I love it.
Joyful Internet Content:
This vintage shop collecting oldies from the Gulf Region really makes me want a Harley Davidson shirt from Bahrain:
Remember a few weeks ago when I shared Beyoncé’s exchange with Anthony Cosby ‘Hyphen’ Knowles… he went to the Cowboy Carter tour!
Obsessed with this glass house in North London even though I would turn into a piece of jerky if I stepped inside this summer:
I didn’t feel strongly about curtains until now, I love these:
My local city farm (maybe I am also a country woman?) has some new additions to the family. I regret not taking my parents there but I cannot wait to meet these piglets.
Thinking about the arm strength of this Egyptian Uncle preparing watermelon:
Bug Juice comes from who you are,
Roya
Thank you for reminding me about Bug Juice and therefore opening a new portal of joy in my heart