Friday Five: May 30, 2026
I'm addicted to sending newsletters late
Hi Consumers! I’m back with your weekly roundup of joyful, cathartic content from across the corners of the digital universe. I’ve been working non-stop these days which is why these are always just a touch late, and I hope to get back on my normal schedule soon. Anyway, enough faff and we’ll just get into it.
Song: This came on during a very hot run this morning and hit like jet fuel. I’m genuinely dismayed by her politics, so I’m sharing this while grimacing, but I have to admit that it’s a perfect song. More importantly, I recently learned that the legendary Linda Perry was behind it!
Lore Behind the Song: Linda’s breakout moment was when she was in 4 Non Blondes — she sang, wrote, and played guitar on “What’s Up,” so if you’ve ever belted that in karaoke or just when the world seems to be too much to bear, you have her to thank. In the years since, she’s founded two record labels and wrote Pink’s “Get the Party Started,” Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” and actually my favorite Christina song, “Keeps Gettin’ Better.” That also came on this morning and helped me persevere, huffing and puffing my way down the canal, dodging strollers and Lime Bikes.
New York News: Some of you have read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but have you heard of The Puddle that Mutated in Brooklyn? Thank you Gothamist for this beautiful headline.
The corner of Erasmus Street and Rogers Avenue in Flatbush has turned into a biome, with algae blooms and local residents claiming they haven’t seen that area dry in 30 years. It’s a polarizing phenomenon and I was consumed enough by it to look for it in Google Streetview. Here it is in June 2018:
I also took a janky, virtual whirl around the block to see if there was anything else interesting, and I came across this extremely aggressive no parking sign that was perfectly New York “No! No! No!”
An unconventional beauty creator: Michael Klok is a self-proclaimed hair artist whose content is just unlike anything else I’ve seen in the beauty realm.
I might reach out for a Consumed interview because I need to understand how these ideas came together and who is doing the filming. If you’re not convinced, he just got an Interview feature yesterday.
Joyful Internet Content:
Michelle Williams and Michelle Williams finally got together, and Miss Barbara from Abbott Elementary won’t know what to do with herself:
Do you remember when Britney Spears opened a restaurant in New York?
It’s okay if you don’t remember, because it sounds like she doesn’t want to either:
The recalibration of LEDs in Times Square should take place every hour, on the hour, to soothe all the harried pedestrians ambling through.
I expected adulthood to be like MyScene and the music video for Usher’s “U Don’t Have to Call” and it turned out to be neither. Also, please DM me if you’re similarly haunted by Usher asking: “You smell it? Yeah, you smell it?” in the beginning of the song? What is he on about???
Do you smell it? I don’t!!
Roya
Oh this was a primeeee edition today tysm