Everything Is Content

Hey EICapulets! To Brooklyn, or to Beckham? That is this week's question.

There was simply no way of doing this episode without discussing the biggest news of the week, which is a pretty big statement, all things considered.

On Monday evening, Brooklyn Beckham took to his Instagram and posted a series of stories stating that he does not want to reconcile with his family. This comes after years of speculation about a rift between the Beckhams and Brooklyn and Nicola, a lot of which started after their 2022 wedding.

We discuss how and why this has taken the internet by storm, and what we make of it all.

Next up! Chloe Zhao's Hamnet is based on Maggie O'Farrell's novel of the same name. The fictional story follows Agnes Hathaway (played by Jessie Buckley) and William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal) as they lose their son Hamnet to the plague- and how this tragedy births the play Hamlet. Very little is known about Shakespeare’s life, so this story has been compared to fan-fiction. But just a lil fact check: several other plays, including two comedies, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It came between the death of Hamnet and the creation of Hamlet, according to The New Yorker.
Since the film’s release there’s been a lot of claims it's "grief porn". We get into it.

And lastly, whoever is doing 2016’s marketing needs a raise, after a nostalgia-based trend caused what feels like the entire internet to look back a decade to the days of Pokemon Go, Brexit, Beyonce’s Lemonade, Trump 1.0, Kylie lip kits and chokers to name but a few big moments and trends. For those of us who were old enough to own phones and participate in the culture and social media back then, throwbacks are aplenty. For those who missed it the first time around, FOMO is in full force. Harper’s Bazaar has called 2016 the “last good year”, and Glamour suggested it might be the last time we felt “hopeful”. According to TikTok, searches for 2016 surged by 454% in the first week of the new year and about 229 million posts have been made using their 2016 filter. But why?

We hope you enjoy, as always please do rate, review & subscribe!

Thank you to Cue for the edit.

Beth's been loving: The Silence Of The Lambs (the book), Emily In Paris. Ruchira's been loving Stranger Things and Dying For Sex & Oenone's been loving A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, The Night Manager

Brooklyn Beckham's statement
Ignore the awards – Hamnet is artificial and manipulative Shakespeare fan fiction
"HAMNET" FEELS
ELEMENTAL, BUT IS IT JUST HIGHLY EFFECTIVE GRIEF PORN?
Maybe You’ll Hate This Movie
Was 2016 The Last Good Year?
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Happy Wednesday! We hope your EIConcentration is feeling sharp as we dive into our conversation about a trend where boredom is the goal.

In a piece for The New York Times, called “They Want to Influence You to Do…Nothing’’ Alexander Nazaryan explores how boredom is the “unlikely star of a social media fad that has young people doing… absolutely nothing.” The rules? No screens, no talking, no music, no food, no games and no napping for a fixed amount of time. The point? Apparently to improve your attention span and break your addiction to scrolling on social media.
And many people claim that it works, that after completing their challenge they feel energised, focused, creative and free. But there’s some skepticism too, mostly about the fact that so many of the people doing this are also filming it and posting it online. Can you really be that serious about fixing the impacts of too much internet if you’re still doing everything for the internet?

Thank you so much for all of your opinions and takes on this topic, we love being in conversation with you all.

O, R, B xx

The Guardian - Friction-maxxing: could less convenience lead to much more happiness?
Observer - How knitting became my scrolling antidote
NY Times - They Want To Influence You to Do... Nothing
Harvard Business Review - You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why.
The Guardian - Why it's good to be bored

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Morning EICitizens! And welcome to the Republic of Content. On this week's docket...

We head briefly over to Beverly Hills to discuss last Sunday's Golden Globes. What did we think of the winners and who do we deem the best dressed/worst behaved?

Then we get stuck into Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie's new sports comedy-drama fronted by Timothée Chalamet. In it he plays ruthlessly ambitious Marty Mauser, a shoe salesman with grand plans to become the ping pong world champ. The film is getting rave reviews (and has just earned TC his very first Golden Globe)- but what did we think? Worth the hype or just another tired tale of a selfish man with big ambitions?

Next up: Grok. 2026 started with mass digital violations, as huge numbers of women (and children) were targeted with deepfakes thanks to a new feature of Elon Musk’s AI tool which allowed digital undressing of real photos. As of this Wednesday Grok will apparently now ignore instructions to generate sexualised images, but we argue that the damage is already done. What do we think is behind this trend (spoiler: it's misogny) and what else should be done?

Finally we investigate if people online are growing tired of content about useless male partners, especially if their wives and girlfriends won't listen. Comment threads are now full of the same sentiment: if you're not going to leave him, then leave us out if it. Is this a fair response? And does it speak to a cultural divide or just a digital one?

Thank you SO MUCH for listening- as well as for your lovely messages and reviews. Please keep them coming as we love hearing from you and it helps us continue making the podcast. Love B, R, O x

In partnership with Cue Podcasts.

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This week Beth was loving The Golden Globes coverage (e.g. the outfits), Ruchira was loving Industry (available on iPlayer in the UK and HBO elsewhere) and Oenone was loving Marty Supreme (in cinemas now!).

The Hollywood Reporter - Timothée Chalamet and Josh Safdie: How We Made 'Marty Supreme'
BBC - X could 'lose right to self-regulate', says Starmer
The Telegraph - Elon Musk's X stops bikini bot undressing women
The Guardian - 'Add blood, forced smile': how Grok's nudification tool went viral
BBC - Malaysia and Indonesia block Musk's Grok over explicit deepfakes
Distractify - TikTok "Butter Dish Woman" Complains About Fiancé's Small Gift
TikTok - The Original Single List
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Happy Hump Day EICamels. This week we're delving into the world of male-led podcasts, specifically, Steven Bartlett's.

Last week, Instagram account @notyourpolitefeminist posted a carousel titled ‘The Diary Of A Misogynist’. Meredith writes, ‘The Diary of A CEO is often framed as thoughtful, emotionally intelligent, and progressive. it presents itself as a space for growth, vulnerability, and "having the hard conversations." And on the surface, that's exactly what it looks like: reflective language, slow pacing, men talking about feelings. but here's my problem with Bartlett, it stays focused on men's inner worlds - their fear, their insecurity, their unmet needs without really interrogating the systems that still benefit men even when they're struggling. The podcast leans heavily on therapy language: trauma, attachment, healing, vulnerability. but stripped of any feminist analysis, those words lose their power.’

Steven Bartlett released the first episode of DOAC in September 2017, but what started out as a hobby, and ‘way to learn from other business leaders’, has grown to become one of the biggest podcasts in the world, last year it reached one billion streams. However alongside its astronomical success, has it slowly descended into something very different, and perhaps even dangerous?

Thank you so much for all of your opinions and takes on this topic, we love being in conversation with you all.

O, R, B xx

@notyourpolitefeminist's post
BBC Investigation
New Statesman - Steven Bartlett's Empire of Bluff
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We're back EICuties!

We have so much to catch you up on re: Christmas TV binges. Also a meme has been travelling round TikTok about 365 buttons. Do you get it?

Next-up, we dive into the sci-fi, genre-bending Apple TV series that everyone is obsessed with, Pluribus. And finally 2026 already has an internet villain in the shape of a dad who claims to struggle spending more than 10 minutes with his child.

Thank you SO MUCH for your lovely messages and reviews. Please keep them coming as we love hearing from you <3 love O,R,B xxxx

In partnership with Cue Podcasts.

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The Traitors

Stranger Things

Emily in Paris

We Need To Talk About ‘The Traitors’ And Unconscious Bias

Why is it so perilous to be a person of colour on The Traitors? | Zoe Williams | The Guardian

365 buttons: could the biggest meme of 2026 change your life? | Social media | The Guardian

Pluribus Is About Everything and Unlike Anything Else

Pluribus review – the audacity of the Breaking Bad creator’s new TV show is incredible

Vince Gilligan Would Prefer You Explain Pluribus to Him

'Pluribus' Review: Season 1 Is A Frustrating, At Time Brilliant, Slog

Pluribus Finale, or The World’s Most Helpful Apocalypse

“Am I just a monster?”: Dad admits, unprompted, that his “blood starts to boil” if he has to spend over 10 minutes with his kids

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.