Let's Talk About It

Grapefruits, a lie detector test, The Fate of the FUR10US, and apathy.

Welcome to Hyperfixate! This is a newsletter settling into a far more irregular update schedule. Sign up here. Buy me a cuppa here.

Can’t come between a man and his bubblegum.

I am a massive gum chewer. Ever since I quit smoking, I’ve been chewing more gum. I myself am partial to the minty kind. Jon Bernthal however, is a fan of the sweet, classic, pink stuff. You can become privy to this information by watching his 10 Essentials video for GQ, hand-in-hand with a wonderful cover story for GQHype that caused quite a stir when Bernthal admitted to feeling like he “doesn’t have any sex appeal”.

Anyone who has seen the opening minutes of The Punisher’s Season 2 premiere would strongly disagree.

It’s interesting; here is someone whose self-image and physicality are integral to his profession and is challenging himself by taking on roles like that of Julian Kaye in the upcoming American Gigolo reboot—a role where there’s nowhere to hide and sexuality is the star of the show (not in a New York is the fifth Sex and the City character kind of way), and yet he personally—or at least, that’s what he said in that specific interview int hat point in time—doesn’t believe he has it. Whatever casting director dismissed him on the basis of looks is bad at their job! There! I said it! I know it is nobody’s job or business to blast One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful outside of a grown man’s window to get it in his head that he is everything 16-year-old Harry Styles was singing about to that girl on the beach! He’s a grown man! A grown man with lots of love in his life already! He’s a very lovely man! Hopefully, post-AmGig, he stops saying shit that scares his fans. Or he starts committing to it as a bit.

The Essentials video was also quite revealing. Jon Bernthal isn’t just a sentimental, hard-working family man, he is a man that takes his grapefruits very seriously. He is a grapefruit enthusiast, to the point where he says he even eats the white parts! In the video, he splits the fruit open with his bare hands. We get it, bestie, you were The Punisher! You are The Punisher still!

I think in the world of citruses, grapefruits often get a bad rap. Be it personal preference, the aftermath of many an internet euphemism, or a priest from the 1700s condemning it to forbidden status, the humble grapefruit gets sidelined. Underrated. Underappreciated. I’m not ramping up to a metaphor or comparison to Bernthal’s career, far from it. I’m just a massive proponent of grapefruits. Not everyone will like grapefruits. Hell, there are plenty of fruits that I don’t like. I think what started floating around in my head when I saw Shane from The Walking Dead speak very animatedly and excitedly about things that are important to him reminded me that there is no shame in being sentimental. There’s a difference between holding on too tight and honouring what’s important to you.

In the precarious “business” of writing from the seat of experience, it’s good to know where you’re coming at things from. I have found myself in a weird little spot. Recently, I’ve been feeling like I have nothing to say, and I had forgotten to listen to what the feelings of frustration, shame, or embarrassment are trying to tell me. They’re telling me to listen. To take a damn break every once and a while. And to remember what’s important to me specifically. In this case, just for this issue of Hyperfixate: grapefruits, gum, and a dude who loves his people.

Sidenote: I watched the first episode of We Own This City today, and David Simon is in his BAG. What a time to be alive (Barry and Better Call Saul airing around the same time).

Reality Bites

Hot, Cold, Yes, No

I have been watching a lot of reality television with my mum. We’re in a very happy groove of watching Season 12 Back to Win of Masterchef Australia, (both our accents have come back), Celebrity IOU (the most tolerable the Property Brothers Cinematic Universe and Jeremy Renner have ever been), and the latest season of Get Organized with The Home Edit. I have successfully been thehomeedit-pilled. Those ladies are fun, I think I have a crush on Sumner, and you know my Virgo ass loves a good colour code.

Amidst all of this, some of my favourite reads over the past month have been these two pieces for Business Insider and Bustle on America’s Next Top Model. I actually paid for an Insider subscription to read that piece, and was not disappointed in the slightest. Angealea Preston was one of my favourite contestants back in the day and I’m so glad she can share her story now.

I truly think Masterchef Australia is the perfect television show. They’re all so nice to each other but the tension and stakes still bring the drama! Favourite moments in Season 12 have been when Katy Perry shows up and contestant Reece couldn’t concentrate on the cook because his inner Katy Kat jumped out, and when the contestants sat next to their closest friend in the competition only to discover they’ll be cooking against each other. They didn’t want to send each other home! It was the meanest they’d ever been to each other! Love that shit.

I have a soft spot for reality programming, even some of the ethically dubious ones. I watched an episode of Hell’s Kitchen whilst I was in the hospital and concluded it was the America’s Next Top Model of the food world. I don’t understand the people that think they’re “too good” for reality TV. Sure, if it isn’t your cup of tea, that’s all well and good, but thinking you’re intellectually above it? Oof. Gross. Enjoy eating bran, I guess?

Liar, Liar (Pedro’s Version)

He says, having been on Narcos for three seasons.

Pedro Pascal has famously filled in for Walton Goggins during the Community reunion, playing Mr. Stone, a man who oversaw the polygraph tests administered to the study group at the behest of the recently-deceased Pierce Hawthorne. The group must pass the polygraph to receive their bequeathments, in this case, a gift from Pierce and an obligatory liquid nitrogen canned cylinder of Pierce’s sperm. Pedro also famously could not get through any of the lines involving said cylinders of sperm without breaking character.

But oh, how the turns have tabled! Pascal sat down with Vanity Fair to promote The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and subjected himself to a polygraph. It was very entertaining to watch. I forgot that he was fun, and he’s always game for the silly shit. I think this video and what you learn about Pedro in it live on the opposite side of where you can find Bernthal’s Essentials video. The questions thrown at Pedro are tongue in cheek, and he’s more than down to laugh at himself but still keep his cards close to his chest. He has a very bright and hearty laugh. There was a Podro Pascal shoutout that I thought was quite sweet.

Pascal was interrogated on his heartthrob status, which I thought was super interesting. I do agree, he is a heartthrob! And he agrees too! Pedro Pascal is first and foremost an Aries man. No surprises there.

Of course, they brought up Oscar Isaac. The way the two of them are married in the current internet pop culture sphere is both thrilling and terrifying to me. Where was all this energy during Triple Frontier? It’s like watching One Direction leave the X-Factor; your little secret isn’t yours anymore, and it never was.

I have yet to see The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. I have heard mixed things from people in my life, so I’m excited to give it a go myself. I have also seen Nicolas Cage recite Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart via a friend’s Instagram story. Very vibes. Hyperfixate seal of approval all around!

10 Fast 10 Fur10us

the car is invisible (it’s just that fast)

Woe is me! Justin Lin stepped down from Fast X due to creative differences! There’s a part of me that’s obviously devastated because I adore Lin’s work both in and outside of the vroom vroom franchise, but there’s a part of me that’s relieved for him. If I can find it, I’ll include it here, but there was a video on Vin Diesel’s Instagram where it looked like Lin was crying for help with his eyes. I am awaiting Tyrese’s inevitable and very necessary weighing in/tea-spilling. What role does Brie Larson and/or Cardi B play in all of this? Where is Jordana Brewster? Has John Cena been spreading the gospel that is the Peacemaker opening credits choreography?

On the other hand, it’s my time to shine! This is me manifesting, throwing my hat in the ring to direct Fast X, and my first decree as Director would be to re-title the film as FUR10US, the best and most obvious marketing choice. I have seen all these movies. I love them, unironically and otherwise. I think Ludacris and I would get on great. There would be more Han, more Letty, and the resurrection of Suki in my version. Let’s make this happen. Get Universal on the phone!

On Apathy

girls who say hiii vs girls who say bruh

I think my apathy can be a sacred state. I know, sounds straight out of The Pattern, the very app that has entertained and terrorized Channing Tatum and me by employing the eeriest levels of the Barnum Effect.

Lately, that’s all I’ve been feeling: apathy.

Perhaps, it’s just information overload. Perhaps, it’s simply boredom. Maybe it’s a bit of both. Maybe it’s burnout, maybe it’s Maybelline. Either way, I just haven’t felt like writing about anything and that’s fine. I have to stop feeling like I have to apologize for it somehow. Everyone needs a break. Even if it’s one week where I was supposed to have a break anyway.

I really needed to re-think my relationship with this newsletter, and what I want to do with it in the context of my writing (if you can call it that) as a whole. For a few months, this newsletter started to feel like a chore, something I really didn’t want to happen. Internalizing that embarrassment made me cynical and resigned to my apathy, instead of using it to investigate what the hell was going on. I guess what really woke me up was ‘honouring’ that apathy, leaning into it as opposed to letting it drive me away from myself. And just trying to have a little more faith in myself so I can allow for some actual rest time without feeling like a guilty bugger.

Perhaps Hyperfixate could take a backseat for a few months. I have yet to edit the 2nd volume of Radio Fixate, and the first issue of long story short should be in your inboxes very soon. If not, well, give me a hot second. We’ll get there.

That’s it for this week!

What have been some of your favourite reality TV watches lately? Is there a celebrity on my roster doing press right now that I’ve forgotten about? Let me know in the comments! Would love to have a chat!