WELCOME TO THE SCROLL by Brett Cooper 

Welcome to your weekly round-up of everything I’m loving on my feeds and beyond! These are the stories that have kept me inspired, made me laugh, and more. Hopefully it gives you some insight into the ways my algorithm - and brain - seem to work.

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

STORIES FROM X

Timothée Chalamet Chasing Greatness

During the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards last week, Timothée Chalamet took home the trophy for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A COMPLETE UNKNOWN. 

And until this moment, Timothée had been nominated in this category for A COMPLETE UNKNOWN in basically every award show, but hadn’t won. In looking at his career, he also hadn’t won any of the big awards, except for an Independent Spirit Award back in 2017 for CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. So obviously, this was a huge moment, and his acceptance speech went viral on X, but not for the reasons you might think.

He didn’t make any ridiculous political statements or anything like that, he instead, said very plainly, that he is in pursuit of greatness. That he wants to be one of the acting greats.

And people freaking loved it, take a listen:

But the more important question is WHY did they love it? Well, people loved it because for years now, showing enthusiasm and having a work ethic has been abandoned in our lazy society that champions mediocrity and victimhood. It’s been seen as “cringe” to be precocious, and people are labeled as “try-hards” or “pick me’s.”

And with humility and self-awareness, Timothée tore down this wall with his speech that has now racked up millions upon millions of views.

The takeaways have been incredible and something that our culture - especially young people - desperately needed to hear and understand.

And I loved these thoughts that another poster shared after watching the speech:

It’s time to abandon this idea that the world is ending and that there’s no hope. It’s time to ignore the excuse-making individuals who project their insecurities onto others, calling their ambition cringe. It’s time to fearlessly and happily say that you are in pursuit of greatness, that you want to leave a legacy and a mark on the world - whatever that is in your eyes.

Didn’t think that inspiration would come from Timothée Chalamet, but I’m here for it.

TIKTOK BOOKMARKS

Love is [Not] Blind, We See Your Bullshitting

So I have been DEEP on Love is Blind TikTok - I don’t know why, I haven’t even watched the last few seasons. Alas, here I am.

If you are not a reality TV aficionado, Love is Blind is a popular Netflix dating show. Basically, the men and women are in separate “pods” and they go on dates within these pods so that they can’t see the people they are dating. Literally they are separated by walls. The idea is to see whether love is - or can actually be - blind.

And THIS SEASON, again I haven’t even watched, the person who is being talked about THE MOST is a self hating, virtue signalling white liberal woman named Sara. She falls for a guy who seems to me like an apathetic, scared Republican. Meaning, he acts like he doesn’t care, doesn’t REALLY want to be upfront with his values, and tells her he just didn’t vote. He also says that he doesn’t pay attention to news or politics because if he doesn’t know about it, it doesn’t impact him.

Needless to say, these are two of my least favorite types of people. And for some reason, they found each other. Here is one of their first interactions:

@netflix.reality.clips

Sarah and Ben in the pods on #LoveIsBlind #Loveisblindseason8 #LIBS8 #LIB

And people have been RELENTLESSLY mocking Sara’s nauseating SJW speak, and let’s just say, it feels like there’s been a vibe shift. It isn’t even that these are a bunch of republicans attacking her, it’s just normal people who have had enough of the nonsense.

@guadagno11

This girl needs to go #loveisblindnetflix #loveisblind #saraloveisblind

I mean, so. Many. Posts.

And this man, BEN, just GOES ALONG WITH IT. This woman is railroading him, crapping all over his faith, his church, his friends, and he just sits there nodding, trying to keep the relationship intact and heading towards marriage. 

Seriously, every video I watch makes me want to bang my head into a wall.

This girl got it:

@faith_dogmom

I said what I said. #LoveIsBlind #loveisblindseason8 If a Christian man encounters this type of woman RUN. If a Christian woman encounter... See more

Like seriously, it’s fine to have values and have them drive your life and your relationships. I’d argue that’s a good thing, even if I might think some of this girl’s values are ridiculous. At least she’s being honest.

But Mr. Ben over here is acting he has no values or beliefs when he CLEARLY DOES, and he’s choosing to follow her into this disaster of a relationship. And she, knowing all of this - I mean she obviously knows considering she preaches and lectures at him on a daily basis - is also continuing down the path.

Disaster. Horrible. Please just be honest Ben and move on, and Sara, go preach at someone who will preach back at you and take you on dates to the freakin LA Pride Parade. This poor man ain’t it.

INSTAGRAM

My New Finds

Guys, I seriously have to be better at bookmarking on Instagram. Every week I come on here and realize that I scrolled mindlessly, and saved NOTHING for you.

So instead, I’m going to give you some of my new favorite accounts to follow.

@cristyskitchenga: This woman, Cristy, has a totally clean restaurant right outside of Atlanta, GA, and also ships her food and her baking mixes nationwide! These are gluten free, dairy free, and totally organic staples that I think you guys will love.

@thetessasmith: Tessa is a new mom who shares her daily health routines for a non-toxic, wholesome lifestyle. She’s incredibly approachable and endearing, and I love following her for inspiration. 

@mdfoodieboyz: Ok, this last one is in honor of Alex. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my husband laugh harder at ANYTHING online - which is saying something because I think I’m hysterical, whatever - but he loves this account. It’s a group of middle school boys who sit around - in a shockingly high tech podcast studio - and just try different foods and talk about random things. Like last week, one of these boys tried a CARROT for the first time. The entire thing is just so weird and beautifully, awkwardly hilarious, and the comments under all the videos are even better. Maybe you’ll think it’s ridiculous, but hopefully you’ll laugh until you cry, just like Alex.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

Check out my latest episode of The Brett Cooper Show. I do a deep dive on Why Megyn Kelly Weighed In on Elon’s Baby Mama Drama.