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Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of Internet Insider.
Let’s get into the news.
— A.W.
PRIVACY: A criminal defense attorney went viral this week for warning people not to use fingerprints or Face ID to unlock their phones because police may use those to search them without permission. Our report dives into the claim (which is good advice) and why where you are might be a big factor. Check out our story here.
‘ENTREPRENEURIAL HUSTLE’: An OnlyFans creator is being called a “genius” and praised for her “entrepreneurial hustle” after a video went viral showing an airplane advertising her OnlyFans that flew over the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. You can read more about it here.
REVIEW: Our Culture Reporter Gavia reviewed the upcoming film The Northman, calling it a “violent and nihilistic historical revenge thriller.” The film, which was directed by Robert Eggers, does lose some of the “individuality” Eggers had compared to his other films. You can check out the full review here. (Side note, remember how posters for the film that were put up without the title became a meme?)
Twitter turns ‘The First Lady’ into a reaction meme
The First Lady, Showtime’s new 10-part dramatized series about Michelle Obama, Betty Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt, debuted on Friday.
It is, according to Showtime’s description, a “reframing” of American politics, focusing on the women in the White House in three very different eras: Gillian Anderson as Roosevelt, Michelle Pfeiffer as Ford, and Viola Davis as Obama.
It joins a parade of recent docudramas, and arrives just as Starz’ Gaslit debuts. Its casting and premise makes it prestige TV, but reviews have been less than lukewarm. As Caroline Framke writes in Variety, while The First Lady is well-cast, “the series often feels like a dramatization of several Wikipedia pages all at once.”
And that is a pitfall of these kinds of dramatic reenactment shows.
The series flips between the three women’s stories, and it is a bit distracting. In episode 1, at least, Pfeiffer’s performance is the highlight. Her speech about what women sign up for when marrying politicians—and her back and forth with ‘70s Donald Rumsfeld—are especially solid.
Ford trained with the legendary dancer and choreographer Martha Graham when she was younger, which is part of the series. Writer Brandon Taylor tweeted: “GET A24 ON THE FUCKING PHONE. THAT WE DO NOT HAVE THIS SERIES IS A SCAM.”
But many of the more humorous reactions on Black Twitter were about Davis’ performance.
A scene in which Michelle challenges Barack for not telling her about a security detail in response to a death threat has more than 4 million views, mostly for Davis’ delivery. “This is sending me to hell & why does obama look dominican,” @heirmeg commented on the clip.
There was also much discussion of Davis’ facial expressions in the series. Some of her reactions—many collected here—have become memes, something that will likely continue with episode 2.
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👀 TODAY ONLINE
Here are some key dispatches from across the ‘net.
🎵 A TikToker created a viral sound after hitting her bed and making a high pitched “ah” sound. Now thousands of people have duetted her video, with some people getting millions of views for using the sound in funny ways.
😷 A judge struck down a mask mandate on public transportation, and now people online are pointing out how the new mask-optional policy on airlines alienates young children and the immunocompromised.
🙌 A man is being praised online after he posted a video showing how he erased chalk marks left by parking enforcement to help his neighbors avoid a parking ticket.
🥝 Fallen Media’s COO Sol Betesh unlocks the secrets to effective short videos. Want more stories like this? Sign up for Passionfruit, the Daily Dot’s weekly creator economy newsletter, for more coverage.
🍴 A DoorDash customer went viral after she said she ordered from Maggiano’s Little Italy but suspects that her food actually came from Chili’s. Her video has been viewed more than 306,000 times.
🏠 A TikToker sparked a ton of attention after she posted multiple videos describing an Airbnb horror story where she alleged that the rental she stayed in had an unsanitary hot tub and other hazardous conditions.
👀 Content creator Shelby Goodrich Eckard went viral after exposing a man’s attempt at fat-shaming her by telling his fiancé. She shared screenshots of the conversation on TikTok, where it quickly went viral.
🎲 It’s settled! These are the 10 best Settlers of Catan Expansion packs for the most prolific game for board game fans.*
⚰️ In “Death on the Internet,” the Daily Dot explores how this digital self can live on in the internet’s memory—even after the actual self has abandoned it.
🐜 A spring break trip turned sour after a young woman woke up covered in alleged bed bug bites after staying at a highly reviewed hotel. Her video about the incident has been viewed more than 250,000 times.
*The Daily Dot may receive a commission in connection with purchases of products or services featured here.
👋 BEFORE YOU GO
Whoops! A woman has gone viral for posting a video where she mistakenly left the meme of Sen. Bernie Sanders bundled up at President Joe Biden’s inauguration as her background during a “serious meeting with someone in HR.”
Now Playing: 🎶“Used to Know Me” by Charli XCX🎶