JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I was headed over to the Pop sugar website to look for book information. Now, if you have never been to Popsugar.com, I encourage you to give it a try for their terrific book recommendations. They have praised, among others, our own Jenn McKinlay, in one of their "best books of summer" lists. They also provide lists of recommendations for thrillers, mysteries, women's fiction and nonfiction; really a must-read site for me when it comes to finding new releases.
However! While I usually go straight to the book section, the other day I thought I would take a look at the main page. They do a lot of of celebrity gossip, music news, and generally give an insight into the culture of today. And it was right there that I realized I know absolutely nothing about the culture of today.
Scrolling past the stories about actors and singers I had never heard of, I ran across a "reviewed and approved" landing site, that sent the reader to six different evidently fabulous products. Reader, I didn't recognize any of them. And when I say I didn't recognize them, I mean in several instances I only understood individual words.
Let's take the first item on the list. Smart toothbrush. I understand each of those words individually, but combined? I'm baffled. Does the toothbrush send alerts to your cell phone if you're not brushing long enough? Does it nag you to put in a full 4 minutes 3 times a day? It has been well over 50 years since I've had to have anyone remind me to brush my teeth, and I'm not sure why I need an artificially intelligent toothbrush to take the place of my mother.
The second item: bamboo sneakers. I have sneakers. You have sneakers. We all have sneakers. Are your sneakers made of bamboo? I recall a very hippie dippy Whole Earth Catalog kind of flip flop back in the late 70s that was made of some sort of rush matting. Are these sneakers the latest iteration of that idea? If I walk in the National Zoo, will pandas attempt to eat my sneakers?
Item the third: mineral sunscreen. Okay, this I understand. Mineral sunscreen protects you from the potentially killing rays of the sun by putting a thick chalky layer on your skin. I think? I'm waiting for the expose that reveals the minerals for this wholesome sun protection actually come from exploitative minds that are somehow worsening the climate crisis and probably expanding the whole in the ozone layer. (I don't think we have a hole in the ozone layer anymore, but I suppose it's always possible to get a new one!)
Fourth item. Organic matcha. I have to confess I inadvertently cheated on this. I was mentioning this list to my brother-in-law Dan and I said, "I know what matcha is. It's that Chilean drink that is whisked up in a gourd." Reader, it will not surprise you to learn I was wrong. Dan explained I was thinking of yerba matta; matcha is powdered green tea from Japan. His youngest son loves it, which just goes to prove that all of these items are probably aimed at generation Z. I, on the other hand, am part of generation Zzzzzz.
Fifth on the list. OOKIOH Swim. It could be a swimsuit. It could be a new exercise craze. It could be something completely unrelated to actual swimming, sort of like the "Adult Swim" comedy show on one of the cable networks. (Or is it a cartoon show?) Whatever it is, it's probably smart, organic, and made of natural items like grasses and rocks.
Finally, the sixth item, which is the only one containing no words I recognize. Caraway Cookwa. I'm pretty sure the tasty seeds are spelled differently, right? And what is a cookwa? Is this some sort of portable Australian camping stove? Something you take along to the Billabong? We've seen the reinvention of the pressure cooker, in the form of the hot pot, and we've seen the reintroduction of sous vide, which I am under the impression was originally some sort of 16th century cooking method. Perhaps a cookwa is an updated sort of wok. One that talks to your phone, and Alexa, and your smart toothbrush, so it knows to make sure you brush your teeth after you've eaten dinner.
All I can say for certain is; I am not the target audience for this section of Popsugar.com. I have a sneaking suspicion the mainstream of culture has passed me completely by, and if I want to find products that make sense to me, and that I can envision using, I should probably subscribe to AARP magazine.
How about you, dear readers? Without checking, do you know what these "Reviewed and Approved" items do? Are you in touch with the pulse of contemporary consumer society? Or are you more Prevention magazine and Reader's Digest?
