Happy Monday. 

After spending a week with my family, specifically my little brothers (ages 20, 12, and 6), I came away with some thoughts about brainrot. Mostly, I concluded that all of us who grew up online have our own version of it. I have examples below.

Today’s newsletter also features Sylvanian Drama lawsuit, The Odyssey scalpers, Don’t Tap the Glass, and Charli XCX and George Daniel’s WEDDING 💜

Brainrot has been a hot topic over the past year, so much so that it was crowned Oxford Word of the Year at the end of 2024. The institution defined brainrot as “low-quality, low-value content found on social media and the internet, as well as the subsequent negative impact that consuming this type of content is perceived to have on an individual or society.” 

Clearly, brainrot is typically considered a bad thing. I always hesitate to be so harsh on what young people like. 

Brainrot, as a term, seems to be more neutral or matter-of-fact to digital natives than it is to outsiders looking in. Yes, memes and posts considered to be brainrot are usually pretty absurd, maybe even stupid. But so are Adult Swim cartoons. God forbid the kids laugh at and bond over something silly!

People fearmonger over what children watch online these days. Mainstream media has a penchant for exacerbating these fears, inflating the prevalence of harmful trends and their impacts on young minds. But as an adult who grew up watching a lot of internet, including what could be considered brainrot today, I think that this kind of content is low on the priority list of things to combat. In fact, brainrot — like any generation’s memes — is just another form of shared culture that young people will look back on as a part of their coming-of-age media. 

There is a lot to be cautious about online — radicalization pipelines, AI slop, and our diminishing attention spans just to name a few. It's also a rite of passage for every generation raised on the internet to have a weird guy or freaky character to cling to. The line between what’s OK to watch and what should be avoided can be blurry. We’re all still figuring out our relationships to technology. Even kids are aware and cautious of the effects of prolonged screentime, but a little brainrot never hurt anybody.

Below, some brainrot throughout the generations. I’d love to know what your favorite examples are. I look back at some of these fondly!

Charlie the Unicorn - 2008

This creeped me out as a kid, probably in the same way people are unnerved by some Italian brainrot characters (see below). A grumpy unicorn gets swindled out of his kidney? 

The Most Popular Girls in School - 2012

The Most Popular Girls in School infiltrated the lexicons of millions of tweens across the country. Crass Barbies, lots of poop jokes, and severed doll arms — lots of weird stuff galore. 

Dog of Wisdom - 2015

I had not actually seen this before, but my 20-year-old brother said this was a brainrot for him. Perhaps, we could actually learn something from this one! 

Skibidi Toilet - 2023

This one freaked a lot of adults out a couple years ago because of the creepy and surreal nature of the toilet head. And yet! Skibidi Toilet is now being developed for the screen and toy versions are in Targets everywhere. 

Italian brainrot - 2025

@crop_zyy

OG Italian brainrot main characters introduction animated #tralalerotralala #tungtungtungsahur #frullifrulla #bonecaambalabu #italianbrain... See more

These AI-generated characters are super weird but they’re a hit. They’ve been used, remixed, and put in an ungodly amount of different storylines and scenarios in a short amount of time. Y’all already know my opinions on AI art, but I will give Italian brainrot creators this: Only real weirdos could come up with the ideas for these characters and stories.

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. A Georgli playlist in honor of the nuptials between Charli XCX and George Daniel.

In this week’s playlist:

• Welcome to My Island (George Daniel and Charli XCX remix) - Caroline Polachek

• Track 10 - Charli XCX

• Screen Cleaner - George Daniel

• Everything is romantic - Charli XCX

• Shiny Collarbone - The 1975

• How Can I Not Know What I Need Right Now - Charli XCX (prod. George Daniel)

• Me & You Together Song - The 1975

• forever - Charli XCX

Other things I want to share with you.

• CHARLI XCX AND GEORGE DANIEL GOT MARRIED <3 Of course, George DJed the reception. 

• I love the new Tyler, the Creator album. I also really resonated with his post about people being too afraid to dance in public. I think we are emerging from a period of nonchalance in the club — but fears of panopticontent are so real. Covering Gen Z clubbing culture (or lack thereof) a couple years ago, phones were a huge roadblock in having fun, according to my sources.

• FREE SYLVANIAN DRAMA! The absurd cult favorite TikTok account just got sued by Calico Critter maker Epoch for IP infringement and reputational damage. FWIW I think the awareness of Calico Critters rose after this account was created. 

• Roblox OOF is back 🙏

• Tickets for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in IMAX have already sold out, a year before the film actually releases. Some resellers were trying to flip tickets for upwards of $300!

• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s cancellation is sending a very clear message.