There’s a song you know like the back of your hand.  You might love it, you might hate it, but there’s a song, that when it comes on, you have an instant memory of another time and place.  And every time you hear that song it’s like one of those hypnotists on Maury Povich snapping their fingers taking you into another realm.

A year that stands out in my mind is 2003.  It was the year I did my high school grad trip to Montreal and it’s the year that Sean Paul broke out as a mainstream dance hall artist.  As a result, the clubs in Montreal were BUMPING Sean-AH-Paul every.single.night.  “Get Busy” was the anthem.  And a fun fact, the music video for it was filmed in the basement of a house in Woodbridge just outside of Toronto, so Sean Paul became somewhat of a beacon for Toronto before this kid named Drake surfaced a few years later.

I’ll be driving.  I’ll be at the gym.  I’ll be in a store.  I’ll be anywhere and when I hear “Shake dat ting Ms, Cana Cana...” BOOM - instantly back to those stuffy, sweat filled nights.

Last week NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series hosted Sean Paul who performed basically every single big hit he’s ever had - he’s had a bunch.  But if you’ve ever watched an NPR Tiny Desk performance, the point is that it’s as if you’re literally performing at a tiny desk - so production is toned down, it’s got more of an acoustic vibe, and it’s a like taking a stadium performance and putting it in a little office space.  

Now although I was still taken back to St. Catherine’s Street in Montreal (frankly King St and Richmond St. in Toronto too), it was interesting to hear Sean Paul play the classics toned down.  It’s like if Sean Paul showed up at your local Starbucks open night with an acoustic guitar and started singing, “So from ah gal nuh up to date, wi deport dem, Cyan keep up to di trends, wi report dem”...which makes me wonder what would actually happen??

Also Sean Paul is 51 years old - let that sink in.

This week's issue is a 4 minute read:

👫 Japan’s Gov’t is Promoting Dating

📱 Temu…Temu…Temu…

🎴 2024 is the Year of Pop Culture Anniversaries

Tokyo’s Dating App

In case you didn’t know, Japan has A LOT of old people.  In 1997, the number of elderly people surpassed the number of children.  At this point the ratio of elderly people to children is beyond 1.2 to 1 and it just keeps growing.  At the same time, people in Japan are not getting married and having kids (let alone dating) at a rate that would actually encourage population growth in the country.

So what does Japan do?  Build their own dating app of course!

But this is no ordinary dating app - you can’t just swipe through it without looking.  Launching in Tokyo in the summer, users are going to be required to submit documentation proving that they are in fact single and willing to get married.  I don’t know how you prove you’re single but I guess they have a way.  You also have to put in your height, weight, how much money you make, sign a form saying you’re willing to get married, and complete a mandatory interview with the app’s operator.  

Part of me is like, whoa, that’s a lot that you have to do in order to find a mate but the other part of me is like, yeah, but you’d probably end up sharing a lot of that information with whomever you were gonna date anyway - Tokyo is just streamlining the process for you.  And you don’t have to shell out hundreds of dollars to try to find a match by going on exuberant amounts of dates - let the government make the match for you - what could go wrong?  

TBH, it all actually sounds like if you outsourced your dating life to your parents.

With a population that has been notoriously declining for years, desperate times call for desperate measures!

Temu Taking Data - YOUR Data

Here’s what you need to know.  There are now 3 class action lawsuits against Temu in North America - one in New York State, one in Illinois, and now one filed in March in Quebec.  All three suits have included claims around Temu’s app taking way more data than it needs to from users trying to shop.  One would think a user name, password, and payment details would be enough.  And most of the time you would be right - except if you use Temu.

According to the claims, if you’ve downloaded and used the app, Temu has access to the following:

• Your text messages

• Your photos

• Your contacts

• Your notifications

• Your camera

• Your microphone

• Your location via IP address

• Other apps on your phone

I did my own investigative journalism here because that’s what I do with Dulture, I’m a journalist (lol) and I actually read through their Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.  The only thing that popped out at me that was concerning was that they have “business partners” that they send your data to.  And also, they track your IP address to better understand your “approximate” location.  That said, you can get a precise location with an IP address..so yeah.

All in all, as with any app you use online, you should do your due diligence if you think there’s something fishy going on - and I don’t mean their damn games that they make you play daily to get a fraction of a cent in order to get that free speaker mop thing you saw on their front page.

Time To Feel OLD

You thought finding out Sean Paul is 51 made you feel old?  Well, the year 2024 is year of a lot of pop cultural milestones with 20+ year anniversaries for things that feel like they happened yesterday.

For instance, it’s been 25 years since Britney Spears debuted with her first album “...Baby One More Time” - I know you remember where you were, where you danced to it, and where you put up the pictures of her from the teenybopper magazines.

It’s been 30 years since “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” came out - Alllllllrighty then.

It’s been 40 years since one of my favourite songs as a kid came out - Weird Al’s “Eat it”, a parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat it” and the video is still just as hilarious as it was when I first saw it in the 90’s.

And this last one is for my wife - we just passed the 20 year anniversary on May 6th of the Friends finale.  I can’t believe that show ended in the 2000’s, it feels like it was forever stuck in the 90’s.  In September of that same year Lost debuted on ABC - I still haven’t watched an episode of Lost but apparently it was a really good show?