The cabana opinion that got us cancelled

PLUS Holly's year of "nup", a no-context (questionable) photo, a royal haiku, a merry Brissy catchup and two new books that Mia couldn't put down. Happy reading!

Jan 17, 2025

Hiii Outlouders, Em Vernem here 🙋🏾‍♀️

It's our first work week back into the new year and the nation already hates me (fantastic).

A new type of gang formed over the summer… the cabana gang. I had a few words to say about said cabana users and everyone disagreed. Not only did they disagree but they also seemed to not mind if I ended up ceasing to exist. God I love the internet.

Monday’s show started with a heated discussion on cabana politics and I honestly found myself agreeing with all sides (they must be good at their jobs).

We are so happy to be back in your ears, and we’ve had A LOT to say about A LOT of things. Make sure you scroll back in your podcast feed to catch up on this week’s episodes.

🎧Listen to Monday’s show. #cabanagate starts at the 25:40 mark.

📖 If you dare to read my Cabana piece you can do so here.

mamamiaaus

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Weekly Reccos 📺 📖 🎧

Have no fear, weekly reccos are here. We’re starting off strong with a show, TWO books and an app.

Mia wants you to read

Two books by Claire Lombardo:

claire_lombardo

A post shared by @claire_lombardo

Same As It Ever Was.

“It's about a woman called Julia and her interpersonal relationships. The characters are just really, really interesting and it’s about career and marriage and parenting, and it's just really funny.”

The Most Fun We Ever Had

“The book Focuses on this couple called Marilyn and David. They're deeply in love after 40 years, and they've got four daughters. It’s like a multi generational novel about their family and it’s all about themes of sibling rivalry and hidden struggles, and different timelines and secrets.”

Jessie wants you to use

Depop.

“Every time you say to a young, cool person, ‘where did you get that?’ Like, nice skirt, nice shirt, they go ‘Depop.’ It’s a shopping app that’s like a clothes based marketplace. It’s really easy to use and I quite like how the algorithm then gives you a bunch of suggestions.”

Holly wants you to watch

Missing You on Netflix.

“It is a British crime drama and is number one on Netflix… It's got some really interesting characters in it— Rosalind Eleazar is a British actress who's amazing, and is also in slow horses.
It is not like an artistic masterpiece, but it is just something that will give you lots of viewing pleasure over a few good hours. It's got all those tropes that we're very familiar with, but it's also twisty and surprising”

What did you read/watch/buy over the summer? Tell us in the comments!

We’ve got you covered 📖

Mamamia HQ never takes a break. If you want to catch up on the latest trending topics, check out these reads:

There's a new $400 million lawsuit in the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal drama.
We're in for a scary year on socials in 2025.
Why Meghan Markle’s new reality show With Love, Meghan has been postponed.
The most devastating stories and images to come out of the LA fires.
Brooke Shields underwent labia surgery. Then her male doctor did something without her consent.

From Holly ❣️

'Why I'm having a Year of "Nup".'

Two weeks in, and 2025 is shaping up to be the year of backing the f*ck off.
The zeitgeist self-help book of January resolutions is called The Let Them Theory, a gazillion-selling Mel Robbins guide to just letting the troublesome people in your life… do what they want and stop bothering you. Oprah calls it the "best self-help book she's ever read" and it can be summarised in the words, "You do you, darl".
The most-clicked-on stories are about how much sand you're entitled to on the beach, the highest-grossing movies are cartoons, and on our phones we're still watching videos of pretty women making pretty food in their pretty kitchens. In fact, those are going big-budget, with Duchess Meghan's anticipated flower-freezing series right around the corner.
It's as if, in the face of what feels like unsolvable problems on an unfathomable scale — I started to list them, you know, war and fire and Elon Mu… and then it got too sad, and I stopped — the culture has decided to have a good lie down.
And 2024 Me must have been uncharacteristically early adopting this vibe, because, in December, when it came to choosing my Word Of The Year, a tradition at least eight years in on Mamamia Out Loud, I chose one very much in the spirit… Continue reading.

We have major fomo.

Brissy outlouders got togther for a little gatho and it looked like it was heaps of fun and I’m lowkey sad we didn’t cop an invite.

If you want to come to an even BIGGER outlouders gatho, I have great news for you. There will be a few happening around May this year— Yep, that’s right I’m talking about the Mamamia Out Loud live show. More tickets have been released for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne so get them while it’s hot!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKETS

Haikus 4 u.

Soooo we have a new fixation and it’s… haikus.

An outlouder posted this in the group and we immediately became obsessed:

We talked about this and haikus in general on Wednesday’s show and Holly gave a little offhand comment asking for a haiku about boiled eggs. And… of course that was taken as a very serious request. Behold: #Haikugate.