The Boroughs, White House Memes, & Saxophone Dreams

Happy Thursday you pop culture junkies! This week, we are kicking things off with a little walk down memory lane in honor of Memorial Day—reminiscing about the good old days spent getting ready for poker at the iconic All Things D conference (which later became the Code Conference). Then, we dive straight into the meme of the moment: NBC reporter Julie Tsirkin, who went massively viral after being caught on camera asking, "What was that?" during a security incident near the White House. We break down the internet's hilarious reactions and how she flawlessly leaned into the viral fame. Plus, we look at the latest TikTok obsession—the "saxophone getting louder" trend—and trace its unexpected origins all the way back to the 1991 classic film Boyz n the Hood. Finally, we chat briefly about the current state of AI photos before obsessing over the best thing on TV right now: Netflix's The Boroughs. Think Golden Girls meets Stranger Things—trust us, you don't want to miss this!   This week’s newsletter: https://popculturemondays.com/2026/05/26/what-was-that/