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Ok Re: Trashley it’s almost 1am and I finally finished it. I feel very weirdly uncomfortable with Laura as a narrator and some of the comments on #40 kind of reflect the concerns which have started to arise. I really hope if it’s a true story 1) Cecilia gave her permission for it to be shared including their texts 2) she has financially compensated Cecilia. Because Lauren is obviously incredibly wealthy - and asked no questions about enormous sums of money she didn’t need and knew couldn’t possibly have been earned.

Also this doesn’t really matter but is her sister called Llaura with two Ls and also does that mean they’re Laura and Lauren wtf?

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Yes! Have felt this trajectory as well, as it became more obvious that more people were grifted - I just went back and had a look to see what comments you were referring to, and yeah. Quite concerning? I think you’ve named the slightly ick feeling I’ve had (while genuinely wrapped up in the story) - they own fucking lakes and gold mines and she’ll take thousands of dollars for a few tweets? If this is her own story, she has been a victim too, and has been fucked over (maybe more than we know as yet) but I agree - really worried for Cecelia and hope she has received support for her and her kids, and that she’s agreed to Lauren milking this for content (she loves content).

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Yeah I mean she’s a great writer I’m wrapped up in the story - but I don’t know it just feels quite exploitative to the other women involved. Everybody who writes about their lives in an unreliable narrator but I don’t know - I can’t understand how you’d let someone spend that kind of money and be so hooked on having money spent on you when you’re already wealthy. I’m glad she’s selling the jewellery for Cecilia. Part of me wonders if she kept the relationship going so long for the story…which feels ick.

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I find it sus that there was a comment on one part saying something along the lines of compensating Cecelia for all the money Ashley had spent and in the very next part Lauren drops screenshots of her offering to give Cecelia the money for the jewellery she was selling.

ALSO where the fuck was Ashley getting all her money from? It seems like she’d maxed everything out long ago but could still spend up large constantly?

AND was the $30K for writing tweets actually coming from a company or was it just from Ashley?

Lauren is a great writer but like, also super sus.

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Right? So sus.

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Oh, new drop just dropped too! In this she is selling jewellery and giving the money to Cecelia?

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I am also sooo invested in Trashley and since last FNC I've told a couple of friends about it who are now hooked too 😅 I'm fully up to date this evening. YES, I feel the same ick about Lauren!!! She has said on a few occasions that she just wanted to 'see it through' or 'see where it goes' or something to that effect which feels quite yuck, as if it were a game or something? I'm very unsure. I noticed some drama unfolding in the comments of part 40 but need to go back and take a look - I also hope she has permission from Cecelia and is compensating her too! What her and her children have lived through is absolutely not a game. I was also gobsmacked by the wealth of her family having literal gold mines, lakes, permafrost tunnels and also owning huge land in Florida! The mind boggles.

P.s. I think the sister's name is Ilaura, like with a capital 'i' at the start?

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The consumerism and money spending made me feel illl over the several hours I binged this!

I also feel like Lauren is kind of a dirtbag and she knows it? Anyone who freely admits they love stuff and things is a little suspect to me haha.

However I listened to Sweet Bobby, the podcast Lauren and Ashley listen to together, and it's amazing. Highly recommend.

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Yeah Sweet Bobby is very very good.

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My husband who loves Nickleback is making me watch the Hate to Love Nickleback doco 😂 and it does feel mean to say mean things about Nickleback but it’s just that they kind of look like dorks you know? Like I know that’s not the reason they’re unlikeable but it’s def part of it 😂

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I was consumed by Trashley this week!! I keep checking my emails waiting for the next chapter to drop!

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Oh I’m still only half way if it was all in one post I’d be finished !!

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I am a freakishly fast reader so read everything in one night!

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Omigod so happy there’s been multiple drops this week though

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I've just read all 40 in one day (thanks long weekend!) When I began, I assumed it was written a while ago and that it was a 40 part series. I'm so glad there will be more!

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I hoovered up this week and then wished I could have read more slowly so that I could have savoured it more.

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I have cleaned my house and I feel very smug and I don’t know why I can’t make myself remember that it feels good after - I’m not a naturally tidy person. I’m also listening to Bronwyn too and I can’t get over the married couple where the husband is like oh I saw him at the beach this morning and the wife is like yeah he 100% murdered her.

Like how do they talk about his when Hedley isn’t there?

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YES!! Like so wild to be like “yeah he killed his wife but I’m gonna be polite when I see him and have a yarn” like wtf

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It’s so bizarre right?! I think you mentioned thinking about subscribing - I’m in the same dilemma, especially after they did that 2 minute episode, but I will hold out! The police in Australia seem to be fucked when it comes to investigating women disappearing - maybe that could be something to do with this epidemic of violence against women?? Just a thought 😳

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I really want to subscribe but it’s so important we don’t support shit media lol and my god the Australian isn’t just shit media it makes Australia a worse place to live in.

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Oh my, I didn't know that about Firecracker, the actor. OMG, I love her more now. Love the writers even more though, such a good show!

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Maybe nobody bothered talking to the police about it because they felt the police wouldn’t do anything

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That's very true. And they didn't.

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Exactly. Makes me realise anew how important our collective voices are

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I am ABSORBED by Trashley omg. I'm now up to date and my husband is working his way through it. And every time it drops I am positively gleeful.

Also, Muscles and Mayhem is so far up my alley it's not even funny, thanks for the rec.

ALSO - I love the Eurovision obsession! I lived in the Faroe Islands on exchange when I was a teenager and that year Iceland entered "Congratulations" by Silvia Night which has, ever since, been the soundtrack that plays in my head whenever I look at photos from that time. A stone cold banger and it didn't even make it to the final! It kicks off with the truly iconic line, "Congratulations, I have arrived." It's more fun in Icelandic. Turns out, all the non English speaking countries who write songs in English for Eurovision, have own language versions too. Twice the fun!

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Oh and another guilty pleasure Eurovision entry is the Danish one "Fly on the wings of love". Maximum cheese!!!

I edited this comment to add: I have always theorised that there are secret Eurovision points given out for key changes. One year there was a song with five - incredible stuff.

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Five key changes 😂😂 I have spent most of today running around trying to buy tulle to make Hammy a Nemo jacket (this year’s winner). God help me their costumes are impossible. I would love to go to Iceland one day. The dream!

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I've just googled that jacket and omg, good luck. Backstreet bargains has fairy floss a.k.a. tulle for $4 a metre - that might help? In about a million colours too. Can't wait to see the outcome!

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Mānawatia a Matariki. Loving all the read recs - perfect for the long lazy weekend I have planned

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Yay! I’m glad you like it!

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And reading rec is my friends new book of short short fiction - The End of the Beginning by Jenna Heller

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Omg Clyde 😭😭😭 made me feel hopeful 💜

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I have been listening to Sentimental Garbage, a podcast by Irish author Caroline O’Donoghue that I think many readers here would enjoy, and I just started The Blindboy Podcast,also Irish. Irish podcasts are almost automatically ASMR 😅

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I looove the blind boy podcast

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You and Ham might enjoy this eurovision song from 2009 https://youtu.be/WXwgZL4zx9o?si=3QZela6Pcuub01oo

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Oh yes this was the winner eh? We have heard this one a lot!

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Manawatia Matariki!

Important question: is one of the songs being played on repeat “Give that wolf a banana” by Subwoolfer because if not it’s a good one to introduce…

I’ve been laid out by a virus most of the week so TV has been alllll low-impact like Sewing Bee (the winner deserved it, I was rooting for them pretty early doors, I hope they put a book out). I adore a good himbo so obviously I’m going to check out Muscles and Mayhem.

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I watched one episode of Sewing Bee and knew she'd be the winner, still watched t final to confirm!

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Haha no but that sounds like something he would like. It's The Code, the french song, the Ukraine song, La Noia, No Rules & Europapa haha

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Dadi Freyr (another excellent Icelandic act) had a couple of great entries (they were selected in 2020 and so only got to compete the following year, with a different song), iirc they have videos on their YouTube channel breaking down some of the dance moves if Ham’s into that. Wholesomeness: their 2020 entry was a song by the lead singer addressed to his infant daughter about how he can’t wait for her to be old enough to talk so he can hear what she thinks about things. And their 2021 entry was a song he wrote about how much he loves his wife of 10 years.

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Mānawatia a Matariki!

Partner and I are all about those easy-to-follow Netflix shows while doomscrolling too. She suggested we watch the 2000s show Psych, which I'd never seen but she was a fan of back in the day. We're watching a couple of eps per night and we're five seasons in now. It's been pretty enjoyable and I definitely prefer it to The Mentalist (which came along two years later, with a strikingly similar premise, and was far more successful).

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Oh thank you! I'll check it out!

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https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8vu_13BK-Y/?igsh=MTF5YWZpaHNhNGszbA== ❤️🥰🍉 this cute lil video feels like a good way to kick off The Weekly which will be people powered! 🤞❤️

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Thanks for the heads up on the Bronwyn podcast, I hadn’t heard anything about it. With the Teacher’s Pet, I remember thinking that the saddest thing was that no one fought that hard against the “left to join a cult” story even though It was so unlikely. If I go missing I want at least someone to avenge my death lol

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