Culture Catch-Up: Dolly Parton Tributes, Met Gala Fallout & the Ozempic-Fueled Celebrity Body Discourse
Prose Society with Eli Rallo
In this debut episode of Prose Society's Culture Catch-Up, host Eli Rallo dives into a wide range of pop culture topics with personal anecdotes and sharp commentary. From
Key takeaways
- Celebrity culture often applies harsher scrutiny to women's bodies and choices, especially regarding public image and health decisions like Ozempic use.
Main topics
- Dolly Parton tributes and recent losses in music and theater
- Met Gala theme controversy
Notable quotes
"I'm going to wear a black tie gown... everyone can show up as they are."
Conclusion
Eli Rallo's first Culture Catch-Up blends personal storytelling with i
Transcript preview
Speaker 7 (0:00) I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are The Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who lived through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (0:31) I'm Brett Coleman. And I'm Trevor Sykema. If you love football and want to understand what's really happening on the field, check out our show, NFL Pro. Every week, we break down the biggest plays, trends, and matchups using exclusive next-gen stats insights and NFL content you will not find anywhere else. Speaker 8 (0:48) Whether you're new to football, a fantasy football fanatic, or a diehard fan, NFL Pro will help you analyze the game like a pro. Listen to NFL Pro on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (1:03) College football will hijack your weekend, ruin your sleep, and break your heart. And that's why we make the Solid Verbal College Football Show. I'm Ty Hildenbrand. He's Dan Rubenstein. Every week, we preview the games that matter and the storylines Speaker 4 (1:17) that are going to ignite your group chat. And you can join us in the aftermath as we react to what happened, why it matters, and how the sport went completely bonkers. yet again. Listen to the Solid Speaker 8 (1:29) Verbal College Football Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (1:35) Whether you're a seasoned NFL fan or new to the game, there's one place to keep up with all of it. The league's newest podcast, The NFL Report, hosted by me, Andrew Siciliano. It is your home for everything football, breaking news, expert analysis, game picks, and hear from your favorite players too. Join me and an all-star cast of experts for everything you need to know from around the league. Get new episodes of the NFL Report Monday through Friday, all season long. Listen to the NFL Report podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (2:07) Hey there, everybody. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes here from the Amy and TJ podcast. We're going to cover everything you need to know during this heated political season. Speaker 5 (2:15) Yes, we just saw Lindsey Graham, the death of a longtime senator. Also, we've got a couple of missing. Members of Congress. Also, we got a lot of members of Congress behaving badly. We got accusations, allegations flying all day long on Capitol Hill. Speaker 1 (2:29) Listen to Amy and TJ on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Speaker 2 (2:44) Hello, y'all, and welcome back to another episode of Prose Society Podcast. I think this is the one I've been most excited for because this is our very first Culture Catch-Up, which is just going to be my probably twice a month Pop Culture Catch-Up episode. We actually recorded this whole entire thing when my assistant was in town helping me set up the home studio. But we realized two things. One, a little bit above our pay grade to set up a professional podcast studio. So we had been like on FaceTime with our producer for hours and... I had the striking realization that it probably would have been better for everybody involved, including my producer, if he just came down to help set up the home studio. So that's actually now what's happening. So as a result. While my assistant and I were setting up the home studio, we ended up recording two episodes and one of them was the culture catch up for this week. And then we realized that we accidentally deleted the entire thing. But I think that might be for the best because now I'm recording this only two days before it comes out. So it's the most up to date that I could possibly get. I have been keeping a running list of everything that I want to talk about in the vein of pop culture. You might have noticed if you're a TikTok follower, I've been slowly pulling back on how much that I'm just like face to cam giving. my thoughts on pop culture because I really wanted to be able to do it here and I wanted it to be housed here. And so I've been keeping a running list for like basically the entire summer getting ready for this very episode. And now we're here. So we're just going to get into it for the next like I'm contracted to do 30 minutes, but I know it's going to go over 30 minutes. So let's just get into it first some updates because I know a lot of you wanted the pod to also have like life updates. So I've kind of been keeping a lot to myself as well. I've been in Houston like all month and it's been really nice. I mean, we moved. So that's part of the reason that I was down here for so long. But also August is a quiet time. It's a quiet time for social media. It's a quiet time for publishing. Like it's just a quiet time. I feel like a lot of people are traveling. It's just not the busiest time for business. So I definitely. took advantage of that and just kind of hunkered down here. We're getting settled in the house. We're hosting like a big housewarming in October. I've invited a hundred people. I don't even know like how I found and located a hundred people, but I invited them. Like I went so far as to drop notes off at my neighbor's houses, inviting them. And it is my personal belief that I'm going to wear a black tie gown. to this housewarming and I'm not requiring anybody else to, but like, I just want to be like barefoot in a gown at my housewarming. And then like, everyone can show up as they are. And I hired a caterer. I have bartenders. Like I'm extremely excited for this party. I think that I was like, not missing wedding planning because I actually don't at all, but I was missing like the creativity aspect of planning a wedding and like having the ability to like design an event. So I was like, Let me just design my housewarming. So I have a theme, like an aesthetic theme. And you know what? I've never been known for my aesthetics, but I have been utilizing my mom, my husband, my dad as sort of like mouthpieces for the design process. And then they're also coming to town, my parents, for the housewarming, which is added pressure because they're literally hosts extraordinaire. Speaking of, I will be heading to my parents for Labor Day. My dad is throwing a huge party. It was being called the Oyster Party, but I actually don't think that's what it's called. I think it's called... Rallo Palooza, like Lala Palooza, but Rallo Palooza. And just like some brief history, my parents like decided they were going to throw this rager called Rallo Palooza in like 2008, I want to say. And they made shirts and it was like really a drunk fest. Like I've never seen so many 40 year old people so wasted to the point where like. my brothers and I had to like go hang out at the neighbor's house because it was like not appropriate for us to be there but like the neighbor's house is like simply separated by a fence so we were just like in the backyard watching all of this like absolute tomfoolery unfold it ended up going over so well that my parents then had a second one but after the second one my mom was like enough is fucking enough like this is just an absolute drunk fest I guess my dad went to a restaurant where they were doing oysters four ways, like with four different accoutrements. I don't eat oysters because I had one really bad experience with them. And frankly, to be honest, like, no, I just can't. Like there's something so slimy about them. I fucking hate them, to be honest with you. But anyway, he went to like this restaurant. They were doing oysters four ways. He got this idea. I'm going to do a party, oysters four ways and lobster rolls. I also don't like lobster rolls. Call me a party pooper. Maybe I don't. understand like the finest delicacies. I feel like lobsters taste like sea insect. And they make my stomach hurt. So I'm just like not a fan. But regardless, like it's oysters, lobster rolls, rosé and beer or something of this nature. And it's the Rallo Palooza. He has this DJ coming who spins vinyls. He asked my husband to make the playlist frame, which is my husband's like biggest joy in life, making playlists like his love language. So we have that happening. And so we're going. back up to the East coast for that. And then I'll be back down here for like a week. And then I'm going back up to the East coast for like five days coming. Oh, then I'm going to Vegas actually, which is exciting for a work thing. Then coming back here, then, um, going up to Nantucket to visit our honeymoon friends, staying in New York. I have a wedding back to New York. And then finally back down here, I have my sister-in-law visiting and then we have the housewarming. So I've been in a rush to get the house ready because I want it to be like, looking stunning and beautiful and chic and elevated when all these 100 people that I invited over come over. Before the housewarming, though, we are taking my parents to Round Top Antique Festival. If you're not a Texan, you guys, like, this is worth a trip to Texas. It's this town in Texas called Round Top, and it's, like, in ranch country. And by that, I mean, like, everything around, everything between Houston and Austin, when you get out of, like, Houston proper before you're in, like, the suburbs of the outskirts of Austin, is, like, like ranches. And I might be like ignorant in saying that, but I don't, I've done the drive a million times. It's like a bunch of ranches and farmland. And there's this town called Round Top. And every single year they host this like antique festival. And it's like, imagine just acres of land with these like tents and all of these like antique. and like clothing companies and boot companies and hat companies and like furniture companies and they sell like rugs and artists and all this shit. They come and they take over these acres of land in tents and they sell stuff. And then there's like bars with like really good margaritas and Palomas. And there's like live music. It's literally the cutest fucking thing. And it's like incredible. I've never seen antiquing like this. And I grew up going to yard sales. My mom was like, she'd see a sign in the street that say yard sale. We're pulling over. Like that was her vibe. It is so cute. If you're like bored tonight and you hit the pendulum and you're like, let me go on a doom scroll, doom scroll round top antique festival. You will book a trip. It's so damn fucking cute. If you look up my name with Round Top Antique Festival on TikTok, you might find my video from last year. I just like love going here. And I know my parents are going to be obsessed. It's like if Ralph Lauren did like an antique pop up, like it's so that vibe. It's so chic, so Western, so elevated. And we're looking for tons of stuff for our house. So I'm very excited to go there. And then that like basically takes us through October, close to November. And the hits keep... coming like a lot going on in my work life in my personal life just trying to like keep my head above water and keep all of my ducks in a row as we're like heading into this like pre-launch phase for Eden and I'm trying to start my second book and like trying to find the right time my second novel my fourth book I don't have a book deal for it yet I I'm kind of confused because there's like people in my comments, like clearly there's a rumor circulating that I have my fourth book deal already and a TV deal. This is a nice rumor. Like, I think that the people who are like spreading the rumor or who are like trying to like put it in my comment section, like they think that they're like revealing big news, but it's not true. Like I have to write something to sell my next book. This book was in a single book deal, which means like sometimes there are things called like two book deals or three book deals. And that's when you're signing a book deal for multiple books. I only signed it for one. So like I have to write something in order to sell this next book. And I don't have a TV deal. I don't have a TV deal. But if I did, that would be sick. It's like one of my dreams. So anyway, I don't have a book deal for the next book I'm writing yet. fingers crossed, knock on wood, because we're manifesting. I have to start writing. So I'm looking for time to do that. But that's really where I'm at in a personal sense, just like vibing, living life. Like, as always, if you follow me on Instagram, you can keep most up to date with my day to day happenings. I try my best to post like live throughout my day as much as I can, but juggling a lot of things wearing a lot of hats. So sometimes it just doesn't happen. But that's kind of what's going on personally. But let's shift to what you came here for the pop culture catch up. I wanted to start this episode by talking about Dolly Parton. in. Dolly Parton passed away last week. And Dolly Parton was really, really important to me. And I'm going to try to get through this without crying. I've been like very, very emotional about this. I don't want to sound like a pick me. But the only other time I got this emotional about someone passing away was Joan Didion and Gavin Creel, to be honest, that was the other one that like really got me. Gavin Creel is a Broadway actor, if you don't know. And Joan Didion, like for some reason that one just hit me and like, I'm so sorry, that sounds like so fake, but I swear to God, this one has been really, really devastating to me. And I think because, and I've seen this circulated around, but Dolly Parton showed me that as a woman, you can be beloved, you can be sexy. You can be beautiful. You can be fun. You can be silly. You can be larger than life. You can be talented. You can be generous. You can be kind. You can be cool. You can be smart. Like you can be everything to people and to yourself. And I think that that's just like an underrepresented thing, like a truly beloved, fulfilled, larger than life woman who isn't being like absolutely destroyed on a mass scale. And that's not to say that she didn't have her fair share of nitpicking and criticism, but like. it did feel like everybody loved her. And of course, there are always going to be people that don't like someone. But to watch a woman be universally beloved the way she was, like, was a special thing. And... The fact that she was in the background of our childhoods, like I never knew a life without Dolly Parton. She was always just there. Not to mention she was an incredibly generous philanthropist who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to childhood literacy, to health care, to disaster relief and to the community that she came from, which was a poor community in Tennessee and Appalachia. She grew up in like a one to two bedroom house with a dozen siblings. She is someone who truly never forgot where she came from. So incredibly humble, resilient, and just a masterful example of like a true good person. Like truly the best that we have or had. She literally was like one of the biggest donors to the COVID-19 vaccine. She gave like over a million dollars to Vanderbilt Medical Center to lead the development of the Moderna vaccine. She is just like... truly, truly unbelievable to watch the outpouring of celebrities that came out to mourn her. Like, I've really never seen, like, the entire algorithm be taken over by just true admiration for one person. She was just really, really, really important. I read that she became the most streamed artist worldwide the day after she passed away. And I just truly loved Dolly. Like, We truly will always love her. And it brought me such sadness to see so many people like, of course, like there always has to be a naysayer and everything. But to see so many people come out of the woodworks and like call her a bad person or say because she didn't, you know, do this thing or that thing or speak up about this or that, like she wasn't a good activist, like she has done more than you ever, ever will fucking do. And don't piss me off. Like. I think that it is worth examining celebrities and people who have large platforms and how they use those large platforms. But let's leave Dolly out of this. Like she has done and her legacy will continue to do more than you will ever do. So let's all take a page out of her book and try to be more like Dolly instead of trying to criticize Dolly. That got me. But not too much on that. I don't want to dwell too much on that negativity because she really was such a good person. And I couldn't possibly start this episode without talking about not only like her contributions to music and to her philanthropic work, but to literacy, to books. What other I mean, there are some major celebrities who I feel like are sort of championing literacy like Dua Lipa comes to mind. And that's more so in like getting adults to read. But like children's literacy and education, Dolly was like she's one of one truly. And I love her so much. Speaker 7 (16:03) When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (17:03) On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (18:03) College football will hijack your weekend, ruin your sleep, and break your heart. And that's why we make the Solid Verbal College Football Show. I'm Ty Hildenbrand. He's Dan Rubenstein. How's it going? Speaker 4 (18:14) Every week,