a newsletter of links mostly to other newsletters...hmm
HMMM.
I laid down the law about posting wedding photos in me and Steffi’s digital etiquette advice column at FastCo. You know I’m right.
“They interpreted it as a signal of the founders talking like progressives but enjoying the wealth of the privileged class, particularly during a tough time in the podcast market,” is quite a comical (in a depressing way) line from Bloomberg’s window into the Crooked Mediaverse’s troubles. No wonder Jon Lovett went on Survivor! Being a manager is not as fun as being podcast talent it turns out :((((
In The Face: “How lore became pop’s hottest summer accessory.” <- Great commentary here from Hugh Morris about the use of world-building/persona-perpetuating that we’re seeing happening with Taylor Swift and Charli XCX and like not Dua Lipa. (Poor Dua Lipa—people don’t really want to be in your book club, they just want to feel like they know what’s going on in your relationships??)
And despite many media attempts to define what exactly a Brat summer might be, it seems resistant to reduction. Lore is more like something to be fed and, given the slightest nudge – like Charli saying a Brat summer means a strappy white top and a pack of cigs – imagination spreads like ink through water. The result is lore at its most abstract and imaginative: The G line of the New York subway is having a Brat summer? Sure. A cab-less articulated lorry with a Nine Inch Nails stamp has Brat energy? Marvellous. They’re playing football on the Brat pitch? Why not?
When Kneeling Bus AKA Drew Austin does a send about microtrends as coping mechanisms, you know I’m strapped in for the rest of lunch hour. Doesn’t this section just like already explain it all??
Paradoxically, this erosion of cultural touchstones does not affirm the validity of direct personal experience or one’s immediate surroundings (which would make the whole process more rewarding). Instead, it produces a kind of apophenia—seeing patterns where there are none, overloading the particular with excessive significance, and reframing one’s own disparate observations as generalizable cultural commentary. On Tiktok, Twitter, Substack, and in august publications like the New York Times, this is just how we talk now.
Back in May, I went to a show my friend Gabi curated at All Street Gallery this past spring (it was of waste facility artists-in-residence, AKA trash art, and it was amazing), and they put me on their email list, which turns out to be a kind of kooky semi-anonymous Substack you should also start reading so that we can talk about it??
Thankful for Kate Lindsay’s work in Embedded, because any time I’m like “hmmmm what’s [internet microcelebrity account]’s deal?” Embedded finds out. Last week, she interviewed Bald Ann Dowd, and if you don’t know who that is, don’t worry about it…… just know you are living a peaceful life.
Finally, this week in the Glenenning: I’d been waiting on AHP’s read as celeb expert and UT grad on Mr. Powell, and her unified theory did not disappoint! I mean, this paragraph alone speaks volumes about the nature of male celebrity itself…
Tom Cruise doesn’t like women. Neither does Miles Teller. Channing Tatum likes women. So does Ryan Gosling. Brad Pitt used to like women but doesn’t anymore. Leonardo Di Caprio only likes them occasionally. Bradley Cooper doesn’t, George Clooney does. Matt Damon doesn’t, Ben Affleck only does in that one scene in the J.Lo documentary. Marlon Brando didn’t, Montgomery Clift did. Paul Newman didn’t onscreen but did IRL. Cary Grant did, John Wayne definitely, definitely didn’t. Will Smith pretends like he doesn’t but I’m not convinced. Mark Wahlberg absolutely does not, but Daniel Day-Lewis does. So does Paul Mescal.
You should sign up for Alex Jung’s profile writing workshop, which is raising money for a family in Gaza! When else will you get to grill THE master NY mag profiler about the nitty-gritty of his craft??
THIS WEDS: Scrivener is great writing software but it can be overwhelming. Scrivener for Creative Writers is a class on the most useful features for creative writers of all genres, especially anyone working w/ research. Make your process easier & more creative. More info here.
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