The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive

Video of federal agents getting run out of Lyn Lake this afternoon. Agents drop a gas can at the end and someone kicks it back at them.

BLIND PIG SIGNATURE T-SHIRT | blindpigrecords Soft, premium 100% combed ringspun cotton. Unisex, short sleeve, crew neck, black with logo on front. If between sizes, we recommend sizing up.

I bet you’re thinking of Blind Pig Records.

www.blindpigrecords.com/product-page...

The Future Of Podcasting Is Here, And It Sucks | Defector This week, Left of Dial published its Essential Listening Poll, a compilation of the 100 best podcasts of all time, according to industry creators, writers, and scholars. (Disclosure: I was invited to...

Another industry hollowed out, forced to copy the lowest common denominator rather than invest in creating the type of work that interested audiences in the first place.

Not surprising, but disappointing.

defector.com/the-future-o...

Excited that Football starts this weekend.

Less excited that I have to wrestle with YouTube, Hulu, ESPN, etc. trying to figure out which app, service, and subscription tier gets me the games I want without paying +$100 a month.

Every year.

All day, every day.

In tech they call them “dark patterns,” but that’s just a euphemism for what it is: bullshit.

All media: news, politics, finance, social, advertising, everything.

It’s all self-centered, for-profit nonsense — and no one even seems to feel ashamed about it anymore.

The Social Media Trend Machine Is Spitting Out Weirder and Weirder Results Trends always have an element of randomness, but our algorithmic feeds have made them unintelligible.

I wrote about the Labubu Dubai chocolate Love Island matcha latte of it all. There really has been a material change in how trends are produced and which ones are capable of catching on with huge audiences. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

I am begging media outlets to actually try “making a movie from a prompt” for themselves before parroting the AI industry’s fantasy framing that “anyone can make a movie from a prompt.”

Tucked inside a library are the remnants of the Baldwin Collection of Canadiana. In this visual essay, @arthurdh.bsky.social‬ highlights the ads, posters, and other ephemera that capture the evolution of Canadian identity: thewalrus.ca/buy-canadian-his...

Can they make a program that reads the comics, too? I don’t want to have any fun.

James Willan’s charming animations have a melancholic undercurrent Combining analogue and digital techniques, this Middlesbrough-born, London-based creative embraces an enchanting interplay between medium and message.

www.itsnicethat.com/articles/jam...

"Culture rot" is not just for brands or content creators.

Everyone is recycling—especially big media companies. Almost no one is contributing anything new to the culture.

From sunrises to headline stories, The New York Times is Sho Shibuya’s daily canvas With an everyday ritual of painting the newspaper, the artist’s project is a testament to what happens when we treat creativity as something as intrinsic as eating breakfast or brushing our teeth.

www.itsnicethat.com/features/sho...

Chasing algorithmic trends, rehashing memes, or trying to be "a part of the conversation" rather than contributing something new.

This is AI model collapse without the AI.

Because contributing something new is difficult and platforms reward more of the same.

An endless stream of copy-and-paste content, just regurgitating what’s already out there.

This isn't about AI.

We don't need to replace creative people with boring machines if they're already acting like boring machines.

We're in the age of 'culture rot.' Here's how brands can avoid it A new trend report by TBWA shows how brands can stop following culture and start contributing to it.

Culture rot.

"Brands and creators are churning out this endless stream of stuff, much of which isn’t actually landing, making a difference, or shifting how people are actually living in the real world"

www.fastcompany.com/91292744/wer...

I’d add a few more swoopy waves.

1/4 of the ads this Super Bowl:

That there was nothing worth talking about is definitely worth talking about.

Looking forward to it.

"freedom is a car" is an idea i wish i could physically murder with a hammer

Don Draper proposing Seal the Seal in a Mountain Dew ad.

I’ve said this for a the last couple “big games.” But this feels like the true end.

Gotta be the worst slate in ~35+ years.

Remember when the Super Bowl commercials were a whole thing? End of an era

Ok give me [spins wheel] Orlando Bloom and [throws dart] Drew Barrymore promoting a [rolls dice] luxury cruise line

This was probably the best ad of the game so far.

Classic Nike sentiment, but still refreshing amid a year of incredibly uninspired spots.

Like, subvert it in ANY way? No twist, no surprise?

A smart move by the visionaries behind AI. It clearly worked for Crypto.

This has to be the worst year in my professional career.

It feels like an ad from another era. Too cute, too nostalgic.

This edit feels one note and overlong. I wonder if it'll air as a :60 or just :30.

Agreed that it's a miss. No one will be talking about this the next day.

Where have all the mascots gone? Beloved and reviled in equal measure, brand mascots have the power to create strong bonds with audiences, but they’re slowly becoming obsolete. We explore why, and how some creatives are taking a chan...

www.itsnicethat.com/features/rev...

We don't see as many new mascots for the same reasons we don't see more of most things: it takes investment.

Marketers—like Hollywood—avoid risk in favor of more of the same.

Boring.