Back to the Future with RSS! »
Nicky Case has a genuine gift for being able to explain technical things really well. In this case, they’re explaining RSS, the glue that holds the internet together. The only thing I’d add to what they say here is that you don’t need a subscription service to start enjoying RSS! Modern apps like Reeder and NetNewsWire allow you to scrape feeds from your own computer!
# Jul 5, 2021Drunk Post: Things I've learned as a Sr Engineer : ExperiencedDevs »
Shitty framing device aside (don’t pretend to be drunk, just admit you want to be brutally honest and sincere, friend!), there’s a lot of truth here.
# May 31, 2021Bluey Is the Best Kids’ Show of Our Time »
I sometimes half-joke that I really hate the Dad in Bluey because he’s always so fuckin perfect and he makes me feel like a bad parent but the truth is that I’ve learned a lot about being a better parent from watching Bluey. The fact that it’s a genuinely delightful show is just a happy bonus.
# May 25, 2021Addison Rae, Bella Poarch, Charli D’Amelio, and the blandness of TikTok’s biggest stars - Vox »
What I’m talking about here is “straight TikTok,” the side of the app that can be described as “pretty people filming themselves being pretty.” On straight TikTok, you can be an okay dancer with an expressive face, and one year later, you get a beauty brand, a publicist-concocted friendship with a Kardashian, and the starring role in the gender-swapped Netflix adaptation of She’s All That.
TikTok has been one of the highlights of 2020 for me and one of the things that kept me from Twitter-doomscrolling myself into an early grave. But this is a fairly spot-on evaluation - it’s interesting to see who bubbles to the top on that stupid clock app and I wonder how much of this is an algorithm thing and how much of this is just the mediocrity of aggregated opinions.
# May 18, 202175 Artists, 7 Questions, One Very Bad Year - The New York Times »
Trent Reznor, answering the question of what art he’s turned to during the lockdown:
I’ve stumbled into the world of YouTube tutorials for various bits of musical gear. I’ve really found some comfort in curling up with a nice long video of someone demonstrating an obscure guitar pedal or synth at length. I’m usually watching and forgetting all information simultaneously but it feels like some kind of accomplishment.
Same, Trent. Same.
# Mar 12, 2021Sleep Around Before You Marry An Argument - essaying »
All the best essays are about the “why” and not the “who”. This is a great introduction to the idea of reading around a subject.
# Mar 10, 2021HANIA RANI — F MAJOR on Vimeo »
This is lovely but also really sort of makes me want to watch the OA again?
# Feb 23, 2021LEGO White Noise - Spotify »
A 7-hour album of LEGO ASMR might not be your cup of tea, but it’s exactly what I need right now.
# Feb 3, 2021