Quickfire Round ⚡️

• Not wanting to vote because you have no faith in the system is a valid viewpoint to have… but make sure you’re registered to vote so you at least have the option. Here’s a little guide for anyone who needs to do a postal vote.
• The Try Guys had a bit of a crisis this past week, and just like that the Try Guys became the Tri Guys. Trust that a very specific segment of the internet blew the fuck up.
• They out out this video, detailing the steps they took after everything. SNL released a parody of their video, framing their reaction as being melodramatic. SNL try and actually be funny challenge.

The Perils of the “Photo Dump” 🤳

The Perils of the “Photo Dump”

I first downloaded Instagram the summer before sixth grade. Charmingly awkward and socially aloof, I probably posted close to ten photos a day for the first few years I had it. I would open up the camera on the Instagram app and snap pictures of the world around me.

Madison’s Newsletter

Madison Huizinga’s article pins down something that I’ve been noticing, both in myself and in others—authenticity on social media is a lie.

Our Instagram feeds have been getting a lot more “real”, lately. People have ditched perfectly-pruned, VSCO-tuned feeds for largely-unedited photo dump carousels. We’re all just so tired of having to have the perfect social media image, right? Everyone edits in the iOS Photos app now. Slightly crunchy, digitally-zoomed-in photos are en vogue. Brands are using #nofilter on conventionally attractive models to sell shit under the banner of authenticity and subverting beauty standards.

So why does it all feel the same as it used to?

I’m starting to think that all social media is, by nature, performative. Even when we‘re trying to present authentically, we end up performing authenticity. What the fuck does it mean any more? What does it mean to be authentic online? Have we turned authenticity into another trendy aesthetic?

Now, we curate the most casual-looking photos that convey the most interesting life. A hastily-taken snapshot of a metal straw, fallen on the floor of a trendy cafe. A candid photo taken at the perfect angle, mid-step. An orange cat napping atop a Proton Perdana.

It’s all so casual, but it’s not really, is it?

The Midnight Club 👻

Check out The Midnight Club, the latest from Leah Fong (The Haunting of Bly Manor) and Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass). It’s about a group of terminally ill kids who make a grim pact with each other — the first to die has to reach out from beyond the grave.

It’s a wonderfully mysterious, scary series, full of Flanagan-isms that you’re definitely familiar with if you’ve seen his previous work. His tendency to write monologues can feel John Green-y when put into the mouths of these teenagers/young adults, but get past that and it’s golden.

Shygirl – Nymph 🎶

Nymph is a nighttime album for horny people on taste the biscuit chrome lady TikTok (celebratory). Shygirl somehow pulls together some of the most distinct production voices in music today—Arca, Sega Bodega, Mura Masa, Danny L Harle—and some admittedly less distinct names with impressive discographies—Bloodpop I’m looking you right in the eye—and reigns them in to create an album brimming with musical ideas.

You’ve got some modern pop, experimental R&B, chill rap, 90s girl group, and glitchy PC-music flourishes that all come together in a really cohesive package. There are a lot of voices here, but it’s clear that Shygirl has both the production chops and the curative ear to bring out the best in all of them.

Favs: Firefly, Coochie (a bedtime story), Heaven, Nike, Poison, Shlut