BeReal and the Doomed Quest for Online Authenticity

Brooke Erin Duffy:

By some accounts, we have: Researchers have noted a significant uptick in “social media fatigue,” which they attribute in part to the pandemic. But even the tech-weariest among us find it hard to disregard the mandate to put forward our best (digital) selves. And so, despite the pretense of novelty, BeReal represents the latest iteration in the cycle of social media sites that spring from the push-and-pull tension of authenticity and performance.

BeReal might just be the first major social media thing I feel absolutely too old for.

Janeane Garofalo Never Sold Out. What a Relief.

Jason Zinoman for the NYT:

Garofalo’s stand-up always made apathy and boredom look cool, glamorous and, most important, sensible. About boomers, she joked: “They got married and worked hard so their kids didn’t have to, and guess what, we don’t.” There’s a performance in this, of course, since she has always worked hard, but the hustle and grind has never been her brand, to use a word she probably wouldn’t.

Always dug Janeane.

Stray

Janet Garcia for Pen to Pixels:

Stray is the ultimate cat simulation with a delightful adventure wrapping. A third-person cat adventure game in a cybercity, Stray excels at capturing what it’s like to be a cat (granted, one that’s much more brave and capable than mine).

Stray is a PlayStation exclusive at the moment, which is the one video game platform I don’t have access to. Owning a Switch and a PC means I can play almost anything, but every now and then Sony gets one I wish I could play and not wait four years¹ for a PC port. Every few years, Sony gets a great one.

Update: It was apparently on Steam this whole time.

Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

Paul Fairie:

A Brief History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore 🧵

Build for Tomorrow is one of my favourite “turns out” podcasts. The whole show is stuff like this. The best of the whole lot is When Exactly Were “The Good Old Days”? It goes down a similar rabbit hole as this Twitter thread.

I love stuff like this. But I wonder if this sort of thing has ever actually changed anyone’s minds, or if it’s just catnip for people who already agree.

That’s it. I’m going on patrol

Is it me or do you guys also feel like something is off about life in general post covid?:

I remember back in 2019 life felt much much better. I was happier and more relaxed. financial wise I am doing better now but I have this weird feeling I can’t seem to shake off….it’s like something is off about life.

Am I the only one?

What You’re Feeling Isn’t A Vibe Shift. It’s Permanent Change.:

I was born during the longest period of global stability. Now, it appears all of that is fleeting. Two-thirds of the way through his claustrophobic 2021 comedy special Inside, Bo Burnham briefly strips away all the humor and launches into “That Funny Feeling.

Get Ready for the Forever Plague:

don’t expect “normal” to return to your hospital, your airport, your nation, your community or your life anytime soon.

There’s a sketch in the new season of Kids in the Hall. It’s the last sketch in episode 4: The Patrol. It’s the idiocracy of 2022.

I’m Newly-Obsessed With The Japanese-Style Method For Making Iced Coffee At Home

Ross Yoder for Buzzfeed:

The method itself produces a cup of coffee that’s robust in flavor yet still as velvety-smooth as a cold brew. In fact, the flavor notes are known to be even more pronounced than in cold brew, which can occasionally taste a bit muted. Translation: It’s a seriously delicious way to prepare iced coffee — so delicious, in fact, that a friend of mine even claims it’s “the reason she started drinking coffee” while spending time in Japan. And y’all, after trying it for myself in my own home, I’ve been hooked ever since.

I’m kicking myself for only just finding out about this.

The Multifarious Multiplexity of Taika Waititi

Jennifer Kahn for Wired:

That risk is outweighed, for Waititi, by the desire to experiment, both in the moment and, later, during editing. Clement, who has been Waititi’s close friend and collaborator since college, remembers him being similarly restless as a performer. When the two did live comedy shows together in their twenties, Clement recalled, Waititi would initially follow the planned beats but would soon get bored and start to improvise. “He’s good at so many things,” Clement said. “But he’s not good at sitting still. He’s really not good at that.”

Taika’s been on a great run. I really hope nothing messes it up.

How Susan Kare Designed User-Friendly Icons for the First Macintosh

David Kindy for Smithsonian:

Kare’s breakthrough designs for the Macintosh, which included the smiling computer at startup, trash can for recycling and a computer disk for saving files, are now commonplace in the digital era. They are so recognizable that they are legendary.

The spraypaint icon was it for me. That was the icon that invited me to actually do something with this contraption.

There’s finally a good Star Trek show

Strange New Worlds is good. It’s the first Star Trek show I’d recommend to any normal person who either does or doesn’t care about Trek. It’s the first Star Trek show to not waste their first season “figuring out” their characters. Most of it just clicks. Everyone is easy to root for, and nothing is taken too seriously.

My favourite recaps of each episode were written by Andrew Bloom at The Spool. He says everything better than I could:

• Episode 1
• Episode 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8
• Episode 9
• Episode 10

June 2022 in photos