WELCOME TO THE·BY·PRODUCT. A WEEKLY RECAP OF WHAT IS GOING DOWN & WHAT IS COMING UP ON THE INTERNET. IT’S ONE OF THOSE WEEKS WHERE THE NEWSLETTER IS COMING OUT ON A TUESDAY.
YOUR EDITOR WAS SOAKING UP SOME SUN IN MIAMI FOR THE WEEKEND. BETWEEN YOU AND I, I REALLY FIND IT SO MUCH EASIER TO READ BOOKS WHEN NOT IN NYC FOR SOME REASON. SO HENCE THE DELAY IN DELIVERY. BUT I DO FIND TO BE MUCH MORE FULFILLING TO DELIVER QUALITY CONTENT OVER A DEADLINE TO DELIVER ANY DAY.
THAT BEING SAID I DID BOOKMARK AND SAVE SOME TABS THAT WILL FEED THIS ISSUE. LET’S SEE WHERE IT GOES. THIS ISUUE TENDS TO TWIST AND TURN AROUND THINGS THAT MEANT A LOT TO ME COMING UP AND TO THOSE THAT ARE SHAPING WHERE WE ARE ALL GOING. KINDA ESOTERIC, BUT ALWAYS TRUE TO THE CORE. ENJOY THE SPLITS BETWEEN MINIMALISM AND MAXIMALISM, PARTS OF MY PAST, AND PARTS OF MY FUTURE, AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEN.
AND IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, PLEASE SHARE, LIKE, & SUBSCRIBE. WE ARE OVER 300 STRONG SO KEEP IT GOING. MANY, MANY THANKS TO ALL YOU WHO HAVE HLPED THIS THINGS! ALSO FTI… THERE WAS VERY LITTLE QA ON THIS POST SO PLEASE EXCUSE ANY GRAMMAR, SPELLING, AND OTHER ERRORS WITHIN THIS POST OK? … AND I’M OUT.
THIS WEEK’S HOT TAKE
LIFE IS A PRISON OF THE MIND
EDUCATIONAL DIVERSITY
Many of those who care deeply about education in the humanities can only feel despair at the state of our institutions of “higher” learning. Enrollment in these subjects is plummeting, and students who take literature and history classes often come in with rudimentary ideas about the disciplines. Interviewed in a recent New Yorker article, Prof. James Shapiro of Columbia said teaching “Middlemarch” to today’s college students is like landing a 747 on a rural airstrip. Technology such as messaging apps, digital crib sheets and ChatGPT, which will write essays on demand, has created a culture of casual cheating. / Via WSJ
TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE
One of my favorite Internet friends and authors Jenny O’Dell argues that structural forces have commodified our moments, days, and years. Can our lost time be reclaimed? I suggest your click this link to read more.
Odell’s work has a knack for finding the right conditions and anchoring itself in them. Her previous book, “How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy” (2019), became a surprise best-seller, raising an alarm about how social media had fractured our capacity for deep focus and corralled us into relentless self-optimization. / Via The New Yorker
HOME ALONE
Derek Thompson of The Atlantic dives deep into “The Surprising Effects of Remote Work” and how working from home could be making it easier for couples to become parents—and for parents to have more children. / Via The Atlantic
BLOODHOUND GANG, GANG
The first episode of “3-2-1 Contact” started with a segment about recording its iconic theme song. This show as a child exposed me to the connections between science and subtle art or persuasion, math and art, and how it was all one picture. / Via Youtube
MUSK AT DUSK
How a single engineer brought down Twitter on Monday. Twitter’s website is breaking in novel new ways — and while the company managed to recover from its latest outage within a couple hours, the story behind how it broke suggests there are likely to be similar problems in the near future.
On Monday morning, Twitter users logged on to find a thicket of connected issues. Clicking on links would no longer open them; instead, users would see a mysterious error message reporting that “your current API plan does not include access to this endpoint.” Images stopped loading as well. Other users reported that they could not access TweetDeck, the Twitter-owned client for professional users. / Via Platformer
LESS IS MORE
An underlying assumption many individuals, managers and businesses incorporate into our decisions and choices is the concept of maximizing.
While much of growth and well-being may be driven by more, a case could be made that less is what many should aim for if we are to solve problems, be happier and grow.
We are moving into an age of “fewer”.
Fewer things.
Fewer “managers”.
Fewer big companies.
Fewer people.
Which might give rise to greater rather the fewer opportunities./ Via Rishad
ROCK IS DEAD
Andy Greene looks into the rock band Live that had some of the alt-rock era's hugest hits, but in recent years the former bandmates have been bitterly divided by legal drama and interpersonal conflict from a single con-man. / Via Rolling Stone
MET WITH QUESTIONS
On one Monday every spring, the world's biggest fashion designers and celebrities come together to raise money at the Met Gala, garnering international attention and raising millions of dollars for the Met's Costume Institute.
For one night, all eyes are on the Met and as a result, this non-profit earns a massive amount of notoriety and funds.
It’s so effective, we couldn’t help but wonder: Why isn’t anyone else making this happen? Why, perhaps, isn’t anyone else holding an event that taps other fabulous talents in the fashion and entertainment industries to support a different organization? An organization that, perhaps, serves populations in our country who are most in need? And why not make it a joyous and fun-filled party that shows off the work of whomever can attend? Enter the Debt Gala / Via Debt Gala
OWNERSHIP IS DEAD
Your grails belong to the universe Steven Yeun on relinquishing cherished clothes to the wind, his excellent new A24 series, a beautiful gift from a Tokyo legend, and more / Via Blackbird Spyplane
STUNT DOUBLES
We’re less than a week out from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ annual celebration of movie magic, and there’s one important department that will go unrecognized at the 2023 Oscars: the stunt professionals. While superior production design, visual effects, and sound editing receive awards, there are no trophies honoring the coordinators, performers, and camera operators crucial to action-centric films like Top Gun: Maverick, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, all of which are nominated for something at this year’s ceremony. Although we at Vulture can’t rectify the Academy’s mistake, we can draw attention to it and launch our effort to honor the above- and below-the-line talent that bring a Tom Cruise spectacle to the screen. / Via Vulture
FUTURE PRIMITIVE
The idea is the design George Lois predicted the present. Jean-Paul Goude wanted to understand how exactly Lois designed those brilliant covers, like Andy Warhol drowning in a Campbell’s soup can or Muhammad Ali posing as Saint Sebastian. But there was no design, Lois explained. The idea provided the form. The design is the idea. / Via Dirt
FOUNDER INFLUENCE
Monica Grohne, founder of Marea Wellness, has been posting on Instagram for years about many of the topics that are near and dear to her heart as the founder of a supplements company.
Marea Wellness sells a daily multivitamin designed to address the common nutrient deficiencies found in people who menstruate. As such, many of Grohne’s Instagram posts were centered around health, wellness and dealing with period symptoms.
But it wasn’t until the beginning of January of this year that Grohne’s Instagram following exploded, going from 3,000 followers to more than 150,000 by the end of February. At the beginning of the month, Grohne decided to post a series of videos — 30 over the course of 30 days — about how to make recipes with at least 30 grams of protein.
Grohne attributes the success of the video series to the inviting, intimate format. She started off each video the same way: “for the next 30 days, you and I are making meals with at least 30 grams of proteins.” / Via Modern Retail
ARTIFICIAL IMPLOSION
The AI Disaster Scenario Is it right to freak out? Is it wrong? Will AI end the human race? But also: Aren’t these tools awe-inspiring? / Via The Atlantic
ORIGINS OF LIFE
Rei Kawakubo‘s COMME des GARÇONS is simply groundbreaking. Although the designer often keeps talking to a minimum, her creations always speak for themselves. The brand has established itself on runways far and wide for over 50 years and commonly makes a statement like few others can. Making her annual arrival at Paris Fashion Week, Kawakubo landed in the French capital, ready to present her Fall/Winter 2023 collection. / Via Hypebeast
RIP DAVE
One group that impacted my existence as a late teen, was De La Soul. “Pos, Dave, and Mase online,” David Jolicoeur, the artist formerly known as Trugoy the Dove had joined his collaborators (and former high school classmates) Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer and Vincent “DJ Mase” Mason for a telephonic celebration of De La Soul’s 1989 debut, 3 Feet High and Rising. 34 years after its release, that landmark album—and five other seminal De La projects—are finally set to finally to streaming services this coming Friday.
“If you’re ready to begin this,” Dave said, “we can make it happen!” / Via GQ
WHY NOT?
Adam Coen asks… “Why Hasn't There Been a Gay Action Hero Yet?” The fact that in 2023 there is not a single action movie with a gay guy as a lead character is utterly ridiculous. / Via Collider
WHAT IS OLD IS NEW
Sara Messinger's 'Teenagers' takes inspiration from Mary Ellen Mark’s 'Streetwise'. Back in the summer of 2010, a 13-year-old Sara Messinger arrived in New York to visit her aunt and immediately felt at home amidst the whirl of eight million people going about their daily lives. While her aunt was at work, Sara hopped on a train to visit the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Natural History, and Washington Square Park -- taking in the splashy sights with the eyes of a pre-teen yearning for a bigger and better world. “I remember feeling like, this is my favourite place in the world,” Sara says. “New York encourages you to be yourself.” Side Note: I was there when Larry Clark was shooting skaters in ‘93-’94, the very same locations… / Via I-D