Must we elevate the everyday? Sean Santiago unpacks the “elevation to privatization pipeline.” “…there’s a trend, or maybe just a linguistic tic, of positioning basic human needs (hygiene, shelter, sustenance) as luxuries, which makes it that much easier for oligarchs to swoop in and privatize them, or at least make privatization seem unavoidable. Talking about turning everything into a “practice” or “ritual” squirts sideways out of the same problematic fountain.”
Category: Notes
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Where Is Capitalism? Unmasking Its Hidden Role in Psychology – This deep-dive by social psychologist Karim Bettache takes a closer look at how capitalism shapes the way we think and how we see the world.
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Lego Decor
I just discovered that LEGO makes a range of home decor items, and I’m afraid that I’m obsessed. These boxes, storage jars, and shelves are really doing it for me.
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There Are No Weird Blogs Anymore
There Are No Weird Blogs Anymore Cause It’s More Fruitful to Drive Them Out of Business – “After several years of reporting on and obsessing over how private equity works and why, I finally understand the root of my misconceptions about capitalism. I had thought that the point of buying a beloved, profitable publication was to make it more profitable, to strengthen the fundamentals of its business model in hopes of a lucrative exit years down the road.” Via Kottke
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In Defense of Times New Roman
In Defense of Times New Roman – “We are so used to Times that even choosing it still signals apathy.” V.H. Belvadi on why we should look past the impulse to see Times as “undesigned.” A nice companion to the current trend of designers choosing to use Times as a way to signal a type of brutalism or rawness within their work (Lorde’s use of the typeface across her entire Virgin rollout comes to mind).
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The Tyranny of Certainty
The Tyranny of Certainty – Erroll McDonald’s Critic’s Page in the October issue of Brooklyn Rail. “Certainty—not religion, as Marx postulated—might be ‘the opium of the people’: implacable, unfounded, lulling belief (maximal subjectivity) masquerading as universal, absolute truth (maximal objectivity). In so many areas of contemporary life—personal identity, politics, art, science—governed and manipulated as they are by algorithms encouraging complacency and conformity of thought, all manner of ‘truths’ are held to be ‘self-evident’ sometimes regardless of evidence to the contrary, leading to a chaos of dogmatism and divisiveness.”
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Why the internet fell for a Chinatown passport photographer
Why the internet fell for a Chinatown passport photographer – A small film developing shop has become a go-to place for flattering passport photos in NYC, due to the proprietor’s knack for portraiture. “‘She’s really perfected the craft, and you can tell she is very deliberate and knows what she’s doing but makes it look effortless.’”
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The Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute
The Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute – A visual compendium of niche trends and aesthetics, described as “an online community dedicated to developing a visual lexicon of consumer ephemera from the 1970s until now.” Each of these is a massive shot of nostalgia, and seeing them given cultural context and analysis is really scratching a particular itch. Loving Frasurbane, Whimsicraft, Global Village Coffee House. The Are.na of one of its founders, archivist Evan Colins seems to have even more comprehensive visuals for each aesthetic. (Discovered via the Frasurbane page: this fabulous 1986 secretary desk.) Via Irony Machine.
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Personal Web Neighborhood
Personal Web Neighborhood – A link page styled as a charming ASCII town, created by Loren at Ribo.zone.
