Cliches aren’t born; they develop from the abuse of repetition. I think that the speed and scale at which generative AI works will likely send certain phrases and constructs speeding into their second lives as cliches faster than we’ve ever experienced. The em-dash discourse was just the beginning.
2024 Professional Wrap-up
Every year, I begin work wondering what I could possibly do that could be new or different, and...
New “Flowers” and an awards update
It's been a year since my last post about Flowers. A year ago, we had a premiere screening in Hollywood, and we'd released two of three videos we'd produced in the series. Last Friday, we released the last in our latest batch of videos, bringing our total to six. In the meantime, our series has won several awards!
How to deal with the feeling of too many “trends”
There's an opinion becoming dominant in the world of "trends" that the Internet is generating too many trends too quickly for anyone to keep up with, that the word itself is becoming meaningless as a result. I think this perspective is the antidote.
How Coyote VS Acme and Alicia Keys connect to my favorite corner of the internet
The NFL's altering of Alicia Keys's Super Bowl performance and Warner Bros. cancellation of Coyote vs. Acme call to mind one of my favorite corners of the internet, Lost Media.
Flowers: Chicken Noodle Soup (a personal reflection)
It’s 2006. You open YouTube in Firefox and see the Flash-based video player showing low-resolution footage of kids...
7 years of Doordash orders
I just realized you could download all of your data from Doordash, so I downloaded my ZIP file...
2024: Year of the Billionfluencer
The rise of billionfluencers marks a shift as billionaires are now seen as objects of fandom, wielding great influence through social media, directing discourse and attention.
Why music is memes and we make the hits
In today's landscape, the popularity of a song is often less about a song speaking to you and more about a song speaking for you.
Is Everything Fandom?
As the things that traditionally bound us together have receded in our social lives and the internet is increasingly that social glue, have we allowed fandoms to replace institutions in our lives?
Books
- Earnestp finished reading Loneliness & Company by Charlee Dyroff October 11, 2025Earnestp finished reading Loneliness & Company
- Earnestp finished reading Cue the Sun! by Emily Nussbaum October 11, 2025Earnestp finished reading Cue the Sun!
- Earnestp finished reading Washington Black by Esi Edugyan October 11, 2025Earnestp finished reading Washington Black
- Earnestp started reading Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins February 4, 2025Earnestp started reading Convergence Culture
- Earnestp finished reading Generation X by Douglas Coupland February 2, 2025Earnestp finished reading Generation X
- Earnestp started reading Generation X by Douglas Coupland January 30, 2025Earnestp started reading Generation X
- Earnestp finished reading Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken January 18, 2025Earnestp finished reading Ultra-Processed People
- Earnestp started reading Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken January 6, 2025Earnestp started reading Ultra-Processed People
- Earnestp wants to read Generations by Neil Strauss January 6, 2025Earnestp wants to read Generations
- Earnestp wants to read Generation X by Douglas Coupland January 6, 2025Earnestp wants to read Generation X