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.
Melrose Place, Milkshake Ducks, and Media Viruses
A decades-old media theory has me wondering whether trending discourse is becoming an antidote to viral media.
My favorite projects of 2023
I saw someone post on Bluesky asking people to bring to Bluesky the tradition of posting threads containing...
Experiencing: “Flowers” Premiere
Last night, we had the premiere for Flowers, the documentary series I’ve been working on for a year...
Any minute now
We should be hitting the annual peak of people searching for tryptophan any minute now.
Experiencing: Pink’s Summer Carnival
On Thursday, Claire and I went to see Pink’s Summer Carnival concert at Sofi. I’m not the biggest...
Work: Flowers, a documentary series celebrating Black creativity
I’ve spent the past year working on this project, but it would be more accurate to say I’ve...
Reading: Taylor Lorenz’s “Extremely Online”
As I was finishing up Ben Smith’s Traffic, I messaged Taylor Lorenz that finishing Ben’s book had made...
Experiencing: Art Laboe Connection
It’s the end of a very long week in what has been a very long month during a...
Fresh Start
I lost my last website, which was less one site and really 20 years of blog posts from...
Meta-Irony and Gen Z
An explanation of meta-irony and why it's a standard mode of discourse for the digitally native Gen Z.
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