Related Recs

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the life and death of online platforms

piece that explores our collective relationship with algorithmically driven platforms and theorizing why non-algorithmically driven platforms haven't caught on yet (PI.FYI mentioned ‼️). some of the references and moments in the writing style makes this article feel hollow and generic, but the overall conceit is engaging. also this article (and the general public alike) keep saying tumblr is dead but tumblr is very alive for me personally. "Just kidding. There is no pure place: we crave the end because it seems cleaner on the other side. We all live,and have always lived, in the muck—even and especially after death. Download the niche app, participate in the empty-ish forum. Labor to make the experience you want. Labor to animate a human internet."

@veggiedumpling

Mar 6, 2024

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I watched too much YouTube as a kid

Meta-irony is the fantastical pallet in which I choose to paint my world. I find myself following confusing paths to strange allusions. Sentences that switch back on themselves and examine the writer for meaning, And truly burn them during a burial at sea to sink beneath waves of witticisms and filler words Like, it’s, okay, um, well, god; physical eye rolls careen over bodies of the learned  And silence is resented.  Seek visual silence and youre staring into space I seek the stimulation of little scrolling stories and their sixty second arcs The recaps of art I will only ever see from this side of the fence   Obscured by toggles and buttons. UX and UI blurring my experience and sharpening my understanding Trapped in a cage of something else’s design, in someone else’s device What I hold is not my own. It is not of me, it has grown attached to me. A leech I love so dearly we share skin. A parasite I make space for. My mind has holes where morals should be. Blasted out by years of prank videos Of multi-channel networks, family vlogging channels, relationship advice gurus, discord moderators I am the seed sown by excitement for lazer collections, gmod idiot box, and home made stop motion lego Star Wars parody music videos Perverted in bad faith at the hands of a digital monster let loose by its creator  To put the potential for profitability through exploitation in the hands of the proletariat too occupied by dreams of influence to see how they are being led to the altar by the collar. Asked to sacrifice time or spirit or soul to be left hollowed out by the house before it inevitably wins The will is no match for the cold, mechanical force of algorithms whose nature is dictated by watch times One sided engagement over engaged interaction I watched too much YouTube as a kid and now I know everything 

@a2den

Dec 29, 2024

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ChatGPT

started writing this a few hours ago when i first saw this ask, then decided against posting but i've since changed my mind. there really is no justification for it outside of entitlement. even from a selfish lens, there's no long term benefit to its usage. it harms the world and culture in more ways than one. a.) the water and energy usage that isn't a secret at this point. "no ethical consumption under capitalism" yadda yadda and yeah corporations are extremely culpable in the state of the environment but there really is no need for chatgpt and the planet is already too delicate at the moment. b.) the exploitation of workers in the global south. this program is not just a computer figuring it all out, there are in fact humans behind it. it reminds me of the acceptance of fast fashion and how people have the tendency to divorce the idea of the garment worker from the garment they wear when all clothing is handmade in some way, shape or form. you need hands to man a sewing machine, you need human eyes to moderate content. also, content moderation can be a thankless job with psychological repercussions. c.) the erosion of social skills, humanity and media literacy...this one is very personal. like, you have a cushy email job but can't write an email? you need a computer and a worker in kenya to get paid a dollar an hour to figure out a daily routine for you? i've seen the program churn out blatantly incorrect information. fine tuning a prompt or chat or whatever to give you the exact (possibly incorrect) answer you need isn't really that much less work than sharpening your research skills by cracking open a dictionary or using boolean search keys in google. again, the main issue with this kind of stuff is the entitlement to convenience, with no thought towards the repercussions within and outside of us. we are losing major recipes (critical thinking and media literacy) here, people! i probably did an iffy job are coherently articulating my thoughts here but i am in fact, human. and that’s the beauty of it all.

@deardoveswings

Oct 1, 2024

Top Recs from @_loegan

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"that's us / wild combination" – arthur russell

about a year ago a friend of mine was going around asking people what they felt to be the "most romantic" song, and this was my gut response. There's just something so sweet about the scene at play here... nothing dramatic is happening, it's just a moment of stillness (thru movement?) in a relationship – maybe it's even just a friendship – that defines the baseline of what romance at its best should feel like. I find Arthur's good at that

@_loegan

Jan 5, 2024

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8 hours of vintage department store christmas music tapes

"Ambient music should accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." – Brian Eno Christmas falls on a Monday this year, which means many of us have had to put in a full work week. At approximately 5pm today, we'll suddenly need to turn on our holiday brain – RELAX! we'll scream at ourselves. What better to induce a Xanax-like state of absent-minded – yet still holiday-related – bliss than corporate muzak? Whatever holiday-related ambience you're trying to cultivate or salvage, this may just be the absolutely perfect soundtrack ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQKlEkKXBzQ

@_loegan

Dec 22, 2023

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ELI enis' exploration of the gen z-driven shoegaze boom

"So how did we get here? How did shoegaze, a genre short on hooks, memorable riffs, and magnetic personalities, that’s carried on as a niche strain of indie music since the initial wave of ‘gazers receded from the limelight in the mid-’90s, suddenly become a defining sound for Gen-Z rock fans?" Important and fascinating cover of a very real phenomenon. Part of what I found most fascinating is the compositional aspects of this new wave, which sees The Kids employing recording techniques more typically associated with pop songwriting – toplining to a "band" track created by a separate producer. https://www.stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board

@_loegan

Dec 19, 2023