for our six month anniversary my girlfriend got me a custom cigarette case that i used until i switched from shorts to longs (and then started using to carry joints.)
similarly, my friend made custom lighters for everyone that helped him work on a photoshoot / project with some motifs from the shoot
i think paraphernalia is cool because it becomes a constant fixture in your day to day (yikes) and attaches a memory / individuality to something that you're doing constantly - i think in terms of a less destructive way foster this, stationary like pens or notebooks, phone or computer decals, etc. where it's just more personalized is the way to go, but that ultimately depends on the person and their habits :)
Apr 1, 2024
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May it be physical media, scary little dolls, cute plushies, rare coins, shoes, etc.
It’s easier for your friends to find you a present or at least something that’s related to your fixations. :) also it’s fun!
Additional rec: if you’re doing the gifting, include something personal, something that you handcraft, something that will take you at least 1-2 hours to make. A pop-up card, cute origamis, a collage, maybe even just a heartfelt letter. Maybe they like frogs? Draw a couple of frogs around the edges on the letter/card. Or some cute stickers that you know they’ll like. Doing so says, “I was thinking of you the whole time I made this. This is for you and you only. You are important to me and I have a lot of time on my hands to curate something for you because I love you!” <3
Mar 20, 2024
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personally, I love to receive mundane items that are useful. kitchen gadgets/desk items/organizers/command hooks/picture frames/tools etc. it's also a fun way to get objects that are a bit more interesting than the norm — like if I bought myself a stapler, I'd find some cheapo depot ish, but as a gift go ahead and ask for that coolio one
Nov 11, 2024
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Mar 23, 2024
a treatise on the attention economy - checked it out on libby and got through it over the course of a work day, a lot of really interesting social and cultural explorations about how time itself is the final frontier of hypercapitalism and what decommodification of our attention and time should look like
the book starts with a story about the oldest redwood tree in oakland and how the only reason it’s still standing is bc it’s unmillable, and how being uncommercializable is essential to our survival. it ends with an exploration of alt social media platforms (mostly p2p ones) and what keeping the good parts of the social internet and rejecting the bad ones should look like
all in all a super valuable read; my only nitpick with the book is that odell isn’t just charting the attention economy but also attempting to “solve” it and relate it back to broader concepts about labor and social organizing, but her background is in the arts which leads to some really wonderful references to drive the points home while also missing some critical racial + socioeconomic analyses that one would expect (or at least really appreciate) from the book she promises to deliver in the introduction. but this does also make the book easier to read which is good because everyone should definitely engage with what she has to say
will definitely be revisiting
Mar 25, 2024
