Creativity is about hope and possibility. It gives us a chance to make things better. Plenty has been written about the sad iPad ad that Apple just apologized for. It wasn’t just out of character for the story Apple tells, it was a cheap hack, taking the nihilism and
Using the Barbie movie and other media (movies, TV shows) as a guide, Pop Culture Detective delves into what “patriarchy” actually means (mirrors: Patreon & archive.org ). We’re going to use the movie as a sort of primer to help explain what patriarchy actually is, what it
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read . “This is our story, simplified: Life. Loss. Transformation. Love. Death. Iteration.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Artists and art workers reflect on the maternal figures in their lives, on being mothers, and on the many layers of a universally beloved and misunderstood figure.
A lovely essay: Variations on the Theme of Silence . “I’ve begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Seabike is an “underwater mobility device” that can propel you through the water at “superhuman speed”. You pedal with your feet, driving a small propellor. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
NASA used one of their supercomputers to model what it would look like if you flew into a supermassive black hole . (You can watch the simulation in a 360° view on YouTube . I bet it looks great on a VR rig like Apple Vision Pro.) The movies begin with the camera located
Despite claims that CDs are raring back into the zeitgeist, only a small number of people today consume media through the slim, shiny discs. In an exhibition at Pace, artist Tara Donovan presents an ode to the outmoded, if not beloved objects through 11 towering works. The
A neat technique to rebuild roads using a movable temporary bridge — traffic goes over and the work happens in the shade. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
A love letter to bicycle maintenance and repair . “Learning to fix bicycles has changed my outlook on manual labor, on the nature of work, and ultimately on life itself.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Here are a couple newish lyric videos that share a nice spirit of “Good riddance!!!”-ness. I learned of the Chappell Roan video from a comment in a post from earlier this week (comment of the week?? by my standards, anyway), and I love it. (Here’s Roan’s awesome Tiny Desk
AI Copilots Are Changing How Coding Is Taught ; they can “free up time for us to teach higher-level thinking — for example, how to design software, what is the right problem to solve, and what are the solutions.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Marisa Adesman unsettles domestic stability by twisting common sights into the surreal. From her studio in St. Louis, the artist infuses still lifes evocative of the Dutch Golden Age with a strange animism: forks coil around lit taper candles, an upside-down terracotta pot
Some tips for long walks . “We’re prone to lean forward when we walk. Over long distances, this wreaks havoc on one’s lower back and hips. As such, ‘head over hips’ is something to be conscious of.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
If you play carefully by not stomping enemies, not collecting coins, not eating mushrooms or flowers, and hopping on the flagpole at the very last second, you can rescue the princess in Super Mario Bros with only 500 points. One bit is surprisingly tricky: How tough is that
I missed this from last year: the original “on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” New Yorker cartoon sold for $175,000 at auction . 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Inspired by Dada and Surrealism, Anja Brunt ’s instinctive paper medleys evoke a sense of whimsy, spontaneity, and randomness. The Amsterdam-based graphic designer has been creating assemblages for six years as a way to relax. After falling in love with the many possibilities
Just a couple of days ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted out a video promoting, “the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we’ve ever created.” The response has been overwhelming, and overwhelmingly negative: for many viewers, the ad’s imagery of a hydraulic press crushing a heap of
In any creative endeavor, it’s possible to define success as the big win, the moment when your dreams match reality. Success is the end of imposter syndrome, stability and finally making it to the other side. By this definition, it’s clear that success isn’t going to happen.