Etcetera #6: NFTs, subscriptions, sign language

If you hadn’t heard of NFTs before this week then you probably have by now—if not due to the announcement by zombie Confederate U2 covers band Kings Of Leon that they are getting in on the Ponzi scheme, then because of the resulting tedious ~discourse~.

This link is the best link about the issues at the heart of NFT and cryptobullshit and it contains a paragraph that summarises my biggest complaint with rapier-like precision: “During unprecedented temperature increases, sea level rise, the total loss of permanent sea ice, widespread species extinction, countless severe weather events, and all the other hallmarks of total climate collapse, this kind of gleeful wastefulness is, and I am not being hyperbolic, a crime against humanity.”

Let’s find some happier news. What? Eh? Oh. As streaming platforms extend their monopoly on music during the pandemic, the effects can be heard in the structures of songs themselves, argues Ted Mair. It’s definitely a good and healthy thing to have enemies and Spotify is increasingly one of mine.

Liat Kaplan ran a popular 2010s Tumblr called Your Fave Is Problematic, a bloggy vigilante takedown of various celebrities and internet personalities who were guilty of being utter assholes. Reading it was fun and you felt swept up in a wave of restorative justice, punching up at people who deserved it: I loathe the verb ‘to cancel’ when used in this arena, but this was about highlighting terrible people who ought to be first in line for summary cancellation. A few years removed, this retrospective piece asks some questions about the blog’s role, targets and impact; I find it interesting to imagine a through-line from this into the made-up ‘culture wars’ that we see right-wing crackpots shouting breathlessly into their mirrors about.

The NYT Book Review is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Parul Sehgal looks back over the archives at what has changed in terms of the books we celebrate, castigate or otherwise forget. Some extremely interesting stuff here about representation of LGBTQ and writers of colour—in terms not only of their inclusion, but the way their works are written about; traditionally, focus was on discussions of authenticity, percieved importance and self-reflection rather than is it any good.

The various uses, etymologies and sanitisations of the word ‘nuts’. (Strong Language is one of my favourite blogs, btw—if you like swearing and words, you’ll be at home here.)

Unloved bills itself as an ‘aftermarket for subscriptions’. This week we saw that, in the US, nearly half of local news subscribers don’t use what they’re paying for in a given month. Anecdotally this is replicated around the other subscription platforms and services we use: streaming services go unused, email newsletters go unread. This is essentially no different from the ‘pile of unopened New Yorkers on the coffee table’ problem (for me it was always The Economist and the TLS). Anyway, this site allows you to buy and sell unused subscriptions, and obviously takes a cut of it, so make of that what you will.

Canonically, the funniest Parks and Rec moment is Jean-Ralphio’s “technically I’m homeless”. No correspondence will be entered into on this matter. This scene in the show’s finale runs it reasonably close although I think it is a bit too on the nose and obvious. This interview is a mini oral history of the characters and how the titular scene is experiencing a wave of popularity on social media, to the point where people are referencing it having never seen the show—the sign of any cultural artefact transcending into the memeverse.

A grab-bag of interesting yet extremely subtle bits of sound design in BOTW. I am particularly interested in the seamless musical transitions, such as from day to night—8-Bit Music Theory has some similar videos on how game events trigger dynamic soundtrack changes, such as in Pikmin, which I think is extremely interesting and immersive; he’s also done a 4-part series on BOTW itself which is well worth watching.

Yes, they do, otherwise this video would be far less interesting. Gallaudet linguistics professor Julie Hochgesang demonstrates.

See also: Meet the sign language interpreter who has signed for the Wu-Tang Clan, Killer Mike, and the Beastie Boys.

If, like me, you were extremely absorbed in the world of Lost and then extremely unsatisfied with the ending, this might be of interest. A very comprehensive overview from all the main players about how they planned and executed it, particularly in the face of overwhelming media interest, and what it means (to them). I am almost tempted to to watch the series back. Almost.

Somewhat ramshackle folk-country-punk. Absolutely great.

I remember reading about these sessions at the height of my Marvin Gaye obsession in the very early 00s—I did not know until yesterday that they had been released. This is the tightest of funk bands at the height of its powers.