How are you all feeling?

Tell me. Really, come on. Tell me. 

 

Actually don't. Save it.

I am sure I know the answer. Things have been better. The world is literally crumbling around us and we all need a break, some time off, some R&R. Even watching the news is tough, listening to podcasts is so hard, work is hard, holidays are even harder, and it's hard to trust anyone, it's hard to get hard.

You can't trust anyone! Sam Bankman Fried is a crook, and Sam Altman is a liar? Is P Diddy a rapist? Is the only person in politics and power we can trust Obama? Or is it just a matter of time before…No. That would never happen…right? 

 

Twitter (X) is a joke, there aren't enough jokes, your husband's a joke, you can't joke about anyone anymore and that's a joke.

This is not the time for jokes. Hang on. Is Sam Altman a joke? Did Sam's machine (openai) just play the world's grandest prank?

Was Sam fired by Watson?

Life is a joke.

You can't say that! It's not very funny. Did I just say that or was it a bot? Did that come out of my bot? Are you a bot? Is anyone real actually reading this? You are bot ugly. That's not me that's ai. Ai ai ai I spy an azure sky. Ugghh!

It's all so tough and we have it so much tougher than anyone else. I'm exhausted. You're exhausted, you're exhausting, you know what we should just do that exhaust-pipe-ting and end it all. 

 

The End.

 

Or should we just suck it up? Inhale the fumes, shut up, and get on with life. Not the life we want everyone to believe we have, but the real one. The not so freaking perfect, polished, and puritanical one. 

 

I think that might be the answer. My parents always said, “We don't air our laundry in public." Ok, Boomer! Whatever, that's so 1917. Perhaps it is or perhaps it was. Something I know for sure is that the pendulum keeps swinging and I am certain that an era of silence is coming. 

 

Can you hear it? Nothing…… 👂

 

“Sorry I'm an under-sharer” will be back in vogue and mystique will be the call for action. Now, before you hit the “cancel or unsubscribe” button straight away, cause let's face it our trigger fingers are tingling right now. I am not asking to go back to a suppressed Victorian era of surface-level superficiality and back-door debauchery. I am asking whether we could all benefit from a little less noise. I'm saying can we dial the social-shit-show back to 6 on the volume dial, please?

 

In 2018 I started a thing called Empty Day. The concept was to encourage a day of no social media. A day when your social media feed might be, simply “empty.” This concept was a no-show. Only Russell Brand bought into it?! 

 

But I can so easily romanticise a day when my news feed or the news is just full of news, well-researched news from well-paid journalists from all over the world that I respect. That I can trust and that the rule of who shouts loudest is the law has evaporated. 

 

Now because that day isn't here yet and because I'm often told to lighten up - I've made a top ten-holiday gift list cause convenience and consumption sell better than Oxycontin.

 

Trigger fingers at the ready. Ready, set, 🔫 

 

 

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This newsletter is brought to you by Stoffa. A brand that has been taking it slow since 2014. Any of you feeling generous, I'm a 34" waist. 

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🧁 = (cupcake) Treat brain – easy to consume

🦪 = (oyster) More challenging - not for everyone

 

🦪

Naomi Klein is best known for her 90's masterpiece ‘No Logo’ Doppelganger is equally compelling. An exploration into false narratives using her own ‘double’ as the vehicle. 

 

🧁

Thomas Heatherwick started writing Humanise 10 years ago. A book about the 1000-year building, about the need for beauty in the built environment for our sanity, the climate and economy. A great book, easy to read, packed with insight, and (surprisingly for a Penguin paperback) with pictures! I loved it, every architect on earth will most likely hate it. Dad? 

 

🦪

Andre 3000 on flute. The album is called New Blue Sun. Enough said. What can't Andre do? 

 

🧁

Hermanos Gutierrez A transformative experience live, hypnotic even on Spotify. An incredible partnership between two unbelievably cool-looking brothers.

 

🧁

Rick Rubin is Marmite. And I love Marmite. Long form conversations with Tom Hanks, Trent Reznor, Judd Apatow. 

 

🧁

Braun. The Braun BC12 analogue alarm clock might be the best Euro35 you could ever spend. 

 

🧁

I know. Can't I be more imaginative? Nope. 4 episodes. Not about football, fashion, or fame but about grit, determination, pride, family, and persistence. And probably most importantly about honour. A trait seriously lacking today. 

 

🧁

Not a show but an app. A24 is now available to get everything, everywhere all at once in one place. 

 

🧁

Jean Jullien is someone we have known for some time and love to see continue to flourish. Always colourful, always witty, always true.

 

🦪

Slawn. A con-artist. 

 

🧁

A card game inspired by a classic 80s game we all loved and played. Megalomaniacs is a game of power, modesty, delusion, and vision.

Over 300 million data points were analysed to determine that Ricky Gervais is one of the most modest leaders of our time? And Sam Altman is more delusional than Elizabeth Holmes?

 

Full disclosure this is my game, I obviously think it's important and beautiful and fun - I'd love you to buy it, so because it's you I have a special discount code to offer free shipping. Code: FUPE

 

That's it. Cheerio.