Cyber Celibacy, a DIY Digital Camera, and Cave Music

Oh hai 👋

Here are some things to read, watch, play, and think about.

1. As someone who thinks a lot (too much?) about media consumption, Cyber Celibate has me thinking even deeper about how "abundant access has corrupted our habits of consumption" while at the same time, "we often neglect how our perception of value in entertainment has also eroded." While I won't be cancelling all my streaming subscriptions anytime soon, that's exactly what Tiffany has done. And it feels a lot like what I did back in 2008-2009, when, as a producer in cable TV, I decided to... well, cancel my cable subscription and embrace the burgeoning oddity of early YouTube. It required a little re-calibration, but I never looked back¹. She highlights one of the more important yet under-appreciated elements of media consumption:

"It is a bit of a cop out for me to quit streaming the same summer of the World Cup, NBA finals, and triumphant return of Love Island. The unofficial $9ish entry fee (price of a beer) to the handful of sports bars near me does introduce a new variable to my argument on cost, but reveals a very valuable difference between on-demand and live entertainment: camaraderie. Everyone is watching the same thing, at the same time. Sharing the same emotions, reacting in real time. We may not know each other, but we all made plans to be here. Movies have always brought people together, so why does streaming feel so isolating?"

2. Like a lot of folks, I was bummed to see Arc prematurely retired by The Browser Company in favor of an AI-focused 🤢 alternative. For now, I'm migrating back to the Firefox ecosystem with Zen, which is picking up where Arc left off with something that's open-source and private (i.e., it won't track, collect, or sell your data, or shove AI tools down your throat).
3. A counterpoint to my own appreciation of cinematic purism, and screen-size maximalism: Max Read on the "anti-IMAX populist backlash" – parts of which I'll admit, align with my previous strongly-held beliefs about the inherent "elitism" at the heart of theatrical advocacy: not everyone lives near a theater, and not everyone can afford the expense. Needless to say, my own thinking has continued to evolve, and my current stance: theaters are under-appreciated third places and we need to build more of them (and they certainly don't need to be IMAX).
4. If you're an editor or AV creative looking for a video review platform to replace Vimeo or Frame.io, take a look at OpenFrame, a fair source alternative (that can be self-hosted). Benefits may include: the developer emailing you individually (as they did with me) just to ask for your feedback. Also see: FreeFrame, another alternative that's fully open-source. I've been poking and prodding both, exploring customized solutions and other wild things our agency can do with the code. Quite pleased with the results so far. Stay tuned!
5. One device I'm sad to have lost last year (and will likely be re-buying) is the Playdate ($229): a delightfully lo-fi handheld with a nice little ecosystem of indie games to boot. I also love their original release model for the 24 free (!) games that come along with it: "Playdate isn't just an empty system. Once you set up your Playdate, you'll start to receive two brand new games... every week. For 12 weeks." I'm pretty sure that this type of roll-out was part of their plan since it was announced in 2019. But today, in an increasingly crowded media landscape, this mode of slow-drip releasing seems to be working its way back more and more, and this is just one more example. In a world of there's-just-too-much, carpet-bomb/all-at-once/binge releases are, at least IMHO, becoming less desirable.
6. Related: for more on the business of gaming, which is going through it's own chapter of industry-wide realignment², follow and watch Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who recently started doing a simple, low-impact talk-to-camera approach sharing his reporting and POV. There's a lot to say about why this long-time reporter decided to start making videos, and it's worth pairing with Joe Weisenthal (another Bloomberg reporter, and co-host of Odd Lots) and his long-gestating musings on our our age of post-literacy; the Orality Theory of Everything that "explains 99% of everything."
7. I feel like I keep having to explain to people the most important word of the decade: enshittification. Popularized and first used in a 2022 blog post (and now a book) by Cory Doctorow, it basically refers to "platform decay", and "is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximize short-term profits for shareholders." If you aren't much of a reader (see above, and don't feel bad, apparently no one is!), he talks more about it here. Though at this point, it feels like the term can be used to describe the many perverse economic incentives that affect all categories and industries, and why a lot of things feel like they're just getting worse.
8. In more analog-like things and intentional tech-regression: the Camp Snap 2, a simple point-and-shoot digital camera – without a screen! It's interesting middle-ground tech, clearly catering to people who are tired of the overly-polished, frantically neurotic mode of point-and-preview photography that permeates our iPhone-infused existence. See: "The 2000s called. They want their digital camera back"
9. Related: Adding the Optocam Zero to my DIY electronics project list³. It's basically just a tiny digital camera made with a Raspberry Pi and 3D-printed components. Honestly, I just love the spirit of these kinds of projects: "I wanted it to be feel playful, enjoyable and be intuitive to use. I also aimed to make it relatively easy to build so that others can also build one and have fun with it. That's why all the case parts are easily printable and for the electronics it uses off the shelf components that are easy to find."

10. Love having an empty theater all to yourself? Check out Empty Screenings: "About 10% of AMC movie showings sell zero tickets. This site finds them. Go enjoy your private theater." Big fan of built-with-love sites and apps like this. For those in LA, good1s is another gem. Also see: Paradiso. "Cinema should be seen in cinemas." ✊

Bonus: Watch This

Flea's debut solo album is jazzy and groovy af. Very much my jam. Listen to or buy Honora here, or sample a taste with his recent Tiny Desk performance. Can't say what I love more: Flea doing a dueling bass act with Anna Butterss, or his aggressively humanistic, f*ck-your-cringe-and-cynicism spoken word performance towards the end.

Or if that's a little too normie for you, check out this 2024 live session by Spanish experimental duo Los Sara Fontán.

In other people-playing-music-in-caves news: Perhaps a traditional Norwegian song sung by a creepy doll choir is more your thing?

One more thing

A reminder:

The world is violent and mercurial — it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love — love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.

Tennessee Williams from James Grissom's Follies of God.

That's all for today. Love and hugs ✌️

¹ It has been wiiiild to witness the rest of the world catch-up to my own thesis about how YouTube and IP-native media would take over our media culture, though I never could've predicted the myriad of knock-on effects.

² I'll admit that this is the polite way of saying what's actually going on in this sector. It ain't pretty.

³ An ever-growing list of things I'll likely never get to because ✨life✨