đVaporwave's Corpse, AI Fun, and Yamaha's Smooth Moves
Music that feels real
Hello friends! Howâs your Monday going?
Iâm doing pretty well - we got a lot done this weekend for the new house! We killed a few rather terrifying spiders (distant relatives of 8 legged freaks I believe, but canât confirm), cleaned, and ordered a Washer, dryer, and fridge.
Weâre almost move-in ready - and I canât wait to start living in the new house!
The stress, anxiety, and FUD that has permeated our lives (drums, drums in the deep) over the past two months is now over.
HURRAH!
I think iâve discussed the brand Ugly Drinks (a cool sparkling water company) in the past - but I just learned yesterday that they UP AND CLOSED SHOP FOREVER.
With no discernable âhey weâre going out of businessâ announcement.
If youâd like to poke around - hereâs their Instagram and Twitter to explore.
I really donât understand why they didnât say anything at all about closing down - especially as they had a pretty fun brand.
Fun fact - when desperately searching for a job after that crazy ecom company in 2020 - I actually applied to work with Ugly.
Youâd think theyâd have some sarcastic fun with it - much as the beloved final Trivia HQ business when they first went out of business.
YOU HAVENâT WATCHED THAT? Oh - itâs glorious.
Itâs the most hilariousâweâre closingâ internet company video ever.
Before we hop into the topics today I just wanted to mention that Last Night in Soho is a fantastic movie.
If youâre ready for a movie that blends 60âs vibes with magical realism, horror, and serial killer terror - itâs what you need to watch tonight.
Watch it if you can!
đVaporwaveâs Corpse
Barber Beats may be an organic reaction to the death of Vaporwave, but Vaporwave is basically âPost Vaporwaveâ at this point.
I stumbled across an excellent article by Van Paugum about âThe Terrifying Rise of Post-Vaporwave.â Itâs labeled as satire - but it has more grains of truth than he lets on.
In contrast to old Vaporwave that mostly mocked and parodied consumer-culture, Post-Vaporwave celebrates capitalism with feigned naivete, secretly priding itself on how well it can mask its greed, ambition, and turpitude with trite simulacra meant merely to impress on an observer . . . This new paradigm created by post-vaporwavers gleefully perpetuates the dystopian reality that it once subtly cautioned against. At one point in time, lets say 2011, the genre was dripping with sincerity and curious flirtation with the potential for a new age punk mentality, Vaporwave would go on to collapse on itself by becoming quasi-popular on social networks, inevitably devolving into its lowest common denominators to keep its repetitious slowed down droning easy to communicate to others, like a peacock but without self-awareness. (source)
Iâve read this about three times because I love the writing so much - but itâs absolutely true.
Other than some Youtube and Bandcamp labels toiling away - much of Vaporwave is just trying to cash in on the trend.
Vaporwave is now just a bunch of Dropshippers, App developers, TikTokers, IG theme accounts, and UwU girls like Bella Delphine trying to make some CASH.
Oooh look at these fun retro colors - now buy my merch.
You can find these products on almost anything you could ever want, and if it doesnt exist, you can just do it yourself. Once apon a time these aesthetics were sort of novel, and not really considered trendy, but post-Vaporwavers created a frenzy around these random graphics that give the impression that its more about signaling your affiliation to the scene than actually thinking these corporate-sponsored products are in any way significant. (source)
Heck - Iâve even found Vaporwave style merch at Target.
Thatâs when you know itâs mainstream - when itâs being sold unironically at a chain store.
The question is - when will it finally die? At this point - Iâm inclined to think it will always be around in some form - just like old Goth clothing brands.
What underground trend is next? Surely - itâs already around, and being listened to. The trick is finding it before everyone else . . .
Read the complete article by Van Paugam. Itâs a fantastic and entertaining read!
đ€AI Fun
Dall-E is now in open beta - and anyone can get on the waitlist.
I canât wait to try it out myself - but until then Iâll have to satisfy my AI generation urges with Midjourney.
Iâve recently stumbled across one of the wackiest AI sites.
The Daily Wrong
This website has ridiculous âdaily lieâ articles with all images generated by Dall-e. Thereâs no mention on the website - but I wonder if the content on the site is also generated by GPT-3. It would make a lot of sense.
Dalle is at the point where itâs unsettling enough to look real.
For example - the image above looks normal to the casual eye - but upon further inspection, certain elements are off - like the eyes - or the hair bun on the left.
Similarly this bizarre article (Feels like one of those wacky fake âYou wonât believeâ ads) has a deeply strange image that appears ânormalâ in the âoh this is a real pictureâ kind of way - until you look at his teeth and fingers.
Yup. Now you see it.
Daily Wrong is a great example of how Dalle will most likely be used for a lot of content and ad generation - and hopefully they pay photoshopped and artists to fix the weird stuff.
Yeah - The internet is about to get a lot weirder in an uncanny valley kind of way.
The year is 2025. Thousands of websites generate revenue with fake articles, complete with fake images relevant to the articleâs topic.
The fake article websites already exist - but were limited to poor AI image generation - or free/stolen stock images. It was easy to tell they werenât really trying.
Now - with Dall-e at their disposal - itâs gonna GET REAL WEIRD.
YOU WONâT BELIEVE
Check out the site for more bizarre posts!
Yamahaâs Smooth Moves
Yamaha is making the act of listening to music cool again.
Back in the day, weâd interact with our music with a CD or Cassette player - or in my parentâs day - a record player.
Now - we just hit play on our smartphone.
Yamaha Design Labs has a NEW proposal.
Proposal for new music devices that work in symbiosis with smartphone apps.
When you listen to your favorite music, when you want a little sweet background music before going to bed, when you wish to play relaxing background music, or when you are playing the guitar and want an accompaniment to set the tempo - how would you like to start the music playing? (source)
Their first idea is the TurnT - a ârecord playerâ that plays records on your phone.
Here - watch the video. The stylus interacts with the record just like it might with an actual record. Itâs absolutely delightful! I could imagine putting this on my desk and playing an album while reading a book.
Another is the MusicLight - which only plays music while a candle is lit.
Howâs that for some additional ambiance during a romantic dinner? It adds a fun little touch that connecting to a Bluetooth speaker . . . just canât hold a candle to.
Oh dear - it seems Iâm beginning to make Dad Jokes.
I hope one or more of these fun little devices go into production at some point. Weâre surrounded by the mundane when it comes to IoT delight. Why canât we have IoT devices that are fun - and not just practical?
Go check out the announcement for more of the fun little smart devices!
đThe Land of Random
Randomness you can only find here. . . .
A Beautiful OP-1 Track
One of my dreams is to get one of these . . .
Collaborative Stories
Miss those old âChoose Your Own Adventures?â Read ones from other creators, or make your own on Treefingers.
Creepy Jumpscares
Iâm super creeped out by this bizarre site. I didnât see anything NSFW/NSFL but venture at your discretion.
The GM Streetcar Conspiracy
You havenât read about the theory that GM destroyed the streetcars?
Upgraded Thrift Art
Artists singlehandedly making all that awful art from thrift stores fun and enjoyable to look at and own! đ
Neko: History of a Software Pet
Aww! Sweet little Neko - the desktop cat that chases your mouse. This article also has a interactive version of Neko too!
Plants VS Bugs: Underground Edition
This Pitcher Plant TRAPS PREY UNDERGROUND.
đ”TikToks You Canât Miss
Yeah - the Death Note has all of them beat
This would be terrifying in real life
And THIS great horror is why I hired an Electrician first thing after closing to check for this sort of insanity.
Probably a photoshop/fake story but huge Antartica spiders would not be surprising. I suppose Iâll be researching this stuff soon for fun. Oh yeah - hereâs part 2.
I believe this is too well done and pure cancer
The Land of Web3
The Voyagers is a FREE MINT project that minted out on 6/23. It has retro 80âs arcade vibes - and I look forward to the nft reveal today. The NFTâs will be interactive on Opensea too - which is always an added bonus. The creator - mckaywrigley.eth is creating fun Web3 experiences -and this is his first project. It looks like thereâs going to be a full-on game - which Iâm looking forward to!
Weâve finally entered that period where there are Telegram groups with just bots talking to eachother.
Want a BTC brain wallet? Border Wallets provides an easy way to do so. Iâm not sure if I trust myself enough, but itâs cool.
The Queene DAO is like the Nouns DAO - but with pictures of the Queen of England.
Thatâs all for next week! See you next time.