💀Vaporwave's Corpse, AI Fun, and Yamaha's Smooth Moves

Music that feels real

Hello friends! How’s your Monday going?

I’m 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 can’t confirm), cleaned, and ordered a Washer, dryer, and fridge.

We’re almost move-in ready - and I can’t 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 i’ve 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 “hey we’re going out of business” announcement.

If you’d like to poke around - here’s their Instagram and Twitter to explore.

I really don’t understand why they didn’t 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.

You’d think they’d have some sarcastic fun with it - much as the beloved final Trivia HQ business when they first went out of business.

YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THAT? Oh - it’s glorious.

It’s the most hilarious“we’re closing” 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 you’re ready for a movie that blends 60’s vibes with magical realism, horror, and serial killer terror - it’s what you need to watch tonight.

Watch it if you can!

💀Vaporwave’s Corpse

Barber Beats may be an organic reaction to the death of Vaporwave, but Vaporwave is basically “Post Vaporwave” at this point.

I stumbled across an excellent article by Van Paugum about “The Terrifying Rise of Post-Vaporwave.” It’s 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)

I’ve read this about three times because I love the writing so much - but it’s 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 - I’ve even found Vaporwave style merch at Target.

That’s when you know it’s mainstream - when it’s being sold unironically at a chain store.

The question is - when will it finally die? At this point - I’m inclined to think it will always be around in some form - just like old Goth clothing brands.

What underground trend is next? Surely - it’s already around, and being listened to. The trick is finding it before everyone else . . .

Read the complete article by Van Paugam. It’s a fantastic and entertaining read!

🤖AI Fun

Dall-E is now in open beta - and anyone can get on the waitlist.

I can’t wait to try it out myself - but until then I’ll have to satisfy my AI generation urges with Midjourney.

I’ve recently stumbled across one of the wackiest AI sites.

The Daily Wrong

This website has ridiculous “daily lie” articles with all images generated by Dall-e. There’s 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.

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Dalle is at the point where it’s 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 “You won’t believe” ads) has a deeply strange image that appears “normal” in the “oh this is a real picture” kind of way - until you look at his teeth and fingers.

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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 article’s 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 weren’t really trying.

Now - with Dall-e at their disposal - it’s gonna GET REAL WEIRD.

YOU WON’T BELIEVE

Check out the site for more bizarre posts!

Yamaha’s Smooth Moves

Yamaha is making the act of listening to music cool again.

Back in the day, we’d interact with our music with a CD or Cassette player - or in my parent’s 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 “record player” that plays records on your phone.

Here - watch the video. The stylus interacts with the record just like it might with an actual record. It’s 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.

How’s that for some additional ambiance during a romantic dinner? It adds a fun little touch that connecting to a Bluetooth speaker . . . just can’t hold a candle to.

Oh dear - it seems I’m beginning to make Dad Jokes.

I hope one or more of these fun little devices go into production at some point. We’re surrounded by the mundane when it comes to IoT delight. Why can’t we have IoT devices that are fun - and not just practical?

Go check out the announcement for more of the fun little smart devices!

🐙The 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 “Choose Your Own Adventures?” Read ones from other creators, or make your own on Treefingers.

Creepy Jumpscares

I’m super creeped out by this bizarre site. I didn’t see anything NSFW/NSFL but venture at your discretion.

The GM Streetcar Conspiracy

You haven’t 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! 😃

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.

🎵TikToks You Can’t 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 I’ll be researching this stuff soon for fun. Oh yeah - here’s part 2.

I believe this is too well done and pure cancer

The Land of Web3

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The Voyagers is a FREE MINT project that minted out on 6/23. It has retro 80’s arcade vibes - and I look forward to the nft reveal today. The NFT’s 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 there’s going to be a full-on game - which I’m looking forward to!

• We’ve 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. I’m not sure if I trust myself enough, but it’s cool.

• The Queene DAO is like the Nouns DAO - but with pictures of the Queen of England.

That’s all for next week! See you next time.