Tag: culture

AI-generated image inspired by "Your Friends & Neighbors". Andrew “Coop” Cooper stands at the center of a crowded party scene, eyes closed and face lifted, absorbed in the moment as colored lights blur behind him. Nick Brandes is visible in the background on the left, and Barney Choi on the right. Text at the top reads, “When dad bought you a ‘Get out of Jail, Free’ card, but you’re just an Internet meme.”
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While the “Jon Hamm dancing” meme is definitely taking over the internet, what most struck me about the series is its realistic, fully normalized portrayal of for-profit bail bonds. This genuinely American system allows criminal defendants to “purchase” their freedom in a way that is legally impossible, and culturally condemnable, in most other places.

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Oil painting style digital artwork generated with Stable Diffusion depicting a figure resembling Joan of Arc at the stake. The figure, dressed in silver, wears over-ear headphones and uses a laptop with a blank screen. She extends her right hand towards vibrant orange flames, evoking the historic scene of martyrdom with a modern twist, inspired by lyrics from The Smiths' "Bigmouth Strikes Again referencing Joan of Arc and a melting Walkman. [Alt text by ALT Text Artist GPT]
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Disco music was famous for introducing technological advances in music production, such as synthesizers and electric pianos. I guess those were among the reasons why people saw it as lacking the “authenticity” of early musical genres. It’s hard to grasp the human concept of “authenticity” most people have in their psyche, I don’t believe there is any rationality in it, especially when it comes to discerning things that are deemed “authentic” versus things that are not. For me, this stems from a mysterious, probably instinctive, resistance in most people’s psyches to adopt new technologies or accept new scientific discoveries. It comes down to the internal confrontations between beliefs and reality:

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