The Digestif, February 12th
The Digestif, February 12th
It's back! And so are my podcast appearances! And UFOs? Apparently?
I’m back! I had a hectic start to the year, but I like doing this, so I’m going to try and keep doing it regularly; please do reach out if you enjoy it.
Recommended Reads:
‘Armie Hammer Breaks His Silence’ by Jamie Kirchick (Airmail). A story as important as it is well-written; I highly, highly recommend. Without a doubt, this will be among my favourite pieces of 2023. Jamie Kirchick is a huge journalistic inspiration for me - it was his work that made my a regular reader of Tablet, which lead to my 2020 Tablet fellowship, and my frequent writing for them since - and pieces like are a great reminder as of why.
‘The Defiance of Salman Rushdie’ by David Remnick (The New Yorker). A beautiful piece on a brilliant writer, great man, and incidental symbol of bravery in the face of religious extremists. It’s an utter shame that Rushdie’s life and work cannot be socially detached from the fatwa, but his unique brilliance is the perfect reminder that the people who hate him are vicious idiots, and the power that words can have. Related: I’m currently reading through (and highly recommend) his latest novel, Victory City.
‘The Man Who Moves Markets’ by Evan Hughes (The Atlantic). A really interesting dive into short-selling, which presents both sides of the argument in an honest, meticulous
‘‘Sam? Are you there?!’ The bizarre and brutal final hours of FTX’ by Joshua Olive (FT). An incredible piece on an unbelievable shit show. The Michael Lewis book on FTX is going to be incredible.
‘I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle’ by Jamie Reed (The Free Press). A tough, unsettling, but important read.
‘One Cheer for Heckling’ by Nick Catoggio (The Dispatch). I never read Catoggio’s writing under ‘AllahPundit’, but his Dispatch column has quickly become a must-read for me, and his piece on the State of the Union address is superb. And yes, I agree with the argument that the whole event is stupid, pointless, and should be abolished.
‘Restaurant Review: Le Bernardin Holds On to Its Craft (and Its Four Stars) by Pete Wells (NYT). For those unaware, I have roughly a decade’s experience in high-end hospitality, split between restaurants and cocktail bars (though I haven’t been in competitions, I’m likely in the top 1% of mixologists) - and though I’ve never been to Le Bernardin, this article is a beautiful tribute to what I love about restaurants, and people who love food. Pete Wells is the undoubtedly the greatest restaurant critic writing.
‘Fetterman, Recovering After Stroke, Labors to Adjust to Life in the Senate’ by Annie Karni (NYT). A great piece of reporting in the Times that underlines the health concerns regarding Fetterman were not to be blithely dismissed. Though I don’t entirely blame the man, his decision to continue his campaign despite being physically unfit for the role - and the unwillingness for those around him to step-in and stop it - and the voters and press who ignored it - is evidence of a deeply cynical, yet unserious political system. His condition was not as bad - or comically bad - Herschel Walker’s, but these men being near the US Senate would be an insult to the institution, were it not already filled with clowns, cronies, and the infirm.
‘Ukraine’s rocket campaign reliant on U.S. precision targeting, officials say’ by Isabelle Khurshudyan, Dan Lamothe, Shane Harris and Paul Sonne (The Washington Post). This isn’t surprising, but the confirmation of it is, and - paired with Sunak’s more enthusiastic tone about supplying the Ukrainians with aircraft - may signal a shift in the West’s public involvement in the war, or at least, show Ukraine’s greater desire for that to be made public. I hope they do so, and we give them even more money, and even more arms. Ukraine must win.
‘The urban ideal is a 19th-century city with 21st-century enhancements’ by Simon Kuper (FT). Great piece on urban planning
BONUS: ‘ARIA: Betting on science’ by Works in Progress. A really exciting introduction to Britain’s new science-funding body, being compared to DARPA, but for broader purposes. This is the latest piece of evidence that my optimism about Rishi Sunak was utterly justified: this is a fantastic development, and I’m so glad they gave Works in Progress an interview for it.
Wider Culture
Cars: Lamborghini has released another sub-par limited edition Aventador custom; Moncler and Mercedes Benz teased their puffer-jacket G-Wagon concept, thing; and Top Gear sat down with some of my idols (namely, Koenigsegg and Murray) for a round-table.
Entertainment: The trailer for “Air”, directed by (the underrated) Ben Affeck, released, and looks promising; the open-world Harry Potter game, “Hogwarts Legacy”, released to wide praise from people I respect and immense rage from those I don’t; and, in the spirit of “Sausage Party”, “Stray” applies the “turn a family film into a crass/sweary comedy” to talking-dog films.
Fashion: Fashion Month got started, with Hedi Slimane pushing Celine further into the rocker aesthetic; Julia Fox defended walking in Alexander Wang’s show (which was OK, but not mindblowing), saying she’s against “cancel culture” (bravo); Demna did his first interview since the Balenciaga scandal (which I intend to write about); and the famed designed Phoebe Philo announced her debut brand will be revealed in September (Hell. Yes.)
Technology: Reviews for the seemingly great but immensely boring Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra came out; over a million people signed up to Bing (honestly, a more unlikely headline than “US shot down another UFO”); and Sports Illustrated introduced AI-written articles to predictable effect (Can’t they just get back to the glory days of the swimwear edition and covers like this? We need horny magazines again)
Also: Fast and Furious films are a blight upon pop-corn cinema - they’re worse than Transformers movies - but this moment from the Fast X trailer was incredible. The unironic pairing of dramatic, moody music, deep lines about “respect”, and then shots of booty-shorts and twirking, is just too perfect.
My Articles
The Strange Outing (?) of Steven Crowder (Tablet). My breakdown of the Daily Wire vs. Steven Crowder furor, and how their blackmailing threat to out Crowder does little but expose their own lack of values.
Punk, Pearls, and a Raised Middle-Finger. My previously unpublished tribute to the late, great Vivienne Westwood, now available for all to read here.
Also: my hot take thread on the 2024 Republican field.
Biggest Story You Missed This Week
The inevitable other shoe dropped for the Twitter Files, revealing that politicians requesting censorship requests came from both sides, and Twitter seemed equally influenced by them.
This isn’t surprising to me.
As detailed by Bari Weiss and Michael Shellenberger, the ‘Twitter Files’ reporters didn’t have free reign to trawl through all of Twitter’s internal messages, emails etc. for however long they liked. Rather, they put requests into a slow system that eventually spat back thousands of results, which they then had to slowly trawl through. This means that, even if Weiss’s reporting was 100% honest - which I fully believe it was - they simply didn’t have the time or access to look through everything. Instead, they had to prioritize. How did they do so? As we all would, by looking in the spots most likely to provide interesting, informative content; and that taste is informed by priors. For Weiss and team, this was a concern about vaccine policies and left-wing excesses in the company: which made sense, given those are topics they find very important, and the political leaning of Twitter’s culture would seem more likely to find.
For Matt Taibbi, it was government interference. For other less reputable folks - like Alex Berenson - they landed on information that affirmed their cranky views. This even effects Musk, who has significantly over-stated the significance of the ‘Twitter Files’, because it validates his own belief in the corruption of Twitter. It’s not incidental that this belief provides a scape-goat for his less-than-spectacular record at the helm.
The Free Press did great work with the Twitter Files; but I wish the emphasis of their conclusions had been more reserved, underlining the limitations of their data, and looked further into areas they wouldn’t default to. I’m certain The Free Press would have covered this side of the story better than Rolling Stone.
The “Twitter Files” aren’t a nothing-burger, as so many wish to say, but nor are the world-shaking revelations that others want them to be. The revealed information is informative but unsurprising, and ultimately concerns a platform that most Americans do not use. Only a fifth of the American public use Twitter. 80% of the content is produced by only 10% of the users. As a percentage, almost none of Twitter’s content is political. Additionally, given the nature of recommendation algorithms - though Twitter’s user-base is younger, more left-leaning, more educated, and wealthier than the American public - right-wing content gets better viral spread, due to higher engagement and lower quantity. Political Twitter isn’t the public square; it’s a debate club.
Best Tweet
Recommendations
App: Minimal Twitter. I’ve used it for a couple of years now, and it’s a great way to filter out distractions like like/follower/retweet counts, the trending tab, lists etc. It’s a good way to avoid being dictated by engagement; I have no idea how many followers I have, and I think that’s a good thing.
Film: The Fabelmans. I’m convinced it’s Spielberg’s 21st century masterpiece, and sorely underappreciated by the awards shows.
Music: ‘Cake Walk from a Spaceship’ by Sylvain Rifflet and Verneri Pohjola. A really great French jazz album from last year; highly recommend.
Podcast: My appearance on Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps, of course!
Videos:
That’s all folks! Come back next Sunday, and enjoy your week!