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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
December 20, 2022
As TikTok and its cunningly customized rabbit holes subsume culture, the rest of the internet will splinter further into algorithmic isolation.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/12/the-year-tiktok-made-the-multiverse-real
https://archive.ph/QKAv5
Foretelling the death of monoculture is a pastime as old as pop culture itself: Following the death of Elvis in 1977, the Village Voice obituary from rock writer Lester Bangs famously declared, “I can guarantee you one thing: We will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. So I won’t bother saying goodbye to his corpse. I will say goodbye to you.” It’s always the end of some kind of era, and now the bell has tolled for the most recent stage of the internet, where advertiser-driven economies of scale have dictated the rules of play for the better part of the last two decades. That’s led to endless Kardashian coverage, personality quizzes, a lifetime’s supply of heartwarming animal videos, and article after article about tertiary Housewives.
One day, when we look back on this era, we may well find it shocking how a handful of dominant tech and media players shaped such a relatively shared experience. When you saw The Dress, I saw The Dress. But it might not work like this for much longer. Over the past year, one platform in particular has morphed from a savvy contender for online attention into a fearsome force rewiring the rules of the internet itself. In our search for the next feed, TikTok has now come unnervingly close to delivering the product that the original Web 2.0 visionaries only dreamed of: unlimited, fully customized content tailored to passive consumption, without the bothersome searching or following or liking or hearting or profile dressing.
And it’s changing everything. TikTok is coming for YouTube’s lunch, but also the Google search engine’s, and also Amazon’s. It has upended the music industry, publishing, fashion, and Hollywood, wherein your next hit show may or may not be predicated on the presence of TikTok-worthy choreography. It’s changing language. It’s possibly a threat to national security. Lawmakers in Congress proposed a bill this week that would “block and prohibit” TikTok’s transactions in the US. Reportedly, TikTok is on track to make nearly $10 billion in ad revenue in 2022 (more than twice as much as last year); at the very least, it appears to be the only big name in Silicon Valley that’s still hiring.
TikTok’s crucial point of difference is its much-vaunted tailoring. The lightest batting-away of videos you don’t like in favor of ones you do goes on to influence the algorithm’s future range of offerings in a way seemingly more sophisticated than the rudimentary logic of, say, YouTube rabbit holes. This has delivered a decisive blow to the centralized feeds of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et al.—not that any of those platforms have been helping themselves of late—or, in other words, what was left of the monoculture. The future TikTok promises, and has been busy delivering, is instead one of inexhaustible niches. So automatically can one be whisked off into AnythingTok and WhateverCore. If everything is trending somewhere, how can any trend be real?
snip
The Year TikTok Made the Multiverse Real (And Murdered the Newsfeed in the Process)
As TikTok and its cunningly customized rabbit holes subsume culture, the rest of the internet will splinter further into algorithmic isolation.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/12/the-year-tiktok-made-the-multiverse-real
https://archive.ph/QKAv5
Foretelling the death of monoculture is a pastime as old as pop culture itself: Following the death of Elvis in 1977, the Village Voice obituary from rock writer Lester Bangs famously declared, “I can guarantee you one thing: We will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. So I won’t bother saying goodbye to his corpse. I will say goodbye to you.” It’s always the end of some kind of era, and now the bell has tolled for the most recent stage of the internet, where advertiser-driven economies of scale have dictated the rules of play for the better part of the last two decades. That’s led to endless Kardashian coverage, personality quizzes, a lifetime’s supply of heartwarming animal videos, and article after article about tertiary Housewives.
One day, when we look back on this era, we may well find it shocking how a handful of dominant tech and media players shaped such a relatively shared experience. When you saw The Dress, I saw The Dress. But it might not work like this for much longer. Over the past year, one platform in particular has morphed from a savvy contender for online attention into a fearsome force rewiring the rules of the internet itself. In our search for the next feed, TikTok has now come unnervingly close to delivering the product that the original Web 2.0 visionaries only dreamed of: unlimited, fully customized content tailored to passive consumption, without the bothersome searching or following or liking or hearting or profile dressing.
And it’s changing everything. TikTok is coming for YouTube’s lunch, but also the Google search engine’s, and also Amazon’s. It has upended the music industry, publishing, fashion, and Hollywood, wherein your next hit show may or may not be predicated on the presence of TikTok-worthy choreography. It’s changing language. It’s possibly a threat to national security. Lawmakers in Congress proposed a bill this week that would “block and prohibit” TikTok’s transactions in the US. Reportedly, TikTok is on track to make nearly $10 billion in ad revenue in 2022 (more than twice as much as last year); at the very least, it appears to be the only big name in Silicon Valley that’s still hiring.
TikTok’s crucial point of difference is its much-vaunted tailoring. The lightest batting-away of videos you don’t like in favor of ones you do goes on to influence the algorithm’s future range of offerings in a way seemingly more sophisticated than the rudimentary logic of, say, YouTube rabbit holes. This has delivered a decisive blow to the centralized feeds of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et al.—not that any of those platforms have been helping themselves of late—or, in other words, what was left of the monoculture. The future TikTok promises, and has been busy delivering, is instead one of inexhaustible niches. So automatically can one be whisked off into AnythingTok and WhateverCore. If everything is trending somewhere, how can any trend be real?
snip
December 19, 2022
Today, we're taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to intro The Cramm on Climate, our newest video series where The Cramm Fam (as in our team of Gen Z ambassadors) chats with young people about the environment.
Here's parts 1 and 2.
Someone share The Cramm with you?
Here's our sign up page!
The Cramm on Climate - parts 1 & 2
Today, we're taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to intro The Cramm on Climate, our newest video series where The Cramm Fam (as in our team of Gen Z ambassadors) chats with young people about the environment.
Here's parts 1 and 2.
Someone share The Cramm with you?
Here's our sign up page!
December 19, 2022
https://www.thedailybeast.com/surge-in-overlapping-viral-outbreaks-threatens-tripledemic-crisis
COVID cases are on the rise again in many countries. And this time, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has company. In the United States, Europe and Asia, the flu virus and a third dangerous pathogen—the respiratory syncytial virus—are surging at the same time as the novel coronavirus.
It’s a “tripledemic,” to use an admittedly non-scientific term. And it’s a harbinger of our pathogenic future. As we chop down more forests, releasing more and more animal viruses into the human population—and as disinformation floods social media, driving vaccine-skepticism to startling highs—overlapping viral outbreaks could become the norm. Add another monkeypox or bird flu outbreak, and we might even experience a “quadrupledemic.”
Besides potentially overwhelming health systems, the simultaneous outbreaks come with another troubling risk. Research indicates they might actually make each other worse. Epidemiologists expect viral infections to spike in the winter months. People are traveling for various holidays, dragging their viruses along with them and exposing everyone else along the way. Cold weather drives people indoors, where they share air, spittle and any pathogens riding on the air and spittle.
Hence the seasonal flu outbreaks we usually see in the winter. COVID has also developed a seasonal pattern for the same reasons. So it came as no surprise that COVID cases began ticking upward in the U.S., Europe, and Japan in recent weeks. There’s an alarming surge in novel-coronavirus infections in China, too—but there are unique reasons for that.
snip
Overlapping Virus Outbreaks Threaten 'Tripledemic' Crisis
We’re headed toward a future of battling multiple major pandemics—at the same time.https://www.thedailybeast.com/surge-in-overlapping-viral-outbreaks-threatens-tripledemic-crisis
COVID cases are on the rise again in many countries. And this time, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has company. In the United States, Europe and Asia, the flu virus and a third dangerous pathogen—the respiratory syncytial virus—are surging at the same time as the novel coronavirus.
It’s a “tripledemic,” to use an admittedly non-scientific term. And it’s a harbinger of our pathogenic future. As we chop down more forests, releasing more and more animal viruses into the human population—and as disinformation floods social media, driving vaccine-skepticism to startling highs—overlapping viral outbreaks could become the norm. Add another monkeypox or bird flu outbreak, and we might even experience a “quadrupledemic.”
Besides potentially overwhelming health systems, the simultaneous outbreaks come with another troubling risk. Research indicates they might actually make each other worse. Epidemiologists expect viral infections to spike in the winter months. People are traveling for various holidays, dragging their viruses along with them and exposing everyone else along the way. Cold weather drives people indoors, where they share air, spittle and any pathogens riding on the air and spittle.
Hence the seasonal flu outbreaks we usually see in the winter. COVID has also developed a seasonal pattern for the same reasons. So it came as no surprise that COVID cases began ticking upward in the U.S., Europe, and Japan in recent weeks. There’s an alarming surge in novel-coronavirus infections in China, too—but there are unique reasons for that.
snip
December 19, 2022
The ECB has taken upon itself to challenge the Spanish government over a temporary tax on the profits of commercial banks.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/ecb-lobbies-for-banks-instead-of-supervising-them
Spain’s economy minister and first vice-president, Nadia Calviño, points to the high profits made by Spain’s big banks in the first three quarters of 2022 as legitimation for the tax
The European Central Bank should supervise banks on behalf of European citizens. Since this monetary authority became supervisor of all ‘significant’ eurozone banks in 2014, it has however been doing the opposite: it supervises member states on behalf of commercial banks.
Take its opinion ‘on the implementation of temporary levies on certain credit institutions’ which the Spanish government has been considering. The opinion was published in November and attempts to shield banks from taxation. It is further evidence that the relationship between the ECB and commercial banks is symbiotic: the ECB helps banks to remain not only ‘too big to fail’ but also too politically connected to tax.
The Spanish socialist government—which replied that it would go ahead with the law—intends to tax the interest and commission incomes (the fees) of banks. The tax can hardly be considered excessive. It is effective during two years (2023-24), it only applies to banks reporting more than €800 million in income, it only covers net income and the rate is only 4.8 per cent. The proposal is motivated by the wish to distribute more evenly the burden of inflation in Spain.
Banks’ ‘resilience’
The ECB does acknowledge that net interest income ‘tends to expand on impact as policy rates increase’ and that ‘[l]ow-income households are hit harder’ by soaring energy prices, as they ‘spend a higher proportion of their budget on energy-related goods’. The drawback of the tax seems to be that shareholders and bankers will see their bonuses and dividends respectively reduced.
snip
ECB lobbies for banks, instead of supervising them
The ECB has taken upon itself to challenge the Spanish government over a temporary tax on the profits of commercial banks.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/ecb-lobbies-for-banks-instead-of-supervising-them
Spain’s economy minister and first vice-president, Nadia Calviño, points to the high profits made by Spain’s big banks in the first three quarters of 2022 as legitimation for the tax
The European Central Bank should supervise banks on behalf of European citizens. Since this monetary authority became supervisor of all ‘significant’ eurozone banks in 2014, it has however been doing the opposite: it supervises member states on behalf of commercial banks.
Take its opinion ‘on the implementation of temporary levies on certain credit institutions’ which the Spanish government has been considering. The opinion was published in November and attempts to shield banks from taxation. It is further evidence that the relationship between the ECB and commercial banks is symbiotic: the ECB helps banks to remain not only ‘too big to fail’ but also too politically connected to tax.
The Spanish socialist government—which replied that it would go ahead with the law—intends to tax the interest and commission incomes (the fees) of banks. The tax can hardly be considered excessive. It is effective during two years (2023-24), it only applies to banks reporting more than €800 million in income, it only covers net income and the rate is only 4.8 per cent. The proposal is motivated by the wish to distribute more evenly the burden of inflation in Spain.
Banks’ ‘resilience’
The ECB does acknowledge that net interest income ‘tends to expand on impact as policy rates increase’ and that ‘[l]ow-income households are hit harder’ by soaring energy prices, as they ‘spend a higher proportion of their budget on energy-related goods’. The drawback of the tax seems to be that shareholders and bankers will see their bonuses and dividends respectively reduced.
snip
December 18, 2022
Tracklist :
Starfoxx - BAE HD [Seablaze Edition] 0:00
$H?LB¥ Wøø - >=VND?RM?∆DØW=< 4:29
Cyberbullies - Dolphinhunter 9:36
Sohn - The Wheel (Seablaze Remix) 15:04
Ultrademon - Choo Choo (VIP) 16:29
$PL▲$H ¢LUB 7 - $UBMERGED T▲PE 19:16
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - PonPonPon (Seablaze Remix) 23:20
VYBZ KARTEL - EVER BLESSED (テンパーTEMPER BOOTLEG) 26:43
Jinzo The Traplord - uzi uzi 31:22
s eablaze - cyber princess / starfragments 32:14
Yung sherman - dey wanna c me broke 35:59
REVERB LITE - Guillotine (Dollaz) 36:58
RiFF RaFF - only i can cure your broken heart (テンパーTEMPER BOOTLEG 38:30
Little Mermaid Goes Punk
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/fashion/Seapunk-a-Web-Joke-With-Music-Has-Its-Moment.html
Seapunk Washes Up
A history of a subculture that never really existed, as told by its creators.
https://www.vice.com/sv/article/kw5jaw/seapunk-washes-up-genre-scene-history
#Far2faded - SEAPUNK MIXTAPE 💙💚🏝️⚓🚤🎶
Tracklist :
Starfoxx - BAE HD [Seablaze Edition] 0:00
$H?LB¥ Wøø - >=VND?RM?∆DØW=< 4:29
Cyberbullies - Dolphinhunter 9:36
Sohn - The Wheel (Seablaze Remix) 15:04
Ultrademon - Choo Choo (VIP) 16:29
$PL▲$H ¢LUB 7 - $UBMERGED T▲PE 19:16
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - PonPonPon (Seablaze Remix) 23:20
VYBZ KARTEL - EVER BLESSED (テンパーTEMPER BOOTLEG) 26:43
Jinzo The Traplord - uzi uzi 31:22
s eablaze - cyber princess / starfragments 32:14
Yung sherman - dey wanna c me broke 35:59
REVERB LITE - Guillotine (Dollaz) 36:58
RiFF RaFF - only i can cure your broken heart (テンパーTEMPER BOOTLEG 38:30
https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Seapunk
The term "seapunk" was coined by Brooklyn-based DJ Julian Foxworth, better known as Lil Internet. He claims the term came to him in a surreal dream, which he tweeted to his followers on June 1st, 2011. The next month, the first seapunk record label, Coral Records Internazionale, established by Chicago-based producer Ultrademon, launched a Bandcamp page and Facebook fan page where they shared links of other unaffiliated artists that exemplify the music they wanted to release. One of the earliest releases that were specifically classified as seapunk was Zombelle and Myrrh Ka Ba’s five-song EP "Tropicult", made available to download for free on July 26th, 2011. That October, Coral Records held the first Seapunk showcase in Brooklyn, coinciding with that year’s College Music Journal Festival, featuring Lil Internet and five other DJs and performers.
The term "seapunk" was coined by Brooklyn-based DJ Julian Foxworth, better known as Lil Internet. He claims the term came to him in a surreal dream, which he tweeted to his followers on June 1st, 2011. The next month, the first seapunk record label, Coral Records Internazionale, established by Chicago-based producer Ultrademon, launched a Bandcamp page and Facebook fan page where they shared links of other unaffiliated artists that exemplify the music they wanted to release. One of the earliest releases that were specifically classified as seapunk was Zombelle and Myrrh Ka Ba’s five-song EP "Tropicult", made available to download for free on July 26th, 2011. That October, Coral Records held the first Seapunk showcase in Brooklyn, coinciding with that year’s College Music Journal Festival, featuring Lil Internet and five other DJs and performers.
Little Mermaid Goes Punk
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/fashion/Seapunk-a-Web-Joke-With-Music-Has-Its-Moment.html
Seapunk Washes Up
A history of a subculture that never really existed, as told by its creators.
https://www.vice.com/sv/article/kw5jaw/seapunk-washes-up-genre-scene-history
December 17, 2022
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Full Album) 1995
The Smashing Pumpkins: The Billy Corgan Interview w/ Rick Beato
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Full Album) 1995
December 17, 2022
Dick Cavett discusses the clash of Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal on this show
The Writer in America: Janet Flanner
In 1925 Flanner sent her first "Letter from Paris" to Harold Ross, the editor of a new magazine "The New Yorker." Providing Flanner with the pen name, Genet, Ross instructed her to write about what the French were thinking and doing, not about what the American tourist thought of Paris. During almost fifty years abroad, Flanner filled her Paris letters with insights on European society and politics from her perspective as an American
Gore Vidal vs Norman Mailer - The Dick Cavett Show - The Infamous feud between them.
Date aired - 12/1/1971 - Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Janet Flanner
Dick Cavett discusses the clash of Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal on this show
The Writer in America: Janet Flanner
In 1925 Flanner sent her first "Letter from Paris" to Harold Ross, the editor of a new magazine "The New Yorker." Providing Flanner with the pen name, Genet, Ross instructed her to write about what the French were thinking and doing, not about what the American tourist thought of Paris. During almost fifty years abroad, Flanner filled her Paris letters with insights on European society and politics from her perspective as an American
December 17, 2022
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fugs
The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of The Holy Modal Rounders. Kupferberg named the band from a euphemism for fuck used in Norman Mailer's novel The Naked and the Dead.
The band was one of the leaders of the underground scene of the 1960s and became an important part of the American counterculture of that decade. The group is known for its comedic, even lewd, nature but also earned fame through their persistent anti-Vietnam War sentiment during the 1960s. Some 1969 correspondence, found inside an FBI file on the rock group The Doors, called The Fugs the "most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive". Aside from derision for their scatological lyrics, the Fugs have also been labeled avant-rock noise music.
Buckley, Kerouac, Sanders and Yablonsky discuss Hippies
Episode 113, Recorded on September 3, 1968
Guests: Lewis Yablonsky, Ed Sanders, Jack Kerouac
The Fugs - I Couldn't Get High - Swedish TV 1968
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fugs
The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of The Holy Modal Rounders. Kupferberg named the band from a euphemism for fuck used in Norman Mailer's novel The Naked and the Dead.
The band was one of the leaders of the underground scene of the 1960s and became an important part of the American counterculture of that decade. The group is known for its comedic, even lewd, nature but also earned fame through their persistent anti-Vietnam War sentiment during the 1960s. Some 1969 correspondence, found inside an FBI file on the rock group The Doors, called The Fugs the "most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive". Aside from derision for their scatological lyrics, the Fugs have also been labeled avant-rock noise music.
Buckley, Kerouac, Sanders and Yablonsky discuss Hippies
Episode 113, Recorded on September 3, 1968
Guests: Lewis Yablonsky, Ed Sanders, Jack Kerouac
December 17, 2022
Label: Y Records – Y 18
Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Album
Country: UK
Released: 25 Feb 1982
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental
Tracklist
A The Litanies Of Satan
Composed By, Vocals [Solo], Tape, Electronics – Diamanda Galás
Engineer [Sound] – Dave Hunt
Lyrics By – Charles Baudelaire
B Wild Women With Steak-Knives
Engineer [Sound Engineer Assistant] – Durand Rene Begault
Engineer [Sound] – Richard Zvonar
Vocals [Solo Scream] – Diamanda Galás
Recorded at Nadir Studios, London, England, 1981
–The Litanies of Satan (from the poem by
Charles Baudelaire) devotes itself to the
emeraldine perversity of the life struggle in Hell.
–Wild Women With Steak Knives (from
the tragedy-grotesque by D. Galas Eyes
Without Blood) is a cold examination of
unrepentant monomania, the devoration
instinct, for which the naive notion of filial
mercy will only cock a vestigial grin.
Some issues contain scented record sleeve.
show me a spookier song part 2, Celerity's selection
either song off this album
the YT poster reversed the order, side B is first, side A is second
Diamanda Galas ?- The Litanies Of Satan - Full Album (1982)
Label: Y Records – Y 18
Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Album
Country: UK
Released: 25 Feb 1982
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental
Tracklist
A The Litanies Of Satan
Composed By, Vocals [Solo], Tape, Electronics – Diamanda Galás
Engineer [Sound] – Dave Hunt
Lyrics By – Charles Baudelaire
B Wild Women With Steak-Knives
Engineer [Sound Engineer Assistant] – Durand Rene Begault
Engineer [Sound] – Richard Zvonar
Vocals [Solo Scream] – Diamanda Galás
Recorded at Nadir Studios, London, England, 1981
–The Litanies of Satan (from the poem by
Charles Baudelaire) devotes itself to the
emeraldine perversity of the life struggle in Hell.
–Wild Women With Steak Knives (from
the tragedy-grotesque by D. Galas Eyes
Without Blood) is a cold examination of
unrepentant monomania, the devoration
instinct, for which the naive notion of filial
mercy will only cock a vestigial grin.
Some issues contain scented record sleeve.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,304
