Tag: linksread

“On political naiveté” – J.J. McCullough

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“What makes a belief enticing, in turn, seems to be some mixture of comprehensiveness (does it provide a lot of answers), intuitiveness (does it feel correct based on what you already know), flattery (does it make you feel superior for knowing), and relevance (does it allow you to do something in the real world). Beliefs and belief systems that check these boxes are very attractive when we’re young, because they can provide a shortcut to many of the things we crave in early adulthood — certainty, confidence, authority, independence”

https://jjmccullough.substack.com/p/on-political-naivete

“Who’s Really Writing Celebrity Novels?” – Sophie Vershbow (Vulture)

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“I have a couple of books out under my name, and this was a very different experience. We got marketing support, which is an unfamiliar feeling for me. Her media team put together appearances on Good Morning America and the Today show, that kind of stuff. So that was cool in one sense and I guess dispiriting in another because it’s, like, how do beginner writers ever get that sort of coverage?”

https://www.vulture.com/article/celebrity-novels-ghostwriting.html

“On the Occasion of This Election, Let Me Talk to You About Bill Clinton” – Freddie deBoer

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“I’m sorry to constantly repeat this point, but politics is a game of tug-of-war, and the center is nothing but where the middle of the rope ends up. The extremes pull the middle. So if you’re someone with milquetoast liberal squish politics, you should hate Democratic triangulation and timidity as much as I do. Because Republicans relentlessly pulling the rope to the right, while Democrats refuse to pull the rope to the left, has gotten us to a place where conservative policy wins even as conservative candidates lose”

https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/on-the-occasion-of-this-election

“Don’t give them what they want” – Julian Simpson

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“Theoretically, the mysterious “Algorithm” (which is nigh-on worshipped, despite the fact that it’s just a glorified ratings system that attempts to predict the future by looking at the past) can tell us what will be a hit and what won’t.

Hence the industry now spends hundred of millions of dollars on action movies that were apparently written in crayon, starring people called Chris, directed by project managers”

https://developmenthell.substack.com/p/dont-give-them-what-they-want

“What does Jeff Bezos’ non-endorsement mean?” – Max Read

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“The idea of a billionaire sugar daddy buying and “stewarding” your institution as a charitable legacy project sounds kind of nice compared with alternative ownership structures (private equity, Macanese gambling syndicate, the GRU). But it’s fatally condescending to those newspapers and magazines. A good rule of thumb is: If the billionaire that owns you is not trying to influence you to hurt his political enemies, it’s because you don’t matter very much”

https://maxread.substack.com/p/what-does-jeff-bezos-non-endorsement

“The Big Squeeze: Why Everyone in Hollywood Feels Stuck” – Mia Galuppo (Hollywood Reporter)

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“You get to a point where you’re living in your beautiful house in the hills, you’re meeting only other wealthy people and you’re not connecting to the audience,” adds Galloway. “And the moviegoing audience is primarily young, so at a certain point you become really detached from them.”
Which explains why so much of what Hollywood is producing these days feels so familiar. For instance, there are currently remakes or sequels in development for ’80s classics like An Officer and a Gentleman, Ghost and Dirty Dancing — projects that have little or no emotional resonance to anyone under 50”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hollywood-workers-stuck-battle-opportunity-1236047705/

“Shadow of the Groundnut” – Dan Davies

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“The political “lessons” are more or less insurmountable – in this unfortunate world, we have to live with the fact that big projects are going to be led by people who come across well at interview, and that this is very much less than perfectly correlated with ability to do the job.

But the really crucial lesson would be “if something is going wrong, review whether it is viable and don’t hesitate to reverse course; abandoning a failed idea early is a good thing which should be to your credit”. Instead, the UK policy structure seemed to learn “don’t attempt anything big, because if it fails you will be blamed”

https://backofmind.substack.com/p/shadow-of-the-groundnut

“What’s really behind America’s men v women election” – Katty Kay (BBC)

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“It’s 2024 and few people want to be the jerk who’ll tell a pollster outright that they don’t think a woman is fit for the Oval Office (though plenty are prepared to share misogynistic memes on social media). A Democratic strategist suggested there’s a code, when voters tell pollsters that Harris is not “ready” or doesn’t have the right “personality” or “what it takes,” what they really mean is that the problem is she’s a woman”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr430gry81o

“Fandom has toxified the world” – Alan Moore (Guardian)

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“And while the vulgar comic story was originally proffered solely to the working classes, soaring retail prices had precluded any audience save the more affluent; had gentrified a previously bustling and lively cultural slum neighbourhood. This boost in fandom’s age and status possibly explains its current sense of privilege, its tendency to carp and cavil rather than contribute or create. I speak only of comics fandom here, but have gained the impression that this reflexive belligerence – most usually from middle-aged white male conservatives – is now a part of many fan communities. My 14-year-old grandson tells me older Pokémon aficionados can display the same febrile disgruntlement”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/26/fandom-has-toxified-the-world-watchmen-author-alan-moore-on-superheroes-comicsgate-and-trump