All Caught Up: OnlyFans addictions, straight-studies, the modern meme lifecycle
Can’t stop the slop
AI is the hot, if not the hottest topic in the creative/marketing, you name it circles right now. And because I’m working on an AI-focused project right now, it couldn’t be more timely.
Some strands of cultural information I’m holding on to, and pulling together:
Can there be an ethical AI? I’ve been researching ethical AI for at work, and this exhibit caught my attention. Can generating data be a generative cultural practice? Can it be additive to culture instead of extractive?
Additionally, I’m also thinking about the role of the creative/creator against the machine. This past week or so, with the ChatGPT Studio Ghibli frenzy, it became even more of a cultural inflection point. Why is it that when we can make anything in the world, we choose to just make the same shit over and over again? What’s the point in all that? The thing that really gets me about the people who declare that artistry is dead because of the machine is that most of the time they’re just vengeful tech bro types who never tried to be creative in the first place.
For as long as we’ve all been alive… you could pick up a pencil, pirate photoshop… you name it. A more apt thing to really observe would be that these people suffer from a fear of being seen trying. AI closes the gap of “trying,” but that doesn’t make the work inherently good. Creativity still demands tension: the discomfort of failing, the repetition of skill-building, the slow accumulation of taste.
Every generation is shaped not by age or demographics, but by the technologies that change their world. The printing press. The internet. Now, AI.
Other strands here, of course are Ruby Thelot on the tyranny of images, and of course, some takes on AI that I shared with the ever-excellent Rachel Karten.
This week's picks include the UFC/Meta sponsorship, chic pill cases and the semantic apocalypse.
Christina’s weekly scroll –
The best of April Fools’ Day 2025:
🥈 Nickelodeon’s Avatar Onion Banana Juice
🥇 The Yahoo Agricultural Interface, aka the Touch Grass Keyboard
🏅 Honorary mentions include: ONE/SIZE x Grindr for taking it there, Duolingo x Carnival Cruise for committing to the bit and COTE x COQODAQ x Nails by Mei because… why not?
Amazon is set to launch its own competitor to Starlink.
UFC has signed a sponsorship deal with Meta…
What would you do if your partner spent $46,000 on OnlyFans?
You’ve heard of queer studies, but now there’s the first-ever straight-studies course — exploring why heterosexual women keep going back to men, even when they are so unhappy… lmao.
The self-improvement industry and its cycle of self-surveillance. Great read from
.Speaking of the constant pressure to optimize every aspect of your life... the gamification of basically every part of human existence has ruined… everything.
When did Graphic Design is My Passion become Graphic Design is My Prison?
AI is inherently accelerationist — just look at the Ghibli trend. People have already moved on to the Muppets, and soon, something else will take its place. These cycles keeps getting faster, making trends feel disposable before they even settle.
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While we’re on the topic, much like fascism, AI channels the masses' desires without changing the underlying systems, reducing art to just another tool for mass consumption. More on this fromAnd when art becomes just another tool for mass consumption, slop content is the result.
The Switch 2 pre-order rules are actually great. Wish we would see more policies like this implemented everywhere!
Remsen is redefining design for the elderly. I got served an ad from them (lol) because I have been on the hunt for a sexy pill case (my supplements go crazy), and while I’m not the target audience, I am sincerely into this.
It's been a week of major celebrity partnerships: Kim Cattrall for Charlotte Tilbury, Gracie Abrams for Hourglass, Don Julio x Peggy Gou, Gabbriette and Amelia Gray for Marc Jacobs (brilliant), Clairo x ILIA Beauty, and Greta Lee and Mikey Madison for Tiffany & Co.
Dove launched Hot Seats, an IRL scavenger hunt where you can win concert tickets. The first drop is for Charli XCX's BRAT Tour (!)
Nikita’s weekly scroll –
LOVED reading
’s interview with Sean Hausman, the founder of legendary nightclub AREA. Almost envious of doing things just for… fun and creative integrity.If Italian Futurism was the aesthetic of fascism past, AI is the aesthetic of fascism present.
Notes on the Gen-X career meltdown.
Constant communication is a disease!!!!! STOP IT.
Drag me — your cultural consumption is a coping mechanism. And so what about it!
AI drains art and language of meaning. Notes from the semantic apocalypse.
Rare Beauty started a Substack and has seemingly opted for a Gossip Girl-esque persona.
The shift from an earnest liberalism to a cynical one, from fashion to politics.
Not sure what this startup is doing, but this notion of ‘bringing the computer to life’ caught my eye.
WHO is going to give me my first LinkedIn influencer campaign? You know I don’t shut up over there.
How the generations dine out.
Notes on the modern meme lifecycle. Wish I wrote this a lil bit.
Sex without women…
Just topically, feels like lots of brands are doing ski trips? Topicals and Sephora, for sure.
The wellness industry is… seemingly a recession-proof area of the market? I swear I’ll finish my wellness essay soon.
I really enjoyed this one from
on the Millennial friend group crisis.
˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚Little Treat Corner ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
Christina’s weekly report:
READING:
EATING: Homemade cheese pizza.
PLAYING: Princess Mononoke… in 4K!
OBSESSING: Over Horace — this massive Pekingese I discovered on TikTok — and the M3GAN 2.0 trailer.
RECOMMENDING: Heheing and hahaing through it all.
TREATING: Myself to some goodies from the Sephora VIB sale <3
Nikita’s weekly report:
READING: All the text messages I have to get back to.
EATING: An assortment of Whole Foods chopped salads and frozen chicken nuggets.
PLAYING: Breathing exercises.
OBSESSING: Over taking my dog on a really long walk.
RECOMMENDING: Automatic night shift on the laptop…
TREATING: Also the Sephora sale x
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I guess one way to decode the Ghiblification phenomenon and why we keep acting out the same behaviours is to recognise how, even pre-AI, we’ve been flattening our digital lives into neat, aestheticised arcs. AI is just scaling that logic that we had already normalised. JoRoan from Monks NYC has an interesting take on this, in a marketing context: https://www.wanderingwonderingstar.com/p/marketing-isnt-dead-its-going-through
Feels like Rare Beauty has taken a literal page out of The RealReal's playbook on Substack - both play on a seeming "Gossip Girl" persona. I feel like we're about to see an influx of brands coming here now, but the ones that stick will have unique, differentiated POV. Many will follow the behind-the-scenes angle but that will get old quickly.
Also, thank you for turning me on to Remsen - love their design-focused positioning and I want one of those pill tins. That is, if I had an extra $300 lying around...;)