sweeney sports meltdown + sheeran drops macklemore
Same shit, less denim Sydney Sweeney has pissed people off again, which means two things: 1) she got nude, and 2) I get to spend the morning looking at the photos – for research purposes. The latest brand to discover Sweeney’s uncanny ability to wind up half the internet is Novig,...
Current in The Common Thred
AI agents are heisting + influencers are hot on uncontacted tribes
You can’t park there mate Aren’t AI agents supposed to be doing ‘deep work’ for those of us who’re either lazy or intuitive, depending on who you ask? Well, it turns out they may also tend to procrastinate, and though they aren’t mincing around coffee machines in actual offices, they still...
dystopian sports betting farms + gta gooners run riot online
the beautiful game, it aint There are certain things you stumble on when mindlessly scrolling that are so dystopian you assume they’re either made up for engagement or grossly exaggerated. Sports betting farms were that for me. In a curtained-off gym or warehouse, four young blokes are playing a two vs two...
£29bn of oil, £336bn of damage + Cat in the Hat stalkers
deal or no deal? I didn’t want to read about it, you don’t want to read about it, but it’s the biggest news of the week. So let’s bathe in existential dread together. Doomscrolling is all 2000-and-late, but occasionally we have to bear witness. Climate change is among the sorest of...
looksmaxxing wasn’t so toxic? + doing better for kid stars
When did ‘we’re gonna make it, brah’ become ‘you’re chopped’? This isn’t what Zyzz wanted for us. There are certain historical figures whose importance only becomes apparent years after their death. Van Gogh. Kafka. That bloke from the ‘Succulent Chinese Meal’ video. I’m throwing Aziz Shavershian, known to everyone other than his...
social change comedown + gen z go mute
right here, right now! or whenever… I ain’t gluing myself to Oxford Street or throwing orange paint at the Lamborghini dealership. I’ve got bills to pay. Remember in the late 2010s when Gen Z was synonymous with social change, a broad catch-all term encapsulating the desire for a more equitable and...
gen z scale back socialising + ariana grande quits public life
thank u, next If your weekend plans involve anything more expensive than a stroll around a National Trust park, chances are your Gen Z chums will mentally run the numbers the second you pop up in the group chat. ‘Will I still be a reasonable level of skint come Monday?’ Given the cohort is synonymous with moderation on just about everything, whether it’s sex, alcohol, or nights out – anything but...
‘uk poo’ hits socials + earnest isn’t entertaining
the sun goes down, my zoot comes up I have frankly no cause to spend the amount of time I do on Twitter (not calling it X). It feels like overegging the pudding to call it a guilty ‘pleasure’, but it somehow remains my social app of choice. This week, however, has been a stark reminder of why, having turned 30 many moons ago, I need to bin Twitter off for...
odyssey’s anti-woke boycott fails + pokémon traders get strapped
nolan is too goated to ‘go broke’ This ain’t no little live-action Disney remake. It’s Christopher Nolan. In the least surprising turn of events this summer, the masses flocked to see The Odyssey on opening weekend across the globe. The movie already boasts a 95% critic score and a 97% user score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the most critically revered Nolan project to date, though it is early days, granted. In terms of the...
gen z’s luddite uprising + zero chill bison
delete the apps, rebuke the horniness, move back home The so-called ‘digital natives’ are biting the hand that fed them, because it fed them mostly FOMO, insecurity, and addiction. Chat about AI is everywhere in the mainstream, but if you broach the topic on any campus other than MIT, it’s likely you’ll be met with the blank stares of hungover folks who wish you’d shut the f*ck up. Between rinsing the market...
