Tasteland

This week Daisy and Francis are joined by cultural strategist, designer and art director, Edmond Lau. Edmond is known for his "luxury memes" and his recent coining of the term "dark mode shift".

Follow Edmond

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atelieredmondlau/

X: https://x.com/nstlgiaxpress

00:00 The rise of LinkedIn

07:23 An outsider's perspective on NYC culture

15:05 Edmond's unique career arc

20:09 Creating digital profiles of personal taste

28:28 The dark mode shift and ambiguous grief

42:09 The evolving insecurities of the yuppies

49:41 Taste has lost its meaning

55:36 Defining luxury

Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers.

There's no guest this week, which gives Daisy and Francis the chance to discuss why people hate Renoir, the simultaneously growing and eroding types of media literacy, SEO arbitrage, and why we need pay people to build beautiful things.

00:00 The five things we did this week

02:38 The nuances of art deaccessioning

08:48 Why Francis has stopped sports betting

11:14 Different types of media literacy and their current state

14:36 The need for working-class media

24:28 The death of content website investing

35:08 Islands and empires in the creator economy

38:19 The dynamics of young lonely men

44:48 The future of labor in America

Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers.

This week Daisy and Francis are joined by Katherine Dee, a reporter and internet culture writer since 2018. She's here to discuss the evolution of e-girls, their cultural significance, and the changing landscape of media and online identity.

Katherine's X: https://x.com/default_friend

Katherine's Substack: https://substack.com/@defaultfriend

00:00:00 Unique art museum experiences

00:04:15 Defining e-girls and their evolution

00:10:50 Shifting media forms and declining media literacy

00:19:55 The anti-woke movement is an entertainment genre

00:27:07 Dolphin accelerationism

00:31:00 The ethics of interacting with AI

00:39:37 Internet history must always be an oral history

00:50:28 The loss of quality local news

00:57:41 The normie internet and subterranean internet split

Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers.

Daisy and Francis are joined by Jad Esber, founder and CEO of Koodos Labs, a product and research company focused on the next generation of the internet. Koodos Labs is the creator of Shelf.

Shelf: www.shelf.im

Jad: https://x.com/Jad_AE

00:00 Night Life

02:20 Daisy smells like a donut

08:33 Inverting the internet's personal data model

14:47 Understanding the concept of data gravity

19:56 The algorithms influence on interpersonal relationships

30:53 Shelf: Your aggregator for taste

39:00 The difficulties of tracking physical media consumption

44:01 Connecting through shared media consumption

50:40 The balance of friction and meaningful engagement

Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers.

Daisy and Francis are joined by art critic, curatorial consultant, and writer Tatum Dooley. She is the founder and editor of the newsletter Art Forecast. They discuss the balance of art and business, the importance of artist-first thinking, and the impact of social media on artistic identity.

Art Forecast: https://artforecast.substack.com/

00:00 Controversial college mascot rebrand

07:23 The spectrum of artistry to entrepreneurship

13:30 Rebranding for global recognition

16:09 2025 trend predictions in the art world

22:26 The power of the studio visit

25:46 Balancing mentorship and free consulting

30:31 The complexities of royalties in the art market

32:26 Demonstrating the artist first approach

36:34 Artistic identity and social media

44:57 The right way to do criticism

Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers.

This week Daisy and Francis are joined by Josh Zoerner, founder of Night Gallery, to discuss the creative process behind their collaborative book, Notes, a tribute to the humble iPhone note.

Buy Notes: https://nightgallery.metalabel.com/notes

00:00 Introducing Josh and the NOTES book

05:20 Fan of the band

09:19 Music is how we decorate time

12:46 The emotional connection to past notes

21:15 Thematic elements in t-shirt drops

27:19 Iconic collaborations and recognition from idols

32:01 The creative process of books vs clothing

36:58 The weight of past generations

43:59 Running from the American experience

48:34 Nature, ecology, and the human experience

53:35 Merch is dead

Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers.

This week Daisy and Francis are joined by Mike Pepi to discuss his book Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia. They explore the definitions and implications of platforms in the digital age and the concept of techno-utopianism.

Buy Mike's book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/761644/

Mike Pepi: https://www.mikepepi.com/writing

00:00:00 Introducing Mike Pepi and defining platforms

00:05:06 Techno-utopianism in the history of western tech

00:13:23 Platform equilibrium; no growth is death

00:21:45 Tech platforms are not a tool

00:26:09 The unintended consequences of the techno-fix

00:29:48 "You are the media now"

00:33:03 AI submission and the devaluation of labor

00:39:39 Daisy's experience bullying Chat-GPT

00:45:08 The post-human vision of the 22nd century

00:47:59 The beauty in pluralism

00:52:20 The infinite treadmill of critique

00:54:30 When content is free, labor is free

00:57:37 Envisioning the future of new institutions

This week Francis and Daisy welcome writer and researcher Greta Rainbow. They discuss the evolving landscape of food journalism, the impact of digital art through the Glance Back browser extension, and the relationship between technology and personal identity.

Glance Back piece: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/my-machine-and-me/ 

Greta: https://x.com/gertsofficial 

00:00 Introducing Greta

01:15 The changing landscape of food journalism

06:09 The internet is for making friends

08:21 Glance Back: Your relationship with your computer

14:43 Balancing privacy and risk of contemporary storage

17:47 The evolution of our relationship with tech

27:19 The future of alt-lit in a changing internet

34:34 Scenes are shortcuts for attention

39:52 How we spend our days is how we spend our life

43:33 The role of visibility in the digital age

46:59 Nobody is cool on the internet

This week Daisy and Francis are joined by Emily Sundberg, creator of the popular business newsletter Feed Me. They explore the theme of specialness in modern life, discussing how technology, communication, and social interactions have evolved and impacted our sense of intimacy and connection.

Feed Me: https://www.readfeedme.com/

00:00 Introducing Emily and Feed Me

01:40 Nothing Feels Special Anymore

04:28 Texting's Effect on Communication and Intimacy

10:10 The Relationship Between Friction and Specialness

15:03 The Balance of Responsibility for Social Collapse

18:12 The Intention Behind Special Experiences

25:26 Feed Me: Preserving Specialness at Scale

30:12 The Degradation of Faith in Language

33:21 The Crisis of Truth and Consensus

37:29 The Democratization of Writing in the Digital Age

46:22 Adjusting to Success in the Media Industry

52:26 You Can't Spill the Special Sauce

2025 is kicking off with another mailbag episode of Tasteland. Daisy and Francis are answering your questions about whether smoking is cool again, what sucks the most, and sharing their synesthesia wrapped.

00:00 Happy New Year

01:44 Is Smoking Cool Again?

09:12 Media That Shapes Your Worldview and Opinions

15:27 Podcasts and Personal Connections

17:58 Navigating Creative Output and Information Diets

22:07 Feedback Mechanisms in Digital Media

28:47 Synesthesia Wrapped: Purplest Movie of the Year

36:11 What Sucks the Most? Elon Musk and The Passage of Time

38:28 Francis' Best and Worst Instagram Creators of 2024