It’s that time again. Here’s the annual year-end list of my favorite clips, memes, stories, and links I’ve saved since January 1st and no earlier.
- This mashup of the Leo meme.
- This infographic of wine descriptions and what they mean.
- ProPublica’s investigative report on the short (and potentially long-term) effects of students after a year lost to the pandemic. (As a bonus, also check out Scott Galloway’s piece on vaccination. His nod to the British civilian bravery at Dunkirk is spot on.)
- Taylor Swift re-recording the 2nd of her own master’s to critical acclaim. No matter what’s in there about Jake Gyllenhaal, no one’s feeling this burn like Scooter Braun.
- The Wall Street Journal’s extensive coverage of the Facebook papers. If you have a bottle of wine and a few hours (you’ll need both), the level of defrauding advertisers, hiding research on teen health, casually applying terms of service, creating Facebook groups for the Third Reich, lying to its oversight board, and allowing their product to target or exclude minorities is probably not even getting past Page 1. (This Twitter account that more accurately measures the most shared stories on Facebook than Facebook’s own tools isn’t helping either.)
- Obi Toppin catching bodies.
- This New Yorker profile on Mary E. Jones Parrish, one of the unsung heroes of American history. No spoilers: Read the whole thing.
- Hulu’s season of Dopesick, my favorite series of the year — no contest. Michael Keaton puts on a masterclass in acting. Stop reading this and queue it up.
- This tweet about Pete Davidson and only this tweet about Pete Davidson.
- The New York Times’ story about Zillow buying houses to flip, losing money on the scheme, and artificially driving up market costs for normal home buyers.
- The trailer for Lightyear. I think I’m out, and then Pixar pulls me back in.
- This piece of advice on not ever quote tweeting or retweeting people that are beneath us. Juicing their engagement numbers only makes them stronger.
- The official trailer for Spiderman: No Way Home.
- Chris Hayes’ absolutely brilliant essay in The New Yorker about how unprepared we as a society are to have clout on the internet. Referencing Neil Postman’s seminal work in the first few paragraphs was a bonus.
- Friend and James Beard-winning badass Gary He’s photo essay in Eater of how hard COVID-19 hit the restaurant industry in NYC.
- Dick Vitale’s return to the broadcast booth for then #1 Gonzaga vs. #2 UCLA. He was diagnosed with his second battle with cancer a few months before. For context, Dick Vitale called the 1st college basketball game on ESPN in 1979. (No, you’re crying.)
- This awesome takedown of “moral-panic journalism” by Michael Hobbes probably further radicalized one of my already radical POVs: If I had the power to take all the money directly out of the pockets “earned” by pundits and editors engaging in clickbait journalism, I would take every last nickel.
- The Hollywood Reporter‘s oral history of Will Smith’s Independence Day. I have no idea who directed this, let’s just give it to Will Smith. You should be able to finish it *puts on sunglasses* in less than an hour.
- Karen’s Hao’s dive into how Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation.
- This lo-fi version of the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack, which is the background noise for almost all of my individual work in the second half of the year.
- Variety’s piece on Rob Lowe’s journey through sobriety. Lowe’s been sober for more than 30 years, and his account of when he got clean in “Stories I Only Tell My Friends” is haunting.
- This twitter trend of Ja Rule giving financial advice to meme stock traders after fleecing rich influencers at the Fyre Festival. Put it on us, Ja!
- This perfect photo of the Karen final boss.
- Chris Cornell’s version of Nothing Compares 2 U.
I may add to this before the end of the year, but from our growing family to yours — have an incredible Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and 2022.