I discovered Cure for Paranoia last year (or the year before..?) when they were doing a new rap song every day that got very political. It was superb. Then I learned about all their Tiny Desk submission videos: superb again. And this year, they won. The lyricism, the musicianship, the skill, and the performance. It's all there.
The Independent Variable
Posts on page 2
'Goliath only gets toppled once': Napa Valley's winemakers on 50 years since the Judgment of Paris
wine12 judges, 20 wines, the finest bottles Burgundy and Bordeaux could offer, alongside a handful of upstart California labels that most of the French wine establishment had never heard of. When the scores were tallied, a 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay had beaten them all. So had a 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon.
What better way to learn about the moment Napa was put on the map in the world of wine than from the local paper (with a byline from friend of the Variable, Keith Cousins). While I’m personally not a fan of their strict paywall, they’ve put in a ton of work to cover the 50th and this one is free for all to read. Highly recommend checking out this wonderful compiled interview with some of the best winemakers in the country (and world) and maybe crack open a special Napa Cab to celebrate.
Hidden Cassettes
internetThis is really creepy... but also a cool way to take something creepy and make something cool on the internet with it... I can't get myself to actually listen to any of these... but the rest of Emily's site is also a delight so it's worth just going straight there as well.
Rule of Thirds /// MLB
designI try not to link to Threads (or the MLB for that matter), but these photos that play on the lines from the Rule of Thirds are just too damn good not to share.
New York’s rich lash out at ‘shameful’ Mamdani plan to tax second homes
politics“Can I afford the tax? Yes. Is it going to deter me? No. But I think it’s shameful,” he said. “I provide a lot of money to people who are blue-collar workers who work for me, servers in restaurants. If we’re not there, there are going to be less people being paid.”
Ken Griffin is such an idiot and I'm so glad he left my beautiful home town of Chicago. If you're not there driving up costs of real estate, then regular people can start to afford a home and a storefront to employ other people so all parties can make a reasonable living—rather than the minimum wage this asshole's restaurants—or whatever other businesses he owns—probably pay. You don't need to make billions in profit to be a "successful business person." Instead you can pay your employees a fair wage so they can live a comfortable life while still making a nice chunk of change for yourself at the same time.
Digg has (sorta) relaunched (again)
internetThis is embarrassing. It’ll probably be a huge success.
I'm just trying to figure out if these people have absolutely no shame, or if they are embarrassed and do it anyway because they think they can make a buck off of it. As someone who watched Diggnation growing up, the direction Kevin Rose has taken his career with Web3, crypto, and this garbage has been pretty disappointing. But I guess that's part of it. That's why they tell you not to meet your heroes—not that Kevin Rose was ever a hero of mine, more an entertaining idiot. But I think a lot of these early internet successes are just people in the right place, right time, not necessarily as smart as society tries to give them credit for... *cough* Elon Musk *cough*.
