Mark Masterson

(so kind of in the game but not really)

(All of which kind of don't matter, as I retired and am but an adjunct fellow.)

Nic Smith, VC of Victoria University of Wellington, has resigned. He takes up the same position at Auckland in June. I have many inchoate thoughts about this.

I am IN LOVE omg

Soon I'm giving two public lectures at Scripps College in CA as part of the O'Brien Distinguished Visiting Professorship. LA-area friends, would love to see you there!

March 31, 4:30pm: Lyricism as Historiography of the Long Past

April 1, 4:15pm: Feminist Histories and the Problem of the Real

That feels like a good purchase on what's going on. @dreddieclark.bsky.social

"We owe conspiracy theorists a huge apology"

No we fucking don't. They were talking about a secret conspiracy of gay trans Jewish lizard people. The Epstein files uncovered a conspiracy of rich, straight, white, right-wing Christian men, which these motherfuckers never even considered.

❤️

The question of our time is how do you artistically rebel — and win — against a totally flat cultural landscape? And before my readers, who I assume are all approximately 36 years old and very tired, say, “so what, who cares?” This does matter. I mean, just look around right now lol. You know things are bad when even OpenAI President Greg Brockman is posting stuff, like “Taste is a new core skill.” If people had taste, your company wouldn’t exist, Greg. But if everything is just attention now, and attention is completely commodified by algorithmic tech platforms, how can you push back against that? Well, I am slowly coming around to a theory on the new cool: You have to essentially pre-deplatform yourself. Culture right now is determined not by human teams of editors and producers picking and choosing what youth culture gets the spotlight, but, instead, by the unthinking algorithms that power YouTube and TikTok. Which means the only things that have the level of scarcity and danger required to be seen as cool by young people will, slowly, but surely, be whatever is unacceptable on those platforms.

A post so smart I'm almost afraid to share it.

www.garbageday.email/p/the-only-t...

Have to check lexica, but boy this word has a physical vibe in my experience. E.g., crushing testicles as mode of castration uses this verb.

[chuckle]

YES!

that's, omg, sycophancy dot com

I am working on stuff that feels ever so adjacent too! Can't wait to read it.

💯 💯 💯

Copilot was put on phone in an update. What a nightmare to view an attachment in an email. FVCK!! Was able to delete the piece of sh*t. Thank God.

some tonic in the morning (it's morning here)

Is it both-siderism if you utterly loathe both sides?

Fingers crossed for you ❤️

Not remotely enough, you utter loser

What a great essay!!

NZ needs to reckon with how many assumptions it shares with fascists. This lack of honest self-appraisal is worrying and quite possibly dangerous to the country's internal well-being long term.

@frankgarrett.online @shmonkey.bsky.social

💯💯

Hang in there! 🐱

friend of mine is an undocumented immigrant and has been hiding in Melania theaters bc he knows people assume no one is in there

Government's Marsden Fund cuts: All humanities, social sciences research funding slashed Cutting all research funding for the fields is a massive step backwards, critics say.

Slashing all Marsden grants to social science and humanities another Judith Collins legacy www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

I have been surprised at the praise. Any pluses people want to see have large helping on big minuses.

Judith Collins resigns after a near quarter century in politics She has been in Parliament for more than 20 years, as the MP for Clevedon, and then Papakura.

good riddance to Minister Judith Collins, who orchestrated the present gutting of New Zealand's science funding establishment

I've not seen or heard any coverage today that mentions this tiny detail, affecting 100s of millions of public dollars and endangering NZ's entire intellectual community

this is very familiar to me yes