i drink wine, i don't count my sleep score, i never use AI, i cancelled my amazon AND I AM HAPPIER THAN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the rising (anti-tech) wave against demonizing fun and trying to unhuman the human, along with a chat with a dreamy pop artist on the trends that influenced her new album.

May 31, 2026

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🔷 What can the future of fashion look like? I shared some thoughts on the matter with anxiety.eco for their Fast Forward Fashion report. (And bummed they’re going on hiatus!!)
🦿 HIP REPLACEMENT 🦿 features social strategist Carmen, who joins Ben Dietz and I to chat the Enhanced games, what comes after the taste economy, and the continued faking of the feed: listen on Substack, YouTube, and or Spotify.

US, Iranian negotiators reach tentative deal
’Art of the deal’ nowhere to be seen

Technically, this is an update.

Netanyahu: Israeli army to seize ‘70% of Gaza Strip’

This violates the ceasefire. As if that ever stopped his evil ass from genocide-ing!

Trump push $250 banknote with his portrait
“UFC arena at the White House.”
“gas is over $4”
“why survivors of assault don’t come forward”

This week in Trump’s corrupt, narcissistic, rage bait presidency. Also: why the fuck was the White House using music from the latest Boards of Canada to promo fascism? Huh?

Entertainers for 250th US birthday bash
Artists drop out of D.C. concert series

To the above: this has been a rich saga, where now six of the nine performers for America’s 250th have dropped out.

In Argentina, Peter Thiel Finds An Escape

If this isn’t a huge admission of defeat — in both the current political moment and tech like AI and surveillance like Palantir and transhumism and “moving to the moon” — then I don’t know what is. Pope Leo really wiped the floor with Peter!

UK records hottest ever May day
Exceptionally early heat wave shatters records

This past week has been brutally hot in the EU. To the above: I wonder if we need the Pope to speak on this in order for people to take action. Because it feels like no one is doing anything to protect our mother!!

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There was a time when a Modernist house was cool, where encountering such a perfectly rectangular home — its sharp corners resolute with 90º angles, its flat edges slicing into the clouds, its white walls brilliant as to evoke the calm of purity — felt like an act of the sublime as expressed through design. These houses were rare, something you’d only ever find by surprise whilst turning a random hillside corner in LA’s Los Feliz or passing through Poissy when west of Paris: there was a singularness to Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, these encounters special — a bit shocking, even — compared to their Spanish colonial and French provincial peers. If architecture is to adolescent cliques, the Modernists were the distant but captivating art nerds hiding at the corners of campus, talking amongst themselves by the trees. They were the types to wear sunglasses and berets, or at least that was what our cultural imagination conjures likely due to the influence of 1990s and aughts depictions.

Now an encounter with a Modernist house induces eyerolls and groans. Neighborhoods in West Hollywood have converted into square spaces that maximize real estate, creeping to curbs to suggest personal apartment complexes. The form is no longer a rarified expression of design or lifestyle but a secondhand for simplification and the austere, a bought aesthetic evoking bygone eras of intelligence but also rest and relaxation: so many kingdoms rotted by minds thinking they’re capturing the elegance of Palm Springs or Melbourne when they’ve simply been conned by Kanye West to equate the stillness of design echoes produced at scale as a form of personal achievement. I write this from a small Spanish village, on a coast known for fishermen style houses, which have become unsubtly interrupted by the construction of many Modernist boxes suggesting such unique locals needn’t be unique: here can be anywhere. What was once so solidly original is now tired and annoying, the character of life and culture reduced to long lost references bought instead of experienced, streamline and perfected. Reduced. Optimized. “A slightly outdated style, born out of the financial struggles of the public, being embraced by two of the richest and most famous people in the world,” someone wrote for the National Design Academy in 2019, of the Kardashian-approved version of minimalist turned terrorism. Ceci n’est pas une pipe, etc.

So much beauty in this world and — yet — we are so wont to remove it all, to scrub away difference and become each other. Doppelgangers not as an expression of horror but of the comfort of conformity, everyone jumping off the bridge to feel the wind in their hair without believing a collective splat upon the pavement will follow. “Insane loss of aura,” someone says. “He was so handsome,” someone says. “STOP GETTING RID OF YOUR BIG NOSES,” someone says, all directed at one of the quarterly viral videos of some young someone getting something like a nose job that does irreparable damage to the personal beauties that make them unique, turning a generational visage into something so common, so normal, so forgettable. GLP-1s help slim us down, more easily accessed plastic surgery sculpt us, our growing panoptic state urges us to sit down and be humble. We in our ideological modernist houses, lost of context and emotion, dwelling in what were temples to nature now walled in so we can worship at the altar of empty personal minimalism.

And yet: isn’t that all of culture now? All of us locked into these modernist houses whose construction started in the late 2010s and has resulted in our increased mania and misanthropy, both to each other and to ourselves? The heat of AI and automation and automatons inspiring a mass move to become less and less human: “For all the drudgery and indignities of our jobs, so much of what made them tolerable — even meaningful — was the way they brought us together with other people every day,” Aki Ito wrote for Business Insider on the rise of anti-social workplaces thanks to AI; “We are living in the ultimate revenge of the nerds, driven by a crew of socially awkward tech bros who won’t stop until the society that they never quite fit into is obliterated,” Xochitl Gonzalez wrote for The Atlantic of contemporary culture being ruled by people who hate other people; “I had a couple of glasses of wine, didn’t get drunk,” Diary of a CEO’s Steven Bartlett complained, “It ruined three days of my life because of the domino effect it caused.” to which creator Tinx offered critique: “The optimization culture has gotten out of control, it has robbed an entire generation of joy because of the demonization of fun.”; “I have engineered my entire life so that I never have to be uncomfortable,” creator Lindsiann of Letters to No One explained in a viral video, “and I have never been more miserable…My reward for engineering for all of this, for building the most frictionless life to have ever existed, is a low-grade, untreatable restlessness that I cannot name.”; “Optimization culture has gone too far and it is spiritually killing us,” creator Ashwinn said of this moment, of the mass leak of lifestyles via the Bryan Johnsons and Andrew Hubermans; “The desire not to be weird is a strong one in this time,” Kyle Chayka explained in the upcoming issue of Culture Slop.

People are already tired, and such dehumanizing ways of living are becoming increasingly outré: we are entering a great unoptimizing. There is a growing distaste for sleep scores and Strava logs, for having to map ever metric of being to prove we are living life properly, checking white boxes without white lies: truth not as freedom but as confinement, as a strict set of rules with which we can whip and whip and whip ourselves. Optimization is being seen as a path to conformity, to losing yourself in a promise of perfection that is actually a means to keep you shackled to products and false promises by tech gurus (not to mention white supremacy, misogyny, queerphoby, etc.). It’s obvious why this is all going out of favor as we near the end of decade two (and maybe three) of tech’s dominance: the rise of thinking machines was sold to us as a release from burden, only for us to find people themselves are to be trampled into obsolescence as profiteers aim their targets at us. “When you’re over-optimizing, counting all your macros and making sure your sleep score is perfect…you’re exercising no discretion, you’re not saying what is good for me, what do I like,” Carmen explained on HIP REPLACEMENT this week. “They’re cops on a finger,” Kate Daykin said on HIP REPLACEMENT earlier in May of Oura Rings, “I intentionally take [it] off when I’m going to go out and have more than a few drinks because it yells at me and it shames me and there’s a happy medium to be found in this society that is so pilates, matcha, let’s wake up early to go for a walk. Everyone is so anxious.”

To be modern is to be perfect, it seems, but we’re learning that perfection is overrated, that trying to curate your life and anything you encounter isn’t really living much at all but organizing what you observe, becoming a warehouse sorting system instead of a living being. The trend of hiding yourself amongst photos of models and pilates girlies drinking matcha is a reaction to this, a joke — to be sure — but a statement against this demonization of not just normality but fun. Our ability to enjoy and share is what makes us special! “We must…avoid the ‘Babel syndrome’,” Pope Leo wrote in his anti-AI (and anti-tech) encyclical, “namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralises differences, and the pretence that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance.” The mass production of Modernist houses in the late 2010s was the start of this era of perfection and now, a decade later, we’re reaching the end of this conversation, a changing of mindset, a new era incoming that will disrupt in its undoing, in its care. “I’m so fuckin’ sick and tired of the Photoshop,” Kendrick Lamar rapped in 2017. “Show me somethin’ natural like afro on Richard Pryor, show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretch marks.” Show me, we beg, ourselves not as perfect products but as real people in the glory of our messiness, our ugliness, our imperfections. Escape from this white box of the present and embrace the full spectrum of a life lived as a human.

The Big Little Penis Panic
“All dicks are beautiful!”
“Every young man should be forced to watch this”

Babe, wake up: there’s yet another big New York story that everyone is talking about. (Which I have not read yet!)

Take This Mandatory AI Workplace Training

This Wired multi-story experience on AI at work is so great. I haven’t read them all but things like this are a must to read as the heat continues to rise around AI and workers!

“He’s cooking here”

I was going to tie this very correct statement by Steven Spielberg on how movie theaters are spaces of community building into the above, but it didn’t work. Over-curating personal spaces and “time to yourself” is anti-human! Even if I do like watching movies at home, etc.

Stan Lee ‘Returns’ Under AI Pact

I am no Marvel lover, but this shit sucks. I wrote about rebooting people in 2021!!

Films More Likely to Star Chris or Animal Than Older Woman

A wild stat highlighting the disparity in stories about older women in film. Do stories about people who are low income next!

Joan Baez Calls Out Pop Stars

…and Joan is right! I’m working toward a non-fiction book proposal about who gets to be creative in this current economy and a story like this (Especially in relationship to Maggie Rogers!) highlights how and why current stars like Taylor Swift are who they are: it’s not about art but business, which means real artists who have real things to say about society are boxed out, all while confusing audiences about what art even is.

Everlane Co-Founder Wants a Redo

I am praying everyone reading this is smart enough to know that this too is greenwashing bullshit.

The King of Queens

The best Pride eve story to read about Trump and his male proclivities. Follow it up with this drag king mini-doc.

“big sue”
“I get into an uber”

The Susan Boyle rebrand #ad moment was very cute, and certainly a reminder of how to take a quiet luxury approach to making a splash (even if it was theorized to be a brand bit). The best part of this was remembering the #SusanAlbumParty hashtag.

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There’s something about Carla dal Forno. The Australian artist’s new album, Confession, dapples her intimate dreamy pop in shadows, as a thought daughter sits in the shade to contemplate themes of want and desire and where such longings might take us. There’s the feeling of watching and being watched, the intoxication that comes with being the viewer and the viewed: who is the narrator of the story you’re in? You? Or someone else? “Quiet upheavals,” she says of the album, these little hiccups in our world that captivate us — for better or worse — that create fixations of love and its opposites. What are we really seeing? What if we stopped to live our lives in more of the third person? Would you like that story? The groovy “I Go Back” as time sickness, “Alone With You” as desire turned consuming: all delicious, all the wandering mind enjoying a day dream that might actually be reality.

Carla’s albums are always a treat, but Confession feels her most sticky as far as subjects and themes, exciting work from an already exciting artist that circles her well-worn paths around post-punk and avant-pop to speak about the intimate goings on of life. It’s literary, in many ways, which I wanted to dig into given the chatter around her new album and my own enjoyment of her work. Via email, I asked Carla about the trends she’s been following and how they relate to the new album, which push even deeper into her being very much a writer who is expressing herself through music. Grab a cup of tea as we chat about the joys of book clubs, her hate of misogyny in music journalism, and autofiction as a songwriting tool.

Tell me about a trend you’re following that you’re really into.
Book clubs are trending right now and I’ve been on the bandwagon for a few years. In Castlemaine, where I live, there are many book clubs and I enjoy comparing notes with my friends about our respective groups. There’s always some gossip, a tricky member or two, but that’s just part of the fun.
When I first joined, I was sceptical. Isn’t reading a private pleasure? Do I really want someone else telling me what to read? The whole setup goes against my natural inclination to search out and find material myself. But I’ve actually found it to be an enjoyable social experiment. You get to know people a little better through the way they interpret what you’ve all read together. I’ve also gotten to know myself a little better; when I take something on, I really commit. I like doing the homework.
Another benefit is that reading for book club keeps me reading in general. I’ve read heaps more over the last few years than previously and been exposed to amazing books I wouldn’t have come across otherwise. In particular work by Australian authors which I wasn’t familiar with. Favourites include Michelle de Krester’s ‘Theory and Practice’ and Amanda Lohrey’s ‘The Labyrinth’
There have also been some lowlights. Trying to read The Push by Ashley Audrain was a gruelling experience — I didn’t make it through — but I think if your tastes are reasonably aligned with most members of the group, the occasional speed bump is manageable.
What’s a trend you hope never dies?
It seems totally fine these days to be interested in oil painting. When I went to art school years ago, that wasn’t the case. There was a lot of talk about “the death of painting” and a strong push towards conceptual art. None of my painting teachers actually painted, and there wasn’t a single technical lesson the entire time I was a student.
I ended up going to a local, community-run seniors’ art class where a fabulous woman taught me the basics. Years later, I’m still painting in oils, and so are plenty of other people. It seems this trend might last a little longer, despite some university art departments’ concerted efforts to put an end to it.
What’s a trend you are so over?
I’m over misogynistic music reviews — though “over” implies they ever went away.
I’ve always been aware of the sexism in music journalism, but having released this new album, which is a little more revealing — or just by toying with the idea of “confession” — I’ve had to confront lazy, insecure takes framing me as “deranged” or “unhinged.”
I shouldn’t be surprised, but it is depressing to think the publications that supposedly gatekeep music culture still peddle these tired narratives. Women write openly about desire, lust, rejection, obsession or heartbreak and suddenly people act as though they’re witnessing some kind of psychological breakdown.
Encouragingly, this wasn’t true of all the reviews I read. Plenty of writers were able to see Confession as the artwork it was intended to be, rather than reducing it to some woman’s “lurid diary.”
There’s still such an obvious double standard around these things. Men can write endlessly about obsession, desire or self-destruction and be celebrated as great poets or tortured geniuses, while women expressing similar feelings are far more likely to be dismissed as hysterical, unstable or mad.
What’s been influencing your music lately?
Probably going to therapy has been a big one. It’s definitely encouraged me to look more closely at how my brain works — my thought processes and the way I relate to other people. I’ve been unpacking some of that in the songs I’ve been writing recently.
I’ve also been reading a lot of what might be called autofiction and finding that inspiring in terms of my writing. I like blending parts of my real life into songs while still having the creative licence to play and invent. That tension between confession and fiction is really interesting to me.
Sonically, I think I’ve become more interested in songcraft again. I’m always paying attention to how people structure songs, write melodies and build emotional momentum. Pop music can still have a bad rap in certain circles, but to me a great pop song is like a perfect puzzle — I’m endlessly fascinated by how people construct them.
Is there a trend in music that you’re particularly keen on?
DIY is a trend that seems to still be going strong. I spend a lot of time on Bandcamp finding music for my monthly NTS radio show, and I’m constantly encouraged by how many independent artists and labels continue to release amazing work outside of traditional industry structures.
I’m interested in lots of different kinds of music, but lately I’ve been especially drawn back to guitar music. For a while I was quite anti-guitar, but I’ve come back around. Maybe there’s a renewed interest in directness and songwriting at the moment — or maybe I’m just noticing it more because it’s where my own interests are heading.
As both a listener and a songwriter, I’m always drawn to artists who can make something emotionally immediate while still feeling a little strange or idiosyncratic. That balance never stops being exciting to me.