no chick-fil-a sauce? send it to me rachel the house down boots oh that's not —

Unpacking our brain rotted state and understanding the appeal of New York Times games.

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"7 aid workers' lives worth more than 30,000"
“how differently their deaths are being treated”
José Andrés: Let People Eat
Brutal and sad, which highlights the disparity of “interest” in the subject.

Biden ‘outraged’ by the attack on an aid convoy
Biden Admin Presses Sale of F-15 Jets to Israel
I don’t think this or singing at him is going to help with the election — but that’s just me. Anyway…take it away, Hillary!

Want to be one of Biden’s 20K climate workers?
“Good paying jobs to stop the climate crisis.”
You get this W, Joey!

Trump wants "Christian visibility day"
This is one of the most unhinged few words I have ever read. Yes, November 5 is election day.

Traders Betting That Trump Media Will Tumble
No idea what to think of the Truth Social stock business. 

Havana Syndrome mystery continues
I watched this 60 Minutes segment which kinda-sorta confirms that Russia is attacking people on American soil via ultrasonic weaponry. Fascinating and fucked up.

Government funding a train on the moon
“YOU DONT HAVE HEALTHCARE”
So cooked.

Trains Are Cleaner Than Planes, Right?
Interesting story, which explores how most US trains are good — but a lot use diesel and it’s not possible to travel cross-country without diesel.

Why Cocoa Prices Spiked
Lots of talk about how chocolate (and sugar) prices are going up! It all ladders into climate and weather issues and not inflation (although that likely plays a role).

How Religious Are Americans?
Look at these graphs! Very much confirmed that religion is trending out while “no religion” continues onward and upward.

Georgia joins parental permission on social media
This seems like maybe a straw that will break the back of social networks? It dovetails into what Jonathan Haidt’s press tour, where he’s been hammering no smart phones before high school. I might write an essay about this and my mother’s cell phone philosophy. Hmm.

99 Cents Only is closing all stores
I feel like this marks the end of an era in California.

Taylor Swift among 141 new billionaires
“so hungry”
If you are one of these people, I need you to unsubscribe or talk to me about how to give away your money. Related: Zooey Deschanel saying her father being Oscar nominated doesn’t make her a nepo baby. Read the room, angel!!

The word “brain rot” has appeared in The Trend Report™ 12 times over the past (almost) four years. The first time was in May 2021, in regards to a style of self-aware TikTok. This was followed by a post about yassifying in November 2021. “Something like yasification is a joke, which I won’t claim is good or bad,” I wrote. “It’s just another form of digital brain rot and creative expression shared as a joke.” The next appearance was in October 2022 before becoming an almost bi-monthy mention in 2023 and eventually a proper adjective used almost weekly in 2024.

This is less a claim that this lil newsletter “invented” such a term (Not true.) but to use this as an example of how a turn of phrase becomes an expression: to study “brain rot” is to see how a legitimate description can turn into slang and vice versa. If we look at search trends via Glimpse, my personal use of the word aligns with larger culture: use of the word started bubbling in late 2020 before exploding to nearly 17K searches a week this year. That’s “not a lot” but very much a lot when we think that “brain rot” is becoming an expression of our times, a line in the sand of if you are online or if you are not online. And, if you are online and are brain rotted, this signifies a bit of internet poisoning that infects your speech, where you are no longer a person but a near-tweaking catalogue of memes, slang, and references that have neither import nor permanence. You are moving at the speed of social into a brick wall. You are social media addiction made corporal. You have become one of the final forms of the internet, the transubstantiation of a human mind into techno-goo, becoming the left-wing, TikTok-based, under-forty version of the Facebooking, right-wing, Q Anon loon.

If social media is good at anything, it’s making gestures. It’s turning the smallest things into a tagline, an expression, a multi-layered language that works within and in spite of the larger forms of expression. Like Miami English and African American vernacular English, “brain rot” is threatening to become a legitimate dialect of the digital, with new words and phrases created on a near-daily — and definitely weekly — basis. For example: this week, a prank video from December 2022 of a mother grovelling to see Jesus, as if a child, begging, “Send it to me please, Rachel.” has exploded as a text-based turn of phrase that sometimes includes or substitutes her image as a reply, which was all propelled by the audio taking off on TikTok recently. This follows a pattern that has been observed for some time, most recently “Oh that’s not” as a callback to Kelly Osbourne saying something racist on The View in 2015 which went viral a few months back. Similarly, the phrases “Well, yes!” and “Well, sorta kinda.” and “Well, no.” all draw from a 2019 red carpet interview that was turned into a stan Twitter supercut.

This happens literally all the time — “No Chick-Fil-A sauce?” and “diabolical” and “sets of tomfoolery” and “yap” and “delulu” and “you will be dealt with” are other recent ones — which, when used all together, is categorized as “brain rot.” You can insert “cores” and any of the little girl trends into this mix too! It’s simple to say these are trends that come and go but, as happens with trends, some become gum at the bottom of our culture’s shoes. See “irregardless” which hit with Mean Girls in 2004 and has been debated for years as far as legitimacy. You can say the same thing of “whatever” and “bling” and “bootylicious” and “Debbie Downer” and “fleek.” Brain rot has always been around, but it came into its own due as we moved out of media’s glacial pace and into the contemporary constant drip of anything becoming a candidate for the all-too-chatty online to turn into language.

(There’s an argument to be made as well that the over-production of language and “brain rot” is not only a quest to be cool but is the fault of the capitalism machine breaking down, that people are searching for newer and newer expressions to differentiate themselves only to turn into tweaking, babbling, very silly individuals. The snake eats itself in the name of [social] profit.)

“Brain rot“ is neither good nor bad but it is a statement of something that was discussed on this week’s paid post: as digital speak becomes more and more specific, compounded by generations, interests, and demographics, we’re entering a linguistic tempest of various intersections that will require guidance from those who “can speak” the language. We’re awaiting a market of persons who can help brands, businesses, and other people understand “brain rot,” to help you connect with the deeply online, be they computer-based creatives in their early thirties or 10 year olds with Skibidi bestie slay infections. These are people who, knowingly or not, belong to a growing genre of self-aware or being-pointed-out persons who capture what happens when you spend more time online consuming and reaction than you do offline, actually speaking and actually communicating: “brain rot” stems from a lived digital reality that collapses outside of a group chat or comments section, as expressions, slang, and references are half-clauses of thought, accessories to larger meaning. It’s impressive to speak this way, to be sure, but also a specific type of sadness as it exposes that someone might not have a real life, be it from working too much or not having time to seek higher pursuits or simply having too unrestrained screen time. When you meet a “brain rot” person in real life, either the left-wing boots the house down cunt baddie or the right-wing brandon pizzagate let’s goooo rizzler, you’re in a brief Olympics of trying to keep up and participate in “this” way of speaking. You feel dumb until you realize that — Wait. — this person may not have a life. There is a mental diminutiveness happening as references do not make a personality or life. These are empty calories of the mind.

Slang will never go away (and is a topic I love) but “brain rot” is different and important because it’s transforming out of language: we’re entering a new phase of TikTok AI-based visual brain rots that quite literally swirl memes into soup that is becoming catnip for kids — and is how you ended up with something like Skibidi, all born of a solid decade of media being collapsed for kids via YouTube content. Schmurgled, deep-fried, brain rotted: it’s all the same and we’re racing toward this exploding into a larger, more complicated gesture that will raise kids in a parent’s absence. Can a child be “debilitated” by brain rot? No, but it could complicate those dealing with various personal items, be it autism or ADHD, as such screen addiction can propel fixation and an inability to concentrate among other items.

It’s all fun and games, to mimic “Oh!” and “Huh?” and “Seving cunt.,” until you find that someone is staring at you, confused, trying to figure out if you need help or if you simply have some very peculiar social issues. The context matters and is quick to collapse.

The Meltdown at a Middle School in a Liberal Town|
This story is too long (As is New Yorker behavior.) and went viral this week. I also think it captures / will capture where left-wing conversations are going: the fracturing of this, who increasingly see conflict and disagreement as abuse.

Fans Keep Splurging on Blockbusters in Imax
"Imax poster for 'CHALLENGERS'"
I don’t think Imax is the future of media, but I’m legally obligated to share that some people think it is.

Alex Garland: ‘A lot to be very concerned about’
This interview with Alex Garland is maybe my top read of (the last) week. Come for the “Civil War is his last movie!” bit and stay for realizations like he was a novelist before director (!!!) and that he (rightly) sees movie making as more management than art.

Matchesfashion Is Closing Down
Farfetch Sold to South Korea’s Coupang
These are both not-that-new but I noticed the first one this week which I’m taking with the second one from late last year. Feels like the era of online luxury shopping is over. Can SSENSE survive?

Sex and the City: What It Means for Gen Z
Just so you know, people are talking about how Gen Z thinks Sex and the City is a “period piece.” Coming soon: the incoming Girls era lust apocalypse.

The Richard Serra Sculpture That Was Too Much
A favorite of the week, especially that this sculpture is just…in pieces in a Paris suburb. That said, as Bobby and I discussed after reading, the initial spot wasn’t the right place for it. But it should be shown!!

The Secret History Behind Pitchfork’s Most Notorious Review - The Ringer
HUGE story for all my Pitchfork girlies out there longing to know the history of the monkey peeing in its mouth. (While we’re here, my favorite review has always been for Daft Club.)

Then We Came to the End
I read this after the Times released a list of the funniest books and, if you work in marketing, at an agency, or as a copywriter, it’s a must read. It’s a somehow timeless of working “as a creative,” although it takes place in the early aughts.

Erotic Probiotic 2
Catching Chickens
This is like if AI combined (pre-MAGA) Ariel Pink, Dean Blunt, and Divine Interface with touches of Arthur Russell and Adina Howard and maybe even ML Buch too. Crank “Daddy” now.

🔮🛸👹 10 IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE 👹🛸🔮
I had not one but two of these prophesies from this week’s paid post inch toward coming true.

Say what you will about the New York Times — that they’re transphobic, that they’re a tech company — but one thing has become undeniable: they are the destination for casual gaming.

No, I’m not talking about console-based or “cozy” gaming but instead classic games, specifically word games that you can pick at all day. What started as the humble and intimidating crossword puzzles of 1913 has ballooned into a suite of word games championed by the Times, inspiring rivals like Vulture’s pop culture crossword and Vox’s mental break crossword. Happening in tandem was the rise of Times Magazine’s word forming game Spelling Bee, which launched in 2014 and went online in 2018, the year before the cute but not-as-hot creations Letter Boxed, Vertex, and Tiles also joined the gaming family. This was all cute, but transformed in 2021 with the launch and puchasing of Wordle in 2022. 2023 saw the landscape change dramatically with the introduction of word matching game Connections, which has had a slow-but-steady cult rise that seems to outperform everything but Wordle as far as conversation. 2024 is hoping to create similar magic with the word-finding beta game Strands.

The games are games — and everyone loves a good game: the appeal is simple on the surface. But, like any gaming world and community, the Times games have a very distinct digital footprint: the editors have become celebrities, a la Spelling Bee’s Sam Ezersky’s Twitter offers director’s commentary, Connections’ Wyna Liu is a frequent target of TikTok frustration, and Wordle’s Tracy Bennett attempts to offer digital support; every week a break out joke or parody or prank or reference happens; an emerging trend of Times speedrunners is emerging; real and not, serious and not, scandals are happening; and people are even creating custom games for friends. As Connections is leading the pack on clout, these daily games “work” because they offer something that is somehow increasingly rare: collective experiences. There is only one true Wordle, there is only one true Spelling Bee. You play them every day and share how you did. As television has lost it’s routine, as movies feel less unique, these games have become our daily bread that we share and post and compare notes on. This is one of the last expressions of collective memory. Everyone in media wants in on this too, to “break” the next gaming suite, given Vulture’s introduction of the Cinematrix and the Post’s introduction of Keyword: such is the dying media world now, where information and “news” gets in line behind puzzles.

It’s cute! It’s inoffensive and nothing to over-intellectualize — but this is The Trend Report™ and you know I gotta put my hand in the flame. To me, the appeal of these games is obvious: it scratches the itch of the no-longer-in-school or no-longer-seeking-education persons, those who spend their days and brainpower in thankless, un-stimulating jobs and work and lives. To play these games and do well is to answer one of life’s deepest questions: Am I smart? These are small daily SATs, these are common IQ tests, these are pop quizzes that we can turn to Twitter or TikTok for validation that, yes, that was hard or, yes, you are smarter than anyone else. It’s intellectualism, devoid of stakes and demands. It’s the same feeling as reading big books and having deep discussions all crammed into 20 minutes in your day because no one has any time to be smart anymore.

I only think this because we have a clear canary in the coal mine: Digits, a Times game based in a deconstructed PEMDAS puzzle. It shut down in August after being in beta for five months. What’s different about this game? It was math problems. Language and words (and visuals, a la Vertex and Tiles) are used every day, no matter who you are. It is low lift thinking to “tap” a tool so worn with use. To do math without a calculator is to expose yourself to the reality of your intelligence, that it’s actually quite hard to do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with your little brain having had zero practice. Such a game was too great a shock to the system, too much a reality check that it couldn’t catch on with online cuties and group chats. KenKen’s non-online-ness emphasizes this too.

It’s interesting — and a bit ironic — that these humble games are keeping the Times profitable while sharing information is out: it’s too much to actually learn, to read things and engage with information — but it’s just right to feel smart, to allow yourself the freedom to know that you can and do think big thoughts because you play a game hosted by a prestigious newspaper. A very interesting move by the Times. A very interesting, self-own move by us on ourselves.

“New video I’m obsessed with”
“He looks like Addison”
“THIS EDIT”
“listening to the tambourine”
“Why are they Indigenous”
“Migos & Stewie”
Brain rot or not, these all have very online textures that I enjoyed this week.

“meanest headlines”
A very savage, not new The Onion headline that is also…brilliant. Which is also to say: don’t be like this headline and read this advice on being a creative!!

“can opening sounds like Biden”
“this would break Facebook”
”please post this on facebook”
I forgot how much I loved “cunty” Biden.

“spider-man to tennis pipeline”
“random shots like this”
Some good tennis posts. We’re also about to be in the throes of tennis culture, thanks to Challengers, in the way that Beyoncé inspired country culture.

“raw boo boo”
This is old but re-shared and I had to seek out the original news clip because…raw boo boo. What a phrase.

“pet’s parent or pet’s best friend?”
I need everyone to answer this question. I feel like I consider myself neither and both.

“I can’t breathe”
You’ll never guess how this person says “tzatziki.”

“What’d y’all score?”
I, for one, am not scared of the kids. If you choose to expose yourself like this, you deserve to get scorched earth roasted tf out.

“Ethel Cain and SOPHIE”
One day I will use AI to create an Ethel/Sophie mashup and feel very guilty about it. Someone somewhere has probably already done this!

“pov: your mom walks in on you filming”
Maybe it’s recovering Catholicism but I feel like this a lot.

“this restaurant’s bathroom”
…is perfect? I don’t see a problem.

“Ozempic Trump”
I saw this so you have to as well :)

“your tradwife, sir”
I also saw this so you have to as well :) :)

And, finally, a peek at the future of education.

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