Everything New

Burnout Is Our Life

March 14, 2021

Burnout has become our era’s disease. Anne Helen Peterson ascribed it to an entire generation, while pandemic burnout has generalized the pathology across...

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The Good Products: My Rice Cooker

March 13, 2021

I often talk about products and their discontents. Anti-consumerist analysis must highlight oft-ignored faults in products: that we buy to self-soothe, that...

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Against Bulk

March 13, 2021

I snack. In this habit, I wander closest to any of the seven deadly sins, Gluttony. As far as sins go, as far as things to feel bad about, I grant it’s not...

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But Where Did Affiliate Marketing Come From?

March 11, 2021

Affiliate marketing lives at the intersection of many of my interests: the economics of media, the world of grifters and scammers, lifehacking, consumption...

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Consumption Diary #16

March 10, 2021

A key part of this challenge is to record a weekly consumption diary. This will both hold me accountable to readers of this blog, and will allow me to think...

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The Sauce of the Problem

March 5, 2021

The Strategist believes in expertise, and aims to supply its readers with experts for all purchases. While not an insidious desire, its attempt at...

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An Intrepid Quest Through Fraudulent Medical Licenses and Pillow Reviews

March 5, 2021

This blog was going to be about expertise, or the idea of expertise, and its specific relationship to affiliate marketing. I have covered already how The...

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The Tom Sawyer Economy

March 4, 2021

Journalism has always turned to its readership for content: letters to the editor, caption contests. This indeed benefited civil discourse and built a...

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I Post A Lot About Affiliate Marketers, So Here is Me Stealing an Infographic Telling You How They Work

March 4, 2021

If the image doesn’t load, here’s me relaying it verbally. The affiliate, like The Inventory or The Strategist, publishes an article about a product.That...

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Consumption Diary #15

March 2, 2021

A key part of this challenge is to record a weekly consumption diary. This will both hold me accountable to readers of this blog, and will allow me to think...

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What Can't They Live Without?

March 2, 2021

As I’ve stated elsewhere, the twin fantasy of celebrity endorsements is that the celebrity’s dependence upon goods and services humanizes them and brings...

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Bad Buys: Super Pusheenicorn

February 26, 2021

Bad Buys is a series exploring things I bought that I regretted in some way. In it, I hope to highlight my favorite theme in this blog, the fact that the...

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You're Simply The Best

February 24, 2021

Note: the words pocket pussy will be included in this essay because I am going to be talking about the economic incentives of sex toy advertisers and...

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Consumption Diary #14

February 24, 2021

A key part of this challenge is to record a weekly consumption diary. This will both hold me accountable to readers of this blog, and will allow me to think...

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Inadvisable Adverts: "Very Positive" Studios

February 23, 2021

Inadvisable Adverts is where I wax poetic on an ad that I find to be distasteful, or ineffective. Previous Entry: Shaq Keeps You Steady “Very Positive”...

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Inadvisable Adverts: Shaq goes Steady

February 17, 2021

Inadvisable Adverts is where I wax poetic on an ad that I find to be distasteful, or ineffective. Previous Entry: TriNet vs. Maternity Leave The twin fantasy...

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Consumption Diary #13

February 17, 2021

A key part of this challenge is to record a weekly consumption diary. This will both hold me accountable to readers of this blog, and will allow me to think...

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A Right To Leisure

February 17, 2021

In response to my piece on Anne Helen Petersen and the hollowed middle class, a friend of mine noted that she had never considered “money for a hobby” as...

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Bad Buys: The Pink Cowboy Hat

February 15, 2021

Bad Buys is a series exploring things I bought that I regretted in some way. In it, I hope to highlight my favorite theme in this blog, the fact that the...

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How Cheap it is To Feel Poor

February 15, 2021

Prelude on Empathy I’m going to start off with empathy, because there will be little empathy in what follows. This is intentional. While exercises in empathy...

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