blast-o-rama. • issue 075 • 2023-02-12
blast-o-rama.
issue 075 • 2023-02-12
happy superb owl sunday
I know, I know, Superb Owl is such an early 00’s joke.
But yes, today is the day of the Big Game, and without ties to either team in the game, I’m into it for 3 reasons:
- The Commercials
- The Movie Trailers
- The Food
And speaking of the Food, The Associated Press this week decided to chose violence and attack the joy of some folks, as they explain that the “Boneless Wing” is a lie!
With the Super Bowl at hand, behold the cheerful untruth that has been perpetrated upon (and generally with the blessing of) the chicken-consuming citizens of the United States on menus across the land: a “boneless wing” that isn’t a wing at all.
Odds are you already knew that — though spot checks over the past year at a smattering of wing joints (see what we did there?) suggest that a healthy amount of Americans don’t. But those little white-meat nuggets, tasty as they may be, offer a glimpse into how things are marketed, how people believe them — and whether it matters to anyone but the chicken.
This weekend, according to the National Chicken Council, Americans are set to eat 1.45 billion chicken wings. So if you ever wanted a deep dive into what it means to eat the wings that aren’t — and how the chicken wing’s proximity to beer, good times and football sent it soaring — now’s the time.
Check out the full story here.
even more fun in the AI world
In a week where Microsoft successfully — and Google unsuccessfully — unveiled their plans for Artificial Intelligence, it’s a great time to see how far from Ready For Prime Time all this stuff is.
What better way, then, by having The Decemberists own Colin Meloy ask Chat GPT to…write a Decemberists song!
It went on. There were two verses, a chorus, a bridge and an outro. I’m not sure how it decided this was Decemberist-y, but I get it. It’s like what someone might think a Decemberists song sounded like if they’d skimmed a few reviews, observed some fairly skin-deep Twitter hot takes. It’s got sailors and lighthouses and battles at sea. I get it. Fine.
On a surface level, it looked like a song. It had rhyming couplets, it followed basic song constructions. But I needed more information. I needed chords.
Check out the full story here.
also from across the web
Other reads I enjoyed this week:
- Some Googlers reportedly aren’t happy about Bard’s ‘rushed’ announcement - The Verge
- How a Designer Known For Horror Made the Musical Gaming Triumph ‘Hi-Fi Rush’ - Vice
- Buy Nothing groups and the culture of free stuff - The Washington Post
- Etiquette Rules for Tipping, Parenting, Friends, and Work - The Cut
- Doc Filmmakers Reckon With the Industry’s Murky Ethics - Vulture
- Harrison Ford Strikes Back in Candid Interview: Indy 5, 1923, Shrinking – The Hollywood Reporter
- Colin Mochrie Reflects on Over 30 Years of ‘Whose Line’ - Vulture
- Ted Leo And The Pharmacists' 'Hearts Of Oak' Turns 20 - Stereogum
- Why Everyone Feels Like They’re Faking It - The New Yorker
- The bizarre Americanness of prescription drug commercials - Vox
- The Man Who Invented Himself - Defector
- The 25 Tweets That Show How Twitter Changed the World - The New York Times
thanks for reading.
Enjoy the game tonight. But more over, stuff yourself stupid. It’s the American way.
See you in seven!
-Marty