North West, fast on her way to beauty influencer stardom, posted a hair tutorial on TikTok; Netflix’s Blockbuster is the worst-reviewed show on TV right now; and I can’t tell you how much I love seeing Justin Bieber wearing his Starface stickers out and about (the black stars, no less — a flex!).
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VINTAGE PHOTO BOOTHS ARE BACK, AND BAFFLING NEWBIES. ‘IT’S NOT AN IPAD.’, wwd
Young people are making expeditions to try out “the old-school photo technology” (lol). Google searches for “vintage photo booth” in August hit the highest levels in 15 years and have remained elevated, Google Trends data show. This bit is so funny I simply have to share it:
The 21-year-old Philadelphia waitress has snapped thousands of images with her iPhone, but the black-and-white film photo strips all over TikTok caught her eye. During a trip to New York for a concert, she and a friend hunted down a vintage photo booth in a hotel lobby. The dated technology confused her much the way smartphones can trip up older users. Why was it so dark in there, and where should she look? The quick succession of flashes surprised her. Then it took about three minutes for the machine to spit out a photo strip, which emerged wet with a sharp, chemical smell.
ARE SOCIAL MEDIA BREAK-UP ANNOUNCEMENTS THE NEW NORMAL?, vogue
A natural extension of the “relationship soft launch” — after all, what goes up must come down — enter the “breakup soft launch,” a trend currently happening across TikTok.
HOW NORMIE TWITTER ACCOUNTS BECAME THE GO-TO SOURCE FOR BREAKING MOVIE NEWS, gq
I’ve been noticing strange film tweets in my timeline (often from “an enigmatic account,” with a tone “so boring and matter-of-fact that it’s almost mesmerizing”). Reporter Gabriella Paiella dug into this phenomenon, revealing a backstory far weirder than I could have imagined. (Yes, yes, another long excerpt but worth it!)
Discussing Film, arguably the most prominent of these (to the point where it’s inspired several parody accounts), is run by Jacob Fisher, a 21-year-old digital marketing student based in Northern England. He founded Discussing Film in 2016, but started using it in earnest sometime around 2018. There’s also an accompanying site that posts reviews and interviews and employs a team of 15 paid staffers mostly based in the States.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN EVERYTHING BECOMES TIKTOK, theatlantic
This piece is a lot more interesting than the headline suggests. This is a super-fascinating dive into algorithms and AI and The Era of Video.
HOW TIKTOK IS HELPING SPREAD DIET CULTURE MYTHS, salon
A new study reveals that TikTok diet gurus almost always give scientifically inaccurate advice. Pretty unsettling, when you consider that 60% of TikTok users are Gen Zers (and that Gen Zers are as young as age 10). Though TikTok technically has a 13-and-up age limit, we all know that’s not stopping younger people from using the app.
INSIDE THE SECRETIVE FAR-RIGHT DISCORD THAT’S TARGETING VOTER REGISTRATIONS ONE-BY-ONE, dailydot
Please go vote. 😭
One last thought: