cloud bread and the six-year nostalgia cycle

Happy Friday, June 19th! Wishing everyone a joyful and restful Juneteenth – I really liked this reading list (and would just add Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor and Allow Me To Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli, especially if you want some additional contemporary works!).

WELCOME :)

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I came across this fairly viral TikTok this week, currently sitting at 2 million views – the premise is hosting a 2020-themed sleepover complete with cloud bread and whipped coffee.

It made me feel deeply existential. In part, I think, because of how bizarre and scary that time was – I was back home in NYC, where makeshift morgues were being built in Central Park. But also because this video encapsulates, to me, just how much the nostalgia cycle has accelerated.

The idea of the nostalgia cycle is simple: that after a certain amount of time, people bring back an aesthetic or a vibe. There seems to be a healthy debate on Reddit about whether the nostalgia cycle is 20 years or 30 years. Well, a healthy debate that may be completely obsolete now because we have become very obsessed with nostalgia, especially those of us who are Gen Z. Apparently, our nostalgia cycle is only 6 years long now.

There is a lot (and bad) writing on why nostalgia is so prominent right now – the loneliness epidemic, the loss of third spaces, the toxicity of social media, etc. But, right now, I’m just curious about what the acceleration of this cycle means for us. My first instinct is that it’s like playing holiday music all year round – you can’t appreciate and fully enjoy the distinctive times and moments if you force them to blend together. And how long until I see a video that’s nostalgic for 2022? For brat summer in 2024? For this current summer, once fall rolls around? My (possibly alarmist) working thesis is that by trying to solve our current anxieties by reaching into the past, we won’t live in or respond to the moment, thereby making all those problems worse…

As always, very curious to hear your thoughts, comments, or questions. Let me know!

According to information received by the House judiciary minority committee, some agents received payments of nearly $8,000 every two weeks, despite already earning at the federal salary ceiling. While the exact total received by each individual remains unclear, the committee says it can confirm a number of agents received at least five such payments in consecutive pay periods, amounting to close to $40,000 per person. (The Guardian, 6/17)

The Nixon Foundation videos — which include snippets of EsDeeKid’s “Rottweiler” and BIA’s “We on Go,” as well as a clip of Mad Men’s Don Draper throwing his support behind RMN (“Kennedy? I see a silver spoon. Nixon? I see myself”) — are a whole other thing, more posthumous political rehabilitation than nose-tweaking satire. And they appear to be working: The foundation’s Insta account has 107,000 followers, while its most popular video has 1.4 million views. (The Hollywood Reporter, 6/16)

Guardrails positions itself as a populist political movement that runs on small donations from people in the trenches of the AI boom. The PAC has about $5 million at its disposal today and plans to raise $15 million this cycle — small potatoes compared to deep-pocketed adversaries like Leading the Future, which has more than $100 million from tech leaders like OpenAI president Greg Brockman. (TechCrunch, 6/18)

The preprint research, done by Hal Triedman, Tingwei Zhang, and Vitaly Shmatikov of Cornell University, is called “Deep-research agents can be poisoned via user-generated content” and provides a mechanism and research basis for a problem that has been noticed by Reddit moderators and Wikipedia editors, namely that their websites are getting flooded with promotional content from brands trying to do AEO, or AI-engine optimization. (404 Media, 6/15)

The change is expected to make carousel posts more useful for creators, businesses, and everyday users who rely on the format to share detailed stories, travel experiences, tutorials, or product information. Instead of placing all details in one lengthy caption, users can now add relevant text alongside each slide. (Analytics Insight, 6/19)

Clark becomes the fifth active WNBA player to currently have her own signature shoe with a major brand, joining Angel Reese (Reebok), Breanna Stewart (Puma), Sabrina Ionescu (Nike) and A'ja Wilson (Nike). "This is like your debut album, you want it to be killer," Clark told ESPN. (ESPN, 6/17)

After years of froyopocalypse that followed the froyo boom of the late 2000s and early 2010s, the number of frozen yogurt servings sold in the year leading up to March rose 26%, according to Circana. The research firm attributes the renaissance to health-conscious Gen Zers, whose idea of a wild night is a cup of milky sugar with probiotics and protein. (Morning Brew, 6/17)

The jury found that Quince’s Australian Shearling Mini Boot had infringed on Deckers U.S. patent for its Ugg Classic Ultra Mini Boot, meaning that it essentially copied the Ugg design. But the jury also found that the design patent was invalid, paving the way for a Quince win. (WWD, 6/15)

The Major Oak, a tree that grew to tower over Sherwood Forest as the Black Death swept England and the Wars of the Roses sundered it, shading huntsmen who spoke of Robin Hood and outlasting the reigns of six Henrys, six Georges and two Elizabeths, among others, has died. (NYT gift link, 6/18)

I definitely could finish off a bag (or two) of these banana nut bread M&M’s, and suspect that any peanut M&M-loving person could too. This flavor is only available at Kroger stores for now, and it is a limited-time offering. (The Kitchn, 6/15)

The hot-or-not for this weekend:

HOT

NOT

That’s all for now – I’ll see you on Tuesday!