Media Diet 002
Fame is a gun, Love Island is back, and grief is forever, but also not.
This week’s batch is light but thorough. If I had to pick a theme for this media diet, it would be introspection. A lot of what I consumed made me look inward and playfully question my own opinions. I also haven’t slept in 24 hours, which has me “playfully questioning” my sanity and my chronic lack of urgency when it comes to planning ahead. Anyways, let’s dive in!
Sam Low’s How to Shop at Your Local Asian Grocer
I love Asian grocery stores, and really, all ethnic food stores. Mostly because I’m a sucker for fun packaging, love stuffing my face at the hot foods station, and generally, these stores are where I can find the best produce.
But every single time I go, I find myself asking:
“What the hell are they selling here?”
Now, I’m always willing to try new food, but I’m risk-averse when it comes to buying things whose contents are unknown to me. And when I’m at HMart and about 75% of the things sold are written in a language I can’t read…I just stick to what’s familiar. I want to explore an ethnic food store the way I would a Trader Joe’s, but my shopping experience mimics that of a pharmacy counter —I get what I need and go.
For the aspiring adventurous eater in me, this content series was truly a godsend. Sam Low doesn’t just tell you what an item is—he breaks down its history, flavor profile, what region it’s commonly found in, and how to cook it.
In a time when there’s an overwhelming amount of content, I appreciate anything that actually feels practical.
A View From A Bridge w/ Kareem
While grief is usually discussed in the context of death, I think it shows up more often outside of that. Whether it's relationships lost—platonic, romantic, familial—ideas we’ve put to rest, or versions of ourselves that no longer exist, we’re always grieving something. But we rarely call it that. The word “grief” tends to be reserved for physical death, and everything else gets lumped under a vague sadness.
That said, I do think the teachings around grief, especially how people process the loss of a loved one, can apply to so many other parts of life.
It seems to be part of the human condition to want to rush through a feeling, to avoid sitting with it. The shedding of physical reminders is often the first step. But time and time again, the lesson is the same: feelings aren’t tied to material things. The memories linger in the mind, and we can never truly run from them, no matter how quickly we toss out the triggers.
Something I’ve learned over the years is that grief has a kind of putty-like permanence. When it’s fresh, it really sticks. But over time, the adhesiveness wears off. It’s never fully gone, but it loses its grip.
The “A View From a Bridge” content series has grown on me. I was bearish about its longevity at first, but I think that’s because it felt more reflective than entertaining. Still, it’s been nice to see this and other short-form series settle into a rhythm and become well-placed staples in my feed.
Speaking of…
Mini Musings: Toilet Television is on the Rise and Quibi was Ahead of Its Time
It’s been interesting to observe my scrolling habits over the years. I’ve gone from having a full-blown TikTok addiction to recognizing how my mind feels when I am being overstimulated by content, to actively saying out loud “I don’t care” when I come across content that tries too hard to bait at my attention.
However, the one type of video that has managed to still lock in my attention, so much so that I end up watching the videos to completion, are short-form content series, or Toilet Television. Now, this term isn’t indicative of the setting this type of content is consumed in, at least not entirely. The term’s originator, Evan Shapiro defined it as content made for watching on a mobile phone and fitting the scrolling mentality. However, I’d like to expound upon the definition and add to it — content that is digestible and with formats so predictable that you could easily watch it while doing something as mundane as sitting on the toilet.
This is where the argument of Quibi being ahead of its time comes in. The now-defunct media company was bullish on the inevitable rise and popularity of short-form content. However, while they were right in their prediction, they were incorrect in who would spearhead this new media revolution. While Quibi’s leadership bet $1 billion that top Hollywood talent and legacy studios would lead the way, the answer was instead individual creators who had little to no previous following or name recognition.
From Gaydar, Subway Takes, Are You Datable, A View From a Bridge, The Boy Room, and more, these creator-led IPs are the trailblazers in what I believe to be the next content wave as it relates to social media and media in general. Attention spans are shorter, there is an over-saturation of creators in the influencer space, and Hollywood is risk-averse, consistently two years behind the curve, and is honestly on its last breath.
As Seen On did a fabulous interview with Alice Ma, Co-Founder and CEO of Mad Realities, a short-form production and distribution company a short-form production and distribution company that’s proving Quibi wasn’t wrong about the medium, just the messengers. As mentioned in the interview, getting a short-form content series off the ground has a reduced barrier to entry and turnaround time compared to that of a traditional TV show or movie. Everything can be done on your phone. Not only that, results and engagement can be analyzed almost immediately, allowing one to fail forward and fail fast at a speed that would make legacy media execs feral with delight.
Compared to the plight of the individual influencer, creator-led IPs allow for the same opportunity for brand deals and ads, but with a bit more ambiguity. For starters, the minds behind the shows are usually behind the camera. Those who are in front of the camera are simply known as being a personality—their popularity and likability are simply tied to them being a good and agreeable host. There is no need for them to overshare, give hot takes, or milk every part of their life for content.
I do think these sorts of IPs will only grow in the coming years… and as NYU opens after the summer. I will say, I am interested in series that aren’t so city-centric and a bit more representative of the average person. I see a future where creator-led IPs sign exclusivity deals with platforms like YouTube, Instagram, X, and the like. I also see a future where these companies start to resemble that of broadcast channels. Essentially, recreating the traditional television model, just with different players.
We’re not reinventing media. We’re just circling back to it. Progress moves more like a spiral than a straight line.
Love Island Season 7 Episode 1 - 3
My unapologetic guilty pleasure is that I love trash reality TV, specifically dating shows. And while the first few seasons of Love Island USA were trash, the production team seems to have finally found its footing in figuring out how to make the show appeal to a U.S. audience.
There are very few unifiers in the zeitgeist when it comes to TV shows. The last time we were all watching the same thing was during the pandemic. But every summer, a group of us chronically online babes come together to watch Love Island, psychoanalyzing every move and decision the cast makes, eager to share our thoughts on TikTok and Twitter. Like clockwork, I re-download Twitter just to passively participate in the discourse (a decision I usually regret, because it takes about two days for me to remember what a hellhole that platform has become).
I don’t agree with every take. People get weird digging into cast members’ pasts, and some pmo with their hyperintellectualization of the simplest interaction. But the collective obsession with the show is fun to be a part of. It feels like summer camp.
I was skeptical of this season’s cast, but they’ve grown on me. Olandria’s face card is unreal. Belle-A has great energy. Nic is a golden-retriever-like whore. Chelley is the Haitian-American representation I didn’t know I needed. Huda means well and is probably a bit toxic. And, controversially, I am Team Jeremiah over Team Ace.
The production team has really leaned into messssss this season, and I am loving it. Probably as a way to shake up the U.S. cast’s tendency to commit too quickly. The blindfold kissing challenge? 👩🏾🍳💋
‘American Interiors’ [2011–2018] by M. L. Casteel
I haven’t driven in ages, so I’ve never really considered the story a car interior could tell. But this series caught my attention. Photographer M.L. Casteel created a collection of images taken inside the cars of veterans.
Much like a teenage bedroom, a car interior is what I’d call an individual third space—a place where you have the most agency to express yourself, and how you do, or don’t, says a lot. Bare walls say just as much as overly decorated ones. What are the items that never leave your car? How much junk do you accumulate? What do you hide inside your glove box? A car is an Easter egg hunt for different sides of someone’s personality.
Most common items in these photos? Guns, beer, and religious paraphernalia. Unsurprising, but weirdly charming in its predictability.
Fame is a Gun - Addison Rae
I love Miss Addison. She’s my favorite type of pop star. She’s not trying too hard to be cool, not trying to be relatable, not trying to be the voice of a generation. Just a girl having fun in the limelight, and she seems pretty likable and down to earth. Her transition from TikTok personality to well-received pop star is worthy of MasterClass-level instruction.
I liked the song, but I enjoyed the video even more. It brings me back to the early Lana Tumblr era days. Nostalgia wins again.
Her album drops today, and while I am slightly worried her best work has already been shared in the singles she has released, I am eager to hear the project in full. Will obviously be sharing my thoughts next week.
I love a good playlist. Even better? Listening to playlists that other people have made. These days, most music discovery happens through trending sounds or whatever someone used in a Reel or TikTok, but random playlists have become my favorite way to find “new to me” music.
I love stalking the public playlists of friends and even acquaintances on Spotify. Unlike Instagram, Spotify isn’t about curation. It’s one of the few platforms that isn’t built around sharing with an audience, which means you get a more authentic peek into what someone is actually listening to versus what they want people to think that they are listening to.
I found this playlist in the story of my favorite “influencer who is not an influencer,” @mariahbtw. I love when men bitch and moan by way of crooning instead of yapping. The whole R&B era of the ’90s was gold for this exact reason. More songs about your lamentations and yearning, please—but not in a Drake sort of way.
A fabulous find from the playlist above. While I usually keep my crazy and obsessive nature well contained, I appreciate moments when it can slip out and be seen. This song perfectly captures the obsessiveness I feel when I have a crush in a way that’s endearingly youthful but not infantilizing. It’s repetitive, absolutely. But so are the ruminations in my head when I’m crushing hard
Thats all for now. Going on vacation next week and I have hope of finally addressing my ever growing list of open tabs. Curious to see what I dig up. Also, if you have any playlist you care to share, please do! Toodles xx