When Algorithmic Perfection Finally Collapsed Under Its Own Weight Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ album generated over 2.3 million TikTok videos tagged […]
Author: June Mccoy
When Sundance Sold Its Soul: How Platform Fever Killed the Last Real Film Festival
The Last Standing Room Only Screening January 2019, Park City. I’m squeezed between a Netflix acquisition exec and someone’s plus-one […]
The Death of the Forum and the Rise of the Algorithmic Hive Mind
When Discord Ate the Underground Three years ago, I watched a 400-person invite-only forum dedicated to experimental electronic music quietly […]
The Sound of Nothing: How San Francisco’s Underground Music Scene Became a Real Estate Brochure
The Last Dance at the Rickshaw Stop I watched them tear down the Rickshaw Stop in December 2023, but the […]
Your Thrift Store Haul Isn’t Revolutionary (But It Could Be)
The Performance of Radical Fashion Walk through any gentrified neighborhood and you’ll spot them immediately: twenty-somethings in perfectly curated “vintage” […]
The Psychology Behind Gacha Game Design: How Developers Keep Players Hooked
The Hidden Architecture of Player Engagement The design systems behind modern gacha games are way more sophisticated than most players […]
When Gaultier’s Safety Pins Hit the Met Gala Red Carpet
The Underground Crawls Up Picture this: 1994, some basement in the East Village, kids with bleached hair and thrift store […]