ROMO vibes in the area
It's good to be back but it's better when you can just observe from the distance and rejoice in the utter relief of missing out, Cillian Murphy style.
Welcome back to a new edition of mostly cool stuff, a space dedicated to the the random news and things I come across online and offline that get my attention as per the dozens of screenshots, pictures and links in my phone.
The September issue of US Vogue, the first one with newly appointed Chloe Malle as new Head of Editorial Content, has hit the shelves with Kendal Jenner and Gigi Hadid on the cover. A nepo baby and two well known white supermodels for September? Groundbreaking.
Meanwhile Anna Wintour has finally revealed what she made of The Devil Wears Prada.
It seems the acquisition of The Free Press, a Substack set up by ex-New York Times journalist Bari Weiss, could be happening for a figure between $100-$200 million. The buyer? Paramount. The deal for Weiss? Beyond the money, landing a very senior role at CBS News, so effectively more power. What could be potentially great news for the hopeful writers among us only shows the further derive to the right the media is taking regardless of the platform.
Prepare for the end of podcasts as you know them as Inception Point AI aims to flood the audio market with AI-generated podcasts presented by AI-generated hosts that they hope to turn into AI-influencers people can interact with. When asked about their business model in an interview with Hollywood Reporter, CEO Jeaning Wright said,
“We believe that in the near future half the people on the planet will be AI, and we are the company that’s bringing those people to life […] I think that people who are still referring to all AI-generated content as AI slop are probably lazy luddites. Because there’s a lot of really good stuff out there.”
I don’t know about you but a future where we’re surrounded by bots that have been created with the sole purpose of removing us from having meaningul interactions with other people seems less than ideal and worringly dystopian.
Fortunately GenZ are more likely than older generations to to see the arts as one of the most valuable aspects of their education, according to new research. In GenZ we trust to keep the arts alive in the age of AI.
Unsurprisingly, Geoffrey Hinton, dubbed the godfather of AI, is worried about the direction into which the technology is going and the capitalistic model within which it is operating. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Hinton has warned that unfortunately we’re going to use AI to replace workers, which will create a surge in unemployment and will increase economic inequality. “It will make a few people much richer and most people poorer."
Exciting times ahead indeed.
When Andrew Garfield, Julia Roberts and Ayo Edibiri sat down for an interview to promote theirs and Luca Guadagnino’s latest film After the Hunt at the Venice Film Festival, none of them predicted they would ended up making global headlines when an Italian journalist asked a question about the Black Live Matters and MeToo movement and purposedfully excluded the only person in the room qualified to answer from both sides. Well done to Andrew for his obvious body language, to Julia for giving the journalist a chance to clarify and possibly include Ayo, and to Ayo for jumping in and answering a question that should have been addressed to her as well since the beginning.
That Cillian Murphy is a phenomenal actor goes without saying and I doubt many people don’t know that already. His upcoming film Steve, an adaptation on Max Porter’s novella Shy, is the latest example of his powerful screen presence and his talent to portrait characters with emotional complexity and depth. In this case, Steve the director of a teenager reform centre in the mid-90s who has to grapple with issues of his own.
Murphy is also the unapologetic kind of ROMO (relief of missing out), an acronym that sits at the other end of the FOMO spectrum and which I hope spreads like wildfire because we don’t all need to be doing things all the time every day, which is the underlying cause for FOMO. Sometimes happiness is staring blankly staring at a wall and being grateful for not having to leave the house or speak to anyone. Which probably is not credible advice from someone who 24h ago sent out a newsletter packed with cultural recommendations not to be missed but you are all intelligent readers and get what I mean.
The David Bowie Centre, hosted at the V&A East Storehouse, opens its doors this weekend and the initial reviews look promising. I’ve recently visited the V&A Storehouse and can’t wait to come back and have a chance to explore Bowie’s own archive, consisting of 90,000 items that he donated to the museum and ranging from his personal notes to costumes. However, only a small portion of these will be on display due to space restrictions but visitors can request to inspect an item from the archive through the order an object service, which also applies to the wider V&A Storehouse general archive.
If you were recently on Shein trying to buy a male shirt and came across a picture of Luigi Mangione, all smiles and poses, you were not imagining it. Apparently, Mangione’s likeness was used in an image that made it to the retailer’s website via a third-party provider. While the image has since been removed, it has sparked controversy on the ethical uses of AI and prompted an internal investigation to identify the source.
Yes, it’s him, but it’s not really him. In case you missed it, the song of the summer this year came courtesy of Luke Holloway, better know as Lewky on his Instagram account. A musical producer, Holloway found his niche by composing songs using weird dating app conversations as a based for the lyrics. Eventually, one of said songs, gathered momentum on TikTok and catapulted Holloway to the spotlight. That’s how “I have one daughter,” a little gem that brings together logic, maths, a very puzzle mand, a catchy melody, ended up being used by hundreds of thousands of people as a background music for absurd situations. I first came across Lewky at the end of 2024 and I’m glad he’s finally being recognised for his creativity and talent to set great music to some hard to digest interactions.
Paul McCartney was caught filming “Little by Little” at the Oasis concert in LA like a regular fan, which is one of the highlight images of the reunion. McCartney is himself finalising a new album and getting ready for a UK tour in 2026. And he currently has an exhibition at London’s Gagosian, Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris, a curation of his photos from the 60s which will be on until October. Not bad for someone who is 83.
I realise watching videos of Liam Gallagher on repeat even when he’s quite funny, like this one of him answering questions from kids, is probably not the best use of my time. However, thanks to that I’m currently able to understand 70% of what he says, an improvement from 10% three weeks ago. I reckon in a couple of weeks, at this pace, I could potentially get around Manchester without much trouble. Watching so much footage of him has made me revaluate the stylistic possibilities of parkas, which I had never cared for previously as only petty criminals or someone with a total lack of regard for how they present themselves to the world would willingly choose to cover themselves with such an item.
Needlees to say, Liam has proven me wrong. I am aware, however, the reason he looks so cool in any kind of parka is because he fills them with attitude and charisma while I have to do with just my body, and that narrows my choices. Having said that, I’m quite pleased with this Uniqlo parka, which has already gathered several compliments in only a few outings. Love the baggy cut, the funnel neck, the spacious hood, and it’s kept me dry during a couple of vicious London showers. More importantly it also makes look cool without looking like I’m about to mug anyone. Who would have thought?
Do we have too many remakes and few original content hitting cinemas lately? Resounding yes. Are all remakes inherently terrible pastiches and underwhelming? Not necessarily. Is The Roses the one that has shown us the light at the end of the tunnel? You bet. I’ve greatly enjoyed the combo Olivia Colman + Benedict Cumberbatch and hope a savvy producer also picked up on their joyful chemistry and is getting his hands on another script as I type that does justice to their acting gifts. In the meantime, I'll settle for watching them having lots of fun discussing food, life, and their friendship in the latest episode of Dish. Isn’t it nice to see real people hosting a podcast? Let’s enjoy it while it last.
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I love Lewky's TikToks. The man is a comedic creative genius!
The jacket is a winner