TikTok, Murakami and Brad Pitt
Here we go! First time I’m writing here, and no better way to start August.
What will you find? A selection of articles from magazines (in English and Spanish) from a wide variety of topics, a podcast recommendation related to art and Murkami (because we need to talk about him).
🖋 Articles
TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants (Cal Newport for The New Yorker)
I’ve been reading quite a lot about TikTok, Instagram, and Meta these last few days as I had to write an article about the changes that IG was planning to introduce on its platform. Three things I want to highlight:
“Both Facebook and Twitter were built on the same general model of leveraging hard-to-replicate, large social graphs to generate a never-ending stream of engaging content”.
Facebook is a social media platform. TikTok is an entertainment platform. - Blake Chandle (president of Global Business Solutions at TikTok)
About the algorithm: recently I’ve liked more what TikTok recommends me, rather than what Instagram does with the ‘Search and Explore’ one (I don’t know for sure, but imagine that they work differently).
Brad Pitt Opens Up His Dream World (Ottessa Moshfegh for GQ)
From never having heard of her to finding her everywhere. These past weeks I’ve been encountering the name of Ottesa Moshfegh in articles, ‘booktok’, podcasts… And again, writing an article (this time about Brad Pitt), I found this interview she did with him.
I really like how she was able to connect with the actor and how it’s transmitted on the text. But also, impossible to not mention, the photos!!
Lecturas para el verano (Revista 5w)
A selection of 10 books (fiction, non-fiction, photography or graphic novel) to travel around the world with that journalistic touch.
Portrait of Bravery: Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska (Rachel Donadio for Vogue, and photography by Annie Leibovitz)
This is one of the cases where the journalism/photojournalism industry (and public opinion) is divided in deciding either this is a frivolity, or showcases the resilience of the Ukrainians.
About the photography: Annie Leibovitz style in all its glory.
Leaked: US power companies secretly spending millions to protect profits and fight clean energy (Mario Alejandro Ariza and Miranda Green for Floodlight and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, published by The Guardian)
During a summer where climate change is warning us that decisions need to be taken if we don’t want to ruin where we live, this investigation is made public.
What they found out not only is serious because of the environmental impact, but also for the power that smear campaigns have.
📖 Literature (this time, Murakami)
I saw someone on TikTok say something like ‘You love Murakami but “hate” how he writes about women’. Guilty.
In my humble opinion, I would love to read a book written by him where the females are not reduced into a mere object for men to “escape” their problems, what could be called a sexual object. They need their own personalities, please.
Read this conversation to understand better what I want to say.
Setting that aside (but not forgetting it). I always find myself having the time of my life with his lonely narrators, constant references to music (he loves jazz), and scenarios that push the boundaries between what is real and what is not.
To finish this literary section, a selection of five books by the Japanese author.
Kafka on the shore
Norwegian woods
Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa
After dark
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Extra 🤓
One thing about me: I love art. Sounds cliché, maybe, but I really do. I could spend hours walking around museums and galleries, reading about artists or looking on the Internet paintings and sculptures that are in places that I can’t visit easily.
🎙 Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast
Art + Podcast = ✨Heaven✨. Conducted by Marc Spiegler, journalist and Global Director of Art Basel, he talks with gallerists, artists, architects, musicians… Highly, highly recommended. And their episodes (currently 14) range between 20 and 50 minutes.
And if someone related to Art Basel is reading this… Hi, I would like to visit your fairs. Perhaps in a near future I can buy some art (not know,I probably can’t afford anything jeje). Or work for you, we can always figure out the terms. Thanks ;)
With all that being said, I hope you enjoyed the first edition. As a little present, this gorgeous painting from Monet (I love1 him).
See you in 15 days. Enjoy your vacations if you have them, because I won’t. But it’s okay.
Martina 🌸
Sorry for writing so many times the word love. I don’t want it to become a meaningless word, but I had to use it, as it expresses perfectly what I want to say ;).