Apple Vision Pro launches in the US, but it ain’t all that, Malaysian rapper Namewee pokes the bear (again), Bali levies a tourist tax, India’s Paytm is in flux with shares dropping 10%, and who knew killer whales would find cows as tasty as humans do?
… It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me
Taylor Swift, the Super Bowl, and the 2024 US election – what do these three things have to do with each other, apart from being juggernauts and events in that very specific culture? You’re in luck if you’re after a screaming read this week, because as it turns out, the far right has ✨theories✨ about how the three things are linked. Go ahead, I guarantee this will make your week, whatever your leanings might be.
Fishy Business
I love it when ancient recipes are revived and recreated in contemporary kitchens. Not too long ago,
recreated a 2,000-year old curry from scratch and now, Taras Grescoe is doing it with Roman garum. The Chinese cottoned on to the stinky, savoury delight of fermenting fish entrails, meat byproducts and soybeans a lot earlier, creating the predecessor of what we now know as ketchup. Isn’t food anthropology fascinating?TPSFZUN
The Varsity Blues scandal of 2019 seems to have tarnished the Ivy League’s appeal just a little. In this open letter, rather astonishing in its candour, Han Feizi (a pen name, of course) writes that Asian Americans (not foreigners!) should consider the TPSFZUN alternative to HYPSM. That’s Tsinghua, Peking, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Fudan, Zhejiang, USTC and Nanjing, by the way, all prestigious institutions.
What I’m Reading
Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan with Tahl Raz – will I start raking in $$$ after next weekend? We shall see.
Read Write Own by Chris Dixon – I need to level up my understanding of blockchain, and who better than a general partner at a16z? (I think.)
Sales Pitch by April Dunford – consider it fair warning that I might try some of this on you, my readers! 😉