Weekend Edition | 4.26

In case you missed it

• We’re running a two-part series on the state of A24, if you upgrade this weekend we’ll forward you part one

• Jamie Hood and Lidia Yuknavitch discussed their memoirs for Blank

• Tyler Watamanuk tracked the ascent of bergamot 

By Daisy Alioto

Last August, Paula Mejía wrote about her summertime Seasonal Affective Disorder and the literary canon that captures it: “While people who struggle with winter SAD can tend to oversleep, lack energy, and eat more, it’s not uncommon for those wrestling with summer SAD to grapple with insomnia, mania, and a zapped appetite.”

I would like to propose the term “Springxiety” for the ways in which the first nice days of the year can feel like a panic attack, or at the very least, a Pixies song. Part of this anxiety is a lack of narrative, we don’t yet know what the force-fed theme of the summer will be. Though, “what was that” summer has a nice ring to it. 

“We’re living through the most generative era in human history—and also the most repetitive,” writes Steve Ruiz on taste. Blink and you might have missed the Design Twitter controversy over “stolen gradients” this week. “Yes, I gave a free collection of japanese-style gradients away on X today that I curated, and made, myself in Figma” is like “I never fucked Wayne, I never fucked Drake” for people that attend Config.

DIRT X P.F. CANDLE CO

A weekend in the mountains, the smell of fresh moss mixed with spicy geranium, stumbling upon the perfect mushroom—all sensations recreated in the Girl Moss bundle from Dirt and P.F. Candle Co. We’re partnering to bring you 15% off the retail value of three fantastic scents in candle, diffuser and incense form.

Over at It’s Nice That, Ritupriya Basu explores the role of design in fragrance advertising. “Rather than simply reinforcing familiar narratives, art direction can be used as a potent tool to create entire worlds that don’t just complement a scent, but prepare us for it.” My fave D.S. & Durga gets a shoutout, as does Clue—a bit player in Em Seely-Katz’s recent diary about working in the oldest niche perfume house in Portland, Oregon.

At the other end of the spectrum, Berkshire Hathaway has collaborated on a sneaker as bland (non-derogatory) as their website. Warren Buffett will certainly play a role in W. David Marx’s forthcoming cultural history of the 21st century, which now has a cover (no gradients). 

In other news: The Zuckerbergs are shutting down their low income school, one reporter mapped the life of “the most used citibike in the program's history,” Gwyneth Paltrow has started eating carbs and cheese again, and Alice McNally strikes a pose at Minetta Tavern for SSENSE. 

THIS WEEK ON TASTELAND

This week on Tasteland, Daisy and Francis are joined by Deana Burke and Natasha Hoskins of Boys Club, a media and creative studio. They're also the hosts of the Dumb B!tch Hour, a podcast for the deeply online, where they chat about all things tech, crypto, and pop culture news.