I wish there were a Camille Paglia not stuck in 1990s pop culture, who could credibly think about Olivia Rodrigo, the memeplex, TikTok, social media in general, the disinformation economy, the staleness and stasis of our culture, and the exhaustion of the ideas of possibility and progress…I could go on.
There’s no one. She has not appeared. And goddamn do we ever need her now.
The first ten on today’s playlist:
Fed chair warns US inflation battle not over and hints at further rate rises.
Meanwhile, the “transitory” dipshits are declaring victory even though inflation has been persistently high for 52+ months and is still 50% above normal trend line for the past decade. And that’s using the official numbers, which are bullshit.
Lily James is so unbelievably good in this scene. And the editing, the cinematography, the unconventional shot choices…just a masterpiece in a little over three minutes.
The rest of the film is ok but this scene just nails everything so damn well.
Great cover. And the younger woman, Sophie Hanson, has epic Jenna Thiam hair too.
If you’re alive and buy anything, it’s obvious the inflation numbers are complete lies. Yes, I 100% understand how they are calculated. I’ve read at least two books substantially about how various CPIs and PCEs are computed.
That in fact has convinced me even more that how we calculate inflation bears little resemblance to how most people experience it. For the average person, cumulatively, inflation from 2020 to now has been about 75% I’d guess. Of course, inflation hits every person differently due to being in varying life stages and consuming a dissimilar bundle of goods. That’s why Kevin Drum’s “we should be able to have one canonical number for inflation” was so idiotic. It just does not and cannot work that way.
But the inflation numbers are clearly bogus, juiced, and anyone who believes they are legit is delusional.
