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Picture of the Day
Friday
March 11, 2022
i see the superbowl about once per decade, and since my hosts on maui threw an outdoor viewing party, this was my year. i scribbled pages of observations but balked at sharing them because who needs another pop culture think piece? but in sum, it seemed to be all about nostalgia for less fraught times, from '90s hip hop halftime revival to an absolute lack of masks in the stadium or any commercials. but the weirdest moment was the ad for Meta, which aimed for the feelgood sentiment of Toy Story but landed in the horrifying uncanny valley of Child's Play, making the so-called metaverse about as appealing as a lobotomy. now, after five weeks of nature immersion, Seattle itself seems like a simulacrum, from the unnatural color and flatness of this petroleum byproduct playfield to apartments that look built of pixels, we're already surrounded by low-effort computer renderings brought to life that embody the slapdash artificiality of a virtual world. yet there are signs of life, flashes of color! like this receiver's stunning catch--though they risked incurring a pee-nalty for excessive celebration.