(transitive verb) 1 : to direct or take part in the operation or management of : to direct the performance of : to lead from a position of command
2 : to cause (oneself) to act or behave in a particular and especially in a controlled manner
3 : to bring by or as if by leading : GUIDE
(noun) 1 : a mode or standard of personal behavior especially as based on moral principles
2 : the act, manner, or process of carrying on : MANAGEMENT
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[Photos below of very sweet, well-behaved dogs at Linh Ung Pagoda on Son Tra Peninsula in Da Nang, Vietnam, followed by an embed link to the music video for the Dandy Warhols “Smoke It” with dogs from a dog show on stage with them as they belt the circa 2005 political protest anthem]
“. . . So if you’re gonna be a dog then at least be a good dog.”
sub · lime / “sə-ˈblīm” / definitions in verb, adjective, and noun use are provided below.
(verb) : to elevate or exalt, especially in dignity or honor
(adjective) : lofty, grand, or exalted in thought, expression, or manner : of outstanding spiritual, intellectual, or moral worth : tending to inspire awe usually because of elevated quality (as of beauty, nobility, or grandeur) or transcendent excellence [I absolutely adore the smile of the young woman on the train opening a letter with her friend in the second photo]
(noun) : American ska band formed in Long Beach California in 1988 that became known for pop hits such as “What I Got” and “Santeria,” which you can still find being played (ironically or not) in dive bars everywhere from here to Japan. [My apologies, as there is only one line from “Santeria” that I can remember. 🤭]
[Photos expressing and describing some form or expression of “Sublime” one way or the other from scenic vantage points in 🇻🇳 Vietnam to hearing an acoustic cover of Sublime’s “Santeria” at a punk bar in Golden Gai in 🇯🇵 Japan ]
“If you’ve got to go somewhere, then you better go somewhere far” is text written over a white noise filter of a figure, from El Vy’s “Return from the Moon music video.
Managing ambiguity is a soft skill I knew I needed to learn at work but the challenge is that it involves pushing through and persevering in spite of one of my biggest fears—ambiguity, as in the opposite of clarity.
I always think about the “uncertain” definition of ambiguity but I forgot there was another definition that came first—and that is the space where poetry may surface. I went on this trip to get uncomfortable and challenge my own ways of thinking. I’m going to share more on this website, and on Instagram.
I found the report, “How the media is covering ChatGPT: The Tow Center looked at how news organizations have been covering generative AI over the past six months,” and finished it immediately upon clicking the page. This article appears in Columbia Journalism Review, which is super specific to writers who work in communications and mass media and like to study and discuss the trade (AKA me, and idk maybe should I pledge to become a member??). In the report on media coverage of ChatGPT for Columbia Journalism Review, Jim Bartholomew and Dhrumil Mehta uncovers the term “Hype Cycle” in an interview with Felix M. Simon, a doctoral researcher at Oxford Internet Institute and Tow Center fellow.
Since the 2016 election cycle, I have remembered getting swept into reading and discussing various “hype cycles” in the news. Sometimes I like to pause and reflect in the cycle, maybe even develop a fun, little obsession over a sensational news story, like with the Anna Delvey blog— other times I may become jaded and overwhelmed as I lose interest in it and let it pass till we can start to discuss the next hype cycle. I feel relieved that there is a term for it (“Hype Cycle” is the perfect choice of words), and the article even shares a few suggestions, including laying some ground rules in your publication’s style guides, of what different newsrooms can do to avoid reader fatigue.
In White Lotus, Portia tells her new friend, Albie, over dinner: “I just feel like I just wanna meet someone who’s like you know, totally ignorant of the discourse. You know?”
I’m not saying anything about Bitcoin nor ChatGPT here, which I could in another post if I wanted to (you probably don’t want me to), but the way we write and discuss these topics feel eerily similar, don’t they?
The Shondaland-produced Netflix limited series Inventing Anna about both the real and made up parts of a heist of New York City institutions orchestrated by one Anna Delvey Sorokin was released last Friday, February 11. When the story first became popular, I made a blog that served as an archive about Anna Delvey and con artist intrigue. With the release of the Netflix show, I was interviewed by a reporter for the Daily Beastabout the “Cult of Anna Delvey Admirers.” The website, annadelveyfoundation.org, that I founded received 60,000 new visitors in one week since the release of the show. I don’t know if that’s a lot, but it feels like a lot for me.
I remember when I first read Jessica Pressler’s “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People,” published on The Cut in May 2018 (link), I couldn’t stop reading it till I finished. There hadn’t been a captivating long read in several years. I used to read literary websites like The Awl, The Hairpin, and The Toast every day; quite honestly, the internet has never felt the same to me since those publications closed. It’s more difficult to run a blog in 2022. Most people write stories on Instagram, but there’s no way to code in Instagram; it leaves your words feeling powerless.
When the story of Anna came out, I decided to do something a little different. I wasn’t working on any other writing projects at the time, so I decided to crate a website at annadelveyfoundation.org to track the news story, create an archive of articles written about the anti-heroine, and practice writing SEO content. The website was a fun project that I did in my free time. I wanted to show how sometimes, with the exception of a stand-out piece like Pressler’s article, all these articles on the internet can start to look the same.
Hope you enjoy reading my entertainment news blog and the interview in the Daily Beast.
For years, my writing portfolio site was parked at the only web host and content management system that is still available for free and allows you make edits in the backend: Tumblr. The only issue with hosting your website on Tumblr is that then your website is hosted on Tumblr. In 2022, I decided to buy hosting for a WordPress blog and get a fresh new start. My cat, Buck, may make the occasional appearance when he feels like it.
![Three screen grabs in a row from HBO Max's White Lotus with character Portia saying "I just feel like I just wanna meet someone who’s like you know, totally ignorant of the discourse. [chuckles] You know?"](https://julialipscomb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/white-lotus-portia-discourse-line-1024x250.jpg)
