august 15 etc
I lived in Montreal for almost 20 years and coming up in that city's arts and culture scene shaped me in a lot of ways. It made me a kind of sensualist, someone who craved and championed a certain kind of experience at bars, restaurants, and concert venues (among other places).
For a long time, one of my favourite things to do in Montreal was to go to L'Express and eat dinner at the bar for reasons including but not limited to that the miraculous Claude Masson was behind it more often than not. Masson was a pro's pro, a bartender from a bygone era whose charm and class was inimitable.
Claude Masson died at 78 last week. I found out when J.P. Karwacki, Managing Editor of The Main and one of my best friends, texted me about it. Later that day he wrote this lovely obit.
The unspoken part of our brief text message convo about Claude's passing was that one of the first great hangs J.P. and I ever had was at L'Express. He and I had recently met (at Cafe Denise no less) as we were working for the same publication at the time. It was a weekday in the winter —— I want to say a Tuesday —— and we sat at the bar, ate gherkins and steak frites and drank wine. Four years later, I officiated his wedding.
I don't drink anymore, but I'm still going to pour one out for Claude tonight. Montreal is a city that lives in people's hearts forever and ever because of guys like him.
On y va!
🥪🏄 Todd Spence found a legitimately amazing mural in Culver City, CA, and now I want a meatball sandwich. (Twitter/Todd_Spence)
🥪🏄 PS: A Redditor made a great point about that scene in Point Break a few years ago. (r/shittymoviedetails)
🧅🧅 A low-key banger from the Onion.
🖼️➕ I added some new material to swipe, my page that isn't really a swipe file as much as it's a vague approximation of a mood board.
🎾🍹 A new cocktail is about to "dominate" the US Open —— and it's only $39. I don't drink anymore but if I did and someone tried to charge me $39 for a novelty cocktail that is fundamentally a branding opportunity for IHG Hotels and Moët, they'd need the Jaws of Life to get my hands off their throat. (Fast Company)
🤖🤖 Yesterday I shared a Reuters story about how an AI chatbot lured a man to his death. Today's bookend to that story is also from Reuters, also about AI, and also horrible. If you haven't clicked through yet, here's the first paragraph:
An internal Meta Platforms document detailing policies on chatbot behavior has permitted the company’s artificial intelligence creations to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” generate false medical information and help users argue that Black people are “dumber than white people.”
I really, really don't want to be a bummer but I think it's incredibly important that everyone, everywhere understands that this incredibly powerful technology is basically being tested on us. We're the broken eggs from the story about the proverbial omelet. The Nerd Reich are normalizing AI everything and pretending it's what users want or need. It isn't. Anyway, in case the story gets taken down, here's the archived capture. (Reuters)
🌲 gonna
🌼 go
🌱 touch watch
🌳 grass wnba
🌷 now
Be good to yourself.
I'm out until Monday and hope you are too.
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