The curse of being a formally trained print journalist is knowing the difference between an em dash (—), an en dash (–) and a hyphen (-) and having to see normies misuse all three, all of the time.
One great millennial trend: improving food.
The quality of food — from cooking at home, to fast food, to sit-down dining — has drastically improved in my lifetime because of millennial foodie culture.
Inherently millennial phenomena:
• axe-throwing
• cards against humanity
• self-deprecating jokes
• drinking IPAs
• breweries instead of bars
• “we are young forever” slop music
• those burger joints (we all know)
• curse words on menus
• saying “adulting”
What else?
He lost his wife and kids, his job (briefly) and the respect of his colleagues. He had no real friends, hated himself, was a debilitating alcoholic and had a nervous breakdown on the cliffs of coastal California.
But yeah, I guess he never suffered for his sins.
I loved the Mad Men finale when I saw it in 2015. I remember asking this grizzled boomer what he thought of it, and he said he was angry that Don wasn’t ‘arrested and executed for desertion’. And I scoffed at that at the time (haha, silly old guy) but he was kind of right. Don never facing any real consequences for years of dysfunctional and self-destructive behavior is the central flaw of the show. It’s still objectively good TV, but you have to see through that.
But I think a lot of poorly socialized Gen Z males (a lot of Gen Z was primarily socialized through media and that’s part of why some of them are so detached from reality) really internalized that message, the message that dysfunctional behavior was in fact glamorous like Don and you can get away with it indefinitely. But you really can’t.
And the popular media archetype of highly competent professional with highly dysfunctional personal life doesn’t really exist in real life. There are edge cases, sure. But a lot of young people assume it’s true (even common) because they see it on TV so often. Most highly competent people are really pretty boring.
The DTLA death spiral is not exaggerated.
Corporate vacancy is 40%. Storefront closures ~30%. Real estate values so low that it’s cheaper for businesses to buy buildings than lease a few floors of office space. The streets are littered with vagrancy and literal shit.
Look, I get that Los Angeles hate is in vogue right now, and the city needs an overhaul, but get a grip. Downtown Los Angeles is less "vibrant" than downtown Columbus? I mean, no offense to Columbus, but come on man.
People who move to New York and Los Angeles from the Midwest are actually truer New Yorkers and Angelenos than the natives.
We moved there for the dream, you were just born there.
@cryptosmiff Yeah, maybe. That was DTLA's reputation in the early 2010s, though — neighborhood in the early stages of revitalization, great for those willing to try an up-and-coming area. Pandemic ruined all that momentum, though.