Deepfield

Charlie Sheen's Tiger Blood transforms Twitter: The Wild Ride BeginsCharlie Sheen lost his blue tick on Twitter earlier in the year. He was part of Elon Musk’s platform reform where ticks were removed from users that weren’t subscribed to his shitty Twitter Blue subscription model. Beyonce lost hers, BLACKPINK lost theirs, and for a little while Abel Tesfaye (aka The Weeknd) copped a gold one. Sheen asked for his blue tick back and after a few hours he had it returned. The jury is out on whether he just started paying for it, or if Elon granted his wish. Sheen’s grovel for the return of his verification shouldn’t have happened. The guy essentially created what Twitter is today when in 2011 tweet by tweet, he let the world into his drug-fuelled, week long bender after being fired from Two And A Half Men. Sick of the press and paparazzi telling his story for the worst, Sheen’s management wanted Charlie to take ownership of it and tell it himself. It was a good way to stop a worsening situation and so they hired Ad.ly to help Sheen bypass the media and talk to the world directly (Digiday, 2011). And then we were all on it, “a drug, it’s called Charlie Sheen. ” (Sheen, C, 2011).The man embodied the essence of Twitter broetry, and his management recognised it. The platform's 280 character limit not only compelled users to share clever remarks more frequently, but its algorithm also prioritised and highlighted quips that evoked strong reactions.It wasn't sufficient to write a simple sentence on Twitter; it had to leave readers breathless with shock. But not the kind of shock that repulses and makes you want to put your phone away. It was the kind of shock that repulses yet compels you to share and snicker about it with others. The kind of shock that disgusted you because deep down, you maybe actually believed it, and you wanted to conceal that part of yourself. Drugs, misogyny, and rock ‘n roll.Charlie Sheen became “endemic to the platform, embedded in its personality” (The Outline, 2019).Charlie Sheen became the hype cycle in Australia from January to May of 2011, peaking from February to March. If you thought that we humble Aussies were immune to celebrity spirals from the US then I’m sorry to tell you this but, you need to lower your expectations. Globally, he gained 1 million followers in 48 hours at the start of his Twitter takeover (The Guardian, 2011).Sheen arguably pioneered the side of Twitter that centered around using anger and shock as a form of entertainment. At the same time on the other side of Twitter, the Occupy Movement and the Arab Spring were using anger to cause a social uprising. But guess what side of Twitter gets more hits? The Charlie Sheen side. (See Trump’s uprising in 2016 via Twitter, and Fox News’ concerns about viewership dropping if Biden was elected).When words drip bloodIf it bleeds, it reads. I read that somewhere recently and can say it’s probably the most honest sentence I’ve read in a while. Basically stories involving violence, conflict, or death tend to attract heightened interest from readers. This observation holds true not only for news empires but also for social media platforms whose algorithms are designed to show users content that aligns with their interests. There is a reason that this type of content ranks on the feed, people love to see it.But now let’s draw a parallel, because I can. The Titan and The Messenia. The missing Titan sub and its 4 passengers on a deep sea expedition to view the Titanic, happened at the same time that the Messenia ship, which was smuggling over 600 migrants, capsized near the coast of Greece. 500 people have still not been found. The sub story was far more popular, especially here in Australia.This tells us that there might be more nuance to ‘if it bleeds, it reads’. It’s either that we sadly don’t find migrant boat disasters that shocking anymore (27,000 migrants have died at sea in the Mediterranean Sea alone in the last decade) or that our always loyal friend ‘class’ has reared its head.I’m sure it’s a little from column A and a little from column B. And a little bit from column C, where the capital C stands for Colonial mentality.Migrant boats sink all the time. The Titanic only sank once. And the Titan sub only sank once.It’s us. And it’s them. But it’s mainly us.News empires don’t set the agenda of social conversation alone anymore. We, the people, tell them what we want with our clicks and likes. By engaging with shocking and negative content, we signal to news outlets and social media platforms what we want to see and discuss.Twitter disrupted the traditional news cycle by enabling individuals to share news directly. Charlie Sheen's tweets became news stories themselves, challenging traditional media's control over narratives. They could no longer break something shocking about Sheen, when he was doing it himself. News-empires thrive when individuals fail to take control of their own narrative. It's a dilemma: either allow others to misrepresent your story or embrace the demanding world of constant social media presence to tell it yourself. We are addicted to the stream of information, regardless of its source, as long as it keeps flowing steadily.When individuals seize control of their narrative, bypassing traditional media channels and communicating directly with their audience, it undermines the centralised power of information. We are starting to see this played out on TikTok in Australian politics. G’Day. Bob Katter has entered the chat.Bob Katter is using TikTok to make his voice heard. Despite being portrayed by the mainstream media as lacking the credentials deemed necessary for political influence, Katter challenges the notion that only individuals from elite backgrounds should have a say in shaping the country's future.Katter has embraced TikTok to redefine his identity and clearly communicate what he is fighting for. And it appears to be working. Since joining TikTok in 2019, his favorability among Australian voters increased by 10 points in 2022 (YouGov, 2022).TikTok serves as a proxy, but it's not the sole factor. In the previous Federal election, the number of Independent seats in the Australian House of Representatives surged by 75%. As media decentralises, our beliefs and opinions, which shape our desired society, also become more diverse.Rupert Murdoch is a Sith Lord and Empire is overIn his essay "Charlie Sheen Is Winning", writer Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho, Less Than Zero) highlights the link between media decentralisation and the decentralisation of political power. He argues that Sheen's embrace of a decentralised media and narrative represents a characteristic of a "post-Empire" world. In this world, individuals unashamedly express their true selves and refuse to downplay their beliefs for the sake of others' comfort. This challenges the illusion of the idealised figures we aspire to be, like celebrities, politicians, athletes, and fashion designers, who possess power and influence. In a society driven by consumerism and appearances, this post-Empire mindset disrupts the status quo and poses a problem for the established Empire. Empire, in this context, refers to the keeping up of appearances, pretending that everything is fine even when it's not, and retreating from the public eye when faced with controversy until making a public apology and condemning yourself to the depths of Hades. Empire is shattered. The glass dome that held it all together has been cracked open. Fragmented across tiny pieces of the day, in our pockets, with millions of people around the world creating and sharing content that reaffirms… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit deepfield.substack.com

Last month a 95-year-old woman with dementia, died in a hospital after being tasered by police in an aged care facility.Her name was Clare Nowland.Clare suffered from dementia and was receiving end-of-life care, weighing only 43 kilograms (ABC, 2023).In 2008, Clare shattered the limits of what was expected, embracing life with unwavering determination. Filmed by ABC, she fearlessly marked her 80th birthday by plunging into the open skies with a skydive. She was still in her prime.This tragic occurrence prompted me to write about what I’ve been reading for most of the year; the aging brain. I was initially seeking ways to rewire my own brain and stumbled on the concept of neuroplasticity—the brain's remarkable ability to adapt and reorganise itself.For centuries, we believed our brains peaked at 18 and deteriorated by 25, disregarding neuroplasticity as a childhood phenomenon. (Mateos-Aparicio & Rodríguez-Moreno, 2019). This belief system has influenced our current societal structure.At 4, we start school, absorb knowledge like a sponge, and have meltdowns over the crusts being left on our Vegemite sandwiches. At 18, we face a test that determines whether we’re destined for brilliance or mediocrity while navigating careers and Maccas drive-thru runs. Fast forward to 25, and society expects us to have it all figured out: career, ladder climbing, a million-dollar mortgage for a one-bedroom apartment, marriage to someone you met on the Barcelona Contiki tour, and baby plans. By 25, we're supposed to have our shit sorted. The brain has explored its limits. It is what it is. When I was 25 I used to play a game with my mate to see who could do the most vodka shots in one night. On my 25th birthday, I somehow cut my hand open on the filthy floor of Cherry Bar after doing these vodka shots.If we are saying that is where my brain peaked and that my shit was meant to be sorted, I’d be pretty worried. What I will say is that this is when my brain learned what it felt like to get a tetanus shot directly into an open wound (ie. no good).But, there is good news for society and folks like me. Our understanding of neuroplasticity has advanced significantly in the last twenty years. It's now widely accepted that the brain remains flexible throughout our lives, though more so in our youth (Doidge, N 2007). Our improved understanding of neuroplasticity means that anyone can learn, rewire their brain, and achieve remarkable medical transformations.Neuroplasticity has enabled:* Mora Leeb, who had half her brain removed in surgery, to rewire the remaining half to function as a full brain (NPR, 2023)* Linda Radestad, a stroke survivor, to rewire her brain and regain the ability to speak and walkThe existence of neuroplasticity in old age emphasises the need for nurturing environments that promote the well-being of older adults.Especially because lifespan is expanding. Australia ranks third globally in life expectancy, with an average lifespan of at least 84 years. In 1850, the average lifespan was ten.We’re really good at prolonging life, but we’re not very good at making the most of that extra time. Despite ranking third in global life expectancy, Australia has the highest percentage of older individuals living in institutional care, with 20% of people over 80 living in an aged care facilities(Dyer, S., Valeri, M., Arora, N., Tilden, D., Crotty M., 2020). To be honest, I’m not surprised by these numbers. Spend some time in Spain or Korea and you’ll see senior citizens everywhere just living their best life. They can be seen walking with their grandkids, socialising in senior playgrounds, or commuting to the market on buses. This way of living is deeply ingrained in their respective cultures.I’m half Greek and had it drummed into me pretty early on that if I planned on buying a house, my Dad would need a house out the back to live in too. Growing up, all my Greek and Italian mates had Yiayia, Pappous, Nonna, and Nonno living out the back making biscuits, growing tomatoes, and absolutely owning at Tavli. Closing out life the way you should; surrounded by family and life’s simple pleasures.Other cultures don’t seem to leave their elderly in homes like we do in Australia. Out of sight, out of mind.Neuroplasticity is also closely linked to dementia, which is the second leading cause of death and affects two-thirds of aged care residents in Australia. While neuroplasticity cannot completely prevent or reverse dementia, early intervention can slow its progression and improve cognitive function (Hill, NL., Kolanowski, AM., Gill, DJ., 2011).This is because the brain operates on a "use it or lose it" principle, where actively engaging and stimulating specific areas helps maintain their health and connectivity. Neglecting parts of the brain can lead to degeneration and challenges in reactivating those neural pathways we’ve built over time (Shors, TJ., Anderson, ML., Curlik, DM., Nokia, MS., 2012). Placing seniors in care homes accelerates the "use it or lose it" process, as they often spend significant time isolated in their rooms with limited social interaction (The Conversation, 2022). Socialising plays a vital role in stimulating attention, and memory, and reinforcing neural networks which is something that we see incrementally reversed in the cutest show ever, Old People’s Home For Four-Year-Olds. Loneliness increases the risk of dementia by 40% (Harvard, 2021). It's crucial to prioritise mental stimulation and foster social connections in caring for seniors to improve their overall well-being. This requires a shift in perception and reinvention.PerceptionAge is a privilege, but our culture sees it as a burden. To age is to live, and to live is to age yet popular media portrays a different narrative. Only 11% of film characters in any given year are over 65, and only 2% of them are the main character. When older characters are portrayed, they are often depicted as frail or senile, perpetuating the notion that they are no longer healthy and a burden on everyone around them.Popular media says you're as good as dead. Let’s take a look at some of those core films with over 65s as the main characters. Gran Turino, A Man Called Ove, and Still Alice. All people with racist views or facing age-related diseases that hinder their ability to live fulfilling lives.Want to go deeper down the sadness hole? Watch Amour and Vortex. Curse me later.What if we could just not look old though? Would that help with ageing? Maybe. Long-term search trends for ‘anti-aging products’ and ‘botox’ are on an upward trajectory. Look at that red botox line go as high as the latest cast of MAFs unmovable eyebrows.Apparently aging is the worst thing that can happen to us. We hit our prime the minute we emerge from the womb. Anytime beyond that requires fillers.Re-inventionValuing aging as a privilege means prioritising spaces for older adults to explore and grow, similar to how we do for children. Embracing the neuroplasticity of the aging brain requires reinventing our cities and shifting the focus of digital applications toward promoting brain flexibility rather than addiction. This means digital products need to remove exploitative features like FOMO, real-time notifications, instant gratification, and infinite scroll. They instead need to use what is called a closed-loop system. This system finds the right balance of engagement, avoiding excessive rewards or low cognitive engagement in order to optimise cognitive enhancement and neuroplasticity. (Zielger, D., Anguera, J., Gallen, C., Hsu, WY., Wais, P., Gazzaley, A., 2022). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit deepfield.substack.com

Warning: Some of the music videos I have linked in this article contain offensive language and adult scenes so please don’t feel compelled to watch them if you don’t want to. The article will make sense without them.Some Saturday mornings I get up early enough to watch Rage on ABC. I wake up expecting to see audio-visual experiments from VCA over a dolewave drone but instead, I get Miley Cyrus humping the ground in ‘Flowers’. This is what I get for waking up to watch Rage rather than staying up to watch it.Rage was an institution when there was no Spotify, when there was no YouTube, and when there was no TikTok. Rage has no algorithm commercialising ‘the personal experience’. It’s just a bunch of producers that need to fill six hours of music video programming every weekend from midnight to 6AM.The viewing experience is marked by randomness, and audiences often stick around for one more song in search of new music they may enjoy.An episode of John Safran’s Music Jamboree (a 2002 SBS music documentary series), showed how easy it was to get a video into the playlist. Safran strapped a camcorder to his dog and turned it into a video over a joke dance track (which is actually quite good upon relistening). It made it onto Rage.But I want to take you back to the winter of 2003. It was 1AM and I had fallen asleep in front of the loungeroom heater in my childhood home (brown Vulcan wall gas heater. IYKYK). I woke up to Aphex Twin’s ‘Windowlicker’ (1999) playing on Rage. It was ten minutes and 42 seconds of disturbing weirdness that truly haunted me but interested me. I became obsessed with the UK acid dance scene and would read old issues of The Face at the library and borrowed CDs from the genre. I never lived it, but I longed for those days to come back. I wanted rave culture while Mum had put a ban on Roll-Ups in the house.Pull forward to today and there is a lot of chatter about Gen Z’s love for nostalgia. I wrote about this topic last year, noting that nostalgia has evolved from a personal experience to a shared one, thanks to social media. As a result, what may be fleeting for an individual becomes permanent for their audience.Fragmented everywhere, their nostalgia lives in a feed photo, a short video, a tweet, or a screenshotted message. It’s ready to be revisited when the present and future constantly seems heavy.What we are nostalgic for, after all, is part of our identity. But now, enter Fred Again… The London DJ who is immensely popular with Gen Z and recently sold out a secret Melbourne show in 3.4 seconds. His 'Actual Life' album trilogy chronicles his personal experiences over the past three years, reflecting distinct phases of disconnection, limited connection, and reconnection through intimate voice recordings of his friends, Instagram clips, his favourite songs, and crisp club hits.Many of us experience life in a similar way to Fred Again... by listening to music and using audio to enhance our daily commutes. Although hundreds of people walk from Flinders Street station to Southbank each day, each journey is unique due to the music we listen to, the messages we read, the videos we watch, and the memories we attach to them. In fact, 33% of Australians stream music through their headphones daily, indicating that while these experiences occur in isolation, the behavior is widespread (Gilliver, Nguyen, Beach, Barr, 2017).This happened to me at Miami International Airport, back in 2011. My flight to New York was canceled so I lay on the ground at my gate and waited for the next one. I listened to an album to pass the time (cliché to say that it was Bon Iver’s self-titled album). Watching people eat their Dunkin’ Donuts while listening to ‘Holocene’ reminded me of how beautifully basic this life can be.But it wouldn’t be 2023 if this didn’t happen on TikTok. And it wouldn’t be TikTok if this phenomenon didn’t have its own aesthetic. Never fear, it’s edgy af; it’s #corecore.With over 1.3b views on the hashtag, #corecore is a video editing style that brings together movie clips, images, and phone-filmed moments to conjure a mood. Its M.O. is to make an audience that is so numb from scrolling, feel something. Gen Z reportedly spends 95 minutes a day on TikTok (WARC, 2022), and with each video lasting 47 seconds on average -  they’re watching around 121 different videos a day, on that app alone. #corecore’s noble mission to cut through has dignity.And of course, Aphex Twin’s ‘QKThr’ is the main track used for #corecore. Everything starts and ends with Aphex Twin.Australian #corecore expresses our dystopian dream by lamenting the Aussie battler. Behind every rental or interest rate increase, and behind every $7.20 bag of Red Rock Deli chips is a bloke just trying to work and knock off with his mates.While our social feeds are curated for attention, #corecore is curated for perspective. It critiques the systems that have made us this way while at the same time feeding into them. And for Australian #corecore, we have to make the loss of our middle-class a joke. Because if you aren’t laughing, you’re crying. The fragmented content in the videos mimics how anyone that grew up using social media views the lives of others. It’s also how Fred Again… creates his music and his videos.No feeling is complete. Moments exist in isolation amongst a constant stream of other moments. What is important to us, exists among what others think is important. A baby’s first birthday streams next to Aperol Spritz’ being clinked. Everything is nothing.The more we lean into this, the lonelier we feel, and the more isolated we become. In order to feel connected, people are compelled to produce content. It creates a sense of security; if we’re all creating the same thing then at least we are feeling alone, together. It begs the question - Are we living the best years of our lives, or are we just trying to capture them?As I round off this article I acknowledge that #corecore is nothing new. This feeling of everything and nothing has been around since anyone, ever, hit adolescence. We love to want things, “we just want to want things” (Klein, 2023).Cast your mind back to that broody teenage guy in American Beauty that filmed a plastic bag floating around. “Video is a poor excuse I know. But it helps me remember. I need to remember.” Waking up to Rage at 1AM hits different to scrolling in bed at 1AM.Rage ends at 6. The internet does not.I wonder how Gen Alpha will display their melancholy and nostalgia in Roblox. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit deepfield.substack.com

Remember last year when that guy said that a vibe shift was coming, but then didn’t say what it was?Instead, he threw a few looks around - “American Apparel, flash photography at parties, and messy hair and messy makeup”. The vibe shift was given a name; Indie Sleaze.Middle-Class OpulenceIt’s post-pandemic, it’s social re-emergence, it’s picking up smoking again, it’s buying ‘bagnums’ (plus-sized bags of goon), it’s wearing Chanel to the dumplings joint next to Coles. It’s middle class masked as opulence. It’s a return to Millennial youth.(Please read the below like that scene in Rules of Attraction where that guy describes his trip to Europe. IFKYK)$1 pots. Smoking in clubs. Indie dance clubs. No Ubers or 24-hour trains so you have to stay out until morning. No smartphones. Multigenre music festivals like Big Day Out. Arts/Law degrees. Torrenting HBO. Thriving off youth allowance and two retail shifts. $8 a night hostels in Europe. Graduating into a global recession.And I’m here for it. Because someone once told me that your 30’s are like your 20’s but you have more money. Millennials can afford their youth again, at a $220 price tag to see Blink 182 in a sports stadium.But a new vibe shift is coming. Culture experts like Ana Andjelic and Michelle Weis have suggested that we will continue to turn away from aspiration and move toward social realism.Cultural content like Triangle of Sadness, White Lotus, and Kylie Jenner getting dragged for posing in front of her private jets on Instagram, are suggesting that society is done with rich people doing rich people things.The Fitzroy Garage PartyWe’re seeing this play out at a local level in Melbourne with the Fitzroy Garage Party - a viral TikTok video of some guys showing the world how cool their garage party was in their converted Fitzroy warehouse turned sharehouse. There was a green fishing vest (aka the ‘green vest pest’) that really rubbed everyone the wrong way. There was someone getting their head shaved. There was someone fist-pumping the roller door. There was only one gender. And there were multiple angles uploaded (for all those asking to see it from different angles. True story). Some personal favourite comments:* “Is this like some kind of private school Contiki tour visit to Fitzroy?”* “Reckon I can sell them a bag of baking soda for 400$”* “the kevin blazers suit you better boys”* “ever hear of a really underground band called sticky fingers?”It couldn't just be the boys having a good time. Melbourne, and then the world, decided that this was private school boys living in Daddy’s tenth investment property. They were also drinking Double Lemons which are the more expensive tinnie from Japan. Everyone knows that real students with no money drink Little Fat Lambs because they’ve done the math on the cheapest $1 per standard drink in a slab.46.3M TikTok hashtags views later and the Fitzroy Garage Party became the pinnacle of white privilege and gentrification of a working-class area. Ignoring the fact that the median house price in Fitzroy is $1.5m and a rundown two-bedroom house costs around $650 a week to rent - the main thing is that Fitzroy was working class once upon a time, and so was the whole of Australia.But now we’re not all the same and these boys throwing a party in what used to be a warehouse for the working class to work in (which likely has a $3M~ price tag) is the reason why there is a growing class gap.And that green fishing vest. And the Carharrt. That’s workwear for the working class.And that Nike. That’s sportswear for athletes.It’s wealthy people cosplaying the poor. Or, my new favourite term; champagne socialists.Thousands commented on the video and made their own. This likely happened on their $1200 mobile from a bed covered in 100% linen after a day of working in the office, flicking between work and Depop for some fUn ThRiFtS, while breathing in purified air from some device off Amazon.We are all the problem.The real twist - the main characters of the Fitzroy Garage Party don’t even live in Melbourne. They had come from the Gold Coast and Adelaide to visit some mates. They didn’t know anything about Fitzroy. They were just there for the cool clothes and Glamorama (...and aren’t we all?).Remembering the middle classEvery cultural shift is a response to the decline of the middle class because, as Ana Andjelic puts it so simply: Culture is stories that we tell ourselves to make sense of what’s happening in economy and society….When there was a strong middle class, the ideology - and practice - of consumerism powered aspiration. But in Australia, the numbers show that our wealth gap widens by age purely because of the housing market. Those that have paid off their mortgages are likely to be 50+ and sitting on housing valuations that are 500% more than what they paid for it. This is where Australia’s growing wealth gap comes from, and where it will continue.Because the wealth gap is generational, younger generations will always be aspirational. Despite the assertions from Andjelic and Weis made earlier - this is the reality for Australia.A quick look at Google’s Top 100 trending products for 2022 proves that aspiration isn’t going away anytime soon on our shores.The products listed below scream aspiration. They aren’t products with basic functionality. They are products with aspirational functionality. They make the consumer look healthier, look like they have money, and are mostly used to relax. Those who can relax have time. And those who have time, have money.* Underdesk treadmills* Moissanite earrings* LED face masks* Lab-grown diamonds* In-home saunas* Egyptian cotton sheets* Magnetic eyelashes* Therapy massage chairAll of these products have been peddled by the wealthy.  They taketh our dreams, but do not giveth reality. They giveth Instagram squares and Reels to show that we too can be free just like them if we have this one thing in our lives.Department stores give us knock-offs so we can live our best lives at an affordable price. No one’s gonna know. No one’s gonna know.But in some corner of Reddit, someone has created a 3D render of a guillotine and said we need to eat the rich.We don’t rally with pitchforks. We aspire on Instagram, we accuse in TikTok comments, we give a hot take on Twitter, and we dox on Reddit. We use two-way communications to shout into an echo chamber and then go on to consume the very things we complain about.We ended 2022 focused on some dude in a green vest fist-pumping a roller door. We made it mean capitalism. We begin the year bracing for a recession. We make it mean all-night raves, ciggies, and Veuve on special. Coming soon to a garage in Essendon, Parramatta, Logan, and a social media user waiting for more TikToks and Reels to weigh in on. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit deepfield.substack.com