the question of whether or not genai-led homogenization (in design, illustration, writing) is temporary is really interesting bc the flood of AI-scented product will change both human taste and AI apps themselves

"An under-appreciated dynamic of ongoing universal aesthetic slopification is that it threatens not just the professional design sector but the vibrant, inventive, and often inspiringly ugly world of amateur design." great read from @maxread.info on, essentially, de-enshittification of bad design

sad to think that you can produce 40 hours of very serious television about a fake cuban ray gun that gives cia agents tinnitus and it's still not good enough to satisfy the ghouls and save your show

this might be right for bk heights but in FG the kids are named ava and leo not isabel and atticus; she's in-house counsel for an AI start up not an investor; he's only "thinking about writing a novel" because he recently got forced out of his design job at uber/fb/apple. nw nowhere near $42m

its really crazy to be a pretty successful writer of airport books and screenplays and decide to go do this instead

NEW: I've uncovered an AI slop mill quietly backed by U.S. Special Operations to push military propaganda across Latin American and the Caribbean disguised as a lifestyle content brand. theintercept.com/2026/06/02/l...

not sure it's really been made clear enough in the outside coverage of this that bilton is a manifestly bizarre and incompetent choice for this job—a glib moron even when doing the job he was trained for, which is a very different one from the 60 minutes job

Had a great time on @tifofootball.bsky.social yesterday talking Tottenham, recruitment, executives, the periodic table and so on. With @joe-devine.bsky.social @jonmackenzie.bsky.social and star loan signing @shainin.bsky.social youtu.be/QxD4Eesag0w?...

don't really think this is true at all! prognozpogodi, jon mud, the shape store, thereiruinedit, kirkification/agartha, lucamaxiim, ai generated seinfeld, even the balenciaga videos... lots of strange and creative "outsider" ai stuff happening on tiktok and IG reels

LOL

beff jezos effectively accelerated his ass outta the us

are there devoted fans of "subway takes" or is it just like a necessary infrastructural feature of the internet designed to connect people with stuff to promote with people who like to get mad

I think there is a pretty good short story in the Granta AI story "The Serpent in the Grove," I just don't think it's "The Serpent in the Grove" www.patreon.com/posts/what-i...

be like seán !! fix your brain with recommendations of forgotten and overlooked sci-fi, noir, litfic and more from read max !!! maxread.email

many are saying read max is "essential reading"—and at $5/month cheap for the bourgeois-professional, petit bourgeois, and working classes alike maxread.email

was really excited to talk to trevor paglen and holly herndon about ai and art for the rad new publication totei

"graham platner class position discourse" and its many attendant misunderstandings is one of the rare occasions where downwardly mobile WASPs can feel properly like a poorly understood minority ethnic group

my kingdom for a 24/7 distributed on-message lib-left propaganda apparatus that could make "the streamer who goes around calling people the n-word in the hopes they hit him so he can shoot them" the face of the republican party

hello! read max is moving to patreon. you can read more about it here. if you are a subscriber you should be getting a code for ONE FREE MONTH! of read max in your inbox.

S tier: born to run, BITUSA, Nebraska, tunnel A tier: darkness, river, tom joad, greetings B tier: Seeger, wild the innocent, tracks, hypothetical human touch/lucky town edited comp, unreleased Philadelphia style album C tier: devils, wrecking, hopes D tier: letter, magic, stars F tier: the rising

can only imagine if de zerbi had been in charge all season. we might have had a shot at 13th, maybe even 12th place

perfect millennial top 5: viral-video challenge, stomp clap, pharrell joint that accidentally killed sampling, macklemore

my take on the drama, only a few weeks late (w/ "spoilers") maxread.substack.com/i/196025487/...

"the forklift model" of a.i. education maxread.substack.com/p/the-drama-...

the best education to make a person 'literate' in 'ai' would be a comprehensive liberal arts education :)

John Sterling died this morning. Reupping this from his retirement: defector.com/john-sterlin...

not a real yankee fan unless you once thought you hated john sterling and then eventually realized you loved john sterling

Looking at actual New Deal murals it’s clear why a16z “American dynamism” slop will never be able to create a convincing mythology. You can’t sanctify the dignity of labor if you don’t believe in the dignity of labor.

"But how could the economists have known? Well, maybe they should have gone to more movies," writes Max Read in a new feature to accompany our Corporate Thrillers collection on the Criterion Channel. 💵📟 Read on here:

tuesday champions league//wednesday champions league

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tuesday champions league//wednesday champions league

What do the thrillers of the 1990s and 2000s tell us about the US economy of the time? I went long on the corrupt, conspiratorial world of the corporate thriller for Criterion

@johanlange

funny historical political irony that Luigi mangione’s politics seem to have been much closer to Kelsey piper’s than hasan’s

check this out if you want to hear my case that elon musk can be read as both gendo ikari and shinji ikari

these showings are going to be like rocky horror picture show midnight screenings for a bunch of 40something brooklyn guys www.bam.org/film/2026/py...

a while ago i back-of-the-enveloped out the cost of "high-quality text" based on some of the figures openai was offering publishers and came to conclusion that licensed high-quality text is worth somewhere between one-tenth of a cent and one cent per word

“Clayton isn’t a bushy-tailed young naif but a greying fixer. Those conspiracies that our heroes uncover in The Firm and Antitrust? That’s the kind of thing Clayton is paid to cover up. He’s there to keep business orderly and functioning, one bribe, bail bond, or called-in favor at a time.”

Great essay on the corporate thrillers of the 1990s by @maxread.info: «As the economy becomes all but illegible to ordinary people, the only possible way to explain consolidation and inequality is in terms of mafia-sponsored tax-dodging schemes and techie murder conspiracies. …

i love being a man city fan. this rocks

Sometimes, you read an idea that so clearly sums up an experience that you didn't know you were having, repeatedly. At every work place. For all of time. Thanks @maxread.info for the glimpse into the human experience. I feel seen.

I wrote an essay for Criterion about "Corporate Thrillers," including Wall Street, The Devil's Advocate, Disclosure, Michael Clayton, and more

I only subscribe to one Substack, simply because I like to Read Max. This is a really engaging essay.

This is great

all politics is fandom now, and the democratic party is the pitt (its fans obsessively despise it)

max on corporate thrillers for Criterion is a mad libs of everything I love. great essay herein 👇

I wrote an essay for Criterion about "Corporate Thrillers," including Wall Street, The Devil's Advocate, Disclosure, Michael Clayton, and more

guys whose job it is to sell astroturfed viral marketing campaigns really love to tell people that their astroturfed viral marketing campaigns are extremely effective