🚕 If you use a rideshare app in NYC, the latest NBER study may save you $:
Among consumers who opened either the Uber or the Lyft app on a given day, only 16 percent opened the other. The report found that the average absolute price gap between Uber and Lyft was approximately $3.50, representing roughly 14 percent of the average fare price, with higher gaps for longer rides. Price differences exceeded $1 about 75 percent of the time, and the distribution of price gaps was relatively symmetric, meaning neither platform was consistently cheaper. NYC riders collectively forgo approximately $300 million in potential annual savings by not comparing prices between platforms. Consumers may benefit from comparing prices more regularly. The market could also become more competitive if there were increased access to price aggregators, reducing search frictions.
In sum—check Lyft and Uber before booking a ride.
💬 From The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt:
What prepares men for totalitarian domination in the non-totalitarian world is the fact that loneliness, once a borderline experience usually suffered in certain marginal social conditions like old age, has become an everyday experience.
It’s a good day to introduce yourself to neighbors. 🙂
🐢 Well, a random Youtube Animator has made the coolest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adaptation since the originals. No AI was used.
🔭 In 1609, Galileo made six watercolor paintings of the moon for his book, Starry Messenger, from one of the earliest iterations of a telescope. These paintings are the first realistic depiction of the Moon in human history and lie squarely at the intersection of art and science. Captivating, isn’t it?
🎵 I posted my Grammys predictions back in November. Here is how I did, along with some thoughts:
Record of the Year:
- Wish: Luther by Kendrick and SZA
- Predict: DtMF by Bad Bunny
- Actual: Luther by Kendrick and SZA
Album of the Year:
- Wish: Let God Sort ‘Em Out by Clipse
- Predict: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny
- Actual: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny
Song of the Year:
- Wish: Luther by Kendrick and SZA
- Predict: Golden from KPop Demon Hunters
- Actual: Wildflower by Billie Eilish
Best New Artist:
- Wish: Leon Thomas
- Predict: Leon Thomas
- Actual: Olivia Dean
Producer of the Year:
- Wish: Sounwave
- Predict: Dijon
- Actual: Cirkut
Pop Solo Performance:
- Wish: DAISIES by Justin Bieber
- Predict: Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter
- Actual: Messy by Lola Young
Best Pop Duo:
- Wish: Defying Gravity by Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
- Predict: Defying Gravity by Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
- Actual: Defying Gravity by Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
Best Pop Vocal:
- Wish: SWAG by Justin Bieber
- Predict: Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter
- Actual: MAYHEM by Lady Gaga
Best R&B Performance
- Wish: Folded by Kehlani
- Predict: It Depends by Chris Brown, Bryson Tiller
- Actual: Folded by Kehlani
Best R&B Song
- Wish: Folded by Kehlani
- Predict: Folded by Kehlani
- Actual: Folded by Kehlani
Best Rap Performance
- Wish: Chains & Whips by Clipse, Pusha T & Malice ft. Kendrick Lamar & Pharrell
- Predict: Chains & Whips by Clipse, Pusha T & Malice ft. Kendrick Lamar & Pharrell Williams
- Actual: Chains & Whips by Clipse, Pusha T & Malice ft. Kendrick Lamar & Pharrell
Best Melodic Rap Performance
- Wish: Luther by Kendrick and SZA
- Predict: Luther by Kendrick and SZA
- Actual: Luther by Kendrick and SZA
Best Rap Song
- Wish: The Birds Don’t Sing by Clipse
- Predict: The Birds Don’t Sing by Clipse
- Actual: TV Off by Kendrick Lamar ft. Lefty Gunplay
Best Rap Album
- Wish: Let God Sort ‘Em Out by Clipse
- Predict: Let God Sort ‘Em Out by Clipse
- Actual: GNX by Kendrick Lamar
Couldn’t be more thrilled for K-Dot to become the most Grammy-decorated rapper of all time, even if Clipse’s comeback was overlooked by The Academy. Kenny and his team were pure class acts onstage and looked fantastic on the carpet. He keeps the West Coast proud and, as far as I’m concerned, has sealed his place among the greats forever. If you know me, you know I am very happy with this outcome.
Similarly, Bad Bunny deserves his wins and every time he pops up in public, I like the guy more. I found his acceptance speeches to be both bold and inspiring. We are all in for a very Latin-American Superbowl. 🕺
It become obvious to me about a month ago that Olivia Dean was going to win the best new artist. She is everywhere these days and deserves to be so, even if I think Leon Thomas might be new RnB’s next wunderkind. Lady Gaga’s performance was next level. My only serious complaint was that Justin’s SWAG was horrendously snubbed. The album contains some real art, and the man reinvented his sound for the album and created a project that was so much more mature, artistically and sonically, than we’ve ever heard from him. His performance is apparently polarizing, but it was honestly my favorite of the entire night.
🎵 J Cole’s Golden Goose Freestyle has been on repeat since it dropped—dude is floating on the beat. I am going to try and write a blog post soon about my mixed feelings toward Cole, but the best version of his pen always makes me want to write:
And I don’t like those odds, so I stay in my lane / despite every bit of dirt thrown my way / there’ll never be a stain on my name / it’s why I walk around as if ain’t nothin' changed / without a chain on my frame / N****s can never know the pain of Jermaine / but I can’t name a thing that I ain’t overcame / I despise my celebrity, I ain’t into fame
If you’re a vampire and trying to get invited into a house, whats your best angle and/or sales pitch? Go.
(Today’s conversation starter brought to you by Sinners)
🖊️ My older brother, a city councilman in Oregon, wrote an open letter to government officals expressing his serious concern over the overreach of ICE in his state:
An agency that operates outside constitutional boundaries forfeits its legitimacy as a law enforcement institution. An agency that disregards due process, lawful authority, and civil protections becomes a risk to public safety, not a guarantor of it.
Excellent reminder of the constitutional rights at stake and the legal precedent that undergirds them. Please take time to read the whole thing.
🫶 Today in Central Park
📷 Rosebud
📷 Winter Plant
📷 Court Street
💬 Was reminded of this today, from Rilke in Letters To A Young Poet:
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything.
Long live everything!
✍️ Three Scenes in Hibino Brooklyn: bradley-andrews.com
💬 Geez— one of the best explanations of the process of writing, from Karl Ove Knausgaard:
For several years I had tried to write about my father, but had gotten nowhere, probably because the subject was too close to my life, and thus not so easy to force into another form, which of course is a prerequisite for literature. That is its sole law: everything has to submit to form. If any of literature’s other elements are stronger than form, such as style, plot, theme, if any of these overtake form, the result suffers. That is why writers with a strong style so often write bad books. That is also why writers with strong themes so often write bad books. Strong themes and styles have to be broken down before literature can come into being. It is this breaking down that is called “writing.”
🗞️ The latest dispatch from Mercury’s Playbook, my business/tech newsletter, is out now: mercurysplaybook.com
For this essay, I discuss the trend taking place in modern markets toward “winner-takes-all” conditions, why some AI superstars are being paid pro athlete money, and much more.
🎵 When I pressed play on IDK’s album this morning, I was NOT expecting such a FIRE project. I need a few more listens—but it is an immediate purchase from me. It has the lyricism and energy that I am always looking out for in hip-hop: e.t.d.s. A Mixtape by .idk.
(Disclaimer: Explicit)
🎥 Re: Oscar predictions.
It’s important to note that Phoenician Scheme was not nominated for any awards. It really saddens me how Wes Anderson, one of our most positive & consistent artists, is taken for granted of late. Also, I have yet to see The Secret Agent, which may alter my predictions.