An Adult Guide to Kids Culture: Maximalist Christmas Decor
This week’s look at youth culture is like Uber Eats roulette: there are a lot of different things to enjoy, but none of them fit together. I’m looking at maximalist Christmas decorations; cool TikTok challenge; Catly , a video game that gamers enjoy; and a viral video about what happens to the millions of things people send back to Amazon.
Make the most of your Christmas
Maximalism, a design aesthetic that says “more is more,” is gaining traction online , especially now that Christmas is upon us. There’s no holiday tradition more suited to maximalism than decorating for Christmas, and TikTok maximalists follow it diligently, decking their halls with an ungodly amount of tinsel, holly, angels, sparkly stars, and every other decoration they can find. Here’s some inspiration if you want to look like this:
This is the “per branch improvement” tree from @tnkyla :
Self-proclaimed “autistic maximalist” @candy.courn’s Pokemon tree:
@whilefloriansleeps ‘retro-maximalist design:
Another one: @thekitchenmagpie . I’m not even sure there’s a tree underneath this decoration.
What is the “slowly exit the classroom” task?
Even though most schools are still in session, many classrooms are feeling the holiday malaise, leading to shenanigans like the “slow out of class” trend that’s gaining traction online. It’s as simple as it sounds: Children film each other’s desks slowly approaching the classroom door, as if they were sneaking away. It looks like this:
Video game Catly raises questions
If you’re a bitter old cynic like me, it’s hard not to feel frustrated by the young people who seem to be falling prey to transparent money grab schemes by “influencers”, be it YouTubers abusing the trust of their young fans to make sales. junk food or meme stars trying to make money while their 15 minutes of fame are running out. But there are also reasons for hope, such as the gaming community’s reaction to the release of the Catly trailer shown at the GAME Awards this week. Check this out:
Instead of falling in love with the cat game endorsed by popular streamers Ninja, Felicia Day and Pokimane, the gaming community immediately reacted with healthy skepticism, pointing out the suspicious shine of AI-like trailers and unearthing connections between the founder of the company behind Catly and blockchain -games/NFT.
On the other hand, a PR representative for SuperAuthenti, the developer of Catly , told IGN that neither the trailer nor the game uses generative artificial intelligence, and that Catly does not involve “zero blockchain technology.” What could be true; It’s just good that questions are being asked and research is being done.
How to Play Uber Eats Roulette
Most youth food trends are terrible , but I love the idea of Uber Eats Roulette, a party idea/game that is becoming popular in online eateries. It’s a variation on the traditional pot luck game, where the host tells guests a price and invites everyone to order something to eat from any Uber Eats location they want. If you want, you can ask guests to keep what they ordered a secret from each other and try to guess, or simply have the food delivered so everyone can feast and laugh. I want to go to this party:
Viral Video of the Week: A Man Bought a Box of Amazon Products and Immediately Regretted It
Unlike most popular YouTubers among young people, Danny Gonzalez is not annoying: sometimes he is funny, and sometimes he is interesting. In a viral video this week, Gonzalez teamed up with Climate Town to create a video about what happens when you return items to Amazon. You might think Amazon has put these items back on sale, but no. Large retailers throw most of their profits into landfills. But some of the six billion pounds (a year) of returned goods end up with resellers. These wholesale liquidators then resell them, sometimes in bulk. In this video, Gonzalez takes one of these mysterious pallets and tries to sell it for profit through Facebook Marketplace. It’s a fun way to talk about the ungodly amount of crap we produce without preaching.