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Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition.
The internet is a choose-your-own-adventure place, but it can sometimes feel like too many roads lead to doomscrolling. In an effort to suggest more joyful destinations, The Atlantic’s writers and editors answer the question: What’s your favorite way to spend time online?
In moments of chaos, I want to play The Sims. Lately, I’ve been playing it a lot. I’ve had various iterations of the game since I was a child, when there was such a thing as a “computer room” and games were bought at Best Buy as very precious, very scratchable CD-ROMs.
Give me the soothing, dulcet tones of the “Create a Sim” music while I pick my Sim’s new party outfit and personality traits (Art Lover, Nosy, Lactose Intolerant). Or the cheap thrill of having everyone at the same virtual table eat the same food at the same time (harder than you might think). Or the humble reminder that a kitchen stove can catch fire at a moment’s notice.
What better salve for reality than micromanaging other people’s lives, in which there are truly no stakes? Even if that stove does catch fire, you can “rosebud” your way to a better one. The cheat codes even extend life itself: I’ve turned off the game’s aging feature because my Sims family has a dog, and I just can’t deal with that right now.
— Jinae West, senior podcast producer
***
I never get tired of reading the YouTube comments beneath some of my favorite songs. I love to scroll through the missives, peering into the lives of strangers, as a song unfolds. So many digital forums are needlessly aggressive, but an earnest YouTube comment thread can briefly restore your faith in your fellow online humans like nothing else. People can get incredibly specific with experiences and memories—there’s the man who said Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Long as I Can See the Light” helped him survive more than 42 years in prison, and the person who said he’d listen to the song every morning in the shower before chemotherapy. More than a few of these comments concern life-changing moments: Under Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.” video, two people talk of playing the song for their babies; beneath the Grateful Dead’s “Box of Rain,” someone shares that their grandfather asked them to put this on as he took his last breaths. I love that I will never meet these people, and that they’re posting for the sake of posting—and, perhaps, to temporarily lift up their fellow web traveler.
— John Hendrickson, staff writer
***
We deify celebrities, often to a fault. First We Feast’s Hot Ones proves that even if they wrote your favorite song, all must bow to hot sauce. The talk show, hosted by Sean Evans on YouTube, challenges guests to eat 10 chicken wings, each of which is spicier than the last. DJ Khaled made it to wing No. 3 before calling it quits; Ricky Gervais tapped out after wing No. 8. (In the latter’s defense, his wing was topped with Da’ Bomb: Beyond Insanity hot sauce.)
It turns out that most people tell the truth when fighting for their life against hot wings. But Evans (whose years of hosting the show must have fried his taste buds) doesn’t capitalize on their moment of weakness to probe for gossip. He asks interviewees about their inspiration or creative process, while also tossing in some trivia.
More valuable than any one answer is how the show makes you see your idols. Every glug of milk and loud burp pushes them off their pedestal and into more relatable terrain. Scientists say we enjoy spicy food because it reminds us that we are alive. I enjoy Hot Ones because it reminds me that my favorite stars are real people too, and that they might be just as spice-averse as I am.
— Amogh Dimri, assistant editor
***
I spent most of my childhood accumulating mountains of collectible cards. Baseball, basketball, Pokémon: If it was printed on a piece of card stock, I wanted it. My interest in the hobby waned in my teens—who needs card stock when you can drive?—but as a 33-year-old, I’ve found myself reconnecting with the hobby, thanks to a new breed of online content creators who open packs of cards on camera. A favorite is ShadowlessRed on Instagram, who has been opening a Pokémon pack each day in search of a relatively unremarkable holographic card of an alienlike creature wearing what appears to be a space suit. The card he’s after can be easily purchased online for about $30, making his nearly 500-day quest to find it both unnecessary and deeply financially irresponsible. And yet, I find the videos transfixing. There is something heartwarming about watching someone pursue something they’re unabashedly passionate about—even if it’s just a game for kids.
— Nicholas Florko, staff writer
***
I am aware that I could never enjoy living in a van, partly because it seems uncomfortable to be responsible for my own plumbing and partly because I think driving is way too dangerous. Yet I love watching other people live in vans. I particularly love a couple, Courtnie and Nate, whose last names I do not know, and a young woman named Abby who lives in her van by herself (but sometimes her dad visits!). Nothing soothes me like watching these people do their little chores and eat their little snacks and read in their little bunks. I do not envy them, because I reside in the greatest place in the world (Brooklyn), but sometimes I do feel a whisper of What if?
The nomadic lifestyle is the opposite of mine in every way: The van people go to bed in their neat little bunk after doing their dinner dishes right away, and sometimes, they wake up next to a mountain or a beach. In my apartment, something always needs tidying, but I’m never tidying it, and I never wake up next to a mountain or a beach. Even though each van-life video basically shows people doing the same things over and over again, I’m always so happy to tune in. Some might say that the appeal of watching such menial repetitions is feeling a degree of control during a time when that feeling is hard to come by. Yes … I think I would also say that.
— Kaitlyn Tiffany, staff writer
Here are three Sunday reads from The Atlantic:
The Week Ahead
- Sinners, a film by Ryan Coogler about twin brothers who return to Mississippi and come across evil forces (in theaters Friday)
- Season 2 of The Last of Us, a sci-fi zombie series based on the hit video game (premieres tonight on Max)
- Lower Than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity, a book by the historian Diarmaid MacCulloch about three millenniums of Christians encountering sex, gender, and the family (out Tuesday)
Essay
Dwyane Wade’s Greatest Challenge
By D. Watkins
On a Sunday in October, a group of spectators gathered outside the Kaseya Center, the home of the Miami Heat. They sat in rows of chairs, arranged in a half circle. The crowd was there for the unveiling of a statue of Dwyane Wade, the superstar who had led the team to three NBA championships.
I wasn’t enough of a VIP to get a seat, so I found a spot on a gate during the unveiling, behind Wade and his family. I knew he had been anxiously awaiting the day.
Read the full article.
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