Young-person culture is in a state of upheaval this week. With social media platform TikTok going dark, then quickly coming back online, generations Z and Alpha have seen the forces at be closing and opening their main window on the world.
In other news, Elon Musk is still acting weird—and it's still funny to embarrass your mom at the store.
What's the vibe like on RedNote?
Given the upheaval and uncertainty surrounding TikTok, many TikTokers have been fleeing to another Chinese app, Xiaohongshu (or RedNote), since last week.
So you don't have to, I made an account and spent the last few days poking around the TikTok alternative—posting videos, puzzling over Mandarin, and making new friends—to get an idea of the vibe on RedNote. My verdict: The young people of America and China are in the midst of the largest cultural exchange program ever (that doesn't involve literal colonization) and it's beautiful.
The most notable difference I noticed between TikTok and RedNote is the level of engagement. With a minutes-old account, I posted a few short clips of my sister's dog and my niece and I high-fiving, and was rewarded with hundreds of views and likes, and a reasonable number of "follows." Most of the comments were in Mandarin, but an in-app translation showed they weren't people saying, "stay in your own lane, yankee." Instead, it was more like, "cute dog!" and "wow, that's cool!" It's a welcoming, curious place.
Exploring a bit further reveals a ton of popular posts where young people from China and the U.S. ask each other questions about their respective cultures; videos of TikTok refugees showing off their newly acquired Mandarin-speaking skills; RedNote readers welcoming their new American friendsl and, for some reason, many videos of Chinese people imitating Donald Trump. It's way more interesting than paging through TikTok.
While there are deeper questions about the implications of all this, for now, there's an overall "it's all love" vibe that's encouraging. I highly recommend checking out RedNote.
Elon Musk's fake gaming drama continues
While legions of young people flock to social media platforms owned by Chinese billionaires, our favorite American billionaire social media owner, Elon Musk, continues to show his ass in hilarious ways. Musk, upset that YouTuber Asmongold called him out publicly for faking his gaming prowess, has fired back. Elon Musk could do literally anything with his time, but he's chosen to spend it flaming a gaming nerd from YouTube. He removed Asmondgold's verification on X, stopped following him, and lambasted him online. In a comment on another gamer's account, Musk, an adult, posted, "Asmon behaves like a maverick 'independent', but in reality has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything. He is not his own man." And he posted a screenshot of DMs between himself and Asmongold to back up the assertion.
I find mucking about in internet drama to be depressing, but I will point out that Musk's evidence is that Asmondgold mentions his "editors." He seems to think that these editors are Asmond's bosses, but he seems to be referring to the video editors who cut his YouTube clips, not editor-editors that make editorial decisions.
I still can't believe Elon Musk is an actual person, not a character in a sketch on I Think You Should Leave.
In a surprise announcement, Nintendo reveals the Switch 2
As we know from his recent livestream, Elon Musk only plays games on "max difficulty, on hardcore," so he's probably not interested in the upcoming Switch 2 release. People who like games that are fun, though, are psyched. Anticipation levels among the Nintendo faithful has been high. Information has been leaking for months. Nintendo was almost stealth in its rollout: The company just dropped a YouTube video and called it a day. There isn't all that much to say about the new console. It's a little bigger than the first Switch; it's going to be backwards compatible; it comes out in 2025. If you want to try out the Switch 2 yourself, Nintendo is rolling out a "give it a try" programs in select cities starting in April.
AI-designed Gorilla sofa available in real life
Facebook page Inspiring Designs specializes in posting AI-generated images of truly terrible-looking design ideas, like these:
I am not inspired. Credit: Inspiring Designs/Facebook
But its biggest "hit" was a gorilla couch.
Credit: Inspiring Designs - Facebook
The image inspired memes and videos like this one.
I regret to inform you that the gorilla couch is now a real thing that you can put in your living room. A Chinese furniture company called Sunyao Furniture will send you one in exchange for money, as you can see in this video:
Viral video of the week: Embarrassing Our Mom in Costco
Teenagers embarrassing their mom in a store is a time-honored tradition, but The Mullet Bros Co, (aka Blake and Nolan Shofer) have gone viral by adding a new twist: Nolan, 18, is afflicted with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and is nearly entirely paralyzed, so he razzes his mom with the help of a Stephen Hawkins'-style speech computer. Rather than discussing black holes, Nolan turns the volume up high and uses his computer to say things like, "She drugs me to keep a vegetable!" and "Mom, you were talking about how you wanted to go to a strip club after this." Nolan also delights in calling his brother a fat-ass, which is also hilarious.
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