Emile Avanessian
@hhypeemile.bsky.social
Barcelona, by way of LA & NYC. @hardwoodhype on Tw*tter, La Barça Soc Supporter and League Pass in L’Eixample on Substack, My words have also appeared at Defector, The Blizzard, and elsewhere.
https://hhype.substack.com/
https://barcafemeni.substack.com/
https://hhype.substack.com/
https://barcafemeni.substack.com/
👇
One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential
December 9, 2025 at 11:00 PM
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Reposted by Emile Avanessian
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
".. Obviously, if you’re more affluent, you can afford to buy the things you need. But if you’re seeking out lower prices, then where does the lower-cost consumer go?”
Great snapshot of the current state of retail, via @mikecalia.bsky.social
@nbcnews.com $WMT
www.nbcnews.com/business/con...
Great snapshot of the current state of retail, via @mikecalia.bsky.social
@nbcnews.com $WMT
www.nbcnews.com/business/con...
It's a tale of two consumers this holiday season — and they're both at Walmart
"They don’t have the sales they used to have,” said Eileen Gowlak, a retiree who is prioritizing groceries at Walmart over clothes. She’s not alone.
www.nbcnews.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:39 PM
".. Obviously, if you’re more affluent, you can afford to buy the things you need. But if you’re seeking out lower prices, then where does the lower-cost consumer go?”
Great snapshot of the current state of retail, via @mikecalia.bsky.social
@nbcnews.com $WMT
www.nbcnews.com/business/con...
Great snapshot of the current state of retail, via @mikecalia.bsky.social
@nbcnews.com $WMT
www.nbcnews.com/business/con...
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
Something every 2026/28 Dem should commit to is investigations of any company that did deals with Trump. A kind of forward guidance to get companies to think twice in advance of what’s coming.
Fox News will applaud this but can you imagine their coverage if President Biden hatched a secret plan to take over Fox News and revamp its programming to be nicer to him
New WSJ reporting: "During a December visit to Washington, David Ellison offered assurances to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he'd make sweeping changes to CNN, a common target of President Trump's ire, people familiar with the matter said..."
December 9, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Something every 2026/28 Dem should commit to is investigations of any company that did deals with Trump. A kind of forward guidance to get companies to think twice in advance of what’s coming.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
They can do it now. They don't need to wait. They have plenty of committee staff who can do this work.
Something every 2026/28 Dem should commit to is investigations of any company that did deals with Trump. A kind of forward guidance to get companies to think twice in advance of what’s coming.
Fox News will applaud this but can you imagine their coverage if President Biden hatched a secret plan to take over Fox News and revamp its programming to be nicer to him
December 9, 2025 at 1:38 PM
They can do it now. They don't need to wait. They have plenty of committee staff who can do this work.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
“When they come to power for the second time, they feel more ruthless, and they behave as if there are no boundaries any more. I think especially in the leader’s head, that association of ‘me and the country’ [being] the same thing becomes very prominent.”
We asked activists from authoritarian regimes what they wish they’d known sooner. Here’s what they said
Activists from Hungary, El Salvador and Turkey offer advice to the US about what they’ve learned about authoritarians
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:46 PM
“When they come to power for the second time, they feel more ruthless, and they behave as if there are no boundaries any more. I think especially in the leader’s head, that association of ‘me and the country’ [being] the same thing becomes very prominent.”
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
Commenters point this out in the replies but the ad is incredibly bleak and misanthropic. I'd go just a touch further: it isn't an accident that McD's first foray into AI holiday ads hits the misanthropy. Misanthropy is baked into the AI video form.
McDonald's has released an AI-generated Christmas ad
The studio behind it says they 'hardly slept' for several weeks while writing AI prompts and refining the shots — 'AI didn't make this film. We did'
Comments have been turned off on YouTube
The studio behind it says they 'hardly slept' for several weeks while writing AI prompts and refining the shots — 'AI didn't make this film. We did'
Comments have been turned off on YouTube
December 9, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Commenters point this out in the replies but the ad is incredibly bleak and misanthropic. I'd go just a touch further: it isn't an accident that McD's first foray into AI holiday ads hits the misanthropy. Misanthropy is baked into the AI video form.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
"Markedly below 2008" isn't ideal.
“Americans expect to dial back holiday spending significantly this year.”
(Per @gallup.com / Arbor Data)
(via Liz Ann Sonders)
(Per @gallup.com / Arbor Data)
(via Liz Ann Sonders)
December 9, 2025 at 12:17 PM
"Markedly below 2008" isn't ideal.
Love Russ. May he do this for another decade.
Last night, Russell Westbrook finished with 24 points, 14 assists, and 13 rebounds for his 4th triple-double this season.
He now ranks in the Top 10 in triple-doubles with 7 different franchises.
No other player has done it with more than 5 teams (Mark Jackson).
(via CrazyStats)
#NBA
He now ranks in the Top 10 in triple-doubles with 7 different franchises.
No other player has done it with more than 5 teams (Mark Jackson).
(via CrazyStats)
#NBA
December 9, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Love Russ. May he do this for another decade.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
“.. Consumers are expecting a sharp increase in cost of health care ... per NY Fed survey ..
“.. year-ahead expectation is at its highest since January 2014.”
(via Liz Ann Sonders)
“.. year-ahead expectation is at its highest since January 2014.”
(via Liz Ann Sonders)
December 9, 2025 at 12:11 PM
“.. Consumers are expecting a sharp increase in cost of health care ... per NY Fed survey ..
“.. year-ahead expectation is at its highest since January 2014.”
(via Liz Ann Sonders)
“.. year-ahead expectation is at its highest since January 2014.”
(via Liz Ann Sonders)
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
The President of the United States hates women & kids (especially the many he’s raped).
He hates all Black & brown people.
He hates the bottom 99% of wage earners.
He hates people who want the United States to thrive or even function.
He hates freedom & due process.
Remove him you feckless idiots.
He hates all Black & brown people.
He hates the bottom 99% of wage earners.
He hates people who want the United States to thrive or even function.
He hates freedom & due process.
Remove him you feckless idiots.
December 9, 2025 at 11:43 AM
The President of the United States hates women & kids (especially the many he’s raped).
He hates all Black & brown people.
He hates the bottom 99% of wage earners.
He hates people who want the United States to thrive or even function.
He hates freedom & due process.
Remove him you feckless idiots.
He hates all Black & brown people.
He hates the bottom 99% of wage earners.
He hates people who want the United States to thrive or even function.
He hates freedom & due process.
Remove him you feckless idiots.
DAMN.
With 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 4 blocks 🤯, DERIK QUEEN becomes the FIRST ROOKIE since blocks began being tracked (1973-74) to record a 30-point triple-double with 4 blocks!
#NBA
#NBA
December 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
DAMN.
DUDE.
Derik Queen last night: 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 11/15 from the field...in 33 minutes
Derik Queen rules
December 9, 2025 at 12:08 PM
DUDE.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
good use cases for genAI: 3 or 4, tops
evil use cases: 25,471 and counting
evil use cases: 25,471 and counting
“…Goodyear’s police department appears to be one of the first to substitute hand-drawn sketches of suspects with lifelike images generated by AI.”
Have you seen this (AI-generated) man? Police swap suspect sketches for AI.
Police in a Phoenix suburb appear to be the first department in the nation to use AI for suspect sketches, a practice that raises concerns among some experts.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:19 AM
good use cases for genAI: 3 or 4, tops
evil use cases: 25,471 and counting
evil use cases: 25,471 and counting
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
ICE is now setting up racial profiling checkpoints to stop people on major US highways. These checkpoints are being seen near Washington, DC on the Baltimore-Washington Pkwy, on the DC/Maryland border.
(12|8/25)
(12|8/25)
December 9, 2025 at 3:42 AM
ICE is now setting up racial profiling checkpoints to stop people on major US highways. These checkpoints are being seen near Washington, DC on the Baltimore-Washington Pkwy, on the DC/Maryland border.
(12|8/25)
(12|8/25)
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
It’s a word crime what they did. They made our word we use to describe awareness of oppression into an antiblack slur.
The bitterly ironic thing is that people using woke as a pejorative are NEVER asked to define what they mean by it. Never. The media establishment is culpable in enabling the reactionary backlash against progressive ideas.
December 9, 2025 at 10:48 AM
It’s a word crime what they did. They made our word we use to describe awareness of oppression into an antiblack slur.
That's not great.
AUTHERS: “.. Mortgage rates have risen since the Fed resumed cutting in September. … In recent history, it’s unprecedented for a cutting cycle as aggressive as this one has been to overlap with rising 10-year yields.”
@johnauthers.bsky.social @opinion.bloomberg.com
@johnauthers.bsky.social @opinion.bloomberg.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:02 AM
That's not great.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
And, in fact, it is.
Sorry, I just think it's Toilet Paper USA when I see TPUSA.
December 9, 2025 at 1:40 AM
And, in fact, it is.
Low-key one of my favorite NBA highlights (highlights??) ever.
December 9, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Low-key one of my favorite NBA highlights (highlights??) ever.
💯.
And yeah, he really is awesome in Bosch.
And yeah, he really is awesome in Bosch.
It’s weird how quiet Quentin Tarantino was about Harvey Weinstein sexually harassing his girlfriend Mira Sorvino compared to his criticism of Matthew Lillard and Paul Dano. (BTW Lillard rocks in Bosch.)
December 9, 2025 at 9:08 AM
💯.
And yeah, he really is awesome in Bosch.
And yeah, he really is awesome in Bosch.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
Every legal story now is either
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
October 3, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Every legal story now is either
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
This is buying everything now.
December 8, 2025 at 11:53 PM
This is buying everything now.
Reposted by Emile Avanessian
