This here is a cortisol-lowering piece of music. Its video sets the scene with a meditative view out of a car window, rolling past lakes, shadows and sun-bleached fields, and sweet strums open the track so casually that it might be less of a song than a dude messing around with some chords. But the sounds cohere and pick up steam— even urgency— at the chorus when the vocals fill every syllable with the song’s title, “Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun.” It’s yawns punctuated by mouthfuls, which is exactly as the artist intended: Space is an instrument for Kevin Morby, one that allows you to see through the recording to what’s going on where he is in the Texas countryside. They say music transports. Don’t miss this ride.
Good thing we started out low-stress cause this one’s a doozy. The good: there’s news outside electoral politics this week. The bad: it’s about an ill-placed dick. Last week, several star writers at the New Yorker gathered for election prep on Zoom (sorry, politics are still a part of the story), during which the writer Jeffrey Toobin pulled out his dick on camera and started… you know. He claims it was a mistake and he thought he was on “mute” (do cameras mute?). Because that is…. not an excuse to wank during a work meeting, he’s now on leave from both The New Yorker and CNN, where he is a legal analyst. Already, a number of other big media dudes have come to his defense, asking why he should be punished for something “everybody does.” But can we get like one ounce of context? Pretty much everyone masturbates; pretty much no one does it at work.
In the less sensational world of work chat, Slack has launched a super sleek, branded sneaker in partnership with… wait for it… Cole Haan. Their limited-edition collab (incidentally conceived over Slack) consists of a pre-existing CH sneaker model released in Slack-branded colors, and as their brand reps say, it “isn’t just two great brands coming together—it’s a living example of how Slack makes great things possible.” This extraordinarily random campaign is almost certainly a crusade to sway Cole-Haan-wearing olds to the chat box from email or whatever, though I can’t imagine they’ll actually buy and wear neon-and-white yeezy knockoffs. Regardless, let’s all pray that it works, for the sole reason that there are no cameras on Slack.
Looking to cut something in your life other than problematic staff? Look no further than the knives Food52 designed with their community of cooks. There’s the classic chef’s knife, of course, but don’t sleep on the others: a serrated bread blade makes easy work of crusty bread, and a paring knife does the small jobs. All are forged from super-sharp Japanese steel, with soft-touch handles in pretty colors. No other knives need apply— find them here.
