Welcome to Small Talk, an email I serve out every Monday morning exclusively to our Breakfast Club members in NYC and Charleston. The premise is simple: my top of mind topics for the week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners ahead anytime some chatter is required. From now on, I’ll be sharing it with subscribers of The Supersonic as well. Enjoy, and crib topics as necessary.
Tariffs. Grammys. Whatever Elon Musk is currently up to. You’ve read those stories already. Here are the ones you might’ve missed. Scan them and go be the small talk star at every meal this week.
For consideration …
Dragon riding romance
Enough about AI already, let’s talk books, preferably of the paperback variety. While the jury’s still out on how badly social media brain rot has addled our ability to sit down and read something cover to cover (remember those quaint days?)—tl;dr: some data says Americans are reading less than ever, with our phone addictions to blame, while these scientists argue there is no such evidence supporting such claims—there’s still good news for us literary nerds, not to mention the publishing industry at large. First up: Rebecca Yarros, whose romantasy novel Onyx Storm, the third book in a trilogy concerning the trysts taking place at a dragon riding academy (don’t act like you had to google that) sold 2.7 million copies in its debut week, making it “the fastest selling adult novel in 20 years.” Then there’s “I Who Have Never Known Men,” a minor French dystopian novel from 1995 that, thanks to TikTok (and perhaps the Trump election), has mysteriously become a major hit, selling 100,000 copies in 2024 alone. Indeed, “booksellers can barely keep the book in stock,” with many Gen-Z fans claiming it will “change your life.” BookTok’s influence looms large (six-figure publishing deals are back, as is Barnes and Noble, and then, here in NYC, there’s the star power of Sarah McNally, proprietress of indie bookselling empire McNally Jackson), which is why Elle sat down with some of the platform’s biggest creators to talk future publishing trends, like genre remixing (I’m currently at work on my barista turned crime-fighting vigilante novel, if anyone’s asking).White House Press Correspondent Logan Paul
Not only do restaurants have a seating hierarchy (high wattage tables vs. being outcast to Siberia somewhere near the kitchen or bathroom), so does the White House Press Briefing Room. While the front of the room, i.e. close to the lectern, was always reserved for reporters of the most august of publications, now those ink-stained journalists will need to rub elbows with members of “new media,” your podcasters, influencers etc., who the Trump Administration is making prominent room for. Get ready for Logan Paul to press the President on the nuances of his isolationist foreign policy. Some people would argue said “creators” should stick to what they do best: lucrative branded content. As Casey Lewis—my go-to oracle for all things Gen-Z—reports, Meta wants to woo TikTok creators over to Instagram. In a leaked deal, IG is offering up to $300,000/6 months for creators to exclusively post to Reels (with a reel being exclusive to IG for its first 3 months). As evidenced above by BookTok, creators do have their merits. Even beleaguered dating apps have seen success collaborating with some. Tinder recently worked with influencers, who chronicled their time on the app, and has since seen significant tailwinds, with a big uptick in brand sentiment. Why are influencers so effective? The Atlantic blames the “McVulnerability Trap,” in which influencers overshare their emotions—case in point: Selena Gomez’s since deleted tearful post re: Trump immigration raids—and, in so doing, become our emotional proxies, while at the same time peddling either their own goods and services or those of the brand sponsoring their posts. On the other end of this lucrative parasocial relationship sits us, the consumer, rendered lonelier and lonelier by our social media addiction, and thus—as studies have proven—more susceptible to impulse purchases. Ka-ching. Or, to put it more eruditely: “This is, perhaps, one of the more insidious effects of McVulnerability: It helps encourage a self-perpetuating cycle of materialism and loneliness, in which one inevitably spawns the other.”Luddites ftw?
If all this makes you want to go live off the grid (just don’t delete that Blackbird app 😉), know that luddites are having a moment, too. Take actor Christopher Walken. While the man might star in a successful sci-fi series in "Severance," he also, by his own admission, has never owned a cellphone, sent an email, or “what do you call it, Twittered.” Despite all this, the 81-year old two-time Academy Award-winner seems pretty happy (aside from the fact that he told Will Ferrell that their “more cowbell” SNL skit ruined his life). Elsewhere, and back by popular demand, is The Luddite Club. First reported by the Times two years ago, these reformed “screenagers" have branched out from Brooklyn, matriculated at colleges and universities across the country, and are still inspiring (and recruiting) peers with their conscious consumption of tech. Meaning, yes, they still rely on flip phones.
Quicker hits …
Lego made a Van Gogh set and it's poised to sell out.
Russia is betting big on the Arctic (and is about to beat everyone else to it).
There is now a "Netlfix of Maine," streaming content exclusively about, you guessed it, Maine.
Enjoy your week.
BL
Ben Leventhal
Founder + CEO
Blackbird