Is This 864-Page Western the Cure to Toxic Masculinity?

Plus: the death of doggy bags and the TGI Fridays-ification of almost every restaurant on your radar

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.

Whoa, that White Lotus episode last nigh — actually, I’m not going to go there. Here’s where I will go: if you’re an OG member of our Breakfast Club—THANK YOU—your year-long membership is expiring this month. But fear not, you can resubscribe right here, and unlock 2,500 $FLY (good for your first month) on us.

For consideration …

• Lonely men, sex robots, and TikTok Westerns
  We’ll begin with the bad news, at least for us fellas. Masculinity, it seems, remains in crises, ascending—some would argue—toward its apotheosis. Studies find that many young men suffer from a lack of purpose, leading to self-isolation and loneliness, creating a vacuum for the likes of Manosphere charlatans like Andrew Tate to swoop in. Not good. Also, there’s porn, the ubiquity of which has—according to The Atlantic—made many men prefer it over real relationships. To add fuel to the fire, Elon Musk says to expect “AI-powered sex robots” within the next five years. The alarming stats don’t stop there: 63 percent of men under 30 identify as single, blaming, among other things, the superficiality of dating apps. So what’s the antidote to all of this? Enter Lonesome Dove, the 864-page Western about an epic cattle drive (and men contending with the fact that they’ll never be the man they wanted to be) that won the Pulitzer in 1986 and is currently having a viral moment on TikTok.
  

• Death of the doggy bag
  In a world in which Gen Z is spending twice as much as they’re saving, just meeting basic needs can be difficult. Well, now your young, FOMO-stricken, financially-strapped friends can take a loan out for … pizza. By partnering with Klarna, DoorDash will allow users to “buy now, pay later.” Interesting, though perhaps not the path to financial solvency. Instead, the kids should consider the doggy bag. Many operators are seeing a decline, maybe even death, of the tried and true practice of taking unfinished food home. Blame it on shifting social norms, post-dinner drinking plans, and the fact that people often overorder so they can try one of everything. Still, facts are facts. According to a 2023 study, “the average American leaves 53 pounds, or $329 worth, of food on the plate at restaurants every year.” Have these people never experienced the deliciousness of a day-old pork bun reheated in the microwave? Or maybe they just need more comfort food to rejoin the clean plate club. For the kid in all of us, there’s the fancy TGI Fridays-ification of just about every restaurant on your radar.
  

• Vibecesscion
  Oh, I’m not done with Gen Z this morning. Or at least the terminally online, many of whom see vibes of an oncoming recession. Key predictors include Lady Gaga’s return to dance-pop, Will Smith making music again, and Southwest killing its free checked bags policy (also, there's Peter Thiel). I’m no Paul Krugman, but sounds ominous. And here’s a sinister trend: Snapchat’s half-swipe feature, which allows message recipients to read a message in full without said message ever being marked as seen to the sender. The solve? Subscribing to Snapchat+ of course, which for $4 per month alerts the sender with a pair of emoji eyes that the message is being read. Gross. Can’t we leave these already anxiety-ridden kids alone without trying to monetize every single one of their insecurities? As studies show, from dating to schools to jobs, no generation has ever been ghosted like Gen Z.

Quicker hits …

• Lindsey Vonn stormed to second place in the final race of her comeback season. You go, girl.

• A content creator spent $340 on this cup of coffee.

• Parisian department store Printemps finally opens in Manhattan.

• Amazon fast tracks the next Bond movie (and gives it an impressive budget).

Enjoy your week.

BL

Ben Leventhal
Founder + CEO
Blackbird