In his famous poem "Pygmalion and the Statue" the Roman poet Ovid describes Pygmalion, a man who loathed the promiscuous women of his day (this was some time between 43 BC and 17 AD) Avoiding women was a lonely business, and Pygmalion happened to be a master sculptor. so he decided to carve a statue of his perfect woman as a way to stay busy. He toiled away to create "a Maid, so fair, As Nature could not with his Art compare" Pygmalion's finished idol was so perfectly beautiful that the sculptor forgot she was merely a statue: "Art hid with Art, so well performed the Cheat, It caught the Carver with his own Deceit: He knows 'tis Madness, yet he must adore, And still the more he knows it, loves the more: The Flesh, or what so seems, he touches oft, Which feels so smooth, that he believes it soft." Aphrodite (the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation) appreciated his efforts, and brought Pygmalion's statue to life. He named her Galatea and the two had a son, who eventually founded the city of Paphos. Sounds like a happy ending, right? Maybe not, considering Pygmalion’s motivations. He only sculpted Galatea because he was so discontent with the behavior of real women. Here are the first words of the poem: "Pygmalion loathing their lascivious Life, Abhorred all Womankind, but most a Wife" 2,000 years ago when Ovid wrote his poem, the only imaginable solution to the conservative Pygmalion’s loneliness was painstakingly carving a statue of the perfect woman, which was then brought to life only due to the benevolence of an actual god. Today there's no need for all that effort — people can simply download an app.

I live in NYC so this caught my attention. I think this is actually a brilliant marketing stunt either for a movie / TV show... or it's some kind of genius new mash-up of Squid Games x HQ Trivia x Survivor. some sort of live IRL meets internet game show so after I watched the Dextero video I went to Mark's IG, and he had an IG story up... which had a "corporate statement" from his PR team, and mentioned an IG page: instagram.com/hi_hi_ at this point I'm intrigued, so I checked out the account. the bio says "Would you risk it all to have it all?" now I'm even more intrigued. the grid shows some "quiet luxury" lifestyle photos. the kind of vibes you might get from an episode of Succession/Billions. (more on this in a moment) what is going on here? now is a good time to disclaim that I'm not affiliated or paid or anything at all. this is definitely a marketing stunt but I am not associated — I just think that there's some serious game happening here so. the Mark Normand incident is a story highlight on the IG page, above these lifestyle photos. and there are two other stunts as highlights also they feel kinda like the MSCHF stunts, with the red boots, but even more stunt-y. a pair of diamond-studded shoes stolen from an art show and Tyra Banks getting annoyed by two furries sitting courtside at an NBA game... this part makes it feel like a TV show, especially the heist one, which felt relatively over-produced to the others. but the part that kept me intrigued was the hihi applications highlight. idk why I instinctively watched this one last, probably because it felt like an ad. this shows some random people talking to their cameras. they're all "applying" to do .. something... by answering the same set of questions. the questions involve risk-taking and evoke the question from the bio, "would you risk it all to have it all" ok so now I'm thinking 1 of 2 things. these are all actors and is either a very smart movie / TV show marketing stunt, or....... I'm starting to think this is some sort of game show. people take risks in public — by running on stage at comedy shows, bothering Tyra Banks in a furry costume etc — for a chance to win the lifestyle portrayed on the page! the stuff on the grid is presenting the lifestyle you get if you "win" whatever is going on here. if this is not promoting a movie or TV show... then it seems like it could be promoting (or just the entire marketing and distribution plan) for some kind of innovative new reality game show. the entire world is the stage. HQ Trivia meets Squid Games meets Survivor either way... what a concept. OK now here is the counter-take. maybe aviation people can help out here remember the Succession/Billions vibe I mentioned? don't ask how I remember this, but that helicopter tail number (N13HF) is a helicopter that is featured in Billions. funny enough the way its spelled almost reminded me of MSCHF in 1337speak. it's definitely in the show: impdb.fandom.com/wiki/Billio… I'm not an aviation expert. either this helicopter is only used for TV shows, or I just doxxed myself as someone who has never rode in a helicopter before. so maybe... it's a marketing stunt. part of me hopes that it is, since that's at least somewhat familiar. but it could also be something entirely unique either way I have a feeling this IG account is going to have a lot more than 1.3k followers soon.

But there was a pretty tepid response when Jobs announced the concept of a "breakthrough internet communications device" — like the audience didn’t really grasp the concept. That "internet communications" feature is the killer app for your iPhone, and the audience totally missed it.

Steve Jobs famously introduced the first iPhone as 3 distinct products: 1. a wide-screen iPod w/ touch-controls 2. a mobile phone 3. a breakthrough communications device Of course, these were all one product. But there was something interesting about the audience's response.