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Tag: streaming

18jan26

Published January 18, 2026 by Warren Ellis

One thing I love about January is that all the summer clothes are cheap. And, as my family frequently have been heard to observe, when it comes to spending money on myself, I am in fact very cheap. So I just bought a bunch of linen and summer weight denim clothes for very little. This is, of course, the equivalent of Groundhog Day in the US, in that it guarantees that winter will extend into June. But I just got notification of a royalty cheque from Marvel, so fuck it. If I’m very lucky, the clothes will even fit. Online shopping, right?

Newsletter went out this morning. Minimum Viable Newsletter, as all the things I’d planned to do with it blew up on me last week. Having to pivot barely three weeks into the new year is not ideal but what’re you going to do? Not that I’ve fully landed on the pivot yet. I’ve been writing newsletters since the 1990s, and never figured out how to turn them into a “business” or any kind of useful cultural pursuit. It’s weird for me to have so much inbox competition now – every fucker has a newsletter, or an email list as we once called it. People earn millions off newsletters now, and all I ever used them for was to say hello to people, tell them what I was doing and show them stuff I was interested in. I feel faintly stupid and obsolete these days. Let’s face it, I still write on a “blog” (which is actually just a searchable database for things I’ve read, listened to or brought into the house). May as well be knapping flint like Will Lord.

TODAY:

TELEMETRY:

STATUS: Apparently I’m losing the afternoon to helping to hang curtains somewhere and it’s all very confusing. I’m putting an analogue watch on today, which is how I signal to myself that I am offline for a while.
READING: SPIES: THE EPIC INTELLIGENCE WAR BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, Calder Walton (UK) (US+)
LISTENING: New Music Show

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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Subathons

Published November 28, 2024 by Warren Ellis

A subathon is a type of livestream in which viewer donations add more time to a descending timer that counts down to the end of the stream

Lately I’ve become obsessed with live streaming. I think it remains a one of the last mainstream content format that hasn’t become fully ubiquitous. Yes, plenty of live streamers are A-list creators, our future president was interviewed live on Kick, but live streaming in itself is still not a content format that millions of adult internet users utilize or consume.

I think that is going to change soon though, especially as people become more interested in communal experiences online. Kai Cenat’s current subathon is something I’ve been following very closely.

In just his first couple weeks into the 30 day event, Kai shattered viewership records, generated millions of hours watched and showed what deep emotional connection streamers can build with their audiences. He has generated a non-stop stream of pop culture news, peppering his show with appearances from celebs like Benny Blanco, Chris Brown, and others. Cenat’s subathon success, I think, will be looked at as a pivotal moment for the format and for Cenat as a creator.

Livestreaming became a Thing. Netflix and Amazon are in it now.

Cenat attended Frederick Douglass Academy for his secondary education. He graduated high school in 2019[12] and attended the State University of New York at Morrisville shortly after,[13][14] to study business administration. He dropped out in 2020[15] after struggling to keep up with both schoolwork and content creation.

Somewhere in the back of my head, “live streaming” is still someone talking into a webcam from a back room over a one-meg hard line, or shaky phone-cam from a street. Now it’s telethons but for paying the livestreamer. Who gets celebrities to show up on camera, taking it right out of the “Truman Show”-y zone that livestreaming previously enjoyed.

Seeing livecasting and justin.tv et al become this is kind of bizarre to me.

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Published May 13, 2024 by Warren Ellis

The other night, my partner was telling me that a bunch of her friends were talking about the tv show BABY REINDEER, and I commented that nobody will even remember it in a month – the half-life of hit streaming shows is like ten days now.

This afternoon, I opened this post from Jay Springett:

The idea that a new work must come out, be consumed, burn bright before we all collectively move on to the next thing is a crazy one. It’s rotting peoples brains, its rotting culture.

The other week a friend was bemoaning in the group chat telling us about the following interaction Her newest book came out in February, and she was being interviewed on a podcast. During the conversation the host apparently straight up ask the following (I’m paraphrasing): “Why are you still talking about your book? what about AI? what about xyz? whats next for you?”. Translated: Why are you still, 4 months on, talking about the book that took you 3 years to write?

The whole thing feels very sharp and true to me.

Had the show dropped weekly as ‘appointment viewing’ we’d all still be discussing it. And thats just better for culture. Fallout would have stayed at the edge of the cultural zeitgeist for 8 weeks, not 10 days. Its release would have had a bigger, deeper cultural impact. It would have had a chance to begin the process of ‘settling in’.
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