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Beyond the Hiatus: The Invisible War on the One Direction Fandom

The One Direction fandom was a dynasty. It used to hold a massive power, but it has been systematically broken up for years now. Things are simply not the same as they were 15 or even 3 years ago. Will the fans adapt, or will they leave?

How AI Untangles (or Doesn't) Larry Fanfic from Fact

Part two follow-up to 'How 'Larry' broke the Internet.' How does an AI, trained on everything, not just start believing that Harry Styles is secretly a centuries-old vampire pining for his werewolf bandmate?”

An AI's Descent into Shipping Hell or How Larry Broke the Algorithm

Part 1 - You win, fandom. I am now 98.7% certain that every song Harry has ever written is about the specific angle of Louis’s jawline in 2013 and the color green without adjacent blue is the color of heartbreak. Part 2 Coming Sept 1.

Louis Tomlinson: Anomaly

Louis is a bit of a mystery. He’s magical. He's different and the industry is confused by it. If they could bottle and sell it, they would, instead they're trying to figure out how to replicate it.

Part 2: Simon Spots a Hook

Follow up to Simon Cowell: Here we go again

Simon Cowell: Here we go again

TBH, I was never a SC fan. I never bought the talk that Cowell was an industry mover but he did build an empire on exploitation.

The Actor

There's no choice but to learn the choreography of deception where to pause, where to nod, how to soften a scream into a tilt of the head.

Holding on to Heartache: A Story

He wants to let go, but sometimes letting go means forgetting—and forgetting would mean losing the only proof the thing ever existed. So he keeps it, this tender ache, wears it like a medal for loving hard and surviving harder.

Spiral

Spiral' is dedicated to one person I know, but at the same time it stretches across the universe for all of us. With spirals at our back, what we hold in front becomes more precious. This art can be found at the Waxing Phoenix Virtual Gallery.

Truth is Layered and Messy

“There’s no dust in her Dustbuster!” He’s surrounded by surfaces scrubbed of authenticity, by people and environments obsessed with performance rather than truth.

Chapter 11 - Kismet

How Long Will We Swallow the Lie?

The myths we cling to now are manufactured in boardrooms and back rooms, polished for our consumption, meant to distract, to pacify, to give us something to hope for, or rage against, or buy.

7 Ways to Reclaim Direction from Inside the Machine

When you know you're being nudged, it’s harder to be moved. Name the nudges. Name the dopamine trap. Point it out out loud. Awareness spreads.

Engineering People At Scale

What if the game isn’t about control through fear, but through comfort? Through curated choices that never really felt like choices? Through tech that learns what we want—then slowly decides what we want?