A Bridge Too Close?
Immovable objects, wet socks, homie looks, desi vodka.
Isn’t the internet amazing? Many would say there is no such thing as ‘internet culture’, its just culture. But, like for many years now, it continues to surprise and befuddle and charm in myriad ways. A little bit of that randomness leads today.
Bridge vs Truck: moving object takes on an immovable force.
Stephen Fry on AI: Perspectives from a self-proclaimed "ingenuous simpleton”.
Friday Find: Class, charisma, connection, and a mystery.
Arcane: Loved by many, understood by few
Desi Smirnoff: Jamun, mango, lemon, anyone?
With: Viral fish & chips, ICC’s social trial, Prime Video’s recap help.
1. Bridge vs Truck
The internet at large and Youtube in particular, indulges every quirk and interest. There’s channels flying the flag for music, gaming, maekup, anime, sports, gardening, cooking, comedy, science, celebrities and pretty much all of the biggest uniting passions on the planet.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, 11foot8plus8 is a channel focused on just one thing- a solitary, impassive, strong bridge.
Do you think there can be something oddly satisfying about watching a truck get its top peeled off like a tin can? Just as it smashes into a steel beam poised to be its nemesis?
Not really? Millions of our internet brethren would big to differ, if you were to judge by the enduring popularity of this YouTube channel and its accompanying website.
Since 2008, Jürgen Henn has been documenting the ongoing saga of Durham, North Carolina's most infamous bridge, on his website 11foot8. Standing at 11 feet, 8 inches (hence the website's name), the bridge has claimed so many tall vehicles as its victims, it's earned the nickname "the Can Opener." Trucks ignoring or missing the warnings cruise right into it, underestimating its height or overestimating their ability to power through, or both.
And, bam!
The setup is perfect: multiple warning signs, flashing lights, even a height detection system all fail to prevent determined (or distracted) drivers. In 2019, the bridge it was even kindly raised by 8 inches. Undeterred, it continues to feast on clueless or careless trucks, much to the internet's delight. With an average of about 12 crashes a year, they have a fair bit of source material.
If you think this all worthless, as you well may, 187 videos with 95 million views and 328,000 subscribers, seem to say otherwise. Its like a small community, most of whom live nowhere near the bridge, but the channel’s comment section is a curious bowl of joy.
But why, you might ask.
Maybe in a world where authenticity is not only prized but increasingly almost commoditised, there is something- dareisay- refreshingly authentic about the simple physics of a too-tall truck meeting an immovable object. It's unscripted, and somehow both entirely predictable and surprising at the same time.
Or if that’s a bit too theoretical, maybe the bridge's enduring appeal stems also from a seemingly perfect mix of elements: the anticipation (will they heed the warning signs?), the inevitable impact (its rarely ever the same), and the weirdly satisfying aftermath (no serious injuries, just wounded pride, much head-shaking and I suspect, lots of paperwork and some lost jobs).
The other why- why do these trucks keep going? Is there some secret trucker challenge we don’t know about?
There’s a little ten-minute piece, which tries to provide some perspective- “why do motorists continue to crash despite the many warnings, sensors, and signs? And what is it about these crashes that holds our attention? In this piece, we look for the humanity in human error.”
I think that’s just the internet for you, and I somehow find something harmlessly simple about it. Some bloke records and scans through and uploads these, many folk across the world chuckle and exchange notes. What’s so bad about that?
Here’s a selection of comments as well, for your perusal.
“Hold on a second, this channel is literally only about this specific bridge taking the tops off of vehicles?”
“I love this channel: no loud obnoxious intros, plugs, ads or distracting narrations trying to stretch videos into 10 minute ‘algorithm-friendly’ format. This channel knows exactly what we want and gives it to us 100%”
“This is peak can opening. All the way from front to back, accordion crumple, with the door falling over cherry on top. If I need to recommend this channel to anyone, this video might be the go-to.”
“This is the same satisfying feeling as getting the Pringles paper lid off without any residue.”
“After so many haircuts and nibbles since the reconstruction, I was resigned to the fact that full peels were a thing of the past. This has restored my faith in the bridge.”
“Every time I start to forget about this bridge, the algorithm reminds me that you cannot escape awareness of The Can Opener.”
“Its a confluence of being too impractical to increase the clearance, right at an intersection, and thus far has only caused a couple minor injuries. Its an almost perpetual source of entertainment at decidedly light cost overall. Its glorious.”
· Visit 11foot8 · Watch Overheight Must Turn ·
2. Stephen Fry & humanity’s socks.
Invariably self-deprecating and often beautifully perceptive, Stephen Fry recently delivered a most British assessment of artificial intelligence. The self-proclaimed "ingenuous simpleton" is- maybe not known to some-a long-time tech observer. His speech at the King's Digital Futures Institute brings splahes of wit, worry, and wonder.
His message? While we’re busy marvelling (or scoffing) at ChatGPT's ability to write mediocre poetry, AI is sneaking up on us with the subtlety of a ‘Norfolk tide’. One minute you're admiring the distant horizon, the next you're standing knee-deep in disruption, wondering why you didn’t take your socks off. Or something like that.
He uses a couple of recurring threads as analogies. One is that we’re currently in the midst of AI's equivalent of Karl Benz's first automobile. That spluttering, smoking contraption had folks in the 1880s wondering why anyone would choose it over a reliable horse! Those skeptics couldn’t predict highway jams and multi-storeyed carparks; are we being similarly myopic about where AI is going (and taking us with it)?
The real threat though, comes not from sentient intelligence plotting their ascent to becoming our machine overlords. It's from what Fry calls the "Three Cs": Countries, Corporations, and Criminals- all driven by that most predictable of human traits: good, old-fashioned greed. Yeah, that one has never gone out of style.
He does have the beginnings a way forward- treat AI like we treat money: regulated, controlled, and counterfeit-proof. And perhaps – just perhaps – we might want to think twice before letting tech billionaires who've already "disrupted" half our world lead the charge on this one.
Listen or read for an erudite and mildly entertaining (basically, very Fry-esque) call for us to pay more attention to these times, and remember to take our socks off.
3. Friday Find: Class
I was charmed by this gently confident little piece.
Oozing class, a certain charisma and unlikely relatability, despite not having any idea who this gent is. That, in a nutshell, was my view of this little video from fashion brand Aime Leon Dore where Davide Beroncini recalls nuggets of his Sicilian childhood. It is the kind of assured marketing piece I like very much from brands who know what they want to portray and are unafraid to do so.
David who, you say? Beroncini himself is from the world of fashion, the founder of clothing brand Ghiaia. This is part of a campaign driven by the creative concept of ‘The World's Borough’. “The most diverse county in America, Queens, New York, is not only our home, but also a home to residents representing more than 120 countries, speaking more than 135 languages, making it better known as The World's Borough.’
The campaign adopts what is, apparently, known as the ‘Homie Lookbooks’ approach, a new and not-so-new way to create ‘authentic’ perceptions with local tastemakers. A phrase coined by writer Jason Diamond, I understand ‘Homie Lookbook’ to be the choice made by fashion brands to eschew celebrities or supermodels for more relatable figures who have some sort of cultural cache. This influence might be community or interest driven, and helps make the clothes more accessible. The viewer/consumer will hopefully feel, “I get it, I get that” or “Yeah I like this man dude, he’s my kind of dude”.
Jamie Denman has a very interesting perspctive on this here. I leart of Homie Lookbook from Clayton Chambers’ piece. Watch the Davide clip here on IG and check out Aime Leon Dore’s shoot & collection with him here.
Bonus Find.
Sweet Suspicion: A Waitrose Mystery is an ad that definitely has me waiting for Part 2. Not in small part because of its amazing cast. Its really all-star, with Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen, Fleabag’s Sean Clifford, Sex Education’s Rakhee Thakrar and Slow Horses’ Dustin Demri-Burns. Waitrose says it was created “in response to customer feedback about Christmas ads being a little same-y:. Now that, I can concur with.
More investigative fun? The accompanying social activation sees a Line of Duty stars get into the case!
4. Arcane
Netflix & Riot Games’ stupendous League of Legends series Arcane, which just dropped the first instalment of its second season, is done. There’s been much shock & disappointment amongst fans, because the show stood out for being not just a great game adaptation, but also genuinely quality storytelling.
Alas, all that quality comes at a cost. There’s chatter about the whys and whats, of course. TLDR? The 18 episodes of the two seasons of "Arcane" will have cost Riot in the region of $250 million to produce and promote, making it by far the most expensive animated series ever developed. Its cost is more in the ballpark of medium budget animated movies, which of course have an entirely different model to recoup their costs. Now Arcane’s first season was an unqualified success in so many ways- it was the No. 1 TV show in 85 of Netflix’s countries at some point, and collected four Emmy Awards in 2022 to boot. Yet, there is no way for us to know the true extent of the value Netflix, and more so Riot, have got from the show, despite how brilliant it is. Riot’s move into Entertainment in general too seems to have stalled besides this one (very notable) play.
But! All the talk of costs and comparisons does spark one question- are you thinking of developing a film yet??
Read · Why Riot Games’ Entertainment Aims Stalled · The Real Reason Netflix Canceled Arcane ·
5. Desi Smirnoff
And lets finish on a high (pun unintended).
Smirnoff India just launched new Flavour Designs.
Bold flavours, meant to tap into the nostalgia or deep connect with ‘traditional’ indian flavours. So we have Jamun, Mango, Lime. Would you try them? I know I would pick up this bottle to look at it again, because the designs are popping!
Brought back to mind these gorgeously striking Smirnoff designs from 2017 when the brand collaborated with HP to celebrate diversity (before it had become a department). “Everyone is the same. Everyone is different”, they said.
And what’s a good drink without some masala peanuts?
Masala Peanuts
(where I share stories or tidbits I find interesting)
Know. ICC, cricket’s governing body ran a trial, using AI tools to reduce social media abuse for women players. Apparently one of the biggest social media moderation trials in sport .
Read: Prime Video is looking to solve that very Peak TV viewer problem- needing a recap. Their X Ray recap feature, an extension of their nifty (but under utilised?) X Ray functionality, will use Generative AI (of course) to help us get recaps of seasons, half season, episodes, or even bits within an episode.
Watch? There’s a ‘chip shop diva’ gone viral in the UK. Mundane content that’s just gone batshit popular. You can see how it might be mildly amusing once you dive into the comments, but its one of them social videos that has me going, "what’s all the fuss about?”. Insert shrug emoji- that’s Tiktok for ya!
That’s all, folks! Heck, this filter coffee is yum.