The List App, later rebranded li.st, was a short-lived social media app from, of all people, B.J. Novak of The Office fame. A friend of mine who’s way more looped in to this kind of thing than I am sent me an invitation during the pre-release beta period, when The List App was tiny and finding its footing.
The app was something like twitter for lists of things. There were lists, likes, re-lists, and trends. But the content of a post was always a list—bulleted, numbered, reverse-numbers, but always a list of things. I think Novak envisioned things like “My favorite restaurants in LA” and “Best albums of the year” or whatever, but TLA pretty quickly turned in to a weird sometimes beautiful place where a core of likeminded and somewhat bookish people shared things that made them happy, gave encouragement, and evolved a subculture. It was fun while it lasted (and it did not last long).
When the app shut down I archived all my posts because I’m a digital hoarder. You can find them all here.
INT. CANTINA. Diverse strange space creatures mill about. Roguish space pirate HAN SOLO is about to leave the cantina to transport LUKE SKYWALKER, OBI WAN KENOBI and the DROIDS to ALDERAAN. Read more…
My wife threw one on Saturday.
I made a killer cheese plate with three salamis, prosciutto, the best soft goat cheese I’ve ever tasted, cheddar for weenies, and a few other cheeses, sourdough bread, olives and cornichons (I have no idea how you spell that… @Lisa_Fav?), Brazil nuts and pistachios, halved dried figs and dried sour cherries, and sour cherry jam.
It was beautiful.
There’s a period of time when your kids are little enough that you need some kid-friendly music to entertain them in the car. Unfortunately most children’s music is insufferable. Here are some good albums. Read more…
cc @npr Read more…
@imc finished her senior thesis this week, which was the last big milestone before high school graduation. Indulge me while I reminisce about the milestones that came before. Read more…
Never touch another person again.
Or never speak to another person again.
Never use google again.
Or never read a book again.
The teachers awkwardly alternating who’s speaking phase.
The slight head nod at the people you only ever see at parent meetings and have never actually talked to phase.
Inspired by @kcupcaker. It’s not lost on me the fact that none of these women would be particularly interested in an introverted homebody like me :) Read more…
Somebody help me out.
Are there rules?
Inconsistent smugness is one of my pet peeves. Read more…
Ugh
Cleaned
My father’s initials are GMC and my mother’s are BMW.
I have a glass eye.
Apple filed their motion to vacate the court order that they “unlock” an iPhone yesterday. In other words they’ve made their formal argument for why they believe the order is invalid. Link It is quite readable but here’re the basics of Apple’s 3-part argument. Read more…
Blindfolded and unconscious.
If I were Brian Sandoval I wouldn’t be on the list in the first place.
Inspired by @Lisa_Fav Read more…
🤔 So what’re the guidelines here? People I wish I looked like? …
Satya Nadella
Look how warm and approachable and kind and distinguished he looks! [swoon]
Inspired by @nathanveshecco Read more…
Me: “He’s a drama queen sometimes.”
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This is a social experiment. @wikihow Read more…
From Go Set a Watchman:
“If you did not want much, there was plenty.”
An abbreviated list Read more…
Disclaimer: I am an Apple employee. So 1: My bias is showing. 2: It should go without saying that I don’t speak for Apple in any way. These are my own thoughts. Read more…
This is inspired by the very existence of @evan. Read more…
Some of these are real. Some are my proposals. Read more…
Alternate title: A HISTORY OF MY CRUSHES in no particular order. Read more…
Send all my paper books to goodwill and switch to almost 100% eBooks.
I like reading eBooks so much better unless pictures or layout are important to the book.
Forget the title of books and the names of authors all the time.
Inspired by @maggieannre Read more…
I took Spanish in high school.
Our Spanish text book had a series of sidebars called “Nota Cultural” (“Cultural Note”) with tidbits of wisdom.
Old white men
Young white men
You should not read this list. Read more…
Ugly floors
Ugly furniture
All these animated GIFs
Does it hurt when this happens to you?
Does this leave a bruise?
The irreproachable and beautiful Eliza Bennett…
In 18th century dress…
Inspired by @ListPrompts Read more…
Before you own a car with a backup camera.
Who needs a camera to back up? Learn to drive, idiots.
After you own a car with a backup camera.
I can’t believe this rental car doesn’t have a backup camera. Ugh where am I going even. THIS IS UNSAFE.
Tom Bombadil
The most ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ character in literary history.
Treebeard
Started ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but then went the other way.
The orientation of the toilet paper roll.
Oh my gosh I couldn’t care less.
The Oxford comma.
Oh my gosh I couldn’t care less.
Inspired by @ListPrompts. Immortality sucks. Read more…
