more about the creators of South Park https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-consistency-of-their-genius-7c1 i liked the author's point about anti-celebrities, or people whose works precede their personalities. there are many other examples one could have chosen, (banksy, daft punk, satoshi....) to compare Stone and Parker to, but i guess the weren't talking about anonymity, but rather understated-ness. > That those brand names are more recognizable than their creators — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — tells you something of what they have in common: a commitment to their own unique creativity, rather than their fame, and the discipline and grit to explore it for decades. Anti-celebrities, in their time but never of it, perfectionist but unafraid of failure, these two duos are proof, it seems to me, that a democratic culture, even one as decadent as ours, can still spawn excellence and intelligence, spanning high and low, and generating what I can only call joy. i'll admit here that i haven't watched much of South Park, but i have heard of some of the antics the show has caused, and am abundantly familiar with the joke that "gingers have no souls." this must be my signal to start watching a little more, as now i've heard it come up a handful of times in the past week. > And in two decades of an acutely polarized and politicized culture, what team is South Park on? Precisely. You can’t tell, can you? — which is a staggering achievement in its own right. And it’s not about risk-aversion: the duo was targeted by Islamist terror and [didn’t blink](https://www.mtv.com/news/o0rfoh/south-park-creators-say-muhammad-episode-was-censored-without-their-approval). They also took on the censors at the MPAA — savor this memo — and obliterated one of George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” by saying [“shit”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntZQl9vRmw) 162 times in one episode. obviosly the writer of this piece is a fan, and biased though it may be, there are some interesting insights embedded therein. again, i'll have to watch more for myself to verify these claims. but i am intrigued. > They have done all this, taken no prisoners, and remain uncancellable. Why? Because their mockery is genuinely universal (including themselves), their courage is real, and because they remain humane. ... Matt and Trey are also huge sell-outs who haven’t actually sold out: incredibly shrewd from the get-go in controlling and owning their creation, they have massively monetized it since without ever compromising an iota. Paramount paid them [$900 million](https://stacker.news/items/1050472/r/unschooled) for their latest contract. And they’ve done all this without ever parroting the piety of some mega-stars and by doggedly retaining their personal privacy. as i mentiond at the beginning of the post, the tie-in to the Pet Shop Boys at the end could have been replaced for any number of other artists/creators, although i can see the relevance here. https://stacker.news/items/1053999

more about the creators of South Park https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-consistency-of-their-genius-7c1 i liked the author's point about anti-celebrities, or people whose works precede their personalities. there are many other examples one could have chosen, (banksy, daft punk, satoshi....) to compare Stone and Parker to, but i guess the weren't talking about anonymity, but rather understated-ness. > That those brand names are more recognizable than their creators — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — tells you something of what they have in common: a commitment to their own unique creativity, rather than their fame, and the discipline and grit to explore it for decades. Anti-celebrities, in their time but never of it, perfectionist but unafraid of failure, these two duos are proof, it seems to me, that a democratic culture, even one as decadent as ours, can still spawn excellence and intelligence, spanning high and low, and generating what I can only call joy. i'll admit here that i haven't watched much of South Park, but i have heard of some of the antics the show has caused, and am abundantly familiar with the joke that "gingers have no souls." this must be my signal to start watching a little more, as now i've heard it come up a handful of times in the past week. > And in two decades of an acutely polarized and politicized culture, what team is South Park on? Precisely. You can’t tell, can you? — which is a staggering achievement in its own right. And it’s not about risk-aversion: the duo was targeted by Islamist terror and [didn’t blink](https://www.mtv.com/news/o0rfoh/south-park-creators-say-muhammad-episode-was-censored-without-their-approval). They also took on the censors at the MPAA — savor this memo — and obliterated one of George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” by saying [“shit”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntZQl9vRmw) 162 times in one episode. obviosly the writer of this piece is a fan, and biased though it may be, there are some interesting insights embedded therein. again, i'll have to watch more for myself to verify these claims. but i am intrigued. > They have done all this, taken no prisoners, and remain uncancellable. Why? Because their mockery is genuinely universal (including themselves), their courage is real, and because they remain humane. ... Matt and Trey are also huge sell-outs who haven’t actually sold out: incredibly shrewd from the get-go in controlling and owning their creation, they have massively monetized it since without ever compromising an iota. Paramount paid them [$900 million](https://stacker.news/items/1050472/r/unschooled) for their latest contract. And they’ve done all this without ever parroting the piety of some mega-stars and by doggedly retaining their personal privacy. as i mentiond at the beginning of the post, the tie-in to the Pet Shop Boys could have been replaced for any number of other artists/creators, although i can see the relevance here. https://stacker.news/items/1053999

more about the creators of South Park https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-consistency-of-their-genius-7c1 i liked the author's point about anti-celebrities, or people whose works precede their personalities. there are many other examples one could have chosen, (banksy, daft punk, satoshi....) to compare Stone and Parker to, but i guess the weren't talking about anonymity, but rather understated-ness. > That those brand names are more recognizable than their creators — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — tells you something of what they have in common: a commitment to their own unique creativity, rather than their fame, and the discipline and grit to explore it for decades. Anti-celebrities, in their time but never of it, perfectionist but unafraid of failure, these two duos are proof, it seems to me, that a democratic culture, even one as decadent as ours, can still spawn excellence and intelligence, spanning high and low, and generating what I can only call joy. i'll admit here that i haven't watched much of south park, but i have heard of some of the antics the show has caused, and am abundantly familiar with the joke that gingers have no souls. this must be my signal to start watching a little more, as now i've heard it come up a handful of times in the past week. > And in two decades of an acutely polarized and politicized culture, what team is South Park on? Precisely. You can’t tell, can you? — which is a staggering achievement in its own right. And it’s not about risk-aversion: the duo was targeted by Islamist terror and [didn’t blink](https://www.mtv.com/news/o0rfoh/south-park-creators-say-muhammad-episode-was-censored-without-their-approval). They also took on the censors at the MPAA — savor this memo — and obliterated one of George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” by saying [“shit”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntZQl9vRmw) 162 times in one episode. obviosly the writer of this piece is a fan, and biased though it may be, there are some interesting insights embedded therein. again, i'll have to watch more for myself to verify these claims. but i am intrigued. > They have done all this, taken no prisoners, and remain uncancellable. Why? Because their mockery is genuinely universal (including themselves), their courage is real, and because they remain humane. ... Matt and Trey are also huge sell-outs who haven’t actually sold out: incredibly shrewd from the get-go in controlling and owning their creation, they have massively monetized it since without ever compromising an iota. Paramount paid them [$900 million](https://stacker.news/items/1050472/r/unschooled) for their latest contract. And they’ve done all this without ever parroting the piety of some mega-stars and by doggedly retaining their personal privacy. as i mentiond at the beginning of the post, the tie-in to the Pet Shop Boys could have been replaced for any number of other artists/creators, although i can see the relevance here. https://stacker.news/items/1053999

more about the creators of South Park https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-consistency-of-their-genius-7c1 i liked the author's point about anti-celebrities, or people whose works precede their personalities. there are many other examples the could have chosen, (banksy, daft punk, satoshi....) to compare Stone and Parker to, but i guess the weren't talking about anonymity, only understatedness. > That those brand names are more recognizable than their creators — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — tells you something of what they have in common: a commitment to their own unique creativity, rather than their fame, and the discipline and grit to explore it for decades. Anti-celebrities, in their time but never of it, perfectionist but unafraid of failure, these two duos are proof, it seems to me, that a democratic culture, even one as decadent as ours, can still spawn excellence and intelligence, spanning high and low, and generating what I can only call joy. i'll admit here that i haven't watched much of south park, but i have heard of some of the antics the show has caused, and am abundantly familiar with the joke that gingers have no souls. this must be my signal to start watching a little more, as now i've heard it come up a handful of times in the past week. > And in two decades of an acutely polarized and politicized culture, what team is South Park on? Precisely. You can’t tell, can you? — which is a staggering achievement in its own right. And it’s not about risk-aversion: the duo was targeted by Islamist terror and [didn’t blink](https://www.mtv.com/news/o0rfoh/south-park-creators-say-muhammad-episode-was-censored-without-their-approval). They also took on the censors at the MPAA — savor this memo — and obliterated one of George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” by saying [“shit”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntZQl9vRmw) 162 times in one episode. obviosly the writer of this piece is a fan, and biased though it may be, there are some interesting insights embedded therein. again, i'll have to watch more for myself to verify these claims. but i am intrigued. > They have done all this, taken no prisoners, and remain uncancellable. Why? Because their mockery is genuinely universal (including themselves), their courage is real, and because they remain humane. ... Matt and Trey are also huge sell-outs who haven’t actually sold out: incredibly shrewd from the get-go in controlling and owning their creation, they have massively monetized it since without ever compromising an iota. Paramount paid them [$900 million](https://stacker.news/items/1050472/r/unschooled) for their latest contract. And they’ve done all this without ever parroting the piety of some mega-stars and by doggedly retaining their personal privacy. as i mentiond at the beginning of the post, the tie-in to the Pet Shop Boys could have been replaced for any number of other artists/creators, although i can see the relevance here. https://stacker.news/items/1053999

more about the creators of South Park https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-consistency-of-their-genius-7c1 i liked this point about anti-celebrities, or people whose works precede their personalities. there are many other examples the could have chosen, (banksy, daft punk, satoshi....) to compare Stone and Parker to, but i guess the weren't talking about anonymity, only understatedness. > That those brand names are more recognizable than their creators — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — tells you something of what they have in common: a commitment to their own unique creativity, rather than their fame, and the discipline and grit to explore it for decades. Anti-celebrities, in their time but never of it, perfectionist but unafraid of failure, these two duos are proof, it seems to me, that a democratic culture, even one as decadent as ours, can still spawn excellence and intelligence, spanning high and low, and generating what I can only call joy. i'll admit here that i haven't watched much of south park, but i have heard of some of the antics the show has caused, and am abundantly familiar with the joke that gingers have no souls. this must be my signal to start watching a little more, as now i've heard it come up a handful of times in the past week. > And in two decades of an acutely polarized and politicized culture, what team is South Park on? Precisely. You can’t tell, can you? — which is a staggering achievement in its own right. And it’s not about risk-aversion: the duo was targeted by Islamist terror and [didn’t blink](https://www.mtv.com/news/o0rfoh/south-park-creators-say-muhammad-episode-was-censored-without-their-approval). They also took on the censors at the MPAA — savor this memo — and obliterated one of George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” by saying [“shit”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntZQl9vRmw) 162 times in one episode. obviosly the writer of this piece is a fan, and biased though it may be, there are some interesting insights embedded therein. again, i'll have to watch more for myself to verify these claims. but i am intrigued. > They have done all this, taken no prisoners, and remain uncancellable. Why? Because their mockery is genuinely universal (including themselves), their courage is real, and because they remain humane. ... Matt and Trey are also huge sell-outs who haven’t actually sold out: incredibly shrewd from the get-go in controlling and owning their creation, they have massively monetized it since without ever compromising an iota. Paramount paid them [$900 million](https://stacker.news/items/1050472/r/unschooled) for their latest contract. And they’ve done all this without ever parroting the piety of some mega-stars and by doggedly retaining their personal privacy. as i mentiond at the beginning of the post, the tie-in to the Pet Shop Boys could have been replaced for any number of other artists/creators, although i can see the relevance here. https://stacker.news/items/1053999

more about the creators of South Park https://substack.com/home/post/p-145106924 i liked this point about anti-celebrities, or people whose works precede their personalities. there are many other examples the could have chosen, (banksy, daft punk, satoshi....) to compare Stone and Parker to, but i guess the weren't talking about anonymity, only understatedness. > That those brand names are more recognizable than their creators — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — tells you something of what they have in common: a commitment to their own unique creativity, rather than their fame, and the discipline and grit to explore it for decades. Anti-celebrities, in their time but never of it, perfectionist but unafraid of failure, these two duos are proof, it seems to me, that a democratic culture, even one as decadent as ours, can still spawn excellence and intelligence, spanning high and low, and generating what I can only call joy. i'll admit here that i haven't watched much of south park, but i have heard of some of the antics the show has caused, and am abundantly familiar with the joke that gingers have no souls. this must be my signal to start watching a little more, as now i've heard it come up a handful of times in the past week. > And in two decades of an acutely polarized and politicized culture, what team is South Park on? Precisely. You can’t tell, can you? — which is a staggering achievement in its own right. And it’s not about risk-aversion: the duo was targeted by Islamist terror and [didn’t blink](https://www.mtv.com/news/o0rfoh/south-park-creators-say-muhammad-episode-was-censored-without-their-approval). They also took on the censors at the MPAA — savor this memo — and obliterated one of George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” by saying [“shit”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntZQl9vRmw) 162 times in one episode. obviosly the writer of this piece is a fan, and biased though it may be, there are some interesting insights embedded therein. again, i'll have to watch more for myself to verify these claims. but i am intrigued. > They have done all this, taken no prisoners, and remain uncancellable. Why? Because their mockery is genuinely universal (including themselves), their courage is real, and because they remain humane. ... Matt and Trey are also huge sell-outs who haven’t actually sold out: incredibly shrewd from the get-go in controlling and owning their creation, they have massively monetized it since without ever compromising an iota. Paramount paid them [$900 million](https://stacker.news/items/1050472/r/unschooled) for their latest contract. And they’ve done all this without ever parroting the piety of some mega-stars and by doggedly retaining their personal privacy. as i mentiond at the beginning of the post, the tie-in to the Pet Shop Boys could have been replaced for any number of other artists/creators, although i can see the relevance here. https://stacker.news/items/1053999

[more about the creators of South Park] The Consistency Of Their Genius (2024) https://substack.com/home/post/p-145106924 i liked this point about anti-celebrities, or people whose works precede their personalities. there are many other examples the could have chosen, (banksy, daft punk, satoshi....) to compare Stone and Parker to, but i guess the weren't talking about anonymity, only understatedness. > That those brand names are more recognizable than their creators — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe — tells you something of what they have in common: a commitment to their own unique creativity, rather than their fame, and the discipline and grit to explore it for decades. Anti-celebrities, in their time but never of it, perfectionist but unafraid of failure, these two duos are proof, it seems to me, that a democratic culture, even one as decadent as ours, can still spawn excellence and intelligence, spanning high and low, and generating what I can only call joy. i'll admit here that i haven't watched much of south park, but i have heard of some of the antics the show has caused, and am abundantly familiar with the joke that gingers have no souls. this must be my signal to start watching a little more, as now i've heard it come up a handful of times in the past week. > And in two decades of an acutely polarized and politicized culture, what team is South Park on? Precisely. You can’t tell, can you? — which is a staggering achievement in its own right. And it’s not about risk-aversion: the duo was targeted by Islamist terror and [didn’t blink](https://www.mtv.com/news/o0rfoh/south-park-creators-say-muhammad-episode-was-censored-without-their-approval). They also took on the censors at the MPAA — savor this memo — and obliterated one of George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” by saying [“shit”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntZQl9vRmw) 162 times in one episode. obviosly the writer of this piece is a fan, and biased though it may be, there are some interesting insights embedded therein. again, i'll have to watch more for myself to verify these claims. but i am intrigued. > They have done all this, taken no prisoners, and remain uncancellable. Why? Because their mockery is genuinely universal (including themselves), their courage is real, and because they remain humane. ... Matt and Trey are also huge sell-outs who haven’t actually sold out: incredibly shrewd from the get-go in controlling and owning their creation, they have massively monetized it since without ever compromising an iota. Paramount paid them [$900 million](https://stacker.news/items/1050472/r/unschooled) for their latest contract. And they’ve done all this without ever parroting the piety of some mega-stars and by doggedly retaining their personal privacy. as i mentiond at the beginning of the post, the tie-in to the Pet Shop Boys could have been replaced for any number of other artists/creators, although i can see the relevance here. https://stacker.news/items/1053999

The Missing Bitcoin Billionaire https://youtu.be/soL7jaSK-aI? Some pretty cool journalism being done here, nice work Joe! https://stacker.news/items/1044772

The Missing Bitcoin Billionaire https://primal.net/e/ https://primal.net/e/ Some pretty cool journalism being done here, nice work Joe! https://stacker.news/items/1044772

it feels a bit Bradburyesque, does it not?