A Year In Lockdown
It’s March...again. On the one hand, that means we’re coming upon one year of Covid-19 lockdowns in the US. But on the other hand, it also means we get to spend the month honoring and celebrating the women who have shaped history in known and unknown ways. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ll be highlighting exclusively female-identifying voices and stories in today’s edition of PS Weekly.
In big-release day news, our entire office is aflutter with COMING 2 AMERICA, new Drake music, and RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, all debuting last night and today.
And every Wednesday, you can find a #TinyHistoryLesson on @picturestart on Instagram, telling the story of a woman who shaped history—who you might not have heard about.
But first, a few TikTok recommendations. This video describes how one woman in the 1800s unknowingly inspired a classic early 2000s song, and this video inadvertently markets Amazon’s Alexa speaker better than any actual ad ever could. Unless it’s secretly sponsored...in which case, I can’t say I’d be surprised.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
I’ve been following @nifty_gateway on Instagram for a while now. Initially, I only did it because I thought “ooh cool digital art—love the aesthetics''. I had no idea what the account actually was or what it meant that it was a “marketplace” … until I saw that Grimes sold $6 million worth of NFT through this account. The highest bid was for her video/music piece DEATH OF THE OLD—which sold for $388,938. If you’re totally confused by what NFT is, and why people are paying for ownership of art that only exists digitally, well, you’re not alone. NFT stands for “Non-fungible token,” which more or less means tokens that are unique and cannot be replaced with something else. This article does a pretty decent job explaining the concept, so I’m not going to attempt it. Because I have a word count limit here, after all.
But to me, this is a good reminder of how the digital realm is very much its own space—where people “exist" with their own unique digital identities, connections, and now ownership of “properties.” Also, just another chance to celebrate Grimes’ success—go off queen. Make that $$$.
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant
