On Aura Farming 🔮
Reviewing Arpi Park, cigarettes, and performative male contests
blog.eighty-eight // Labor Day Weekend is here! And with that, we have a special surprise for newsletter readers…
Take 20% off all orders in the Powder Blue store with code LABORDAY20
And take 10% of an Annual Creator Mag membership with code SUBATHON
Both deals will remain up between now and September 9 (the end of the Subathon). So act fast—we only have a couple print copies of Issues Five and Six left.
Your support goes a long way in helping us do what we do, hosting gatherings and building out our writers’ room. Speaking of which…we had a blast welcoming readers out to the studio for Show Your Work! last night! Attendees brought short films, mini-docs and even a live musical performance; popcorn was popped, work was shown, and feedback was shared.
More info on our next gathering coming soon. In the meantime, Moy’s taking the reins this week with words on Arpi Park, cigarettes, and performative male contests.
Scroll on to read. And if you’d like to write a Neighborhood Watch review in the coming weeks, you can pitch us here.
— NGL
P.S. Last blog, we shared Connor Blodgett’s piece on scrolling—mindfully. You can read it here.
Sponsored by Fourthwall
Have You Thanked Your Customers Lately?
It’s easy to put your head down and get lost in the creative sauce.
Still, we can’t forget an essential step: thanking our readers. There’s a lot of different places where they can spend their money—so we try to express our gratitude in a meaningful way.
Fourthwall actually has a tool that lets us record and send short videos to each customer, providing their name, what they ordered, and any messages they left.
And get this: Creators that send thank-you videos see 34% more repeat orders.
Join 200,000+ creators and artists who use Fourthwall to power their shops—get started today.
Video: ‘Attention, addiction, aura, and ads’ (2025)
Creator: Arpi Park
Runtime: 19m 25s
Review by: Moy Zhong
A few weeks ago, I witnessed the “performative male lookalike contest” happening in Seattle.
If you aren’t keen already (like Nate at the time), the key traits of a performative male include holding a book they aren’t reading in one hand; a carabiner of trinkets that the it-girls put in fashion (i.e. a Labubu); listening to Clairo*; a trendy matcha-mix in their other hand; and a canvas tote bag—just trying to look like the artsy intellectual boy of every Pinterest girl’s dreams, but without genuine substance. It’s for the ~aesthetic~.
Arpi Park tackles our craving for attention in his latest video, Attention, addiction, aura, and ads, and starts with an analysis of the comeback of the cigarette.**
Cigarettes were marketed, in their heyday, as a sexy little accessory. I grew up in the heyday of anti-smoking warnings and posters of black lungs hung up in our health classrooms. But Arpi notes something that I’ve observed, too: they seem to be back…in vogue?
A friend of mine recently contemplated trying a smoke in our group chat because—in her efforts to become a better cinephile—she found cigarettes so alluring in French films (she bought a pack, but hasn’t given in…yet).
“It’s a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don’t give it the power to do its killing.” – John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Performative people feel so antiquated in this contemporary search for aura and aesthetic. “It could only be in the twenty-first century that someone could be accused of faking an addiction for attention—and that accusation possibly being correct,” Arpi says in his video. I’m reminded of how “cool and sentimental” the infamous cigarette quote from The Fault in Our Stars character Augustus Waters was when I was a teenager, but when viewed in the context of how “cool” people try to be today, I can’t help but find Augustus so phony. When I meet a performative person, they reek of the same corniness. And I fear they’d actually let the cigarettes kill them too! Or at least hurt their wallet.
Arpi relates nicotine addiction as an individual vying for attention and aura, because today, those two things are their own form of currency. “Functionally, social media acts like a marketplace,” Arpi says. “The platforms own the real estate, the vendors are the content creators, and the currency is attention. Attention-seeking becomes one’s livelihood.”
To top it off, attention is addicting in its own right. Screen addictions and content addictions are captivating because it’s not just spectating that’s become so accessible. Sharing your life online is, too.
But to want attention, I think, is just natural.
“A crying baby cries for attention so it doesn’t starve. Or look like a loser.” – Arpi Park
I used to watch Arpi when I was in high school. He was over-the-top crass, in a rage-baity sort of way. He had a haughty, better-than-you-attitude, but that confidence kept me reeled in.
He was uploading college vlogs of his life at my dream school at the time, Stanford. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I think I used to watch him, jealous. I was never a true supporter or hater, but a lurker, a silent subscriber watching and wondering, “How did he get the life I want?”
One day, Arpi stopped posting. And for years, I grew up, lived, and simply forgot he ever existed. A few months ago, though, he posted a life update; it was right on my home page.
Yes, I grew up to appreciate my life in its own right, but Arpi hadn’t lived the pinnacle of envy, either. On top of the normal difficulties of daily life, frightening real-world consequences came from his online presence.
This video acted as a confession from Arpi that tore down the character I’d drawn of him four years ago. It felt like saying, “Hi, it’s been a minute. You’ve changed. / You too.”
“Inside me there are two wolves: their names are ‘Social Anxiety’ and ‘Attention-Seeking,’ and they’re making out.” – Arpi Park
In his new videos, Arpi holds some of the crass humor from before, but he’s clearly matured. Edgy jokes are mellowed with earnest observations, and he seems a lot, lot happier now. I chuckled real chuckles to his newest video; I admire the sharp storytelling and analysis, playful bits, and thoughtful editing throughout. He credits each and every meme, and blurs the faces of videos of kids.
When discussing the performative male contest, I didn’t intend to bash it—I had a lot of fun watching it! There was an abundance of baggy jorts and dress tees over white tanks, but everyone was quite stylish. In fact, the winner of the contest (and his runner-up) actually seemed fitted genuinely and comfortably in themselves; they acted cheesy for performance sake, but put away the excess accessories, and they seemed relaxed.
In a weird way, making fun of social performance in our over-surveilled world is a call for authenticity. At the end of his video, Arpi concludes that your time is precious and to not let social media companies and attention-seeking consume you (or your wallet).
Arpi seems to be holding himself to that, too. He’s making videos to hold conversations, not to hold your time hostage or aura farm. I’m happy for him—and not in a performative way.
*I love Clairo myself!
**This is not an endorsement to smoke.
Moy’s Score: 4.85 / 5 🚭
A new section of Neighborhood Watch, dedicated to the books, music, movies, and physical media that played a meaningful role in stopping our scroll.
Song: “DtMF” (2025)
Artist: Bad Bunny
Track Length: 3m 57s
My friends introduced this song to me at a dinner party last Tuesday. I can’t speak Spanish, but when they explained its premise—of wishing you took more photos with someone you once loved—we all got so, so sad.
Even without understanding the lyrics, this song is the embodiment of bittersweet; it’s gritting your teeth and smiling with tears in your eyes, as you look back on “the good ‘ol days.” And the chanting gets me every time.
Moy’s Score: 5 / 5 🪑
Song: “Music” (2025)
Artist: underscores
Track Length: 3m 27s
The YouTube algorithm brought me here. I love, love the minimal-yet-excessive look of the music video*, accompanied by the sickening, SOPHIE-esque backtrack. This song feels like drinking a San Pellegrino so fresh it scrapes the back of your throat just a little bit.
When I shared the track with my friends, though, they said I’d probably like 2hollis, who they said had a mosh pit of edgy teenage boys at his Outside Lands set. But someone also called him “the next Elvis.” Chat, what does this even mean?
*Warning: flashing lights and fast cuts
Moy’s Score: 3.85 / 5 💿
Song: “AiNA THE END - On The Way / THE FIRST TAKE” (2025)
Artist: AiNA THE END / THE FIRST TAKE
Track Length: 4m 14s
When I watched the new season of the sci-fi anime Dandadan, I was too focused on lamenting the retirement of its perfect Season One theme song (“Otonoke,” by Creepy Nuts) to appreciate this track, which now opens every episode.
I’m over it now, and “On The Way” truly deserves its flowers due to AiNA THE END’s crazy gritty vocal tone, soulful delivery, and insane build-ups. A HUGE special shout-out to her live performance of it on THE FIRST TAKE. She’s my newest girl crush I fear 😳…
Moy’s Score: 4.65 / 5 👹
Album: “BADLANDS (Deluxe)” (2015)
Artist: Halsey
Album Length: 55m 40s
With all of these music recs, we finally reach what I believe to be the biggest influence to my interest in music and development of taste: Halsey.
Today is the ten-year anniversary of this album, which has gotten me through thick and thin, then and now. Yes, some lyrics reek of that 2010’s edginess and cringe (I’m still not in love with “New Americana”), but I cannot deny that Halsey opens a window to an incredible journey and personal memory through every track she self-releases.
After a decade of being a fan, I finally saw her live last month. And tomorrow, she releases an anniversary version of BADLANDS with orchestral versions, demos, and unreleased songs I frothed to find in the Tumblr archives—I can finally stream “Garden!” My teenage heart is so full.
Moy’s Score: 5 / 5 (Sprinkled with nostalgia ⛰️🩵)
Food: Watermelon (3500 BC)
Artist: The Earth
Peaches are typically my fruit of the summer, but lately, watermelon wins.
Moy’s Score: 🍉 / 5
Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.