Thank you for being here 🫶
Here's a double-feature for your future listening
Neighbors,
For readers in the US, happy Thanksgiving! For readers outside of the US (and in it), thank you for being here.
As the name suggests, Thanksgiving (history aside) is a day to share thanks and gratitude, and one thing I’m thankful for right now, is my health. Not to kick a man while he’s down, but Nate’s been sick,1 so I—Moy—am taking the reins on this newsletter.
Let us know what you’re thankful for lately! And please enjoy this week’s Neighborhood Watch—which is our first double-feature featuring none other than the Green Brothers—and an eclectic edition of Offline.
— Moy
P.S. Last blog, we dropped our sit-down interview of streamer and conservationist Maya Higa. You can watch it here.
Reviews by: Moy Zhong
We at Creator Mag can really never thank you enough for supporting us—through reading the magazine, watching our videos, reading the newsletter, showing up to events, sharing stuff around. Last week, we sold out of the print edition of Issue 05 starring John and Hank Green. That’s it—our first issue since bringing back the magazine—sold out. Thank you all.
Coincidentally, I wanted to bring two recent podcast episodes starring the Green brothers to the proverbial table: from The Atlantic, Hank Green on the inaugural episode of “Galaxy Brain,” and from The New York Times, John Green on “The Interview.”
These conversations are two sides of the same coin. Both are very good, less-than-an-hour listens about all things our team likes overthinking about: the Internet, its very real impacts on our real world, life, and hope. Hank’s interview examines the Internet ecosystem and ways we can analyze it and its heavy, worldwide impacts; John then looks at his life holistically and the tidbits of hope he holds onto despite all of the bad things in the world.
The brothers are also two sides of their own Vlogbrothers coin in their on-screen personalities. Hank and John, don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t help but laugh at how Hank speaks about “the Misery Machine” with the animated energy of Mickey Mouse,2 yet I left John’s interview with a pep in my step despite him being much more of an Eeyore.3
Anyways, I recommend watching in the order of their releases—Hank’s interview first, then John’s.
Podcast: ‘Hank Green: It’s Going to Get Worse Before It Gets Better’ (2025)
Show: Galaxy Brain (The Atlantic)
Runtime: 53m 8s
With The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel, Hank frames their conversation around the “Misery Machine,” which, yes, is our Internet today.
Hank proposes that the time we live in now is “the world according to misery.” It feels for something to be clicked on nowadays, it must be rooted in cynicism. For example, Hank says that on his him and John’s shared channel, a video about the Philippines succeeding at treating tuberculosis was about to be their worst-performing videos in months. The title was uplifting, the content was important and fascinating—but for it to be seen, the title had to be changed. The answer was rooting something in the negative.
“Elon Cancelled This…Let’s Do it Anyway”
Hank proposes that our realities are created by what we pay attention to. On top of cynicism perhaps winning our attention spans, it’s worse when “the smartest people in the world have most powerful tools for controlling people’s attention,” and then “they optimize it so you can never look away,” he says.
What gives Hank hope then? For one, he says he loves teens look at what he does and they cringe. He’d like to be “more cringe” to teens—to goad them to stay away from the “misery box” he lives in. More people should think that the Internet is lame, and speaking from a younger person’s perspective, I think more people kind of are.
To that point, he and Charlie also hope that people are searching for more human-made things, especially as the AI slop gets worse.
Or maybe, more people just outside.4 “Maybe the Internet will get better, but maybe we will just be on the Internet less.”
This is a conversation that is straight-forward in providing listeners helpful ways to frame and theorize about the Internet at large. I did leave the conversation—as Charlie hoped—feeling like I wanted to throw my phone in the ocean.
Moy’s Score: 3.5 / 5 👾
Podcast: ‘How John Green Fights Despair Every Day’ (2025)
Show: The Interview (The New York Times)
Runtime: 48m 16s
Eeyo—I mean John’s conversation focuses less on the Internet and more on his human experience.
I don’t mean to pin John as an Eeyore, because I do think that his interviewer, The NYT’s David Marchese, literally sets John up with questions like “I’m curious about the connection between hope and suffering” and “do you feel like you’re drawn to suffering?”
Yet John somehow responds with the most devastating anecdotes and facts that hurt ten-times harder than they need to. The feeling in the room absolutely plummets…until he sheds a mere glimmer of positivity or humor that brings your spirit back up like the curly Q end of a piglet’s tail. John’s first line in his interview is literally, “I think despair is a daily presence in my life…and is something I have to try to ward off using all of the magic and meaning I can find.” He is both the bringer of despair and the magic that wards it off in this podcast.
Hank’s interview grounds us in understanding the Internet as the cosmic horror it’s become (also because the podcast he was on was specifically about the Internet). John’s interview looks at the big question of life and how we survive it, and by breaking it down into small stories from his experiences—working at a hospital, writing fiction and nonfiction, mental health, parenting, being a healthcare advocate, and the Internet—you find meaning and reasons to wrestle with the doom that’s more easy to give into.
I am going to rate John’s video higher. Because if not for the charming ways he breaks down despair to find the good, you should watch John’s interview just to see him absolutely melt in his seat as David Marchese probes John about the college professor who asked him in front of his whole class, “You’ve never had sex before, have you?” And then, how John would later “give updates on the problem” to the class.
“Oh my god, did I really?” John says. “Who was that guy? Oh, thank god we all have the capacity for change and growth.”
Moy’s Score: 4.6 / 5 🧚
Dedicated to the books, music, movies, and physical media that played a meaningful role in stopping our scroll.
Reviews by: Moy Zhong
Song: Good Goodbye (2025)
Artist: HWASA (화사)
Runtime: 3m 45s
You’ve probably already heard a song—at least snippets—from Olivia Dean’s breakout album The Art of Loving. Whether it be “Man I Need,” “Nice To Each Other,” or any of the B-sides, Olivia Dean’s voice is full of warmth and playful earnestness.
It feels like the chords she chooses envelope a room in a velvety soft glow, but that doesn’t mean her lyricism lacks bite. The cherry on top is that her visual direction is pure class. I’m not surprised she was schoolmates with RAYE, another vocal and songwriting powerhouse.
Even if you can’t hit the notes like Dean, I highly recommend adding a song or two to your karaoke roster (especially to sing along with girlfriends). Add her to my girl crush list.
Moy’s Score: 4.2 / 5 🧳
Show: The Great British Bake-Off — Season 16 (2025)
Network: Netflix
Length: 10 episodes
It’s been years since I was obsessed with this show as a teen, and one day, my partner’s mum had it on the telly and I was engrossed all over again.
This last season in particular5—especially the last five episodes—was particularly stunning. The bakes were incredible, the hosts made my cheeks crinkle with giggles and not cringe (I didn’t like some of the older hosts), and the contestants were talented, charming, and very chummy. My partner and I were rooting for contestants Jasmine and especially Toby, who really charmed us with his screen time.
I love about shows like The Great British Bake-Off is that, in a time where dramatic catfights and slop dominate screens, this show is more about contestants having to prove themselves every bake through their skills. It’s less a show against other competitors but baking itself—and it’s inspiring to watch a show where passionate people test their skills that really can’t be AI-generated or cheated. Maybe ChatGPT can make a new recipe, but no, it can’t crack an egg, it can’t make a stunning “Show Stopper,” and it can’t earn a handshake from Paul Hollywood.
Moy’s Score: 4 / 5 🥧
Event: Friendsgiving
Creator: You and your friends..?
I’m a big fan of any excuse for friends to gather, celebrate each other, and especially bring food to share together. This year, with friends being out of town and visiting families, we’re postponing our Friendsgiving to early December. To me, that’s awesome—it gathering can happen whenever, wherever! As it and all events should be! I hope you and your friends, dear reader, will gather with your friends and community this season too.
Now, my partner and I watched an episode of Bake-Off last night, and tell me why I was inspired to bring a hyperrealistic cake to Friendsgiving when I’m an AWFUL baker? Chat, any suggestions for anything else we could make? 😅
Moy’s Score: 6.12 / 5 🦃
Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.
That reminds me, I need to get my vaccines updated!
“Touch Grass,” much?
So, you have to watch this on Netflix, so does this count for Offline? 😅