Intro
Well, we’re technically at the final week of the 2025 and I’m glad that I can start 2026 with some hermit time because last two months has been the most active period of this year. I need some rest and thinking time. Like, right now.
Greetings from Sangarius. Hope you’re all doing well.
Mission Control
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- Mostly in the end-of-year mode. Thinking, reading, planning. I feel like 2026 is going to be a busy year (and want it to be) so I should be prepared for it.
- Also taking some time to make some digital maintenance to make sure all my websites and tools are working as intended. This also includes cleaning up my toolbox as well.
- Have couple of articles I want to work on, plus want to start regular blogging outside the Weekstarters as well.
- All of this is made possible by not having any travel on my calendar for almost three weeks so that I can go into hermit mode a little.
From Last Week
- I was invited to Beykent University to meet with their staff and students and gave a really fun and long interview for their student magazine Context. Will share it when it’s out.
Check my Now page if you want to see what I’m up to in a more detailed way.
Internet is My Sandbox
I love the concept of sandbox used in technology: a place to do whatever you want, experiment freely. You can try and discover new things without worrying about it causing any problems. The reason I was (and still am) in love with internet is the fact that it worked the same way for me when I first started using it. It was a place to discover new things, experiment with new ideas and develop yourself the way you want.
Of course you can still use it that way but it requires a lot more effort than it used to be because for most people the internet is the major platforms everyone uses and mostly appear as who they are. And the people who are most active and visible on those places are not the ones who create things but usually the ones looking for a fight (also known as engagement). So when you try to use those spaces as your sandbox and not careful enough, you can find yourself in the middle of a battle you didn’t even know existed.
In a sense, platforms create trenches on the internet instead of sandboxes. This leaves everyone with several choices: choose yourself a trench, try to stay away from the conflict zone, or simply give up on that platform. This is one of the reasons why major platforms see more and more lurkers and people just give up on some platforms. Because most people are not terminally online and doesn’t care what those accounts with lots of followers and engagement think.
Thankfully people who still wants to use internet as their sandboxes find ways to do that and create new concepts and places for it. This is why one of the ideas I got really interested this year was the dark forests and how it’s evolving into something bigger. I’m not sure what will be the outcome of the DFOS or other projects they do but just knowing that people still work on things like this or does really weird and experimental stuff on the internet makes me keep loving it. But since most of this stuff doesn’t fit into the conflict mindset of the platforms, you have to put some work into it to see them.
I love internet when it works as my sandbox and I’m playing with the people who sees it that way too. Sure, doomposting brings more engagement but I’d prefer experiments to keep internet weird and creative over that any day.
Song of the Week
I only discovered Turnstile this year and I already regret being late to the party. There’s something really unique and exciting about their music and the energy it gives, which I was finding hard to describe until last week I read a piece on them by Doğu Yücel, a really good writer from Turkey, made it click. It’s the same energy and feeling I had when I listened to Nirvana for the first time. A unique energy, their music is both familiar and completely new at the same time, and I can sense their enthusiasm for the music they make.
As a bonus the video above includes the first ever stage dive (tiny desk dive?) on a Tiny Desk concert.
Reading Log
- I’m on the last 50 pages of Ministry for the Future, I’ll finish it later today. Expect a blog post about it soon.
- I’m also entering a bit professional reading mode but I need to dive into that to-read pile to make myself a list. If I don’t do that kind of preparation I end up risking getting stuck at choosing where to start or go stage a lot.
- If you have any books you enjoyed that came out in 2025, feel free to send it my way. I feel like I wasn’t really keeping up with the new releases this year.
It’s 2025 and war is still a racket. Humans have just figured out new ways to profit from it.
Unauthorized Edit to Ukraine’s Frontline Maps Point to Polymarket’s War Betting — 404 Media
And you want that without interruption. No devices making noise. Nobody else around. Because the awful thing about that particular art life is that you do it alone. And that’s why Lynch’s art life was a privilege: he had people to create that cone of silence around him, to answer the door and wrangle family and feed the cats and pick up the phone and all the other things that intrude on the creative space. Real life, basically. The art life is a nice place to visit.
NINE BELLS the art life – WARREN ELLIS LTD
Outro
That’s all for this week, I guess. I always remember something else I wanted to include after I posted it.
I’m not sure if I’ll skip the next week but if I do, take care of yourselves, enjoy the whatever you’re celebrating and I’ll see you on the other side.
If you’d like to collaborate or need services, Tuhaf Studio is accepting new clients. For speaking or panelist opportunities, contact London Speaker Bureau Türkiye. To support my work regularly, you can contribute through my Patreon.
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