brettworks

• An article about tinkering in sport.

“‘Probably you’re going to see another change,” [Carlos Alcaraz] said. ‘I don’t know if next month or at the end of the year. I just make constant changes in every shot.’”

“The sport’s most gifted player may also be its greatest tinkerer, as clips from his practices on social media so often show.”

“‘Just making changes all the time, every tournament, every day, without someone (having) to tell me…’”

• An article about marginal gains in sport.

“‘I think I have the understanding that I’m never going to get there. This is a game that can’t be perfected. But I think that’s what always keeps you coming back,’ [Scottie] Scheffler said. ‘Because you can always get a little bit better, you can always get a little bit sharper. And there’s nothing better than hitting the ball exactly the way you want to. That’s one of the best feelings ever.’”

• An essay on the ephemerality of music consumption.

“A key reason why it’s now more complicated to promote an album than, say, a theatrically released film, is the ephemeral, immaterial nature of contemporary music consumption. One no longer purchases an album—one purchases a subscription service that grants access to basically every album and song ever made. When a new album comes out, a representative single is featured on an editorial or algorithmicized playlist alongside a hundred other new songs. If a listener likes what she hears, she can further explore a record, then relegate personal favorites into her own customized playlist, turning the album into a menu instead of a meal. And the whiplash is unforgiving: a week later, a new slate of albums and singles are released and replace the previous week’s playlist entries.”