The First Twenty-Five

Flashy Pixels Issue 25: Celebrating Twenty-Five Issues and a Look Ahead

This being the twenty-fifth issue of Flashy Pixels, I want to express my gratitude to all subscribers and readers, especially those that, the dashboard tells me, visit the newsletter's site directly every week instead of subscribing. While it's a bit puzzling, I'm sincerely grateful to anyone who's taken the time to read since I launched in March.

My first newsletter was a rush job—I just needed to get it out the door. In a week, I created the name, designed the logo, and wrote the inaugural post. It seemed like the type of project one could endlessly refine, risking it languishing forgotten on a hard drive. Instead, I took the leap and launched, refining as I went. Each week, a new challenge to craft an issue on the fly. 

My commitment to a weekly schedule, coupled with my stubborn nature, ensured I'd stay on course. The first recommendations issue emerged from this self-imposed deadline. En route to Paris for my birthday, without in-flight Wi-Fi to research new topics, I wrote about my favorite media from the past month. To my surprise, April's Flashiest Pixels became one of my most popular posts, spawning a monthly feature that consistently outperforms. While I recognize the value of metrics, I try not to fixate on them, knowing they can't capture the full picture.

One of the most humbling moments of writing this newsletter has been realizing I might never top the viral success of my second issue, NBCUniversal's Peacock is Peacocking. It praised Peacock's programming decisions. I initially attributed a surge in readership and subscribers to my searing analysis until I realized that half of my subscribers were NBCUniversal employees. Somehow, the newsletter landed in front of the NBCUniversal sales director, who shared it on social media prompting his team to repost it, creating a ripple effect within the company. As subsequent issues failed to generate the same buzz, I watched a steady stream of unsubscribe requests flow in from NBCUniversal employees. I realized viral success doesn't always equate to sustained interest.

Not every idea has been a hit. At one point, I thought the audience needed a name like Flashers, Pixel-Heads, or Pixes. Thankfully, I scrapped that idea.

About a month in, I realized my hastily made logo wasn't cutting it, so I hired a designer for a proper email header. After an in-depth discussion on colors and fonts, the designer asked, "What is Flashy Pixels?" I was so focused on perfecting the aesthetic that I forgot to mention it was a weekly newsletter. Once I did, he subscribed.

As I look ahead to the next twenty-five issues, I'm excited to evolve the newsletter further. I plan to mix topical and evergreen content, exploring how our perception of technology's future has shifted in entertainment. We'll examine narratives ranging from the dark future of 1984's The Terminator, which predicted a tech monopoly wiping out humanity, to the techno-optimism of 2008's Iron Man, where a tech billionaire becomes our savior from technology's ills.

Mike Schur, the creator of The Office and Parks and Recreation, once said it takes ten episodes to figure out a comedy show's identity.  It feels like it took about twice that for me, and I'm still figuring it out. But I love that you're all along for the ride.

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