Schmaints are a generative series of ready-made symbols of resistance for the digital age. They were inspired by Christian Borys' Saint Javelin of Ukraine, which was itself inspired by Chris Shaw's Madonna Kalashnikov. Saint Javelin became a popular symbol of resistance to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which led me to think about what such a symbol might look like for other countries. With my background as a generative art archivist and collector, I was quickly down the rabbit hole, designing traits and laying out a potential collection that would render the symbol as a universalized ready-made for every independent country. With the help of Chris Rocca on vector graphics and design and OmbraRD on development and deployment, we pretty quickly had the initial version of the collection ready to drop in 2023. On the advice of one of my partners I delayed the launch at that time, and life intervened to insure we wouldn't be able to launch before mid-2025. In June I minted all of the Schmaints to myself, and then departed for Peru where I ventured to Lake 69 and made an offering of gold and cocaine to Viracocha to end the curse on web3. In the weeks that followed sentiment completely shifted, ETH rocketed up 120%, and many millions of dollars worth of Punk sweeps occurred, suggesting that Viracocha is indeed the tutelary deity of web3, per my analysis. Now filled to the brim with sami (a Quechuan concept conveying positive sacred energy) I returned to Texas and began to hand-distribute Schmaints to those who had made a meaningful contribution to web3 over the years. Most have been artists, but the community now also includes many prominent collectors, builders, journalists, and entertainers. The response has been electric! Never in my time in web3 have I seen such a positive and energetic response to a drop, especially one whose price has been fairly stable. Having worked on them for so long, it's all been one of the most gratifying experiences of my life, and I'm eternally grateful to the wider digital art community for making this possible. Distribution continues, my goal being to send out all but my pfp, Saint Pistol of the Alamo; we're on course to end up with a virtually Sybil-proof unique wallet ratio well north of 80%. I really can't wait to see where things go from here. This is the most exciting work I've been a part of, and I love everything I've seen so far! Here's wishing the Schmaints all the sami in the world.

Swing by the old church at 110 West Dallas Street tonight at 8 for a partial preview of our new show, Supply & Demand! There will be art and beer, everything the body needs.

On my way to Marfa!

Good to see @toadswiback settling in well at his new role at Arby’s.

If we run into each other in Marfa, please bear in mind I’m a little bit face blind and I’m used to you being a cartoon animal pfp, so don’t take it personal if you have to help me a little on the introduction.

Looking forward to a relaxing, drama-free weekend in Marfa…

Price of a camcorder at Target is about $35, which is also the average per-hour earnings in the US. When the camcorder came out in 1983, it cost $1,500, and average wage was $8.20. Wages as measured in camcorders have grown 18,400%, from roughly .005 camcorders/hour to 1 camcorder/hour. To be fair, in 1983 tuition at Harvard only cost six camcorders/semester, versus 2,600 camcorders/semester in 2026.

If you’re putting on an event in Marfa this week, it’s important to remember that it’s not a real web3 meet-up unless people leave deafened by the music and/or blinded by UV lasers.

AIDR (AI; Didn’t Read)

Is it just me or is the AI text actually getting more sloppish? The structure has certainly improved, but it leans so heavily on a few stupid turns of phrase; why does it have to describe everything as being ‘earned’?

"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." Stephen Jay Gould

I’m looking forward to seeing y’all at the Supply & Demand show in Marfa! I think this is one of the best curations ever put together in our space, and I’m honored by the trust placed in us by so many of my favorite artists.

Say what you will about X, but at least we haven’t had to sign an affidavit that we ‘like the idea of Singapore’ to continue using the platform. How long until Balaji starts caning users’ bare asses?