OF#27 - Prince, twisted toys, and existentialism
Was Prince the greatest Super Bowl performer of all time? What's the weirdest children's toy out there? And how can we conquer existential angst?
Hi there, I’m Thomas Najar, and welcome to issue 27 of Open Frame.
This week’s edition is the 27th in a row! When I started the newsletter, publishing on Wednesday mornings made a lot of sense given my schedule.
It’s become more difficult to publish Wednesday mornings, so you’ll begin seeing Open Frame in your inbox on Sunday mornings starting this weekend.
With that, let’s turn to the newsletter.
Prince wins the Super Bowl
In 2007, Prince gave what many consider the greatest performance ever in a halftime show. Anil Dash offers a great writeup of that amazing set.
Prince’s halftime show wasn’t just a fun diversion from a football game; it was a deeply personal statement on race, agency & artistry from an artist determined to cement his long-term legacy. And he did it on his own terms, as always.
Opening with the stomp-stomp-clap of Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, Prince went for crowd participation right from the start, with a nod to one of the biggest stadium anthems of all time — and notably, is one of the songs in the set that he never performed any time before or after. Indeed, though his 1992 song "3 Chains O' Gold" was clearly a pastiche of the then-rejuvenated "Bohemian Rhapsody", Prince had rarely, if ever, played any Queen covers at all in his thousands of live shows.
But with that arena-rock staple, Prince was signaling that he was going to win over a football crowd. He launched straight into “Let’s Go Crazy” at the top of the set. As one of the best album- and concert-opening songs of all time, this was a perfect choice. Different from any other Super Bowl performer before or since, Prince actually does a call-and-response section in the song, emphasizing that this is live, and connecting him explicitly to a timeless Black music tradition.
Just as remarkable as Prince’s performance is the astonishing fact that he performed in a driving rain! High winds and a cascading downpour only enhanced the show.
Twisted toys
Jeff Wysaski, aka Obvious Plant, makes one-off toys that are unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else. Apparently he’s been placing these on toy and grocery store shelves for years. Clearly I haven’t been looking carefully enough.
Minimum wage conundrum
Now that the power base in Washington has shifted, raising the minimum wage is back on the table. It’s a popular proposal, but economists have long warned that a minimum wage hike will reduce hiring. It turns out recent research isn’t so cut and dried.
Don’t overthink it
Secular modernism struggles with meaning, purpose and our place in the universe. Existentialism is scary. Alisha Liu offers perspective.
That’s it for this week folks. Have a great week, stay safe, and remember to be awesome!
Thomas