Shopify Product Director Alex Danco returns for his NINTH appearance on the show — and he comes in hot. As you'll hear, I didn't even get a chance to introduce him before he launched into his take on what everyone gets wrong about Citizen Kane.

We also unpack the performance art of parenting, why dinner parties are the new status signals, the difference between meme and slop culture and MUCH more.

Unsurprisingly, this was a fun one. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, "Hmm, that's interesting!", check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco
Substack: https://danco.substack.com
Website: https://alexdanco.com/
Previous episode: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/finding-method-in-the-madness?utm_source=publication-search

Show Notes:

What EVERYONE gets wrong about Citizen Kane
Jim's hardest interview question
Elon & Lutnick: clash of the cartoons
The status hierarchy of baby strollers
What happened to Yuval Noah Harari? (With a diversion via digital girlfriends and North Korean crypto hackers)
Dinner parties as status signals
Parenting as performative art
History's greatest memers
Infinite Jest: the sequel (an Alex Danco & Jim O'Shaughnessy production)
GIF culture vs AI slop
From "code is capital" to "code is labour"
"Did I mention that I dropped out of Stamford?"
From Clint Eastwood to Cloud Atlas
MORE!

Books, Articles & Films Mentioned:

Two Thoughts: A Timeless Collection of Infinite Wisdom; by Jim O'Shaughnessy and Vatsal Kaushik
Finnegans Wake; by James Joyce
Invest Like the Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind; by Yuval Noah Harari
Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding; by Hannah Farber
The Magic Mountain; by Thomas Mann
The Gervais Principle; by Venkatesh Rao
Scarcity & Abundance in 2025; by Alex Danco
Cloud Atlas; by David Mitchell
Citizen Kane; directed by Orson Welles
F for Fake; directed by Orson Welles
My Dinner with Andre; directed by Louis Malle
Letters from Iwo Jima; directed by Clint Eastwood
Million Dollar Baby; directed by Clint Eastwood
Fawlty Towers (TV show)
Absolutely Fabulous (TV Show)

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