Drew Austin

New York

Editor In Chief at Kneeling Bus

I am not one half of the problem https://t.co/TCNMK0Zt4X

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Articles

The Difference that Makes a Difference

3 weeks ago | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

YouTube instructional videos often begin with a section of extended throat-clearing before getting to the useful information which, in the most extreme cases, could be compressed to a sentence or two. This opening banter is highly skippable, of course, and the top comment on such videos is often the timestamp at which the relevant content begins.
The Mall and Antarctica

1 month ago | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

Rainforest Cafe is well past its prime as a restaurant chain, but as you might imagine, it’s been perfectly positioned for a younger generation of content creators to “rediscover” it, as this Slate piece describes.
How to Win at Gambling and in Life

1 month ago | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

In sports betting, the practice of attending a game in person and exploiting your physical presence as a gambling edge is called courtsiding. In one example, as described in this Rolling Stone feature, a bettor at a Dodgers game could wait for a Shohei Ohtani plate appearance, cue up a bet related to whether he gets a hit, and then place the bet immediately if it actually happens.
An Obituary for Millennial Culture

2 months ago | vice.com | Drew Austin

This is the first instalment of Drew Austin’s new VICE column, MILLENNIAL PAUSE. You can read him in each issue of VICE Magazine—subscribe here. Is it possible to pinpoint the exact moment when millennial culture finally died? Did the generation ever collectively acknowledge that its time was up and willingly pass the baton to Gen Z?
In Praise of Slow Motion

2 months ago | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

In 2019, a Japanese car-sharing service called Orix noticed that its customers were renting vehicles but not actually driving them, returning the rentals with zero additional miles traveled.
Falling Asleep with the TV On

Jan 24, 2025 | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

Among the mixed rewards of a lifetime of TV watching are the throwaway moments that unexpectedly stay with you decades later, a joke or an image or an anecdote buried in the middle of some talk show or the endless churn of MTV or ESPN, never to be seen again, impossible to find even if you tried, and likely remembered only by you—not important enough to keep circulating on YouTube or ever resurface on a streaming platform or even as a meme.
Ghost Exits

Jan 11, 2025 | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

The prospect of TikTok suddenly vanishing is a fascinating thought experiment that the United States might actually conduct soon: What if one of the pillars of contemporary reality suddenly vanished? How would we reallocate all those newly available hours of screen time? Would everyone start volunteering and baking bread and hanging out at the Elks Lodge? Would kids go outside and play flag football again? Would all the silly restaurant gimmicks end?
The Amazonification of Public Space

Dec 20, 2024 | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

Happy holidays from Kneeling Bus! Annual subscriptions are discounted 20% through the end of the year. That’s a modest $3.33/month which is less than most cups of coffee cost. Close 2024 out with a BOLD MOVE and give yourself—or someone else—the gift of Bus.
The Meme Fossil Record

Dec 6, 2024 | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

Last weekend, someone we were hanging out with mentioned Hawk Tuah, the meme that refuses to die, and my wife asked, “what’s that?”—revealing that she, enviably, had somehow missed the whole thing. She had no idea what it was.
Downward Is Heavenward

Nov 21, 2024 | kneelingbus.substack.com | Drew Austin

If the internet ever provided an escape from reality, the opposite is true today: Now you’re more likely to escape from reality by putting your phone down and going for a walk outside. Even then, what you’re trying to escape from is still latent in the environment—the grass you’re touching contains the same toxins that the internet has filled you with.