Weekend Round-Up: Betting On Beanie Babies, Finding Fairies, And Why The Oscars Matter

Each week, our editors gather their favorite finds from around the internet and recommend them to you right here. These are not articles about watches, but rather outstanding examples of journalism and storytelling covering topics from fashion and art to technology and travel. So go ahead, pour yourself a cup of coffee, put your feet up, and settle in. Image via linked article. The End of My Pandemic Affair – Esquire My friend Haley Mlotek wrote a personal essay for Esquire about the type of "sliding doors" romantic relationships that have arisen because of the pandemic. I loved the line, “Sometimes I recall this time with a feeling like stepping into the street without realizing it’s not my light and snapping back to the curb: I came so close to living a life that wasn’t mine.” Mlotek is writing a book about divorce, which is often treated in pop culture as the negative space after a marriage and not its own entity. This topic seems especially apt given Danny Milton’s watch spotting piece on Kramer v. Kramer this week. – Daisy Alioto, Audience Engagement Manager Image via linked article. NFTs Weren't Supposed To End Like This – The Atlantic NFTs are one of those emergent technologies that almost doesn't sound real, let alone being a new fuel for an insanely valuable digital marketplace for art and other digital creations. Based (in some regard) on the same sort of blockchain that forms the underlying tech for cryptocurrency, NFTs offer the ability to assign ownership to verifiably unique digital creations. While many such creations can be copied, the NFT is unique and its ownership (and possible transfers therein) can be ratified by the blockchain. The recent NFT boom has shown that the market is ripe for speculation, but was this always the plan for NFTs?  For background on the tech and philosophy that helped create NFTs, don't skip this piece from Glitch CEO Anil Dash for The Atlantic, in which he explains how the current context for NFTs does not precisely align with the goals of the original project and that the recent hype surrounding NFTs has so far overlooked some vulnerabilities in the platform. – James Stacey, Senior Writer Image via linked article. My Mother Risked It All On The Beanie Baby Boom – Medium I’m not quite sure when it all stopped making sense. It must have been when the headlines suddenly shifted from Gamestop, meme stocks, and WallStreetBets to NFTs, Beeple, and NBA Top Shot. It doesn’t matter. Somewhere along the way, I lost track of it all. When did investing become so complicated? So if you’re like me and have found yourself wishing for simpler times, when assets were tangible, physical items, maybe this recent story that appeared on Medium will bring you back to our non-fungible present. Beanie Babies and tulips couldn’t have been all bad. Right? – Logan Baker, HODINKEE Shop Editor Image via linked article. Why Do The Oscars Matter? – The Washington Post The concept of existential nihilism is predicated on the idea that – for all intents and purposes – nothing matters. Following that logic, the Academy Awards (now colloquially referred to as the "Oscars") shouldn't matter either. This new piece in The Washington Post aims to tackle that very idea – though less in the philosophical sense and more in the practical one. That's right, the Oscars return this weekend (after a pandemic-forced hiatus), and since the normal movie distribution channels aren't fully back on track, this is a good deep dive into the role the Oscars play in the film industry at large. If you ever wanted to know how much a little golden statue means to a whole host of people, give this a read. – Danny Milton, Editor Image via linked article. Visit A Fairy Village – newyorkupstate.com Spring is finally here, and most of us living in the Northeast region of the U.S. are finally thawing out and getting ready to be out and about. If you're looking for a weekend destination, take a hike on this magical trail in an enchanted fairy village in Upstate New York. It's situated in Mendon Ponds Park, the largest park in  Monroe County, with 2,500 acres to explore. Couple Betsy and Chris Marshall, an artist and a woodworker, created a storybook-like village of 40 fairy homes along the Birdsong Fairy Trail. From New York City, it will take you a little over 5 hours by car. But until air travel is normal again, this will do. That is, until I can visit Hobbiton again. – Andy Yang, VP CommercialPlus trying to actually understand crypto, one explainer at a time.