Niko Stratis

@nikostratis.com

17396 Followers 1121 Following

Sober trans broad. Award winning writer. Former smoker. I write a newsletter called Anxiety Shark, my debut book is called The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman She//Her linktr.ee/nikostratis

A notepad with the words in the pit at the America show written on it.
A raccoon climbing out of a trash can in black and white
A raccoon climbing out of a garbage can held tight with bungee chords
“Everyone knows there’s been a genuine insincerity going on in popular music for decades,” he says. “No disrespect to Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys, but AI has been what art has been for a minute. What’s the difference between these songwriters teams and AI? In fact, emotionally speaking, on one level you’re creating more of a direct violence to the artists themselves by putting them in these structures—this sort of human centipede where the artists still don’t get paid. I understand the implications of AI being trained on artists’ work, but none of it’s going to stop. If you have it broken down as organic versus AI, the AI is gonna win our world. The good guy doesn’t win this one.” The way Benja sees it, using gen AI isn’t a cash grab or even a shortcut. It’s a way to fight back against an industry that’s often left him stressed and skint, and a way to realize the insane musical dreams coursing through his skull. “Don’t get me wrong, I understand the stigmas and the confusion. I’m not a nihilist, and I don’t want the planet to be destroyed either, but let’s check our hypocrisy,” he says. “Artists are so often boiled down to just a product, so in my generative projects I was able to take the devil’s advocate role—not really an advocate, but more just take the devil’s role—and make this program slave for me, and churn out unlimited options, in a way that maybe a label director might have viewed me in the past.”
a 5 x 5 grid, from top left to right: gillian welch revival, wilco yankee hotel foxtrot, townes van zandt self titled, gillain welch soul journey, ween quebec, cat stevens best of, emmylou harris luxury liner, pixies surer rosa and come on pilgrim, middle brother self titled, momma household name, toshiko akiyoshi toshiko's paino, radiohead oc computer, beck ride lonesome single, warren zevon self titled, omc how bizarre, fleetwood mac rumours, okkervil river the stage names, bon iver blood bank, silksong soundtrack, magnolia electric co josephine, the decmeberists the king is dead, laura stevenson self titled, wednesday bleeds, bobs burgers music album vol 2, deftones around the fur
A theatre with a marquee that reads welcome to paradise, everything is hazy and brown
Lammy from the video game um jammy lammy, who is a kind of deer human crpyrid, with a red crop top and baggy blue jeans and blue sneakers
Artificial intelligence means it’s much easier for us to make movies,” he tells A Rabbit’s Foot. “It’s very much like sitting here saying, ‘Well, I believe the horse and the buggy is really where it’s at. These cars, they break down, they need gas, there’s all kinds of problems with them and pretty soon they’ll be making them into tanks, and then they’ll be killing people. It’s terrible.’ There’s nothing you can do about it. That’s progress, it’s the future.”
The dad rock that made me a woman by Niko Stratis
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce married at New York City’s Madison Square Garden The couple had an array of celebrity guests, including Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper, and Adam Sandler officiated their nuptials
mia sara as sloane peterson in ferris Buellers day of, wearing a white crop jacket with a fringe
j mascis from Dinosaur Jr, wearing a pink hat outside. text below him says "I wish the world would fucking end"
a pastice of images from google street view ,one of which shows a ghost of a person walking through a parking lot, from a van to a glass shop
a block of text that includes the words "cums on tony hawk" then a style note that says that expression is informal, perhaps i would prefer to write it as "ejaculates"
a 5 x5 album grid, from left to right, top to bottom: gillian wwelch, soul journey, wilco yankee hotel foxtrot, paul simon the best of, cat stevens the best of, grandaddy sumday, john k samson winter wheat, magnolia electric co josephine, olivia rodrigo, the bealtes abbey road, smashing pumpkins siamese dream, the beatles white album, belveder fast forward eats the tape, bon iver blood bank, paul simon self titled, paul simon 50 ways to leave your lover, rem the bet of, cake b sides, deftones around the fur, joyce manor i used to go to this bar, nada surf high/low, right away grea captain the church of the good thief, simon and garfunkle bookens, tlc crazy sexy cool, townes van zandt the late great, violet grohl be sweet to me
River EP.[2] Love and a longing for home are the themes of Doiron's half of the split while Okkervil River's tracks predominantly deal with murder.[3]
June Thomas: I’m very torn about this because I do think that especially around trans issues, there is this kind of division between people being exploited, because, well, trans people are people, and yet when the Republican Party uses them, they’re not thinking about human beings, it’s just an issue that they’re exploiting. And at the same time, I have heard for many years from trans activists that trans activism is best when it kind of happens under the radar. That people are talking to companies, they’re talking to politicians, they’re talking and they’re not doing it with a big ta-da. They’re doing it not in secret either, but quietly, because attention doesn’t necessarily bring better results. But then I also think that we mustn’t forget what has already happened, what has already changed. When I think about visibility, I think of things that honestly are quite banal, like the fact that I truly believe that Glee caused more benefits for gay people than most politicians, probably more than Harvey Milk, because everyone—
For those well-versed in Ms. Swift’s lore, other clues loom large: She has hosted extravagant Fourth of July parties. And as her most loyal fans know, July 3 could echo an attachment to the No. 3. There was the surprise 3 a.m. edition of her album Midnights, and a reference to “you squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi” in her song “New Year’s Day.”
A screenshot from the video game Mina the Hollower. On screen, a character named Glazier Joe (who is a newt kind of thing wearing a newsie hat) is saying “I heard you broke it, my life’s work, shattered in an instant. Lionel will be so upset when he hears about it.”. He’s fixing a broken window.
A screenshot of Robert Christgau’s website, it looks like it was made in geocities. There’s a link to his Substack, and his books, among all the other text
*racking a mossberg* he says “there MUST be 50 ways” clearly implying he does not know them all ‪Niko Stratis‬ ‪@nikostratis.com‬ · 1d i like that Paul Simon gets big cocky with his theory that there's 50 ways to leave your lover, and then when pressed for answers he's only got like six and one of them is just "get on the bus"
The cover of Paul Simon’s excellent record still crazy after all these years. He’s standing out on a fire escape wearing a big hat and a moustache
Google The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman Daily update ⋅ June 13, 2026 NEWS 'He was the rock': Woman remembers her dad who was killed in Pulse nightclub shooting NPR Paul Henry was one of those people. His daughter, Alexia, was just 17 then, and she recently came to StoryCorps to remember her father. ALEXIA HENRY: ...
A sign on a lamppost that says “are you ugly? Email me I have questions”
A dog, who is part sheltered part corgi (imagine that) standing looking at an orange cat lying in the street
keep circulating the tapes over the MST3K logo
According to their April press release (yes, I’m on the newsletter), “The Dunkin’ Dirty Soda combines the brand’s beloved coffee milk with Pepsi and tops it with Sweet Cold Foam, creating a drink with classic soda flavor and a smooth, creamy, coffee-forward finish reminiscent of the Dunkalatte.”
Norm MacDonald next to a picture of, you guessed it, Frank Stallone
Waffle house font that reads well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night blew up his house too
A brown and black coloured dog lying down under a blanket, on a dark grey dog bed on a wooden floor
a poster that says anonymous club, hot docs cinema, ma 16, 7 pm, tickets at hotdocs.ca
Tobias dumping water on the floor in an office he does not belong in
A woman with grey hair and glasses holding a book called the dad rock that made me a woman by Niko Stratis
Burger King logo text reads they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night
the promo title card for CBC's The Odyssey, featuring three kids dressed like they're in a community theatre production of Three Ninjas. There's also a dog in a bandana.
a green moccamaster on a faux-marble finish shelf, next to brown wood boxes that have the word coffee burned into them.
The Braun KF20 coffee machines, with an almost retro space age minimalist aesthetic in four colours: orange, white, red, and green.
The term sou, a coin of French origin, was at the time common slang for a low-denomination coin. In French the expression sans le sou has the meaning of being penniless. Carly Simon's version, produced for Ken Burns' 1994 documentary, Baseball, reads "Ev'ry cent/Katie spent".
Katie Casey was baseball mad, Had the fever and had it bad. Just to root for the home town crew, Ev'ry sou al Katie blew. On a Saturday her young beau Called to see if she'd like to go To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No, I'll tell you what you can do:"
a heavy fog and grey sky, over a building painted black with a barber shop sign
Booker from Bioshock infinte, wearing black torusers, a vest, a necerchief, holding a gun on his shoulder. he has short brown hair
A pole with sharpie that says “you’re welcome”, below it now but trans kids a bazooka
Robyn, and text reads Robyn show me love and alt rock dept
the black flag logo, bt its the hot dog flag instead (two brown bars, with a red one in the middle and a yellow squiggle). it says hot dog in the black flag font
a flag that is a brown bar top and bottom, then a red bar in the middle and a yellow squiggle
Robert Christgau Dean of American Rock Critics Consumer Guide: User's Guide Grades 1990- Grades 1969-89 And It Don't Stop Books: Book Reports Is It Still Good to Ya? Going Into the City Consumer Guide: 90s Grown Up All Wrong Consumer Guide: 80s Consumer Guide: 70s Any Old Way You Choose It Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough Xgau Sez Writings: And It Don't Stop on Substack Robert Christgau's newsletter And It Don't Stop appears three (or four) times a month on Substack. Subscribe here. Lists NPR Home Robert Christgau's Big-Hearted Theory of Pop ROBERT CHRISTGAU Is It Still Good to Ya? ROBERT CHRISTGAU BOOK REPORTS Book Reports features reviews of not only the pop-music tomes you'd predict but also literary fiction, Marxist-adjacent cultural commentary, feminist debates over pornography, and on His Fiest Love even books about the past OF ROCK CRITICISN 1967-2017 decade's financial crisis. It follows a collection that Christgau published last year, Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017, which includes Christgau's takes on, among many other things, classic rock, Kanye West, the music of Desert Storm, Lollapalooza, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and so-called guilty pleasures--a category that Christgau rejects, since, for rock critics, as he puts it, "pleasure is where meaning begins." Together, these collections make the sneaky case that Christgau is not just the Dean of American Rock Critics, his self-awarded and perhaps slightly off-putting nickname, but one of America's sharper public intellectuals of the past half century, and certainly one of its most influential-not to mention one of the better stylists in that cohort. Fun is a big part of why. -David Cantwell, The New Yorker Carola Dibbell: Carola's Website Archive CG Search: Google Search: News Joe Boyd's Rhythm Revue Robert Christgau published a piece, Joe Boyd's Rhythm Revue: On Joe Boyd's reading (with film clips) at the Film Forum -- as part of his subscription newsletter, And It Don't Stop.…
a three panel comic. on the top left, two people talking. one says "arresting me for writing a book would be like arresting a person for thinking." the other says "they would not dare", the next panel shows them being kicked into a dungeon by guards. the final panel shows one of them writing in a dungeon, surrounded by people, and the other dictating to them they "they would dare..." and "take this down scribe, i am guilty of nothing more than putting ideas into the brains of reasonable men..."
Isabella Rossellini as Bianca in 30 rock, wearing a black turtleneck and white jacket
The final scene from the movie Drive, where Ryan Gosling is in a car driving away from a love and life he could almost have with Carey Mulligan.
Ilana from Broad City making scare quotes, the text reads "good" friday?
Reception The New York Times has described the book as "arguably the first halfway readable A.I. novel, an early glimpse at what is vectoring toward readers."[1] New Scientist has described the work as "not awful".[9] Slate has described it as "pretty good".[10] It has been discussed within academic papers.[11]
Screenshot from the video game Esoteric Ebb, text reads strength “be more” then below suddenly understand gender. Below that, like drawing of a 20 sided die and the words Nat 20 and success. Below that, wisdom says “oh.”
A smart watch, screen reads “good” next to a mountain emoji, then week for the UVI and finally at risk for car wash
a wizard in a blue robe holding a wizard stick
As a last resort, the Federation Police have decided on this strategy: to send a space hunter to penetrate the center of the fortress and destroy the Mother Brain, The space hunter chosen for this mission is ‘Samus Aran. He is the greatest of all the space hunters and has successfully com- pleted numerous missions that everybody thought were absolutely impossible. He is a cyborg: his entire body has been surgically strengthened with robotics, giving him superpowers. Even the space pirates fear his space suit, which can absorb any enemy's power. But his true form is shrouded in mystery. The planet Zebes is a natural fortress. Its sides are covered with a
buds of flowers amidst a bunch of wet leaves and branches and whatnot. The old world is dying, and the new one struggles to be reborn
a picture of Jackie Shane, text reads Any Other Way The Jackie Shane Story april 18 7 pm. Hotdocs theatre. hotdocs.ca
A woman white grey hair wearing 99% black and red socks taking a selfie in a mirror in a green room. A piano is visible behind her
space ghost talking to moby, the first panel he's saying nobody cares moby, the second he says nobody cares and moby looks sad
I'm going to help you, by the way. I'm going to be so fucking mean to you, because you deserve it. You'll argue with every word of my advice, and you'll think up dozens of reasons it doesn't actually apply to your situation, which you seem to believe represents a never-before-seen burden of impossible weight. (A non-professional writer? With a day job? Can I deliver your medal of honor in person so I can shake your hand, or would it be easier for a man of your considerable time constraints to receive it via FedEx?) Still, if you're smart, you'll at least file away the things I say for later use, because they'll be helpful and they'll be correct. Your ego will recover from