What’s Happening: The viral TikTok streamer makes thousands of dollars per day by uncannily imitating non-player characters from video games, sparking disgust, intrigue, and confusion from viewers who simply can’t look away.

The Download: For six hours a day, Fedha Sinon fires up TikTok and launches a live-stream video where she repeats eccentric catchphrases like “ice cream so good” and “yes yes yes” in a mechanical yet singsongy voice. Sinon, better known as PinkyDoll, repeats these phrases with little to no variation, though sometimes sticks out her tongue to noisily imitate licking a cone or growling like a dinosaur. It may sound bizarre—almost uncanny—but Sinon’s job is to mimic non-player characters (NPCs) in video games. Whenever she repeats a phrase, she gets paid by viewers who send her gifts in the form of digital items like dinosaurs or ice cream, which can be redeemed on TikTok for actual cash.

Sinon, a former stripper who previously owned a cleaning business in Montreal, has become an overnight TikTok celebrity due to the mesmerizing nature of her videos. Most viewers can’t place what makes PinkyDoll entertaining, yet were transfixed by her content as somewhat of a virtual, gamified extension of cosplay. The increased visibility has translated to high payouts. After she went viral, PinkyDoll started making $7,000 per day, spawned a wave of middling imitators eager to capitalize on the trend, and counts Timbaland as one of her most loyal viewers. (He even mixed her voice on a new track.)

In video games, NPCs are pre-programmed—often with repetitive phrases and movements—and can’t be manipulated by players, but bringing them to life can perhaps arouse something sexual in viewers. Reaction streams have been around for decades, though, likely originating with sex workers who were finding left-field uses for technology in the late ‘90s. Reaction streams have also defined Asian social media culture for years. Glued to the screen? Look toward the same science that makes social media so addicting: dopamine-triggering rewards (likes, comments) that keep us hooked.

In Their Own Words: “The genre freaks people out because it taps into already-existing anxieties about AI coming for our humanity,” Samantha Cole writes for Vice. “PinkyDoll doesn’t say ‘I’m cosplaying as an NPC.’ But the way her streams seem to make people feel—like retirees sitting at the slots—is a little too slick for some viewers’ comfort.” Not that PinkyDoll cares.

Surface Says: Seeing an NPC repeat “ice cream so good” three times in a row simply hits different.

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Designing Delicious is produced in partnership with Dorsia, a members-only platform with access to reservations at the most in-demand restaurants in New York, The Hamptons, Miami, and L.A.

When Israeli star chef Eyal Shani, a judge on Israel’s Master Chef and the man behind some 40 restaurants (HaSalon, North Miznon) opened his new Manhattan restaurant, Shmoné (Hebrew for eight, a nod to its locale on West Eighth Street), he kept it small by design, with an open kitchen and an emphasis on the freshest possible ingredients. As Nadav Greenberg, the restaurant’s Executive Chef under Shani, puts it: “My style of cuisine will be the Israeli one—fresh ingredients; using everything. It’s comfort food, but a little more elevated.”

Unlike many Manhattan kitchens, “We do everything on the spot,” says Greenberg, who is a Jerusalem transplant. “We don’t prep almost anything before, which is what makes us so special.” Many of the dishes—which change daily, depending on what’s just been plucked in regional gardens—were inspired by his grandma. One of his go-tos, the 76 layers of Flatiron, takes cues from succulent Levantine shawarma. “You can close your eyes and feel at home,” Greenberg says. But the restaurant’s vibe—which starts each evening with low jazz and builds to a crescendo of “funky disco fun,” is everything but your grandmother’s domicile.

If you’re sick of Barbie and Oppenheimer discourse, some respite may come by means of the latest film by Studio Ghibli. Hayao Miyazaki recently released How Do You Live (titled The Boy and the Heron outside Japan), billed as the beloved director’s final film after a string of threats to retire. Set during World War II and focusing on a young boy named Mahito whose mother is killed in a fire, the film appropriately explores themes of memory, loss, and moving on using Miyazaki’s unparalleled storytelling and signature animation technique. The studio declined to pursue PR for the film—it released only a single promotional poster—and a U.S. launch date remains undisclosed, though Japanese critics had rave reviews.

It’s likely that squiggles, waves, and blobs have dominated your Instagram feed for years, from Ultrafragola mirror selfies to curated still-lifes of wavy-handled mugs. Fazeek is keeping the whimsy alive with a new set of scalloped ceramic plates and bowls to accompany the Melbourne homewares brand’s like-minded wine glasses and coffee mugs. Each comes in a set of four on-trend hues—blue grey, pink, forest green, and white—that aim to inject a dose of fun and finesse to any table setting. Pair them with the brand’s newly launched Wave Cutlery in silver or brass for an extra punch. $69–$109

When: Until Sept. 10

Where: Kinderhook Knitting Mill, Kinderhook, New York

What: Emily Adams Bode Aujla, the two-time recipient of the CFDA’s Menswear Designer of the Year award for her brand Bode, brings her discerning eye to the Shaker Museum. Inspired by the religious and social order’s legacy of craft, with a specific focus on the industrialization of its knits in 1886, the designer charts the rise of the Shaker technique. Archival photographs from the designer’s personal collection join 20 Shaker knit sweaters from the years 1920-1981, as well as contemporary knitwear by none other than Bode.

Digital nomads are a contentious topic, but at an estimated value of more than $1 billion, the 16.9 million transient Americans form a powerful market. Programs have rolled out across Europe to lure the laptop class from hotspots struggling with over-tourism to villages facing depopulation, with the idea being younger talent with ample spending money can reinvigorate struggling economies. But their presence can have some deleterious effects on locals, namely rising living costs. But as the work-from-anywhere phenomenon continues apace, digital nomadism may be here to stay.

Hacin + Associates is a multidisciplinary architecture firm dedicated to design excellence and client service. Working at all scales, the firm’s services include architecture and interior design, graphic design and branding, and adaptive reuse and historic preservation.

Surface Says: Hacin + Associates imbues its work with a strong sense of place, especially in Boston. Just look at the award-winning Whitney Hotel in Beacon Hill for proof: its thoughtfully expressive design has a pinch of New England flair and exudes a casual sophistication that impeccably matches the Beantown vibe.

Central Park’s “Paddleball Paul” is having nothing of the pickleball craze.

A TikToker claims that a Skims bodysuit saved her life after being shot.

Divorce parties—once likened to a “really fun funeral”—are on the rise.

Canada welcomes the largest outdoor trampoline park in North America.