iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 9h

Shocktober 2026, day 8. Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021) dir. Leigh Janiak

Poster for Fear Street Part Three: 1666, featuring the character of I think Hannah? Looming over the title and the hanging tree/various baddies from the movie. The tagline is "End the curse".

000

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 08/10/2026

Shocktober 2026, day 7. Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021) dir. Leigh Janiak

Poster for Fear Street Part Two: 1978. A huge Sadie Sink looks scared behind the titles, there is a sign for Camp Nightwing below her and two creepy killers in the bottom corners. Everything is red and orange. The tagline is "find the truth"

100

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 07/10/2026

Shocktober 2026, day 6. Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021) dir. Leigh Janiak

Poster for Fear Street Part One: 1994

An axe, pitchfork, and a bloody knife are stuck in the floor behind the title. It's a bad poster

100

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 07/10/2026

Found a solution. I don't think it'll last.

A tabby kitten sits on a sofa looking unimpressed at the camera. A knitting needle is stuck between the arm and a cushion, and some yarn is hanging down where a blurry orange kitten is playing with it.

010

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 06/10/2026

Brought these two home today.

A tabby and an orange kitten sit on the arm of a grey couch, looking at the camera. The tabby, with a white chest, is sat upright, while his orange brother reaches out towards the camera from behind. There's a Mountain Goats poster leant up against the radiator behind them.

040

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 05/10/2026

Shocktober 2026, day 5. We Bury the Dead (2024) dir. Zak Hilditch

Poster for We Bury the Dead. Daisy Ridley stands on a road in the foreground holding an axe while a zombie in the distance runs at her. There's a zombie on the ground next to her and cars crashed all around. The tagline is "volunteers needed"

110

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 04/10/2026

Shocktober 2026, day 4. Thirteen Ghosts (2001) dir. Steve Beck

Poster for Thirteen Ghosts (2001). A collage of scary ghost images makes up a big screaming face, with the movie name inside the mouth. The tagline is "Misery loves company".

The poster is scarier than the movie.

100

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 03/10/2026

Shocktober 2026, day 3. Beetlejuice (1988) dir. Tim Burton

Poster for Beetlejuice (1988) featuring an illustrated giant Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice makeup sitting on a gothic style house, with ghost bride Geena Davis and ghost groom Alec Baldwin on either side. The Deetz family stand on front of the house looking up.

The tagline is "In this house... if you've seen one ghost... you haven't seen them all"

100

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 02/10/2026

Shocktober 2026, day 2. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) dir. Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement

Poster for What We Do in the Shadows (2014) featuring the cast of the documentary posing for a photo. Five of them are vampires of various ages, and then there's Stu who's just a regular bloke.

130

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 02/10/2026

Somehow I missed this article from May, and can I just say: lol. lmao, even.

Fortune headline: Brian Niccol’s nascent Starbucks turnaround starts with treating workers better
By Phil Wahba, Senior Writer

120

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 01/10/2026

Shocktober 2026, day 1. Sisters (1972) dir. Brian De Palma

Poster for Sisters (1972) directed by Brian De Palma. The tagine reads "Take a trip into terror!"

110

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 01/10/2026

Pretty sure the UN has used generate AI for the images depicting coffee production and consumption for their International Coffee Day article. www.un.org/en/observanc...

Circular cartoon-like image depicting coffee production. People picking cherries, sorting, and drying them. The coffee cherries look like red marbles, and all the people look like clones and have the same smile.

Circular cartoon-like image of coffee processing. The cherries are still big red marbles, and the drying coffee beans also look weird. Everyone is still a clone.

Circular cartoon-like image of coffee waste usage. All the clones are still smiling exactly the same, but now they're working in a garden to use coffee waste, which all looks really weird.

A circular cartoon-like image depicting coffee consumption. The roasted coffee coming out of the roaster looks strange, everyone is still smiling the same and looks identical.

100

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 30/09/2026

Saw this thing for sale in a shop's Hallowe'en section and now I don't know if I'll ever sleep again.

A fake jack o lantern thing with an open mouth, human teeth, and several eyes dotted around.

142

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 27/09/2026

The reviews are rolling in...

Screenshot of a LinkedIn comment that reads "It's progressive now to discriminate on the basis of race, see, and s.o.? I thought that had been illegal since July 2, 1964 when The Civil Rights Act was signed into law."

021

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 25/09/2026

I think about this scene literally every day.

Peep Show, Mark is sitting on his bed while getting ready in the morning, looking at himself in the mirror. The text says, "Socks before OR after trousers, but never socks before pants, that's the rule. Makes a man look scary... like a chicken"

000

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 24/09/2026

Tomorrow's article: Starbucks is actively ruining what's left of its progressive image. Sign up to get the newsletter in your inbox: thepourover.coffee/subscribe

Two options meme. First option is "Salvage what's left of its progressive reputation" and the second is "Settle a DEI lawsuit with Florida"

Then the guy sweating is Starbucks

011

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 24/09/2026

Me: I'm going to write a short, newsy piece on the Starbucks DEI lawsuit settlement for my newsletter. Also me:

Word Count
Pages 5
Words 2147
Characters 13541
Characters excluding spaces 11437

130

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 23/09/2026

Big "baby Ian" vibes to a cat named Craig, I fear.

Jeremy from Peep Show grimacing and saying, "Ian Chapman. You'd have a baby that sounded like a solicitor".

100

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 18/09/2026

I get a lot of these spam emails and they always make me laugh because why would private equity be interested in acquiring a micro-niche coffee website that gets a few thousand visitors a month. But after reading the below expose, maybe Jordan's real...

Hi Fionn,

I hope this message finds you well. I am looking to get in touch with you regarding The Pourover. We have a private equity firm that is looking at acquiring businesses in The Pourover's industry.

Are you available this week to discuss the opportunity?

Thank you,
Jordan Thompson
Senior Vice President, Investment Banking

151

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 17/09/2026

The shop's co-owner on Instagram: www.instagram.com/p/DdWPUqyGzq...

Instagram post from Moka Pot co-owner Nick Carnes (@nicky_carnes) You think alittle paint on the walls and smashed windows is gonna stop us? We’re a community coffee shop. We are here for everyone and anyone. We always have been, and we always will be. #fucknazis

020

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 16/09/2026

Help people keep trying to engage with me about this article (defending Nespresso??) and I just...

Four images of David Lynch being interviewed, with the word "film" replaced with "article".

First image, he says: As soon as you finish [an article]...
Second image: ...people want to talk about it.
Third image, he closes his eyes and grimaces
Fourth image: ...And it's, um, the [article] is the talking.

130

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 11/09/2026

"If you want to make money, sell coffee". Okay.

The fault lies, of course, with economics. The gross profit margin on a cup of coffee is huge, anything from 65 to 85 per cent. Coffee is also addictive. If you want to make money, sell coffee. No one is to blame, really. But it’s so weird.

110

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 11/09/2026

Also includes some classic lecturing about calories and cost. Sure, Esther, coffee is the reason we're poor.

Coffee, by the way, is surely making us all fat. The calorie content of a flat white with whole milk is 150 calories. Larger, blended coffee drinks with syrups and so on can pack in 700 calories. And it is making us poor, draining little chunks of capital that could go towards something useful, rather than something that will make us able to complete tasks very fast (but not especially well).

110

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 11/09/2026

As well as being wrong in many ways, including a very funny bit at the end that reads "the gross profit margin on a cup of coffee is huge, anything from 65 to 85 per cent" (sure), this article is so poorly written. What on earth is this person talking about? archive.ph/elsPw

Screenshot of a Spectator article by Esther Walker
Title: Coffee-drinking is a cult
Subtitle: The joke is on you

Can this all still be the fault of the TV show Friends, which depicted its characters sitting about making jokes in a coffee shop? It seems to have percolated (excuse me) into the DNA of all living people, and thus all their offspring, forever, that the apogee of living is making quips while drinking coffee. This is so acknowledged as fact by the world – even by people who have never seen Friends – that when you are not a coffee-drinker, it looks like a cult.

130

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 11/09/2026

Hmm people really want to read this article...

101

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 10/09/2026

Wasn't sure if that meme worked so I made a more classic version.

Is this a pigeon? meme

A person wearing glasses gestures at a butterfly. The person is tagged The Specialty Coffee Association. The butterfly is tagged Nespresso.

The person says, "Is this specialty coffee?"

140

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 10/09/2026

Tomorrow: the Specialty Coffee Association's recent announcement of candidates for its board of directors—one of whom was a Nespresso executive—caused a backlash. But it actually makes perfect sense. Sign up to get the article sent to your inbox: thepourover.coffee/subscribe

Nathan Fielder interviewing Elizabeth Holmes. Top photo is Elizabeth Holmes smiling and wide-eyed, with a screenshot of the SCA's Facebook post announcing the latest slate of board candidates.

The Specialty Coffee Association is pleased to announce the Nominating Committee’s slate of candidates for the SCA Board of Directors:

And then two cutouts from the post reading: "Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)" and "Global Head of Coffee, Nestlé Nespresso S.A."

The bottom image is Nathan Fielder looking at Holmes questioningly/quizzically/confusedly

111

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 10/09/2026

I mean, seems pretty straightforward

A hand holding a plug removed from a socket

120

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 08/09/2026

Was looking something up on the old Specialty Coffee Association of America website (via the Wayback Machine, natch) and it struck me again how fun and interesting and full of personality websites often were even just ten years ago. web.archive.org/web/20160404...

A screenshot of the old Specialty Coffee Association of America's Resources webpage, featuring a cool hand-drawn banner image, lots of bright colours, and basic functionality.

040

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 04/09/2026

While the zombie AI surveillance video might not be real, such worker tracking is definitely a thing. www.sixthtone.com/news/1015993

To maximize efficiency, beverage chains across the country have turned to a vast network of surveillance cameras and sensor-equipped machines. Every move — from handwashing to preparing ingredients and final delivery — is meticulously tracked, ensuring that workers meet the demands of speed and consistency.

This digital oversight has allowed Luckin to rapidly expand to over 20,000 stores across China while maintaining strict quality control. “While the store manager’s sense of responsibility is very important, what’s more important is that we’re training our decision-making system to provide the best arrangements and instructions, rather than relying on the store manager’s experience,” Qian Zhiya, founder and former CEO of Luckin Coffee, once said at a 2019 industry conference.

100

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 27/08/2026

Wow! I'd rather be eaten by wolves!

Screenshot of an email from Zoom that reads "Start using your free AI features today

Hi Fionn,

As a thank you for being a valued Zoom customer, you now have access to key AI features until you reach their limit —no payment or commitment required!

020

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 26/08/2026

Aw man, they cancelled XCancel. What a bummer, it was really useful.

On Monday 24th August at 8PM EST, we received at letter from X Corp. asking to cease and desist the service XCancel.
The service XCancel is stopped until further notice.
We are seeking legal advice and won't share more details for now.
Thank you for the trust you have put in these two years of XCancel.

010

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 26/08/2026

Tim Curry was in a lot of great movies, but for some reason his most memorable role for me was in the somewhat less heralded Loaded Weapon 1 (1993). His whole performance was so weird (what was that accent?) and I think of it often. RIP to one of the absolute greatest.

Tim Curry smiling widely, dressed as a girl scout and peering into a house's peephole in the film Loaded Weapon 1 (1993).

120

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 26/08/2026

Re-reading this Sixth Tone piece from a couple of years ago, and I'm still not over the description of working at a Luckin store in China. Imagine making 500 coffee drinks every day. 200 within the first 30 minutes! I would simply die. www.sixthtone.com/news/1015993

At 25, Ke, who spoke to Sixth Tone using a pseudonym for privacy reasons, has spent more than three years as a vice manager at a Luckin Coffee store in Jinan, the capital of eastern Shandong province. Despite his title, his duties mirror those of the regular staff.

His day begins well before 8 a.m., arriving an hour early to clean and prep the machines. “The most exhausting times are every day during the morning, lunchtime, and evening rush hours,” says Ke, whose store churns out over 1,000 drinks daily.

Nestled in a busy business district, the store sees a flood of orders each morning — more than 200 within the first 30 minutes. They pour in through multiple channels: in-store, delivery apps, and pre-reservations. Even with five fully automatic machines to handle grinding, extraction, and cleaning, the workload remains overwhelming. With only two to four workers on duty, a single barista may prepare up to 500 cups a day.

020

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 25/08/2026

The French poster for Some Like It Hot (1959) is excellent.

French-language poster for Some Like it Hot, called "Certains L'Aiment Chaud". The tagline is "Hoe warmer hoe beter"

010

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 25/08/2026

Even more so at dusk (with a cameo from Fergus, my mum's miniature Schnauzer).

Same tree, but in the dimmer light of a Scottish dusk. A small miniature schnauzer stands next to it.

010

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 23/08/2026

Could easily have chosen All Hail West Texas, Tallahassee, or The Sunset Tree. Frankly a wild run of albums.

Album art for Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats from 2008

172

Fionn Pooler @thepourover.coffee · 23/08/2026

So my theory is that the goalkeeper's union got together over the summer and watched Road House (1989) and a few of them thought Sam Elliott looked really cool.

Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya with a ponytail catching a ball

Liverpool goalkeeper Allisson with a top knot

Leeds goalkeeper James Trafford with a top knot, pointing

Patrick Swayze standing next to Sam Elliott, who has a magnificent ponytail

020