[SIC] 105: A Particular Geography

September 10, 2020

Hi all, 

A slightly late Labor Day week edition for you here. As a nod to the short week I’ll keep this intro short, but I will say that the first link here is an absolute must for anybody on the [SIC] list, and if you haven’t come across it already, take the time. It puts basically all the “things to ponder” in a new context entirely.  Thanks to Jeremy, Dom and Syd for your suggestions this week; I really appreciate them as always. 

Enjoy, 

Ben 

=====[SIC] 105: A Particular Geography=====

Start Here: 

• Via 1440: Read the first-ever op-ed written entirely by AI . Like, really read it. And then read the editor’s notes at the end. Really read them. (The Guardian)

Things to Ponder: 

• Americans who rely on social media or word of mouth for news are the least likely to be registered to vote (NiemanLab)

• And the majority of americans are also social distancing from politics. Among Americans 13 and older, 61% have unfollowed, unfriended, or blocked a connection on social media because of that person’s political views or posts. (Civic Science)

• Are Influencers Responsible for the Behavior of Their Followers? Fan armies are harassing gay and trans people on TikTok. (The New York Times)

• How UFO culture took over America (Rolling Stone)

• Is Spotify killing the Top 40? (Quartz)

• Related: via Lefsetz Letter: The RIAA just released their mid-year statistics. Recorded music revenues went up by 5.6% in the pandemic, and streaming now represents 85% of the market as opposed to 80% a year earlier. 

• Deepfake porn is now mainstream. And major sites are cashing in (Wired) 

• Raven Smith on The Growing Horror of the Gender Reveal Party (Vogue)

• Via Office Hours: 10 Things You Don't Know about Yourself (Scientific American)

• Via Marginal Revolution: "Statistically, one in three houses in Queensland, Australia, has one [a python] in their roof,”

Things to Watch: 

• Via The Sociology of Business: "Check out the “Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution” documentary here and "Battle At Versailles: The Competition that Shook the Fashion Industry"here. 

• Via Good is the New Cool: The Great Reset is a fantastic UK creative industry movement from Purpose Disruptors to embed the positive environmental shifts that have happened during lockdown as THE new normal. Check out the film above and click here to see how you can get involved.

• The Limitless Value of Snacks (Pulse Films / Instagram)

• How San Diego noise punk stalwarts The Locust scammed Jerry Springer and became legendary (VICE) 

• VICE’s Kat Tooley on events in the future, battling fatigue and getting creative (The Drum) 

• From Jeremy Toeman: "Since I don’t know if you use Wingman as a source yet. [A Short Film Turns Footage of Major Highways into a Dizzying Animation]. Amazing.” (Colossal)

Things about Media and Publishers

• Via Nieman Lab: A Guide to Bullshit, Power-Serving Journalism Phrases (Read Passage)

• Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and Wired are betting big on gaming (CNN) 

• Via Howard Lindzon: ‘New media platforms are enabling a new creator type: Digitally Native Vertical Creators’

• Wonder Media Network CMO Shira Atkins on making (and selling) branded podcasts (Digiday)

• Via Nieman: The Juggernaut’s Snigdha Sur on building media for the South Asian diaspora (A Media Operator)

• 6 TikTok creators are creating The Drum’s next magazine from the UK’s first hype house

• Facebook Campus, is a new social networking platform, which offers college students a private place to connect, with all the same problems as big Blue. (TechCrunch)

Things about Brands: 

• Brands that hyper-personalize will win the next decade (TechCrunch)

• Via RLab: Ikea turned a virtual influencer into a physical installation (The Verge)

• Old but important: from Feb, Brand Blockers’ Are Trying to Scrub Their Feeds Clean of Every Advertiser on Twitter (One Zero/Medium)

• Led by Red Wing and Droga5, dozens of brands promoted their job openings rather than sales promotions for Labor Day (AdWeek)

• Virgil and Mercedes-Benz Want To Rebuild the Luxury Landscape, They Explain How (High Snobiety)

• Via WITI: Interesting collab from Aime Leon Dore and the Criterion Collection

• And: Four Seasons has partnered with Johns Hopkins on cleanliness protocols (Four Seasons)

• Via Lean Luxe: A report at HBR explores how brands can get better at activism, but doesn’t ask the more pertinent question: Should brands be touching advocacy and activism at all?

• Related: Via Dom Shales: As we've all been dealing more and more with 'corporate' rather than straight marketing issues I thought this new report would be of particular interest. It was carried out with and for corporate affairs leaders, who are now often the primary stewards of company-level partnerships, and highlights key priorities for them and their businesses. The summary of the report is here (Globescan)

Things In Fashion:  

• The outerwear brand Vollebak designed a "Plant and Pomegranate Hoodie" that you can compost in your garden (Dezeen)

• Content Commerce Insider interviews China-centric fashion influencer Christina Wang aka TheMulanShow (the木兰show).  Useful reference on Chinese social platforms. 

• Via Public Announcement: The New Tribalism of American Fashion  As NYFW nears, designers have sharpened their focus to a tight community of friends and families, with customers as their new muses. (GQ)

• To that end: The Biden/ Harris  Campaign has a gang of name designers to make merch for them (Vogue) 

• And Michelle Obama’s ‘When We All Vote” group dropped their merch too (Vogue) 

• A diverse range of brands and retailers -- including Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle and La Ligne -- are launching prominent voting-rights-themed collections and campaigns in the coming weeks, particularly with a progressive bent. (Glossy)

• Plus, as the pandemic changes shopping habits, menswear brands are adapting and streamlining their assortment  o refocus on in-demand streetwear products. (Vogue Business)

• To wit: Bephie Beauty Supply’s “Fuck Racism” tees

• Brother Models 2.0 is a gender-free and future-focused model agency (i-D)  

• More faces: We Can All Be The Next Face of Gucci — Thanks to Deepfakes  RefaceAI is betting on artificial intelligence as fashion’s new frontier. (Hypebeast)

• More Gucci: via Vogue Business: As the physical and virtual worlds become increasingly blurred, Gucci is designing with your avatar in mind. (Wired)

• Tomorrow: NTWRK president Moksha Fitzgibbons will talk with Brian Morrissey on a Digiday Livestream about the future of livestream shopping

• Farfetch Launches Curated Galleries To Lure Out China’s Consumers (Jing Daily)

• Want to make it big in fashion? Think small. via Noah Wunsch and WITI (NYT) 

• To that end: Dryce Lahssan has opened a boutique that offers just one item: an ankle-length black vinyl trench that he only brings out from behind a mirrored wall after coffee and conversation.

Things to Attend for Free: 

• The FT’s “Global Boardroom” series is coming back, Nov 11-13th and it’s free. 

• Hyperallergic’s live with their concise guide to NYC Art in September.  And Los Angeles, too.

Things to Page Through: 

• Monsters! Barbarians! Spaceships! A Whale in a Short Sleeve Cardigan! Taschen’s got a new “Masterpieces of Fantasy Art” Book (Hypebeast)

• As a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, over 200 Black Panther comics are available for free on the Amazon-owned Comixology (Hypebeast).

• And GARAGEmade a coloring book. 

Finally, Other Things: 

• From Syd Allen-Ash: “Memory Work is a research-based scenario, indicating possible futures of women's labour." made by From Later, foresight studio in Toronto.  Very cool site, interesting ideas, love me some gradients, some interesting sound elements too. 

• Via Stay Connected:Documenting the Carefree, Queer Haven of Jacob Riis Beach From The Rockaways to New York Pride, photographer Stephanie Mei-Ling explores intersectional identity beyond society's fetishisation of marginalised subcultures.(i-D) 

• Paint brand Dulux has unveiled a "reassuring" earthy beige hue called Brave Ground as its colour of the year for 2021. (Dezeen)

• A Deep Dive Into the 'Gentrification Font' (VICE) 

• Via Quartz: Berghain is now an art gallery. The legendary Berlin nightclub is reinventing itself as clubbers continue to stay away.

• Via Wingman: If you’re into scavenger hunts, and jelly beans and have $50 to spare you can win a Jelly Belly factory.

• Build Your Own Trick-Savvy Dog with This DIY Robotics Kit (Colossal)

• Cool Rooms: The shortlist for Dezeen Awards 2020 interiors categories has been unveiled, with 61 projects selected across 12 categories. (Dezeen)

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