[SIC] 110: The Dolphins Called It

October 15th, 2020

Hi all, hope you’re all well.

There are a bunch of links pulled from my IG feed this week, including some notable and notable fundraiser art and photography efforts. For anybody with an interest in the visual arts, take a look and get to know the names of the featured contributors - they’re ones you’ll want to pay attention to (and who knows, maybe even work with). 

Speaking of contributors, special thanks this week to Reid, Rob, Kevin, Michael and Iliza for their contributions, and to Syd, Gordon, Heron, Cheryl, Jesse, Charlotte and Paul for the inspiration via their IG feeds. Love you all and love exploring the stuff you’re interested in. Keep curious and keep it coming!

Xo Ben

PS: I’m taking tea today with Ruba Abu-Nimah, SVP Creative Director at Revlon for [SIC] Talks #19 on IG Live.  Ruba’s a new friend and a true creative powerhouse, behind not only Revlon’s groundbreaking Megan Thee Stallion partnership but also really smart fundraising apparel-based efforts for Covid, Beirut and getting out the vote, in partnership with her friend Phillip Lim. And her account @ruba is a must-follow for the visually-inspired.  Ruba’s a real one, and it’ll be a fun conversation. It’s live at 4p ET today on @dietznutz - and thereafter in my grid. Come hang. 

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Start here: 

• Rip up the rules. A succinct primer on how Netflix Finds Innovation on the Edge of Chaos, according to Reed Hasting’s co-author (INSEAD podcast)

• Rishad Tobaccowala with advice for anybody selling something: Start by showing them some cool shit. (Substack)

• Why every brand should be anti-capitalist. Contradictory on its face, this op-ed logically boils down to marketers to shifting their focus from needing “brand safety” to pursuing the more inclusive “brand suitability” that audiences actually engage with (The Drum) 

• From Reid Moncada: “MSCHF at it again.” Internet collective MSCHF launched “Anti-Advertising Advertising Club,” a challenge for TikTokers to make ads that throw shade at some of the biggest advertisers on social media (including Amazon, Palantir, the NFL and even TikTok itself). MSCHF hopes the micro-payouts will entice users to join in the anti-corporate fun. 

• Morning Consult’s new report, What Consumers Want Companies to Say and Do in a Year Like No Other is downloadable now. 

• Fascinatingly logical: Hodinkee, the media brand covering watches, has a product offering insurance for watch collections, in collaboration with Chubb. 

• That tidbit gleaned from A Media Operator’s podcast with Hodinkee’s Ben Clymer. (Spotify)

Shades of Fashion in the Future: 

• Farfetch CEO Jose Neves talks the future of fashion on the Vogue Business podcast 

• But why aren’t more brands setting up resale in-house?  (Glossy)

• Via The Slowdown: Living Colour, is a project experimenting with pigment-producing bacteria as a sustainable alternative to artificial textile dyes, which are both toxic and resource-intensive. Intriguingly, bacteria create more saturated color when exposed to certain sound-wave frequencies.

• Fashion Might Finally Have Figured Out the Virtual Show  (Hypebeast)

• H&M’s instant Looop machine will shred your old clothes and knit you a t-shirt on the spot. (Edie)

• To get Jeff Staple’s latest sneaker collab, you have to vote. Proceeds go to the ACLU (Glossy)

More Future in the Future: 

• The COVID pandemic won’t fundamentally change our cities, says starchitect Norman Foster (Dezeen)

• But Via Reilly Brennan’s Trucks: Parisian mayor goes all-in on bike travel, saying 'We must forget the crossing of Paris from east to west by car.' (Forbes) 

• Via Protocol: Dropbox is switching to virtual-first work, and changing its whole idea of a workday: Key Quote: “We're embracing what we call 'non-linear workdays.' We're setting core collaboration hours with overlap between time zones, and encouraging employees to design their own schedules beyond that." (Dropbox Blog)

• Via Future Party: with a new(ish) patent: Spotify will be able to track and categorize every minute of your time on the app to help create a personality profile. (Input) 

• Via Quartz: Being the face under the face in deepfake videos is a new industry.(MIT Technology Review)

• Related, this is middle out for real. Via Benedict’s Letter: very impressive Nvidia demo of machine learning interpolation as an alternative to traditional video compression, with vastly (!) less bandwidth. (YouTube) 

• Via 1440: Benedict Evans on what happens when the majority of your population relies on programs made in countries which don't share (or care about) your cultural norms? (Benedict’s Letter)

To that end, For Those Interested in China: 

• For Chinese Millennials, Health Is The New Wealth (China Daily)

• Via Quartz: ChinesePod’s pronunciation tool includes a useful breakdown of different combinations of vowels and consonants, alongside nifty diagrams showing tongue positions for various sounds, and The University of California San Diego’s guide to pinyin provides context on the Chinese phonetic alphabet, known as pinyin, and some sound files for reference. 

Gaming / AR / VR:

• Via Protocol: Wired UKon why AR will be huge with case in point being The Snap London team that developed Local Lens where anyone in the area using the Lens can view other users' work in real-time and "can battle to cover the shops in their colors." They worked on a similar project called Landmarkers last year.

• Via RLab: Destination Earth (DestinE) - part of the European Commission's Green Deal and Digital Strategy - aims to create a "very high precision digital model" of the earth. 

• And via Quartz: artist Olafur Eliasson came up with Mobile app Earth Speakr allows users to overlay their faces on any object in their surroundings using AR technology, then record messages in real time. 

• Via Media Futures: Blair Witch - The Oculus Quest game is launching this Halloween (VR Scout)

Ripped from the Pages of Instagram: 

• @from_Syd (our homie Syd Allen-Ash)’s “Toenails” pod is an invite to “Come with me deep into a 200-year-old rabbit hole of winning & let's burn every altar on the way down” (Instagram)

• Via @DarinOBrien: @NikeSB’s re-done the VICE Sports classic with their Story of the Dunk (Instagram)

• And @HeronPreston x CPH fashion week brings 3D-printed AF1s (Instagram) 

• Via @CherylDunn: @freeartsnyc is having an auction to benefit #freeartsNYC’s nonprofit mentoring programs dedicated to providing NYC youth with equitable access to the arts and creative careers . Auction goes live oct16-30. (Instagram) 

• Related, from Rob Hubbert: Some very  cool stuff in here @statesofchange.us - a 5-day photo fundraiser with $150 prints with some BIG names (Instagram) 

• Via @GordonHarrisonHull: @Christopherjohnrogers’s “absolutely spectacular collection of 41 looks across the board bananas design art direction casting hair makeup styling prints etc etc etc 💯 personally one of them best things I’ve seen in a few years” (Instagram)

• Via @JessePearson: “@JoelKyack just released a great 11-minute art video. It’s about time, which we have not enough and too much of. I recommend watching it. Link in his bio, then scroll down a second and you’ll see it ⏳ (Instagram)

• Via @Charlotte.Japp: “@myfriendsylvia is a virtual influencer who ages a new year every 3 days and her captions are AI-generated. She was created by technologist Ziv Schneider at Columbia’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation with support from Columbia Aging Center”

• Via @paulraffaele: Love Injectionis back with a new issue (Instagram)

• Via Taking the Long View: Monty Python’s John Cleese has just published a book on creativity.

Musicality: 

• I keep hearing Aphex Twin’s “Alberto Balsam” everywhere and I like it. (Spotify) 

• From Kevin Johannesen: “YT has a new weekly music video drop "inspired" by TRL that's stacking-up views.” (YouTube)

• Roblox wants in as the next big music streaming platform.  (The Verge) 

• Case in point: Ava Max’s Roblox Music Release Party Clocks 1.2 Million Visitors (Digital Music News)

• Mixcloud launched Tickets, a new feature helping artists earn more from their live streams, with a series of exclusive audio-visual shows from Flying Lotus, Róisín Murphy, Leon Vynehall & Lafawndah. 

• J. Cole’s Dreamville launched a content studio (Hypebeast)

• Via Trapital:Move Forward Fest on October 17-18 is a livestream virtual music festival featuring Just Blaze, The Alchemist, Sonny Digital, among others.

• And, Via Beats & Bytes: Universal Music is developing a hotel complexes across the American South (Music Business Worldwide) 

• My faves 100 Gecs talk Hyperpop on the Pitchfork podcast (Spotify). 

• Greg Tate on Hip Hop’s Afrofuturistic Hive Mind (Hyperallergic)

• NTS founder Femi curated some playlists for UK luxe brand Dunhill, which are cool (Dunhill.com)

Good Works: 

• Via Maekan: Killer Mike alongside the former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young launch a new digital bank called Greenwood focused on serving Black and Brown people, a subject he touched on in “Trigger Warning” on Netflix a couple years back (TechCrunch / Kulturehub)

• Via Bond Journal: Devika Dalal launched Creativity for Kindness to provide nonprofits resources for effective communication design. Since its launch 6 months ago, Creativity for Kindness has 150+ creatives working on projects for non-profits globally.  

• Mellon Foundation pledged $250M to reimagine public monuments over the next five years to include those who have often been denied historical recognition. (Mellon.org)

• Via Why Is This Interesting: Booklyn’s Beirut Editions is a art print sale to raise money to aid people affected by the catastrophic explosion of Aug 4th. 

Platforming and Publishing: 

• Via Future Party:  the five main ways that influencers and businesses can make money on Instagram (Business Insider) 

• Via NYC Media Lab: Why Stories is the format that won social (Medium) 

• Via Future Party: Reddit released a new study, “Reddit’s Role in the Path to Purchase,” which shows that the site may be a product-research oasis, and announced a partnership with NewsWhip, a social media analytics firm, so publishers could have quick access to trends. (AdWeek)

• 'We're at the crux of it': How TikTok rival Triller is brashly pitching advertisers. Triller is leaning more heavily into music than almost any other social media platform on the market right now. (Digiday)

• And it’s thinking of going public via SPAC, per Reuters

• Via Protocol: Zoom launched two new platforms at its Zoomtopia conference yesterday: OnZoom, a soup-to-nuts platform for hosting and promoting virtual events; and Zapps, an app store for stuff you can do directly inside Zoom calls.

• HighSnob’s insight week is now live, including our friend Ana Andjelic’s take on why Curators are the new influencers (High Snobiety)

• Via Future Party: Pinterest launches the Pinterest Creator’s Festival to celebrate creators who are turning inspiration into action. The virtual event will explore outside the box creativity and craftsmanship — how to stay ahead of the curve, find partnerships, and “break through the feed.”

• Related: Why Fast Company pursued more smaller-budget sponsors for tentpole Innovation Festival (Digiday)

• Via Platformer: The (rocky) rise of Clubhouse has inspired a new wave of audio-first startups. Betty Labs, Geneva, Chalk, Rodeo and Spoon are among the startups now raising money among the bold-faced names of venture capital. (The Information)

• Cassandraon a grip of new Gen Z-helmed media companies including HAGS, Vibes.FYI and H3Y!   

• Cannabis brands are (mostly) trying to go above board to ‘weed out’ (har) bad messaging, but it’s surprisingly hard because most media platforms won’t run the ads (AdAge)

• Via WITI: The life and death of SNET, Havana’s alternative internet(Restofworld.org)

Creativeness: 

• The creative marketplace app Creative.ly is doing a series of free classes with folks like Zac Posen, Kameron Mack and Rajni Jacques

• Kyle Chayka’s take on Patreon and New Artistic Funding Models is not particularly charitable. Ba-dum-bum. (Frieze)

• Miranda July talks Kajillionaire and her process on the Monocle on Culture pod.

• It must be the socks. Paul Smith is still enjoying every day. (Observer)

• Corollary: Tampon holder shoes (Dezeen)

Welcome Diversions: 

• Documentary Mania is a website with hundreds of documentaries you can watch for free.

• Via Eighteen86’s guest slot in the THE FACE’s email: [Weird Walk]. This is a great little zine celebrating rambling and British folklore. It explores forgotten rituals, traditions and the general great strangeness of the countryside.

• 2.1 Million of the Oldest Internet Posts Are Now Online for Anyone to Read Jozef Jarosciak just put millions of early Usenet posts on a browsable archive for the first time. (Motherboard)

• The Plastic Bag Store is a public artwork and film installation staged inside of an elaborately designed (fake) grocery store stocked with thousands of items made entirely of discarded and reimagined single-use plastics. Through October 22. Tickets here (Eventbrite)

• From Michael Miraflor: “The absolute wildest deal I’ve seen in a while. Buy out an entire AMC movie theater... for $99.” (Twitter) 

• From Iliza Shlesinger: “My husband Noah [Galuten] wrote a beautiful piece for Eater. He perfectly captures what so many of us are feeling about food and travel. This article was so touching! I had to share! He quoted me (huge deal).”

• While Goop and Green Avocado called our girl Hypnotist Morgan Yakus to get her talking about dropping emotional weight. Find your castle. (YouTube)

• And via 1440 And there’s a new kind of Waterbear, the microscopic subject of Motherboard’s first viral hit video. (Youtube) 

Finally: 

• Via Public Announcement: I Called Everyone in Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Black Book (Mother Jones)

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