[SIC] 113: Bottle the Zeitgeist

November 5th, 2020

My favorite piece this week is (un?)auspiciously titled “The Doom Report,” which given all the message chaos of the pre- and post-election period so far, seems apropos. That the report was synthesized by the trend forecasters who named normcore and charted the ‘chaos magic’ of Trumpian self-actualization, and in part by GPT-3, the AI copy-writing program is a sign of the times for sure. It’s long but fascinating.

From there, the week’s array gets deep, silly, weird and even a little scary. It also extensively covers pants. Thanks to Tim, who send “The Doom Report,” Syd, and the other Tim for their contributions this week. Keep ‘em coming, all.

Oh also, [SIC] Talks is back today with special guest Chris Black, co-founder of the agency Public Announcement, whose excellent newsletter I frequently borrow from, and co-host of “How Long Gone” and now “How Long Gone Radio” on Spotify. We’ll be live @dietznutz on IG Live at 4p ET / 1P PT today, and thereafter in my grid. Come hang, it’ll be fun.

x Ben

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Before we get going:

• Via Highsnobiety: PC Mag’s guide on confirming your absentee ballot got counted. 

• Notable because: Election misinformation is going viral on TikTok (Media Matters)

Now, Start Here: 

• From Tim Nolan: "Fmr KHOLE peeps just dropped [The DOOM Report]" (Nemesis)

• How Discord (somewhat accidentally) invented the future of the internet by [figuring] something out about the internet that nobody else has.”(Protocol)

• Epic nerdery: Tales From The Dork Web #21’s got so much good stuff, from Solarpunk to Clowncore.

• Including the future prospects of 16 Psyche: the $10 quintillion asteroid (The Observer) 

• The Rebooting on The Trump Bump becoming the Trump Slump. Excellent as always. 

• Defending critical critics: Why negative reviews are good for culture (The New Statesman) 

Printed Matters: 

• It’s Nice That has an exclusive glimpse into the largest collection of magazines in the world. 

• There’s a new issue of Hamburger Eyes. 

• And the new edition of Hommegirls mag is out, too. 

• Related: Playgirl magazine is reborn, and featured on Monocle’s “The Stack” podcast with editor Skye Parrott

• And Cult Classic magazine is a playground of graphic design (It’s Nice That) 

• From Syd Allen-Ash:  [GARAGE’s “An Inquiry Into Black Space”] is a “super interesting inquiry into the meaning of Black space by a group of artists, designers, thinkers etc. Led by GARAGE with Alaska Alaska, a black led design firm, and Virgil [Abloh]. I am definitely not a Virgil stan, but the featured guests are brilliant.”

• Related: RISD launches Race in Art & Design cluster-hire for anti-racism initiative Rhode Island School of Design is hiring 10 faculty members that specialize in issues of race and decoloniality in the arts, architecture and design as part of its wider plan to tackle systemic racism in the school. (Dezeen) 

• And Anti-Racism Daily, a newsletter that gives readers actions they can take to end systemic racism, now has a Slack app. Each day you’ll get a Slack message that summarizes the issue of the day (adapted from the daily email) with resources and action items. (Nieman Lab) 

Print as Sounds (and other sounds):

• Monocle interviews the artist Theaster Gates for their Big Interview pod.

• Stephen Malkmus on the Apology pod (Instagram) 

• From Tim Fielding: "this [Soundcloud Mix]  ay give you something to smile about - the opening track is my contender (in a very small field) for coolest presidential tribute track ever.”

• While Hank Korsan’s funk & disco mix  for The FACE delves into vintage grooves to stop your heart from growing cold.

• Elsewhere: DJ Private Ryan’s “Dancehall Starter” mix  (Soundcloud)

• And: shirt brand Corridor's in-store playlist (Spotify)

Where the Pants We Wear Change the World: 

• The politics of pants in skateboarding (Quartersnacks) 

• Meanwhile, Blackbird Spyplane puts us onto the dopest pants nobody knows about, as a follow up to its interview with Jerry Seinfeld about his closet. (Substack)

• Apropos of last week’s book "The Way We Wore,” which charts British fashion movements: How the New Romantics transformed British culture (The New Statesman)

• And in parallel via Public Announcement: Don’t Look Back in Anger. Key Quote: “Britpop is often dismissed as an embarrassing, retrograde moment in British culture. But at its best, it hinted at what might have happened if the working class had managed to regain its sense of power and pride after the defeats of the 1980s.”  (Jacobin)

Pants Companies Doing Other Things: 

• Carharrt WiP made a cool looking skatepark in collaboration with Galleria Continua (Instagram) 

• Via The Future Party: streetwear powerhouse KITH’s take on a BMW 3-Series sold out in minutes. (The Gentleman Racer)  

The Media Elite: 

• Three Actionable Insights with Sir Martin Sorrell (The Drum) 

• Medialyte on the curious emergence of the Substack advertisement (Substack)

• Business Insider Buys Controlling Stake in Morning Brew

• Protocol on Loupe, an Apple TV app - and now key example of FAST (free, ad-supported television) channels on OTT - which enables users to launch curated playlists of artwork from around the world on their TVs, including slideshows of paintings, photography and motion art. Viewers can also buy prints of the artwork directly from Loupe. 

• The complicated legacy of Man Repeller  (Fashionista) 

Shout Out Jamiroquai: 

• Replika is an AI-powered app you can fall in love with, maybe (Buro)  

• Via The Future Party: Superplastic animates two new celebrities. The character-based product and animated entertainment company introduced two new animated celebrities — Dayzee and Staxx (Hypebae) 

• With $1B in revenue this year Pokemon Go is still very much a thing (Morning Brew) 

• Music Created by Artificial Intelligence Is Better Than You Think (OneZero / Medium) 

• Via Contagious: Lively’s Instagram reels to see 5 female gamers talking about their own experiences of challenging industry stereotypes.

Fast Food Feelings: 

• Via The Media Nut: Last Friday, the person operating the QSR’s Twitter account posted: “it’s always “when is the McRib coming back” and never “how are you doing person who runs the McDonald’s account,” which kickstarted a conversation between brands about mental health. (The McRib is back 12.2, a subsequent tweet revealed) (Twitter) 

• Corollary: Marker on Why McDonald’s Success Sets Off Economic Alarm Bells. Restaurants are pivoting to drive-thrus—but it’s a foreboding economic indicator (Medium) 

• Brazilians on the edge of the Amazon rainforest are working with cattle ranchers — not against them — to save the climate. Check out the latest episode of the Future Perfect podcast.

• Muji sells veggie meat now: Muji: 4 new plant-based meat products are now available from the Japanese retailer (Input) 

• Via Quartz: The UK’s first vegan butchers are open for business. They’re selling meat-free versions of traditional products—baycon, soysage, and turk’y

Designeration: 

• Dezeen’s Events Guide has got ten architecture and design events this November and December.

• Nicole McLaughlin’s bra concepts are great. (Instagram) 

• Via Public Announcement: The Future of Hotel Design. Mobile guest rooms, enhanced contactless room controls, robotic servers and pop-up dining areas are just a few of the ideas hotel designers are considering for the post-Covid travel world. (NYT) 

• The Fascinating History Of Luxury Design, From Hedgehog Vases To Chanel Bags (Fast Company) 

Musicky Things: 

• Via Music Redef: the MCs shaping a new wave of African rap (DJ Mag) 

• Underground Music Academy is ushering in a new generation of revolutionary artists. Detroit’s new music school is inspired by the radical techno collective, Underground Resistance. (The FACE) 

• Via Public Announcement: Why Is‘Saturday Night Live’ Suddenly Booking So Many Older Rock Bands? (Variety)

• Spotify will now allow artists and labels to promote tracks in your recommendations (TechCrunch) 

• But is it Icky? (Quartz)  

Speaking of Spotify (and brands, and influencers): 

• Should Spotify Be Responsible for What Joe Rogan Does? (Vulture) 

• UGC is Dead. Now What Are Brand Partners to Do? (Adweek)

• Shopify, TikTok partner on shoppable video ads The collaboration will help Shopify's merchants advertise on the social media app. (Retail Dive) 

• While Dior activates Snapchat e-commerce for new sneaker (Retail Dive) 

• Travel has plummeted. Can your favorite luggage brands survive? Luggage brands have responded to plunging sales by releasing products for short-term travel. Will it be enough to keep them afloat? (Fast Company)

• Comedians are the newest brand darlings in China (Content Commerce Insider) 

• When worlds collide:The Economist explores OnlyFans

  

Then, If You’re Still Seeking Controversy: 

• Via Platformer: RadiTube is a search engine that makes the content of radical YouTube communities searchable for journalists and researchers. Have fun!

• Via Protocol: The Instagram aesthetic that made QAnon mainstream (Vox)

• Related: Business Insideranalyzed every message ever posted by 'Q,' the enigmatic persona that started the QAnon conspiracy theory.    

Finally: 

• Book my ticket to Portland: What the magic mushroom market in the US could look like while psychedelic treatment for depression is on sale for the first time (Quartz)

• A Canadian study gave $7,500 to homeless people. Here’s how they spent it. (Vox) 

• The late Keith Hufnagel interviewed by Zoo York founder Eli Gesner (Instagram) 

• More than 60 international architecture firms have put artworks and signed drawings up for auction, in a bid to raise funds for rebuilding Beirut after the explosion that rocked the city in August and left at least 300,000 people homeless. (Dezeen)

• A bunch of cool illustrators are in this A4 show in Nuremberg (Instagram) 

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