[SIC] 127: Seersucker Bucket

February 11th, 2021

Hi all,

If you love (as I do) diving into trend reports and analysis, this is your week. My Portuguese plug Iolanda came through with some DEEP wells of info and inspiration that could keep me occupied for days and I’m thrilled to share them - so that’s where we start. Have a look but don’t get trapped: it’s a lot.

Apropos of my plugs: I couldn’t do this without help. Thanks Tom Donahue and Jim Mollica for sharing last week’s edition and turning people onto the newsletter - your endorsement and recommendation means a lot. And of course thanks Laura, Joel, Erik, Dan, Heidi, Elva and Jay for contributions this week. Love you for those.

Speaking of: today’s [SIC] Talks is with my longtime friend, the journalist and author and editor Elva Ramirez. Elva’s got a new book of non-alcoholic cocktail recipes called “Zero Proof,” coming out in April, and her @skedlines IG feed parses the news cycle in a way I really like. She’s also a firecracker, so will be a good one. Tune in on my IG Live @dietznutz today at 4p ET / 1p PT, or check it on my grid thereafter.

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The Trends. Start here (but don’t get stuck): 

• From Iolanda Carvalho: “If you like trends, there is this amazing annual Meta Trending Trends article by Matt Klein that rounds up the hot trends for the year, out last week, link below.  Also, this year he also wrote about the overlooked trends and it’s just the cherry on the trend cake, really good stuff” (Substack) 

• Also: just a bunch of docs, reports and links to trends from 2021 and reviews of 2020. (Space Cadet) 

• Via Markus Bosch: TikTok has published a new rising trends report, which highlights a range of key topics that saw significant growth in interest on the platform throughout 2020. (Business.Tiktok)

Oh and Elsewhere in TikTok: 

• Everybody Hates Millennials: Gen Z and the TikTok Generation Wars (The Walrus)

• TikTok's strange plan to take over your TV.  (Wired UK)  

• Related: the Biebs will be the first live concert on TikTok (Music Week) 

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 (The Wave )🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

• Also via Markus Bosch: what has 17 pages “Wave,” 14 pages of  “Goth” and 125 pages of “Core?” The aesthetics wiki.  Here’s how to create an ideal page(Fandom)  

• Elsewhere in aesthetics:  Is graphic design too trendy? (It’s Nice That) 

• Blackbird Spyplane’s “Ugly Genius Matrix” is, itself, genius. (Substack) 

• Via Nieman: Clubhouse is the anti-Twitter (One Zero)Ownership Has Became Hip-Hop's Ultimate Status Symbol (Highsnobiety)

• And via Music Redef: How a few hip hop journalists won Hollywood (Level)

Everybody to the Moon: 

• Via Protocol: The wolves of Dogecoin: Inside the underground crypto hustle — (Mel Magazine)

• Corollary: the ARK Invest’s 2021 “Big Ideas” predictions deck.(MC User Content)

Publishing in 2021: 

• Noted by Today in Tabs: Did you know you can donate a subscription on Substack. TiT is a good one to support but you can do it for any newsletter apparently. (HINT, HINT). 

• Also via Today in Tabs: the decade of work that went into Taylor Lorenz being an overnight sensation (which involves keeping a spreadsheet on who reblogs you) (Very Fine Day) 

• Via Simon Reynolds - b2b SAAS company Hubspot bought The Hustle (Axios) 

• Related, via Nieman: Bustle Digital Group wants to turn its newsletters into an 8-figure business this year (Digiday) 

• Meanwhile, via Simon Owens: The New York Times aims to convert newsletter readers into paid subscribers as The Morning newsletter tops 1 billion opens (Digiday)

• Via Nieman Lab: Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie says Facebook and Twitter getting into the newsletter business is a good thing (Substack, obvs)

• Via Public Announcement: Twitter considering'tipping' system, charging for Tweetdeck (Bloomberg)

• Airmail started a store with “highly selective” things in it, with fulfillment from Farfetch and Mr. Porter type partners. 

Pod Squad: 

• WaPo’s Jarrod Dicker on  The Office Hours Pod (Substack)

• From Laura Correnti: Mark Cuban is co-founding a podcast app where hosts can talk to fans live and monetize their conversations (The Verge) 

• Vans has a new content site called Channel 66 with shows from a bunch of [SIC] Friends and you should check it out. 

Computer: Vision

• From Joel Fowler: “Siq beats coming soon, SIC beats even. As for now this was fascinating: ["I Talked to the Cassandra of the Internet”) (NYT) 

• Via Howard Lindzon: Justin Paterno’s “An Ode To No Code”

• Related, via Future Party (and s/o Izzy Pollak): Genies is helping users bridge their identities by create digital avatars that they can then use in the metaverse (shared virtual spaces). (Business Insider) ”

• Corollary via Protocol:  The MetaHuman Creator can be used to make a digital human (in under an hour!) to be used for animation and motion capture in Unreal. (YouTube) 

• Elsewhere from Iolanda Carvalho: Machine learning gets real. (Hackaday) 

• Oh and machines are inventing new math. (Motherboard) 

Can’t Funge This: 

• Bobby Hundreds on cryptos, NFTs and next Internet: lighting the torch (The Hundreds)

• Apropos: The hundreds NFTs are out now (Instagram) 

Fashion (Both Capital and Lowercase “F”): 

• The Eccentric Art of Power Dressing (Frieze) 

• Via Lean Luxe: The FT’s really in its fashion bag lately: How to source rare vintage menswear online (FT) 

• Sneature is a compostable trainer made from 3D-knitted dog hair (Dezeen) 

• Luxury's Involvement In Resell Could Be The Beginning Of The End (Highsnobiety)

• Esp since luxury “Locavores” are another silver lining of the pandemic (Jing Daily) 

• A Continuous Lean on “How to Save an American Factory” (and get some excellent new shoes while you’re at it)

• Nordstrom is rethinking the department store model. (Vogue Business) 

Brands Jam

• 88Rising might be 2021 Travis Scott with their McDonald’s collab and Mattel tie-up. 

• Via The Dirt:  Fortnite x G.I. Joe action figure collab!!!

• Video games become IRL toys, toys for grown-ups.

• Related, via 2pm: Zoe Scaman on  FaZe Clan, fandom and the new brand flywheel (Substack) 

• Via Beats & Bytes: Why brands need a chief entertainment officer (AdAge)

• Highsnobiety on Dude With Brands. 

• How Oatly Outsmarted the Super Bowl by Being as Annoying as Possible(Marker)

• From Erik Lavoie: For the "flattery is the best way to ask for a cease and desist" category of SIC.”  Stay Cool, guys.

Because it’s Sober February: 

• From today’s [SIC] Talks guest Elva Ramirez: Here's a piece I wrote yesterday about the no/lo market"

• Also Elva’s Book “Zero Proof” available for pre-Order (IG) 

• Related, via Lean Luxe: What makes a good alcohol free spirit (Gentleman’s Journal) 

• Meanwhile: Pepsi made a juice for teens and they called it Frutly (Food Dive) 

Earth Crisis:

• No war for heavy metal: Washington is hoping USA Rare Earth will help it break China’s monopoly over the which are a critical component in things like electric cars and weapons. (Quartz) 

• Related, 'Nearly 65% of lithium-ion batteries come from China. By comparison, no single country produces more than 20% of global crude oil output' (WSJ).

Please Don’t Eat My Friends (But Do Eat at Their Restaurants)

• A new pandemic trend: Vegan food pantries (Axios) 

• A field trip to Edy’s in Greenpoint (Brooklyn Magazine)

• Everything bagel ice cream and what it does to the mind  (Let me get a bite)

• Buddy Heidi Hartwig’s Friends From New York teamed up with the restaurant Genghis Cohen to release an NY—>LA collabo tee, with all proceeds will go to  @genghiscohenla. You can order it here, (and for those who NEED it, use the code NEWYEARS for 50% off.  

You’re Only Dreaming:

• Via Sleepy Jones: How to Daydream (Guided Daydreaming) 

• And the science of daydreaming (Future Minds Lab) The surprising appeal of believing that you're living in "The Matrix" (GQ)

It’s Lit! 

• Via WITI: A Century of Reading: The 10 Books That Defined the 1990s 

• Ladies First: Clover Hope Talks [her book] "The Motherlode" And The Impact Of Women In Hip-Hop (Backseat Freestyle) 

Art You Can Buy (and I think You Should):

• Artist Cory Arcangel has produced two very special Opening Editions for the occasion of Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair, one as a digital download in an open edition for $10, and the second as a limited edition screen print for $150.

• Related: [SIC] Buddy Nick Gazin’s customized 7” sleeves are great (and affordable!) (Instagram)

• Also affordable: Magnum’s got poster editions of canon-level photos. (Magnum Photo)

The Week in Ephemera: 

• From Dan Bradley:  “I found this pretty interesting [Mental models for designing consumer products] and thought it might fit in SIC” (Substack) 

• Via Noticing: A collection of vintage paper airplanes found on NYC streets between 1961 and 1983 by Harry Everett Smith. (Kottke.org)

• Senior style in Japan: living the good life at 80 (Monocle) 

• From Jay Cox: Feel like this is something you would dig. Making a cool line based on [Seattle] city stuff like parks dept and bus lines (Instagram) 

  

Musicalia: 

• Slowed and Throwed: Exhibiting DJ Screw (032C) “I’m a bit of a wacky type” The Happy Mondays percussionist Bez does this week’s New Statesman Q&A.

• Via Music Redef: What Feels Nigerian But Isn't Really Nigerian? Celine Dion (VICE) 

• Via Dada Strain, the new Love Injection is available in print or via PDF and centers on Basquiat bandmate and nightlife legend Michael Holman.

• Via WITI: Thom Yorke stitches up everything from Mark Pritchard to Errorsmith to the Fall.

• Via Music Redef: 45 of the best hyper pop songs (The Forty-Five) 

• Also ia Music Redef: 22 songs by artists who never made an album. 

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