[SIC] 131: Nostalgia Bonanza

March 11th, 2021

Hi all,

Light work this week. No [SIC] Talks today, just the links below. Lots to dig into as usual, tho. Have fun with the takes and then get out and enjoy a little sunshine. Or, bring your phone along and do both.

Thanks to James, Ali, David and Iolanda for contributions this week; they’re my oxygen every week. Keep ‘em coming. Back soon.

xo - Ben

=====[SIC] 131: Nostalgia Bonanza=====

This Week’s Takes on Takes: 

• Wandavision is surveillance capitalism (The Dirt) 

• Via Maekan: The Internet and social media have now become a relentless pursuit of authenticity. (Substack)

• Corollary: Millenial Pink is dead (Glossy) 

• Monocle’s digital decency manifesto. 

• Speaking of decency: when a California city gave people a guaranteed income, they worked more — not less (Vox) 

• More collectivism: Adam Curtis Cancels the Future. "Curtis’s new BBC series, Can’t Get You Out of My Head, depicts the repetitive bleakness of individualism, but how can we collectively envision an alternative?” (Frieze) 

• More rumination on cancellation via this NYT doubleheader: Emily Mortimer on how come Nabakov’s “Lolita” isn’t canceled, while Ross Douthat asks if liberals care about books getting banned. 

• Speaking of which: who’s in charge of cancel culture? (The New Yorker)

• Via Maekan: A contrarian take on NFTs courtesy of Seth Godin. (Seth’s Blog)

Since We Now Have to Talk About NFTs: 

• Beeple’s $69MM NFT = Nice, bro (WSJ) 

• Via Future Party: A new app called S!ng is cashing in on the non-fungible token (NFT) craze by automating all the techy know-how required to create NFTs to let users focus on sharing, buying, and selling them. (Input)

• Then again: for creators, Everything Is for Sale already. As Protocol wrote: “Possibly the most Black Mirror thing you'll read today.” (NYT) 

• Therefore: "Nonfungible Tokencore: Music's Strange and Potentially Lucrative New Format." (Music Redef)

• Corollary via Music Redef: The Artist-Superfan’s Brave New Superstore (Consequence of Sound)

Other Stuff the Kids Are Into: 

• Via Lean Luxe: The Drunken Canal and the Rise of the Quaranzine (GQ) 

• BTW - I actually managed to get my hands on a copy of The Drunken Canal and it really brings to mind The Shoreditch Twat of yore (and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible) (eBay)

• Elsewhere in London, The Timestalked to fake Heiress Anna Delvey for their “Stories of our Times” pod 

• Also BTW you can talk to Anna Delvey yourself on Clubhouse next Friday 3/19. Hit me up if you need an invite to the app, incidentally. 

• Beyond the batcave: at home with the goths (The FACE) 

What the Old Guys Are Not Into: 

• Peter Schjeldahl doesn’t like the KAWS show. (New Yorker) 

• Related: Via Public Announcement:  The Downward Spiral: Popular Things (Spikeart)

Other Media Stuff of Note:  

• Via Ferdi Verderi: “One year ago #VogueItalia sent to newsstands a completely white cover, a message of respect and at the same time a desire for rebirth. Curator Valentina Ciarallo asked dozens of Italian artists to paint that cover as if it were a virgin canvas.” The March 2021 Issue presents their work. (Instagram) 

• Bob Guccione Jr. talked to BK Mag about the new Spin, the old Gear and whatever Wonderlust is. 

• Via Monocle: the new issue of Deem Journal is out. 

• While The New Order talked to seven creatives for their partnership with Japanese apparel brand Goldwin (cousin to the better-known Nanamica) 

• Bronze Age: 10 years of riotous independent publishing (the FACE)

• The Information is expanding its newsletter business (Axios)

• And Mel Magazine is too (Adweek) 

• Speaking of newsletters: from James Friedman: “More cerebral than much of what’s usually in [SIC] but this [Interview with Substack’s CEO]  was an interesting read. Seems like a smart fucker”

• Related: the 10 most Innovative media companies in 2021 (Fast Company) 

Conversations of Note: 

• Achitecture god James Wines breaks it down in apartamento. 

• Emily Segal can see the future (Instagram) 

Clothesline: 

• Please to buy me (or yourself) the Naval jacket, from artist partners in art and life Jean Nagai and Lilah Rose. So cool. (Instagram) 

• Related: Pants are fun now (Vox)

• Via Vogue Business. Meet Depop’s sustainability whisperer. (Fashionista)

• Via CCI: The “super alpha” style is emerging as a top fashion trend for women, incorporating elements of menswear, athleisure, and streetwear, often in monochromatic ensembles. (Radii)

• From Ali Rauh: [The new Thome Browne film] ‘feels like a topic for "Mad at Marketing" 💃🏼⛷’ (Instagram) 

• Corollary: Via CCI: The Loewe show has been cancelled (and it’s a newspaper now). 

• 16 Emerging Designer Names to Know: The 16 finalists of the Yu Prize founded by entrepreneur Wendy Yu have been announced. This epoch-defining list of Chinese names (Jing Daily)

• James Whitaker is an impressive dude. His A Ma Maniere combines fashion-forward buys with community connection (FT) 

DTC 2 D2Me: 

• 'Relevance is key': Why Nordstrom has gone all-in on DTC brands (Retail Dive) 

• In the test-kitchen with ‘Spotify for foodies’: A new digital service offers a deep dive into great recipes past and present. (FT)

• Via Gossamer:  NYC’ers: Miss Lily’s Jamaica in a Box dinner comes with an accompanying Spotify playlist. 

• Frank Bruni thinks beef might be over. (NYT) 

Not Over: Ads and Marketing:

• Overtime is launching a pro hoops league (Axios) 

• While via Morning Brew: the Dallas Mavericks are now accepting dogecoin, (NYT)

• Nike and adidas are locked in a digital arms race (Quartz) 

• Via Morning Brew: The "new normal" ads are here and they are unsettling (Twitter)

• Via Future Party: Cable TV is going the way of the dinosaur.  (Fast Company)

• From David Bloom: What you watch on Disney+ will shape your Disneyland experience — and vice versa (Mercury News) 

• Via The Drum: An Inside look at Roblox. 

• Why content curation rules social (Vogue Business) 

• Corollary: How Yahoo Newsbuilt to 1MM subscribers on TikTok (Nieman Lab) 

• From Iolanda: Purpose all around... meets Luxury meets Sustainability meets Gen Z... (Bain.com)

• What vegan cheese tells us about brand building and billboards (The Drum) 

• But wait, via WITI: Debranding Is the New Branding (Substack) 

Tune-Age:

• Via Beats & Bytes: What Is Bardcore?  (Digital Music News)

• Debate: Colemine Records (home to Neal Francis from last week’s email) is  the new Daptone. 

• Via Music Redef: The new Har Mar Superstar: sober, engaged and employed by the Postal Service (Star Tribune)

• Via Steve Powers: save the John Coltrane house in Philly (Instagram) 

• Next door, via Dada Strain: All the  Sun Ra Arkestra music that’s been released or reissued since 2017 (Bandcamp) 

• Bruce LaBruce on Punk and Revolution (Frieze)

• Don Letts x NYT on quintessential Carnival tunes. 

• Elsewhere in block parties, via Music Redef: The Making of Dave Chappelle’s Iconic ‘Block Party’ (The Ringer) 

Reflections on the last year: 

• Via Music Redef: Indie radio has thrived during the pandemic (DJ Mag) 

• Related: the pandemic sped the shift to digital ads in a big way. 

• Elsewhere via Lean Luxe:  One year in, gallerists have learned some surprising lessons about selling art online. (Artnet)

• Via Katie Drieke: No logo, no likes: New York's offline DIY culture embraces lockdown limitations (The Guardian) 

Stuff to See: 

• Hyperallergic guides to NY and to LA art shows in March. 

• Ikea Heights is an old low-budget series featuring Randall Park and shot in Ikea without any permits or permission. (YouTube) 

• Via Monocle: "A perfumer’s talent is notoriously ineffable, which is why this documentary [“Nose”] on Dior’s perfume-maker François Demachy feels like being let in on a closely guarded secret." (YouTube) 

• Far Out Magazine ranks Kubrick’s best work. 

• Black Visionaries Challenge the Exclusionary History of Architecture In This Online MoMA Class (Hyperallergic) 

Ephemera: 

• From Iolanda Carvalho, "W2F stuff🙂":  [Sony’s Banana Controller] and [this iPod is actually an apple] (The Guardian) 

• Via WITI: The Goodyear Inflatoplane was an experimental inflatable airplane built in the 1950s. Its wings and body are totally soft and inflatable  allowing the entire plane to be collapsed and folded up (Youtube) 

• Check out this bird made of birds (Colossal)

• Via Lean Luxe: Harvesting sea salt by hand, Japanese style (YouTube) 

• Why Channel 37 Doesn’t Exist (And What It Has to Do With Aliens) (VICE) 

• Via Axios: The plan to rear fish on the moon (Hakai)

• Via Sleepy Jones: Going Down the Rabbit Hole 🐰🐇(Vimeo)

• From Iolanda Carvalho: not “Dictator Banknotes,” sorry... 🙂 [Daniel Gordon’s book of Houseplants] (Colossal)

• And lastly, Tobia Zambotti stuffed a sofa with single-use masks to highlight the amount of plastic waste being created by the coronavirus pandemic. (Dezeen) 

=====SIC 131: Nostalgia Bonanza=====