[SIC] 143: 77,000 Piece Orchestra Set

June 3rd, 2021

Hi all.

I love a good interview. I love a good oral history. Nothing better. There’ve been a bunch of good ones this week, so we start there. Visit Detroit, reach Bushwick, hang in Stockton, meet the bootlegs down on mid ‘90s Canal St. Keep going; Too much fun. And then we run through the internet trenches from there.

On the subject of interviews, no [SIC] Talks this week, but I have to say the conversation with Noah from @rubyforfun last week was great and worth checking. Likewise the rest of the series (and its sister ‘Mad at Marketing’ with frequent [SIC] contrib Ben Pruess. All are on my grid over @dietnutz.

Meantime, thanks to this week’s superstar contributors David, Jian, Josh and (of course) Iolanda; great tips. More please - and everybody else, you’re welcome too. Also, if you want to share this, please do. Here’s a button. It’s free:

Til next Thurs,

xo Ben

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The Interviews

• Future Perfect’s got an interview with Michael Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton CA who spearheaded a pilot program there offering $500 to some residents with no strings attached.

• While Futurevvorld’s new discussion series on the future of fashion, design and footwear. 

• Via Backseat Freestyle:  Danny Brown on Code Collection’s interview series.

• Via Garbage Day: Oral History of McKibbin Lofts (Curbed) 

• Art Collector Tim Kang Talks About His Love of NFTs (Hyperallergic)

• Multi-talent, SIC buddy and fave artist Andrew Kuo blesses the Spyplane and it’s glorious. (Blackbird Spyplane)

• Another [SIC] buddy, the painter Erik Foss interviewed. (Instagram)

The Internets:

• Via Garbage Day: Polygon’s “The greatest achievements in dumb internet video 

• Meanwhile NIGO Lends His Creative Talents to Tokyo's Public Toilets  (Hypebeast)

The Zeitgeist:

• Via Maekan: Welcome to the post-sellout era: Does everybody win? (Fast Company) 

• Elsewhere in winning: S/o Elva and Liz: the hot new alcohol trend is cutting back (NY Post)

• Speaking of resetting: Is Olivia Rodrigo evidence we’re witnessing a cultural reset? (The New Statesman).

• Related: Who? Weekly explains the new celebrity (The New Yorker)

• Le Baron Hong Kong is saying goodbye (Instagram)

• Via After School: You know Dimes Square, but have you been to TikTok block? (Embedded)

• Elsewhere on the block: a solution to Urban Blight? To make the road, start by removing the highway. (NYT) 

• Via Noticing: everything is becoming paywalled content. What happens when all the good information and art costs money and the only stuff that's still free is disinformation, propaganda, and bullshit?  (Wired)

• From David Bloom: “Worth some conversation: Are we headed toward a Roaring ‘20s Redux, or a more subdued or complicated post-pandemic era? And how should brands and marketers position to take advantage?” (Marketing Dive)

• The convenience store can be a magical emporium (FT) 

• The Art of Not Giving a Fuck According to Jayne County (Frieze)

The Kids: 

• Via Public Announcement: Caught in the Study Web: Exploring Gen Z’s ambitious and anxiety-fueled pursuit of straight A’s across YouTube, TikTok, Discord, and Twitter. (Every-to)

• Via Jing Daily: The Anxiety of Influencers: Educating the TikTok Generation (Harpers)

• Also via Jing Daily: China's Generation Z Shouts 'Lie Down' Amid Increasing Pressure but Never Really Drop Their Responsibilities (Global Times) 

• A whistlestop tour of TikTok tribes (Buro)

• But how do you solve ageism in the marketing business? (The Drum) 

• Because, via Marcus Bosch: the ”What’s Poppin’” Show demonstrates how Gen Z creators are reworking established content formats for new audiences. [No need for reinvention] … you just need to show it to an audience that hasn’t seen it before. (Publish Press)

• Also, via Publish Press: Reading is hot again, Emma Chamberlain told us so. (Youtube) 

• So Buro’s got their summer reading list for you.

The Tunes: 

• However, Ellen is unimpressed by Black Midi's new record. (The New Statesman)

• Via Lean Luxe: How much do rappers charge for features? (Complex)

• Via Lefsetz Letter: Flute Songs  (Spotify)

• Takeaways from the French Hip Hop economy (Trapital)

• And Digging for Gold: 100+ Canadian R&B songs (Hypebeast)

• Elsewhere, via Music Redef: The history of recorded sound in 3 minutes (British Library)

The Visuals: 

• BK Mag’s got portraits of the Satmars: Szatmárnémeti Williamsburg

• While Hyperallergic’s Cache of Photos Reveals LA’s Old Chinatown

• Spending money? The Printed Matter auction is a good place to put your art dollars (Artsy) 

• Related: Quality control. Oscar Martinez burning sub-par paintings to control his market (Instagram)

• These Pellecass photos are pretty great. (Instagram)

• From Jian DeLeon: The Nam Jun Paik retrospective looks great (Instagram)

• India’s Vibrant and Idiosyncratic Truck Art (Hyperallergic)

The Brands:

• Hodinkee Knows How to Talk to Watch Enthusiasts. Can It Attract Everyone Else? (Business of Fashion)

• And what’s next for content publishing studios? (The Rebooting)

• Related: REI opens content studio to support climate action, DEI efforts (Marketing Dive)

• As Brands Produce More Content, Production Houses Launch Brands (Jing Daily)

• Related How the depop generation thinks (Vogue Business)

• Meanwhile Ynap wants to be the new Depop (Vogue Business)

• And Twitter is investing in "collectives," (Protocol)

• Harry Styles might have a beauty line coming.. (Hypebeast)

• Because Consumers Don’t Hate Your Brand, They’re Just Bored (Jing Culture & Commerce)

The NFTs: 

• Via Marginal Revolution: LaMelo’s NFT. Interesting approach to gamifying fandom and self-adulation. (ESPN)

• While NFTs shake up China’s art scene  (Jing Daily)

The Newsletters: 

• Elsewhere, the excellent The Dirt newsletter is crowdfunding itself with NFT editions (and it seems to have worked..)

• Speaking of newsletters, from Josh Gardiner: “Alan Soon and Splice are brilliant, by the way. Singapore-based. They also have a great media design newsletter from the company's other founding partner, Rishad Patel.”

• Also speaking of newsletters: [SIC] agency buddies PSFK put together a report outlining the “biggest trends in Omnichannel Innovation along with recos on your ways in. You can click here to access the full report, try four weeks of the Weekly Debrief from PSFK for just $1.”

The Shoes:

• Good God. Miller Lite and New Balance made the  First-Ever Beer Shoe, The Shoezie (Hypebeast)

• Corollary: The running community has a waste problem. (Futurevvorld) 

• On the recycling tip: Farfetch-owned Stadium Goods has a new innovative business model: linking up with auction houses to reach new, high-spending clients. (Vogue Business)

• Related: The top 5 sneaker innovations from the Design Museum’s current show (Dezeen) 

• Also related: Brandcheck: 032c - die bis jetzt teuerste Brand! 700€ für ne Lederhose!? (YouTube)

The Brain: 

• Lefty is a righty?! The mix-handedness mystery (Axios)

• Via Marginal Revolution: Computers Will Be Able to Read Images From Your Brain Within a Decade (One Zero)

• Related via Kouch Culture: “Cool video. How does AI learn?”

The Face: 

• From fox eyes to thread lifts, 2021’s hottest tweakments (The FACE) 

• Speaking of tweaking: Happy and hardcore: clubbing at the turn of the Millennium (The FACE) 

• Chill, Winston:  Listen to the Scorpion Kings’ special amapiano mix  (The FACE) 

The Pope (in the whip): 

• Via Lean Luxe” An electric popemobile. Fisker is building it. (The Verge)

The People’s Republic:

• Via Today in Tabs; Big in China:Toad Worship ((T and F) 

• Related?! Overwork is the best birth control. To arrest declining birth rates, Beijing says married couples are now allowed to have three children. Overworked Chinese workers, however, say they’re too exhausted to even entertain it. (Quartz)

• Meanwhile, Football’s relentless search for the ‘Asian fan’ continues in China and beyond(FT)

• The new museums are LED screens in subway stations. And maybe I’m not mad at that. (Jing Culture & Commerce)

• The Next Move In Virtual Programming: Monetization (Jing Culture & Commerce)

The Tech Monsters: 

• The new company store: Shopify doesn't really want to be a bank, but it found that too many merchants couldn't get help otherwise (Protocol)  Key Quote: “We think the banking system is inherently unfair to small merchants, and especially unfair to small merchants who don't come from prestigious schools in big cities. The banking system probably works fine if your name is Mike. But it does not work fine if your name is Muhammad." 

• Meanwhile via Garbage Day: On June 8, Amazon will automatically enroll the devices in Amazon Sidewalk. The new wireless mesh service will share a small slice of your Internet bandwidth with nearby neighbors who don’t have connectivity and help you to their bandwidth when you don’t have a connection. (Ars Technica)

• From Iolanda Carvalho: “Amazon bought Val Kilmer’s documentary “Val”  - which Kilmer has been filming for over 40 years”. (Vulture) 

• Via Benedict Evans: Can Apple change ads? 20 years ago Apple seized music.  It failed to do the same to TV.  it’s looking at advertising. 

• And Twitter’s got your weather (if you’ve got their $10)  (Axios) 

• A new survey found that 49% of adults would prefer an ad-supported, but cheaper version of a streaming platform compared to an ad-free but slightly more expensive version, though Millenials were most willing to pay for ad-free. 

• Via Marcus Bosch: TikTok has launched a new, two-part series of tips for creators and brands looking to maximize their content, and improve their audience response on the platform (Social Media Today)

• But is TikTok is the new StumbleUpon?  (The Dirt)

• Also, there’s a Buzzfeed of TikTok now apparently. (Digiday) 

• Tok take, via Public Announcement: TikTok Obsession Is Another Form Of Fast Fashion (Clash)

The Health: 

• Via 1440: Health benefits? Hot bath = Long Run. Get Soaking. (The Guardian)

• Unrelated, and uncomforting: Big Tech becomes big health (Wunderman Thompson) 

• Via Gossamer: a pre-sale for Pyramid City, a “modern memorial and art installation” to be erected in an undisclosed but assuredly beautiful location. There are currently 500 spots (plots?) available, and each costs $99 to reserve

The Games: 

• Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov is getting into social gaming. (The Drum)

• From Iolanda: ‘The potential is enormous’: why high fashion brands are getting into gaming (The Drum)

• But Gaming isn’t a [good] media channel argues MediaCom’s Misha Sher. Too many, too little buyable inventory. At the moment, it’s nowhere near as convenient as traditional media buying. (The Drum) 

Finally, the Fits: 

• So you want to start a fashion brand? Highsnobiety’s got the steps. 

• But they admit You’re probably not going to make it in fashion (Highsnobiety)

• Maybe go virtual; you won’t have to leave the house. Via Maekan: The Metaverse Is Hosting Its First Virtual Fashion Show (Wired) 

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