[SIC] 152: Full F@t

August 5th, 2021

Hi all, 

Lots of new people joined the subscriber list this week, thanks to Colin and Noah from Why Is This Interesting for including me in their Monday Media Diet this week - it was an honor to be asked. Even if it meant giving away a couple few secrets. And thanks to Paul at Lean Luxe for featuring it, too. Not to mention everyone who shared it on Twitter, etc. Welcome, everybody new. Glad you’re here. 

Anyway, apropos of that story, seems like New ‘Zilland’ is the best place for riding out the apocalypse. Congrats, Kiwis. (Axios)  Also, while that was going on, Alex Aciman conveniently explained my MO for [SIC] is his column about his tabs MO for Dirt.  Appreciate it ;). I also appreciate all my contributors this week - James, Isaac, Josh, Will, Campbell and of course Iolanda.  Thanks, all. 

My guest on [SIC] Talks this week is my former colleague Ariel Wengroff, who aside from being massively accomplished (founder/entrepreneur, senior adviser to Lion Tree Capital, executive producer, publisher) is also just super cool. We’re neighbors too. Come tune in at 4p ET over my IG Live @dietznutz  and thereafter in my grid. Will be fun.  

Next week’s chat will be too: I’ll be joined by Andrea Hernandez, the “Cult Leader” at Snaxshot, a newsletter that’s taken the CPG food / drink world by storm in the past 12 months. Expanded food and bev coverage this week as I prep.  Xo Ben 

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The Week In Big Thinks: 

• Via Other Internet: A Prehistory of DAOs. (Gnosis Guild)

• My favorite think this week is Rusty’s explanation of “The Time Knife” (Today in Tabs)

• Sean Monahan on The Crisis of the Creative Class (8Ball) 

• Via Afterschool:  BoBos answer Gen Z’s questions. "More revealing about boomers than teens, but this is quite a delight." (Guardian)

• Keeping Grindr a safe space for gay people is a matter of life and death (CNET)

• Related to that: The Gay ‘Green Book’ Is Going Online (Reasons to Be Cheerful) 

The Week in Reading: 

• A Guide to Reading “Promiscuously” (Hyperallergic) 

• Related: Alicia Kennedy recommends 18x newsletters; deep list. (Substack)

• A Thing on a Table on a House is a book about some objects that look like chairs but which are in fact sculptures by artist Serban Ionescu with titles like "Assembled Chair". (Import News) 

The Week On Wheels: 

• The new skaters of New York (NYT): 

• Corollary: Long board is the wrong board. Via Future of Transportation: How iconic electric skateboard startup Boosted failed (The Verge)

• From James Friedman: Cody Simmons’s Boys of Summer video is one of those skate videos that people who don’t care about skateboarding will like. Even Molly Ringwald from the grab above. (Thrasher)  

• Not skating but there must be something in the water; from Isaac Dietz: Juxtapoz on Fensler Film’s seminal GI JOE edits.

The Week In Big Trends: 

• There’s a push for "PBS for the internet" (Axios) 

• Roblox’s Jon Vlasspoulous shares some future predictions with DAZED about what the world will look like in 2031 (Linkedin) 

• What if hybrid work is the enemy of change?  (Axios)

• Even if it is, business travel might be going out of style (Axios)

• Logical, if you consider the implications of this: For hackers, space is the final frontier (Recode)

The Week in Media Companies: 

• Did TikTok win the Olympics? (Washington Post)

• So many reasons, but via Office Hours: Why There’s No Black Barstool (FaintFlex)

• Via Ben Evans: Dentsu study on the future of ads without cookies. 

• Via Simon Owens: The Guardian is testing the limits of how many subscribers can be generated without placing any content behind a paywall. (WAN-IFRA)

• Via Nieman Lab: The Long Beach Post is using Minecraft to reach new audiences (Lenfest)

The Week In New Ways to Describe Things: 

• Blackbird Spyplane coined two new MACH 3+ terms this week in their post about Microgorping and the P.P.P.H.A.T. Mindset. Look out for them on a moodboard near you soon. 

• Related, also via Blackbird Spyplane: Vanity Fair’s very cool article about … Blackbird Spyplane

• Elsewhere in vanity, Puffy changed his name to “Love” (Vanity Fair) 

• Speaking of name changes, via Jing Daily: Chinatown Market Unveils New Logo with Li Ning Collaboration (WWD) 

The Week in Edibles: 

• Via Future Perfect: How do you convince people to eat less meat? (The New Republic)

• Important, because, as a pescatarian, this is not my favorite news: Rising prices are causing fish to vanish from menus (Axios)

• My solution: more oysters, more of the time, bought locally and shucked at home, or shipped (only if you have to) by purveyors like Island Creek Oysters that are benefitting their local waters and communities.  

• IE: Oyster Architecture to save NYC from rising waters (New Yorker)

• Oh also, Lab-grown sushi is the wave (Axios) 

• To that end: this 99% Invisible oyster show is essential listening. 

The Week In Potables:

• There’s an alcoholic ice cream brand worth $65 *Billion*? I’m doing this wrong…. (Axios)

• More dairy: from Josh Gardiner: “Moovings and shakings in the coffee scene?” [Hot girls prefer cows milk, apparently] (Twitter)

• Via Thingtesting: “Ninety-three percent of the sodas that Americans drink are owned by just three companies? PepsiCo owns five of the most popular dip brands for a total of 88% of the market?!” The illusory appearance of actual choice. (The Guardian)

• But maybe a shift is afoot? Via Axios, Miller Coors is 86’ing a bunch of its low price point, higher ABV beer brands, (Marketing Dive) 

• While PepsiCo to sell Tropicana, Naked and other North American juice brands (CNBC) 

• Symptomatic of, via Public Announcement: How Big Beverage poured empty promises down our throats (Vox)

The Week In Career Advancement: 

• New Research (pdf): The Creator Economy Is Driven by the Content Entrepreneur (The Tilt) 

• So, naturally there’s a Glassdoor for influencers, called Fuck You Pay Me. (NYT) 

• This is good. Elite athletes are swapping major sponsors for small brands. Get that equity, stakeholders. (NYT)

• Apropos, from Will Meeker: “Had to send this to you” [Coco Gauff caps for Barilla Pasta] (Hypebeast)

• Not an on-camera person? Morning Brew’s got an accelerator now and here’s the form you can use to ask your company to pay for it. 

• Meanwhile, Seth Godin’s making a list of expediters / local fixers for International businesses. The form’s here if you’re one and you want to throw your name in the hat. (Google Docs)

• Also, there’s an Open Call for Public Goods Proposals that will reward written proposals, ~1200 words in length, that advocate for an existing public good or a potential public good project, satisfying the criteria of positive externalities and driven by values. Submission deadline is August 17th, and selected essays will be awarded 1ETH.

• Founded by New York-based cultural entrepreneur Jaé Joseph, Black Apocethary Office’s  accelerator program aims to launch 100 Black-owned businesses in the next decade through time, care and a lotta love. (The FACE) 

• And Via Future Party: The JaQuel Knight Foundation and Logitech want to make sure that the choreographers of trending dances on social platforms get properly compensated. The organizations secured “labanotations” — a score that documents human movement through symbols in specific patterns — for six creators. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Week in Music: 

• From Campbell Dietz: "this Tyler the Creator video [Juggernaut] is pretty good. It’s too short, in a good way." (YouTube)

• Related, via Backseat Freestyle, the Plex goes deep with Tyler the Creator, digging into his design philosophy, his collabs and that BET Awards performance. (Complex)

• Via Backseat Freestyle, A look at the data wars going on between A&R departments. (Music Tomorrow)

• Which is maybe how, via After School: Prentisss, the 14-year-old “helium-voiced” kid from Mississippi is about to take over pop. (Stereogum)

The Week In Seminal Moments: 

• Mark Ronson is still in awe of Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ (NY Mag) 

• Apropos of moments of inflection/ inception, Alain Levite’s capture of the first tags at The Hole are another: 

The Week in Tie-Ups: 

• Trapital on what to expect from Travis Scott’s deal with tastemaker film studio A24. 

• Via Front Office Sports: BetMGM and Cheddar News have partnered to create a sports betting business show called “Cheddar Bets.” (Gaming Today)

• Publicis Groupe and TikTok partnered on a team to help brands improve e-commerce strategies on the platform (Adweek)

• Umm, ok?! Slightly strange bedfellows Condé Nast and Universal Music Group Partner to Combine Their Video Reach(Adweek)

• But, I mean, screw it. McDonald's And Faze Clan Team Up For Largest Push In Gaming Creator Content, too (Ad Age)

• Hence, GQ admits it: Help! I Have Collab Fatigue

The Week in Fashion:

• HMU for that prime late aughts Jack Spade material, crew, because via After School, briefcases are (allegedly) the next big it bag…weird. (Dazed) 

• Via Retail Innovation Week: London's 1st men's cosmetics store offers "relaxed, inviting place" (Warpaint for Men)

• Hopefully it’ll help, because American Shoppers Are A Nightmare (The Atlantic)

• David Coggins rails against the casual dress code machine (The Contender)

• Directly adjacent, this is something else. Via a paid post in Jing Daily, Crocs Announces Commitment to Become a Net-Zero Company by 2030. As a plastic shoe company that’s growing hugely, that’s an interesting challenge. Invest in mushroom-based (grown) materials, is my take. 

• Apropos: via Jing Daily: More Luxury Brands Are Seeking Leather Alternatives (Glossy) 

Related, the Week in Things Made From / For Other Things: 

• Krill Design launches first ever LAMP MADE FROM ORANGE PEELS (Futurevvorld)

• So many circles in the Venn diagram of my life coming together here. Brian Moore made “Shoom” - so that you can WFH but colleagues can still see your kicks.  (Side note, I appreciate the Crocs shade too). (LinkedIn)  

The Week in Cities:

• Via Marginal Revolution: Are tunnels our transportation future?  (Austin Vernon) 

• Via Morning Brew: Find the farthest city on Earth from you (Furthest City)

• Why is everyone decamping to Hudson? (FT) 

The Week According to Iolanda Carvalho:

• “Had this also to send but only remembered when I saw the link to Marie's colab on Matt's nl about something similar. Something™ Spaces. Spaces is the world’s first global public art exhibition – a cultural initiative to democratise creativity”

• "Where are the Black Designers? is a volunteer-run, nonprofit design advocacy organization."

• "Today’s products, experiences and brands are cultural artifacts that give insight into our social, commercial and industrial lives. Here we decode shifts to understand what’s next." (Interbrand)

• "Conviction, made to measure: Meet the virtual influencers" (Atelier)

• “[Stoner Cats], which was co-produced by Mila Kunis, is one of the first to be fully funded by NFTs, with cast members including Ashton Kutcher, Jane Fonda, Chris Rock, and even Vitalik Buterin. " (Block Crypto)

• "Botox and fillers are making people unrecognizable to phones." (Dazed) 

• "Hong Kong has just opened an art exhibit not only solely dedicated to dogs, but for dogs, displaying work at their eye level" (Design Taxi) 

• "Artificial Intelligence May Have Cracked the Code to Creating Low-Priced Works on Canvas" !?!?!?!? (Artnet) 

Stuff to Do Next Week: 

• Pre-order fave Photog/Artist Peter Sutherland’s upcoming “Street Lords” book (Instagram) 

• Check out the new bar at fave Williamsburg Hotel called Le Blondeau (BK Mag) 

• Elsewhere in Rooftop bars, @friendsfromnewyork is throwing a rager at the newly opened Panorama Room on the 13th that I’ll be making the scene at. 

• [SIC] Homies How Long Gone signed to Jagjaguwar and is going on Tour. See you at the NYC date. Get your tix now, like all the other young dudes. (Rolling Stone)

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