[SIC] 157: March of the Cores

Vol 4, Number 1.

Hi all.

In the style of Rusty Foster’s excellent Today in Tabs, welcome to volume four of [SIC]’s weekly digest of developments. And with it, some updates (mostly stylistic) that I’m going to be trying out. 

 Firstly, I’m going to treat each which more like a magazine, with specific topics. The ten that I’ve landed on will appear in the same order each time (though I don’t think I can resist playing with the respective titles).  We’ll start with trends, hit style, visual arts, entertainment & IP, tech & devices, platforms & influencers, mixed reality & web 3 stuff, food & drink and then wrap with some inspired miscellany and recommended things to do.  I’m hoping this will give you something a little tighter and more consistent, but not sap any of the fun juxtapositions we find each week. It’s going to allow for more visuals to break up the text, too. 

Secondly, I’m going to introducing a contribution mechanism. I was told by someone smart recently that he’d gladly pay between $25 and $500 a year for [SIC]. That’s a pretty wide range. So without paywalling anything, I’m interested to know what this audience thinks the value of the weekly digest is. Feel no obligation (except perhaps to science) - but if you fancy contributing something, I’ll put it to good use for creating future editions.  Look for that next week (I couldn’t figure it out for today), and feel free to lmk if you have strong opinions on the topic in the meantime.

Lastly, I alluded to it last week, but we experienced some minor flooding at home last week as a result of Tropical Storm Ida. We were really lucky, considering, but it still sucked, and I’ll be dealing with the effects for months. Which brings into sharp relief the nightmare folk in Louisiana have been dealing with, with flooding, power outages, displacement and general disaster remediation. From transplanted homie Greg Bresnitz, here’s a handful of organizations making a difference to the recovery that we can collectively support. 

• Another Gulf - distribute goods and donations directly to indigenous, black and brown frontline folks

• Cajun Navy - hundreds of local volunteers who can navigate the waterways. 

• Bayou Fund - one of the hardest hit areas 

• Second Harvest Food Bank - serving southern Louisiana  

• DIrect Aid opportunites - for people who want to go right to the source 

Highly encouraged. And if you have other causes or organizations [SIC] can point to in the future, send ‘em my way. 

No [SIC] Talks this week, but I’m really ginned up for next Thursday’s chat with fave  artist and conceptualist Ryan McGinness, whose recent book “Mindscapes Notes” I’m reading on the road this week in preparation. Set your reminders for 4pm ET / 10p CET on Sept 16th and check it out on IG Live as it happens, or find it in my grid thereafter @dietznutz. 

Now, enjoy. x B

 Bony Ramirez’s  “A Palm In the River” from group show at @therealunclebrother in Hankins, NY

=====SIC 157: March of the Cores=====

Valley of the Trends: 

• Fave author W. David Marx (whose book “Ametora” is a strong recommend from me for anyone interested in Japan, street style, phenomenology or just the post WWII world), asks Are NFTs Status Symbols? in an excellent contribution for Dirt. 

• Very related: speculation is the new luxury good, per Seth Godin.

• Elsewhere in that new, new, and irrespective of Donda vs CLB (both not good IMO), via Motive Unknown: Kanye just obliterated the creative full stop.  Key quote: “We may look back on the Donda Stem Player as being a fun gimmick, but if we do, it will be because we have not yet found the Model T Ford, rather than the underlying principles being wrong.” 

• Related, also via Motive Unknown: Recycle, repackage, remix. “New decentralised ownership models, proposed by the likes of The Song That Owns Itself and Songcamp, renegotiate the relationship between a song and its owner, and propose meaningful integration of community into the commodity status of a song. What if remix albums started to look more like DAOs and less like marketing ploys?”

• In With the Olds! Why Aging is No Longer a Dirty Word (LA Mag) 

• Breaking down Gen Z’s emerging investment patterns (Wunderman Thompson)

• Elsewhere in investing, [SIC] Talks alum Brynn Wallner gets the NYT shine in Where Women Are in the Online Watch Picture (NYT), via Public Announcement.

• Left turn via Future of Transportation: What happened to Rollerblading? (Howstuffworks) 

• From Noah Bernard, work is a false idol: (NYT) 

• Hence: We'll Give You a Week Off. Please Don't Quit.  Companies are trying to combat burnout from working remotely by offering more time off and other perks. (NYT) 

The Stylistics:  

• Banana Republic Brand Chief and [SIC] Talks alum Ana Andjelic explains BR’s new American look in a column of a style that honestly isn’t usually seen outside of corporate conference rooms. Fascinating break of the fourth wall. (Sociology of Business)

• Art of the experimental: young Chinese designers to watch (FT)

• Which underscores fave editor/ columnist Jo Ellison lament that it’s Anna Wintour’s world now (FT)

• Hood punks and TikTok teens: a look inside ALT+LDN 2021.The punks and punters bringing London’s first trap-hip-hop-nu-metal-alt music festival to life. (The FACE) 

Brandalism: 

• [SIC] Talks alum Ruba Abu-Nimah leads the Tiffany take on Louis Vuitton by summoning SOTY Tyshawn Jones (Instagram) 

• Via Ruby Dispatch: BrainDead opened a hardware store

• [SIC] Talks alum Casey Lewis talked to 21 Gen Z’ers about what they really want (to buy) (WhoWhatWear) 

• Related via After School: China’s Gen Z is more eager to participate in, and influence, the development of brands, helping to nurture the brands they love.” Same goes for American youths, too. (Vogue Business)

• Via Vogue Business: How brands can build a sustainable e-commerce business (McKinsey)

• From Josh Gardiner: “Have you seen this one?” Lawyers occasionally do have a sense of humor, as evidenced by this Postmates break up letter to “Postdates” (Linkedin / AdWeek) 

• From Iolanda Carvalho: “It's game on for fashion/luxury/sportswear brands - all games, all brands welcome…” (CNET) 

• Also from Iolanda: Neymar & Messi & M’Bappe & Jones. Paris Saint-Germain and the house of Dior have signed a two-year partnership to provide the official wardrobe for the Parisian club and will outfit the Rouge & Bleu team. (en.psg.fr)

• Dotdash is launching its first-ever standalone store pegged to its site Liquor.com, which it acquired in 2019. (Axios) 

• Brands are approaching their packaging to deliver unboxing experiences that are less wasteful (Thingtesting) 

• Via TechCrunch: Hyundai  announced that it’ll be making hydrogen fuel cell versions of all of its commercial vehicles by 2028. (TechCrunch)

  

Jo Nigoghossian, Sunflower and Calla Lily - from Broadway Gallery at Independent Art Fair

“Fine” Art: 

• Via After School: When is a Dyson vacuum a piece of art? When it is hanging in the home of a young student from Chongqing.” Or, in a Jeff Koons vitrine? (Jing Daily) 

• When Artists Are Hackers. The question is, what is being hacked? (Hyperallergic) 

• Via Public Announcement: “Art is like a joke, either you get it or you don’t. How Bad Photography Changed Our Definition of Good Pictures (Collectorsweekly)

• Bestselling NFT artists Jen Stark, Shawna X and Ix Shells pick their favorite NFTs (It’s Nice That)

Flavor In Your Ear:  

• The Washington Post’s new morning newsletter “The 7” seeks to give readers the option to read or listen to the top seven stories of the day in under three minutes. (Digiday)

• [SIC] Homie DJ Lindsey’s “Black is Black” show on Negroclash at APT gives me the Tuesdays in 2004 feels. (Sonos via Instagram) 

• Attention audiophiles and tinkerers: [SIC] Homie Devon OJAS gives us the DIY art book shelf horn mod tutorial (Instagram)

• Creative GOAT Maira Kalman on the Time Sensitive podcast, talks walking and looking as a way of life (Spotify)

• Via Music Redef: The Education of a Part-Time Punk. Learning to love music--and to hate it, too. (The New Yorker) 

• Corollary, via Public Announcement: This Is Your Brain on 100 gecs (Pitchfork)
  

Tech Talk:  

• Via Maekan: Are We On The Verge Of A Productivity Boom? An issue of Mailchimp's fwd: Economy newsletter points to a potential upswing in productivity. 

• As foretold on Seinfeld, Wallets Are Over. Your Phone Is Your Everything Now. (WSJ)

• Corollary: the strange case of the Freedom Phone (NYT) 

• Via Fashion Snoops: Trade Show Maison et Objet has launched their virtual learning platform Maison & Objet Academy with a video on one of the most prominent lifestyle shifts impacting the global market: Transient Living.

• [SIC] homie Ryan Babenzien subtle-bragged his way onto “Build With Rob,” talking about his new skincare company, Jolie.

• Speaking of care for modern times, 032c’s "The Hospital of the Future" is predictably wild and interesting.

Socialsism: 

• Via Protocol: Users now spend more time watching stuff on TikTok than they do on YouTube, according to a new study from App Annie. Key stat from that report: Three out of four dollars spent on social are spent on live streams. 

• Swedish singer Zara Larsson is to become the new face of Italian sports apparel company Ellesse during a novel shoppable concert livestreamed via TikTok (The Drum) 

• Via PSFK: Snapchat to lean into visual search & recommend (Morning Brew)

• Via RIW: Are Social Media Apps the New ‘Everything Stores’? (Ark Invest)

• Via RIW : Invisibly, by the co-founder of payment company Square, introduces a novel way for users to regain control of their personal data while also profiting from it (PSFK)

Adjacent Worlds:

• From Iolanda Carvalho: “Savant he [Matthew Ball] is... so simple that all makes perfect sense 😉 In 14 quotes you get it all.” (Insider) 

• IKEA Is Organising A Virtual Music Festival. It’s a 24-hour online music festival including a series of 'Home Concerts' — where acts will perform from their personal addresses — as well as a 'DJ Relay’. More than 100 homes will be used as venues. 

Potables & Comestibles: 

• Good for mercury fans tuna populations are beginning to recover following efforts to target illegal fishing, scientists said. (IUCN)

  

  Image above from fave painter / screenprinter Alex Lukas

Flotsam & Jetsam: 

• Via Micromobility: there’s now a scooter speed limit of 9mph in Helsinki between the hours of 12AM-5AM to deter reckless late-night  riding.

• Hello Kitty is not a cat.  (Creative Bloq) 

• It was a minor miracle that Adult Swim ever made it off the drawing board. Also seems miraculous that [SIC] homie Nick Weidenfeld doesn’t appear in this (much-to-short) oral history.  (NYT) 

• Via Ruby Dispatch: a “quick briefer” on Wave/Particle Duality. (Youtube)

• I May Destroy You actress, writer and director Michaela Coel on her ten favorite books. (Vulture) 

Things to Do: 

• Go See @padregallery’s group show featuring [SIC] homie Maceo Eagle among others: 

• Go see @springbreakartshow for a bunch of young (and older, more familiar!) talent.

• Get the new issue of Richardson mag (and give me a shout if you’ve got issue #1 or #2 you want to offload). 

• Watch “All the Streets Are Silent”, the just-released chronicle of NYC skate culture and clubbing in the 90s. (Itunes)

=====SIC 157: March of the Cores=====