[SIC] 174: No No Photo

Vol 4, Number 18

Jan 06, 2022

But you CAN pay, if you want to. It helps. Monthly or yearly, or founding support (which includes post-Omicron dinner at my house, if you’re in / can get to NYC). I’m open to offering other benefits, if you’ve got ideas.

Feel free to share, too.

Hi all.

Happy new year. Now I can stop saying that.

Had good time this week rediscovering Daft Punk’s “Interstella 5555,” which my son loved as a toddler and whose producers Toei Animation figured heavily in the first book of 2022 for me, Matt Alt’s “Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World.” A track-for-track videogram for Thomas et Guy-Man’s “Discovery” album, “Interstella” was delivered two years after the album came out, relegating it to true marketing curiosity. But I can’t recommend it highly enough (ideally not the YT version with ads, but I can’t embed the whole film here…) Have a watch. Or better yet, track down a DVD …

As for “Pure Invention,” I liked the book well enough - not as much as W. David Marx’s “Ametora,” its spiritual cousin, which I’ve praised here in the past, but well enough. I felt like the epilogues claim of otaku cultural influence on the Jan 6th rioters was a little bit of a reach. Then again, this Daily Beast story (via Garbage Day) called “How Anime Porn Became a Weapon for Rival Terror Groups on Facebook” does support the claim.

One line that did strike me from the book’s epilogue as true, though: “if there is any one lesson to learn from the heroes of the stories that unfolded in these pages, it is that the way out of the strange post-capitalist techno-political hellscape we find ourselves in is to create.” Wholeheartedly agree.

And ideally, create so in a novel fashion with a twist of Japanese influence. Hence, this New Yorker video on an “Emoji Activist” who promises to free us from words altogether.

To that end: 🙏 Iolanda, Celeste, David, Will Anita + Ken for contributions.🧞

xBen

Green Screen Dreams.

=====[SIC] 174: No No Photo=====

Trends

The Tech That Will Invade Our Lives in 2022 / NYT
From Iolanda Carvalho: Just one word for this one: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! [[SIC] homies Bompas & Parr’s 2022 Future of Food Report] / Bompasandparr
More lists: Benedict Evans’s ten questions for 2022 from crypto to cars to fast fashion - there are others / Ben-Evans
And 10 trends to watch in retail for 2022 / Retail Dive
The exhausting concept of the “2022 rebrand” (Vox via Elevator)
"People are going to see more value in digital assets than in physical assets,” according to the founder and CEO of The Fabricant / Wunderman Thompson
Related? About 60% of Gen Z and millennial investors have made an investment as a result of social media / Axios
Definite corollary, from Iolanda: The Future of Work is Not Corporate — It's DAOs and Crypto Networks / Future
More than a quarter of high-paying positions will be fully remote by the end of the year, according to a new report / Bloomberg
Well, duh: the metaverse could turn your body into a data collection tool / Future Party
Ergo: Your face could soon be your boarding pass. NYT via Lean Luxe
Dan Wang’s epic annual letter about China / Dan Wang via Morning Brew
Corollary: Can Vietnam be the new China? / Jing Daily
The great shoplifting freakout / The Atlantic via Group Chat
This “It’s Time to Embrace Slow Productivity” piece asserts “we need fewer things to work on. Starting now.” IDK personally, but ok. The New Yorker

Style

So over the rainbow: why I’m wearing black. Monochrome is all about mood, mystery and perfectly cut clothes / FT
Embedded sees a revival in Twee coming, via (where else?!) TikTok, for better or worse / Embedded
More fashion tech predictions: Digital influencers, virtual real estate and VIP access will be breakout themes, as stores, personalisation and AR continue evolving. / Vogue Business

The Arts

A brush with... Kehinde Wiley. An in-depth interview on the artist's influences and cultural experiences, from Richard Dyer to John Singer Sargent / The Art Newspaper Podcast
Jeremy Deller Is Showcasing All His Prints and Posters From 1993-2021 / Themoderninstitute via Public Announcement
And from Iolanda: "The Amsterdam Rijksmuseum on Monday put on its digital portal what it called “the most detailed photograph of any artwork” / AP News

Entertainment + IP

[SIC[] homie Jason Koebler says Popcorn Time is unkillable because internet / Motherboard
While another [SIC] homie, Joseph Patel gets his propers via “The Man Who Helped Questlove Make the Year’s Best Documentary.” / Bonsu Thompson via Music Redef
Nearly 40 percent of listeners in a recent survey say they want podcasts from YouTubers and influencers. Where Podcast Producers May Turn for Deals in 2022 / Billboard
Meanwhile, podcasters are letting software pick their ads – it’s already going awry / The Verge via Nieman Lab.
Speaking of picks: Thom Yorke lists his desert island discs YouTube via WITI
The new four quadrants of Hollywood’s movie model are Spectacle. International. Franchise. Nostalgia. Blcklst via Strat Scraps
The Crypto Music Industry A framework to understand what it could look like and how it could evolve / The Liminal via Music Redef
Eleven Wild Guesses on How Blockchain and NFTs Will Actually Impact Musicians and Song. / An Honest Broker via Music Redef
How the emerging Web3 WILL and WON’T disrupt music streaming / MusicX via Motive Unknown
It takes a village, people: preserving San Francisco's gay disco history / DJ Mag via Music Redef
A chat with 'The Whore of New York' /BK Mag
And with Jody Hill, “the id of HBO” or something… / Airmail

Platforms & Influencers

Restaurants, bars, gyms and other commercial venues will soon be able to play a curated stream of TikToks on their TV sets. Some of the venues you might see TikToks in include Texas Roadhouse and Taco Bell. / USA Today via Protocol
From Will Cutrone: TikTok tests its own version of the retweet with a new ‘Repost’ button / TechCrunch
How the Copycats Came for Clubhouse / NYT via Benedict Evans
Tumblr banned these words to satisfy Apple safety standards /Quartz
Norton Antivirus software might be installing crypto mining software on people’s computers? Seems not good! Twitter via Garbage Day
Another from Will: MrBeast's sea preservation campaign TeamSeas breaks $30 million milestone / Dot Esports

Marketing & Advertising

Big questions: Does every brand really need its own community? / Thingtesting via Lean Luxe
And can a consultancy can be viewed as a ‘creative powerhouse’? / Adweek
If nothing else, from David Bloom: “everybody’s a media company now. Best Buy launches in-house media company” / Marketing Dive
'Don't Look Up' number leads straight to sex hotline, fans discover / New York Post

Media Business

[SIC] Homie Sara Fischer on The Rebooting podcast talking 2022 media trends / The Rebooting
Speaking of media trends: News consumption fell off a cliff / Axios
Perfect timing for the Smiths (Ben & Justin) to swoop in and save us with a new news startup? But Ben Smith Can't Say What His New Media Venture Is / The New Yorker
Just how do esports organizations generate revenue, anyway? / Digiday

Metaverse & Web3

NFTs are massively hyped, and interesting behind the hype, but actually making them still requires a lot of technical sophistication. Shopify has a beta program. Baby steps./ Shopify via Ben-Evans
To that end, lifted from Garbage Day: “If you’d like to get a better insight into the, frankly, very bad discourse around Web3 decentralization you should go check out this thread from r/Ethereum, where a user suggested that every website should use the Metamask crypto wallet for authentication” / Reddit via Garbage Day
Related: Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin did an interesting self-review on a decade of ideas, and came away with a renewed belief in crypto simplicity / Twitter via Protocol
From Celeste Blewitt: “Really interesting article around NFTs and gaming from the co-founder of Twitch, Justin Kan, a hacker in their Discord community and sounds like it's all happening for Justin…” / Coindesk
While Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the Future of Crypto & Metaverse in Travel / Skift
While Spatial, a metaverse experience platform, has launched “Spatial Home,” a home you can personalize and decorate. Spatial via Lerer Hippeau
Meanwhile, Lerer Hippeau’s Meagon Loyst delivers her “Metaverse 101” for investor types / Mirror.xyz via Lerer Hippeau
Corollary: what do relationships in the metaverse look like? / Wunderman Thompson
Packy McCormick says 2022 is the year that web3 starts making a meaningful impact on atoms-based challenges like healthcare and climate, / Not Boring
[SIC] homie Jarrod Dicker on Adlandia, ‘splainin Web3 / Apple
And he’s on “Ok Computer” splainin more why you never go full Bitcoin maxi / Apple
Saturnalia sisthren Janet Balis on How Brands Can Enter the Metaverse / TLDR: “New technology always requires a curious approach, but brands should follow a few guidelines: pick your targets, watch what the competition is doing, look for new applications, plan your entrance, and keep your balance.” / Harvard Business Review
Ergo: Samsung promises "groundbreaking" new TV feature: NFT support / The Verge
Also on “TV” via Bobby Hundreds, “Cryptobros” is a show / YouTube

Food & Drink

Beer Label Design Trends to Watch / Vinepair via Public Announcement
Snaxshot’s 2022 Dry January guide / Snaxshot
The blurring of alcohol, spirits and seltzer, BigSoda getting into alcohol and vice versa. CNBC via Snaxshot
The Story behind the Famous NYC Coffee Cups / Untapped New York via Elevator
And the search for the worlds best rice / Taste Cooking via Marginal Revolution

Miscellany

The UK transport minister calls owning a car “20th-century thinking.” Daily Mail via The Micromobility Newsletter
Forget road salt. Here’s Beet Juice. / Topeka Constitution Journal via Future of Transportation
As shopping moves online, stores like Walmart want to shrink the size of their parking lots / The Real Deal via Micromobility Newsletter
Horse plinko. What is horse plinko? It’s an animated GIF of a horse inside of a plinko board / Tumblr via Garbage Day
Oh, also Sheep needle / Quartz
How do you do, fellow ‘Just Kids’? Steve Buscemi gets a key to the city. And so does Patti Smith /BK Mag
Depressed in midlife? The NY Post suggests that you try skateboarding / Instagram
Related from Anita Schillhorn van Veen: “A friend of mine made this little video; reminded my of [your] skate gaze edition [of Why Is This Interesting].” Watch “Different Perspectives: Skateboarding” / Vimeo
Corollary: The Fun Scale / REI Via Strat Scraps
Tho in less pleasing news, @NYSkateboarding goes archive-only after 12+ years. / Instagram

The ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2021 / Smithsonian via Motive Unknown
Why are some people more curious than others? Big Think Via Elevator

To do:

From Ken Miller: see Tauba Auerbach’s long delayed solo exhibition now open at SFMoMA. Which Tauba links to a favorite review of here / Instagram
Canvas the Retail Innovation Week calendar for free virtual and in-person events they’re staging in a couple weeks. / RIW via PSFK
Watch Wet Leg’s appropriately brief Tiny Desk concert (given that they’ve only got four songs).
Watch the Turnstile one, too. / NPR via Music Redef