[SIC] 177: Ambient Gabber

Vol 4, Number 21

Jan 27, 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,

Putting this thing out means reminding myself weekly of the little mistakes I’ve made that more editing might catch; for instance last week I missed thanking Rese and Jeremy for stories they contributed. Sorry, both of you. And sorry everybody else for the typos, stylistic inconsistencies, broken links and malapropisms that occasionally pop up. I appreciate your bearing with me. Thanks this week to Celeste, Iolanda, Ricky, Joel, James, Greg, Kevin and John for his just-under-the wire contribution. And thanks Michelle Lhooq of Rave New World whose prose named the letter this week.

Speaking of newsletters, thanks also to [SIC] homie Katelyn Donnelly of Declarative Statements for her shout-out to [SIC] last issue - and welcome to the new readers who found this weekly missive through it. I hope you find it useful. Open rates have been flirting with 60% since December, so it seems like lots of people are. Love that.

I’m back in NYC and almost back to normal: no [SIC] Talk this week, but “5 Questions For” is back with Jason Stewart aka Them Jeans of the podcast / merch design / multimedia empire How Long Gone. Check it out just below.

A Jim Shaw print I found framed at a thrift store. Psyched about this one.

5 Questions For Jason Stewart aka Them Jeans

Fave editor Jo Ellison (EIC of the FT Weekend magazine How to Spend It) made an appearance on the podcast How Long Gone last Friday that was really disarming and silly in a way that surprised me; I expect her to be quite serious, somehow. Great reminder we’re allowed to have fun, if we want.

To that end, HLG’s been three-times-weekly habit for me since April of 2020, largely because it’s fully fun-centric, but still observationally sharp, and not a little bit self-effacing. Though I’d met him as “DJ Them Jeans” years ago (likely at indie-sleaze temple Cinespace), I didn’t know Jason in particular. Now, having listened to him so much, like most fans I can tell you lots about him. But these were five questions I didn’t have the answers to. So I asked and he very gamely answered, via email.

What are your favorite sources of daily information? Do they overlap with sources of inspiration for your work?

Jason: “The most reliable place for daily info is a group chat with three other friends. It's the perfect balance of actual news, trendy writing, media gatekeeping, shit-talking on fashion, arguing with and bullying each other, locker-room style ball-busting. They overlap with inspiration for my work (as a podcaster) because this is the table read/dress rehearsal to see if anything has legs or inspires a hot enough take to explore on the podcast.”

Judging by your IG, you do a fair amount of product creation. What's a project that you've released recently that you're especially hyped on?

“We're working with a tennis clothing company called Palmes later this year; that should be fun, we're making some nice shorts with them. Other than that, we release three podcasts a week, so there's plenty of product to be created. We made a lot of clothes at the end of last year for our tour, so we’re just starting to work on new designs now.”

It's an average Thursday afternoon. Where do we find you, and what's keeping you busy?

“Thursdays, I'm playing tennis by 9 am, recording a podcast at noon, and editing it for 4-5 hours. Once an episode is uploaded and my work is done for the day, I'll hit an edible and make dinner while listening to some shitty jazz on NTS.”

Who do you admire? And what for?

“My girlfriend, because she's good at all the stuff I'm bad at. I don't admire too many people nowadays, more curious about people who have figured out how to do difficult things, seemingly with ease.”

What can [SIC] readers help you with?

“They can listen to my podcast, laugh, buy a shirt, and look the other way when I post influencer content.”

Timothy Leary’s interpersonal diagnosis of personality grid (via @foundonjects)

=====[SIC] 177: Ambient Gabber=====

Trends

From Celeste Blewitt: “Great light piece about why as a population we are constantly drawn to nostalgia, the comfort of the old. Also an interesting commentary on social media algorithms causing creativity, the fresh, bright and new concepts harder to find with the fabulous moments of nostalgia. 'Hindsight in 2022: The Psychology Behind Our Cultural Nostalgia' / T & C
FOMO is over / Howard Lindzon
And is the Great Resignation Overblown? (NYT Opinion)
People are making “divorce registries” / Inside Hook via After School
As with marriage, “The Market Is An Expensive Place To Find Out Who You Are‘‘ The Irrelevant Investor via Howard Lindzon
Analyzing the rapidly-growing Water Business / Daily Upside
From Iolanda Carvalho: Interesting to sportspeople... [Sporting Goods 2022: the New Normal is Here]. Key Quote: “With many people still working from home, athleisure has gained further ground, reflecting new attitudes toward traditional workwear.” / McKinsey
The decision to leave a job can become contagious. / NYT
What if we could stop being so available? / The Atlantic
Related? Introducing Chinese youth’s latest buzzword: Emo / Jing Daily
Also, The Economist on drinking in the office /Economist via Lean Luxe
Massachusetts made more tax money on pot than on alcohol / Fortune
Ergo: the coming psychedelic-industrial complex / Alta via 2PM
But why is everyone Smoking Toad Venom? / Town & Country

Style

Archisuits are designed so you can sit or lie on architecture that is specifically engineered to keep people from sitting or lying on it. / Noticing
Not dissimilarly, Gen Z’s entrepreneurial ambitions are creating a whole new fashion system. / Vogue Business
And the young stars of resale told HighSnob their secrets / IG
But forget Zoomers; How are generation Alpha driving the next era of retail? / Wunderman Thompson
While not to be outdone, Boomers are coming to resale (to answer Gen Z’s hunger for vintage) / Glossy via After School
Speaking of: The Return of the Space Cowboy. Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity remade for Junya Watanabe’s latest menswear collection / It’s Nice That
New Kenzo don Nigo (of A Bathing Ape) might be the best LVMH appointment ever, per Eugene Rabkin for HighSnob / IG
It’s been nearly impossible to recycle underwear til now / Fast Company via RIW
Will 2022 be the Year of Goblincore? / Hypebeast

The Arts

Mike Kelley: Destroy All Critics / Frieze
Marina Abramovic's instruction cards to reboot your life / Laurence King
Is Instagram censorship changing art itself? / The Art Newspaper
WELCOME TO HELL: Skater Ed Templeton Exhibits Suburbia / 032c
How Museums Are Trying to Figure Out What NFT Art Is Worth / NY Mag via Jing Culture & Commerce
Related, from Joel Fowler: “This is sick” / Twitter
The Phillips Collection has dedicated its galleries to highlighting abstract work by Black artists. / Hyperallergic

Entertainment + IP

From James Friedman: “I only know this site from reading [SIC] so you probably already saw, but I found a lot to love in here” [The Egyptian Cassette Archive] / It’s Nice That
Dan Ozzi’s single elimination tournament of When We Were Young lineup bands (kind of) answers the question, “Wait, who?” / Reply Alt
Speaking of when we were young, from Ricky Engelberg: “It debuted at 2 AM EST 2 nights ago. Couldn’t pull that off!” [Meet Me in the Bathroom, reviewed] / Pitchfork
Related: the 'Meet Me in the Bathroom' directors talk to Brooklyn Vegan / via Music Redef

Platforms & Influencers

Ergo: Is TikTok the New SoundCloud? / Music Business News via Beats n Bytes
And Discord the “Soho House of Web 3.0”? / Vogue Business
How 'Dan from HR' became TikTok’s favorite career coach / Protocol
Inside TikTok’s Algorithm For Artists and Creators [2022 Guide] / Music Tomorrow via Motive Unknown
Upgrades are turning the humble link-in-bio into a sprawling interactive page that rivals the capabilities of full websites. The Atlantic via After School
While Substack is launching a video player to lure new creators / Axios
Neil Young vs Spotify is why we need more choices / The Cadence
But social media users ask “who is Neil Young?”/ Forbes via After School

Marketing & Advertising

TBD turns an STI into NBD with at-home testing for sexually transmitted infections.” / TechCrunch Via After School
Brands are giving their customers the chance to opt out of marketing emails ahead of holidays like Valentine's Day / Axios
How Liquid Death sold $3M worth of merch last year / Modern Retail
Top futurists call bullshit on today’s marketing hype / The Drum

Media Business

The Atlantic spent two years studying what readers, listeners need / Nieman Lab
Meanwhile, a new NPR working group is developing a standards and practices handbook / NPR
But is the media doomed? Here’s 16 “future-minded thinkers” on where they think journalism will be in 15 years. Key Quote: “Barring an epochal change of heart or habit on the part of the public, the flow of information will only get faster and more discordant in the years ahead.” / Politico via Nieman Lab
Can CNN+ Get People to Pay for Streaming News? NYT via Public Announcement
What BuzzFeed learned from a year of livestream shopping / Digiday
Newsette diversified a newsletter by building a creative agency / Digiday
While Highsnobiety’s in-house agency just put TikTok's favorite trainspotter in the Conductor's Seat for Gucci / Adweek
Unrelated: the genius of Trainspotting at 25 / Inside Hook via Elevator

Metaverse & Web3

How to build the metaverse, and build it right (a Protocol panel, on video) / YouTube
Related: two-time [SIC] Talks alum Ana Andjelic lays out the Web3 playbook for brands / Sociology of Business
Facebook and Twitter are in an NFT arms race / The Street via Garbage Day
But… “Meta and Twitter's NFT Landgrab Could Backfire” / Wired UK also via Garbage Day
Companies entering the metaverse are paving a path for representation and inclusivity in uncharted metaterritory. / Wunderman Thompson
Hence, Crypto Besties wants to be “the first makeup collective in the metaverse” / Crypto Besties via Embedded
“If you’d like to know why you should absolutely not be participating in crypto, Dan Olson kindly took two hours to explain it.” / YouTube via Today in Tabs
Also, you can fill out a form to let the Fed know what you think of digital dollars. / Federal Reserve via Morning Brew

Food & Drink

[SIC] homie Greg Bresnitz (of Snacky Tunes, Friends With Benefits et al) has a new ‘sonic menu’ podcast you should check out if you like food. Best link is to episode 1 with Breezy and Andy from Homestate. Full Season drops on Feb 2nd.
Beverage startup unveils the "Netflix for drinks." The Spoon via 1440
But do functional drinks really work? via Thingtesting
New study calls into question the importance of meat eating in shaping our evolution / Science Daily

Miscellany

Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen talks with Whole Earth Catalog founder and real OG thought leader Stewart Brand / Conversations with Tyler
While Brand’s buddy Kevin Kelly writes down a list of modern heretical ideas / Kevin Kelly via The Lindy Letter
Case in point? Why birdwatching is better than binge-watching / FT
And direct payments to low-income families appear to significantly affect the brain development of newborns / Vox via Morning Brew
This new map shows where nature is, in fact, healing / Vox
From Kevin Johanessen: “Let me know your level of interest in launching an apparel brand named Skaterdater” [Skaterdater] is apparently the worlds first skateboard film. YouTube via VICE
The same A.I. technology that runs “world’s fastest drummer” Jason Barnes’ prosthetic arm can teach people how to read Braille or play the piano in a matter of hours. / Reasons to Be Cheerful

Things to Do

From John Rough: “A good inclusion from an OG classic… long live zine life!” Get the new Hamburger Eyes book “Picture Us” / Hamburger Eyes
Speaking of Pictures, also pick up a limited-edition Pictures tee shirt from fave photog Jim Mangan, courtesy of [SIC] Talks alum Ken Miller. / Pictures