[SIC] 188: Italian Medallion
Volume 4, Number 32
Hi all,
I’m late sending (again), so straight into it. First, start by cuing up David Blue’s Music for spring mix, which he describes as “Not neon Sun ice / elf hat / Bulls jacket + jeans + rear entry boot nostalgia. Like spring conditions, a little bit of everything.” Perfect accompaniment for your perusal this week. Thanks Blue! And separately, thanks to Rob, David, Kevin, Celeste, Dan and Bill for contributions this week. I’m grateful.
I won’t dally, otherwise. One of these weeks I’ll get back to interviewing people, promise. On my list: Joseph Patel, Eugene Rabkin, Rachel Tashjian, Marc Schiller, Hillary Pecis, and Kevin Tachman among others, in case you know them to mention it. Your suggestions welcome, too. [SIC] Talks archive is over here, meantime.
Now, the links.
“… Rusty, calling in from Maine…” / Charles Ray at the Whitney Biennial
=====[SIC] 188: Italian Medallion=====
The World
S&P thinks Russia is on the verge of a historic default / AP via Daily Upside
TikTok’s ban in Russia isn’t really working / Morning Brew
Or is it? TikTok created an alternate universe just for Russia / WaPo
From Rob Hubbert: “What’s the viability of democracy is the “post-babel era”?” Why the past 10 years of American life have been uniquely stupid / The Atlantic
How do you pronounce Shein? Pinduoduo? A resource for anglophones. / Rest of World via Ben-Evans
Useful, because the ideas market likes ‘verbal authenticity’ / Sage Pub via Marginal Revolution
Likely because 'Algospeak' is changing our language in real time / WaPo via The Trend Report
Such is the significance of TikTok comments to the zeitgeist, that there’s even a Twitter account dedicated to curating the best. / Twitter via High Tea
Bitcoin struggles to find its star power in Miami. The utopian vision of cryptocurrency fights with the celebrity-filled panels at the annual conference./ Fast Company
Corollary: a16z's Chris Dixon on the next evolution of the internet. / The Verge via 1440
Hey guys, should we get rid of the scientific paper? / The Guardian via Future Perfect
After all, a four-year degree is becoming less important as a job requirement / NYT via Marginal Revolution
Trends
A New Way to Measure Creativity / WSJ
Graphic design trends of 2022, from Y2K to anti-design / Creative Bloq
Gen Z spends half its waking hours on screen time. It’s good and bad news for Hollywood. Key Quote: “Video has essentially become a friend to Gen Z.” / LA Times via After School
Simultaneously, many Millennials are making the biggest purchase of their lives without ever seeing it in person. / Future Party
No wonder then that more and more women just don’t want children. “Kids are expensive and sticky”/ Insider via After School
More Millenial: what famous memes looked like 10 years ago (ie a 10 year old meme compilation video) / YouTube via Elevator
While Gen Xtellectual Tyler Cowen ponders what happens when your bot is better than you /Marginal Revolution
More rhetorical: Why are people with no social media so damn hot? / Dazed
And why American Teens are So Sad / The Atlantic via After School
Style
The typically unhinged new issue of Buffalo Zine dropped online. / Publitas
Corollary: the metaverse is now influencing real-life looks / Vogue Business
Hence, Marni is the latest brand to create its own virtual world / Vogue Business
But can The Metaverse Transform Fashion Business Models? / Business of Fashion
Seems to be a ‘yes’. Exclusive Discord "cook groups" are helping sneakerheads “cop the best drops” and increasingly dictating the realities of the multi-billion dollar streetwear resale market / PSFK
Which gives rise to Fashion’s New Approach to Setting Prices. Artificial intelligence is replacing intuition when it comes to determining what shoppers will pay / BoF
Related, then: the death of streetwear is a class issue /IG
Also related: why brands are launching their own resale platforms / Thingtesting
Unrelated: Name Dropping — Four Videographers On Putting Skaters’ Names in Videos / Quartersnacks
But related to that: [SIC] Talks Alum Bill Strobeck’s Violet skateboards promo / YouTube
Apropos of nothing, from Kevin Johanessen: “You should start doing some commerce links within SIC. A mix of retail and vintage. Get you some affiliate commerce.” / Grailed
The Arts
From Celeste Blewitt: 'After Being Found In Dumpster, Paintings By 'Largely Forgotten' Artist Get New York Gallery Show' / Art News
Speaking of getting his due: Did Yves Klein sell the very first NFT? / Smithsonian via Marginal Revolution
More transmedia: The Video Game That Is Also An Art Museum / The Verge
OG skate art vandal Neckface on Angela and Z pod / IG
Surprised at this one: Barbara Kruger x Hyundai (tied to her retrospective in LA, but still) / Mediapost
Entertainment + IP
What is a metalabel? Reviving the Dischord Records model for the Discord era /The Culture Journalist via Music Redef
Corollary: five predictions about music streaming's future / Music X via Music Redef
One future’s in the past: Pop Music’s Nostalgia Obsession / The Atlantic via Public Announcement
Related: As festival season returns in full for the first time since the pandemic started, promoters and artists see that the way forward may be to look backward. [SIC] homie Eric Ducker is … Still Into You / Ringer via Music Redef
Hence, Questlove’s (and [SIC] homie Joseph Patel’s) “Summer of Soul” has inspired the creation of the Harlem Festival of Culture next year in the same park that hosted the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival / Billboard via Music Redef
The Legendary art pranksters and chart toppers of The KLF are the subject of a brand new documentary called Who Killed The KLF / Twitter
While their conceptual opposite Ed Sheeran films his songwriting sessions to avoid legal headaches /Deadline via The Future Party
Because fake artists are what happens when fandom dies / Musicindustryblog
Platforms & Influencers
Gen Z : From Consumer to Creator Webinar - a special PSFK webinar / YouTube
Case in point: A 15-year-old Twitch streamer celebrates wins with raves in his room. Like, serious raves / NME via Morning Brew
Speaking of serious: YouTube’s got a softcore porn problem / Medium
Don’t worry tho! Susan Wojcicki said YouTube’s NFT push will help smaller creators like the ones in that article, monetize /Protocol
Elsewhere in problems: “Journalism’s Twitter Problem Is the Journalists” / Intelligencer via Garbage Day
Sensing an opportunity, Snapchat is partnering with more than 40 newsrooms on a new automated product/ Nieman Lab
Tho apparently TikTok: has surpassed Snapchat "as teens' favorite," and Facebook And Twitter "barely register," according to the latest Piper Sandler Taking Stock With Teens survey / Mediapost
And Amazon said ‘fuck it’ and has begun selling investment-grade bonds / Bloomberg
Marketing & Advertising
Breast-pump brand Willow is countering unwanted “bad advice” heaped on new moms in a campaign fronted by [SIC] homie Iliza Shlesinger / Mediapost
While Liquid Death and porn star Cherie DeVille say ‘Don’t fuck the planet’ / The Drum
In preparation for awards season, Ogilvy will no longer work with influencers who edit their bodies or faces for ads / The Drum
While R/GA is offering pro bono creative and marketing services to BIPOC-owned startups / The Drum
What brands can learn from VaynerSports' botched NFT sale / Ad Age
Elsewhere in brands: Fluid design is having a moment. Hence, why it's a bad idea for startups to make their branding distinctive / Fast Company
And speaking of startups, [SIC] homies Ryan Babenzien and Arjan Singh from fave skincare startup Jolie on the “Read Receipts” pod / Spotify
Internet advertising increased by 35% year-over-year, the highest year-over-year jump in 15 years / Daily Upside
But a lot of it was on Amazon, Walmart, etc. How Advertising Agencies are changing to deal with the rise of Retail Media. / AdExchanger
Media Business
The Rebooting’s Brian Morrissey did a Twitter Space with A Media Operator/Morning Brew’s Jacob Donnelly on Friday. Check it out. / Twitter
In a vulnerable media economy, journalists are demanding ownership of their work/ Poynter via Nieman Lab
And Quartz is dropping its paywall / Nieman Lab
Another plus:FIFA is launching a free, ad-supported service called FIFA+ / THR
Contrasts a big minus: investment and projections for CNN+ are expected to be cut dramatically, in response to a low adoption rate / Axios
Metaverse & Web3
Web3 is yet to take off despite the hype So far, it’s hard to discern mainstream uses for this technology / FT
The growing, lightly controversial industry teaching kids crypto. / Vox via After School
From Dan Bradley: “A little intro/manifesto from Titles, a web3 product based around the future of social creation. I'm also an advisor on the project, so I'm biased.” / Mirror.xyz
From Bill Amstutz: Here is another blockchain thing for you: The Creator Economy Expo (CEX) is offering Never-Ending Tickets. NETs are a set of 100 "forever tickets" for CEX. / Mint.CEX
In the Metaverse, Live Concerts Hold More Appeal Than Live Sports and Shopping / Morning Consult
Hey look, it’s rugs commemorating various crypto rugpulls. / Rugpull Rugs via Garbage Day
Food & Drink
The science behind Doritos / Twitter via Ruby Dispatch
A 23-ounce can of AriZona iced tea remains 99 cents, the same price as when it first hit shelves three decades ago. Founder Don Vultaggio is committed to 99 cents: “Consumers don’t need another price increase from a guy like me.” / Morning Brew
Miscellany
Mushrooms can communicate with each other using up to 50 "mushroom words. / via Ruby Dispatch
While ‘Bozo’ Is the Absolute Best Insult in English / Mel Magazine
The Mysterious Man Who Built (and Then Lost) Little Tokyo / NYT
Speaking of building, from David Bloom: A virtual micronation spanning the stateless, 3-mile area between Serbia and Croatia is an architectural marvel with 3D designs constructed by the late Zaha Hadid's firm. / Fast Company
Things to Do:
The many moods of Steve Powers come to Milano/ IG
Lucien Smith is at Public Access / IG
=====[SIC] 188: Italian Medallion=====
Create your profile
Only paid subscribers can comment on this post
Check your email
For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.
Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.