[SIC] 201: Cheap Ride to Heaven

Volume 4, Number 45

Jul 14, 2022

Paid subscribers now get an additional [SIC] Sundays newsletter. And founding supporters get invited to a series of dinners at my house in NYC.

Feel free to share, too. It’s the 200th edition, after all.

Hi all,

It’s a long one today, links-wise, so I’ll keep the pre-amble short.

I’m coming up on two years on Substack ([SIC] 205 will mark the occasion) and so am thinking about potential changes to format/table of contents/subject matter coverage. To that end, I got this via email last week from [SIC] Talks alum Matt Klein:

“Congrats on 200! The people need the analysis of top clicked links throughout previous editions...There has to be a pattern... Out of the hundreds of links shared and clicked each week, the top ones have to have a common denominator, no?”

Matt’s right. One goal for [SIC] Volume Five, later this year: better indications as to what’s worked / working, in terms of audience uptake. To that end, if there’s anything you’d like to see more of or want to understand more deeply, I’m building a scratch list now, so don’t hesitate to let me know. Likewise, guest appearances, special sections etc.

Another goal for the next year: more [SIC] readers. Welcome everyone who’s here via fave artist and [SIC] Talks alum Ryan McGinness’s appearance on Justin Jay’s Pod ‘The Plug’ - Ryan was generous enough to shout out the newsletter, and a bunch of folks signed up. Glad to have you here (and s/o Gerhard for the tip). If you’re like Ryan and dig what you see, I’d be stoked if you’d share / recommend / repost this. Here’s a button:

Share [SIC] Weekly

A tip of my own, for those in media / marketing: [SIC] homie Joe Marchese’s appearance on The Rebooting Pod is worth a listen.

Grateful to have contributions this week from Piers, Isaac, Erik, Marcella, and Celeste peppered throughout. More where those came from, please. Everybody else, too.

Soundtrack for the week: Angel from Frost Children pointed to DJ Wallh4x - “Crack Music” The mysterious online entity known only as “DJ Wallh4x” released this project on Club Cringe back in 2021 and it is absolutely unhinged in a way that made me smile all week. Check it when you’re not trying to sleep. / Bandcamp via Embedded

Ok. Now the links:

Read this edition on the web

idk, just thought this was funny. buen dia indeed.

======[SIC] 201: Cheap Ride to Heaven======

The world

Protesters in Sri Lanka threw one of the most bizarre pool parties ever this weekend when they stormed the compound of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and frolicked in his swimming pool / WaPo
Not a party: Depression, anxiety and A.D.H.D: Almost a quarter of Americans over 18 are now medicated for one or more of these conditions. / CDC via Marginal Revolution
News engagement plummets as Americans tune out / Axios via Morning Consult
In fact nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24 hours / Nieman Lab
So… I stopped reading the news. Is the problem me — or the product? / WaPo via Nieman Lab
Related: Choose your reality: Trust wanes, conspiracy theories rise / AP via Morning Consult
But, but! Buying into conspiracy theories can be exciting! And that’s what makes them dangerous / Nieman Lab
Either way, Beware the coming wave of competent populists. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson have more disciplined successors / FT
Also as a reminder: want fewer abortions? Legalize Them / Reasons to be Cheerful
Corollary: Applicants seeking to carry concealed handguns in New York State will be required to hand over lists of their social media accounts for a review of their "character and conduct." / AP via Morning Consult
Hence: Rethinking Digital Identity as a Defense Against Surveillance Capitalism / Ana.Mirror via Forefront
Another corollary: AI researchers building surveillance tech and deepfakes resist ethical concerns / Protocol via Morning Consult
Reporting from The AI Summit London 2022: AI advances promise to 'change the lives of billions.' / Wunderman Thompson
Changing already: America's shrinking middle-class neighborhoods / NYT via 1440
But, recent immigrants have been climbing the economic ladder no slower than in the days of Ellis Island / WaPo via Marginal Revolution
So American cities need to grow up (like, as in height) / The Atlantic
Mapping where America is getting older / US Census via 1440
Related: just eight countries will account for more than half of the increase in world population up to 2050, according to new UN projections: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania. The rest of the world? Not having many babies. The global population growth rate is its lowest since 1950/ UN via Morning Brew
Hence, says geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan: “Inflation? We Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” / Zeihan.com

Trends

Everyone’s a trend forecaster in The Future of Futures (featuring multiple [SIC] Talks alum Matt Klein citations) / In Bed with Social
So - to get you on board, here’s the Nownext Vibe Force Report / PDF via Strat Scraps
And Dan Frommer’s latest Consumer Trends report that you can view and download for free / The New Consumer
Also, from Piers Fawkes: PSFK’s “Reflecting And Reframing” trend report. Key Quote: “In shining a new light on established and taken-for-granted histories, communities and individuals can reveal a greater depth of nuance and even rewrite or correct the past, leading to a fuller future” / PSFK
While Social agency OkCool (s/o [SIC] homie Heather Hosey) promises they’ve delivered “the first not-shit Web3 Report you can read in like 25 minutes and look smart AF” as a free download / Google Docs
Rounding out the reports: Wunderman Thompson’s “Inclusion’s Next Wave” trends report has something for everyone, geddit? Free to download / Wunderman Thompson
Remote work is turning Williamsburg, Brooklyn into an NYC Shopping Mecca / WSJ via Retail Innovation Week
Hence, why remote work will win this fall / Fortune via Morning Consult
But?! Gen Z workers are discovering that they actually miss the in-person experience of the office because of the opportunity and community it provides / The Future Party
Also ending: Juul Nears Its Last Gasp—After It Hooked a Generation on Vaping / Wired via Morning Consult
But now wellness vapes are all the rage / The Guardian via After School
Relentless waves of sophisticated phone and online scams are impacting people's mental health. The nonstop scam economy is costing us more than just money / WaPo via Morning Consult
Corollary: Kyle Chayka explores “like inflation”. Key Quote: “I feel kind of embarrassed for myself that I still want Likes after all this time, after I’ve already seen Instagram Likes fade into meaninglessness. We can now Like anything, and thus we are forced to collect Likes on everything” / Dirt
Also collecting: The Female TikTokers Rebranding Gold-Digging As ‘Hypergamy’ / Mel Magazine
But not getting trapped, tho: The Vasectomy Influencers / The Atlantic
From Piers Fawkes: In it for the long haul: female truckers in the US – in pictures / The Guardian
People Are Ditching Shampoo and Washing Their Hair With Pantry Items / WSJ via Marginal Revolution
More than 300 bookstores have opened in the past couple of years, in a surprising and welcome revival after an early pandemic slump / NYT

Style

Destination dressing is booming. Luxury travellers are planning lavish looks for the beach and bar/FT
Hence, men’s fashion is having a '“Talented Mr. Ripley” Summer / Spy via Blazer
Also via Italia: Diesel jeans founder Renzo Rosso aims to build Italian rival to compete with LVMH and Kering/ FT
Back at home: People Are Using Hot Coffee to Customize Their Sneakers / Gear Patrol via Blazer
Subcultures and cinema: Why Brain Dead isn’t just about the clothes / Vogue Business
Ergo: Nordstrom just opened a burger shack uptown / TimeOut via Retail Innovation Week
Victoria’s Secret and What’s Sexy Now / NYT
Elsewhere, the GDMF’ing boys from Throwing Fits explain their burgeoning jawns empire to [SIC] homie John Ortved at the Times / NYT via After School
Padmore & Barnes and fave London jawns emporium Garbstore team up on some bonkers new crepes. I’m a UK 8 in these, if any of you want to crowdfund me a mid-life crisis gift / Garbstore
Speaking of co-investing (haha) anybody wanna buy a fishing club upstate? The Livingston Manor Fly Fishing Club is on the market. Here’s where we can eat when we visit [the southern Catskills restaurant guide], courtesy of Bon Appetit.
Five Questions With Roaring Wild, China’s Streetwear Favorite / Jing Daily
After acquiring two supply chain start-ups last year, American Eagle is betting that providing logistics services to competitors can drive growth. / BoF
Related: [SIC] Talks alum Recho Omondi’s back with the pod on the Cutting Room Floor talking sourcing and services/ IG
Affordable laundry is helping students fight hygiene poverty / Flint Beat via Reasons to be Cheerful
Which is good b/c from Isaac Dietz: “I did not know it takes 2,700 liters of clean water to produce one t-shirt. No more cheap t-shirts as swag!” / FT
How TikTok drives fast fashion / Axios via Morning Consult

The Arts

There’s a dating app just for the art world / The Art Newspaper
Art crush slash multihyphenate Miranda July made three short films about Los Angeles / Departures
Elsewhere, July Shares the Strange Story Behind Her Latest Book, beginning with a cold call from the Philippines and ended up as a 23-foot-long “book sculpture” / Another via Public Announcement
Skateboard art legend Mark McKee submits to the Chromeball interview / Chromeball Incident
Auction houses say the art market is booming. But what lurks beneath these shiny numbers? / The Art Newspaper
Elsewhere in subterfuge, from Piers Fawkes: How Art Helps to Manipulate Minds in “Severance” / Hyperallergic
A new documentary tracks the ups and downs of ‘making it’ in the contemporary art world / The Art Newspaper
Corollary: Should only working-class photographers take pictures of working-class places? / It’s Nice That
Related: Social Practice or Cultural Appropriation? Rirkrit Tiravanija collaborates with Indigenous potters to rediscover age-old crafts / Frieze
The father of Relational Aesthetics selects the books that have influenced him. Nicolas Bourriaud’s Ideal Syllabus / Frieze

Entertainment + IP

Music from the 1990s is more popular than music from any other decade right now — even current ones. Americans born in the '90s and 2000s are listening to music from the decade they were born at higher rates than other generations listen to music from their birth decades / Axios
Corollary, from Celeste Blewitt: “I know we've all been reading of the Kate Bush phenomenon of late, but I thought this piece was also interesting, as it delves further into syncing, stats, artist catalogues and how music of the past is being reintegrated into current streaming platforms/ series and films.” [That Syncing Feeling: How Stranger Things Supercharged The Music Industry'] / The Guardian Australia
In contrast: “I don’t know how my show is doing”: Streamers run on data, but that doesn’t mean they share any of it with showrunners / Vulture via Nieman Lab
Maybe because Netflix lost 26% of its Gen Z female users on mobile between 2019 and 2022?!! / Fast Company via After School
While, gaining female fans: Yes, Chef: How The Bear's Jeremy Allen White Became the Breakout Star of Summer / GQ via Public Announcement
Per Sasha Frere-Jones: “The comment section on Playboy Carti and Future’s “TeenX” video. Either it’s a heartbreaking masterpiece or the end of civilization. Nobody can figure it out.” / YouTube via S/FJ
The Greatest Movies by the Greatest Directors / The Guardian via Elevator
The next wave of Crypto Music. The dominant trends that will likely shape the next phase of development /The Liminal Space via Music Redef
Elsewhere: this Fireside chat with Mario Caldato Jr on Red Bull Radio / Mixcloud
And [SIC Talks alum] Brynn Wallner’s got a new pod: “Killing Time” / Spotify
More listening: Off to the Races with Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, and Daniel Radcliffe / a24 Podcast
And “Mencius Moldbug” Curtis Yarvin was on Red Scare for July 4th / Spotify

Platforms & Influencers

From Erik Lavoie, Piers Fawkes and Marcella Farman-Dietz: Clubhouse isn’t dead / The Information
YouTube Touts Shorts as “So Critical For Artist Development” YouTube wants more musicians to get on board the Shorts train right “NOW.” / Tube Filter via Beats Byte
While Instagram and TikTok are eating Google’s lunch when it comes to finding where to eat lunch / TechCrunch via Motive Unknown
What creators say separates TikTok from Instagram Reels from YouTube Shorts /Digiday
Headline of the week: “The all-conquering quaver “/ The Economist via Morning Consult
While Scott Galloway calls TikTok a “Trojan Stallion” / Prof Galloway
Undaunted, TikTok announces new ways to filter out mature or 'potentially problematic' videos / CNN via Morning Consult
Fred Wilson, early Twitter investor and VC 🐐, on what should happen next for Twittter. Shrug off Elon and focus on web3, mostly / AVC via Ben-Evans
Related: they're powerful, but not evil. Bots just need to be better understood. Twitter Wants You to Build a Bot. So I Did / Bloomberg via Morning Consult
Snoop Dogg talks Corona, the metaverse and marijuana The rapper looks for “fun and funds. / Ad Age
Not fun, but still big: Netflix announced it will team up with Microsoft to help it build a cheaper subscription tier with ads / Netflix via Morning Brew
And a croatian Web3 startup offers lifetime Netflix via NFT 📺. Buyers would receive a digital debit card along with the NFT to pay for their subscription / Cointelegraph via New Fun Thing
While Amazon is looking into enabling virtual product placements within media content / Patent Drop

Marketing & Advertising

Kids and teens spend an average of 91 minutes a day on TikTok, more than they spend on YouTube, one company’s data shows /TechCrunch via Dealbook
TikTok is full of shady secret advertisements / Vox via Morning Consult
Not exactly the case in point, but still?! Shell takes to TikTok as oil groups try to boost credentials during energy crisis. Social media ad spending jumps as industry invokes national security concern / FT
Related?! The Marketer’s Guide to Gamers on TikTok / TwoFiveSix
So… (b)advertising works?! Pinterest has released the findings of its Body Neutrality report, which shows that searches containing terms related to weight loss have decreased by 20% since introducing its weight-loss ad ban last year / The Drum
Verizon's giving free phones to people who are still using its old network / CNBC via Morning Consult
While cycling brand Rapha promoted its new typeface at major races / It’s Nice That
Elsewhere: Saudi-backed LIV Golf shows how ‘sportswashing’ can backfire / Fast Company via The Art of Noticing

Media Business

Rights Deals Could Boost Women’s Sports into $1B Industry / Front Office Sports
But on the virtual side: Endemic esports media outlets are in the midst of a wave of layoffs / Digiday
Meanwhile, to survive esports companies have been redefining and expanding what they do / Digiday
So… The Gaming Industry would like to move on from 2022, thanks / Protocol
Elsewhere, The Information is launching a social network for subscribers / Axios via Nieman Lab
And The Wall Street Journal is centering personal finance on its new commerce site Buy Side / Digiday
Corollary: Vanity Fair (just now?!) launched a webshop for branded merch / Vanity Fair
The Atlantic Digitizes Its 165-Year-old Archive, Unlocking Potential IP / Adweek via Morning Consult

Metaverse & Web3

8Chan founder says there’s an overwhelming amount of “random” connections between Bored Ape Yacht Club and occult fascism / Medium via Garbage Day
Meanwhile, 3 of the top 4 most profitable NFT trader wallets are probably owned by the same person / Twitter via Zima Red
And the share of active crypto traders among Nigerian adults is the world’s highest / Quartz
The Fuck You Collection of motion art NFTs by Molly Dickson is a project to raise money for abortion access / 10fuckyous via Dirt
Related? Metaverse land will be scarce after all 🏝️ The metaverse may be endless, but we are not there yet — and in today’s siloed metaverse market, digital land scarcity is very much a thing / Coin Telegraph via New Fun Thing
And yet The Sandbox, Decentraland see user numbers dwindle. The two better-known Web3 metaverse platforms reportedly each attract fewer than 1,200 daily active users / Coindesk via Protocol
With location-based NFTs, a new(ish) type of NFT now gaining popularity, collectors travel to a specific location to mint exclusive NFTs — incentivizing actual physical movement and sometimes even exercise / NFT Now
Hence, why Web3 and the metaverse shouldn't be conflated: A Q&A with Matthew Ball / Digiday
Learn How to Build for the Creator Economy. Last year, Li Jin taught a 4-week long course about the creator economy. This past week, she open-sourced the entire curriculum / Forefront
And how to Access, Read, and Understand Ethereum Smart Contracts / NFT Now
More Building: Why Modern Collectibles Are Built for Gen Z / Jing Daily
Why DAOs could be the key to Gen Z brand loyalty. Sixty percent of Gen Zers and millennials said they would be interested in using company-issued crypto tokens in order to vote on decisions—a key component of DAOs / Ad Age
Karlie Kloss is partnering with Roblox to highlight five designers of virtual-only fashion / Fast Company via Future Party
And CVS is setting up shop in the Metaverse / PR Newswire via Retail Innovation Week
SHoP Architects has jumped into NFTs, releasing a set of 2500 unique, algorithmically generated 3D buildings called Habitats / Habitats.land via Dirt
While Burberry is selling bags made of clouds and water exclusively on Roblox /Vogue Business
Debatable given all the Roblox / Fortnite shows, but Superfly says it’s building the first ever music festival on Web3, bringing together NFT holders to decide on every creative aspect of “SUPERF3ST” / The Future Party
Hackers stole $9M from DeFi protocol Crema Finance but returned $8M, which Crema let them keep as a "white-hat bounty” reward. “Hack to return” crimes are rising as crypto laundering gets harder. / Robinhood Snacks
That’s that schit. Schitköyn’s is asking degens, “are you GMI?” 💩 If so invest in Schitköyn’s not schitcoins! / New Fun Thing

Food & Drink

“Tahini did need a disruption,”: What Podcast Host (and ‘5 Questions For’ alum) Jason Stewart Is Roasting / Taste via Public Announcement
From Celeste Blewitt: “A great conversation around drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic and the details around the current markets.” Hard Seltzer Has Gone Flat” /Atlantic
Taking a Dive Into Sardines / NYT via Morning Consult
More Med: Inside a French escargot festival / Buzzfeed via 1440
Are Mushrooms The World’s Next Superfood / NYT via Elevator
Related: can microdosing mushrooms replace coffee? / via Elevator
An avocado alternative called Evocado is meant to wean people off the resource-intensive fruit / Dezeen
The new protection racket: Restaurants Face an Extortion Threat: A Bad Rating on Google / NYT via Morning Consult
Especially because And Gen Z isn’t that into dining out / CNN via After School

Miscellany

The Monocle pod on the legacy of Antonio Gaudi / Monocle
Also inventive: Saint Martins design graduate Mireille Steinhage has invented a solar-powered blanket that is made from conductive yarn / Dezeen
You Are the Last Pringle in the Can / YouTube via MusicAlly
Lost cat posters are taking over the world / Creative Bloq
Britain’s gray squirrels will be put on birth control. The menace to UK woodlands will be given oral contraceptives hidden in hazelnut spread. / Quartz
Corollary: are gophers farmers? / NYT via Marginal Revolution
Whose breath are you breathing? / RNZ via Marginal Revolution

Things to Do

Tonight in NY: the Tom Sachs art team show in Nolita / IG
And then visit 7 Gardens curated by Anonymous Gallery, each one featuring work by Urs Fischer, Robert Gober, Terence Koh, Bunny Rogers, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Marianne Vitale, Kandis Williams / Google Maps
Also the launch of Paolo Di Lucente’s Rome (a photo book of all the American cities named “Rome”) is at Head Hi’s new space in Brooklyn / Head Hi
This Sat in LA: go to the Fucking Awesome Hollywood block party / IG
And to the Superchief swap meet in DTLA / IG

Book of the Week:

This is an experiment: “Wild Tongues” is from my son’s assigned summer reading in advance of his junior year of high school- it’s edited by The Bronx Is Reading founder Saraciea J. Fennell and is an anthology of writers whose names / work I’m not (yet) familiar with. Looking forward to getting to know them, and then discussing/ debating what he and I take away from each essay. More on that soon.