[SIC] 213: A Really Common Denominator

Volume 5, Number 5

Oct 06, 2022

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Hi all,

The Wolfgang Tillmans retrospective at MoMA was a highlight of what’s been a gloomy week in NYC so far. I’ll spare you an attempt at a review (loved it, basically), but what it’s inspired chaos brought to mind was that successful storytelling now means tracing connections beyond category and format and that our modern condition demands we get to be adept at it.

Ergo, a new study finding that Gen Z apparently doesn’t go in for mainstream pop culture; 91% of 18-25 year-olds believe that "mainstream" pop culture doesn't exist. For Gen Z, distinct subcultures, many of which are based around online communities, have now replaced the homogenous pop culture that older generations grew up on.

But is that new? It’s an intriguing corollary to W. David Marx’s great piece on “The X of Generation X”, which reminds/reveals that the “X” was a byword for subculture and ephemera as emblems of identity, and that since X begat ‘Y’ begat ‘Z’, we’re now into (at least) the seventh decade of searching for the riches in niches.

Maybe what’s new is that we’ve entered, as two time [SIC] Talks alum Ana Andjelic calls it, “the post-icon age” in her latest post. Hence: American brands needing nostalgia to save themselves at the moment? And, upon looking backward, Jerry Saltz asking What the hell was modernism? a few pre-pandemic years back.

Not to mention what the future holds. [SIC] got a shout out on the new episode of the People vs Algorithms podcast, which asked “WTF is a media company now” - very flattering, thanks guys. The answer, loosely, might just be … whatever you want..

Anyway, thanks again to Troy and Brian for the shout, and thanks also to my contributors this week: Iolanda, Celeste, David, Ricky and Piers, you all rule. More, please (that goes for everyone. Also, shouts out: a fave source of mine for stories, Pier’s PSFK is launching vertical/topic news alerts (choose yours here) and you should sign up.

Ok. Now, links.

Wolfgang Tillmans and Isa Genksen beat BeReal to it by 20 years. His show at MoMA highly recommended.

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Zeitgest / Gestalt

[SIC] Talks alum Sam Bompas and co will be creating the world’s first super premium poppers, paired with a curated drinks offering as part of London Cocktail Week / Bompas & Parr
From David Bloom: “Intriguing piece about the rippling influence of TikTok’s AI-fueled customization for its users into all kinds of apps for lots of other use cases by other companies” [How TikTok’s For You page changed everything for the use of AI] / The Future Party
TikTok politics and the era of embodied memes / Galaxy Brain
The Battle for the Soul of the Web. Long before the NFT boom or the Web3 backlash, an unglamorous movement was under way/ The Atlantic
The Overlooked Titan of Social Media. A new history of YouTube argues that the video-streaming service created the template for the attention economy./ The New Yorker
Facebook And Instagram Are Full Of Violent Erotica Ads From ByteDance- And Tencent-Backed Apps / Forbes
Content moderation is changing how we speak — and dictating who gets heard. “Le dollar bean, unalive, and seggs: The new internet lexicon serves the algorithm but not those who need it most.” / Mashable
What happens when employees get a three-day weekend every month? / QZ
Why Gen Z wants to be brand co-creators / AdAge
Notable, to that end: How Gen-Z is redefining ugliness / In Bed With Social
Meanwhile, DALL-E now allows anyone to cash in on AI art, but ownership gets complicated / QZ
The White House plans to craft an AI Bill of Rights / The Future Party
In the meantime, though, New Yorkers who submit evidence of a parking violation can earn 25% of a proposed $175 ticket / Bloomberg
In China, millennials and Gen Z are falling out of love with consumerism and fueling a new “frugal living” social media movement / Fortune
While stateside communal home-buying unlocks Gen Z and Millennial ownership / The Future Party
Related; fast facts about the state of US investors courtesy of [SIC] homie Brian Hanly / LinkedIn
In the UK, The Face introduces its COST OF LIVING series / The Face

World Order

What will Twitter be like under Elon Musk’s control? Predictions ranging from “new subscription products” to “Donald Trump will be back.”/ NYT
“Elon could easily run the best hedge fund in the world off just a slice of Twitter’s data…insider trading rules are for the regular people. I can’t imagine why as a private company he won’t” / Howard Lindzon
Esp. bc most people on Twitter don’t live in political echo chambers — mostly because they don’t care enough to bother building one / Nieman Lab
Designers share graphics in solidarity with Iranian women "fighting for their dignity" / Dezeen
The Onion wrote a brief for the Supreme Court in defense of parody. It’s exactly what you would expect / The Onion
NEOM, the super-thin, mirror-walled smart city currently being built in Saudi Arabia’s desert, has won the bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games. But — the city doesn’t exist yet / VICE
Get your nori up! Seaweed forests are larger than the amazon / The Conversation

The Speculative Future

The smart home industry passed a major milestone with the release of the Matter standard, which promises to simplify the setup and use of compatible smart home devices / Protocol
Bill Burley gave an interview on why this moment in time might be the best of the last 10 years to start a company / McKinsey
20 Predictions for the Music Business in 10 Years / Ted Gioia
Related: “I have seen the future of music and it’s called the Web3 musicverse” / Global News
Meanwhile, why an Apple car is a terrible idea / Monday Note
Elsewhere, Tim Apple is latest CEO to question the 'metaverse' / The Verge
Nonetheless, Sony expects to sell 2 million units of its VR headset sequel by March 2023 / Bloomberg
And “sustainable and ethical fashion brands” are elevating their standards in the virtual realm. / Wunderman Thompson
From Celeste Blewitt: “Big discussions on AI, virtual influencers, NFTs and all the rest. A fascinating insight and conversation into the link of working with both human and tech forms to influence” 'Are Virtual Influencers The Real Deal?' / The Hollywood Reporter
A recap of where the Web3 market from Tomasz Tunguz, a venture capitalist at Redpoint Ventures
Nifty Gateway Invites Curators To Operate NFT Storefronts In New Publishers Program. Currently limited to 50 selected curators the beta will likely chart a new course for NFT commerce post-winter / Jing Culture Crypto
Zora Zine published a write-up on Assembly, the second annual Urbit conference in Miami / Zora
From Iolanda Carvalho: The world’s cultural heritage is being preserved one NFT at a time. The Arco della Pace in Milan is the first international monument to be NFT-ized and sent into digital reality/ Cointelegraph

Pop Cultures

James Murphy Is a Washed Elder God (and that’s good)/ The Melt
Not good: Lena Dunham Is Back on Her Bullsh*t / The Daily Beast
Also overly invested: the internet’s infidelity watchdogs / Embedded
Corollary: Dan Ozzi produced an covers album of punk and emo classics to act as a companion to the paperback edition of his book “$ell Out” / BigCartel
The Pitchfork Staff’s Favorite One-Hit Wonders of the ’90s / Pitchfork
Related, from Ricky Engelberg: “This [Pavement review] reads like the Chris Farley show” / Rolling Stone
And BoJack Horseman Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg Explains His Wacky List of TV’s Best Shows / Rolling Stone
Meanwhile, Spotify keeps making it harder to listen to music. Maybe podcasts and audiobooks should not be in a music app / The Verge
So … Embrace the Darkness With THEM’s Queer Goth Playlist / Them
No One in Hollywood Wanted to Make 'Barbarian' / NY Mag
Every Gen Z celebrity is some combination of Kim Kardashian, Blink-182, and Banksy /Garbage Day
Ergo Gayle, and the Rise of Meta-Pop / The New Yorker
What Emma Chamberlain’s home reveals about the influencer aesthetic / The Guardian
Meanwhile Paloma Elsesser has endured “fatphobia” to become high fashion’s top plus-size model/ BoF
But do spare a thought for Kim K. Regulators should be keeping an eye on more egregious behaviour in the crypto world/ FT
Especially as streamers use playlists to control the music industry / Wired
And The Fake Art Industry Is Booming Online / Hyperallergic
Related: Exploring the artist exodus from IG as the platform pivots to Reels / NYT
Also, how Did Gremlins Invade Fashion? / GQ
And Is Streetwear Still Cool? /BoF
While we’re at it: Is Gen Z Killing Vintage Fashion? / Elle
And will Gen Z Break Up With Your Luxury Brand? /Vogue Business
Not worried about it: Hermès asks, “Why have a plain old ribbon-cutting when you can have a full-fledged original musical?” / NYT
Then again, maybe Fashion’s Party Is Just About Over. Here Comes the Hangover / BoF

Media Happenings

Facebook is axing its Substack rival. The Bulletin newsletter service will end next year / Quartz
Meanwhile, meet Fizz, the social app downloaded by 95% of Stanford undergrads / Tech Crunch
Media employees face no consequences for ignoring return-to-office requests — yet / Digiday
Corollary: free food is always the first to go in a downturn. No surprise that Bloomberg is cutting off free lunches, although the snacks remain / Twitter
“It’s Gotta Grow to Stay Alive”: Inside Noah Shachtman’s Raucous Reinvention of Rolling Stone / Vanity Fair
If you're looking to sell your content business, you might want to target buyers that operate outside the media industry / They Got Acquired
For instance; Moonvertising?! Space billboards could cost $65M and still turn a profit / TechCrunch
Then again: should billboard advertising be banned? / BBC

Market-ations

The Vacation x Prince “1992 Interoffice Championships collaboration” is sublimely silly (and supremely smart) / Vacation
Also pretty silly: Gatorade Is Getting Into The Gummies Business / Ad Age
Liquid Death proved there’s a thirst for edgy packaging for water. Liquid Death is now valued at $700 million / Bloomberg
Corollary: the Coca-Cola logo: a history from 1886 to today / Design Bloq
Venmo rolls out ‘Charity Profiles’ to allow charities to raise funds directly within its app/ TechCrunch
GoodwillFinds is “a curated marketplace of donated goods that seeks to compete with Poshmark and The RealReal” / BoF
TikTok’s reportedly still planning to launch live shopping in the US/ The Verge
Tho most US adults don't know/care about livestream or video commerce / eMarketer
Related: BeReal is forcing disrupters like TikTok into copycat mode, but now comes the hard part / Fortune
Case in point: BeReal has brands like Chipotle, and e.l.f. Cosmetics rushing to understand platform's appeal with Gen Z / Digiday
Has to be said, the SNL BeReal sketch was actually OK / Twitter
Corollary: Pete Davidson pairs new Taco Bell breakfast item with an apology for going overboard on breakfast / Restaurant Dive
Real recognize real: Jeff Goodby on what Dan Wieden (RIP) taught the ad business / AdAge
The most important streaming metric is not subscribers, but time spent / The Drum
Related: How ad tech aims to build back better / Digiday
No one knew what Dream actually looked like–until now. The Minecraft gamer has only been seen by his 30 million subscribers in a smiley-faced mask / YT
Google’s Stadia shutdown leaves partners and players in the lurch / Protocol
Elsewhere, Sega is getting into blockchain gaming, announcing a new on-chain game with Japan-based Double Jump Tokyo / Video Games Chronicle
From David Bloom: “Magically Delicious!” General Mills has partnered with Niantic to launch a cereal-themed augmented reality (AR) game, "Journey to the Magic Gems."/ Screenrant
While Hugo Boss plans to debut 1,001 3D-animated NFTs and 500 T-shirts embedded with QR codes that launch unique AR lenses on Snapchat / Cryptoslate
While from Piers Fawkes: VeeFriends x Macy’s x Toys“R”Us Launch Exclusive Physical Collectibles / NFT Evening
And Balmain will premiere The Balmain Thread, an NFT-based membership program / NFT Evening
Luxury is going “off algo.” Per Brian Morrissey: “Vox has an interesting piece on how travel has become optimized to the point of losing its charm. The counter reaction to this – and it’s beyond travel – will be unique experiences unavailable to everyone with a smartphone”/ Vox
Meanwhile, Peloton will put bikes in every Hilton-owned hotel in the U.S. /CNBC

Superficial Interest

Are You the Same Person You Used to Be? / The New Yorker
From Celeste Blewitt: “Data, skill and the influence of talent and creativity form this discussion into cricket selectors, alongside the process. Quite fascinating insight into not only cricket and the art of selection, but decision making as a whole throughout sport”: [‘The Art And Science Of Picking Winning Teams' ]/ FT
Per Sasha Frere-Jones: “Physical Therapy did a trip hop special for NTS in May, which I just caught on repeat. Would we say trip hop is underrated? Seems like it’s not rated at all, frankly. Howie B. and The Prunes? Absolutely ‘90s legit” / NTS
Rich get richer; Meet the investment banker who caught Aaron Judge's 62nd home run / NYPost

Food / Drink

Robot makes French fries faster, better than humans/ Reuters
In an attempt to catch up? Porsche (Design) Released a $240 USD Cleaver / Hypebeast
Stephen King's ode to Maine cuisine / LitHub
Memoir of the Young Writer as Cheesemonger / Frieze

Friends Section

‘5 Questions For” originator Cynthia Talmadge’s new show of paintings @ Carl Kostyal in London / IG
Longtime [SIC] homie Nick Parish on the ‘bike bus’ his daughter rides to school (and the everlasting power of DIY organizing) /WITI

Useful Diversions

30 minutes of relaxing visuals from Studio Ghibli / YT
Read: Love Injection #66 with a focus on the flyer design work of artist and designer Gregory Homs in the late 80s and 90s
The New York Art Book Fair Block Party is on Saturday, October 15, from noon–6pm! Free and open to the public on 22nd St between 10th and 11th Ave, including a dance performance by PAGEANT, mutual aid groups, No School, herbalism, kids activities, Bushwick Chess Club, Montez Press Radio, workshops, Taco Bell Drawing Club in honor of Jason Polan, Maggie Boyd & Molasses Books, School for Poetic Computation
Your Concise Los Angeles Art Guide for October 2022 / Hyperallergic
Go see The Meme In The Moment at Caveat in New York City on October 26 / Caveat

Secondary Sources this week in no particular order. All are worth your attention.

Future of Transportation/ SFJ / Lean Luxe /Garbage Day/ Jing Culture / Music Redef / 2PM/ Dealbook/ Howard Lindzon/ Protocol / Morning Consult / The Publish Press/ Nieman Lab / 1440 / Quartz / Morning Brew / Public Announcement / The Rebooting / Money Stuff /Forefront / Web3 Newsletter / Simon Owens /Brendan’s Communications Miscellany / Beats & Bytes

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