[SIC] 215: Signs Awaiting Letters

Volume 5, Number 7

Oct 20, 2022

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Hi all,

Thanks for all the support and condolences in response to last week’s tribute to Matt Schoen all. I’m off to Austin for his remembrance service on Monday - so may have more to say about that next week. Meantime, a couple links that reminded me of him this week: the legendary photo agency Magnum is back with its annual Square Print sale, a gold mine for anybody who cares about photography and art. And Brooklyn-based designers / publishers Standards Manual is back with its tenth title, exploring pre-internet communication, which is worth a look. They were favorites of Matt’s, and they’re favorites of mine. Check em.

Also on my mind this week because of Matt: this great interview with the quintessential “IYKYK” designer / creative Aly Owerka Moore on the Angel and Z pod (Spotify) touches on too many subcultural scenes and moments to enumerate. Unfortunately it corresponds to Aly’s announcement that he’s in treatment for colon cancer. I don’t know Aly, but he’s been a HUGE influence on worlds I care about over the last 35+ years - so I’d urge everyone to support the GoFundMe page for his recovery - thankfully he’s close to his goal.

Speaking of creative superheroes: AI and the Age of Creative Superhumans is Troy Young’s survey of developments in AI-driven services that are allowing ‘non-creatives’ like me to make jaw-dropping stuff. Get up on these, if you’re not already / People vs Algorithms

WITI’s Noah Brier redoubles that point in the “Magic Prompt Edition” / WITI

[SIC] Talks alum Casey Lewis makes a guest appearance at (also a [SIC] Talks Alum) Matt Klein’s newest Zine “3 Trends” edition to talk Employee Boomerangs, Algorithmic Lotteries + Old-Phobia (and you can guess which one I most resemble RN haha). My appearance on 3 Trends is here, in case you missed it, too.

Speaking of Casey, she’s generously extended me the change to offer three FREE 1-month gift subscriptions (usual value = $18) to her outstanding (and oft-cited) newsletter After School. First three people to HMU in the comments of this post, they’re yours.

Last one up top: David Marx’s “New Narrative: Reaching Peak Internet” section of his most recent post is must read. I recently finished David’s book “Status and Culture” and while it helps to have that as context for the observations he makes this week, everyone living the modern media paradigm will find his writings compelling, I think / Culture: An Owner’s Manual

Longtime readers will remember that [SIC] started originally as a no-sections, free-associations collection of links; when I moved to Substack I started with sections, but sometimes I’ve enjoyed returning to that mode. Decided I’d try it this week again.

LMK what you think. Thanks to James, Iolanda, Celeste and Sam for contributions this week, too. Keep them coming, all.

Free association follows. Enjoy.

Ben

======[SIC] 215: Signs Awaiting Letters======

5 Immigrants Answer the Question: What Is the American Dream? / Allure
Speaking of a dream: Is Trump Too Boring to Reelect? / Intelligencer
Moot now, but funny yesterday: Who will wilt first, Liz Truss or a ball of lettuce? / NYT
Ergo: Welcome to Britaly / The Economist 🔏
Unsurprisingly: Brits in their 40s-60s are screwing it up / Twitter
S/o Richard Ashcroft: The drug wars don’t work, they just make it worse / FT 🔏
Hence, why so much drug use in the US?!/ Marginal Revolution
Fighting fire with fire, The Ad Council takes on the fentanyl crisis with an unlikely partner—former drug dealers / Ad Age
Speaking of fighting, the geopolitical strategist. Peter Zeihan does NOT have good news for the China semiconductor industry. This seems quite serious / YT
Also serious: Russia’s youth is dying, leaving, or not being born at all / NYT
While unserious back home, Millennials, Gen Z to spend the most on Halloween / Retail Dive
Spending on the holiday is expected to rise this year, but inflation is spooking some customers / Forbes
Rent going up? One company’s algorithm could be why / Ars Technica
Also, some small businesses are making their own products instead of importing them to avoid the supply chain problems / NYT
And the E.P.A., tasked with helping control rodent populations, can’t move back into its Atlanta office, owing to a rat infestation/ The New Yorker
Meanwhile, everyone wants to sell your attention / Axios
So Amazon Is Becoming the Everything Tracker Surveillance isn't just imposed on people: Many of us buy into it willingly / The Atlantic
Augmented entertainment: AR technology is spurring a new formula for creative entertainment / Wunderman Thompson
But what If the metaverse Is Better Without Virtual Reality? / Wired
And so this Meta-tation: Who is Horizon Worlds for? / Protocol
Meanwhile, Meta was ordered to sell Giphy. UK antitrust authorities will force Facebook’s parent company to divest from the GIF search engine / Quartz
Ergo: The End of a Millennial Internet Era. Slack and Giphy hastened the decline the GIF / The Atlantic
Instead, now the Bruce Willis Deepfake Is Everyone's Problem / Wired
Hence: Elizabeth Adams on A.I. Ethics as a Guide to the Future / At a Distance Pod
Related: What will AI do to branding? AI imaging tools like DALL-E 2 are already creating new opportunities—and thorny issues—for brands / Fast Company
Ergo: Microsoft Forms New Team to Target ‘Industrial Metaverse’ / The Information 🔏
Meanwhile, Triller is launching its own metaverse, Metaverz / Reuters
And Discord unveiled a suite of new features and an additional, cheaper subscription tier to help users think of Discord as a destination, not just a chat app / Protocol
But should Your Brand Have a Discord? / BoF 🔏
Elsewhere: LinkedIn is stepping up its original video and audio content ambitions / Digiday
Because? Streaming viewers don’t like ads—but don’t want to pay more / Ad Age 🔏
Europe’s Plan to Beat Silicon Valley at Its Own Game / Wired
From Iolanda Carvalho: “Few things reflect l'esprit du temps (AKA Zeitgeist) as well as Google searches, always painting a picture of a particular moment. Just looking at this [20 years of top trending Google searches] takes me back in time to some of my own searches... “/ Visual Capitalist
Elsewhere: The number of men under 30 who never have sex has tripled in the last ten years. Effect, meet Cause? / Twitter
No pun intended: Evolution of the "Solopreneur" / Metalabel
Said another way: why It’s the Age of the Investor-Entrepreneur/ Wired
On that note: rich conservatives fund new media universe / Axios
Kanye West and the siren song of “alt-social” / Intelligencer
Kanye Is Buying ‘Free Speech’ Web3 Platform Parler. What Does This Mean For The Future Of Web3? / Jing Daily
Related: Parler announced the prospective deal to its VIP users with a mass, non-blinded email / Twitter
But does anyone still want to be in the Kanye West business? / LATimes
Especially when even “Entourage” inspiration Ari Emanuel Calls on Kanye West's Business Partners to Stop Working With Him / Hollywood Reporter
And no less an expert than [SIC] homie Jon Caramanica notes Ye Is Running Out of Platforms / NYT
Corollary: how the Luxury Industry Finally Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Hip-Hop / Robb Report
But Is Hip-Hop’s Dominance Slipping? / Billboard
Atlanta History Shaped Lil Baby and Generations of Rappers / NYT
Corollary: masters of rap could help bridge the financial literacy gap / FT 🔏
#LearnOnTikTok has emerged as one of the most popular hashtags on the app, with more than 412 billion views / Forbes
More than 50% of non-professional US creators now monetize their content / Variety
TikTok is raising the age requirements for TikTok Live, adding adult-only livestreams / TechCrunch
Big tech employees are Tiktoking on the job — and their bosses don’t always like it / The Verge
How Tiktok Ate The Internet/ WaPo
In Defense of TikTok What critics of the social media app don't get, according to Jack Shafer / Politico Magazine
How much TikTok, Meta and other social platforms are paying creators / Digiday
The three most overlooked trends from ‘the godfather of influencer marketing’, Coltrane Curtis / The Drum
[SIC] Homie Geoff Renaud gets the AdWeek spotlight talking “Tools of the Trade” at Invisible North / AdWeek
Decentraland is throwing a virtual music festival with Dillon Francis, Soulja Boy, and Ozzy Osbourne / Coindesk
While IRL: Diesel’s throwing a free rave in London Nov 5 / IG
[SIC] homie Michelle Lhooq reprises her summer visit to Berghain aka Techno Disneyland / Rave New World
And [SIC] homies New Computer Company are in Miami this week at IIII Points Festival helping to reinvent the fan club experience for web3. Claim your token now / iii points
Related: Dirt’s Terry Nguyen interviews web3 record label Probably Nothing founder Jeremy Fall / Dirt
And: Reprioritizing Artists Over Industry / Friends With Benefits
Five from Celeste Blewitt, writing from Australia:
“A breathtaking history of a house that is centuries old, how a family has inherited the stories, the culture and the buildings. An insight into the custodians of time, the rules and etiquette around creating an estate that will be inherited for generations to come. Sounds like a place to luxuriate in. 'How To Inherit A House' / Town & Country
This is a great insight and interesting that I would say it's the same on these shores here, Thursday lunches in the city, everywhere is packed, every other day, it's a ghost town. A quick and insightful read.” 'How The Pandemic Has Changed Restaurants Forever (So Far)' / NY Mag
Plants, fashion and gourmet food, these all go hand in hand, but this piece is succinct describing how they work together. 'Why Is Chamomile Suddenly Everywhere' /NYT
The Inspired Unemployed comedians have really hit it well, they grew a large Instagram, TikTok and all the platforms following in the lockdowns here in Australia, now they are onto beer. 'Comedians To Push Fastest-Growing Beer In Eight Years Into The UK' / AFR
This is fascinating, delving into movement, choreography and the everyday. a read that takes the mind to music, dance and culture. It also highlights the layers of emotion that choreography and movement portrays. 'The Secret Of How We Move' / The Atlantic
Virgil Abloh’s posthumous Masters of the Universe figures are literal bronzed gods / Mattel
Using the court as a “flexible frame”, Saatchi & Saatchi offers up an energetic NBA identity / It’s Nice That
While Hennessy creates basketball-shaped bottle to mark the NBA's 75th anniversary / Dezeen
Behind the Brand with Maserati. “How to win in business as a challenger brand” / Inc
3 lessons Liquid Death’s killer marketing can teach B2B brands / The Drum
Especially since Liquid Death is more interested in being a brand than anything else / Future Party
No to Modernism, yes to arts and crafts: a look at the creative tastes of King Charles III / The Art Newspaper
Art boom as the UK busts: how the economic crisis is affecting the market / The Art Newspaper Podcast
Closer to home: the NY Art Book Fair is (was) a Whole Scene / Hyperallergic
Related: artist and long-lost [SIC] homie Brendan Donnelly Reflects on Celebrity Culture in New Book / Hypebeast
What our closets say about our bad fashion habits / FT
How do you stop feeling like you need to buy everything you like? / Blackbird Spyplane
Sportswear brands are investing in inclusive products and campaigns to target the modestwear consumer, with a focus on swim / Vogue Business
While Gen Z wants digital fashion. How do different avatars stack up?/ Vogue Business
Farfetch’s all-Web3 accelerator focuses on digital fashion, scale and “next-wave thinking” with eight Web3 fashion startups and a 12-week accelerator programme / Vogue Business
Jing Collabs & Drops is hosting a (free) live webinar on October 25 at 10am EST, elaborating on the latest market research paper Big in China: Brand Collaboration / Jing Daily
Later that day Upstream will talk with PhotoVogue residents, Sophie Kietzmann and Lukundo Lula Musonda, alongside Eliza Fish, the Director of Partnerships at digital art marketplace Voice @ 2pm ET. The PhotoVogue NFT residency through Condé Nast brings together photographers around the world / Upstream
As NFT sales drop 60 percent, Anthony Hopkins NFT collection sells out in 7 minutes / The Drum
Related: A Crypto Alchemist Made Me an Accidental Billionaire / Wired
Semafor officially launched. ‘We’re redesigning the atomic unit of written news, the article,’ the Smiths claim / Semafor
While Rupert Murdoch wants to reunite the media empire he split up ten years ago / WSJ
In contrast: Inside the identity crisis at the NYT / Semafor
Case in point?!: The New York Times incited a minor online riot by suggesting readers skip pre-rinsing their dishes/ Jezebel
Corollary obsessiveness: The Internet Is Way Too Obsessed With What Celebrities Eat / Bon Appetit
Half the world has a clitoris. Why don’t doctors study it? / IG
Also controversial: Pizza: To char or not to char? / Eater
Regardless of your answer (I’m team char): “Nothing Is Cooler Than Going Out to Dinner,” / The Atlantic
Food tech: satisfying investors’ appetite for growth? Interesting initiatives are emerging — especially in Asia / FT
Back in the City: The era of paywalled restaurants is upon us / NYT
But a lack of appetite for fake meat is leading to layoffs / Quartz
Related: Gen Z and millennials are reframing layoffs, stripping away the shame and pointing the finger of blame at the company that let them go / Fortune
Corollary: From Iolanda Carvalho: the Global Culture Report: The 2023 report examines many of the issues relevant to employee retention and great work amid ongoing transformation / O.C. Tanner
'I love esports a lot, but I do not want to give up my life': Seven confessions. With recession on the horizon, gaming and esports media operations are shutting their doors — and employees are getting the short end of the stick / Digiday
Corollary: Gaming network G4TV couldn’t survive Twitch and YouTube / Quartz
And Call of Duty is starting to sink the Activision ship / Protocol
In contrast, rising up: the next frontier for power and influence. Influence and power are forever spreading to places like Phoenix, Austin and Boise, as people seek better weather, cheaper living, more space, and more normal people and experiences / Axios
Affordable for Now, Sunset Park Rises as a Buzzing NYC Arts Hub / Hyperallergic
Related: New York through its storefronts: Joel Holland draws the city’s independent businesses / It’s Nice That
The stubborn persistence of paper in a digital world. People still like doing business face to face / FT
Hence Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie launched a podcast talking IRL with fave author George Saunders as his first guest / Substack
Related: The George Saunders Guide to Compassion, Forgiveness, and Finding Hope Amid Dystopia / GQ
James Purdy Will Never Be Famous Again. How a consummate outsider—who was queer, contrarian, and mistaken by some readers to be Black—briefly occupied the center of the literary scene / The New Yorker
Apropos: What Counts as a Bestseller? The bestseller list is not mathematically objective; it is editorial content / Public Books
Elsewhere in ‘subs’: subscale the new scale / Howard Lindzon
And elsewhere in Saunders-ian realities: Saudi Arabia is emerging as a haven for architects to "test their wildest and wackiest ideas," per a fascinating Wall Street Journal story / WSJ
Also wacky: an Interview with Just Stop Oil Activists who threw a can of tomato soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” / Frieze
Besides activists, does the Art World Hate Fat People? / Hyperallergic
Teenage thieves disguised as art students are robbing New York galleries / Dazed Digital
Hopefully they’ll avoid [SIC Talks] alum Ryan McGinness’s New Narratives, which opens tonight at Miles McEnery Gallery with a party from 6-8PM.
Related: Ryan’s Lecture from this past summer at the Atlantic Center for the Arts / Vimeo
Coming soon: MoMA to stage major Ed Ruscha retrospective, spanning his text paintings to the infamous Chocolate Room / The Art Newspaper
“Feels Like Life”: An Interview with Barbara Kruger / The Drift
Groupies Deserve More Credit / The Walrus
Super-groupies especially. Denim Hunter Brit Eaton Is the Indiana Jones of Old Jeans / GQ
Why Luxury’s Counterfeit Problem Is Getting Worse / BoF
Hence [SIC] homie Brendon Babenzien on Why the new J.Crew x Beams Plus Collab “Makes Perfect Sense” / Esquire
Perhaps answering: How Should a Business Bro Dress? / NYT
Corollary, from Sam Valenti: “they heard us” [Supreme x Duck Down Music] / Hypebeast
And corollary to that: The University of Maryland posted a very cool collection of DC punk artifacts online, including zines, flyers, photos, and videos. Right now there are collections from 1976-79, 1980-89, and 1990-92, with a 93-present coming soon / UMD
The Future Perfect 50, highlighting dozens of the top thinkers, scientists, writers, and advocates who are bending the future toward a more perfect destination / Future Perfect
While Silicon Valley investors are throwing their money into the flames by funding so-called “firetech.” / Quartz
Related: Danish maritime architecture studio MAST has developed Land on Water, a flat-pack system for constructing floating buildings / Dezeen
Meanwhile, ‘Open Source’ Seeds Loosen Big Ag’s Grip on Farmers / Reasons to Be Cheerful
Also: how Amsterdam transformed from a car-congested city into the world's bicycle capital / Bloomberg
From Iolanda Carvalho: “This one is from the heart:” [Lisbon is] the European capital of cool that keeps getting cooler / CNN Travel
Actually, she notes .. ‘It's all of Portugal FTW actually... 😉’ / Time Out
Also winning: Women’s Sports Surge Continues As NWSL Sets Attendance Records / Front Office Sports
The best street photographers of 2022 / OneEyeLand
This documentary on the comic book “Love & Rockets” / YT
Two from James Friedman: “You up on Cruise yet?” / Moves Recordings
And: “Discovered via the always insightful Joe Muggs: [Nigerian “Freebeat” is taking over the world]” / Bandcamp
Round out the month with Corridor’s October playlist / Corridor
[SIC] homie Andreas Trolf found Elena Ferrante’s Yelp reviews and handpicked a few faves for McSweeneys / IG
And finally: understanding Your Michael Myers-Briggs Type / McSweeneys