[SIC] 216: Mis-Shapes, Mistakes, Misfits

Volume 5, Number 8

Oct 27, 2022

Meantime, enjoy. Feel free to share, too. Here’s a button:

Vogue Business / After School / Morning Consult / Morning Brew / Quartz / Garbage Day / Marginal Revolution / The Prepared / Semafor / Axios / Exec Sum / Motive Unknown / Forefront / Understanding TikTok / People Vs Algorithms / Nieman Lab / Lean Luxe / Simon Owens / Milk Road / Micromobility Report / Music Redef / Brendan’s Communications Miscellany / The Unskippables

Also, feel free to read this on the web instead.

Hi all,

Austin was emotional; the prevailing sentiment was ‘I’m so glad to see you. I wish it wasn’t for this reason.’ Still, I think Matt would appreciate the idea that he brought us all together. Gonna try and do more convening myself.

To that end: next Tues, November 1st, I’ll be at [SIC] Talks alum Cheryl Dunn’s screening of her film “BEYOND i wanna go,” a doc she made about Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California - lmk if you want to meet up. Tickets are $20 and benefit www.creativegrowth.org - they’re available at the site.

A different kind of convening: s/o [SIC] Talks alum Diallo Riddle for the second season premiere of Shermans Showcase last night. As the NYT wrote: “Spaceship? Check. Trap nursery rhymes? Check. “Sherman’s Showcase,” a musical comedy tribute to Black culture, is back.’

I got a smile out of the (widely maligned) What the ‘Cool Kids’ Are Super Into article this week, mainly because what the kids are mostly into is … the things they’re working on themselves. Nice to know some things never change. And s/o Gutes for her new sideline as a weather reporter!

I also really enjoyed seeing the return of Cyprien Gaillard, “the prodigal son of French contemporary art”, a fave artist I was introduced to in the early aughts via an artist series of flyers curated by [SIC] homie Gordon Harrison Hull for the the legendary nightclub APT (where I DJ’ed badly for a while) - and from whence the “cool kids” article from 2003 would definitely have emanated. Thanks Todd Krieger for that contribution, and thanks to my stalwarts Iolanda and Celeste for theirs this week.

Finally, and apropos of nothing, Pulp’s “Common People” video is pure fire / YT

Now, the links.

Ben

West Village Scene

======[SIC] 216: Mis-Shapes, Mistakes, Misfits======

Zeitgest / Gestalt

TikTok and Instagram are the only social networks that are growing as news sources for Americans / Nieman Lab
In fact reliance on TikTok for news has tripled -since 2020, defying a larger national trend, as fewer Americans are looking for news on social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Snapchat/ Quartz
How TikTok’s algorithm made it a success: ‘It pushes the boundaries’ / The Guardian
TikTok's livestreaming business is exploding. In the last two years, TikTok’s online ads revenue has grown by 500%, while its livestreaming revenue has increased by 900% / Gizmodo
eBay: is going after the 're-commerce' industry and taking on re-sale platforms StockX and the RealReal. eBay said the re-sale of luxury goods can make up ~50% of its sales volume by 2024 / Pymnts
TikTok denied it could use location information to track US users / CNBC
Meanwhile, Square sells access to your inbox, and no one seems to know if the law cares / Protocol
Hence, from Iolanda Carvalho: The Trust in Tech Report says “increasing geopolitical challenges, a growing divide between developing and developed markets and a lack of societal leadership in the sector are putting Tech’s high trust at risk." / Edelman
To that end: A reminder even the inevitable isn’t inevitable: Can Anyone Catch Nokia? / Ritzholtz
Corollary: how a Jewish Teen’s Kanye West Obsession Echoed His Dad’s Own Hip-Hop History / Variety
But Ye is never coming back from this / Yahoo, Rolling Stone
Which is … ok?! Because he reportedly plans to create "Yecosystem" of mini-cities / Dezeen
Gap’s real Yeezy problem The struggling brand is left with garbage bags full of clothes from a collab meant to revitalize its fortunes / Retail Dive
But should Kanye West's Music Be Banned? / Variety
And barring that, can he find refuge, or money, in music? / NYT
Related: the days of cheap music streaming may be numbered / Hot Pod
Also related: How Artists Can Win When Music Is The Loss Leader / Trapital
Is Hollywood regressing on "Me Too"? / NYT
Everyone Wants to Be a Hot, Anxious Girl on Twitter: on the rise of 'gradient accounts' which post "little snippets of language with mass appeal." / The Atlantic
Can comedy help us make sense of tech’s calculated tragedies? / Spike Art
And Why did comedy die? / Substack
Also dying? Live Music Is falling apart / Music Business Worldwide
Unrelated but pertinent: the fantasy of instant delivery is imploding / Bloomberg
Non-linear workdays are changing productivity / BBC
‘Human Upgrading’ Is The Ultimate Luxury From oxone therapies and oxygen bars to high-end gyms, the ultimate luxury changes the way people feel about themselves and promotes wellness and longevity /Jing Daily
Silicon Valley rethinks the corporate conference for the post-pandemic age. Mental wellbeing is now near the top of executives’ agenda / FT
Cash rich start-ups are filing scores of patent claims on hallucinogens like magic mushrooms/ NYT
Burned Out on Your Personal Brand? / NYT
Related: Everybody wants to be a LinkedInfluencer. And the biggest power users are turning to ghostwriters / Vox
To that end: dozens of new agencies are popping up in India as thousands of young writers freelance as ghostwriters to help executives build their personal brands, earning up to $8,500 a month, juggling clients across the world / The Ken

World Order

The Economics of Rising Temperatures. The world stands to lose more than 10 percent of total economic value by mid-century if climate change stays on the currently-anticipated trajectory / The Carbon Almanac
The world’s energy situation is not as terrible as you might expect / Ars Technical
The state of California is about to become the world’s fourth largest economy, leapfrogging Germany / Ground News
A Bleak Future Ahead For Chinese Tech Companies? Chinese tech stocks including Alibaba and JD.com are taking the brunt of the panic selling as investors fear a renewed crackdown on private firms / Jing Daily
⚽️ Soccer can transform the African cultural and creative ecosystem / Quartz

The Speculative Future

The generative AI application landscape / Sequoia
Sequoia’s Sonya Huang says the generative AI hype is “absolutely justified” / Protocol
Tyler Cowen on How AI will change everything on the internet / Marginal Revolution
Because generative ML video is on a path to get very very good / Twitter
Ergo: The golden age of AI-generated art is here. It’s going to get weird. How software that can create almost any image from a few words will change human creativity / FT
But actually, the real Stable Diffusion “art” is the genius of failure / Twitter
Welcome, then, to the age of digital mysticism / FWB
But, apropos of that, is AI Art just Soft Propaganda for the Global North? / Hyperallergic
What Does AI Dance-Pop Sound Like? Documentary film The Computer Accent follows the pop-dance band YACHT as they use AI to help compose their 2019 album Chain Tripping / Hyperallergic
What Call of Duty says about the future of gaming / Protocol
Word on the block is Twitter is neckdeep in developing their crypto wallet / Twitter
The most popular web3 social platforms, including Lens, Farcaster, Urbit, and more, across dimensions from their data layer to native privacy to active users / Twitter
Lost in Roblox’s Fifa World – everything wrong with the metaverse in one place / The Guardian
Fashion’s Metaverse Obsession Has Cooled – But Don’t Count the Virtual World Out Yet / BoF
The artist John Mack on Why Reality Cannot Actually Be “Augmented” / Time Sensitive Pod
Related?! Kodak recently tripled its film production operations / Petapixel

Pop Cultures

Is Taylor Swift the last pop superstar? / FT
Either way, she is extremely close to creating a true metaverse / The Atlantic
Even if “This is not a great Taylor Swift album” / NYT
Also metatarsal: how digital signatures and NFTs are creating a market for intangible art / The Art Newspaper
And Nude Art NFTs Combat Censorship and Destigmatize Women’s Bodies/ NFT Now
Maury! Maury! The visual legacy of tabloid talk shows / Dirt
Twitch was the big name in livestreaming – now it’s at a crossroads / The Guardian
S/o P.O.D.: TikTok, Boom premieres Monday on ITVS. The film is about the complexity of tech and social media / ITVS
Phoebe Bridgers Talks Depp-Heard and Transphobia / Teen Vogue
How Richard Quinn Became The Designer Every Brand Wants / Jing Daily
In Germany, climate activists throw mashed potato at most expensive Monet painting sold at auction / The Art Newspaper
While Lil Nas X responds to Just Stop Oil’s recent tomato soup action with a hilarious meme on social media / Hyperallergic
Corollary: Meet fashion's Gen Z meme lords using satire to stand out / Vogue Business
The show Atlanta’s brilliant Afrosurrealism / YT
The 100 Best Songs and Albums of the 1990s, according to Pitchfork readers / Pitchfork
Not ‘90s but: True Royalty Stories: New Order's Blue (and very expensive) Monday / Infinite Catalog

Media Happenings

Jimmy Finkelstein, the media entrepreneur and former owner of The Hill, has raised $40 million for a new digital news platform that he’s billing to would-be hires as a combination of the Washington Post and Daily Mail / Semafor
Apropos of this new wave newsroom: How can major media brands better engage young readers? / Wunderman Thompson
An idea: You should be surveying your audience more / Simon Owens
Ergo: The Financial Times published a recent case study on how it convinced 80,000+ readers to participate in its surveys / FT

Market-ations

Mermaidsleaze is what Disney’s Little Mermaid’s Live Action needs to smash box office records / Decode
TikTok doubles down on live-stream shopping / The Verge
BeReal is challenged to keep marketers' attention with robust advertising offerings. Will BeReal soon BeGone without ads? /Digiday
Related: Inside Shake Shack's push to BeReal and cater to its surging user base / Digiday
Prioritizing TikTok, agencies move away from creating content for YT and IG. It’s time to rip up the rulebook on polished content if marketers want to succeed on TikTok / Digiday
While elsewhere, YouTube and TikTok Creators Are Tearing Up Netflix’s Streaming Rulebook / The Information 🔏
YouTube mega-star MrBeast seeks 10-figure valuation / Axios
TechCrunch wonders if content creator MrBeast is actually worth $1.5 billion / TechCrunch
From Celeste Blewitt: “’This is fascinating, McDonalds have clearly focused on the collector's market, focusing on the generation of the moment, Gen-Z, cult streetwear labels and aiming for status and nostalgia.” [With Adult Happy Meals, McDonalds Has Sparked A Collecting Frenzy’] / WSJ
Every time McDonald's relaunches the McRib, the [stock] markets pump. Just check it out… / Twitter
So should we worry that McDonald’s bringing back McRib for a “farewell tour"? / Axios
Beyond Meat: How Vegan Brands Found Their Sense of Humor / Creative Review
While Citi Bike’s “Bike Angel” program incentivizes people to rebalance ebike inventories at docking stations across New York City / Bloomberg
And Claire’s hopes to vibe with Gen ‘Zalpha’ in new Roblox experience/ The Drum
Ad Age Podcast on how On Running plans to gain on big rivals / Spotify
While focusing on everyday runners has helped Tracksmith become America’s Cult Running Brand / Forbes
The North Face is straddling a crevasse in branding around diversity with a belay from Jimmy Chin/ Fast Company
While Chloé plots supply chain progress and a circular future / Vogue Business
And Telfar retains value at higher rates on resale platforms than legacy brands like Chanel and Hermès / Highsnobiety
Then again, now you can add an Hermès Birkin to your Amazon cart /Highsnobiety

Superficial Interest

Plastic packaging isn’t really ‘recyclable’ in the US, Greenpeace report says / The Verge
What does Goodyear Welted shoes mean? And why does it matter? / Sid Mashburn
Cream-colored dachshunds seem to be emerging as the "hot" new dog on the Upper East Side/Axios
From Celeste Blewitt: “What an interesting piece about the history of flowers, giving and meaning. A really great read into how art, culture and writers have used flowers to tell stories.” [The Emojis Of The 19th Century] / BBC
The National Audubon Society recently released a stunning, first-of-its-kind interactive map showing the annual migratory patterns of more than 450 bird species / Audobon
“Rebranding is hard but there is no excuse for disemvowelling.” / FT
Bug splats on windshields are becoming less common. The decline may be a symptom of a larger ecological problem / WaPo
Bees may be able to affect weather. Hives can electrify the air to the same degree as a thunderstorm / Live Science
Some people really do attract more mosquitoes. Scientists think it has to do with how they smell / WaPo
‘Pay-to-play’ galleries—which charge artists thousands to exhibit—are on the rise / The Art Newspaper
[SIC] homie Tyler McCauley says ‘I’m obsessed with tracks where the song, album, and band are all the same like Bad Company’s “Bad Company” off Bad Company. I’ve collected a bunch on this playlist solely because it brings me joy.’ / Spotify

Food / Drink

Investments are pouring in to chains that offer sports, arcade games and elevated menus — think Dave & Buster's but with chef-driven cuisine, Instagram-worthy decor and modern pursuits. / Axios
How cottage fries became NYC’s most elusive potatoes / Grub Street
A new crop of food influencers are getting known by posting scathing video reviews to TikTok / Bon Appetit
Why we’ll vote for more humane meat, but won’t pay for it / Future Perfect
From Iolanda Carvalho: Almost all of the items and ingredients Whole Foods predicts will be trending throughout 2023 are organic, locally sourced and health-conscious, according to the grocer / Grocery Dive
Inside the fantastical, pragmatic quest to make ‘hybrid’ meat / Vox
Beyond Meat’s steak substitute hit grocery store shelves this week / CNBC
The populations of tuna and other migratory fish have increased in waters near a protected area of the Pacific Ocean, a spill-over effect of the marine reserve, which is nearly 4x as large as the US state of California / The Guardian
Cell-cultivated, sushi-grade seafood is a thing. If Leonardo DiCaprio funds it, fishless fish must taste OK, right?!/ The Guardian
Beyond fish, Leo is stepping into his newest role: shoe scion. The noted environmentalist has become a “strategic investor” in British vegan shoe brand LØCI / The Hollywood Reporter
Corollary, but food-related: How 'Pig' Became Nicolas Cage's Cash Cow / Hollywood Reporter

Friends Section

Apropos of Cheryl Dunn: here’s How You Will Win Monter Children’s 2022 Photo Comp. What she's looking for in as a judge, from victorious entry / Monster Children
While long-lost [SIC] Inspiration Steve ‘Pav’ Pavlovic’s 90s retrospective opens soon / Monster Children
With an (excellent) accompanying playlist / Spotify

Useful Diversions:

Listen: Cosi Fanni Tutti on the Apology pod / Spotify
Do: Tonight: Sade Night in LA / IG

Accidental Halloween Scene