[SIC] 229: Sussudio Department

Volume 5, Number 21

The [SIC] newsletter on Thursdays is free, and will be forever, unless I change my mind. Unlikely.

But you CAN pay, if you want. I’m into it. Monthly or yearly, or founding support. Paid subscribers get an additional [SIC] Sundays newsletter each week. And founding supporters get invited to a dinner at my home in NYC with special guests.

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

Corollary sources this week (all worth your review):Lean Luxe / Motive Unknown / Forefront / Ben’s Bites / After School / Public Announcement / Nieman Lab / Quartz / Brendan’s Communication Miscellany /

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Hi all,

Struggling mightily over here (aka from this LAX-JFK flight) to get this to you on “Thursday,” and probably missing by mere minutes. Sorry about that. Is it timeliness or cleanliness that’s closest to Godliness? Only Jan Hooks knows.

Thanks to Iolanda, Jason, David, Piers, Syd, Ken, Rob, Celeste, Jeff, Kate and Jay for contributions this week. You all rule.

More next week when I’m on the ground. Enjoy the links, meantime.

Ben

Rephotograph: Stay Hydrated, My Friends

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Zeitgest / Gestalt

• Troll, Tide: Alabama's ban of TikTok on state-owned devices and internet networks has reached college campuses like Auburn, where students are unable to access the Chinese-owned app on university Wi-Fi / NYT

• Related? The wisdom of dumb questions/ The Atlantic

• Also: “The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning” / Wired

• Related: “Quiet hiring and the endless quest to coin terms about work” / Vox

• Is “laziness” the key to creativity? The Lazy Report argues for the art of kicking back / It’s Nice That

• Hence? New podcast creation has fallen off a cliff / The Verge

• But at least? More women are running Fortune 500 companies than ever. They now lead more than 10% of firms for the first time / Fortune

• 9 trends that will shape work in 2023 and beyond / HBR

• A survey of big office tenants found that 71 percent of respondents were looking to expand hybrid working arrangements in the next three years. / NYT

• From Iolanda Carvalho:  Always one of my favs! [ 2023: The Future 100] Wunderman Thompson

World Order

• Another From Iolanda: Worrying... "Ideology Becomes Identity: Few Would Help, Live, or Work With the Other Side", "Social fabric weakens amid deepening divisions" [ The Edelman Trust Barometer 2023]

• Corollary, from Jason Leavy: “Wanted to give this a special shout-out, as Ciaran Thapar, a London-based author whose interests span from social justice to rap and drill music, has just launched his own substack newsletter … with this excellent piece about how the Metropolitan police are prejudicially mining online music content to target youth in the capital. His book Cut Short: Youth, Violence and Loss in the City is well worth checking out as well.”

• Another Corollary? Younger US voters are more and more voting independent. Just one-third of Baby Boomers said they were independent in Gallup polling before midterms, compared to 52% for both Millennials and Gen Z. Americans are evenly between the two major parties (28% each), but a plurality (41%) identify as independent / MSNBC

• The Boss Is Back in Silicon Valley/ NYT

• From David Bloom: “Nothing’s less exciting than actuarial science, but this is a GIGANTIC deal in the future of China, India and the rest of the world. What it means for China, which has been the engine of growth for the world economy, is almost impossible to fully grasp. But this is a big deal, and a major milestone in how the world works.” China’s Population Falls, Heralding a Demographic Crisis / NYT

• China’s Declining Population Can Still Prosper / Wired

• Because?! Global capitalism: There’s life in the old dog yet. Rumours of the demise of international business and trade have been exaggerated/ FT

• Ergo, Optimism spreads at Davos / FT

• The thing about sentiment at Davos, though? It’s almost always wrong / Semafor

• Related: Davos conspiracy theories used to live on fringe corners of the internet. Now they’ve gone mainstream / CNBC

• At least we still have the creator econo … never mind / Nieman Lab

• Hence …The crypto collapse and the end of the magical thinking that infected capitalism / NYT

The Speculative Future

• Google’s Muse model could be the next big thing for generative AI. Muse, which was released earlier this month, uses token-based image generation, which makes its output much more stable / VentureBeat

• Meanwhile: Get an AI summary of any article delivered to your inbox /  Skim.It.AI

• Like this one? 7 ways to Use ChatGPT / Wonder Tools

• But, but: AI researchers recently predicted that programs such as ChatGPT will run out of high-quality reading material by 2027 ("when AI has read everything”) / The Atlantic

• So? Spend ‘em when you got em, then: InstaDollars — real money for artificial intelligence / Afridigest

• Progressive Decentralization: a High-level Framework. “Progressive Decentralization” has. become a critical mental model in thinking about how to structure DAOs and protocols alongside their stakeholders / a16zCrypto

• Related: Protocol-first DAO Strategy. This essay from 0xJustice contends community-first building must give way to protocol-first, starting with a business model and a strategy for creating sustainable value / Operator.Mirror.xyz

Pop Cultures

• Luxury stock images In search of lost novelty / Dirt

• 7 Non-Trend Trends That Are Already Dominating 2023 / Vogue

• Menswear is growing up. Is this the end of the hypebeast era? Menswear customers are showing a growing preference for hyper-luxe basics and design-led contemporary fashion over ostentatious, logo-heavy streetwear  / BoF

• Conversely, From Piers Fawkes: “Work fodder” / Sourcing Journal

• Meanwhile J.Crew is the latest brand to launch a resale program / BoF

• From Syd Allen-Ash:  Benim Denim: The Worlds First Startup Designed To Shut Down “The brand will "live as long as the 170-meter repurposed dead stock denim roll lets them." Very cool” / Forbes

• Jenna Ortega has officially established herself as Gen Z’s newest style icon / Bazaar

• Finding Yourself at Prada with Kevin Abstract /GQ

• D.C.’s hardcore punk scene gets a jolt from its originators / WaPo

• But Did the Music Business Just Kill the Vinyl Revival? The music industry took its fastest growing segment and killed it through greed and laziness / Ted Gioia

• People are listening to “shallow catalog” — modern pop classics from the last 10 years — more often than new music / The Future Party

• Corollary: Contemporary artists with a strong Instagram presence are commanding a market once ruled by European masters / NYT’

• From Ken Miller: ‘Stoked to see this in the times. One of my fave IG accounts . Sounds like he has a book deal, which is great. I’d pitched him to some publishers who were unreceptive’ [Hood Century’: How One Man Is Redefining Midcentury Modern Architecture] / NYT

• Remembering the Women of the Black Panther Party Comrade Sisters centers photographs and personal accounts of the women who made up over two-thirds of the party /Hyperallergic

• SBF, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and the Spectacular Hangover After the Art World’s NFT Gold Rush vanityfair

• Related: from Rob Hubbert: One to watch… [Black Sheep’s Lawsuit Could Take Down the Music Industry] / Ambrosia For Heads

• Dolce & Gabbana is trying to rehab its China image by dressing the wrong demographic

• Related, from Celeste Blewitt: 'The Perennial Appeal Of Surrealism' / Sotheby's

• Corollary: (Good God who had to sit thru this…) All 48 seasons of SNL, ranked / Cracked

• Elsewhere: TikTok's Steamy Romance Novel Revival Is Changing How We Think About Sex /Allure

Media Happenings

• [SIC] Talks alum Paul Munford and his frequently-cited [SIC] source Lean Luxe is going pro (recommended for marketing pros, entrepreneurs and generalists with money to deploy) / Lean Luxe

• While Netflix doubled down on K-content. Buoyed by the success of shows such as Squid Games and Extraordinary Attorney Woo, the streaming platform is adding 34 new and returning South Korean titles to its 2023 rota / Quartz

• Meantime, Semafor Contemplates What to do With SBF’s Money / NYT

• While CNN is serious about getting into comedy. CNN is considering hiring a comedian to host one of its prime time shows / Semafor

• Also hilarious: Meme-stock village Robinhood is launching a media arm called Sherwood / Axios

• Corollary: Discord acquires Gas, a popular poll-based social app predominantly used by high schoolers to compliment each other / The Verge

• So now there’s media's identity crisis When everything is media, what's a media business? / The Rebooting

• Because every company eventually tries to become a media company / Simon Owens

• And every media company tries to become “efficient”: CNET’s article-writing AI is already publishing very dumb errors / Futurism

• Turns out writing a sentence with decent syntax is relatively easy. Factual coherence is hard / Twitter

• Def not dumb tho: ‘Parapraxis’ Is a New Magazine for the New Freud Crowd / Vulture

• Buzz aside, how are publishers and marketers really experimenting with blockchain? / Digiday

• Related, from Jeff Carvalho: Heads up: it would seem like Nike is beginning to send takedown notices to major NFT platforms/marketplaces  calling for removal of NFTs "inspired" by their sneakers. @opensea just delisted 6 @rarible minted "sneakers" I owned. More to come on this I'm sure. / Twitter

• More “inspiration”: Meet the 22 year-old who’s inspiring Gen Z copywriters everywhere… / AdAge

Market-ations

• The Brand Yearbook, a look back (and ahead) at the best Gen Z brands / The Brand Yearbook

• Media Buying Briefing: Here's why agencies say it's not too early to understand Gen Alpha. Agencies are beginning to research and learn about this cohort born after 2010, as experts say the work will be crucial in connecting with future generations/ Digiday

• From Kate Franklin: TikTok is making it easier for brands to work with its “megastar” creators with an update to its Creator Marketplace that now invites talent managers to oversee, execute and analyze the brand opportunities and campaigns being presented to their clients / TechCrunch

• But marketers aren't sold on Twitter alternatives just yet. As the Twitter fallout continues, marketers start exploring alternative channels. But many aren’t sold just yet / Digiday

• Related: Mondelez CMO: soon, 70% of our digital advertising will be personalized / The Drum

• Cartier Beams That Diamond Ring Right to Your Finger / Wired

• Related? Virtual Cringe: The 10 Lamest Brand Stunts in the Metaverse - “We spent so much time asking if we could brand in VR, we never stopped to ask if we should.”/ Gizmodo

• Yet the clowns of cryptoland haven’t given up. Making money out of failure is morally bankrupt/ FT

• Elsewhere in clowns: McDonald’s latest ad got everyone talking about an everyday facial expression / Quartz

• Direct-to-consumer brands are getting creative with their pop-up stores / Instagram

• From Jay Cox: Is ice cream activations at award shows a first? Everyone loves ice cream, right? [Coldstone Creamery Sponsored the Critics Choice Award] / LinkedIn

• Related: Commercials Desperately Want You to Know They Know What They Are. What happens when advertising goes postmodern? / The Atlantic

Superficial Interest

• Stories of families who traded their cars for electric cargo bikes. Spoiler alert: They saved a bunch of money and are much happier now/ NPR

• Greenwashing Hydra - A report from Planet Tracker that explores six different types of greenwashing - 1) greencrowding, 2) greenlighting, 3) greenshifting, 4) greenlabelling, 5) greenrinsing, and 6) greenhushing / Planet Tracker

• Also you guys?! Being Peruvian Is the Most Punk Thing About Me / Salty

• From Josh Gardiner: Not sure where it fits between your AI musings and market trends but this story title alone [Artificial penis tissue restores erections in injured pigs] reminds me of one of those old VICE headline generators. Also, great news for many? / Freethink

• Corollary and also from Josh: “Anyone in need of a bionic thumb?”  / Freethink

Food / Drink

• In honor of Dry January, a former barfly spent a long weekend exploring alcohol-free bars and mocktail pop-ups in New York City. / NYT

• From Celeste Blewitt: “A fascinating conversation on chain restaurants, relationships with food and the piece has a great reminder on the joys of the meals everyone knows” They're Just Filming TikToks Of Themselves Eating At Chain Restaurants But I'm Transfixed' / Bon Appetit

• Also transfixing: In-N-Out plans to head east / WaPo

• And Louis Vuitton's $2,500 burger box: a $2,500 takeaway-style box, dubbed its “LV Flower Burger Box,” as a part of its new Art of Dining collection/ Highsnob

Useful Diversions

• Watch: [SIC] Talks Alum William Strobeck’s  skate brand Violet new mini-vid  The Butterfly / IG

• Listen: Mac DeMarco drops a ‘spyplane exclusive for the homies [SIC] Jonah and Erin / Blackbird Spyplane

• Do: Friday Jan 20th In NYC Hyperpop star Alice Longyu Gao and [SIC] homies Digital Counsel are hosting a Year of the Rabbit party Jan 20th / Eventbrite

• While in LA on Sunday Jan 22, per [SIC] homie Michelle Lhooq: “Ben my man would love u could share to signal boost my lil shroom rave” /  Rave New World

  

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