[SIC] 230: Save Sausalito

Volume Five, Number 22

Jan 26, 2023

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

Corollary sources this week (all worth your review): Charter / Declarative Statements / 1440 / Jing Daily / Context Collapse / Retail Innovation Week / Nieman Lab / Motive Unknown / Contagious / Ben’s Bites / Morning Consult / Garbage Day / The Micromobility Report

Hi all,

The point of compiling the newsletter every week is for me to discover and discern patterns in spaces I’m engaged or interested in - so there’s often tenuous connection (at best) between the stuff that shows up here. Every now and again, though, there’ll be a lightning bolt that really catches me, and deserves to be singled out.

Ryan Broderick is one of the sharpest observers of digital culture out there, and his Garbage Day newsletter is a constant source for me. He’s been on an absolute tear of late, and this pronouncement: Alright, Yea, I’m Calling It: Web 3.0 Is Here And It’s A.I. grabbed me as particularly notable. Thought I’d hero it here. You should read it, and subscribe to Garbage Day if you don’t already.

Aside from Ryan, a couple of shout outs: [SIC] got a nod out in this LinkedIn thread compiling marketing strategists’ favorite ‘sletters - and lots of my other faves are included, if you’re looking for stuff to read. Thanks to Jonny Almario for the citation (and to Iolanda for the tip off).

Thanks also to Iolanda Josh, Celeste, David, Eric and Rob for contributions this week. I depend on them! And welcome them from everybody. Feel free to reply to this email with yours, or better let stick them in the comments (which helps discovery of [SIC] in Substack and in search, I think).

On to the links.

Ben

A little nod to photo legend Jamil GS - who I ran into at the opening of Fotografiska’s major Hip Hop retrospective, which includes a bunch of his work - for teaching me everything looks cool if you shoot it through a screen - even just the sky. Check out the show, btw.

======[SIC] 230: Save Sausalito======

Zeitgest / Gestalt

[SIC] Talks alum Sam Valenti on The death of canon. After the monoculture, what's next? / Dirt
From Josh Gardiner: “Compelling long read — via Garbage Day — on the coined "Enshittification" [of TikTok]” / Pluralistic
Newsletter MVP of the week Ryan Broderick takes it further, writing OpenAI “solved [the] cursed math equation driving all of modern business on the internet: How do you launch a digital marketplace in which you sell nothing, own everything, and charge people to use it?” / Garbage Day
So What are we worrying about when we worry about TikTok? / The Guardian
Especially since TikTok Is Bad, but WeChat Is Worse / WSJ
And! And! A New study suggests teens on IG are happier than we think / FastCo
Related: Gen Z’s distorted sense of selfie As the #NoFilter trend wanes, young people are experimenting with new ways to warp images of themselves online. Enter the traffic mirror / NYT
What Gen Z wants to be when they grow up (spoiler: not “creators”)/ Axios
Gen Z wants to work for big companies that can survive economic downturns, Adobe says, And they don't care that much about working from home, either / Fast Company
And they won’t even apply to a job if the salary isn’t listed / Insider
Especially when some dog walkers are earning over $100,000 a year / NYT
But for now?! They’re mostly In their 20s, struggling to save and tired of being lectured about it / NYT
Related: How old is too old to use your parents' Netflix? / Embedded
No Open-House Party. Influencers Just Want an Open Door. Developers are teaming up with niche influencers who trade targeted posts for entry into luxury residential buildings / NYT
But?! The Creator Economy isn’t overhyped / Simon Owens
Speaking of hype: is Men’s Fashion on a collision course with reality? [SIC] Talks alum Eugene Rabkin is skeptical / Highsnobiety
And @Dieworkwear, Twitter’s ‘Menswear Guy’ Is Just as Perplexed as You Are / GQ
Oh also? What’s the Matter with Men? / The New Yorker
Whatever it is, The Look for Men Is 90s Tech CEO Grab a pleated pant, drape your arm over an enormous computer, and you're good to go, guys / Backrow
Also resurgent, from Celeste Blewitt: “Classical musical is having a renaissance, given the new subcultures and trends on TikTok and the like” [‘Gen Z And Young Millenials Surprise New Obsession’] / BBC
Unsurprisingly, College students are ready to embrace ChatGPT / The Hill
Yet Silicon Valley has lost its Wall Street magic / Semafor
Related: TikTok Warns Remote Employees They Risk Losing Jobs / The Information
Portland’s next creative hot spot? An abandoned DMV in a mostly empty mall. 5 Questions For alum Jason Kreher invites you to get out of the house already and try his member-based co-working space / AdAge
From Iolanda Carvalho: The new Bain-Altagamma Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study - Renaissance in Uncertainty: Luxury Builds on Its Rebound
Key Quote: “Online should become the leading channel for luxury purchases with an estimated 32%–34% market share, followed by monobrand stores (30%–32% market share)." / Bain
Related, also from Iolanda: Positive Luxury's 2023 Predictions Report - The Way to Win / Positive Luxury

World Order

Union membership has fallen to a record low. Even amid a period of elevated worker empowerment and a flurry of union organizing activity, just 10.1% of the American workforce belongs to a labor union, beating the previous low of 10.3% set in 2019 / WaPo
Slimmer profit margins are here for a while. Cautious consumers will force companies to absorb higher costs for longer / FT
Where electric vehicles land in the culture wars / On the Media
Notable given that Americans spend an average of $179 on vehicle fuel each month / Crossroads
Mining a better solution for cell phone batteries / The Carbon Almanac
And water isn't the only thing recoverable from wastewater / The Carbon Almanac
Amazon launched a $5/month prescription drug service / About Amazon

The Speculative Future

I'm a Congressman Who Codes. A.I. Freaks Me Out / NYT
For the rest of us: the practical guide to using AI to do stuff / On Useful Thing
Shutterstock, after inking its OpenAI deal, rolls out a generative AI toolkit to create images based on text prompts / TechCrunch
From David Bloom: The tool to outsmart ChatGPT / The Future Party
Because ChatGPT is 'not particularly innovative,' and 'nothing revolutionary', says Meta's chief AI scientist / ZDNet
But can GPT-3 explain my past and tell my future? GPT-3 trained on 10 years of journal entries / Every.to
[SIC] homie Katelyn Donnelly writes in Forbes that ChatGPT And AI Will Fuel New EdTech Boom / Forbes
But What Does The AI Design Hype Mean For Fashion? The internet’s latest obsession is AI fashion concepts, with impressive sneaker renderings making consumers wish for the real thing. Human fashion designers are rightfully concerned / Jing Daily
Similarly: Jerry Gogosian asks, Artists, Are You Afraid of AI? / Artsmack Podcast
In a white paper entitled “Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA?” Wharton professor Christian Terwiesch found that after giving ChatGPT an exam from his operations management course, the machine learning robot intelligence returned work worthy of a B or B- grade / UPenn.edu
Meantime: SEO spammers are absolutely thrilled Google isn’t cracking down on CNET’s AI-generated articles / Futurism
And ChatGPT will destabilize white-collar work / The Atlantic
From Rob Hubbert: Lots of rumblings around the future of streaming - some interesting thoughts here. The “lean forward, lean back” model is interesting / Midia Research

Pop Cultures

Where did all the new podcasts go? / Nieman Lab
Spotify Went Hard for Podcasts -- But Layoffs (and a Big Departure) Signal a Change / Billboard
The People Who Don’t Read Books / The Atlantic
From Celeste Blewitt: “Documenting the art of historical signage in Melbourne. Plus the old school sign writing is an artform from a different era.” [Mapping Melbourne's Ghostsigns] /The Guardian Australia
This Exhibition Claims That “All Art Is Virtual” / Hyperallergic
Disney controls all of pop culture, but it's just hurting itself / AVClub
The hottest red carpet in Hollywood is the … American Legion? / LATimes
Big Spyplane on the paradox of blackpilled swag aka cool clothes made by cursed companies/ Blackbird Spyplane
Corollary: The Lindy Newsletter on Fashion / The Lindy Newsletter
Speaking of blackpilled: Adult Swim cuts ties with Justin Roiland following domestic abuse allegations / NBC News
Elsewhere: who took the bomb? Le Tigre is Back / IG
And here’s the OG DFA remix of “Deceptacon” to take you back / Spotify
Also ‘rocking’ - the “Everything, Everywhere” Pet Rock / A24

Media Happenings

For Tech Companies, Years of Easy Money Yield to Hard Times / NYT
Media layoffs loom large over 2023 A slew of media companies and tech firms have begun to announce sweeping job cuts as the economy continues to face uncertainty / Axios
Layoffs hit the Washington Post / Vanity Fair
While the AP is chasing ads / Axios
Related: there’s Lots of M&A Talk, But Will Anything Happen? / A Media Operator
Murdoch scraps merger of Fox and News Corp after investor pushback. Media tycoon in talks to sell stake in digital property group instead / FT
And Vice, BBC, WaPo, others see new TikTok teams as the next wave of specialist publishing talent / Digiday
Semafor is turning its "One Good Text" newsletter feature into a 10-minute Q&A interview series over text message, sponsored by Verizon / Digiday
Media Companies Cut Jobs as They Brace for Advertising Slowdown / WSJ
Though large ad agencies have no immediate plans for layoffs, but certainly seem to be hiring less / AdAge
Hence: Layoff brain / Anne Helene Petersen
Corollary: FRAAAANNCE. Aubrey Plaza Gave 'SNL' Permission to Get Weird / The Atlantic
From Eric Korsh: Gaming soared during the pandemic - but in-game advertising never did. At this point, it's worth asking why? And will it ever? / Next in Marketing
Possible explanation?! There have been six instances so far of War Thunder players leaking classified documentation pertaining to different tanks and aircrafts, hoping to get the game’s development team to change the in-game versions of the vehicles to be more realistic / Aero
So Is this the most important patent ever for gaming and metaverse advertising? in-game advertising startup Anzu has secured a pivotal patent for tech that can measure ad viewability in 3D worlds / The Drum
While Twitch is going to make pre-roll ads way less annoying / The Verge

Market-ations

A shopping app with a TikTok-style feed has been climbing the US download charts to not much fanfare. Temu, which is owned by China’s Pindoudou, has been downloaded more than 18 million times in the US since it was released on 1 September, and it is now the top free app in the Google Play store, as well as the number-one app on the App Store / TechCrunch
Could virtual interns and brand safety bots be the future of AI for media agencies? /Digiday
Meanwhile, Shein plans to hire 1,000 designers this year as part of its Shein X incubator program / WWD
The Brands Hopping Into The Chinaverse For Lunar New Year / Jing Daily
Canada Goose has turned its stores into galleries to acquire Canadian art / FastCompany
Dior Sculpts Pop-Up Out Of Ice At North China’s Ski Resort / Jing Daily
Speaking of popping up: Meta's proposed move to "free the nipple" may be good for advertisers / The Drum
Target Taps Gabriella Karefa-Johnson as Next Style Partner of Future Collective Brand / WWD
Corollary: DDB wants to ‘Correct the Internet’ and its suppression of women athletes / AdAge
Amazon’s dominance has limits: Here’s what consumers still buy directly from makers / Quartz
2022 was a great year for Roblox / Future Party
But How successful are branded ~~METAVERSE~~ Roblox Experiences Anyway / Peter Gasston
Especially if layoffs are a nail in the coffin for whatever the metaverse is / Insider
And yet, ‘Our future is physical, digital and virtual’: L’Oreal’s CMO is committed to web3 / The Drum
How AI and Web3 marketing will compete for ad dollars / Ad Age
Corollary: Jordan Peele pretending to be impressed of Meta’s ‘Metaverse’ version of NOPE / Twitter
On that note: TikTok's 'corecore' is the latest iteration of absurdist meme art / TechCrunch
And Class-Clown Brands Are Trying to LoLz Us to Death / Bloomberg

Superficial Interest

Eight buildings disguised as rocks / Dezeen
Heatherwick Studio and Harley-Davidson have unveiled plans for a public park in Milwaukee / Design Boom
The world's greatest stereo system is inside a Virginia home / WTVR
Introducing bourbon aged in space / Inside Hook

Useful Diversions

Listen: From Rob Hubbert: “Radiohead - In Rainbows, rebuilt from N64 sounds. Unexpectedly great.” / IG

Do: NADA Flea Market including [SIC] homie Ryan Foerster / IG

Corollary to the first photo - Jamil lives in Copenhagen, where Frama, the brand that makes this chair, is located. I like this chair a lot. It’s at 180 the Store in Tribeca.