[SIC] 237: Found Harmonium
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Corollary sources this week (all worth your review, and all easily discoverable: After School / Robinhood Snacks/ Scope of Work / Elevator / Ben’s Bites / Micromobility Report / Marginal Revolution / Dirt / The Rebooting / Public Announcement/ Built with AI / Music Redef / Quartz / Reasons To Be Cheerful / The Drop / The Unskippables / Brendan’s Communications Miscellany / Morning Brew / Blazer
Hi all,
I am not much on Twitter, so I nearly missed it when Daisy Alioto (co-founder of the very interesting media brand, Dirt) tweeted a very flattering endorsement of this newsletter, which made my weekend. Maybe coincidentally, Daisy’s Dirt co-founder Kyle Chayka launched a podcast-cum-newsletter around the same time that illustrated one of my points about multi-modal content in the Culture Journalist episode that (I assume) Daisy heard about [SIC] through.
I should stress I don’t know Daisy or Kyle at all but they strike me as very bright and both Dirt and Kyle’s newsletter are very, very good. I do, however, really appreciate the love - so if you feel like sharing [SIC], please do. Friends, colleagues, family, whomever. Here for it.
Speaking of friends, the way [SIC] homie Jonah Weiner scooped himself with the big Spyplane Steven Yuen interview, before expands the picture with the WSJ Mag Steven Yuen profile. Jonah and Erin also kind of repeated the practice this week on BBSP, first proclaiming a ‘new holy decree’ that Biker jackets are not cool , and then immediately following with a “Slapping leather jacket report.” Respect the technique.
More friend/trends: Trend God is an artificial intelligence project created and trained by [SIC] Talk alum Piers Fawkes, Founder of PSFK and a sharp character. And from friend and Lisbon correspondent Iolanda Carvalho: this!!! [The Future Today Trend Report]
Thanks for the contributions, you two. And thanks Celeste, Matt, Jason, Jon, David for yours, too!
Ben
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Zeitgest / Gestalt
What Conversation Can Do for Us .Our culture is dominated by efforts to score points and win arguments. But do we really talk anymore? / The New Yorker
Ergo: How Please Stopped Being Polite / The Atlantic
Adjacent, from Celeste Blewitt: 'How A TV Soccer Host Sparked BBC's Biggest Crisis In Years' / The Hollywood Reporter
Oh also you guys?! Millennials are hitting middle age. How are they feeling? / NYT
Fortunately? TikTok is changing what it means to be old / Wired
A bunch of simps: The most popular Gen Z slang terms is the something New York, New Jersey, Washington, Oklahoma, Virginia and New Hampshire agree upon. No Cap! (that’s Indiana) / Mental Floss
Corollary: Gen Z can let avatars go on dates for them now / The Future Party
Tho don’t mention Dating app data that will hurt your feelings :( / Decode
Related: People think Gen Z is Sex Negative but the Truth is More Complicated / Buzzfeed
IE: Gen-Z is shacking up at record rates / Bloomberg
Also since you asked, Gen Z isn't 'quiet quitting'—they're grappling with a lack of interpersonal connection / Fast Campany
But they still don’t believe they need a college degree to succeed / Fortune
What TikTok’s confessional GRWM videos say about our culture of oversharing / Dazed
Speaking of oversharing? Which Stores Are Scanning Your Face? No One Knows / NYT
Also in stores? “Premiumization”: The corporate world’s new favorite buzzword, which is essentially a euphemism for higher consumer prices / NYT
Meanwhile in acronyms, SVB collapse overshadows AI at SXSW / AdAge
But since the FDIC sorted that all out: ChatGPT, MDMA and a more subdued web3. Here are SXSW 2023's 3 biggest trends so far / The Drum
And since knowing how to count is good: TikTok is adding a third feed just for science and math videos / The Verge
And what it means to be tall? Trendspotting with Tall Neil of "shoppy shop" fame / Embedded
From Iolanda Carvalho: Need this ignoring skill 😉. Critical thinking is great, but in a world full of information we need to learn 'critical ignoring' / WEF
Speaking of ignoring… what Happened to Baseball? Fighting Refinement Culture / The Lindy Newsletter
World Order
The Biden administration has threatened to ban TikTok unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells off the app / NPR
How a social network falls apart / The Verge
Corollary: "It was all numbers, no narrative" - Lulu Cheng Meservey, EVP Corporate Affairs and CCO at Activision Blizzard, argues that SVB's financial collapse "was largely driven by a communication collapse." She explains how their messaging "went off the rails, in 4 big ways." A compelling thread / Twitter
From Matt @TheTechnorati: SVB Couldn’t Ignore Its Losses, But the Fed Can. Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, BTFP exploits, claims trading, bond trading, USDC and the effect of Money Stuff vacations on volatility / Bloomberg
Another from Matt: Is This Bitcoin Price Run Bringing Hyperbitcoinization? / Bitcoin Magazine
From Jason Leavy: “(yet another) great newsletter which i think your subscribers will get a lot of value from [Implications, by Scott Belsky]”/ Implications
The rise of the platform economy. Every company should have a strategy to help it grow outside its home market, both geographically and across product lines / FT
Corollary then: Peter Zeihan on Trusting the Numbers in a Deglobalized World / Youtube
The Speculative Future
OpenAI just released GPT-4. GPT-4 is multimodal and it can accept image inputs as well as text, which means it can understand images like it can text(!)/ OpenAI
But actually The Bing AI bot has been secretly running GPT-4 all along / The Verge
Microsoft is set to host a “Future of Work With AI” event today / Engadget
But for the rest of us, Ryan Broderick’s the “can my parents use this thing right now” test will do the trick. This is a very good post./ Garbage Day
Meanwhile Midjourney v5 is released to level up your AI art skills / Twitter
Also good? Thanks to a combination of LLaMA model leaks and some legend compressing the models into a manageable size for personal computers, chatbot development is now accessible to everyone with a laptop / Github
Related: check out this post for how to run these models on your Mac / Simon Williston
Since you asked: Machine learning as a tool for hypothesis generation / NBER
Hence: both teachers and students find use for ChatGPT / The Future Party
So Is it time for the creator economy to subscribe to AI? / Decode
Cos If you’re not using ChatGPT for your writing, you’re probably making a mistake / Vox
Related, from Iolanda Carvalho: Trend du jour... [That Ikea x Patagonia collab? Generative AI made it happen] / Fast Company
Pop Cultures
It’s way in my brain: The Sleng Teng Edition / Why Is This Interesting
Related: Composers Find Transcendence, and Inspiration, at the Club / NYT
Apropos of that: on repeat throughout the creation of this edition: Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Which I legit think might be making me smarter. Or less dumb, anyway / Spotify
From David Bloom: “I suspect this won’t be the last time we see an interesting fashion designer remake an established museum, but it’s interesting what’s being done here with the Picasso museum in Paris by Paul Smith…..”[Musée Picasso Paris Gives Carte Blanche to Reinstall Its Permanent Collection]/ Art News
Elsewhere in takeovers: the city of Glendale in Arizona will change its name to Taylor Swift on Friday and Saturday, in honor of the U.S. singer launching her Eras Tour in its City Farm Stadium this week / American Songwriter
Related, and surprising no one: The Taylor Swift Fandom Is White, Suburban and Leans Democratic / Morning Consult
2023 Music Marketing Strategies: A&R and Discovering Artists. 5 music professionals working in A&R answer "How do you see artist development continuing to evolve in 2023?
While Central Cee takes Americans on a tour of British rap / The New Yorker
While Former Assistants Accuse Tom Sachs of Running a Scary, "Cult-Like" Studio / Hypebeast
And Arabic Music Is on the Brink of a Global Breakthrough / Pitchfork
Quiet New York and muted shows dampen fashion month’s social buzz / Vogue Business
In colorful contrast: Here’s What Good [men’s)]Style Looks Like Now / Valet
From Celeste Blewitt: Great piece on the Versace brand, Donatella's vision and the focus of Hollywood. The timing of the most recent show in comparison to European Fashion Weeks is an insight into the brand also. [‘Donatella Versace: The Blonde Takes LA’] / Business Of Fashion
More taking: Party Like It’s 2023: China’s Rave Culture Sets A New Trend. Newfound post-lockdown freedoms in China are propelling the popularity of clubbing and raves, putting clubwear on the fashion map / Jing Daily
Meanwhile Sample sales are trending on TikTok. Is it a brand opportunity? / Vogue Business
Related: The top breakout TikTok stars of each year since 2019 show how the app has evolved over time / Insider
Also Tok’ing: With Sped-Up Songs Taking Over, Artists Feel the Need for Speed. Labels are leaning into uptempo remixes as a way of driving streams and bringing "new life to tracks."/ Billboard
While Metallica Sells So Much Vinyl It Just Bought Its Own Pressing Plant / Billboard
Silenced samples: How copyright laws infringe on hip hop / WNYC
Why The Artist Visa Hike Is A 'Lose-Lose' Proposition. The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service are proposing to more than triple the fees for the most common types of visas used by touring acts / Pollstar
Corollary: musical transplant Uffie on Refilling Your Well, Projections During Dinner Parties, Raves, and more / Perfectly Imperfect
Also deep-ish: Getting philosophical about clothing with Lawrence Schlossman from Throwing Fits / Sprezza
While Willem DaFoe tells 032C, “it’s all about being present,” in an interview about time, Tarkovsky, sacrifice, and cave drawings, and getting in touch with his inner Robinson Crusoe / 032c
Dick Tracy Green, David Lynch Blue. Jason Diamond talking with Charles Bramesco about his book "Colors of Film" / The Melt
Matthew Perpetua put together a “Golden Age of Samples” playlist for the legendary Fluxblog celebrating other sample-heavy records available on DSPs /Fluxblog
How artists’ day jobs shape their craft / Smithsonian
Mike Leigh’s BBC Films, Ranked / Hyperallergic
Related from Jon Hurwitz: “This might be good for (SIC) Weekly; I never thought about it when hearing about the recent crisis with cinemas.” [Bad Projection is Running the Movie Theater Experience] / Vulture
Fresh off of winning the Oscars, a24 is bringing back the 1984 Talking Heads concert film STOP MAKING SENSE (newly remastered in 4K!) back to theaters and there’s a new promo starring David Byrne now / YouTube
Media Happenings
What We're Telling Publishers About The AI Content Apocalypse / Scope Creep
Corollary: BuzzFeed is in a deep hole / The Hollywood Reporter
While Vice Media's New Co-CEOs Vow to Stay the Course. The two aim to shepherd the company—and its brand equity—through its sale / Adweek
Apropos of that… Playboy to relaunch magazine as it takes on OnlyFans / New York Post
Diddy Says "It's Time For BET To Be Black-Owned Again" As Paramount Explores Stake Sale / Deadline
Substack is bringing its “Chat” feature to the web / Substack
Instagram will be winding down their support of NFTs / Twitter
While Netflix is reviewing its ad strategy, considering 'build or buy' pivots away from Microsoft / Digiday
Sports Illustrated's new esports vertical is proof that mainstream media hasn't given up on competitive gaming / Digiday
Related: The Future of Music and Gaming / Trapital
'Mini gold rush': How ad buyers are handling video podcast inventory. With the recent fervor around video podcasts, buyers discuss the opportunities for brands and how they are organizing investment teams to manage the crossover from audio to video / Digiday
Market-ations
Beauty brand Maybelline shone a light on misogynist abuse in gaming in a film featuring male gamers playing with their voices altered to sound female / Contagious
How brands can help build online communities (without ruining things) / Creative Review
Related: How Levi's is Using K-Pop's TikTok Popularity to Appeal to Gen Z / AdAge
And Sephora and TikTok team up on new content program for emerging brands in partnership with the marketing agency Digitas, they announced a new initiative, dubbed the Sephora x TikTok Incubator Program / Glossy
As Gen Z embraces de-influencing on TikTok, marketers and influencers need to be much more transparent and authentic / Digiday
18 brands with products designed to last. Brands that believe their products can stand the test of time are offering lifetime warranties or repair schemes / Thingtesting
Related: Uniqlo is expanding its repair service to stores in the US / Glossy
Some companies that launched metaverse experiences are struggling to keep users engaged. But businesses like Vans that built compelling spaces are outliving the hype cycle and seeing brand-building benefits / BoF
Proof of?! Metaverse hype should not get in the way of innovation / The Drum
But still Who Is Still Inside the Metaverse? / NY Mag
Sirius XM made a culture trend report / SXM
While Sonos’ psychedelic new spot helps consumers see and ‘feel sound all around’ / The Drum
Superficial Interest
Seaweed is becoming a plastic substitute and a form of cattle feed, helping the fight against climate change / NYT
Which is good because a A 5,000-mile-wide seaweed blob is heading toward Florida. The largest bloom ever recorded was discovered via satellite / The Hill
‘Dead’ Electric Car Batteries Find a Second Life Powering Cities / Reasons To Be Cheerful
25-story Rubik’s cube: Turning an office building into apartments isn’t easy / NYT
People hate car-free cities… until they actually live in one / Wired
20 mechanical principles combined in a useless Lego machine / YouTube
Food / Drink
Plant-Based Milk: Who's Drinking It and Why / Morning Consult
Hershey is sending its first totally vegan chocolate to shelves this year / AP News
While from David Bloom: Moooove over: How single-celled yeasts are doing the work of 1,500-pound cows. Cowless dairy is here, with the potential to shake up the future of animal dairy and plant-based milks / WaPo
A Boston greenhouse is growing food all winter long thanks to heat piped up from deep within the earth / The Christian Science Monitor
Not food, but corollary: Data center used to heat swimming pool / Twitter
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