[SIC] 241: Artisanal Karaoke

Volume 5, Number 33

Apr 13, 2023

Meantime, enjoy. And do please pass along to people you like (or people you need to be smarter).

Corollary sources this week (all worth your review, and all easily discoverable):Reasons to Be Cheerful / After School / PSFK / Palm Report / Public Announcement / Roca News / Brendan’s Communication Miscellany / 1440 / Understanding TikTok / Morning Brew / Morning Consult / Marginal Revolution / Money Stuff / 032C /. Beats & Bytes

Hi all,

Greetings from the California desert, where I’m visiting my folks. This week’s dispatch is (comparatively) short since I’m supposed to be vacationing, but before I get into the links I want to quickly thank everyone who sent suggestions, and should out Shashi Kaant Bhatnagar and Leann Abad for particularly constructive feedback. Shashi wrote from India with a reminder that lots of the audience isn’t just in the US, and also with a couple of great links including this breakdown of Substack (much in the news this week) as the $19M/year content LVMH.

Leann, meanwhile, suggested using the comments as more of a forum and posting a weekly discussion theme - which combined with the new Notes function Substack released is an intriguing thought for sure. More to come there when I’m back on the clock. And thanks also to Erik, Joel, Larry, Celeste and Iolanda for other contributions this week, too.

Speaking of interesting publishing tactics: two others I liked this week were from the reborn URB Magazine and Janko Roettgers, the former writer/editor of dearly departed Protocol’s entertainment ‘sletter.

First up: URB launched a Substack that’s posting old issues of the long-defunct but legendary print mag, and which republished its How the West Was Won: A Coachella Oral History issue from 2007 this week.

Meanwhile, via Beehiiv, Janko launched Lowpass, and served it to former subscribers of the Protocol’s entertainment newsletter, after buying the email list. Early days but I’d say it’s worth checking out for sure. It might not ever be a content LVMH, but ideas like this will produce the next Conde Nast, I’d wager.

A quick return to Coachella - for those not in the desert, this year the fest is livestreaming every stage to quell your FOMO. And, for people (like me) in the desert but not going to the fest, any activations I should stop by on Saturday, drop me a line!

Now, the links.

Ben

Mark Gonzales at the Supreme Store

======[SIC] 241: Artisanal Karaoke======

Zeitgest / Gestalt

It was perhaps inevitable AI would change how pornography is made and consumed / WaPo
Turning Sexual Wellness Into a Contact Sport / BoF
Corollary: ‘From Erik Lavoie: “Howard Stern being the voice of reason in our current culture war over beer and trans rights” / Variety
Related: 🤨 The difference between a snafu, a shitshow, and a clusterfuck / Quartz
A collection of YT channels featuring the nichest niches / Weirdly Specific Interests
Apropos of that: The Internet’s Horror Rooms. Backrooms are only possible in this cultural landscape where ‘Capital follows you when you dream.’” / 032C
In contrast, the wholesome chaos of JasperTok / Embedded
Corollary: In comes the “Era Era”: Check out the 2023 Trend Report /SSENSE
Gray Is The New Black: Is Fashion Finally Embracing Older Women? / Jing Daily
Big ‘Plane dropped the P.S.Y.K.E. Mindset: It’s cooler to wear clothes than buy them / Blackbird Spyplane
While Snail Mail gets Perfectly Imperfect / Perfect Imperfect
Consumers Say Tech Companies Should Be Liable for Content on Their Platforms / Morning Consult
NPR announced it will no longer be using. Twitter due to its new "government-funded" label / BBC
While the ‘Longest Twitter Thread Ever' simulates a Kenyan girl's 5.6 mile daily walk to fresh water / AdAge
When Your Boss Is an App. Gig work has been silently taking over new industries, but not in the way many expected / NYT
Hence? LinkedIn Will Offer Ways to Verify Your Job / Wired
Meet the Return-to-Office Whisperers. A niche group of consultants is trying to get you back to the office. It’s not going too well / NYT
Because, like? In an era of flexible work, what are people doing all day? / NYT
To stay on trend, agencies are bringing TikTokers in-house / Marketing Brew
Meanwhile, hundreds of unpaid, independent content creators have been given access to Biden's White House / Axios
Corollary: agency Wunderman Thompson used AI to write a dystopian book about Iran, aiming to catalyze change / The Drum
French Protesters stormed LVMH’s headquarters in Paris / CNN
Unflappable, LVMH’s fashion sales rose 18 per cent in the first quarter, boosted by a rebound in China / Vogue Business

World Order

From Larry Warsh: In Chinese Photography, Political Anguish Made Physical / NYT
Ru-Publicans is AI Portraits of Republicans in Drag / Hyperallergic
How Big Is Mexico? / Vivid Maps
The illusion of saving the planet with a trillion trees / FT
Bikes now outnumber cars in London’s rush hour / Forbes
New York City now has a “rat czar”/ ABC News
The company that (literally) prints money has warned that profits are going to miss expectations because demand for cash is way down, with cash projected to drop to 10% of value by 2026 / This Is Money

The Speculative Future

What Kind of Mind Does ChatGPT Have? / The New Yorker
Google and Stanford created a digital world called Smallville, populating it with 25 avatars who were then prompted with AI to act like “believable humans,” giving each a unique backstory / VICE
We must slow down the race to God-like AI / FT
China has been quick to regulate AI Chat Bots / Quartz
From Iolanda Carvalho: "If you want to know what the future of AI looks like, look at chess. It happened to us first, and it’s going to happen to all of you" / Gizmodo
FTX is considering using creditor money to restart crypto exchange / Bloomberg
While Ether rises above $2k after the Shanghai upgrade, bringing year-to-date gain to more than 65% / Coinbase
Elsewhere, ten different and everyday uses for bioplastics / Dezeen

Pop Cultures

Dimes Square is dead — long live the bands of Dimes Square / Nylon
[SIC] homie Josh Peskowitz imparts his Words of Wisdom / Drakes
From Larry Warsh: Pharrellisms: Pharrell Williams Muses on Fashion, Design in New Book / WWD
How Asics became fashion’s new favorite old sneaker brand/ Fashionista
From Erik Lavoie: [[SIC] Talks alum Bill] “Strobeck [and Tyshawn Jones] in GQ / GQ
While 032C interviews Mia Khalifa / 032C
It’s a Blanket, It’s a Textile, It’s…Wall Art? The traditional wall tapestry is getting a face-lift as a growing number of artists and designers craft quilts, throws, and rugs worthy of display beyond the couch or floor/ Sitting Pretty
On Pointe. The design puzzle of ballet shoes / Articles of Interest
From Iolanda Carvalho: [Why the new James Bond film is the future of media and entertainment. Key Quote: “I think ‘James Bond 26’, or whatever its final moniker, will be emblematic of the future of media; an unofficial ‘state of the union’ showcasing how the technology and entertainment industries have finally fully amalgamated as we move towards the 2030s." / The Media Leader
How Japan Mastered the Art and Craft of Denim / Drakes
What is @badboyzine? “A non-commercial zine” dedicated to fashion and with no rules, boundaries, or limitations / IG
WHO IS ‘RAVING’ FOR? Real freak hours with rave theorist McKenzie Wark / Rave New World
Everything But the Girl on Their Peculiar Journey Through Pop and Their Comeback / Pitchfork
Maxwell is New York’s D.I.Y. Private Club / The New Yorker
In London, Warhol’s Textiles: A Portrait Of The Artist Pre-Pop / Service95
While in Paris, Jay-Z To Perform Tribute Concert To Warhol And Basquiat / Vibe
Chance the Rapper becomes Chance the Curator at Expo Chicago / The Art Newspaper
Corollary: Is art once again becoming a lifestyle choice rather than an asset? / The Art Newspaper
Coincidence? Florida woman mows down Damien Hirst sculpture with her Rolls-Royce / The Art Newspaper

Media Happenings

From Celeste Blewitt: Can Warner Bros Discovery Win Back Hollywood?' / FT
Not this this, they can’t …. WBD confirmed it’s combining HBO Max and Discovery+ into one mega streamer called simply Max / Marketing Brew
Ergo: 2023 Will Be a Year of Trial and Error for Streaming Companies / Variety Intelligence
Elsewhere in re-namings, Elon Musk rebranded Twitter as X Corp as part of the billionaire’s goal to make an “everything app.” / Quartz
Twitter will let its users access stocks, cryptocurrencies and other financial assets through a partnership with eToro, a social trading company / CNBC
Musk says Twitter is roughly breaking even, has 1,500 employees /Reuters
But Twitter's ad revenue will fall drastically this year, according to estimates / Marketing Brew
Related: Barry Diller said publishers made a fatal mistake in the early Web of going along with the notion that content should be free and rely on advertising/ The Hollywood Reporter
Meanwhile, a canny observation from Ryan Broderick about Twitter as a bottleneck-breaker (and the risk of its loss) / Twitter
Substack unveils Notes, the product that got it banned from Twitter / WaPo
Brian Morrissey’s got notes on Notes (scroll down) / The Rebooting
Which follow well Brian’s podcast with Substack CEO Chris Best / The Rebooting
Will Substack Notes save our posting souls? / Vanity Fair
Why news outlets are putting their podcasts on YouTube / Nieman Lab
Vox Media Spins Off NowThis / NYT
And IBM Explores Sale of Weather Business / WSJ
Related, from Celeste: “Great piece on the difference between apps and meteorologists. A thoroughly fascinating conversation on the current weather discussions, rain, hail or shine” ['The Problem With Weather Apps'] /The Atlantic

Market-ations

Why the Super Mario Bros. Movie might be Nintendo’s ultimate content marketing play / Digiday
TikTok sister app Lemon8 looks to creators to help it grow to the next level / Digiday
How shoppable social sites are beating other media channels. Shoppable properties do what traditional media never could—enable purchases as the media is being consumed.” / AdAge
Twitter advertisers return even as CMOs keep distance from Elon Musk / Ad Age
“Five Questions For” alum Jason Kreher’s “How I work” is something else / LinkedIn
Bank of America has been utilizing immersive technology, like virtual reality and meditative metaverse options, to help employees disconnect from work and relax, as well as for training and team building / Benefit News
Metaverse Beauty Week is happening in June / Glossy
adidas has launched a new NFT collection called ALTS that features an interactive storyline, unique products, and access to a web3 ecosystem / NFT Culture
How brand collabs can help marketers in a down economy/ Ad Age
Hence? Frank Ocean and BMW are teasing a Nostalgia Ultra re-release / Highsnobiety
Pangaia and Zellerfeld's made 3D-printed sneakers that are fully recyclable and made of TPU, a thermoplastic polyurethane material, eliminating excess inventory and reducing landfill waste / Hypebae
And Netflix and Lacoste to create a collection of genderless fashion items featuring the iconic Lacoste crocodile in costumes from popular Netflix shows / AdWeek
Hard Mountain Dew held an ‘epic spring break party’ for seniors in Florida / Adweek
Burger King courts night owls by positioning itself as an early morning pit stop for party-goers / The Drum

Superficial Interest

Raghvendra Singh, also known as “Helmet Man,” has given away 56,000 helmets to micromobility users in India. The safety crusade has literally bankrupted Singh, but he continues to spread awareness, inspired by the passing of his friend in a motor vehicle crash / Times of India
S/o [SIC] homie Stefano Rosso: The Pelican Hotel: Diesel’s eccentric Miami Beach landmark gets a revamp / FT

Food / Drink

The Talks talks to Ghetto Gastro’s Jon Gray / The Talks
Water ‘recipes’ are tiktok’s latest dubious diet culture fad / Eater
Why does this ham and cheese sandwich cost $29 at a Manhattan shop? An investigation / Eater
Related, from Celeste Blewitt: “Love this debate on costing out bread at restaurants” 'Let The Bread Be Free' / NY Mag
You can buy beer in the eighth inning of MLB games now / Linkedin
Which maybe explains? Dollar dog night" at the Philadelphia Phillies' ballpark sparked a massive food fight that resulted in the ejection of multiple fans / 6abc
Subway has launched a Pickleball Club sandwich to promote the growing sport of pickleball, featuring a unique combination of condiments and pickles /Restaurant Business Online

Useful Diversions

Listen:

From Joel Fowler: “I thought i sent this [Hamdi - Skanka (Nikki Nair Remix)] to you but didn’t go thru” / YouTube

Do:

Friday 4/14: Go to Friends From New York and dance your hips off / Partiful
Tuesday 4/18, go see Michelle Lhooq of Rave New World at the LA launch of Mackenzie Wark’s Raving at Poetic Research Bureau / IG

Student Graffiti at Pitzer College (artist unknown)