[SIC] 243: Beetlejuice Spare Tire
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[SIC] 243: Beetlejuice Spare Tire
Volume 5, Number 35
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. 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):NYT / Public Announcement / Nieman Lab / Motive Unknown / The Art of Noticing / 2pm / After School / The Unskippables / Elevator / On a Good Note / Micromobility Report / Marginal Revolution / Quartz / Metaproof / Publish Press
Hi again from the plane-ternet, all.
Been a busy week story-wise, so another brief intro. I neglected to shout out Brian Hanly on The Rebooting podcast last week, but apropos of 2023’s continued niche-ification of media voices and enshittification of platforms, it’s a good one to check out. Hanly’s onto something.
Also good listening: Syd Allen-Ash sent along her latest,The Bridge episode of her running-centric Toe Nails podcast, heavily featuring the music producer and running club OG Charlie Dark. It’s a good one. Thanks for sending, Syd. And thanks Iolanda, Ben, Scott, Celeste and Ilirjana for contributions this week. And Courtien for inspiring this week’s title.
Elsewhere in niche voices, I was pleased to see sometime-contributor Zach Sokol’s story as told to Gossamer, both because I think what Zach and friends are doing with Cash Only and the un-googleable Sex Mag are intriguing (and indicative), but also because Gossamer embodies a similar spirit - a kind of middle-out brand building that continues to feel modern to me.
Last tip, on that note: future follow of the week is @bylinebyline. Thank me later. Now, links.
Ben
Found Photocollage.
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Zeitgest / Gestalt
Kyle Chayka on BuzzFeed, Blue Checks, and the End of an Internet Era / The New Yorker
Distracts us from The stealth campaign that’s getting your kids hooked on chess / NYT
TikTok stans demanding their favorite musicians release sped-up songs / NBC News
While Modern Body Horror Is Turning Breastfeeding Into an Act of Terror / NYT
And a critical reëvaluation of “The Big Lebowski” is perfectly tuned to annoy literally everyone /Unherd
Speaking of false idols: the ‘Quiet luxury’ trend is likely to prove both shallow and fleeting, argues [SIC] Talks Alum Eugene Rabkin / BoF
Caveat Emptor, Saverus Maximus: Your $12 Shirt Was Made in Functional Slavery / NYT
Also depressing (but necessary): Avery Truffleman goes Inside The Factory on the 10th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse / Articles of Interest
But Depressing Art Is Good for You, so there / Hyperallergic
Corollary: why young shoppers are cool with counterfeits / FT
Also, Highsnob says we should all be dressing like elderly people / IG
Because? My Taste Is Basic. So What? / Harpers Bazaar
Pokemon Sleep - a game which you play BY SLEEPING - is coming this year /The Verge
Elsewhere: Sludge Content is the latest form of escapism on TikTok/ NBCNews
And. People are reading obituaries on YouTube /Marketing Brew
Are Text Messages the New Social Media? One Start-Up Thinks So / NYT
New Gen Z-centered app RTRO launches with ChatGPT and focus on messaging / Glossy
From Iolanda Carvalho: The Deloitte 2023 Digital media trends survey | “A tapestry of entertainment, community, and meaning” / Deloitte
IE: “What I learned unsubscribing from 22 newspapers” /Lenfest Institute
Speaking of trends: The new 9-to-5 starts at 6pm for many GenZ-lennials. And they— walk out on employers who don’t accommodate their schedules / Fortune
Meanwhile, employers are quiet quitting, too / Charter
Corollary: A new study finds that remote work is hurting young employees by depriving them of opportunities for professional feedback. / NYT
Still, Gen Zs are taking over college cities — after they graduate / Insider
While Small Towns chase America’s $3 Trillion Climate Gold Rush” / WSJ
How to defend against the rise of ChatGPT? Think like a poet / WaPo
Hence? Why you should teach at a community college /Timo Zander
World Order
How soft power fell out of fashion / FT
NYC's air is 'as clean as it's ever been,' but that's still pretty gross / Gothamist
Related: the cleanest and dirtiest air in the US / Axios
Swimming in the Seine. Paris has embarked on a project to clean up the river ahead of the 2024 Olympics / Monocle
The ocean is heating rapidly and scientists don’t exactly know why. They do know it’s not good /BBC
So…?! Researchers created a cyborg goldfish /NYT
A Heat Shield for the Most Important Ice on Earth. Engineers might be able to protect Arctic ice by coating it with tiny glass bubbles. Should they? / The New Yorker
California Will Fulfill 100% of Water Requests for First Time Since 2006 /AP News
Wind Farms and Birds Are Learning to Coexist / Reasons to Be Cheerful
And UK Police are giving out free weed vapes / The FACE
While tiny Japanese pickup trucks, also known as “kei” cars, are cropping up across rural America, filling a niche for farmers, building contractors, and other tradespeople that U.S. automakers have ignored /The Economist
And as stores and restaurants attempt to go cashless, they're installing "reverse ATMs" that dispense stored-value cards in exchange for greenbacks / Axios
The Speculative Future
From Iolanda Carvalho: Doomsday to utopia: Meet AI’s rival factions. Inside Silicon Valley’s insular AI sector, a small group of strange but influential subcultures have clashed in recent months /WaPo
From Scott Lachut: "Grimes invites AI artists to use her voice, promising 50 percent royalty split," which raises interesting questions about how a personal brand will be valued in the future, what counts as a usable creative asset and what ownership/collaboration will look like in the near future” / Engadget
AI is making Limewire look like child’s play / Decode
Inside the Discord Where Thousands of Rogue Producers Are Making AI Music / VICE
A supermodel turns herself into one of Epic’s hyperrealistic MetaHumans / The Verge
Therefore: how to become a game developer using ChatGPT /Cointelegraph
Related: How AI could power advertising's next creative revolution / Fast Company
Not like this tho: AI Spam Is Already Flooding the Internet / Motherboard
Unrelated, sneak peak: Bobby Hundreds' upcoming book “NFTs Are A Scam / NFTs Are the Future” /Hypemoon
Apropos of that, tho: Coinbase has filed a petition requesting the court to force the SEC to create a clear framework for digital assets /Bloomberg
Pop Cultures
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney help springboard a Welsh soccer club back into the big leagues / CNBC
Taylor Swift and the Sparkling Trap of Constant Reinvention / NYT
Your favorite celebrity street style photo Is Probably an Ad. How "It" girls, publicists and paparazzi conspire to create these seemingly candid fashion moments / Fashionista
Cool ad tho: Alexis Sablone’s launch film for her pro shoe for Converse / IG
Meanwhile [SIC] homie Amy Ellington and the story of the KCDC Nike SB Dunk/ Hypebeast
Elsewhere, Amy interviews [SIC] Homie, artist and seminal gallerist Aaron Rose / KCDC
IYKYK corollary: Pleats Please is the ultimate IYKYK label / Elle
Also aesthetically fetished: Six key trends from Milan Design Week 2023 / Dezeen
More Milan Design Week trends/ Monocle on Design Pod
Everyone online is calling these Hollywood men 'babygirl' / NBC News
While On His Podcast ‘Wine and Hip Hop,’ Jermaine Stone Aims to Bridge Cultures / NYT
On TikTok, life imitates a Wes Anderson Movie / Hyperallergic
But should brands care about new photo-sharing app Lemon8? / Vogue Business
Also, why brands are embracing the language of Gen Z / Creative Review
Because? Marketers may be overlooking a generation of consumers who are neither millennials nor Gen Z: "Generation Zennial." / Digiday
Related: Ice Spice and PinkPantheress star in the new Skims campaign /Variety
Corollary: are the Obama sisters the new Olsen twins? / The FACE
Los Angeles as a Cultural Stir Fry / Hyperallergic
Elsewhere in LA: Brenda's Business with Jerry Lorenzo / 032C
Kinda related: Why Trousers Keep Getting Weirder / BoF
Sneakers too! Li-Ning's No Heel Sneaker Concept Wins IF Design Award / Hypebeast
Also weird but great: Kids in the Hall Helped Define Generation X, transgressing propriety, gender, sexuality, even species / Hyperallergic
Corollary: How Fred again.. Jolted Dance Music / NYT
What’s In Your Bag(lady) – An excellent profile and photo set with Erykah Badu / SSENSE
Joe Russo & Fortnite's Donald Mustard Weigh In on the Future of Storytelling, Gaming & Entertainment / Collider
More future: The Big Bang Theory: HYBE’s Chairman on K-pop’s Future, The BTS Model, AI Plans and More / Billboard
But for RN: The Best Movies of 2023, So Far / Vanity Fair
Richard Avedon at 100 . In a sneak peek at Gagosian, Tom Ford, Anjelica Huston, Thelma Golden, and more share favorite portraits by Avedon/ Vanity Fair
Media Happenings
“We’re in the Zone”. [SIC] homie Alex Wagner Isn’t Living in Maddow’s Shadow/Vanity Fair
BuzzFeed News Never Built the Brand Loyalty It Needed / A Media Operator
But Simon Owens claims The Creator Economy "middle class" does exist / Simon Owens
Hence? Why business journalists love Linkedin + Linkedin loves them back/Press Gazette
Tucker Carlson Is Out and the Memes Are In / Hyperallergic
The World According to Tucker Carlson. Donald Trump had the raw power on the right. But it was Carlson who set the ideological agenda / New Yorker
But It Doesn’t Matter Who Replaces Tucker Carlson… the stars of Fox News are more or less interchangeable / The New Yorker
Spotify reported double-digit gains for Q1 monthly active users and premium subscribers in Q1. Daniel Ek told Axios that the blockbuster numbers "even surprised us." / Axios
Clinging on? BeReal says it has more than 20 million daily active users / Engadget
Irrespective, How BeReal missed its moment / Platformer
News app Artifact can now summarize stories using AI, including “fun” styles like emojis-only or “explain like I’m five” / TechCrunch
Crooked Media Takes on British Politics. The company behind "Pod Save America" is starting a British version of the popular liberal show / NYT
While Time is expanding its climate coverage at a time when the publisher is seeing increased investment from advertisers around sustainability content / Digiday
But Paper Magazine Lays Off Entire Editorial Team / BoF
Disney is shrinking FiveThirtyEight. Nate Silver (and his models) are leaving/ Nieman Lab
Vogue launches Open Casting to find diverse model talent / Vogue
Related, from Celeste Blewitt: “Interesting to read [Edward Enninful’s] thoughts around advertising and inclusivity. The 11 minute clip that accompanies the May cover is well worth a watch” [Editor Of British Vogue Turned Down Ads On Inclusivity Grounds] / The Guardian
While The New York Times celebrates rabbit holes in new ads / The Drum
Market-ations
Speaking of holes: How DTC shower brands' influencer and marketing strategies are making a splash. S/o [SIC] homies Ryan and Arjun for this / Ad Age
From Iolanda Carvalho: No comments on this one 😉 This AI-generated pizza ad is actually kind of amazing
(I mean, it's also terrifying. Obviously.) / Creative Bloq
Why intentional polymaths lead businesses to greatness / Business Leader
Related: Why the Agency of Record Model Needs to Die /
How social media makes us more susceptible to advertising / Fast Company
Also susceptible: Rob Walker on what the Bud Light fiasco says about the state of brand protests / Fast Company
Britain’s mergers regulator blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover bid for Activision Blizzard / NYT
While Travis Barker personally signed every single Liquid Death enema kit / LinkedIn
Consumers love weird, but it’s hard to do well / The Drum
Luxury Powerhouses Bet on Chinese Shoppers and Invest In Chinese Talent / Jing Daily
Retail store closures to sharply accelerate going forward / Yahoo
How cannabis culture is becoming a bigger part of Jack in the Box's marketing /Digiday
While Chipotle shines on social in support of its superfans / Ad Age
While McDonald’s adult happy meals used nostalgia to draw buzz and lift sales / Ad Age
From Ben Pruess: “You ever put a snack in your shoe? 🤦♂️” / IG
Phil Knight, donated $400M to help rebuild a Black community in Portland / WSJ
And Coty creates first metaverse space to upskill its workforce / Vogue Business
Puma is asking young environmentalists to critique its sustainability strategy / The Drum
While tech creator MKBHD (aka Marques Brownlee) released the M251, a shoe collaboration with sneaker company Atoms /
Superficial Interest
Children deface sculpture with blue crayons / Quartz
Inside the elite British college for the world’s best nannies /FT
Food / Drink
How to Start a Food Business from Scratch / The FACE
So whatcha want?! The Beastie Boys cookbook /Far Out
From Celeste Blewitt: ‘a great dissection of dairy milk brands trying to lure in new consumers.’ [Aubrey Plaza Is The Unfortunate New Face Of The Milk Wars] / Bon Appetit
Not vegan: why is the world’s top milk producer looking to import more dairy? / Quartz
Related: Peter Zeihan on What the New Zealand Dairy Industry Got Right (IT'S CHEESE!) / YouTube
Corollary? How Philly cheesesteaks became huge in Lahore, Pakistan /Philly Mag
Were Impossible and Beyond burgers a fad? Is plant-based meat here to stay? /The Verge
Related: The Pure Joy of Eating at Superiority Burger / The Melt
Useful Diversions
Listen:
From [SIC] Talks alum Ilirjana Alushaj: “two scores the hubby Bobby Krlic just put out! Beau Is Afraid (Original Score) and BEEF (Original Score) / Spotify
Zaireeka redux? Dragonchild is a full digital album and a quadruple LP alternately titled BLACK, containing an eight-channel mix of the record’s closer, “Meditation (Ancestor),” that reveals a ‘new’ track when played simultaneously on four turntables / The FADER
Do:
This Saturday, April 30: Go support Head Hi (or any other indie bookseller) on independent book store day!
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