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[SIC] 246: Unexpected Sparkle

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[SIC] 246: Unexpected Sparkle

Volume 5, Number 38

May 18, 2023
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[SIC] 246: Unexpected Sparkle

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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).

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Corollary sources this week (all worth your review, and all easily discoverable): Snaxshot / Elevator / Today in Tabs / Nieman Lab / Politico / Motive Unknown / Om Malik / Marginal Revolution / Semafor / Future Perfect / Publish Press / Beats & Bytes / SF/J / Inside Cryptocurrency / Public Announcement / Recomendo / Morning Consult / Micromobility Report / Palm Report / The Unskippables

Hi all,

Given the years I spent there (ā€˜04-’20), the news this week about the many losers of the VICE bankruptcy (including yours truly), has prompted a lot of requests for my take on things. Not to dodge, but I thought [SIC] homie and Breakfast Club irregular Andrew Courtien’s summary of the VICE debacle pretty much nails it. Like him, I can’t help but hope the proverbial beard grows back. We’ll see.

More positively: occasional contributor and Courier editor Daniel Giacopelli’s Monday Media Diet brought a bunch of new subscribers this week: welcome, everybody, and thanks Dan for the shout, amongst a bunch of other great recos. Likewise, thanks to Iolanda, Celeste, Piers, Peter, Zach and Gordon for contributions this week. And lest it go unsaid, I’m grateful any time somebody recommends [SIC] to friends, family or colleagues, so if you’’ve got any of those, here’s a button:

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Other than that: Noah Brier’s recap of his excellent (and packed-with-smart-people) BrXnd.ai conference this week captured some little-spoken truths about the AI discussions we’re all having, IMO. It’s worth reading. The TLDR: nobody knows anything for certain, and that’s what makes it exciting. Noah also announced a second edition of the conference in SF in September - highly recommended, if you are out West or if you can expense the trip.

Now, the links.

Ben

Scene from Tosh Basco’s performance at ā€œExchangeā€ on Monday night at Water Street Associates

======[SIC] 246: Unexpected Sparkle======

Zeitgest / Gestalt

  • Snapchat influencerĀ Caryn Marjorie made more than $71k in one week after releasing anĀ AI versionĀ of herself and charging fans $1 per minute for CarynAI to be theirĀ virtual girlfriend / LinkedIn

  • Elsewhere: when Did ā€˜Wholesome’ Become a Gen Z Compliment? / NYT

  • And why are so many young Americans adopting fake British accents? /The Guardian

  • It’s not just conversation—Gen Z is missing some essential nonverbal skills, too / Quartz

  • When you drop the accent: how Friendships Change in Adulthood / The Atlantic

  • Related, from Piers Fawkes: I’m a Couples Therapist. Something New Is Happening in Relationships / NYT

  • Remote Work Comes With Daytime Drug and Drinking Habits. Cocaine, benzodiazepinesĀ and other drugs are no longer after-hours activities / Bloomberg

  • But at least flexible work is feminist / Forbes

  • Not feminist: Rudy Giuliani Accused of Being a Rapist, Racist, and Really Bad LawyerĀ  / Vanity Fair

  • Also bad and getting worse: The First Year of AI College Ends in Ruin / The Atlantic

  • Hence? OpenAI’s Sam Altman urges lawmakers to regulate AIĀ  / NYT

  • While TikTok Goes Surrealist With ā€œExquisite Corpseā€ Videos / Hyperallergic

  • For Gen Z, Playing an Influencer on TikTok Comes Naturally. There's stuff to promote now. The followers can come later / NYT

  • The interchangeable millennial aesthetics of new psychedelic spaces / Dirt

  • Not interchangeable: How our brains sabotage hybrid work success / Wired

  • Skateboard culture is going mainstream in China, winning over new consumers and redefining social norms in the process /Jing Daily

World Order

  • The digital euro: a solution seeking a problem?/ FT

  • Penguin Random House sues Florida school district over book ban / FT

  • How Tokyo Became an Anti-Car Paradise /Ā  Heatmap-New

  • Related: SoftBank is bringing self-driving buses to Japan / Bloomberg

  • While GM is developing a tiny electric pickup truck for the Chinese market that’s expected to retail in the ballpark of $14,000 / Fox News

  • On the other end of the spectrum: Ferrari CEO on AVs: 'we don't care' / The Drive

  • Corollary: How to quit cars / The New Yorker

  • But can the world make an electric car battery without China? / NYT

  • And How are EV battery packs made? / Scope of Work

  • How a Disaster Expert Prepares for the Worst / The New Yorker

  • IE? New York City May Be Sinking Under the Weight of Its Skyscrapers / Vanity Fair

  • Ditto Mexico City and Jakarta, per WITI’s Sinking Cities edition / Why Is This Interesting

  • Cities must beware the ā€˜donut effect’ / FT

  • Also donut-shaped: Is our universe inside a black hole? / Physics Astronomy

  • Corollary: The crazy plan to explode a nuclear bomb on the moon / BBC

  • And why the EU is investing in astral garbage machines / The Dial

  • Better astral than plastic: New UN Report Says the World Can Cut 80% of Plastic Pollution by 2040 / Nice News

The Speculative Future

  • From Iolanda Carvalho: ā€œSomewhere in the middle? ā€˜The annihilation of democracy or new age of Enlightenment? Sapiens author and Meta head of research debate.ā€™ā€ Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens) vs Yann Le Cun (Meta) on artificial intelligence / Le Point

  • The apocalypse isn’t coming. We must resist cynicism and fear about AIĀ / The Guardian

  • But, but: Google’s AI-powered photo editor is so good it might aid devious fakery / The Verge

  • Also soon your iPhone will be able to speak in your own voice / TechRadar

  • Hence: Another Side of the A.I. Boom: Detecting What A.I. Makes / NYT

  • Speaking of fakes: The big business of fake Salvador DalĆ­ art / The Hustle

  • Speaking of Dali, he makes a cameo in this Fake Adam Curtis On Corecore video (that you should def watch) / YT

  • You should also watch (real) Curtis’ss Hypernormalisation again / YT

  • Last AI one: From Peter Spear: ā€œI thought I would share my little experiment in brand listening with ChatGPT3: ā€œWhat was it like to interview CHatGPT?"

  • U.K. lawmakers have argued that retail investing in unbacked cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), should be legally regulated like gambling / Bloomberg

Pop Cultures

  • From Piers Fawkes: Locals Only Interview: Hugh Holland on photographing California skaters in the 1970s / i-D

  • While i-D travels to Lagos to meet teenage surfers, skaters and musicians / i-D

  • Everybody Wants a Piece of The Dare / GQ

  • Related: [SIC] homie Tyler McCauley made a Home Sweet Home-worthy remix of Shallowhalo’s ā€œRenaissance Affairā€ / Soundcloud

  • From Gordon Hull: Here is a new Freestyle mix I made that hopefully gets the rhythm into your body without it actually having to moveĀ  / Spotify

  • Surrender to Steely Dan. How the insufferably perfectionist duo captured the hearts of a new generation of listeners / The Atlantic

  • What Bruce Springsteen Learned from Flannery O’Connor / Lithub

  • Speaking of stolen valor, from Piers Fawkes : How Do I Upgrade My Carhartt Wardrobe? / NYT

  • Girl Gaze: Petra Collins / Palm Report

  • How Prada And Miu Miu Became The ā€˜Hottest’ Brands Of The Year (So Far) / Jing Daily

  • And How Philipp Plein Became the King of Lowbrow High Fashion / The New Yorker

  • A guide for wearing your canceled sneakers šŸ’°/ The Kicks You Wear

  • Oh also there’s a club for the canceled (sounds cool šŸ¤¦ā€ā™‚ļø)Ā  / The New Yorker

  • Tiktokers’ Growing interest in upper east side styleĀ  / Elle

  • How luxury giant LVMH built a recession-proof empire / CNBC

  • Because actually, there’s no secret to how wealthy people dress / The Atlantic

  • Inside the men’s luxury bag boom / Vogue Business

  • From Celeste Blewitt:Ā  Fashion Is Basking In Summer Nostalgia Right Now' / Elle UK

  • TikTok’s ā€˜Gamer Girl’ Aesthetic Offers Brands New Way To Score With China’s Gen Z / Jing Daily

  • From Celeste Blewitt: Young Design Influencers Are the New Kids On The TikTok Block’] /FT

  • What the design hive is buying for home / Magasin

  • A temperature check of the big collab industrial complex / GQUK

  • Frank Stella to the quilters of Gee's Bend: how Artists Rights Society is working in the world of NFTs / The Art Newspaper

  • It’s Time to Rewrite the Canon of Women Artists / Hyperallergic

  • Related: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith on Her Life’s Journey in Art / Hyperallergic

  • Harder-to-see: A new documentary tracks David Hammons, the art world's invisible man / The Art Newspaper

  • Hayden Martin’s ā€˜Thunderdome’ work involves an AI experiment, recreating the essence of the famous 1997 Thunderdome rave through synthetic club photography / IG

  • Corollary: From Hardcore to Hardcore MUSIC Investor: Q’s With Matt Pincus / Pollstar

  • A Few Thoughts on Quentin Tarantino’s Plan to Retire / The New Yorker

  • Meanwhile, Matthew Barney isĀ  Back in the Game / NYT

  • Printed Matter is looking for an Executive Director / Arts Consulting

  • On the other hand: The Worst Job in Soccer: ā€˜It’s 90 Minutes of Hell’ / The Athletic

  • Everybody Wants Victor Wembanyama. He Wants to Rule the N.B.A. / NYT

  • Also rules: Liz Stip reviewing the top 500 albums of all time /Ā  TikTok

  • Spotify’s RapCaviar Releases List Of The 50 Best Hip-Hop Beats / HotHipHop

  • While Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ā€œlast playlist,ā€ was made to be played at his funeral / The Fader

  • Unrelated: Asics is launching a new fashion line with Kiko Kostadinov / BoF

  • Rhuigi VillaseƱor leaves Bally after less than two years / Vogue Business

  • Cannes kicks off with a full embrace of Johnny Depp / WaPo

  • Logical, given Hollywood Can’t ā€œBoycottā€ Johnny Depp Because He’s Not Thinking About Them Anyway / Vanity Fair

Media Happenings

  • Behind the mission to preserve Black Twitter / Nieman Lab

  • Related: Black creators say relationships with platforms remain strained / Digiday

  • Time CEO Jessica Sibley on taking down Time's paywall / The Rebooting Pod

  • Forbes is being bought by a 28-year-old tech exec — and/or the foreign investors behind himĀ / Axios

  • Here are Linda Yaccarino’s likely top priorities as Twitter’s new CEO / Digiday

  • Musk and Yaccarino are bound to Clash / The Information

  • How The Guardian, The Times, The Economist, the FT, and Tortoise became podcasting leadersĀ / Press Gazette

  • Substack spam is rising. And so is the annoyance with newsletters / Om

  • Newsmax beat CNN in prime-time ratings for the first time on Friday / Mediaite

  • AI has striking writers freaked out. Can Hollywood avoid nightmare scenarios?Ā  / LA Times

  • CNET journalists, inspired by AI, are threatening to unionize / Bloomberg

  • From Zach Mallard: ā€œHey Ben- as promised- the link to episode one of THE SWIRL _ 01. It’s certainly a WIP, but to begin, begin eh?ā€ / YT

  • Media vets launch podcast investment firm / Axios

  • The New York Times Goes All In on a New Podcast App / Vanity Fair

  • And TikTok will pay creators of viral filters and effects / The Verge

  • TikTok isn’t where ā€˜stars get started’. Stars start themselves. / Music Business Worldwide

  • Gaming news creator Jake Lucky and gaming commentator Hunter Grooms launched Gaming World Media (GWM), a news organization that covers gaming and creator updates / GWM

  • ON_Discourse's Plan for a newĀ New Membership-Focused Media Company / PRNewswire

Market-ations

  • From Iolanda Carvalho:Ā  This is lovely - "The simple act of recognizing that a holiday email might be painful is a step toward building a relationship with consumers." [Opting Out Is an Opportunity for Your Brand to Build Empathy] / Branding Mag

  • Another from Iolanda: ā€œCMO talks from THE best brand in the world!ā€ [Coca-Cola's Manolo Arroyo on the future of marketing] / Contagious

  • As Late Night Goes Dark During the Writers Strike, Marketers Scramble / The Hollywood Reporter

  • Oscar Mayer’s Wienermobile is getting a new name / CNN

  • Are you ready for a free flatscreen TV — with ads you can never turn off?Ā / Fast Company

  • After last year’s inventory tidal wave, where do retailers go from here? / Retail Dive

  • America’s Wildly Successful Socialist Experiment. The NBA lottery illustrates the gulf between the sporting outlooks of the U.S. and Europe / The Atlantic

  • Nike faces lawsuit over greenwashing claims / Retail Dive

  • Wait, did Van Gogh and Monet unwittingly advertise Stella Artois? / Creative Bloq

  • Tesla will 'try a little advertising,' / The Verge

Superficial Interest

  • This list of Quaker names is amazing / Twitter

  • The Long, Strange History of the Baseball Cap / MLB

  • Beer yoga / EuroNews

  • The world’s most unusual neighbourhood design in The Netherlands, where residents live in giant concrete spheres / Architectural Digest

Food / Drink

  • How TikTok took over the menu and made everything cheesier, saucier, and covered with caviar / Grub Street

  • Corollary: Selena Gomez is now a Food Network host / Vulture

  • How two friends sparked L.A.’s sushi obsession — and changed the way America eats / LATimes

  • Our National French Fry Decline / The Melt

  • Corollary: The ā€œMcDonalds Broke My Heartā€ episode of the Revisionist History pod / Spotify

  • Food tech startup Pairwise has launched the first CRISPR-developed food available in the U.S / Axios

  • How Big Beverage poured empty promises down our throats / Vox

  • The FTC states that wellness companies must back up the health or safety benefits of a product — including over-the-counter drugs, homeopathic products, dietary supplements, and "functional foods" which includes things like snacks and beverages— with "reliable evidence" pointing to said benefit / FTC

Useful Diversions

Do:

Tonight: Furnishing Utopia's PUBLIC ACCESS debut exhibit featuring works from 37 international designers, from 19 cities, 12 countries exploring ways in which design can inspire communal acts of sharing / HeadHi

Friday: See work from [SIC] homie Maggie Lee and many others at this group show at Reena Spaulding / IG

Saturday: Meet me on the dance floor at Friends from New York / Partiful

Sunday: Go hear [SIC] homie Bobby Hundreds talk about his new book ā€œNFTs are a Scam / NFTs are the Futureā€ / Eventbrite

Next Tuesday May 23, 2023 at 9a ET: Check out [SIC] homie Stefano Rosso virtually at the Jing Meta X GEEIQ: Is the metaverse enough? Exploring mixed reality, phygital and luxury in Web3 event / Jing

======[SIC] 246: Unexpected Sparkle======

Noah Brier at BrXnd.ai - and the word of the week: Fingertipfeel
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