[SIC] 248: That Hazy Way
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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).
Corollary sources this week (all worth your review, and all easily discoverable): Retail Innovation Week / Motive Unknown / Marginal Revolution / 1440 / The New Statesman / After School / Dealbook / Dirt / Nieman Lab / Daily Upside / Metaproof / Politico / Brendan’s Communications Miscellany / The Future Party / Blazer / Micromobility Report / Ben-Evans
Read this piece about how trends have lost all meaning featuring [SIC] Talks alum Matt Klein in Fast Company and figured, screw it, if there’s no reason to aggregate collective thoughts into subjects headings, let’s revisit the exquisite corpse style of the earliest [SIC] editions.
For free subs, this is the style I use in Sunday’s weekly update for paid subscribers; I’ll probably share one of those with everybody some Sunday soon.
Thanks to contribution supernovas Celeste and Iolanda, not to mention Matt and Jeff for sending stories this week.
Final thing - I’ll be at Cannes Lions later this month, and hosting a few Breakfast Club meet-ups. Would love to say hi if you’ll be on the Croissette. Reply to this note, or leave a comment and I’ll send info along.
Now, the free association.
Ben
The weekly game of telephone.
======[SIC] 248: That Hazy Way======
To begin, a little conversational physics: Why every Duck makes the same wake / WSJ
Corollary ‘string theory’: Snow Peak’s Knot Tying Guide / YT
And since it’s summer now, more utility: All the Gear You Need to Maintain Your Bike (and How to Do It) / Wired
Now, onto the more usual stuff. From Matt Navarra: TikTok viral videos in decline? / Twitter
Cause apparently YouTube is now more profitable for creators than Instagram or TikTok / AdAge
Also Can you trust these viral TikTok brands? / Thingtesting
Gen Z teens are bragging about how much they can make in this economy/ Fortune
While simultaneously Gen Z discovers Marx / Foreign Policy
Are Bluesky Social’s Good Vibes Doomed? / Vanity Fair
Also tough going: Jimmy Finkelstein, Low-Key Media Tycoon, Looks Beyond The Messenger’s Rocky Start /Vanity Fair
The AI boom runs on chips, but it can’t get enough / WSJ
Hence: trillion dollar baby Nvidia Unveils New Supercomputer for its Largest Customers / The Information
Time to ask Questions About the Great Weirdening, then / Context Collapse
Leads us to the appeal of watching nothing happen on YouTube / The Verge
But ultimately, AI will unlock creation rather than consumption / Music Industry Blog
Case in point: Grimes debuted a software called Elf Tech that allows anyone to turn their vocals into Grimes’ — a generation called “GrimesAI-1. Over 300 songs have been made using the tool and have been submitted to streamers for distribution / The Ticker
Including one that’s a viral hit / NME
Corollary: Nu-metal is cool now / The FACE
But Are Major Labels Cooling on Viral Artists? / Billboard
Why Airbnb's global head of marketing says the in-housing agency critique is a fallacy / Digiday
Two years in, Bose's first CMO and [SIC] homie Jim Mollica outlines his plan for the brand / Digiday
To wit: Bose is hiring an army of creatives to produce digital content and promoting it digitally / AdWeek
Also crowdsourced: a subreddit that will recommend the best Spotify playlists / Reddit
A Playlist of Songs You'll Hate that You Love via NYC Nightlife legend Nicholas Rhodes bka Nicky Digital / Spotify
Burn the junk your past selves left behind: Big Spyplane talks to King Krule / Blackbird Spyplane
Leave your guests behind too: Restaurateurs are embracing the idea of solo dining and creating unique experiences for customers dining alone, from tasting menus to communal seating / Mold
That in mind: How to navigate the evolving tipping culture / WSJ
Supermarket chain Aldi has over 950 plant-based products already available, including vegan oat milk, vegan smoked salmon, and vegan steak / Vegconomist
But brands like Nestle are ditching plant-based foods / The Drum
Superiority Burger Keeps a Tight Focus / The New Yorker
Corollary: What’s the Water Footprint of a Cheeseburger? / Bon Appetit
Cities Are Becoming More Like Sponges. Water management that prizes lakes and greenery over concrete makes for less flood-prone cities — and prettier ones, too / Reasons to Be Cheerful
Related: Ocean creatures soak up huge amounts of humanity’s carbon mess. Should we value them like financial assets? / Wired
Also, what is a weed? The names we call plants say more about us than they do about the greenery that surrounds us / The New Yorker
Non-edible: Pickle is a new clothing rental app / Stylecaster
Related to that: Brand names are all nonsense now / Embedded
And per BrXnd’s Ad Turing Test Results, we can’t tell if they’re even really real / BrXnd.ai
New York's Coolest Surf Club Wants You to "Swim Smart and Stay Safe" / Hypebeast
What’s New in the Hamptons? The Restaurants, Hotels, and Stores to Know for Summer 2023 / Vogue
Young people are Canceling the Hamptons, turned off by conspicuous wealth / NYT
And seeking out places upstate like All Sorts, in Hancock, NY / NYT
Where I got a copy of fave artist Ryan Foerster’s “SCSP” Book / Fenrick Books
On June 10th - meet fave artist Stephen Powers at his ESPOKYO opening in Tokyo / IG
Or, closer to home: Four NYC Open Studios to Visit in June / Hyperallergic
And Five Enchanting Art Bookstores in NYC / Hyperallergic
While Brooklyn’s “Bat Cave” has been reborn as an art factory / NYT
Corollary: The Art World Recovers From Its Guston Derangement Syndrome / The New York Sun
Speaking of questionable superstars: How to Hire a Pop Star for Your Private Party / The New Yorker
Corollary to that: Exploration Is The New Luxury For The Ultra Wealthy / Jing Daily
IE, from Celeste Blewitt: Succession Nailed The Unreal Way We Live Now / NYT
In fact, Succession made fools of us all / The New Statesman
Succession’s costume designer explained why shoes are essential to understanding a character / NYT
Which brings to mind an edition of WITI I wrote about shoes a couple years back / Why Is This Interesting
Jewelry: normal. From Celeste Blewitt: “What a world, sororities and all that goes with them. Town and Country have revisited a 2017 article, but given the latest documentary on sororities, it's a great read.” The Strange World Of Sorority Rush Consultants' / Town & Country
Apropos of the doc in question: University of Alabama sorority sisters assessed the accuracy of a documentary about their rush process / NYT
Corollary: Vice failed because of Vice, not private equity / A Media Operator
But [SIC] homies Jake Burghardt and Alex Chitty’s Red Sea doc is must see / YT
Fashion Photography with a Pistol and a Pulse. Steven Klein’s images teetered between the seductive and the sadistic. For most publications today, they are history too rude to be repeated / The New Yorker
Corollary: Art History's Most Controversial Nudes / Hyperallergic
Related: Richard Kern on Nude Women, Nostalgia and Unseen Polaroids / The FACE
“Everything is worthy of a photograph, per Ari Marcopoulos / The FACE
Tho every outfit’s not worthy of a dunk attempt, kids: Billie Eilish slams 'bozos' who criticize her style change: 'Femininity does not equal weakness’/ Hollywood Reporter
Next week there’s a one-of-a-kind “Rave Ride” through the scenic streets of Amsterdam, led by none other than DJ Dom Whiting / Luma
URB’s Raymond Roker has 12 Thoughts on EDC Las Vegas that I liked / URB
Corollary: Should clubs move from a “zero tolerance” to “zero harm” approach to drugs? / The FACE
Apropos: more teenagers Are Coming to School High, N.Y.C. Teachers Say / NYT
Related: The arts in English state schools are in extreme peril' / The Art Newspaper
Back to dodgy clubs: The metaverse’s depreciating property values / The Street
But NFTs Are Still Hot: Nike Makes $1M In Digital Sneaker Sales / Jing Daily
And Formula 1 Embraces NFTs for Luxury Sport to Revolutionize Ticketing: / NFT Culture
Paperback books have become increasingly popular as cheaper alternative entertainment due to people forgoing subscription services like Netflix / Fortune
The future of media. Artificial intelligence will soon transform media on a scale and pace that rivals the internet two decades ago. The media companies that survive — and thrive — will be those that adapt quickly to fast-changing consumer needs. / Axios
A lawyer representing a man who sued an airline relied on artificial intelligence to help prepare a court filing. It did not go well / NYT
An A.I.-Generated Film Depicts Human Loneliness, in “Thank You for Not Answering” / The New Yorker
AI advancements are releasing a wave of new job opportunities / Wunderman Thompson
Andreessen Horowitz has compiled a useful list of a couple of dozen different pieces about generative AI, organised by topic / A16Z
But Can ChatGPT fact-check? Poynter tried.The results were not pretty / Poynter
AI chatbots are also not that great at shopping, as it turns out / Wired
Therefore, per Ryan Broderick: “AI can’t replace humans yet — but if the WGA writers don’t win, it might not matter” / Polygon
Especially since 86% of US workers said they would take a pay cut to work less with AI assistance. Survey included 3k US workers equally divided among boomers and gen x/y/z / Yahoo
Related: To Work Fewer Hours, They Put AI on the Job / WSJ
A Week With the Wild Children of the A.I. Boom / NYT
But what is a Shoggoth, and why has it come to symbolize AI? / NYT
How Tinder Made Me a Better Copywriter / Inbox Collective
Conversely: Generative AI Podcasts Are Here. Prepare to Be Bored / Wired
Meanwhile, Twitter is adding crowdsourced fact checks to images / The Verge
‘League of Legends’ esports players voted ‘overwhelmingly’ for a walkout / The Verge
Also out: the demise of the television theme song / Free Beacon
SNL’s Chloe Fineman has “the most realistic” Architectural Digest house tour yet / YT
Old industrial cities can be central to America’s economic future. The legacy assets they retain may prove crucial to the country’s manufacturing / FT
Especially with the benefit of promo from people like the Pizza graffiti bandit / IG
Elsewhere in trolling: Matty Healy doesn’t think people are really upset about those Ice Spice podcast comments / Fader
But Who Is Matty Healy? / The New Yorker
Corollary: Taika Waititi: “Am I Allowed to Laugh at This?” / The Hollywood Reporter
The Secret History And Strange Future Of Charisma / Noema
The First 10 Words of the African American English Dictionary / NYT
And Wangechi Mutu’s Corporeal Archaeology / Hyperallergic
The new academy: modern intellectuals are writing their best ideas on Substack / Substack
In sharp contrast: The Rise of Latino White Supremacy / The New Yorker
While Evie is like a Gen Z Cosmo (for the far right) / Rolling Stone
Related: The Long Afterlife of Libertarianism. As a movement, it has imploded. As a credo, it’s here to stay / The New Yorker
Apropos: “Chick-fil-A has gone woke”: Conservatives are angry that the company has a diversity, equity and inclusion policy / NYT
Corollary to that: Will Drag Performances Get Banned in Your State? / Hyperallergic
More politicking: Henry Kissinger is better understood as a consultant than a diplomat / The New Statesman
The Zen Wisdom of Sarah Silverman / The New Yorker
Also, Does therapy really work? / NYT
Philip Morris International CEO Jacek Olczak gave an interview in which he said PMI is on track to becoming an ESG stock as the company retreats from cigarettes and shifts toward vaping / FT
Also smoggy: from California Cool to New York Nuanced, Esprit Rebuilds / WWD
Also rebuilt: I would like to Own Paul Newman’s souped-up Volvo / Robb Report
Rather than Porsche’s $15k EXC electric mountain bike / Porsche
Corollary; Porsche, Bentley, Armani: Why Miami can’t build enough branded high rises / FT
A curated resource list to kickstart your design education / Degreeless
More design canon, From Jeff Carvalho: The Taschen Computer Book / Wallpaper
The “Great Resignation” has ended. The quits rate among American workers is back down to pre-pandemic levels / Quartz
Some people are trying to avoid the sun altogether / NYT
"I sometimes feel like I fell into doing fashion" says Jonathan Anderson / Dezeen
While [SIC] homie Angelo Baque’s Awake NY's Lower East Side Flagship Is a Cultural Hub / Hypebeast
And in London Aries’s Sophia Prantera is the “woman dressing Gen Z” / HTSI
The Iolanda Carvalho Wing:
“Round 2…” Lululemon gave out $98k worth of leggings—here’s how and why / Marketing Brew
OpenAI’s website traffic is growing so fast, that it may soon surpass giants like TikTok and Amazon. / Visual Capitalist
(And yet Majority of US adults have never used ChatGPT, according to the Pew Research Center) / Pew
Marketing is a generative AI hot spot because the new technology is so well suited to its blend of creative and data-driven work. How Gen AI Is Already Transforming Marketing / Bain
Big Tech’s Biggest Bets (Or What It Takes to Build a Billion User Platform) / MatthewBall.co
“Love this one! "For ANP|WWF, and in partnership with the Lisbon Zoo, BAR Ogilvy Lisbon came up with a creative way to keep that harrowing knowledge in our consciousness.” The Letters in This Typeface Disappear as Endangered Animals Vanish / Muse By Clio
And to round things out, four from Celeste Blewitt:
“If you haven't watched already, [the] Fatboy Slim doco is well worth a watch” / YT
“Although there have been multitudes of Tina Turner memorial pieces, loved this on her costumes and style. A dive into memory lane of Bob Mackie and the art of costumes for Tina Turner.” [The Designer Who Put Tina Turner In Those Hemlines]/ NYT
“Highlighting the film star and the studio marketing processes, where does the film world go to from here. As the article suggests, do film stars exist in the current terms of social media and the world?! This article certainly highlights this argument and draws on the commentary. [Why Film Stars Are Getting Older - And What It Tells Us About Hollywood's New Struggles] / The Guardian
The Challenge Of Rehangs: Galleries Wrestle With Changing Politics Of Art / The Guardian
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