[SIC] 249: Bloody Well Right

Volume 5, Number 41

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): Understanding Tiktok / After School / Morning Brew / Nice News / NYT / Quartz / The Micromobility Report / Public Announcement / Recommended Reads / Context Collapse / Forefront / 1440 / Morning Consult / Built with AI / Ben’s Bites / Dirt / Nieman Lab / Beats & Bytes / Elevator / Business of Fashion / The Unskippables / Garbage Day

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Hi, all.

I got a text from former colleague and [SIC] Talks alum Thobey Campion after last week’s edition, asking if I’ve ever tried putting a sexy image at the top of the web version of [SIC]. I hadn’t, so trying it this week. Up to your particular inclinations on whether my collaging of recent Cindy Sherman work, rephotographed from the Financial Times, is sexy. But I like it.

Thanks for the suggestion, Thobes. And thanks to friends Matt, the other Matt, Piers, Iolanda and Celeste for contributions this week. I really do welcome them from everybody - so if you’ve got something for me, send it! Or, paste it in the comments, even.

Elsewhere in friends: today is exciting because it marks the launch of Byline, a brand new publication from [SIC] Talks Alum Gutes Guterman and her co-founder Megan O’Sullivan.

I’m an advisor so I’m biased, but I have to say that it’s really impressive for a bootstrapped, organic project. Cara Schacter had lots to say about it (and about food!) in the New York Times including a kind of a quote from me.

Related: another Byline advisor, Kareem Rahma and his Tiny Gun (aka [SIC] homie Tyler McCauley made a song called, “Entertainment,” and I like it. Kareem made like ten videos for it, too - all of which brought to mind Why Is Everyone Watching TV With the Subtitles On? in The Atlantic, tho. Here’s my favorite.

Now, on to the main event.

B

I really enjoy photographing newspaper photos.

======[SIC] 249: Bloody Well Right======

Zeitgest / Gestalt

• Whatever Happened to Middle Age? The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Life Stage / The Guardian

• Here are 28 aesthetics from last autumn to prepare you for the coming season / Quartz

• Corollary: Max Read predicts the future of pro-smoking discourse / Substack

• From Matt @thetechnorati: LSD enhances learning and exploratory behavior in humans, according to new research / PsyPost

• The new age of perfectionism. Is capitalism itself causing millennial burnout? / The New Statesman

• Ergo? welcome to CringeTok, Where Being Insufferable Can Be Lucrative / NYT

• In contrast: Gen Z TikTokers replaced doomscrolling with #hopecore / Daily Beast

• So much for self-expression — Gen Z just wants in on the trend / Glossy

• Hence? 2023 is the year of getting sick on a cruise / Quartz

• But Is Gen Z working too hard? / BBC

• The Lows of The High Life/ The New Yorker

• So: professionals are using AI to boost their income — and leisure time / WSJ

• Logically, then: Gen Z got hooked on urban fishing. / The Guardian

• But the corporate girlie aesthetic dominating TikTok is proof that Gen Z isn’t about quiet quitting / In the Knows

• Besides, what if We’re Thinking About Inflation All Wrong? / The New Yorker

• To that end: people have a bullshit blindspot. Those who think they’re really good at detecting it fall for it the most / PsyPost

• IE: Is It Possible to Be Both Moderate and Anti-Woke? / The New Yorker

• What is a beige flag, anyway? / Centennialworld

• Corollary: How to tell if you’re a jerk / Big Think

• Because? ​​Airlines are dealing with a lot of jerks right now /Quartz

• Elsewhere: The Girl Scouts is using AI to boost memberships / AdAge

• While people are now making short films entirely with DALL-E and other AI tools / MIT Technology

• In this YouTube video, Matt Wolfe shows you how the Balenciaga Harry Potter and Wes Anderson themed AI viral videos were made using Midjourney, Eleven Labs, D-id, and Mubert / YT

• Also there’s OpenAI’s very own guide to effectively using GPT / Open.AI

• Apple’s AR glasses are here. Fashion is watching / Vogue Business

• But Are Apple’s New Goggles a Nightmare?  / NYMag

• Either way, smart glasses are coming. But will we ever embrace them as everyday wear? / Decode

• Apple steal the AI limelight with their new VR headset (without ever mentioning ‘AI’) / TechCrunch

• Also, 'Ducking hell' to disappear from Apple autocorrect / BBC

• But the company would rather not call the new release a “headset”—or, for that matter, say it is for “virtual reality” or the “metaverse.” / Quartz

• Apropos, from ‘Celeste Blewitt: “Charlie Warzel delves into all the conversations on film and tv, art, content creators and IP. Plus the ever present AI discussion. A great piece to understand all of the conversations happening at the moment around studios, streaming, productions and ideas.” [Welcome To A World Without Endings] / The Atlantic

World Order

• “Retail shrink” (the loss of inventory) is a growing problem in the US, and retailers are blaming rising theft / CNBC

• A Brooklyn neighborhood policed itself for five days. The experiment could redefine law enforcement in New York City / NYT

• While American women are leading the post-pandemic US jobs recovery / Quartz

• The Epic Siberian Journey to Solve a Mass Extinction Mystery / Wired

• On that topic: A shocking number of birds are in trouble / Ars Technica

• Related: what do we do with NYC’s 500,000 feral cats?! / NYT

• Horse Force: A New Cloned Horse Offers Hope for Endangered Species / Wired

• While a “cheerful” yellow flower called the York Groundsel that disappeared in the 1990s is blooming again in Britain’s first de-extinction event /The Guardian

• With Fur Finally Out of Fashion, PETA Sets Its Sights on Wool, Leather and Down / BoF

• Elsewhere, It's Raining eBike Subsidies / Micromobility Report

• So… Meet the biggest bike dork in Congress/ Slate

• More transport: You Can Now Call an Uber Like a Normal Taxi / Engadget

• From Iolanda Carvalho: ‘Where digital nomads come to die:’ Why Lisbon wins remote working hot-spot status / Worklife News

• From Celeste Blewitt: “Highlights the current climate of exchange rates, with reference to rental trends. A great read not only for the topic of wealth and luxury, but also the comment on movement of culture.” [Anonymous American Millionaires Rent Miniature Windsor Castle In Ultra Prime London Property Wave] / Tatler

• Another from Celeste: “An in-depth discussion on the current state of the war and Ukraine, but also interesting re the focus on tech enhancements and the reality of war.” [The War Is Not Here To Entertain You’] / Atlantic Radio

The Speculative Future

• The AI boom is not a dotcom redux. The simulation of human intelligence in machines has dramatic potential to change the way the economy works / FT

• In fact, per the heavily-invested Marc Andreessen, AI Will Save The World / Substack

• But Generative AI’s ‘productivity revolution’ will take time to pay off / FT

• Still, a New York startup is already testing its brain-computer interface / Wired

• From Iolanda Carvalho: Will 'Spatial Computing' Be the Next Big Thing for Apple? / Statista

• Character.AI does what ChatGPT does, but with role-playing — so it can talk to you in the style of Madonna or let you order Elon Musk around / Axios

• It better have personality, cause it turns out AI chatbots are really expensive to operate / WaPo

• Elon Musk Is All About the Nonstop Grind. And He Can’t Stop Talking About It / WSJ

• Related: Elon Musk’s Twitter isn’t flat or hierarchical—it’s unilateral / Quartz

• Separately but not by much: there’s the Problem With Protecting Brand IPs In Web3 / Jing Meta

• Hence? ERC-6551 is the next big thing in NFTs. The new standard allows every NFT on Ethereum (ERC-721 standard) to get its own wallet. Instead of connecting your wallet, you can now connect your NFT / Ethereum

• From Matt Medved: NFT Now’s Gateway will make its Asian debut in September at Korea Blockchain Week / IG

• And from Matt @thetechnorati: “Dear Crypto & Fiat Bros - An open letter to the confused and dismissive” / Dergigi

• Corollary: UFO likely fake news but more detailed and credible than usual? / Debrief

• Related to that: Chris Impey on the New Space Race and Exoplanet Habitation / The Slowdown Pod

Pop Cultures

• The Simpsons Is Good Again  / Vulture

• But “It Is a Weird Vibe”: Watching the Sex and the City Pilot 25 Years Later / Vanity Fair

• Media's 'Succession' obsession: It was covered six times more than any other show analyzed, but saw the second lowest average readership of that coverage / Axios

• From Iolanda Carvalho: Concert Tours Are Driving Summer Fashion Trends / Stylus

• And yet Taylor Swift fans are experiencing post-concert amnesia / BBC

• Too much information? Jason Isbell believes opening your life to fans builds a stronger bond  / AP

• On the other hand: How Delilah Became the Unofficial Sanctuary for the Rich and Famous / Vanity Fair

• The Binge Purge. TV’s streaming model is broken. It’s also not going away. For Hollywood, figuring that out will be a horror show / Vulture

• Related: How Marvel Swallowed Hollywood / The New Yorker

• Podcasting turns 20: The medium has remade pop culture and launched many parasocial relationships / The Guardian

• Gen Z loves podcasts - and considers them far less toxic than social media  / Insider Intelligence

• And yet Spotify to Lay Off 200 Employees in Podcast Strategy Shift

• While iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman Sings Radio’s Praises, Says It’s As ‘Strong As Ever’ / NYPost

• Tidal’s CEO Thinks Music Is ‘Undervalued And Underpriced.’ Here’s What He’s Doing To Try Change That / Music Business Worldwide

• Heavy Metal Soul: A Drum & Bass Love Letter / URB

• How TikTok’s AI art scene won socials / WePresent

• An unexpected art form is taking off at a few prisons: dance / NYT

• An unexpected headline: Searching for Warhol’s “Cum” / Hyperallergic

• Meg White on life post-White Stripes / Elle

• From Piers Fawkes: Why are theater audiences getting so rowdy? The FACE

• The Noguchi Museum Features Artworks Created by Staff in 'A Living Mechanism' / Hypebeast

• Related: When Did Art Fairs Become Painting Fairs? / Vulture

• Not a painting: Jimmie Durham reads his poetry (in 2012) / Frieze

• More talking: A Cold Wall designer Samuel Ross on The Slowdown / Time Sensitive Pod

• Back to paintings: The Secret Darker Art of Dr. Seuss / YT

• What’s Behind The Quick Turnover Of Young Creative Directors At Established Brands? / Jing Daily

• Related: Do you need representation as a creative? / Creative Review

• Hayao Miyazaki’s final film will drop with no trailers or promotion / The Guardian

• No faith: Black Mirror creator asked ChatGPT to write an episode of Black Mirror. It was terrible / TechCrunch

Media Happenings

• The Monday Media Diet gets literal with snack food influencer and [SIC] Talks alum Andrea Hernández / Why Is This Interesting

• Inside Vogue’s glossy game of thrones / The Times

• Meanwhile, BuzzFeed Considers Sale of Complex Networks / The Information

• Ergo: Media’s less glamorous future / The Rebooting

• Related: Chris Licht is stepping down as CNN’s chairman and CEO. Ben Smith argued the change at the network is really all about the decline of cable / Semafor

• While ex-boss Jeff Zucker, is plotting his next moves / NYT

• Layoffs at CNN en Español are “basically the end of the network as we know it” / The Wrap

• Ergo? The rise, fall, and rebirth of Snopes / Fast Company

• Related? Vice has made thousands of public records regarding Jeffrey Epstein available to the public / VICE

• Hundreds of Gannett Journalists Walk Out / NYT

• The Insider Union launched a publication called Business Outsider / Insider Union

Market-ations

• Creative isn’t in-housing’s problem – a lack of planners and strategists is / The Drum

• Why is contextual advertising on the rise? / Marketing Brew 

• How Good Weird, a new genderless beauty brand, is courting Gen Zers / Marketing Brew

• Gen Z’s favorite brands reveal a focus on health, self-care. Companies looking to market to Gen Z consumers should highlight how their products can boost wellness, whether through mental or physical health / Creative Brief

• Hence? Puma is launching a sustainability podcast / The Drum

• And Brands Like The North Face, Vans and General Mills Are Embracing Regenerative Agriculture / Adweek

• While Unilever commits to hiring disabled talent on its ad production teams / Marketing Brew 

• Meantime: Pepsi is teaming up with TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee to promote the best Black-owned restaurants with a focus on Gen Z /Digiday

• Corollary: 5 new TikTok trends that brands can follow / AdAge

• Meanwhile China’s New ‘Quiet Selling’ Livestream Trend Is Good News For Luxury / Jing Daily

• Netflix is releasing several co-branded beers based on “The Witcher.” / CNN

• While the Barbie film forced worldwide pink paint shortage / The Guardian

• Related: 'A case study for reinvention': the orchestrator of Barbie's comeback reveals his playbook / The Drum

• Meet the Billionaire King of Rolling Papers / Forbes

• Also v.v. rich: Louis Vuitton to Sell €39,000 NFTs / BoF

Superficial Interest

• Force Majeure exhibition shines a light on 16 African and diasporic designers / Dezeen

• How Danish design helped shape 1950s American design culture and taste / The Art Newspaper

• "I always avoid designing something fashionable" says Shigeru Ban / Dezeen

• Biophilic design is running wild / Wunderman Thompson

• While Norman Foster launches academic institute to "improve the quality of life in cities" / Dezeen

• Elsewhere in cities (and other places): Writer Susan Straight spent five years reading various classic American novels and placed them on a regional map / Storymaps

• While the location of “The 19th Wife,” Salt Lake City is the most appealing among aspiring Gen Z homeowners/ CBSNews

Food / Drink

• Across the Atlantic, all 140 of Scotland’s whisky distilleries have pledged to be carbon neutral by 2040 / WaPo

• Hence? Why you’re going to love rising bourbon prices… / Cask X

• Want lower food prices? Ease the crackdown on immigration / Bloomberg

• Why It’s Okay to Ignore Food Expiration Dates / WaPo

• Related?! Eggs are going on sale / WSJ

• What Brands Are Actually Behind Trader Joe’s Snacks? / Eater

Useful Diversions

Read:
I Am A Bullet by Dean Kuipers and Doug Aitken is a little-known, slept-on gem from 2001/ Amazon

Listen:

Five hours to kill? Juan Maclean and [SIC] homie JDH shared their entire B2B Good Room set for your listening pleasure (and my [SIC] 249 compiling / Soundcloud

Do:

Greenpoint Open Studios this weekend / IG

======[SIC] 249: Bloody Well Right======

Mordechai spotting at the Sebago x Drake’s launch last night.