[SIC] 261: Magnaboxing

Volume Six, Number One

Ben Dietz

Aug 31, 2023

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Corollary sources this week: Future Resources / Future of Transportation / 1440 / Future Party / Dealbook / Morning Consult / The Medium / After School / Nieman Lab / The Publish Press / Strat Scraps / NYT / Micromobility Report / Axios / Elevator / Future Perfect / Motive Unknown / Brendans Communication Miscellany / Morning Brew / Blazer

Hi all,

Welcome to [SIC] Volume Six: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I’ve made a reasonably big deal about the updates and changes to the sletter I wanted to make in the last couple of weeks. Putting this week’s digest together reminded I’ve got work to do.

I succeeded in renaming the subject headings, in making some style and aesthetic tweaks, and in reducing the total number of links *a bit*. I raised the cost of subscriptions since I’ll now be publishing a daily micro digest for paid subs, and I figured out my format for that [SIC] Day note.

I’ve so far failed, however, to resuscitate [SIC] Talks, expand to new platforms, or to launch a regular contributor feature, since a core group of folks is now sending my their own mini-digest to consider including every week. All those features coming -encouraged by your feedback. Thanks for that - and let me know what you think of all this. And what you’re missing.

To that end, thanks to super-contributors Iolanda Carvalho (OG!), Piers Fawkes, Celeste Blewitt and Molly Raskin for your amazing consistency, and thanks also to James Friedman, Syd Allen-Ash, Gordon Hull and my mom Ginger-Dunlap Dietz for stories this week, too.

======[SIC] 261: Magnaboxing======

The Macro Narrative

AI-generated mushroom foraging books are all over Amazon. AI-generated foraging books, specifically, could actually kill people if they eat the wrong mushroom because a guidebook written by an AI prompt said it was safe.” / 404 Media
Corollary, from Piers: “I suspect the availability of mushroom and thx gummies must have something to do with this. Kinda, end of an era of alcohol monopoly” [French government to spend $216 million to destroy excess wine as younger consumers drink less alcohol] / Business Insider
And yet in America: Adults Drinking, Using Marijuana at Record Levels / NYT
Apropos? Peter Zeihan on Understanding the Limits of Innovation / YouTube
Related to one of Zeihan’s points: How Ozempic is reshaping the Danish economy / NYT
While in Dubai: To escape the heat, people are going to the beach in the middle of the night / NYT
Hence? Digital Nomads Are Traveling by Day and Working by Night / Bloomberg
Related: Back in the office? Fine. But not from 9 to 5. / WaPo
Here’s where all the wealthy young people are moving this year: Miami, Austin, Colorado, and…New Jersey. New York and California are seeing major outflows of young high earners / Insider
Speaking of relocations: Totally amazing (and fucked): The big potato payday / FT
Corollary: These are the world’s most expensive cities in 2023 / Quartz
And related to that: How the ‘urban doom loop’ could pose the next economic threat / WaPo
Hence? Who’s who of Silicon Valley is behind an $800 million effort to build a new California city / NYT
Alternately? Community-centric retail. Shopping streets and districts will be revitalized by focusing on community / Wundermann Thompson
To that end, from Syd: This doc by Theo Anthony [All Lights Are Everywhere] is not particularly new (2021) but it is excellent. About the history of cameras, weapons, policing and surveillance (and how the invention of those things are surprisingly intertwined)” / YouTube
Another from Syd: “Theo Anthony also made Rat Film” in 2017, which, while older, is potentially more relevant given the Rat Czar appointment in NYC” / YT
Which calls to mind Joseph Mitchell’s 1944 classic on New York’s Eternal War on Rats: the neighbors you’d rather not know about / The New Yorker
Elsewhere: Why Cuban migrants are moving to Kentucky / NYT
While Peter Zeihan says a US - Cuba Deal is Inevitable / YouTube
Meantime, Major Cuban artists sign an open letter urging the international art community to boycott state-sponsored cultural events on the island / Hyperallergic
While more than 120 executives sent a letter to President Biden and congressional leaders yesterday, urging Washington to fulfill New York State’s request for federal assistance to support migrants / PFNYC
Health and Human Services urged the Drug Enforcement Administration to ease restrictions on marijuana / Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia makes first move in mixed martial arts by taking stake in league / FT
Meanwhile Everton suitor 777 hails new era of football ‘hyper commercialisation’ / FT
From James Friedman: “What ever happened to Peace Love Unity and Respect???” [Is there a serial killer stalking the Brooklyn Mirage] / Curbed

Generationations

Millennials are tired of trying to be perfect moms / WaPo
Gen Z ditches social media for private community / The Future Party
Gen Z FOMO is driving them to trade more than any other Generation / Fortune
More high school graduates are foregoing college altogether, questioning the merit of higher ed in a challenging economy to secure high-paying, fulfilling careers / Fortune

Platformations

Going viral on TikTok Shop / Embedded
TikTok’s growth has brands seeking TikTok agencies / Digiday
Why T-Mobile is taking a TikTok approach to its brand messaging, working with creators and exploring AI / Digiday
Is Bleak the New Look for a TikTok Childhood? / Hyperallergic
Also bleak: this Is a Reminder That You’re Probably Oversharing on Venmo / NYT
That’s enough internet for today. How people set digital boundaries / Embedded
From Iolanda: "The rules have already been changing ever since the pandemic fuelled our TikTok era, where anyone with a working internet connection and a device has the ability to achieve (albeit fleeting) influence" [Human Only > Humans Extended: influence beyond human limits] / We Are Social

Stylistics

In fashion, CEO basically means “Chief Energy Officer” — curating the vibe of a brand and getting people excited about changes (see: Pharrell at Louis Vuitton) / Fast Company
The chief culture officer role is quickly disappearing / Quartz
Re-Creative Direction: The 20th century is on the line... / As If It Matters
[SIC] Talks alum Chris Black asks: Why Is Everyone Trying to Sell Me Their Old Stuff? / Pulling Weeds
Elsewhere, influenced by Chris’s fave show Yellowstone, We’re having a Cowboy Moment / NYT
From bed-rotting to quiet quitting, everyone loves a so-called trend. Here’s how to invent your own. / Guardian
Apropos from Molly: All the Popular Middle Schoolers Wear Online Ceramics / You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
From Piers: not quite my expertise but interesting shift aligned with a lot of other stuff going on re wellness [Lipstick is dead. Long live lip gloss] / Glossy
Sex Dolls And Surgery: A New Beauty Standard / Service95
The Bar That Will Do Anything to Make You Feel ‘Insane and Alive’ / NYT
The end of cool small cars. The Taliban has fresher trucks than us. The Honda Fit is dead. U can’t find a sauced-out 2-door to save your life. How did we get here?? / Blackbird Spyplane

Culturations

Economist Will Page unwraps the music touring bounceback / IQ Mag
Also back: A crash course in the Elephant 6 Recording Co / NYT
“Dirtybag twee” bands are making earnestness cool again / Nylon
W. David Marx asserts : They Might Be Giants were the Early Internet / Culture, an Owners Manual
Oliver Tree breaks character (kinda) on Steve O’s podcast / Spotify
Also breaking: is the Countryside the Future of the Art World? Artists are reconsidering their relationship to ‘the rural’ / Frieze
Back in the city, from caves to the catwalk: Maripol on the evolution of street art and fashion / Jing Daily
The print, power and politics of Mandy El-Sayegh / FT
Apropos of print: why one company dominates the font market / The Hustle
Unrelated, from Celeste: “Fascinating and fact fuelled piece streaming and the idea behind the daily soap opera. Given Neighbours was such a cult status classic for Australia and then the UK, as the article highlights, what happens now that it's on a streaming platform rather than free-to air? Does anyone still watch it?” 'Neighbours Is Returning. But Is It Going To Work? / The Guardian

Technopolis

Tim Hwang’s take on Hallucinations! (for Fun and Profit) is an essential one / BrXnd Dispatch
Related: VFX artists show that Hollywood can use AI to create, not exploit / TechCrunch
From Iolanda: “If you put all the world’s knowledge into an AI model and use it to make something new, who owns that and who gets paid? “ Generative AI and intellectual property/ Benedict Evans
Apropos: Is Google’s search engine losing its cultural cachet? / The Verge
Then again: How Yahoo staged a comeback / Axios
Google's DeepMind unit has unveiled a new method of invisibly and permanently labeling AI-generated images / Axios
The internet is beginning to fill up with AI-generated content — posing weird new dangers to the AI programs themselves / Axios
Although ChatGPT is gaining mindshare, only ~18% of Americans have ever actually used it / TechCrunch
Hence: OpenAI unveils an enterprise version of ChatGPT. The business-focused edition of the chatbot will allow customers to customize it, and offers faster performance and unlimited data use / CNBC
Harman announced its new line of JBL Authentics: first-of-their-kind smart speakers that will simultaneously deploy both Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant / The Verge

Media-tions

Karlie Kloss is said to be in talks to buy i-D Magazine from VICE / Puck
While Newsrooms are in a cold war with OpenAI / CNN
But can news outlets build a “trustworthy” AI chatbot? / The Verge
Cause, like, political journalism fails miserably at explaining what is really happening to America / Philadelphia Inquirer
The Daily Wire’s "Convicting a Murderer," a rebuttal to “Making a Murderer” narrated by Candace Owens will premiere on X. Episode one will be free to watch for all users while the second episode will be free on DailyWire+. Other episodes (3–10) will only be available behind a paywall to DailyWire+ subscribers / Axios
The New Statesman is the first major publisher to distribute its newsletters entirely through Substack / Press Gazette

Market / Influence

Holistic brand mngement is the new marketing / Sociology of Business
Ergo: The PR Machines Building the Next Generation of ‘It Girls’ / BoF
Tho, in contrast, from Emily Seitz: Not sure why Lockeed Martin needed a streetwear line, too, but here we are / Business Insider
The Alix Earle Effect / Elle
Emma Chamberlain goes cosmic for Beats / The Drum
From Molly: The Most Famous Woman in Men’s Tennis / NYT
KSI and Logan Paul announced their next Prime-sponsored athlete, footballer Erling Haaland / Twitter
Kai Cenat is a perfect example of the new type of celebrity. How did he summon a crowd of thousands to Manhattan’s Union Square? / NYT
Cenat released a short film called Global Pursuit / YT
Hence: Creator-focused talent management company Night has acquired LFM Management, with the firm’s now combined 60+ influencers (including MrBeast and Kai Cenat) bringing in over 5 billion views per month / TubeFilter
Tho Mr. Beast’s attempt to bring together one person “from every country on Earth” for a competition is the latest viral moment to highlight the fraught political nature of maps in pop culture / Semafor
But nothing is forever: YouTube’s ‘canceled’ stars are making comebacks with TikTok, podcasts and livestreams / NBC News
Corollary: the great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace / The Guardian
Related: The Inevitable Flop of ‘Wonka’ and the Death of Hollywood / The New York Sun
Point: Why virtual influencers have died off despite the AI boom that has a chokehold on the industry / Digiday
Counterpoint: Virtual influencers are reshaping social media — for real, this time / Decode
Beware of ROAS, ROI’s dangerous digital twin / Marketing Week
DC Comics' bizarre Swimsuit Edition turns superheroes into pinups / Creative Bloq
62ft tall Ikea bag lands on London’s Oxford Street / The Drum
Related, from Piers “More than a news item about its closure it’s a great case study on how one of the most experimental retailers out there injected new ideas using a design studio" Ikea’s radical innovation studio is shutting down forever / Fast Company
But, also from Piers: “in contrast to the ikea lab closing - another one ‘opens’ “/ Apple
Three lessons in global brand collabs, from luxury streetwear to high-low crossovers / Jing Daily
MasterCard is advertising more with Riot Games even as other brands divest from esports / Digiday
Diesel is rolling out a Where’s Waldo-like scavenger hunt, dubbed “Find the D,” to give fans the opportunity to win bags and apparel / Hypebeast
How Retro Sneakers Took Over Fashion / BoF
Aldi’s $13 Sneaker comes at too high a price for the planet. It sounds too good to be true, right? Well, that’s probably because it is / Futurevvorld
On the heels of it’s net zero carbon shoe announcement, Allbirds’ purchasing consideration and favorability among millennials has been on the upswing / Morning Consult
The Best New Vegan & Sustainable Footwear / Futurevvorld

Eats, Drinks and Emphemera

Should We All Be Eating Like The Rock? / The Atlantic
Is Scarr’s the Best Pizza in New York? In the golden age of the slice, Scarr Pimentel treats pizza like a form of art / The New Yorker
From Gordon Hull: You should go to this if you can! I just got a ticket @dreambabypress and @leftbankbooksny are excited to announce their collaboration “PEEP SHOW”, a curated selection of vintage erotica: Opening party and reading for it is 9/6 at 7pm with readers @annierau, @mackenzie, @ivycwolk / IG
All of the 8,291 license plates in America / Beautiful Public Data
From Piers: “Ignore the pov shot and take a look at the super fresh design to the interior walls [Frankenshed rises from the dead to win 2023 Shed of the Year]” / New Atlas

The Natural (?!) World

Extraterrestrial Cuisine AMA with Larissa Zhou / Scope of Work
Elsewhere in space: A blue supermoon will be visible this week / CBS
Back at sea level: A whale swallowed her. “It was amazing” / Slate
While beneath the waves: the classic “Hunt for the Giant Squid”: how something so big could remain unseen / The New Yorker
Maybe cause It’s a Snail World After All: Tiny Molluscs Slide Around Town in Nostalgic Miniature Sets / Colossal
Another classic: When Homing Pigeons Leave Home (to find their way for mail delivery, espionage, and sport) / The New Yorker
Related: From my mom: “Just heard on NPR a fascinating program focusing on Sound. Among other things discussed: recent developments in ENF, and a study of pigeons - their skills and some DVD race history” / WNYC
And oddly related, from Celeste; "If money had a smell, you could smell it on the Concorde" [Inside Concorde: The Doomed High-Flying Circus That ELevated The Jet Set To New Heights Of Luxury] / Tatler