[SIC] 279: Kind of Bonkers

Volume six, Number nineteen

Ben Dietz

Jan 11, 2024

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Corollary sources this week: Kottke / Royal Braun / After School / Daily Upside / Champion Weekly / Public Announcement / Storythings / Morning Brew /Semafor / The New Statesman / The Future Party / Elevator / Axios / Context Collapse / Garbage Day / Nieman Lab / Quartz / Magasin / Brendans Communication Miscellany / 1440 / Evelyn Crowley

Hi all,

Lots of cool stuff this week. First off, my thanks and gratitude to all who offered condolences last week; that was really nice of you, and I appreciate it greatly. [SIC] subscribers are an unbelievable group and I’m fortunate to have you.

To that end, thanks to Piers Fawkes, Eric Korsh, David Bloom, Celeste Blewitt, Zaira Stefani-Vallejo, Evie Crowley and Iolanda Carvalho for contributions this week. As always, they’re welcome from everybody - so if you got ‘em, send ‘em!

My [SIC] Talks guest is the director, curator, creative director, painter, writer and poet Aaron Rose, whose Alleged Gallery was a true touchstone for me, and whose work in catalyzing shows like Beautiful Losers has been endlessly inspiring. Aaron and I have been acquainted for a long time but don’t know each other well, so this was a cool chance to spend some time with him (and fan out a bit). Here’s the episode. Still don’t know how to make thumbnails….🤦‍♂️

The ostensible reason for us to talk is his book “Blackout Poems”, which you can get from Hat and Beard Press. Aaron explaining the book (and getting ready to read some poems from inside a box that’s supposed to represent the Horseshoe Bar).

Speaking of cool books: [SIC] Homie, the photographer Jim Mangan’s The Crick is just kind of astounding, photobook of the year vibes.

Sticking with stuff you should check out: I used to recommend music all the time and I kind of stopped around the time of the invasion of Ukraine, I think. Gonna try and get back into it, especially with Carnival season coming up (s/o DJ Private Ryan’s annual “Soca Starter”). In the meantime: Beat Connection's Favorite Sets of 2023 is an embarrassment of riches for your ears / hips / feet / feeds. And if you have ideas for me, send em!

Substack says it will remove Nazi publications from the platform. Though maybe it’s too late since the FT says Substack has offered exactly the wrong response to its ‘Nazi problem’, and Dave Karpf explained how Substack failed so dramatically in this dispute by ignoring the one simple rule of strategic comms. Here’s the backstory, basically, ICYMI. Still thinking about moving [SIC] (Daisy suggests Beehiiv), but haven’t made up my mind yet. Garbage Ryan is officially decamping, but oddly none of my subs seem to care, so maybe there’s something to the whole the “dead internet” theory, which argues that majority of the web is actually just bots talking to each other. Hence: the human web, the one made by regular people, is resurgent. Because? Reputation is everyone’s business.

And now, the links.

Ben

======[SIC] 279: Kind of Bonkers======

The Macro Narrative

It’s Jan 11. Hence: A brief history of 2024 / CJR
2024 is the biggest global election year in history / Vox
[SIC] Talks alum Casey Lewis was talking about Gen Z trends on TV yesterday / CNBC
From Piers: Stanley Tumblers, Sephora Skincare: Creators Are Turning Tweens Into Adults / Forrester
The great silent majority of American basicness / Garbage Day
What You Can Learn About Job-Hunting From Dating Apps. Really / NYT
Meet the TikTok Girlies Helping ChatGPT Become Even Smarter / The Daily Beast
Corollary: In Defense of Shutting the Fuck Up / Reply Alt
Things that won't change / The Rebooting
Benjaminbuttonisation / Decode
From Eric: “Not sure if you get this newsletter [Screentime], but this Netflix cutback noted below is not just due to the strikes - so now, even the only profitable streamer on the planet is scaling down its output globally and domestically / Bloomberg
And: “Combined with this interesting if light piece on Westbrook - entertainment is still in a bit of a tailspin. And there is another strike looming - the IATSE which represents the technical crew” / Semafor
Elsewhere: I Thought Mentalphysics Was New-Age Nonsense. Then It Changed My Life / GQ
So Is Decaf “The New Sober”? / Salon
Related? Why Are So Many Young People Quitting Weed? / Dazed
Has School Become Optional? / The New Yorker
From Piers: Why pushing STEM majors is turning out to be a terrible investment / LAT
Young white men won’t join US Army anymore / Military.com
An experimental community on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, offers tiny homes and shared services to homeless people / NYT
Corollary: an Overdose Antidote Goes Viral. Naloxone, the pocket-sized drug that can save the life of someone overdosing on opioids,is within arm’s reach in bars, libraries and vending machines / Reasons to Be Cheerful
Further corollary: Buffalo, NY will be the hottest housing market in 2024 / Yahoo
In fact, the whole Rust Belt has a new shine / Axios
Not to be outdone, Chicago has a new tourist attraction: the city’s rat hole / Fox32
And Testing for floating +Pool will begin in New York City summer 2024 / Dezeen
Generationations
Young people are obsessing over what “pre-internet” life looked like/ Axios.
Hence? Gen Z trades in electronic beats for vintage jazz / Axios
And fuels CD sales boom / Axios
Ergo? From Celeste: “perhaps ads too are going to have a hit of nostalgia. Plus the break down of the 'Got Milk' ads” [Why 90s Ads Are Unforgettable] / Planet Money/ NPR
Not Milky: Kellogg’s new vegan cereal is oriented towards Gen Zers and “Zillennials” / GreenQueen
Gen Z and the art of Self-Actualization / Wired
Gen Z Real Estate Agents Really Want to Sell You a House/ Bloomberg
Excerpt for?! Millennials can’t afford to live in cities / The Future Party

Platformations

How the internet reshaped itself around Google’s search algorithms / The Verge
Corollary: YouTube is finally allowing RSS feeds on its platform, which could make it a podcasting powerhouse/ The Verge
Just as Spotify's editorial stranglehold is coming unstuck / Network Notes
While Silent reviews of products, from books to perfume, are trending on TikTok / Insider
Meantime: Dating Apps are in their Flop Era / Bustle
What We Lost When Twitter Became X / The New Yorker
Elon Musk is failing in his effort to get MrBeast to produce content for X/ WSJ
But X announced a slate of original shows from personalities like Don Lemon, Tulsi Gabbard, and Jim Rome / WSJ

Stylistics

Privacy Is the Ultimate Luxury / Back Row
The look of British menswear now. Young labels are mixing up the country’s suited-and-booted traditions / HTSI
What is American Style? / Esquire
Apropos, from Celeste: Daniel Day Lewis Is The Final Boss Of Workwear / GQ
Will oversized ever be over? Big shoulders, dangling sleeves and wide trousers have dominated fashion for a decade / HTSI
More new clothes are hitting resale marketplaces as retailers tighten their return policies / Axios
Case in point: Amazon rolls out an AI fit tool to reduce returns / Vogue Business
Professional tennis is broken. Here’s how to fix it / The Athletic

Culturations

Playboi Carti, the Golden Globes and Jeremy Allen White’s boxers / The FACE Podcast
The Poignant Physicality of Zac Efron / The New Yorker
[SIC] Homie Patrick O’Dell on the Monster Children pod / Monster Children
[SIC] Talks Alum Recho Omondi’s got Yasiin Bey on The Cutting Room Floor /
From David: “A heartfelt plea from a music journalist for us all to "be a little more normal about” the most popular pop singer on the planet after her annus mirabilis of 2023. Don’t dox me.” [Can We As A Culture Resolve To Be More Normal About Taylor Swift In 2024?]/ Uproxx
Corollary, from Piers: Get In Losers, The Mean Girls Experience Is Opening In LA / Loop Mag
Grand opening, grand closing: The End of the Beginning / ESPO’s Art World
From Piers: Inside the NYC Plastics Shop Beloved by Artists / Hyperallergic
From Zaira: Came across this really compelling and oddly emotional 2023 top movie list. Think you’ll enjoy! / Vimeo
The Sopranos is on TikTok Now / Tubefilter
10 Art Shows to See in New York This January / Hyperallergic
Have We Reached Peak Immersive Art? / It’s Nice That
Corollary: Can Porn Ever Be Ethical? / The Walrus
Related to that: Ethical Questions Arise After AI “Completes” Keith Haring Painting / Hyperallergic
From Piers: Art that can be easily copied by AI is ‘meaningless’, says Ai Weiwei / The Guardian
24 Exceptional Subway Artworks to See in NYC / Hyperallergic
Which doesn’t include my favorite, Jackie Chang’s “Faith / Fate” in her “Signs of Life” series / Blather From Brooklyn
New topic: Criterion Channel’s most anticipated movies of 2024 / Criterion Channel
From Celeste: “I thought we'd all just finished a clear out of DVDs/ CDs from the bookshelves. DVDs, Blue-ray, it's coming back.” [How To Stop Your Music And TV From Disappearing] / BBC
Also disappearing: Elton John is downsizing in his Atlanta home: He’s auctioning 900 items / NYT
Follow the Light Alex Katz took the conventions of realism and merged them with the flatness and scale of Pop Art to paint things seen in the here and now. / NYR
Corollary: Asia’s Young and Wealthy are Fueling Demand for Art - what are they collecting? / CNBC
On the Serious Business of 19th-Century Fairy Paintings / Lithub
This secret Portland warehouse holds over 20,000 pieces of art / OPB
The Ollie Edition. On history, skating, and Florida / WITI

Technopolis

The Digital Dark Age of AI. Shall We Start or Stop Worrying About Deepfakes? / Understanding Tiktok
From Iolanda: ‘AI will just be software...unless it kills us all’ [Key Quote]: "This looks like a platform shift. The tech industry has a platform shift sort of every 10 to 15 years. We went from the PC to the web, and then we went from the web to smartphones. And now we go to generative AI." / Contagious
OpenAI is opening its app store / The Future Party
Another from Iolanda: What’s Next for AI in 2024 / MIT
And: "The disruptive power of artificial intelligence (AI) will sweep through the information space this year at a time of intense political and economic volatility around the world… journalists and news organisations will need to rethink their role and purpose with some urgency." / Reuters Institute
Ergo: Beware the ‘botsh*t’: why generative AI is such a real and imminent threat to the way we live / The Guardian
Duolingo, the language-learning software, cut 10% of its contractors and increased its use of artificial intelligence-based tools. “We just no longer need as many people,” the company said / Bloomberg
Hence: Workplaces riddled with AI distrust / Axios
Ferris State University in Michigan is experimenting with AI-powered "students” who will attend lectures, work on assignments, and actively participate in discussions with other students / Futurism
Is there any potential left for the metaverse economy? / Quartz
Canada’s anti-money laundering agency now relies on AI to detect suspicious transactions and fight financial crimes / Reuters
Corollary: No, That’s Not Taylor Swift Peddling Le Creuset Cookware / NYT
From Piers: google’s robot constitution lays down rules on what the humanoids should and shouldn’t do / Design Boom
Related: Tech Billionaires Need to Stop Trying to Make the Science Fiction They Grew Up on Real / Scientific American
From David: “Interesting interview with Michigan State researchers testing the effectiveness of AI prompts that not only invoke a role for the AI based on a job or area of expertise … Worth a read as we try to figure out the work and social roles we’ll have for AI as we go forward” [What Happens When You Role-Play with ChapGPT] / The Markup

Media-tions

Publisher sales teams head to CES to get a ‘vibe check’ on the 2024 ad market / Digiday
Report Finds Facebook and IG Reels Outperform TikTok Clips in Driving Views / Social Media Today
Fox Corp., one of the largest media publishers in the U.S., has publicly debuted a new blockchain platform called Verify to help media companies track how their content is being used online / Verify Media
Pat McAfee said ESPN is “actively trying to sabotage” his show / CNBC
CNBC on Wednesday will debut its first paid course as part of a new educational venture developed by the editorial team behind CNBC's "Make It" franchise/ Axios

Market / Influence

After decades of consistent decline, humor in advertising is roaring back in 2024 / The Drum
And generosity? From Evvie: The Recess 2024 Creative Playbook...."We asked 30 creative directors, designers, and strategists to share their tips, tools, tricks + go to resources for staying on top of their creative game." Here's the PDF! / Recess
Addison Rae is bringing back circa-2014 Tumblr vibes with her new (?) iPhone 6 /IG
How Hyundai became big in America after focusing on smaller electric vehicles / FT
Uniqlo’s plans for India / The Drum
Pop-Tarts and Cheez-Its' buzz prove why mascots still matter for big brands / Digiday
Related: Pop-Tarts’ Viral Mascot—What Brands Can Learn From the Edgy Marketing Strategy / AdAge
Herman Miller's brand refresh is a masterclass in timeless design / Creative Bloq
From Piers: Chick-fil-A loses battle over proposed 'mega' restaurant in Tennessee / Business Insider
Palm Heights worked with Gohar World on an assortment of eleven pieces of kitchenware / Palm Heights
Chief Design Officer Mauro Porcini on PepsiCo's design story / Dezeen

Eats, Drinks and Ephemera

How popular diets have rewritten restaurant menus / Restaurant Business Online
New Year, Very Old Restaurants / NYT
From Piers: Farm-to-Table Prison Food / Kottke
The Best Diners are Still Just Diners / The New Yorker
Makers of ultra-processed products are banding together / WSJ
Bottled water is full of plastic / Bloomberg
South Korea approved a ban on the sale of dog meat by 2027/ WSJ
Nutritionists explain why salmon is so good for you.
The unending quest to build a better chicken / Noema’