[SIC] 285: Similar Monster

Volume Six, Number 25

This time: [SIC] Talks with Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick of The Trend Report newsletter, and the [SIC] Weekly digest of pertinent developments, compiled by Ben Dietz and published free on Thursdays to 5329 subscribers who’ve opted in. [SIC] is a one-person operation that grows exclusively by via word-of-mouth. Pass it along to people you like. Here’s a button:

Paid subscriptions are also available. Paying subscribers get an additional [SIC] Day microdigest of 10 links every Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri, and the [SIC] Sundays dispatch. And founding supporters get invited to dinner parties at my home in NYC, with special guests. Many paying supporters expense their subscriptions as research for their work in marketing, advertising, entertainment and tech.

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Corollary sources this week include: Not Boring / Public Announcement / Elevator/ Publish Press / Storythings / The Future Party / The New Statesman / Semafor / After School / Hubspot Trends / Politico / Marginal Revolution / Feed Me / Part and Sum / Dirt / Ritzholtz / Garbage Day  / Beats and Bytes / Dealbook

Contributors this week: David Bloom, Piers Fawkes, Joy Howard, Celeste Blewitt, Iolanda Carvalho, Ken Miller and Jose Castillo. Contributions are welcome from any and everyone. Send em and I’ll shout you out here.

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Hi all,

*Lots* this week. Potpourri to start:

Meet me at [SIC] Homie (and virtuoso painter) Eric White’s show “Local Programming” opening on Friday at Grimm Gallery, NYC. Likewise, next week at 50 Years of Creative Growth at Andrew Edlin Gallery on 2/27 at 8p. From [SIC] Talks alum Joy Howard: "I know you usually read our emails, for which I am so thankful. However, especially excited about [The Society of the Spectacle] that opens to members [today]. If you felt inclined to share something so commercial and yet deliberately anti-commercial, I'd be thankful!”

Another [SIC] Talks Alum (and secret guest star of my chat with Kyle, below) Casey Lewis joined Brian Lehrer on WNYC to talk about (and to!) tweens. And the story most people got in touch about, but [SIC] Talks alum Piers Fawkes was first: “ok…” [Complex Acquired by Livestream Shopping Platform NTWRK]. I have thoughts, obvs - check the @cultureclubshow pod for a few, coming soon.

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[SIC] Talks #67: Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick

Not only was this a great conversation, but Kyle sent me a precise of the articles from [SIC] this week that he was interested in, but also added his own corollaries in the style of The Trend Report, so those unfamiliar can get a sense of his (very singular) voice. Excuse any repetition of the stories for this reason, but I think it’s very worth it. Italics mine, btw.

“First...this was so hard to cull down. There are so many good ones!!!! So! Find below the A-Team (top five) and B-Team (stragglers, second children, etc.) along with some sub-bullets of stories that may intersect with each other. Some annotations to share why they were picked too.”

A-TEAM —

• Small Towns Big City Problem

  • Tech Leaders Fled

  • This is a problem everywhere, even overseas. It's going to help enable the soon-to-come dissatisfaction wars!! Also, for anyone who lived in NYC or LA in the past decade or two, this same problem was happening. This is just suburban sprawl, minus the geographic tether.

• How to stop talking past each other

  • It's a landmine

  • Loneliness crisis is fueling stan culture

  • This all gets back at the trap set by 1.) generational wars 2.) differences of language / "stan speak" and 3».) social feeds making change and conversion of thought feel instantaneous. I don't want to say "This is your fault, cancel culture!" but this is what happens when thought becomes one-dimensional. I just came from an agency where both of these things seemed to come to fruition as a result of a merger. (I...don't know if I can / will talk about that specifically, but I do think a lot of these issues are coming to blows at work. Hence last week's Report™.)

• Can we keep our sons from sliding to the right?

  • Men used to have stylists

  • I think this fits into the above and the teen item below. I think this has a lot to do with the crisis of heterosexuality and the pursuit of being "alt." I would have several nickels for the straight friends of mine who went from alt dudes to "Just asking questions!" types. It's time for men to stop being cave people — and a lot of this has to do with the parents, imo!! It's very "Why is your baby at the bar??" multiplied by girlies finding better kinship in girlies. Once this genre of hetero men discover bicuriosity, it's over. We will have the WILDEST (likely even more gender fascist) culture, which we are seconds away from this.

• TikTok's feud with Universal has music marketers shifting campaigns to Instagram reels while some see an opportunity to plug other artists

  • Like Hollywood, the music industry just is making stupid moves that won't benefit them. This TikTok said it best! I'm not here to support old ways of thinking or doing business and I have no sympathy for big artists and music marketers who are going down with the ship of not-TikTok because...Reels? SHORTS?? Y'all. Be for real!!!! You will win over my mom and she has some clout but not enough. Meanwhile, big indies like Megan Thee Stallion keep doing their thing on TT.

• Could a paywall have saved pitchfork?

  • Short answer? No. Long answer: it would have really, really been an interesting, Bandcamp, Substack-esque effort that could have saved this. I think about the death of Pitchfork all the time as a 20+ year reader!! I also feel that the dedicated readers knew this was coming: their editorial scaled back a lot since late Summer of last year. Like larger journalism, we'll never have another Pitchfork but we will have decent independent voices. I've yet to find mine but marg.mp3 comes close.

B-TEAM —

• Lindy Guide To Moving To Europe

  • As an American in Europe, I have thoughts. But I also hate talking about Europe with Americans / to the American thought: it's quite a difficult, taxing, depressing, and not-fun experience when you're not, say, ~ living in Europe ~ I have to really protect my mental wellbeing with stories like this because it's not all roses and I feel like people don't talk about that!! And I'm not sure I want to!!!!!!

• The Teens Getting Around The Teen Ban

  • Not much to say other than TEENS RULE

• Charli XCX knows you're obsessed

  • ...and I AM. I kind of think her PR for this new album is kinda cringe (SUE ME) but she's the only popstar who matters. I interviewed her in like 2012 and had the same feeling. She's my ride or die SIRI PLAY CONSTANT REPEAT

• Try the animal movement workout

• Bear crawls...cat-cows...this is nothing new and is just rebranding. But also? Obsessed. This reminds of a Biggest Loser style show with dogs that I wanted to pitch when I worked in reality television that never came to life. Dust in the wind!

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Lastly before the main section on the topic, of talks, and contributions; Celeste wrote: “A quick thought on SIC Talks - you've probably already got the list sorted - Emily Sundberg of Feed Me could be an interesting intersection of discussion. Aware you've most likely already linked in, but a thought.”

Great suggestion, but actually I *don’t* have a line to Emily. Anyone want to intro me? I’d be grateful, as opposed to sending her a cold DM.

Now, the links.

Ben

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[SIC] 285: Similar Monster

The Macro Narrative

• From Iolanda: I’m sure you have this one by Ted Gioia, but here it goes again... The State of the Culture, 2024 - Or a glimpse into post-entertainment society (it's not pretty)" / Honest Broker

• Related: The Normalization of Insanity / Lefsetz

• The Eternal Sunshine of “Un-Curating” / For Scale

• ‘It’s a landmine’: Why does no one trust each other at work? / Digiday

• Your "TAM" is Why  I Have Trust Issues / Mostly Metrics

• These Small Towns Have a Big City Problem: The Rent Is Way Too High / NYT

• The AI boom is making San Francisco hot again / WSJ

• The Twilight of US Trade Leadership / American Enterprise Institute

• Zeihan asks; if America Leaving NATO, does Europe Go Nuclear? / YouTube

• The Lindy Guide to Moving to Europe / The Lindy Newsletter

• The nepo babies who went through Navy SEAL training to survive NYC / The Cut

• Legal Weed in New York Was Going to Be a Revolution. What Happened? / The New Yorker

• John Oliver offered Millions to SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas to step down / Lefsetz Letter

• Corollary: How to stop talking past each other. In politics and in life, we need to acknowledge more often that the other side might have a point / FT

• Why Self-Insight Is So Important: Dunning (of Dunning Kruger fame) on the At The Money Pod / Ritzholtz

• The strange loyalty of Putin’s global fan club. Admirers of the Russian leader may soon lead the world’s three largest democracies / FT

• Related?! “Stan culture” might be filling a void many Americans are experiencing from loneliness / Salon

• Dip-Stans: How Cam’ron Built a Sports-Media Mini Empire With It Is What It Is / GQ

• But he’s been sued for copyright infringement after using an image of himself on various merchandise items without proper licensing / Creative Bloq

• Hence, he’s on the phone to Jeremy Zimmer: Cam’ron x KITH / IG

• Elsewhere: Utopia or Indoctrination: The Consequences of Utopian Summer Camp / YT

• While, from Iolanda: ‘In the same way that people are obsessed with private chef TikTok, these videos give viewers a glimpse behind closed doors of inaccessible, elite worlds that capture so much of people’s imaginations"  [Ivy League Cafeterias have taken off on TikTok] / Canvas8

• SNAP recipients will soon be able to use their funds at an online-only grocery store / Axios

Generationations

• Teen Subcultures Are Fading. Pity the Poor Kids. Gorgeous, abundant visuals are just pale imitations of what young people used to have: an actual scene / NYT

• Teens still know how to get around teen bans. It’s an age-old tradition going strong / The Cut

• Can Parents Prevent Their Sons from Sliding to the Right?/ The Cut

• Retirements are spiking again, thanks to a strong stock market, with 2.7 million more workers leaving the labor force than expected / Marketplace

• For the Pre-Retirement Crowd, Teaching Is a Brilliant Second Act / Reasons To Be Cheerful

Platformations

• One Month Later. DMs (!) and other new stuff on PI.FYI, what features are right around the corner, and a quick recap of the last month / Perfectly Imperfect

• YouTube is still the leader in TV streaming in the US, commanding 8.6% of total TV-watching time/ TechCrunch

• YouTube Now Lets You Integrate Music Videos Into Your Shorts / TechCrunch

• TikTok reports that it’s the #1 platform where gamers between the ages of 18 and 24 find new mobile games to play / Tubefilter

• Marketers are increasingly pushing creators and brands to focus on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts as the standoff between TikTok and Universal Music heats up / Business Insider

• Hence, from David?  [TikTok Is on the Decline ]  “Lots of good points here as TikTok fully embraces the Cory Doctorow doctrine of social-media site enshittification. As it becomes mostly a place to sell, sell, sell crappy goods, I can’t help but wonder what comes next”  / Slate

• Spotify is expanding its partnership with video and podcast recording tool Riverside, integrating the service into Spotify for Podcasters / Spotify

• Douyin’s playbook: How to crack the Chinese livesteam app / Jing Daily

• From David: Apple's Vision Pro headset now features a TikTok app / Hypebeast

Stylistics

• Alwaysdowhatyoushoulddo is the feelgood brand taking over London / Samutaro

• How London Fashion Week began: An oral history / Vogue Business

• In London, Creativity Under Dark Clouds / Business of Fashion

• Speaking of dark clouds: What Happened to Baseball Jerseys? Fans are doomed to keep paying more for merchandise they want less / The Atlantic

• Elsewhere: What happened to the skin positivity movement / Service95

• Men are hitting the spa (but they’re not calling it that) / BoF

• Men Used to Have Wives. Now They Have Stylists / WSJ

• Pharrell Williams tapped Tyler, the Creator to design a capsule collection for LV / WWD

• But has Marc Jacobs already won the 2024 collab crown? / Jing Daily

• Elsewhere: Anti-collab brand Dunhill finds new groove / Jing Daily

• Also Englishish: The charm of the men’s duffel coat / HTSI

• Corollary: 5 Big Menswear Trends From New York Fashion Week FW24 / Hypebeast

• Are knit hoodies the next wave? / Street Night Live

• Beyond the hoodie: Why tech bros have money but nothing to wear / Vogue Business

• How Chloë Sevigny Became the "It Girl to End All It Girls" / YT

• And How Calvin Peeing Became a Cultural Phenomenon / Samutaro

• A Skateboarder’s Guide To Bouldering With Poppy Starr / Monster Children

• Speaking of skaters: Epicly Later’d: Stefan Janoski is a fun one starring a few [SIC] homies / YT

• And: Matt Price on Criticism, Photography and the State of Skate Media/ Art Less

Culturations

• The Loneliness of Jodie Foster / The Atlantic

• The Answer to Loneliness? For these women it’s Book Clubs / Refinery29

• More Books: The mystery novel taking on child influencers / Embedded

• One time teen phenom Charli XCX knows you’re obsessed with her / The FACE

• Also obsessed? Complex has so many thoughts on Yeat  / Complex

• But Cillian Murphy Is the Man of the Moment / GQ

• Also of the moment: Cindy Sherman’s Grotesque Digital Creations / The New Yorker

• Corollary: the Dandy Warhols cosplay as a stoner metal band “I’d Like to Help You With Your Problem” and deliver an AI video that really actually works IMO / YT

• On the topic of video, from Jose: “One to add to your watch list” [Captured (the doc on Clayton Patterson)]) / Vimeo

• Elsewhere, horror director Mike Flanagan wrote an extremely good review of Madame Web /  Letterboxd

• While, from Iolanda: Lady Gaga, who famously once asked her followers what Fortnite was , has teased a potential appearance in the online game's Fortnite Festival" / EW

• From Celeste: 'Gwen Stefani Says She'll Have To Relearn Old No-Doubt Songs For Coachella/ The Hollywood Reporter

• More things to remember: Ten women architects "who should all be household names" / Dezeen

• Seeing Photography as an African Art Form / Hyperallergic

• Why African filmmakers aren’t producing nature documentaries / Semafor

• A New band logo book explores music and design history / Creative Bloq

• A Zine Designed by Richard Turley & Julia Schäfer Using Microsoft Word / It’s Nice That'

• From Ken: “The fine print where they mention that, per the Artemis Accords, the Koons sculptures will be a protected the Moon heritage site….” Jeff Koons: Moon Phases / Pace Gallery

• Back on Earth: An Online Film Festival That's All About Cycling / Hyperallergic

• Museum Selfie-Takers Are Causing Damage by Backing Into Artworks / Hyperallergic

• Sam Mendes plans to make four Beatles biopics, each telling the band’s story from a different member’s point of view / NYT

• Corollary: Yoko Ono’s endless imagination / Monocle Radio

• Unrelated: The [Tuesday] Media Diet with Paul Theroux / WITI

• Great listening: Herb Sundays 105: Tadd Mullinix The electronic polymath (Dabrye, JTC, X-Altera) delivers an unassailable slab of influences and classics / Herb Sundays

Technopolis

• How technology is changing our bodies / FT

• How Sora could change videos / Quartz

• Mind-blowing videos reveal how AI progressed in 1 year / Creative Bloq

• Why NYT might win its copyright lawsuit against OpenAI / Ars Technica

• Meantime, The New York Times is recruiting partners to test new ad-targeting solutions using GenAI/ Axios

• Metaphors We Use to Describe AI Will Shape Its Future / Charter

• What happens to creativity in the uncharted territories of AI? / The Drum

• IE? A celebrity dies, and new biographies pop up overnight. The author? AI. / NYT

• Or when ChatGPT [spends a night] spitting out gibberish before a fix / The Verge

• BTW… Dude, Where’s My Self-Driving Car? / The Verge

Media-tions

• HBO is delaying posting “Last Week Tonight” segments on YouTube / Hollywood Reporter

• Speaking of pauses: Have you noticed Peacock’s “pause ads?” When you hit pause to grab snacks, boom, your friends on the couch get a nudge to order pizza (or buy insurance) / NBC

• Comcast and Paramount are discussing a streaming partnership that could lead to Peacock and Paramount+ being offered together as a package deal / The Verge

• Corollary: Could a Paywall Have Saved Pitchfork? The influential music publication is being folded into GQ, but only because Condé Nast fumbled a good thing / The Walrus

• Related, kinda: REPLY ALT is now ZERO CRED. New name, same half-assed newsletter / Zero Cred

• Speaking of: Media Companies Want Great Newsletters Without Investing / A Media Operator

• For Gen Z, catching up on the news is often a side effect of spending time on social media apps like Instagram and TikTok — and media outlets are adapting accordingly / Axios

• Hence? How Instagram became an increasingly important news site even as it de-emphasizes “political content / NYT

• While college newspapers are increasingly filling the void for communities that have lost their local newspapers / AP

Market / Influence

• From Iolanda: advertising that is perceived to be expensive works better. [The signals and the signaling] / WARC

• Related, from Celeste: McCaviar.  This Stuff used To Be Special. Now It's Just An Upsell / Grub Street

• And: A Billionaire Bought a Chunk of Manchester United. Now He Has to Fix It / NYT

• Inside Bose’s first-ever fashion collaboration / The Drum

• Meantime, Butterfinger is making a bigger bet on gaming / Digiday

• Why Xbox easing up on console exclusivity could lead rivals to do the same / Digiday

• Walmart buys Vizio for $2.3B to boost ad biz / Axios

• While Capital One to Acquire Discover, Creating a Consumer Lending Colossus / NYT

• From David: “The Vision SE, a VR headset by EmdoorVR, mirrors the Apple Vision Pro design but targets a more affordable market segment at $280” / South China Morning Post

• To understand bulletproof brands, we need look no further than Donald Trump / the Drum

• Yet, The Trump Brand Is Costing Condo Owners / NYT

• About half of The Body Shop’s 198 stores expected to close / FT

Eats, Drinks and Ephemera

• From Iolanda: Where to eat in 2024! / Eater

• Unrelated: Kombucha as Metaphor for Parenthood / Hyperallergic

• Nostalgia is an important part of taste. Top food brands are capitalizing / The Drum

• Corollary? What happened to our appetite for fake meat? / The Drum

• Related: Introducing meat–rice: grain with added muscles beefs up protein / Nature

• From Celeste: “Loved this … I can attest that the ROI on a bean plant is not worth the gardening, but the ROI on zucchinis and tomatoes in a balcony garden can work!” [Why Managing An Allotment Is Like Nurturing A Startup ]/FT

• Up the road from Celeste’s allotment: Australia approves GM banana / Semafor

• Not approved? Did [SIC] fave Grocery store Wegmans Rip Off a Japanese Chef’s Idea? / Grub Street

• More Japanese influence, from Celeste: “Similar to the Qantas drinks trolley, the bullet train food cart sounds like a perfect accessory and moment of design and functionality.” [Bullet Train Food Carts Become Japan's Latest Must-Have] / The Guardian UK

• And Nendo designs a beer glass that provides "three different mouthfeels" / Dezeen

• Corollary: The Grandmas and Grandpas Brewing Beer in Vienna / Reasons to Be Cheerful

• Is there any truth to the “beer before liquor” rule? /NYT

The Natural (?!) World

• Check out The Snake with the Emoji-Patterned Skin / The New Yorker

• Elsewhere in the American South: Monkey city – population: 30,000 – encounters planning objections / The Guardian

• While up North, ’Turbocharged Superpigs’ wreck Canadian crops / Semafor

• Hence?! Fitness trendsetters are adding animal movements – or primal movements – into their workouts, from crocodile crawls to sideways ape / NYT

• Finally, [SIC] homie Jason Crombie wrote on IG: “I’m the editor-in-chief of @satisfyrunning’s online magazine, POSSESSED, and each month I invite readers to correspond with the mag via email. Mostly the letters I receive are about running, but they often concern matters of the heart, life hacks, and dubious sexual encounters in the style of Penthouse Forum. If you would like to write me a letter... I’d love to hear from you!”

[SIC] 285: Similar Monster