[SIC] 292: Soppressata Affogato

Volume Six, Number Thirty Two

This time: [SIC] Talks with Emily Segal of Nemesis Global, plus the [SIC] Weekly digest of pertinent developments, compiled by me (Ben Dietz) and published free on Thursdays to 5656 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.

You can pay, too. 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 for this week: Roca News / Champion Weekly / After School / Digiday / Public Announcement / Roca News / The New Statesman / Exec Sum / The Future Party / Beats and Bytes / Feed Me

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Contributors this week: Piers Fawkes, Leann Abad, Iolanda Carvalho, Celeste Blewitt, Molly Raskin and Josh Gardiner,. Contributions are welcome from everyone, and are greatly appreciated. I’m dietznutz@icloud if you’ve got ideas.

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Hi all. Glad you’re here. Welcome all the new folks who found us via Casey Lewis’s weekend “Rizz Parties and Butter Nails” post; it was nice to see the the subs numbers spike a little - since Substack introduced its whole “Followers” thing it feels like I’m getting fewer new subs (a problem many others have noted, too). To that end, an interesting thought from super-contributor Piers: “Have you thought about trying out substack @mentions when you name check people. I know that might sound like a selfish suggest from me but really just wonder what effect that has on the algorithm for your newsletter visibility??” Hmmm.. I haven’t. Will give it a try this week and see.

Speaking of visibility… subscriber and AdWeek staffer Mark Stenberg included a quote from me in his piece on how Field & Stream Is Expanding Its Brand Across Hotels, Festivals and Merch this week, which I appreciate. It’s a fascinating direction IMO, and it’ll be interesting to see how it goes, bearing in mind the rise of Vacation as one reference and How Hodinkee's Big Bet on a Watch Business Backfired as a counter. Another Stenberg banger, as it were.

More viz: this week’s [SIC] Talks was one I’ve been contemplating for a long time, so I’d love thoughts on it. Emily Segal is somebody I’ve followed closely since the release of The Normcore Report from K-Hole, the trend forecasting/art project she co-founded in 2010. She’s now active as part of Nemesis Global, whose work I link to every time something new is released, and major domo of Deluge Books, a really great independent publishing imprint. I’m a big fan, clearly - and this was a fun conversation. Have a watch / listen.

[SIC] Talks #73: Emily Segal

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Apropos of the ‘streetwear model of publishing Emily and I talked about: Blasting Fits arrived in the world yesterday; one of the fun projects I’ve been involved in lately. Happy to do more like this, if you have any ideas.

Also mentioned the Talk: fave artist Stephen Powers, who is bringing one of his legendary live screen printing events in my hometown of Syracuse next Saturday (4/20, nice..). Another fave and friend, artist and photog Peter Sutherland put out Both in conjunction with Sneeze Mag. Photo zine HAMBURGER EYES released its new issue The Continuing Story of Life on Earth and you can get it here.

Corollary: [SIC] Talks alum Ryan Broderick is reading the news on a new Garbage Day podcast. I like this! And on Tuesday the artist and community-builder Lucien Smith turned around Night Owl (Full Version), the film of his live-streamed midnight group bike ride from Monday night. Really cool idea. Need to talk to Lucien sometime.

I’ve mentioned being a part of the John & Alice Coltrane Home’s advisory board previously, so I’m also happy to point you to two “Year of Alice” events: A listening session and discussion of Alice’s incredible 1978 live recording at Carnegie Hall with Reggie Workman (who played in this concert), and Ravi Coltrane in conversation with Matthew Garrison on Sunday, 4/14,  from 4-6:30pm at Shapeshifter Plus, 837 Union Street, Brooklyn. And [SIC] homie, Harpist Brandee Younger will lead the Alice Coltrane Ensemble from the New School on Monday, 4/15 at 7pm at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

Last thing before links: New Culture Club Show “Half Hour” just dropped from yesterday, too.

Ok, now the links.

[SIC] 292: Soppressata Affogato

The Macro Narrative

• The Dumbphone Boom Is Real / The New Yorker

• Welcome to Kidulthood. Why adults are suddenly into stuffed animals / The Atlantic

• Why are So Many People Getting High At Work? / Dazed

• Almost No One Is Happy With Legal Weed. Will legal psychedelics be any better? / The Atlantic

• Will Historic Job Growth Bring an End to the “Vibecession”? / The New Yorker

• American small businesses aren’t feeling particularly optimistic / Ground News

• But!? From Molly: The Nuanced Optimism of Girls State / Elle

• America isn’t as divided as many people think /  Axios

• From Molly: Sorry Wall Street: Fan Girls Run The Economy / Bustle

• From Piers: “There’s something to watch here about the informal p2p economy - and how people get resourceful without commercial support” [Furious Depop shopper left horrified after receiving online order in Covid test box] / Mirror Online

• Mega drive-throughs explain everything wrong with American cities / Vox

• Looking through the glass: Filterworld through a Skate-Gaze lens / Simple Magic

• Corollary: The disappearing Insta grid. Why we don’t post anymore / One Thing

• From Leann: “For the Newsie:” [The Kid Behind America’s Most Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Just Found the Perfect Second Act] / Slate

• From Piers: “Slightly unsure why this is in my feeds but now it’s fodder for you.” [Gun Runners Take advantage of next day online delivery] / Pakistan Observer

• From Piers: Is this K-drama? No, it's South Korea's election night / BBC

• The meaning of Sunak’s Sambas / The New Statesman

• Ireland is now led by its youngest ever prime minister: the 37-year-old Simon Harris / NYT

• From Iolanda: Anatomy of emojis ahahahah / Word Tips

Generationations

• From Piers: Gen Z's Dream of Becoming Influencers Is Getting Harder Thanks to AI / Business Insider

• From Molly: Microdosing Retirement / Rat House

Platformations

• Is Tiktok Sabotaging Our Dating Lives? / Service95

• TikTok is Launching an Instagram Clone / The Daily Upside

• From Piers: The World Doesn’t Need More Journal Apps / Wired

• Peloton is still kicking after an enormous post-pandemic crash, but now it’s more of a media company than anything else / The Verge

• From Iolanda: The Diary of A CEO host and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett, along with former global Acast executives Georgie Holt and Christiana Brenton, have launched a global podcast media and technology company called Flight Studio / The Media Leader

• While Dude Perfect, known for their trick shot videos, get $100M investment to expand outside traditional video content / Hollywood Reporter

Stylistics

• Rihanna says “Moms are lazy dressers in real life.” / Interview

• After Dopamine dressing, Tyndall is the fashion keyword of 2024 / Jing Daily

• Are you a “spring” or a “winter”? Seasonal color analysis, big in the ’80s, is making a comeback / NYT

• Italy and “Total Incoherence” / For-Scale

• Gen Z are done with Ikea / South China Morning Press

• Also done? ‘A very odd and ugly worldview’: the dark side of fast fashion brand Brandy Melville / The Guardian

• Cause, like, Brandy Melville Stores Are Hell on Earth / Vanity Fair

• Seatbelt bags are the poor man’s Bottega Veneta /  Nylon

• Zaha Hadid Architects creates "three-dimensional vortex" for The Dalmore / Dezeen

• And Tadao Ando unveils serpent-informed watch for Bulgari / Dezeen

• From Piers: Can H&M and Zara Compete with Chinese Rivals?/ BoF

• Why I Love Fishing. A Worldwide List by David Coggins / The Contender

• Paul Smith on Imbuing Clothing With Joy and Humor / The Slowdown

• More joy: A new photobook called “Heart,” highlights over 90 skate shops, their die-hard owners and four decades of skate history / BK Mag

• The J. Peterman Edition. On cinematic universes, Seinfeld, and physical catalogs / Why Is This Interesting

Culturations

• I’m going on Friday: Alex Garland’s Angry, Urgent Civil War / The Atlantic

• Inside Danny McBride’s Lowcountry Comedy Commune / GQ

• And From Piers: “Just in case u didn’t see” [A Taste of West Africa with Michael B. Jordan] / YouTube

• From Josh: “You might have seen their newsletter, but Bompas & Parr have an open call out for architects, technologists, dreamers, inventors, and professional pyrotechnicians to take part in their Architectural Firework Design Competition, as part of the London Festival of Architecture / Bompas And Parr

• New Rules for Art in a Fallen World / The Lindy Newsletter

• You can now build AI-generated playlists with a prompt on Spotify / TechCrunch

• From Piers: Chechnya bans all music deemed too fast or too slow / CNN

• From Molly: Did Social Media Kill the Pop Song? / Wired

• No, J. Lo's Brand Has Been Damaged for Years. Her struggling album and ticket sales were preceded by years of awkward moves / Back Row

• The last of pop’s superstars? Olivia Rodrigo’s level of fame is now tougher to achieve in the fragmented entertainment industry / FT

• ‘Is She Sure?’ How the Breeders Joined Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts Tour / NYT

• Phew, was worried: Celebs have returned to Chateau Marmont / Nylon

• It’s Bye Boomers, Hello Millennials at This Year’s Whitney Biennial / Hyperallergic

• Corollary? Ann Manov dismantles Lauren Oyler’s new essay collection, which she reveals is filled with cursory research and trite affectation / BookForum

• Josef Koudelka Could Locate Beauty Anywhere/ The New Yorker

• JR punches a tunnel through Milan’s central railway station in latest optical illusion / The Art Newspaper

• Roy Lichtenstein: From The Ridiculous To The Sublime / The Brooklyn Rail

• Corollary: Coachella is experimenting with NFTs again / TechCrunch

• Nickelodeon will reboot “Dora the Explorer,” this time with more Spanish — and a podcast / NYT

Technopolis

• Harvard researchers developed a programmable, adjustable liquid they called “intelligent liquid” / Harvard.edu

• The Internet Archive has backed up the entire nation of Aruba / Wired

• OpenAI and Meta ready new AI models capable of ‘reasoning’ / FT

• Machines Cannot Replace Human Boredom / Hyperallergic

• So Gaming is a key testbed for AI technologies and the values society is embedding in digital worlds / Axios

• From Iolanda: Former Apple design lead Jony Ive and current OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are seeking funding for a new company that will produce an "artificial intelligence-powered personal device," according to The Information's sources, who are said to be familiar with the plans" / Ars Technica

• This Camera Turns Every Photo Into a Nude. NUCA, a 3D printed prototype camera and art project, uses AI to instantly generate a nude of any subject / 404 Media

• 10 times in history where automation breakthroughs were actually just humans in disguise / Quartz

• Teen girls are increasingly assailed by deepfakes at school / NYT

• Two Japanese companies warned AI could lead to societal collapse / WSJ

Media-tions

• The layoff-to-content-creator pipeline is a thing now / The Future Party

• A Startup is getting Gen Z to Watch TV with Creators / Business Insider

• Paramount+ is the latest streaming service to introduce shoppable ads / The Verge

• Because, from Iolanda: “Every business is an Ad business... 😉” [JPMorgan Chase launches digital media business]. Key Quote: "JPMorgan Chase on Wednesday launched a new digital media business that would allow advertisers to target the Wall Street bank's 80 million customers based on their spending data…” / Reuters

• Ergo: Retail trading giant Robinhood launched a website for its new media outlet, Sherwood News / Axios

• While Puck acquires Substack newsletter Artelligence / Axios

• Advertising that follows you around the Internet: creepy or “cool”? / Fast Company

• Same question? The conspiracy-loving Epoch Times is thinking about opening…a journalism school / Nieman Lab

• From Iolanda: “Podcasts were perhaps once seen as simply a radio spin-off, but they have now become multiplatform and could be short- or long-form content spanning social media, video and live events" [Podcasts are heading to the cinema] / The Media Leader

• The 'existential threat' facing NYC community media / BK Mag

• The Rise and Fall of The Village Voice / The Honest Broker

• SB Nation shuts down its podcast network / Awful Announcing

• “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust,” says one guy/ The Free Press

• “Actually, I totally disagree” says another lady/ Twitter

• Speaking of: Inside X's latest efforts to make advertisers believe it's a platform that's safe for brands / Digiday

Market / Influence

• From Molly: Declutter, Haul, Restock, Repeat: The content creators making a living by cleaning / The Cut

• The Rise and Remit of the Chief Brand Officer / AdWeek

• Cannes Lions launched a Creator Pass / Canneslions

• China’s e-commerce model eclipses Western efforts / Jing Daily

• Lyrical Lemonade Takes Beverage Business Nationwide / Boardroom

• Lil Yachty Revives McDonald’s ‘Menu Song’ / Muse By Clio

• While The Latest Artist With Virtual Items On Roblox Is… Slick Rick? / Music Ally

• Also surprising? Brozempic: Health companies have turned to stereotypes to sell men weight-loss drugs / NYT

• How Hudson Yards Defied Its Haters and Became New York’s Top Mall / BoF

• How Warby Parker and Herbivore leveraged the solar eclipse in brand marketing / Glossy

• The Papa Johns rebrand is a scream / Creative Bloq

• McDonald’s has deployed an ad campaign featuring scented billboards that smell like its french fries / AdWeek

• Velveeta Isn’t a Cheese Brand, It’s a Lifestyle Brand With Celebrity Clout / AdWeek

Eats, Drinks and Ephemera

• The Sober-Curious Movement Has Reached an Impasse. No one can decide on the drinking age for “adult” drinks that don’t contain alcohol / The Atlantic

• From Molly: Millennials and Gen Z's trendy new splurge: groceries / Business Insider

• From Iolanda: And this!!!! [ Food Moods: Combine Two Cuisines Into One Recipe] Google Arts & Culture

• Indian scientists accused Pakistan of “illegally” cultivating what they claimed were copyrighted strains of basmati rice / Semafor

• While in India At ‘Garbage Cafes,’ You Can Trade Plastic Bottles for Free Food / Reasons To Be Cheerful

The Natural (?!) World

• George Saunders gave a short and remarkable speech on the importance of kindness / YouTube

• The Last Telephone Box Painter in London / YouTube

• Earth as Koan, Earth as Self. An Interview with Susan Murphy Roshi / Emergence

• The EPA is setting limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water for the first time / The Hill

[SIC] 292: Soppressata Affogato