[SIC] 303: Loose Boots

Volume Six, Number 43

This time: The [SIC] Weekly digest of pertinent developments, compiled and published free on Thursdays to 6072 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.

Also if you’re a breakfast person, Breakfast Clubbing is a [SIC] sister newsletter tracking the free, open-to-everyone breakfast events I started, now happening around the world. Everyone’s invited, especially you.

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Corollary Sources this week:

Network Notes /  The Morning / Charter / 1440/ Public Announcement / After School / Politico / Nieman Lab / Morning Brew  /  Semafor / Hubspot Trends / The Future Party / Retail Dive /  Ben-Evans  / Found NY/ The Unskippables / Champion Weekly/ Morning Brew  / The New Statesman  / The Deep Dive / Elevator / Garbage Day

Contributors this week: Ben Pruess, Elaine Santiago, Celeste Blewitt, Molly Raskin, David Bloom, Piers Fawkes, Daisy Alioto, Jesse Kirshbaum and Sydney Allen-Ash. Contributions are invited from everyone. Send ‘em if you got ‘em.

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Hi all,

Earlier than normal send because I’m headed to a memorial this afternoon. I’m going to pay my respects to co-founder and co-CEO of The Fader, Rob Stone, who passed away Monday. Rob had chosen to keep private his battle with cancer, so this was a shock. He was 55.

thefader

A post shared by @thefader

I met Rob and his co-founder Jon Cohen in my first job at Sony Music in ‘98 or ‘99, when Cornerstone (the Fader’s parent) was just a radio promo shop with the best taste in the business, to my young eyes. When they started The Fader, Rob and Jon (and Fader EICs Lee Harrison and Eddie Brannon) gave me a shot at my first byline in a glossy magazine, and through them I began to understand what we might now think of as the content business flywheel: sign the artist, make the record, platform them in the magazine, bring them to the stage, wrangle a brand to offset the cost, take audience feedback to all of it and repeat, bigger and better for the next go-round. It was incredibly inspiring and has informed everything I’ve ever tried to do since. In my VICE days we were friendly competitors and I have to admit that initiatives like Green Label Sounds and Converse Rubber Tracks were truly special - great deals for artists, great value for the brands that underwrote them, and great experience and music/video/shows for fans. HBR Business case stuff, for me. Rob’s presence was heavy behind all of it; l…….l..l;his impact on the modern music, media and marketing universes can’t be understated. And though he and I hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in a while, I was always struck by what a great dude he was - deeply and genuinely. May he rest in peace.

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No {SIC] Talks this week(and no excuses, just my apologies - I’ll get better on this now that I have a little help for the summer (shout out Elsa). Jeff and I did record a new Culture Club Half Hour yesterday tho, and we talked a bit about Rob. Plus it might even have a bit of an MTV News scoop in it. Would love your thoughts. It’s here:

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Chaos Menu:

Warning issued over super-powerful pills at Glastonbury. PLUR-corollary? Fashion gets fruity. Elsewhere: Will gentrification kill Montreal’s soul?  Speaking of old towns, from Elaine: Do We Get Wiser as We Age?  More Old guy swag not on my BINGO card this week: Lefsetz on Hawk Tuah. More in line: Kenny Scharf on brand collabs and Basquiat . The $4 thrift store vase made by ancient Mayans. More new life for old stuff: Quadrophenia is being made into a ballet. And lastly: paging Derek Zoolander: A case for why the US should ban left turns.

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Between the Chaos Menu, the regular links array and the videos above, there are 149x links in this week’s digest.Honestly I feel like that’s too many, but every time I’ve asked in the past, subscribers have said you want MORE links, not less.

That said, I haven’t asked in a while. Is that still true? Do me a favor (please!) and LMK what you’re feeling like these days.

Thanks - really appreciate that. And suffice it to say, I am much obliged by all the endorsements and referrals to [SIC] from subscribers to their friends, collegeagues and customers. If you have second, forward this one to somebody. I’d be grateful.

OK, now the links.

Ben

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[SIC] 303: Loose Boots

The Macro Narrative

• Social Media Broke Slang. Now We All Speak Phone / The Atlantic

• Nonsense/acc: Why ‘chronically online’ memes will destroy the internet / Dazed

• Internet forums are dying out, replaced by Reddit, Facebook, and Discord / Semafor

• Beware the Curators.  Why Life Beyond Algorithmic Recommendations Requires Skepticism / Zine

• It’s the Summer of the Finance Bro / WSJ

• The Growing Hatred for Finance Influencers / YT

• They’re not our besties, but they’re more than just acquaintances. How much of ourselves do we owe them?The Vexing Problem of the ‘Medium Friend’ / NYT

• Celibacy is all the rage right now / The Cut

• You Might be a Late Bloomer / The Atlantic

• In Defense of Procrastination / The Lindy Newsletter

• Why completing tasks too soon is just as bad as procrastinating / The Guardian

• Most of us think we’re better people than 5 years ago – That’s pure human resilience / The Drum

• lobal share of people reporting positive moods returned to its pre-pandemic high / Semafor

• From Molly: Why so many Americans hate their jobs. It's not the pay or the perks. It's the lack of purpose / Business Insider

• How a four-day workweek could be implemented in the US in a way that doesn’t hurt productivity / Bloomberg

• Emma Gannon on setting digital limits / Embedded

• "We didn't want it to be crazy" says architect of America's tallest skyscraper/ Dezeen

• From Molly: Why Hollywood Is Bearish On The Future Of Television / Forbes

• Why Do We Love The Bear So Much? / NYT

• Beacuse?! The Bear: a perfect drama for the Biden era Carmy's kitchen is a microcosm of the nation / Unherd

• From Syd: “Jeremy O. Harris just released a documentary about the play on HBO. One of these meta doc-about-making-a-doc-about-the-thing documentaries that I really enjoy.” [Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play] / HBO

• Also not a movie:  Men Are ‘Rawdogging’ Flights /GQ

• Are Young Men Becoming Sexist? In some places, young men are voting to the right of their grandfathers / The Atlantic

• From Josh: “Top half of this one reminds me of your ongoing travails to get that newsletter subscription killed” 

• [Reverse Parking Mindset] / The Lindy Newsletter

• From Josh: here's a local Australian piece on the return of Assange/ ABC

• Corollary, from Ben: “just going to go get my tin foil hat- if you want one” [ MIA’s new fashion line blocks radiation] / Complex

• More tinfoil: Josh Chapdelaine, has a new series, “Everyone Knows That: The Search for Ulterior Motives.”/ Apple Podcasts

• Kenya’s revolution is being televised on TikTok and X / Semafor

• From ‘Celeste: “Crowds flocking to Palm Beach and Florida, arriving for a better way of life, but then realising infrastructure may not be the same as a bustling city.” [The New Palm Beach, A Sun-Kissed Playground For The Social Media Age]/ FT

• Corollary: The Future of P-Leisure / Bompas & Parr

• And?! The Future Money Drop Edition / WITI

Generationations

• Life in analog: Younger generations take to analog pursuits / VML

• The Secret Digital Behaviors of Gen Z . According to research from Jigsaw, a Google subsidiary, Gen Zers read the headlines and then “speed-scroll” to the comments to see what everyone else has to say / businessinsider

• Gen Z is Hacking NYC Rental Culture and Living in Upscale Shares for $1,600 A Month / NY Post

• Younger Americans are Set to Have a Summer of Fun, No Matter the Financial Costs / WWD

• From Molly: The Teen Summer Job Is Back / The Atlantic

• For Gen Z, Music is Its Own Social Media /  Fast Company

• Gen Z is really over situationships / Tiktok

• “Based,” “glazed” and “sus”: Stephen Marche praises the slang of his teenage son’s generation / NYT

Platformations

• Linda Yaccarino shakes up X amid pressure from Elon Musk over costs / FT

• Inside Linda Yaccarino's first 12-months as X's CEO / Digiday

• TikTok in denial as US ‘ban’ approaches / Semafor

• Has Facebook stopped trying? “Facebook has been overrun with AI spam and scams. Experts say Facebook has stopped asking them for help.” / 404 Media

• Speaking of stopping: PornHub will be blocked in several more states, including Nebraska, Kansas, Indiana, and Idaho, and was shut down in Kentucky earlier this month / Daily Mail

• Dating Apps Have a Women Problem, Not a Gen-Z Problem . Just 18% of women believe the creation of dating apps has positively impacted society, notably less than the share of men (30%) / Morning Consult

• Also, why is LinkedIn so unfunny? / FT

• Don't call them social media networking sites: Why these platforms are distancing themselves from the social media label / Digiday

• IE: WeTransfer made a series about how to make it as a recording artist / Youtube

• And Instagram’s broadcast feature is becoming a popular tool for influencers and brands looking for more intimate connections with fans / BoF

• Amazon is secretly working on a ChatGPT rival / Business Insider

• Pinterest Users Can Now Turn Boards Into Videos for Sharing on IG and TikTok / TechCrunch

Stylistics

• Just in time for Euro 2024, blokecore is edging out tenniscore/ Cosmopolitan UK

• Noel Gallagher's football font makes a mockery of typography / Creative Bloq

• Nike and Hyperice unveil heated foot-massaging shoes / Dezeen

• How men’s boxers became one of the biggest trends in womenswear / GQ

• A new report offers fashion a roadmap for next-gen materials / Vogue Business

• Adidas CEO Rides Samba Craze to Revive Brand After Ye Debacle / Business of Fashion

• Shein US IPO is dead, experts say / CNBC

• Louis does an exemplary job with his “Introducing the “Girlfriend Jacket” (And 43 other takeaways from Paris Men’s Week)/ Magasin

• The return of the budgie-smuggler. Tiny swimming briefs are back/ FT

• The Unfiltered Charm of Jet’s Beauties of the Week / The New Yorker

• From Molly: Dries Van Noten on a Life of Fashion, and What Comes Next / GQ

• From Molly: How Skateboarding Took Over Paris Fashion Week / GQ

• Vogue World Wins and Fails / Back Row

• Corollary: Chris Black makes an appearance on Fashion People (the pod, not the populace)/ Spotify

• LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault has bought a stake in competitive luxury conglomerate Richemont, Bloomberg reported / Vogue Business

• Separately, LVMH has acquired the owner of L’Epée 1839, a Swiss manufacturer of ornate clocks / Bloomberg

• Nike is opening a luxury Jordan brand retail store in Beijing in an attempt to jumpstart sales in China / BoF

• Lawsuit claims Nike CEO John Donahoe misled investors about the success of its DTC strategy / Retail Dive

• Zellerfeld open sources footwear design and production / The Future Party

• L.L. Bean looks beyond New England for growth / Retail Dive

• It’s time to jump on the Salomon sneakers bandwagon. Lyst reports searches have been up 40% in the last six months / Glamour

Culturations

• MTV News website goes dark as its archives were pulled offline / Variety

• MTV News writers lament site shutdown: “Infuriating,” “beyond depressing”/ The Wrap

• From Jesse: “My newest piece [for [SIC] inclusion]”: Q2 Music Industry Trends Insights and Sentiments / Linkedin

• How the Music Business Can Tame the Dangerous AI Dragon. Here's a five point plan that makes a difference (and not just for music) / An Honest Broker

• Welcome to the slow museum, where less is more / The Art Newspaper

• From Molly: The ‘Espresso’ Theory of Gender Relations. Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX are ushering in a new kind of bad girl / The Atlantic

• Jana Euler’s Rebuke of Sexism in the German Art Scene / Frieze

• Leads right into The Tyranny of the Female-Orgasm Industrial Complex / The Atlantic

• "Spaceballs" gets a sequel / Variety

• From David: Terrific graphic showing which iconic cartoon/comic characters are leaving copyright in the next few years. Next up: Popeye. Break out the spinach / Visual Capitalist

• From Daisy: The Meme-ification of Anthony Bourdain / NYT

• Visions of sanctuary, in life and art. In a culture that tells us rest is for the weak, we need space to refresh body and mind / FT

• 50 Perfect Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes / Get Pocket

• From Ben: first he makes an X Games competitor …./ Outside Online

• …and now this the guy is going to own Thethe sport. well he  already does.” [Shaun White Partners With Harris Blitzer to Buy Sports Camp] / Sportico

• Minnesota's first free outdoor fingerboard skate park is officially open / Axios

• Suno and fellow AI song generator startup Udio were each sued yesterday by a group of copyright-holding giants, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, and Warner Music Group / Wired

• All the Beauty and the Tenderness of Nan Goldin / Hyperallergic

• Indie bookstores have become hubs for social justice movements and diverse communities / Axios

• Shepard Fairey criticises France’s far-right party president for featuring his work in campaign films / The Art Newspaper

• Could the Jude Bellingham brand be bigger than Beatles? / The Drum

• Pavement finally shared a shelved 1992 video for “Summer Babe” directed by director Tanya Small / YT

• Photographer Ryan Weideman worked as a NYC taxi driver for 35 years (1981-2016) and photographed his passengers while on the job./ Kottke

• The Art History of Addiction and Recovery / Hyperallergic

• Peter Hujar’s Photographs of the Downtown Legends of 1970s New York City / Hyperallergic

• Cancelling Kehinde Wiley shows ‘does a disservice to the audiences’, anti-censorship group claims / The Art Newspaper

• From Celeste: The reason Coldplay are the 21st Century's defining band / BBC

• MSCHF is turning Venmo into Survivor with a new lottery stunt called “MSCHF Plays Venmo.” / Fast Company

Technopolis

• MIT Technology Review looks into the future of AI-generated video, with OpenAI’s Sora being just the beginning / MIT Review

• From Geoff: “A Good One” [How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play]/ MIT Technology Review

• TikTok is forming an investment team to acquire music content and companies / Music Business Worldwide

• After raising $125m, AI music generator Suno is now paying its most popular creators / Music Business Worldwide

• Ferrari is dropping navigation from its next cars, because, well, smartphones / The Drive

• Bot-tom line: China’s Gen Z wants AI chatbots, AIGC / Jing Daily

• From Molly: Spying on strangers in public is not accountability / Dazed

Mediations

• The Future of Streaming (According to the Moguls Figuring It Out) Who will survive? Die? Thrive? And how? We talked to nearly a dozen top media executives and asked them to predict what lies ahead / NYT

• The Associated Press will launch an independent sister organization to raise at least $100 million to expand state and local news / Axios

• At Cannes, publishers attempt to quell marketers' open programmatic apostasy / Digiday

• Advertising agencies are said to be preparing for a potential U.S. ban on TikTok. Marketing firms are adding contingencies including so-called kill clauses to contracts/ FT

• Semafor leans into Live Journalism / Semafor

• Reddit is eyeing search advertising amid a traffic surge from Google / Axios

• Journalism has become ground zero for the vocation crisis / Nieman Lab

• L.A. Taco was forced to furlough its staff. Reader support brought them back within 24 hours / Poynter

• From Piers: I need this Walk Car in my Life because I’m too lazy to Walk / Yanko Design

• From Piers: How you could see inside your body— with a micro-robot / TED Talks

Market / Influence

• Why the Disney Formula Doesn't Work in China / The Dial

• From Ben: “Turns out skate brands that forget where they come from find it hard to get it back. 👋🏼 airwalk”

• [Vans CMO returns brand to its skateboarding roots] / AdAge

• Why the 'year of gaming' might be the ad industry’s next 'year of mobile' / Digiday

• Meantime, Let’s Watch 150 Humans Dance Like Chickens for KFC /

• Corollary from Celeste: “Reiss have seen a jump in traffic on their TikTok from creating this finance flashmob” [Fashion Brand Reiss Recreates Finance Bro TikTok Flash Mob] / The Drum

• American Express rebranded its human resources function as the “Colleague Experience Group.” / HR Grapevine

• The Scourge of Self-Checkout. The technology promised to make shopping easier. It has done the opposite / The Walrus

• Gap is Gen Z's Most Improved Brand 🏅/ DCDX

• Eastern Mountain Sports, Bob’s Stores file for bankruptcy / Retail Dive

• Oreo sold tubes of their frosting so people could repair their broken Oreos in the same way. / Kottke

• Todd Boehly has a plan to shake up college sports through the creation of a super league / Bloomberg

• A provocative billboard ad for Gymshark invites users to "shop lift" from a selection of apparel. But as items are removed, the true message is revealed / The Drum

• Commercial made by no one to advertise a company that doesn't exist featuring childhood experiences that will never happen again.”/ Twitter

• From Celeste: “From the Australian view, the American retail experience is like no other, Australian stores try to replicate and some do it well, but once you set foot into a store such as Aime Leon Dore, this article certainly becomes very clear, it's all about the experience.”  [The New American Mall]/ The Atlantic

• Starbucks is going all in on discounts to win back inflation-weary customers / Quartz

Eats, Drinks and Ephemera

• Snaxshot Touches Down in NYC / Who Do You Know

• Huy Fong sriracha, one of the most popular hot sauces in the US, is on hold until at least September / NYT

• The Beating Heart of Japan’s Nose-to-Tail Cooking / Slop Magazine

• AI-generated restaurant reviews are upending the industry / NYT

• Does NYC’s Tap Water Actually Make Its Bagels Better? / The Takeout

• From Celeste: “A piece of history that I hadn't previously considered.” [How To Make 3000 Year Old Beer] / NYT

The Natural (?!) World

• Pain Doesn’t Belong on a Scale of Zero to 10. A popular scale for measuring pain doesn’t work, but medicine still has no better alternative / Atlantic

• India wants to make a mega-river to address some of its biggest infrastructure problems / Semafor

• A celebrity-driven trend for “healing” crystals has created a risky mining rush in rural South Africa/ WSJ

• $4: The daily salary for workers in South Africa who mine for quartz and other “healing crystals / Semafor

• Golfing with llama caddies — who carry your clubs without complaining — is the hottest ticket in North Carolina / Axios

• Animal smugglers are trafficking coral into the U.S. / NYT

• Denmark became the first country to impose a carbon tax on agriculture / Reuters

[SIC] 303: Loose Boots