[SIC] 304: Periodic Meltdowns

Volume Six, Number Forty Four

This time: The [SIC] Weekly digest of pertinent developments, compiled and published free on Thursdays to 6083 subscribers who’ve opted in. [SIC] is an operation that grows exclusively by via word-of-mouth. Do us a solid and send 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:

Semafor / The Future Party / In Bed With Social / Public Announcement / Politico / Champion Weekly / Axios / Marginal Revolution / Ben-Evans / Dada Strain / Context Collapse / Politico / Morning Brew / The Material Review / After School / Brendan’s Communication Miscellany / Network Notes

Contributors this week: Celeste Blewitt, Iolanda Carvalho and Matt @TheTechorati. Contributions are invited from everyone. Send ‘em if you got ‘em.

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Hey all.

it’s the 4th of July edition. More than 70% of survey respondents suggested 100ish links or less in this weekly missives, so for the late-day holiday send, keeping it to 97x. [SIC] Talks returns next week, along with (probably) and even tighter array of stories as I mess around with an overall refresh for Volume Seven, coming end of August.

Meantime, hope the holiday / the election / the height of summer / the depths of winter (depending on where this digest finds you) are treating you and yours well. We’re doing just fine, thanks for asking.

Ben

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[SIC] 304: Periodic Meltdowns

Chaos Menu:

Yesterday’s Culture Club Show Half Hour makes for good beach listening.

Related to that: Werner Herzog’s newish Every Man for Himself and God Against All audiobook is free in Prime and I I’m listening to it over break. Also book related: [SIC] Talks alum Tricia Romano Talks West Coast Rave and Fatboy Slim DJ sets (they really ARE fun btw) with Beat Connection. While [SIC] Talks Alum Chris Black and Emily Nussbaum talk reality TV and her book thereabouts. Corollary: Why Writers Are Forced to Become Brands (and Why That’s Bad). More Reality TV: Producers of “The Boyfriend,” Japan’s first same-sex dating reality series, hope that the show will encourage broader acceptance of the nation’s L.G.B.T.Q. community. Less accepted: Jill Biden's Embarrassingly Timed 'Vogue' Cover. Ergo: Criticism is NOT dead 😤 An interview with *the icon* Philip Sherburne on the state of music, writing, Pitchfork, and criticism from The Trend Report.  And, corollary: an Interview with globetrotting designer Jan Chipchase In Desire Paths. Also overseas: The Cannes Lions Official Wrap Report . Which Brian Morrissey characterized as Retail media rising, in  The Rebooting.

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The Macro Narrative

• The American Millennium A Fourth of July Tribute to a Nation on the Rise / Not Boring

• Related: The 100 Best American-Made Products / Inside Hook

• Or, less magnanomously: Hawk Tuah and the Zynternet / Max Read

• And so: CEOs in the age of anxiety / FT

• How Did Silicon Valley Turn into a Creepy Cult? Tech leaders once gave us coolness, but now it's just Kool-Aid / An Honest Broker

• Related: Mary Meeker has written her first report in over three years, focused on the relationship between artificial intelligence and higher education / Mary Meeker

• Hence? A New American Industrial Alliance to propel innovation in American manufacturing across the Rust Belt and the Beltway was announced / Axios

• While Greece is introducing six-day work weeks as it grapples with a dearth of skilled workers and an aging population / Quartz

• The European Union looked set to impose new restrictions on Shein and Temu / Semafor

• Etsy has banned the sale of some products, including vintage Playboys and sex toys / NYT

• Corollary?! UK general election: can artists show the way for policymakers to enable a new digital economy?  / The Art Newspaper

• What UK Youth Want in 2024 Ahead of today’s general election in the U.K., Dazed asked young activists and commentators “to spell out their ideas for a better future.” / Dazed

• Numb to the Truth: How Trust in Media is Evolving with Gen Z / DCDX

• Hence: Gen Zs and Millennials are “Quiet Vacationing” this week instead of taking PTO / CNBC

• Back to digital economies: The Rise of Video Game Graphics in Contemporary Art / Hypebeast

• And EA’s head of creative on how playing its games drives IRL participation in sports / The Drum

• Related? Americans are Getting Sportier/ Morning Consult

• The Ozempic Era Is Distorting What We See as Healthy / Tha Walrus

• Case in point? The Bear’ isn’t about the pressures of fine dining. It’s about the damage alcoholism inflicts / LATimes

• Hence? Lykos Therapeutics Quietly Moves to Patent MDMA/ Doubleblind

• Corollary, From Iolanda: Super cool!!! [The Future of P-Leisure Report] / Bompas and Parr

Platformations

• From Celeste: Brands Hit Up TikTok as Instagram, Facebook lose their lustre / AFR

• Nonetheless Meta’s Threads hits 175 million users one year after launch / The Verge

• Adam Mosseri on the first year of Threads / Platformer

• More talking platforms: You can now ask YouTube to take down deepfakes of yourself / TechCrunch

• But maybe they don’t have to now?! Supreme Court gives social platforms First Amendment protections / The Future Party

• Which is important because From Iolanda: “Don't even know what to say…”[AIs are coming for social networks] /The Verge

• Which leads into another from Iolanda: “That highlights that in many ways, social media is maybe not that social any more" / We Are Social

Stylistics

• In an era of AI deepfakes, trompe l’oeil clothes feel mad real / GQ

• Hence?  Why In-the-Know Men Are Dressing Like Cary Grant in 2024 / WSJ

• And? ‘Our shirts are from Lidl!’ 32 of Glastonbury’s greatest looks for 2024 / The Guardian

• What would fashion look like if women were in charge? / Vogue Business

• Does fashion hate women in power? / Vogue Business

• The anti-fast fashion influencer. Venetia La Manna turns down 95% of brand deals / Embedded

• Here’s what our clothes would look like if more women designed them /  Vogue Business

• Stüssy founder Shawn Stussy has come out of retirement, teasing a new project/ Hypebeast

• And Evisu founder Hidehiko Yamane is having a comeback / Jing Daily

• The Stores Defining a New Era of Multi-Brand Retail   / BoF

• A small Black-owned fashion label — Actively Black — is dressing Team Nigeria at the Olympics / NYT

• Corollary: Spotify is collabing with Swedish fashion brand Acne Studios to partner hit musicians with up-and-coming designers via Acne’s “Acne People” talent program /Hypebeast

• What’s behind China’s trending ethnic nomadism style?  / Jing Daily

Culturations

• Tennis clubs grapple with surge in demand for padel and pickleball / FT

• Related: the loneliness of the journeyman Tennis Pro / The Guardian

• Voice of Baceprot, a hijab-wearing Indonesian heavy metal band, was the surprise hit of Glastonbury / Semafor

• Related, go see this (it’s free): BklynSounds Live Music PSA! "Travels Over Feeling: Celebrating Arthur Russell" is an evening of music produced by BRIC/Celebrate Brooklyn and Anthology Books, and curated by Dada Strain / BRICArtsMedia

• Corollary: In the 1980s NYC art scene, art critic Carlo McCormick championed psychedelic artists, defying mainstream norms and the War on Drugs.

• And now Six Art-World Cool Kids Take Over Abandoned High School in Upstate NY / Hyperallergic

• S/O [SIC] homie Dave Ortiz and others featured in 10 Exhibitions to See in Upstate New York This July / Hyperallergic

• The original DC Comics superhero style guide for product licensing / It’s Nice That

• Corollary somehow, from Celeste: New Tom Hanks Film Here ANd The Unsettling 'De-Aging' Technology Keeping Stars Forever Young' / BBC

• (500) Days of Summer is a Revenge Movie. what happens when the unreliable narrator is one of the writers of the film? / YT

Technopolis

• A hacker stole secrets from OpenAI, raising concerns that China could steal them, too / NYT

• If AI isn't the war, what is? / Network Notes

• Hence: The AI industry starts to focus on a potential Trump presidency  /Semafor

• The AI Summer on Another Podcast. As we go into the summer, we know a lot more about generative AI than we did six or nine months ago - or at least, we have better questions / simplecast

• Hence, Per Noah Brier in his typically excellent Creativity vs. AI. Yes, AI can deliver world-class creative work / BrXnd.ai

• In contrast: Why the Major Studios Won't Use AI Video Generators Extensively Anytime Soon—And Why That Puts Them in a Bind  / The Mediator By Doug Shapiro

• France has slapped Nvidia with antitrust charges /

• Undeterred: Meta shows off a new AI tool that can change the texture of 3D objects /

• Media-tions

• How brands are using the comments sections to drive results - “It takes a lot more time than people realize to source these opportunities and craft language.” / Marketing Brew

• Two news articles about the same research, but running opposite headlines / Nick Bloom

Market / Influence

• Advertising Is Now a ‘Meritocracy’ in the Wake of Social Media, Resy Co-Founder Gary Vaynerchuk Says / CNBC

• Meantime Walmart’s drones need to watch out for bullets. Some gun owners are shooting at the delivery devices because they think they’re spying on them /QZ

• So…. Is It Time to Demilitarise Branding? / Creative Review

• More flying objects: Hoka’s latest avian-themed ads look to shore up favor among runners / Retail Dive

• An overflow of content won't solve the enshittification of sports marketing / The Drum

• Finding the perfect fit: Ray-Ban’s vision for China / Jing Daily

• More ‘next world’ vision: Vans & Roblox open a virtual skate paradise with the launch of Vans World 2 / The Drum

• From Iolanda: Netflix Launches Their ‘Now Popping’ Snacks With Popcorn Indiana at Walmart / Billboard

• Not perfect: Denis Villeneuve called the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn holder “horrific” / MSN

• Corollary; Charli XCX inspires brat-tastic campaign for Field Roast’s plant-based bratwurst / The Drum

• Kate Spade has thrust ketchup into the condiment spotlight for its collaboration with Heinz / Kate Spade

• And Olivia Rodrigo is launching a Stanley cup collab / Nylon

• Related to that? From Celeste: “The NZ-born beauty brand seeing 190% growth in the UK – and booming in Australia” [Emma Lewisham seeing 190% growth in the UK - and booming in Australia] / Forbes

Eats, Drinks and Ephemera

• From Celeste: Paris Restaurant War? Hold My Foie Gras' /Town & Country

• The future of dining is waiting in lines / NYT

• So while you wait?! Swap Your Meat for Cheese / The Atlantic

• Or, seafood? From Matt: The battle over Maine’s coveted glass eels. Each spring, hundreds of millions of baby eels swarm the waterways of coastal Maine. Soaring global demand incited an era of jackpot payouts and international poaching / The New Yorker

• Corollary: High culture meets hedonism on Hydra / FT

• Speaking of Mediterranean highs: Several species of fish, such as the sea bream and stingray, have been known to cause accidental psychedelic experiences / Doubleblind

• So like… Should We Be Eating Three Meals a Day? The idea that we should eat three meals a day is surprisingly modern. How many meals a day is best for our health? / Get Pocket

• What ‘wild-eating,’ ‘vanlife’ trends reveal about China’s Gen Z / Jing Daily

• While we’re at it, from Celeste: “Loved this conversation between Felix Salmon and Matt Rodbard” - Money Talks: Does Anyone Need Cookbooks?' / Slate Money

The Natural (?!) World

• As climate change brings hotter summers, manufacturers are positioning air-conditioners as lifestyle accessories / NYT

• Little John’s galvanized steel homes are a landlord’s worst nightmare / The Fader

• How much of the universe is legible to intelligence? / Economist Writing Everyday

[SIC] 304: Periodic Meltdowns