[SIC] 312: Grafitti Frog

Vol. 7, No. 2: [SIC] Talks with Brynn from Dimepiece. 5 Questions for Alex Morris (Strat Scraps). Another sale on membership. And all the links as usual. Open in a browser for preferred viewing.

Sep 12, 2024

“…the most important media consumer in NY[?] 100% Agree” - Kareem Rahma (Subway Takes)

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I woke up to that testimonial, along with an upgraded (paid) subscription from Edmond. Gratifying. Also gratifying - the 100+ new subscribers this week. Welcome. When I said last timeI want to get to 25,000 subscribers to this weekly digest, it wasn’t without the full awareness that that will be really hard to do. So these little positive indicators that I’m on the right track mean a lot. To that end I’ve extended the little sale on [SIC] membership (ie the paid tiers) for another week. Button above. And barring paid support, I’d love you to recommend this weekly to your people. Button below.

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Elsewhere, my chat last week with Foster Kamer drew some pretty strong reactions, notably from Drew Millard of Media Events, who wrote:

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

"I must say that while I appreciated Foster’s points regarding my piece, I also vehemently disagree with his perspective on the issues raised in your discussion. Furthermore, while I thank him for admitting he skirted the HIGHLY SECURE Media Events paywall, I take umbrage with the fact that he didn’t pay a dollar to read the post. 

So, at the risk of setting myself up for a massive self-own I hereby challenge Foster to a debate about, I don’t know, the “future of media.” 

I propose that said debate be held on neutral ground, and by this I mean holding the debate on the [SIC] Talks podcast with you, Ben, as the moderator. 

If you would be willing to host such an event, please make this challenge public in the next issue of your newsletter. I eagerly await Foster’s response."

Could be fun. Thoughts? Would you tune in? Should we stage it as a live event? All things are possible. Sound off in the comments. Especially you two, Drew and Foster.

Beyond that, lots of stuff this week. Alex Morris, who’s prompted more people to subscribe to [SIC] than anyone except Casey Lewis, joins me for Five Questions For… and Brynn Wallner of the excellent and sui generis Dimepiece saved my veggie bacon on short notice by standing in for a [SIC] Talks mini-ep that coincides with issue #1 of her newsletter this week. Thanks, both.

And with that…

[SIC] 312: Grafitti Frog

Five Questions for Alex Morris (Strat Scraps)

What are your favorite sources of daily information? Do they overlap with sources of inspiration for your work?

For both personal and work info, I continue to find the most value in things written/published in the past. This might mean 2018, 20010, or 1986.

There is so much new information we’re made to feel responsible for keeping up with that we tend to forget how much has already been created.

The abstraction forced by reading something outside of its time and context can be an incredibly insightful way to think about the things you are trying to solve for in the present.

What’s one place that you’ve been recently that’s worth mentioning?

Watching my daughter play in the lake

Stuck on a boat at night with a broken propeller

On my roof getting a stomp rocket down

Outside.

I am trying to spend as much time outside as I do inside and it’s not easy but well worth it.

If you need a productivity related reason – your thinking is wildly stronger if you haven’t been at your desk all week

(however it does make sitting at a desk much harder when you get used to spending time actually touching the world.)

It’s an average Thursday afternoon. Where do we find you, and what’s keeping you busy?

No way to know really.

Possibly I’m at my desk. Either doing client work – recently I’ve been doing a lot of go to market campaign work and brand (re)positioning – or working on the next issue of the stratscraps newsletter, saving things to are.na

Equally possible you’ll find me in my garage making art, or at the hardware store, the tackle shop or somewhere in the middle of a lake on my kayak.

Who do you admire? And what for?

People who make things. Like, not just in the garage (that too though), but things that involve fabrication and/or are needlessly beautiful to look at.

People who have odd or interesting tastes and share it through what they make.

People like the guys over at Major Agency who made Drugs for Plants as well as published “Handbook for Hacks”

People like Matt Klein, Jess Henderson (pseudonym?), Nick Marzano, who all have published beautiful print projects based on things like book clubs, digital apathy, fishing+fashion.

I admire people who make things for themselves and share them with the world.

Ben, you’re on this list too for breakfast club, [Sic], the video interviews etc. Keep making these things happen.

What can [SIC] readers help you with?

The incredibly self serving answer is to keep me in consideration for upcoming brand comms/creative campaign projects. I’m booked up through the month but am starting to look for a couple projects to round out the year.

Slightly less self serving answers…

I have a few perpetually running surveys that I will one day do something with…

If you work in advertising, I’d love for you to answer 3 questions about the last time you had fun at work.

If you work in the creative department, I want to hear your opinion on what strategy is actually good for. It’s 16 questions, but it is quick (I’ve been told it’s relatively cathartic as well) If you work in strategy, stop filling this out – we already talk about strategy way too much.)

Finally, send me something you found interesting. Any topic, the more out of left field the better. alex@stratscraps.com

Fits and Starts

Bob nailed my take on The Debate. Nothing is in the bag yet / Lefsetz Letter
OpenAI's new ChatGPT that can 'think' is here/ OpenAI has released its new series of “reasoning” artificial intelligence models that it claims can “think.” / Quartz
Near-Death Experiences and Psychedelic Trips Are Scientifically Similar / Doubleblind
America isn’t ready for another war — because it doesn’t have the troops. The US military’s recruiting crisis, explained / Vox
The chaos at Columbia continues / The New Yorker
Teen vaping hit a 10-year low. About 1.63 million, or 6%, of middle and high school students in the U.S. use e-cigarettes, far below a peak of 20% in 2019 / QZ
Teens are making thousands debating Trump vs. Harris on TikTok / Taylor Lorenz’s Newsletter
Gen Zers, millennials report higher optimism about U.S. economy / Glossy
The ‘vibecession’ is ending as the U.S. economy nails a soft landing / CNBC
New York’s "hottest pick-up spot" is a brick wall in McCarren Park / NYPost
Streaming is an affront to God. The endangered pleasures of inefficiency, inconvenience, and ecstatic boredom in the Dark Digital Abbondanza Era / Blackbird Spyplane
Fake Songs Made Real Money / Money Stuff
The Real Problem With Emoji. The usefulness of these formerly fun discourse pictures is on the wane / The Atlantic
Case in point? Which Emojis Are Best for a Layoff Email? / McSweeneys
Puppets seem to be everywhere nowadays. Where Does The Puppet End And The Human Begin? / 032C
So How Should We Create Things? In a new documentary, the musician Brian Eno shows that playfulness can substitute for inspiration / The New Yorker
What I Learned When My AI Kermit Slop Went Viral/ The Atlantic
So … Will California flip the AI industry on its head? / The Verge

TLDR

The desperation of the Instagram photo dump / The New Yorker
Through the Lens: Alastair Philip Wiper, where beauty emerges from the most utilitarian environments / Hypebeast
The Most Sought-After Travel Guide Is a Google Doc / Thrillist
Is the best fashion show actually just a dinner party? Anything else these days feels like a colossal waste of money / Show Notes
Will the ‘chefluencer’ trend make a stir in China? / Jing
City, not city’: How a viral phrase captures China’s urban zeitgeist / Jing Daily
How Tropical Modernism Became a Tool of Postcolonial Nation-Building / Hyperallergic
How the War on Terror Warped the American Left / The Atlantic
How the Internet warps our sense of time / Wired
You Think You’re So Heterodox. Joe Rogan has turned Austin into a haven for manosphere influencers, just-asking-questions tech bros, and other “free thinkers” who happen to all think alike / The Atlantic
The American Dream Without a House? Believe It / NYT
The Goal Should Be a Permanent 3-Day Weekend / The Lindy Newsletter
What Was the Hipster / NYMag
Pavements is a hearty fanzine of a movie / Hollywood Reporter
The fate of the very first Webby winners Very few websites from the early internet are still functional…except these ones.
Most Googled Sex Searches Revealed / Askmen
Telegram and the Limits of Freedom of Speech on Social Media (Part II) / YouTube

[SIC] Talks #83: Brynn Wallner

Discussed: Town & Country Says Dimepiece Newsletter is a “10” / Dimepiece

Other Conversations

Inside Nigeria’s blooming skateboard communities: the creative people at the forefront of the city’s skate scene / It’s Nice That
Super Bowl Songwriter Mazie Credits LSD with Changing the Trajectory of Her Life / Doubleblind
Italian fashion brand Canali’s CEO on its founding principles and experiential offerings / Monocle
Miranda July’s Top Ten Books / 1Grand
For the next two days, you can call in to the Rose Books Hotline (1-844-300-ROSE) to hear one writer read a piece about the suburbs. Have you written something about the suburbs you would like to share? Email a m4a or mp3 file under three minutes to rosebookshotline@gmail.com for a chance to be featured on Dirt and Rose Books.
Gillian Anderson Is Ready to Talk About sex, fantasy, sobriety, and the lure of a young, handsome lover—hypothetically / Vanity Fair
Choire talks to the lady who gets the people who got the babies / Dinner Party
A new film on Ernest Cole, photographer who chronicled apartheid, presents trove of 60,000 rediscovered negatives / The Art Newspaper
A Minute With Todd Levin / Art Stuff
8 Questions for... Ted Gioia / Eleanor’s Substack
Joe Sabia on Tetragrammaton / Spotify

Style

This NYFW made me want to sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’/ Vogue Business
Business group says New York’s status as a global fashion capital is ‘at a crossroads’ / Monocle
Walmart hosted a pop-up shop during New York Fashion Week, a signal of its ambitions to grow its apparel business / BoF
As Brands descend on NYFW with new stores and pop-ups. At New York Fashion Week, brands aren’t just showing clothes — they’re selling / Vogue Business
Porsche's turbonite is the most surprising colour trend of NYFW / Creative Bloq
Ebay is showing secondhand fashion on the runway / Vogue Business
And Zara’s “Pre-Owned” platform for secondhand clothes is coming to the US next month / Fast Company
Five trends to look out for at London Fashion Week / BBC
Is fashion ready for augmented reality? / Jing Daily
Levi’s provides new mobile tool to in-store stylists / Chain Store Age
What does a California accent sound like? / YT
Devahhnn?! Wharewwdwanhurrr? / YT

The Marketplace

Roblox Maps Out a ‘Destination for Organic and Immersive Music Discovery’/ Digital Music News
X hired former Hyundai CMO Angela Zepeda to lead Global Marketing / WSJ
Paramount Global has sold VidCon to media and events company Informa / Tubefilter
News Flash: Tech workers at The New York Times vote to approve a strike / Axios
Global turmoil and rising taxes tilt art trade towards new era / The Art Newspaper
The Electrifying Rise and Litigious Fall of Energy Beer / Snackstack
The North Face Plays Differently for New Campaign / WWD
The Business of Being Beyoncé Knowles-Carter / GQ
Cowboy Carter Got Snubbed / Lefsetz
The business of Emily in Paris / Vogue Business
Selling Sunshine: the origins of CPG leviathan Unilever are soapy / Scope of Work
Lab-grown and lab-made diamonds are now better than natural diamonds in every way, plus cheaper / Works in Progress
Meanwhile Oil hasn't been this cheap for years. You can thank China / Quartz
The old Recode Media podcast is returning to a familiar home / Nieman Lab
Drybaby is a dating app for sober and sober-curious singles. The app also has a weekly newsletter that highlights local sober-friendly events / TechCrunch
Land of the Flea. What America is buying and selling / The New Yorker
The UFC will debut the first-ever, live sporting event inside the Sphere on Saturday / Forbes

Sustenance

Against the penny / Semafor
The Rise of DIY, Pirated Medicine / 404 Media
The geopolitics of Wine / YT
How We Treat Bears in Cities Is Trash / The Walrus
‘It’s schmoozing – but that’s nothing new’: how the record shop in-store gig changed touring / Guardian
Prevent Plant Blindness! / Plant Vision
A Food-Allergy Fix Hiding in Plain Sight. Why did it take so long to reach patients? / The Atlantic
The Young Female Meatfluencers of Tiktok / Fast Company
Dear Men, You’re Eating Too Much Meat / WSJ

Friends Section

“You should capitalize on nostalgia in any way that you can. And whats weird about nostalgiafor our generation is that the idea of being nostalgic is still in the present because everyone is selling it to you.” Gen Z’s leading the Print Resurgence / After School Pod
Hence? Ted Barrow’s back with This old Ledge: Wallenberg / IG
Recho Omondi is behind the best fashion podcast in the world right now / The FACE
Evan Armstong calls it: Unicorns are out, gritty startups are in / Napkin Math
MODEM PANELS E01,: Emily Segal in conversation with Michael Rock and Samir Bantal / Nemesis
Merch is forever. Daisy Alioto in conversation with Josh Zoerner of Night Gallery about the new Dirt collab / Dirt
In Search of James Lavelle: A Herb Sundays Mo' Wax Sunday Edition / Herb Sundays
Quick Takes with FFNY SuckLord / Friends From New York

Getting Rec’d

Available Works Book Fair / Available Works
Garage Show this weekend in Rockaway includes a gang of [SIC] homies. I’m going! / IG
The Bug Club in-store performance At Rough Trade NYC Oct 16th / Dice
Yogi Footwear announced its hibernation / IG

Playlisting

Why we get songs stuck in our heads / NYT
Spotify’s Global Head of Editorial on the ‘Art and Science’ of Playlist Curation / Billboard
Martin Shkreli Copied His $2M Wu-Tang Album—And Sent It To “50 Different Chicks” / Ars Technica
Per Tyler: Every bad review should attempt to be more fun than the record it’s panning– regardless of your feelings on the harmless fun of the Fcukers debut EP, Sophie Kemp’s review is THICK with zingers / Pitchfork
Also per tyler(and his bandmate, [SIC] Talks Alum Kareem Rahma: : “we have a new song out today called “Baby I Could Never Win” and it’s maybe one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. We recorded it as part of a one-day marathon to record our EP, as 4/5s of the band has a child under 3, so we got it all done in eight hours.”
Tuawki’s “All Shook Up” cover is some kind of alchemical wonder / IG
Tape Deck is possibly the best collection of old cassette tapes online / Tape Deck

Wisdom of the Crowds

From Mark Fleming:

Check this out, it was unaoounced and it popped into my auto feed while walking. It thru [sic] me as i could place the voice at first. I wont spoil it, bit would love to heari you thoughts, a interesting use of Ai and archives and definitely something to explore and learn from [Unexpected Conversation: Jim Morrison] / Tetragrammaton

From Isaac Dietz:

Indictment of US pro MAGA media personalities for being funded by Russia Russia's useful idiots. The MAGA influencer ecosystem is even shadier than we thought / Public Notice

From Josh Gardiner:

As I get older I'm ever more aware of the multitudes within — on the internet I'm not sure that can ever reflect all of me, but that's just me on on the older spectrum here of this report. More Gen. Z and Millennials still ‘feel most like themselves’ on the internet / New Consumer

From Iolanda Carvalho:

"The hysteria surrounding the Oasis reunion serves as a powerful reminder of the lasting impact of strong branding in the music industry and beyond. Through a combination of iconic design assets, distinctive sounds, clear messaging, and unforgettable personalities, bands like Oasis and the Spice Girls have created brands that stand the test of time" [What the Oasis Reunion Can Teach Us about Branding]/ Creative Boom

From Piers Fawkes:

Cooking for the most powerful person in the world / NPR Pod
“it’s interesting how they connect this Brit thing with renewed interest in Sade - who is probably popular because her art might be the least British thing the island ever drop kicked to the rest of the world.” Sausage rolls and Oasis: ‘Britishcore’ TikTok trend drives interest in UK culture / The Guardian
Imagine you actually worked at a company where people did this with your product .:The Lego Great Ball Contraption / Kottke
But sadly when the marketers at Lego try to engage their community they just go beige…Lego Embarks on a Global Play Tour, Starting With an Immersive Art Gallery For Kids / Adweek

From Celeste Blewitt:

Music And Politics, Dynamic Pricing And Good By Brat Summer Forever / Sidetracked BBC
Light listen but a great deep dive into dynamic pricing/ Oasis from Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw. They also roamed into the world of music licensing and the current US election, intriguing conversation around licensing and royalties. Plus I always find Annie Maac and Nick Grimshaw to have such a great conversational style.
The Chase Glitch Proves Cheques Are Stupid / Slate Money
Now this is intriguing, the Chase bank glitch and the TikTok generation not fully comprehending cheques/ chequebooks. It also raised the conversation of financial literacy, does it work and how it should be taught to the next gen.
How The Olympics Changed Paris / FT
The ever favourite Simon Kuper writing on the spirit of the Olympics, how it energised Paris and gave the locals an opportunity to see Paris through visitors' eyes. WAtching sporting matches being played underneath the Eiffel Tower is somewhat spectacular, and seeing the Paralympics rise after the Olympics was brilliant.
How Snacks Took Over American Life / The Atlantic
I'd never really thought about the history of snacks and snacking, but this article dives in, looking back to times when snacking was a no go before meals, and snacks weren't really a part of our lives. Although these days, snacks rule, love going into the premium supermarkets and staring at the snack aisle, it's mesmerising.
Campbell's To Drop Soup From Company Name After 102 Years' / The Guardian
Iconic branding, Andy Warhol and tinned soup, it also links in snacks, the brands under the Campbells Company (new name) and how the American population are eating and purchasing food these days. I hadn't really thought about tinned soup sales until reading this...
'Inside The Funeral Home For New York's Luminaries' / NYT
A part of life that is written about sporadically, and funeral homes always have certain styles and narratives around them. Whereas this article truly shares a different side of funeral homes for the upper echelon of New York, a brilliant read that demystifies perhaps the quiet luxury version of funeral homes.