[SIC] 334: Tuff Dux

Vol. 7, No. 24. [SIC] Talks with Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick. A Substack Bestsellers Moment. And many, many, many links. Open in browser for improved experience.

Feb 20, 2025

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Thanks to Ed Cotton , Piers Fawkes, Matt @thetechnorati, Celeste Blewitt, Steve Bryant and Iolanda Carvalho for links. Contributions welcome from everyone - send 'em!

Hi all,

Longtime subscribers will (maybe) be aware that I have a twice annual tradition of spending a calendar month as a teetolal and vegan; straightedge February and Sober October, as it were.

Feb’s moderation dates back to 2004, and though I don’t enjoy it much to be honest, when I get to this time of the month I start feeling a little bit proud of myself and inevitably thinking I could keep it up indefinitely. This would not be advisable TBH - I am much more balanced when I practice balance- but when I run into stories like The 5 Michelin-honored vegan restaurants in New York City in Quartz, the delusion deepens. Then I check the menu at EMP and … it’ll pass.

Around the same time I got going on that tradition twenty years ago, I read in i-D about a Japanese retailer called making inroads in the UK; a year after that I helped produce the first-ever Uniqlo retail presence in the US, a curated takeover of the shortlived but legendary VICE store on Lafayette st. That’s been understandably written out of history’s like CNBC’s How Uniqlo Won Over North America piece on YT, but I’m not salty; Uniqlo has proven the promise of inexpensive basics with a POV that we intuited back then. Shout out Jean, Jeff, Erik and Aviva.

Anyway, there’s something corollary going on with the rise of reverse dupes as clocked by Magasin; maybe it’s looming end of the de minimus provision or just people feeling they’ve had their fill of cheap stuff, but feels like ‘fewer, better’ continues to gain momentum. Apropos of that: A lot of bang for your buck’: Cult label Studio Nicholson turns 15 in Vogue Business(disclosure: I consult for Studio Nicholson’s agency, Plus Plus). And (no disclosure necessary); Chantal Fernandez explains Quince to us in The Cut.

Related to that, I’d be remiss not to disclose this Q&A with yours truly in The Material Review Issue 065 (along with stories on “Designer Sheep, A Michelin Star Curse, Spotify's Paradox of Music Discovery, Prep Directory, and [of course] Bootcut Jeans”); I talk about a few recent purchases and some favorite brands, in case you care about what I care about buying and wearing.

Last thing up top here: my [SIC] Talks guest Kyle invited me to access an Otter AI assistant he uses (I think?!), to document some of our conversations in advance of Hip Replacement (more on that below). As these things do it infiltrated my Google calendar and now it tags along to all my appointments. It’s mildly amusing, mildly annoying and mildly useful, generally - so who knows how long I’ll be using it for, but there was one thing I wanted to share for its indicative import. Here go:

The excellent photography publication Aperture produced a virtual lecture / presentation this week featuring the artist Trevor Paglen and Noam M. Elcott, a professor of Comparative Media at Columbia, dedicated to the effect of AI tools (and likely ramifications thereof) on Photography this Tuesday evening. I listened in - Paglen is a favorite of mine - and to my surprise when the zoom was over I realized Otter AI had been in the meeting too.

This recap of the Trevor Paglen x Noam Elcott coversation courtesy of my sneaky little accomplice both captures the salient points and itself points to the weird places we’re heading. Which is to say: made just for me, available to all of you, content no one asked for but maybe someone will benefit from? Or…maybe not.

To that end:

Attention: Deep Reading

If there were a ‘must-read’ section, this is it. Read these.

Potions and Spells. Next week’s [SIC] Talks guest Sean Monahan: the new metaphysics of technology / 8Ball
Speaking of metaphysic conceptions: here’s the wild Post-Work Manifesto (or Praxis pitches the ‘network state’) / Praxis
Corollary to that?! (You be the judge): Addictive Slop vs. Autonomous Strategy / Nemesis
But … Do Not Be Afraid of the Dark: A Guide to the Dark Mode Shift / Zine

Ok, now the chat with Kyle, and the links.

Ben

[SIC] Talks 95: Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick

Kyle is a favorite source of mine, a very bright dude and a prodigious observer and documenter of pop culture, politics and (especially) the internet. He’s one of only a handful of return guests to [SIC] Talks and I asked him back because we’ve got an announcement - we’re launching a pod together, coming March 3rd - called Hip Replacement, and it’ll be a weekly conversation between us another intergenerational guest (I’m an X, Kyle’s a Y, we’ll talk at first to Z’s). Gonna be fun.

I caught Kyle early this AM my time (early aft his time in Barcelona) to mark the moment, and ended up chatting about, among other things….

The Future Childless Cat Guys. Single, childless older women have long been the cruel cultural avatar of loneliness and social failure. But as rates of single young men rise, that portrait is going to change / Many Such Cases
Apropos: A new AI filter has people “microwaving” their pets / Tiktok
Condensing The Iceberg. Attention, addiction, and the crucial art of withholding information in an era of data abundance / Adjacent Possible

[SIC] 334: Tuff Dux

Ze “It” Geist

The surprising theory that explains modern American life / Vox
Corollary, from Ed: smart - “very smart:” Gen Z and the End of Predictable Progress how AI, volatility, and changing institutions are shaping young people's economic reality / Kyla’s Newsletter
Diet Coke is a symbol of modern office culture. Caffeinated soda is a productivity boost for those who claim to work punishingly long hours / FT
Apropos of that: The Change Report™: Hannah Williams of Salary Transparent Street / The Trend Report
Also transparent: Faceless influencers are becoming famous online - “They are everywhere on social media. Just don’t ask what they look like.” / The Economist
Ergo?: The Weak, Weird Case Against a Supposed 'Orgasm Cult’. Snakes. Magic. Orgasmic meditation. And a dubious federal case against the leaders of a supposed sex cult / Reason
The decline of formalwear is a symptom of a deeper cultural shift that prioritizes “the individual over the institution” / NYT
Hence: The Coming Democratic Baby Bust. Birth rates on the left fell in the last Trump presidency. That seems likely to happen again / The Atlantic
And: How the ‘Manosphere’ Became Mainstream Entertainment Dave Portnoy has long been vilified as a toxic guy. He’s still the one millions follow for ordinary pizza-review videos / NYT
Meantime: Men are more romantic than women, new research shows / The Times
Related? From Celeste: 'Kelsey McKinney On The Art Of Good Gossip (And Why Men Love It Just AS Much As Women)' / Books & Bits with Pandora Sykes
This week’s goss: The party is officially over (and Martha Stewart has a reptile living in her brain) / Subway Takes

Government Mules

Via Jenny Nicholson: “New project alert! WITNESS STATEMENT is a fully autonomous system that feeds each day's top 10 headlines to Gemini, Claude, and GPT, who each write a poem in response. Not for anyone who hates truth” / Linkedin
DOGE directory: Elon Musk has developed quite the tech team through both businesses and his new role with the federal government. But who actually makes up this growing network? We take a closer look / TechCrunch
Soooo, like… Can Tariffs Replace Income Taxes? / YT
Also optimistic (jk), from Ed: We Are About to be FUCT / Metaviews
Corollary: The Death of Capital Letters: Why Gen Z Loves Lowercase/ The Guardian

Tech Gigantism

From Celeste: “Watch out OpenAI, it appears that the ex CTO is now launching a rival company, with a focus on being more open [Former Open AI Technology Chief Mira Murati Launches Rival Start-Up ]”/ FT
Meantime Creative director Mike Houston of Amazon about how to actually get AI projects off the ground in a large organization / YT
While Meta claims to revolutionize human-computer interaction with technology decoding thoughts to text at 80% accuracy using non-invasive interfaces / Meta
Apparently Meta has sold 2m of the Ray-Ban ‘smart glasses’ since October 2023 / The Verge
Because? Meta’s AI-powered smart glasses are a godsend for the blind / WSJ
Silicon Valley leaders are trying “ketamine slumber parties” to rejuvenate / Wired
While a new theory just dropped that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may be the inventor of Bitcoin / Quartz
And Websites Claiming to Sell Magic Mushrooms Are Popping Up Across the Internet / Doubleblind
Soooo… Can analogue living cure digital burnout in 2025? / Wallpaper
Weirdly analogue behavior: How a computer that 'drunk dials' videos is exposing YouTube's secrets / BBC
From Piers: Is Google Eating Reddit? NYMag
Cause, like, The World's Largest Search [Company] Doesn't Want You to Search. Why is Google abandoning its core mission? Key Quote: Instead of a digital highway, we have a digital roach motel. They let the roaches check in—but not check out [and] Yes, you are the roach in this business model. / The Honest Broker

Raiments and Vestiture

Sexy business: How Agent Provocateur got its mojo back / Vogue Business
Corollary: Rom-coms, rain and Burberry: David Lane on how his new campaign taps into a very British trio / It’s Nice That
Meantime Aime Leon Dore made a 7 minute film to ground its S/S 25 collection / ALD
So… Can Streetwear Still Be Political? Donald Trump’s return has left brands that thrived by celebrating racial or ethnic identity facing a starkly different cultural climate / BoF
Corollary to that: Born X Raised is collabing with the Los Angeles Fire Department on a capsule collection to raise money for the department / Hypebeast
While Blink 182 guy Mark Hoppus is selling his Banksy to raise money for Children’s Oncology Research, the California Fire Foundation and … to buy more art / Artnet
Apropos, kinda: Melodic Hardcore’s Stunning Mid-2020s Resurgence / Popmatters
And DIY America #4: Ithaca NY / Gunk
From Celeste: “A January trend piece, although there is merit to the discussion.” [Castlecore Is Poised To Be 2025's Reigning Trends ] / L’Officiel
Wild: Vollebak creates prototype Wooden Jacket from 250,000 pieces of American walnut / Dezeen
More ‘wearable tech’: Perfume with perfumers: Is AI a threat to the human nose? The fragrance industry is embracing artificial intelligence as a tool to create hyper-personalised scents, prompting questions about the future role of perfumers / Vogue Business

Media-errs

The Guardian has signed a licensing deal with OpenAI / The Press Gazette
While the NYT has built its own chatbot and is rolling it out to reporters, editors, and other employees in hopes of optimizing its processes / The Verge
Reddit CEO Says Paywalls Are Coming Soon / Gizmodo
Apropos of pay to play: The Music Business is Healthy Again? Really? / The Honest Broker
Hence: America needs a working-class media / CJR

Create-errs

Aspiring filmmakers take note: The Shawn Regruto Cinematic Foundation Announces $10,000 Film Grant / Film Freeway
While Creative Lives in Progress relaunches its platform. The creative careers platform has seen a complete redesign to create a space for up-and-coming creatives to converge with the industry / It’s Nice That
Kai Cenat said he plans on launching a “streaming university” to teach creators (with followings of all sizes) the lessons he learned in becoming one of the biggest influencers in the world / Fast Company
Related: Carla Lalli Music breaking down all the costs and revenue from her YouTube channel, and why she’s walking away from making more videos / Food Processing
Ergo: Teens on Why They Stopped Trusting Experts in Favor of Influencers on Tikitok / Fortune
Counterpoint: The incredible rise and fall of the ‘Talk Tuah’ podcast / Bloomberg
Hence? Chase will block all Zelle payments made through social media after dealing with increasing fraud and scams / The Verge
Still, As more creators expand to episodic content, studios want to repurpose and syndicate their shows / Digiday
Hence: Rockstar Games talks with top metaverse creators, with an eye on making "Grand Theft Auto" the next creator platform / Digiday
Brands' interest in "Grand Theft Auto" is mounting — but questions about brand safety remain / Digiday
Because? Video Games, Not TikTok, Could Be Fashion’s Gateway to Gen Alpha / BoF
More gateways: Inclusive Sans makes the case for accessibility being standard, not secondary / It’s Nice That
Bold new font file is like an NFT for typography. Emblème aims to do away with the messiness of brand handovers / Creative Bloq
Unrelated: A guide to London’s most-meme’d neighbourhoods. Exploring England's hottest meme accounts on Instagram and what they tell us about ourselves / Sprezza
More self-exposure:“Be kinky and proud… and I’ll draw it!”: Ryan Gillett on illustrating The Guardian’s weekly sex column / It’s Nice That

MegaMachines

BYD v. BMW While @byd_global is the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, its cultural marketing and mainstream appeal hasn’t reached the height of @bmw / IG
So then: BYD’s strategy shift is bad news for global automakers. The Chinese company is undercutting rivals by making advanced driver assistance systems a standard feature at no extra cost / BYD
Hence Porsche is no longer a premium sports car in China. It has serious competition from local rivals / NYT
They got bullet trains. We’ve got Amtrak’s new 47-hour Chicago-Miami sleeper / FT

Brands Doing Things

From Iolanda: Very cool! [VML’s Future 100 Trends Brands Need to Understand] / IBB Online
Also cool: [SIC] homies Open Beer hacked its way into the Superbowl post-game. Open Beer Case Study #001: "The Shotgun Heard ‘Round The World" / Linkedin
Elsewhere round the world: Japan Perfected 7-Eleven. Why Can’t the US Get It Right? / Bloomberg
Apropos: The Starbucks reboot. Taking back the Third Place crown / One Thing
Corollary to that: Is culture enough to court sober Gen Z? From Harrison Ford to Jackson Wang, luxury beverage brands are leveraging pop culture icons and immersive experiences to stay relevant with younger consumers / Jing Daily
Hence? Nike Rekindles Tom Sachs Collaboration, Two Years After They Dropped Him / Artnet
Also, Apron records have dropped a Nike collab / IG
And of course, from Iolanda: “Was wondering when this would happen... 😉”[Nike is teaming up with Kim Kardashian to create a new brand called "NikeSkims”] / Hypebeast
The Royal Ballet found a new generation on TikTok – now it is courting brands. Emboldened by its growth on social media, the storied institution is seeking its first principal sponsor in its 94-year history / The Drum
While Liverpool FC debuts slick new look inspired by iconic mascot / Creative Bloq
Because, from Iolanda: “Sports is the name of the game hahaha” [Streaming services boost their investment in sports rights] / WARC
and Netflix will bid for NFL Sunday afternoon games / Fox News
Related, from Celeste: “With the likes of Fisher and Dom Dolla, Australian DJs gone global, headlining at a golf tournament, can LIV continue to bring golf to the next gen?!” [LIV Golf Is Here To Make Purists Shudder. They Like It That Way ]/ AFR
And related to that: The Game Changer: How Ely Callaway Remade Golf / Bloomberg
More games: Niantic, the creator of Pokémon Go, is reportedly in talks to sell its video game business to the Saudi-owned Scopely for about $3.5 billion / Bloomberg
More movement: Lime, the e-bike and scooter company, reported 30% growth in bookings last year / Bloomberg

Comestibility

From Steve: Will Breakfast Bankrupt You? / The Supersonic
Open Table is luring back the trendiest eateries from its younger competitors Resy and Tock / Grub Street
5 Top Maître d’s Reveal the Tricks of Their Trade / W Magazine
While from Iolanda: Montreal DJs move clubbing from midnight to morning, adding coffee and croissants / Trendwatching
Frozen Food’s New Wave / The Atlantic

Personages and the Arts

She became the America’s leading art consultant and drew her clients close. Then she stole millions from them / NYT
More misplaced confidence: What was woke art? Investigating through the lens of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham / The Culture We Deserve
Prophet, playboy, and provocateur: How meeting Peter Beard changed my life / countrylife
I am Martin Parr: A heartfelt portrait of a British icon / It’s Nice That
Cherie Currie Shows How to Make Chainsaw Art. Chainsaw art isn't for everybody. But when it is, it becomes an obsession. Just ask former Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie, who has been carving for the past two decades / CREEM
From Matt: Aja Monet’s Cure for Loneliness “Only a handful of artists can bring together club kids, businessmen, and librarian types…to stand reverentially as a poet leads a jazz band in electrifying spoken-word numbers.” / Mother Jones
A new generation of female artists is reinventing R&B / NYT
While Chappell Roan teased new song “The Giver” by sharing hotline number with fans / NME
Watch out Babygirls, Harris Dickinson’s gotten into the Criterion Closet / YT
While Another famous person is launching another menopause company. Halle Berry’s Respin Health is a scientist-backed, A.I.-enabled, community-based platform for women going through menopause / WWD
The Analog Charm of Pre-Internet Technological Art. Electric Dreams at Tate Modern shows the sheer extent to which human imagination and inventiveness harnessed technological progressions in the infancy of computing / Hyperallergic
From Piers: “I mean, if someone’s gonna design a seat to sit for hours in…”[Marina Abramović designs chair collection to "transcend utility] / Dezeen
Prada Marfa is 20. It’s never gone out of fashion. Artists Elmgreen & Dragset reflect on the success and symbolism of their Texan “designer store”
This L.A. Artist Couple Is Having a Major New York Moment / Artnet
Alec Egan Lost an Entire Exhibition—and His Home—to the L.A. Fires. Now He’s Painting the Blaze for Frieze / Artnet
A Brief History of the LA House Gallery / Frieze
7 Shows to See During Frieze Los Angeles 2025. From Bruce Nauman’s first solo exhibition in the city in three decades, to Togar’s immersive exploration of early cinema / Frieze
The Most Efficient Frieze Los Angeles Itinerary Ever / Artnet

Free Radicals

Los Angeles Project (L.A.P.) launches with an audacious mission to create a new kingdom of life, promising designer creatures / Wired
While Egypt announces discovery of first royal tomb since King Tutankhamun's was found over a century ago / The Art Newspaper
Corollary from Celeste: “What a brilliant story, a gravestone for a fictional character, with historical markers pointing to times past.” [What Lies Beneath The Gravestone Of A Fictional It Girl? ] / Atlas Obscura
A series of essays on all the systems we take for granted that keep modern life running smoothly / The New Atlantis
IE?! The Central Dogma.“Keep it in perspective and it remains a startling intuition.” Philip Ball on Francis Crick’s Central Dogma—which, admittedly, is not central, nor dogmatic—and how it changed our theory of life / Broadcast
The Universe is Out of Tune. The cosmos may resemble a musical instrument, but if we could hear its harmony, we probably wouldn’t enjoy it much / Broadcast
More concordant, from Celeste: “community radio station in Melbourne, 106.7 PBS has great Northern Soul and Soul shows, Soul Time with Vince Peach is a fun listen here in Melb, he's been on air since 1984!” / PBSFM

[SIC] 334: Tuff Dux

Corollary Sources This Week: The Future Party / Network Notes / Champion Weekly / 8Ball/ The Unskippables / Politico Digital Future Daily / Morning Brew / The Material Review / Roca News / Dealbook / As Seen On By Ochuko / Nieman Lab / Dinner Party / Semafor / Future Commerce / Brendan’s Communication Miscellany

[SIC] 334: Tuff Dux

Vol. 7, No. 24. [SIC] Talks with Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick. A Substack Bestsellers Moment. And many, many, many links. Open in browser for improved experience.

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