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[SIC] 338: Influencer Crucible
Vol. 7, No. 28. Everything you wanted to remember this week, memorialized.
[SIC] Weekly is a digest of developments. It's intended to be read linearly, as you would a bulleted list. Feel no compunction to open every item in a new tab.
This specific digest was sent free on 3/13/25 to 7181 subscribers. The original source is cited with each item. Corollary sources are listed at the end of each digest. [SIC] is made possible by its paid subscribers.
Paid subscribers also get "[SIC] Day" M/Tu/W/F & the [SIC] Sundays mini-digest. It's $8 a month, or $80 a year. Many recipients expense their subscriptions as research in marketing, advertising, entertainment + tech. You can too. Thanks for your support.Special thanks this week to for stories from: Piers Fawkes, Liz Mantel, Truett Dietz, Iolanda Carvalho, Molly Raskin, Isaac Dietz, Celeste Blewitt and Stella Belt
Comments, Questions and Contributions are always invited from everyone.Hi all,
Today’s title comes from a chat this week with longtime subscriber and new [SIC] homie Edmond Lau, visiting NY from Sydney on the wave of momentum his “Dark Mode” musings, discussed previously here and captured in conversation with Daisy and Francis in last week’s Tasteland episode - he asked if I was going to ‘the thing’ on Wednesday night; I think Influencer Crucible was my coinage but it could have just as easily been Edmond’s.
The crucible in question was the Nolita Dirtbag’s Bowling Tournament, held at the Gutter and predictably populated by Dimes Square royalty, Greenpoint content makers, big jeans’ed skate dudes and a surprising (for me anyway) contingent of based crypto folks, attracted by Zora the app you use to ‘turn your content into coins.’ [SIC] Talks Alum Mark The Cobrasnake was there capturing the action; it was a scene.
There even a photo op for the two oldest people in the room
Anyway, I ran into Edmond, Hartman from Nolita Dirtbag, the actor Kyle Chase and more [SIC] Talks Alums including Gutes from Byline (who brought not just a team but cheerleaders) and Kareem Rahma, who gave me a sneak preview of his new supermaxicut version of Subway Takes, which dropped this AM. He told me he talked to Cate Blanchett the whole time uninterrupted by MTA riders, which I found kind of amazing.
Perfectly Imperfect made merch: here /
Could This Be the End of the Party in Dimes Square? / NYT
Apology issues 2&3 rediscovered / IG
Tyler and his gang from Perfectly Imperfect apparently took the crown in the end. Great advertising for their new merch. I was long since out the door to, of all places a 60th birthday party (HBD Tim Fielding) at a roller disco in Bushiwck, from whence the bulk of today’s snapshots come from. Wild times on the hardwood, apparently - I couldn’t even manage to locate the birthday boy.
Apropos of the aged: no [SIC] Talks this time (my guest had to postpone to next week) BUT there’s new episode of HIP REPLACEMENT with the writer and podcaster Georgia Graham of Threads of Conversation.
Find it here on YouTube. As Kyle wrote, to accompany the (wild) graphic he made for it:
"We chat with glamorous London fashion podcast queen Georgia Graham about everything from boom boom aesthetics to updating James Bond to "micro-retirements" 👀"
Speaking of Kyle - listen to his conversation with Carla Lalli Music too, on Linkedin. More evidence that as another Kyle (Chayka) wrote this week in One Thing: Conversations are the new unit of culture. Hence: We crave interactivity and multi-sided discussions in the podcast era.
Ok, now the links.
Ben
[SIC] 338: Influencer Crucible
Macros (The World)
Trump guts the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a state-funded agency home to five international broadcasters, including Voice of America / Axios
Gen Z is the Most Rejected Generation. A typical Gen Zer on apps faces more rejections in a week than a boomer has in a lifetime / Business Insider
How Covid Tore Gen Z in Two. The pandemic split Gen Z into two distinct subgroups, per Rachel Janfaza / WaPO
Gen Z Americans Don’t Have Enough Saved to Cover a Single Month of Spending / Bloomberg
There Are Two Kinds of Credit Cards. And one of them is Yet another way the poor are subsidizing the rich, apparently? / The Atlantic
Uncertainty surrounding US higher education spending represents an “existential threat to American innovation,” analysts warned / Semafor
Harvard has expanded its financial aid program to make the university tuition-free for families making less than $200,000 per year / ABC News
Did business metrics break the university? / Compact
Ozempic has hit college campuses but no one is talking about it / Elle
The Ozempocalypse Is Nigh Sorry, you can only get drugs when there's a drug shortage / astralcodexten
The war on poppers has begun / Them
Men Are Playing “Russian Roulette” with Black‐Market Sex Drugs Risking heart attacks for better erections / The Walrus
Sex Without Women. What happens when men prefer porn? / The Atlantic
London’s nightlife is as vital as finance / The Times
Eating avocado toast in London’s old urinals. Indebted local councils want to turn even more of the capital’s WCs into bars, cafés and shops / FT
From Piers: “I look at stories like this and think of that notion (whether I like it or not) that human service will for the wealthy - even in the grocery store” [British pensioners boycott supermarkets over self-checkout trend] / Kiosk Marketplace
And: “Super valuable initiative that should inspire us re how we could make similar steps” [Wired’s un-paywalling of stories built on public data is a reminder of its role in the information ecosystem] / Nieman Lab
From Isaac: And this super doomscroller from last week / Malcolm Nance
Macros (The Trenzzz)
Y3K fashion is rising— here’s why Gen Z is dressing like the world is ending / Daily Dot
The difference between vulgarity and vibes… boom boom semiotics (wip) / 8Ball
Corollary: Adolescence. If I see one more story about “White Lotus”… / Lefsetz
From Stella: Free Will, its obnoxious deniers, and "the inside/outside problem." In other words—though free will seems like an illusion from the outside, we experience the world from within / Broadcast
Hence? Kim Kardashian’s Tesla Photoshoot Sparks Outrage. Surprisingly, That Might Actually Matter / Artnet
Do Not Comply With the Terms of Service. A leading European media theorist’s user guide to opting out of compliance with techno-totalitarianism; or, how to stop kidding yourself and finally quit Meta / Spike Art Mag
From Molly: Party City is closing and champagne sales are down. Are parties dying too? / WaPo
You Can Always Make a Comeback / The Lindy Newsletter
Anne Imhof’s “DOOM” Is No Match for the Fashion Machine. On the rigged economy of making cool images and letting her audience shoot the editorial at Park Avenue Armory / Spike Art Mag
10 Biggest Ideas in “How NOT to Invest” / Ritholtz
From Stella : Will Rees writes on hypochondria—the phantom malady that preoccupied Kafka, Didion, Sontag, and Melville—and investigates the blurry boundary between health and sickness / Broadcast
Artists & Their Arts
From Truett: Lonnie Holley Never Plays a Song Twice. (Even His Own.) The artist and musician, now 75, represents a devotion to the act of creation. His new LP “Tonky,” which incorporates jazz, blues, hip-hop and electronic music, is due this month / NYT
Nick Cave’s Eternal Garden. In his new work, the artist emerges from his aesthetic camouflage into a more complicated space of visibility that probes relationships of power and image / Hyperallergic
From Liz: The Rise of Split-Screen Painting. Lydia Blakeley, Bex Massey and Bobbi Essers lead a new wave of painters combining disparate scenes to process our fragmented visual world / Frieze
Agents Are Reshaping the Art World. The sector is adopting a model that’s common in other talent-driven industries as more established artists expand into everything from fashion collaborations to films / BoF
Mexico City’s art scene is booming; rich traditions and comparatively affordable studio space — as well as lax restrictions during the pandemic — have drawn artists from around the world / Semafor
The Secret Life of LA’s Small Museums / Hyperallergic
Anna Weyant’s got the cover of the new Paris Review / IG
A pitch-black art gallery — now that’s a bright idea. Empty Gallery, a ‘black-cube’ arts space situated in a Hong Kong high-rise, has a reputation for immersive experiences / FT
Can Porn Be Art? Erika Lust Thinks So. In her immersive VR installation, the feminist pornographer asks viewers to interrogate their desire / Hyperallergic
From Piers: “nft x art stuff lives another minute” [Marina Abramović Announces A New Project] Hypebae
Fashionable Week: JWA FTW
Jonathan Anderson at Loewe: The Ultimate Designer-Curator / BoF
Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe was a story of contradictions / Vogue Business
Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe exit could spell change for fashion’s creative directors, who might need to put their egos to one side / Monocle
From Molly: What Will Jonathan Anderson Transform Next? / The New Yorker
Unpacking Fashion Month (w/ Tyler McCall) / The New Garde
The Biggest Wins and Fails from Fashion Month. A recap of fall 2025, which ended with a flurry of designer news and... bullet bras / Back Row
Buying Things
From Piers: i know u track this already but i think this is a helpful piece in how to reconcile our urge to save the planet vs buying nice [stuff]” [Is Buying Things Bad?] / Blackbird Spyplane
From Molly; At Forever 21, the Adrenaline Rush Was the Point / NYT
Losing Is the New Winning: Kenny Schachter on the Topsy-Turvy Market and Polke Problems / Artnet
Millennials and Gen Zers Are Coming Into Great Fortunes. What Art Do They Want to Buy? / Artnet
The Contemporary Art Market Is Shifting Toward Affordable Works / Hype Art
From Celeste: Heirs, Graces, And The Occasional Disco-Loving Lord: Inside the Hidden World Of The Modern British Aristocracy / Tatler
From Celeste: The Big Business Of Perfume Dupes' / FT
The reinvention of Coach: From 'mom bag' to 'it bag' / Jing Daily
The Case for Kangaroo Leather / Monocle
From Piers: ‘evil mode tech’ We Talked to the Inventors of the "Tamagotchi" Vape That Dies If You Stop Puffing / Futurism
Content & Commerce
The biggest entertainment event of 2025 isn’t a TV show, a movie, or an album… it’s a game / Beats & Bytes
The counterfeiting epidemic sweeping through GTA and Roblox means virtual Balenciaga and Gucci knockoffs are proliferating faster than digital fashion houses can establish metaverse boutiques, creating a shadow economy of pixelated prestige / Drawn Distant
Bluesky made more money in one day selling shirts that troll Mark Zuckerberg than it did in two years of selling custom domains / TechCrunch
Podcasts as lorecasts. What Severance gets right about fandom and why podcasts are the new Blu-ray extras / Dirt
An ingenious way to juice much-needed engagement on Max: Movies for pets/ NYT
After the success of Beast Games on Prime Video, nearly every premium streamer is looking for their own digital creator-led project / WSJ
Eli Roth is partnering with Republic to launch a new fan-investment-powered studio called The Horror Section / The Hollywood Reporter
OnlyFans is investing in MMA fighters, mountain bikers, divers, fencers, runners and more / Trailmix
From Celeste: “ESPN is in the last year of their broadcast contract - Netflix is the frontrunner - makes sense given the success of Drive To Survive. Watch this space.” [Netflix? ESPN? Amazon? Why The Race For The F1's US TV Rights Could Change The Sport] / NYT
CNBC is bringing its rookie sports-media brand to TV — a rare streaming-to-broadcast programming bet / The Hollywood Reporter
From Iolanda: Alpha-ville... [Gen Alpha: A cohort of influential tweens] / Razorfish
How Much Is a Hit Song Worth Today v. 1999? It’s Complicated . Streaming has helped the music industry generate more money than at any point since 1999, but hit songs used to drive album sales / Billboard
Mediations and Marketations
President Trump's economic policies will slow advertising growth in the U.S. through at least 2027, according to a new projection / Axios
As retail media booms, lines blur between performance and brand marketing budgets / Digiday
Omnicom Opens Its Tech Platform to Connect Microinfluencers With Big Brands / AdWeek
From Iolanda: Everything changes 😉 [‘End of an era for search as we know it’? Publishers grapple with gen-AI search] / The Media Leader
TikTok ad prices fall as uncertainty keeps some advertisers away / Digiday
TikTok ban looms closer, leaving more questions than answers in its wake / Digiday
Substack’s video push sees modest bump, but a long road remains to win over creators / Digiday
A new study has found that Gen Z doesn’t really care about the latest trend of giving every podcast a video component… preferring the “old-school” habit of just listening while doing other things / Tubefilter
The newsletter bubble / The Rebooting
Substack announced the launch of The Substack Post, a ‘place for culture’ that will apparently be a physical pub / Substack
Racquet Magazine Targets the Affluent Who Don’t Yet Know They Love Tennis/ A Media Operator
From Molly: The One Place on Social Media That Still Feels Human [Is Facebook Marketplace] / NYT
Publicis Nabs Coca-Cola U.S. Media Business From WPP / The Drum
The Four Seasons Hit a Marketing Jackpot With ‘The White Lotus’. Partnership with a show that features murder and mayhem pays off with rising inquiries and occupancy rates / WSJ
Amir Khan of McNeese State became the first student manager to score an NIL contract. Actually, three: He’ll be a pitchman for Buffalo Wild Wings, TickPick, and Insomnia Cookies / Sports Illustrated
Aestethic Decisions
From Molly: Are the tides really turning against tattoos? / Dazed
Almost everyone hates their printer, a fact that tells “an interesting story about capitalism and consumer psychology,” / Semafor
The history of everyone’s fave font, Impact / Its Nice That
Storytelling for Makers. Why storytelling for designers and engineers is the best unlock for business / The Intersection
26 things I've learned while learning a language. Notes from someone who's working on it / Delightful
What do architecture school, giant bouncy castles, and Post Malone have in common? PlayLab / It’s Nice That
L.L. Bean's Japan Exclusives Are Coming to the US for the First Time Ever / Hypebeast
What is Japanese style today? / Vogue Business
From Celeste: choose a sneaker OR a loafer - do we really need to mix the two?![So You Want To Buy A Snoafer] / NY Mag
Foodstuffs
From Molly: Is the Doggy Bag Dead? / NYT
The connection between Lent and crispy fish sandwiches / Eater
Individuals of Note
NYT profiles Graydon Carter / NYT
March pt. 2. An interview with Horsegirl / Gunk
Young At Heart: James Hartley A documentation of Australia’s Hardcore Scene in its golden era / Monster Children
TikTok train enthusiast Francis Bourgeois bought himself a subway carriage / Glasgow Live
Surface Stories with INFOE / Friends From New York
From Piers: an expo on ‘l’héros "andersonien"’ / Sortir A Paris
Designer Faye Toogood on Creation as a Form of Connection / Time Sensitive Pod
Onez and Zeroez
From Iolanda: The new model of Cre-AI-tivity [The creative confidence crisis: How AI is quietly reshaping our instincts] / Shots
How artificial intelligence is changing how the world’s computers are being built / NYT
From Iolanda: Agents are everywhere, but...: [No One Knows What the Hell an AI Agent Is] / TechCrunch
From Celeste: Bletchley Park Exhibition Shows How World War II-Era Research Shaped Artificial Intelligence' / Smithsonian
AI slop is a brute force attack on the algorithms that control reality / 404 Media
Experts are increasingly worried that humans may have reached their cognitive peak, as research shows some people who use artificial intelligence tools report their critical thinking skills are eroding / Semafor
AI has entered the vineyard / AP News
Ephemerals
David Lynch was transcendental meditation’s greatest ambassador. What happens to the movement now? / GQ
The Conceptual Winnie the Pooh Edition. On the Enneagram, Taoism, and Modern Love / Why Is This Interesting
From Celeste: The Quiet Joy Of Doing The Dishes / Saveur
From Piers: if it’s “ like swimming through the history of the planet ” It’s probably worth a consideration [I’m obsessed with cave diving. This is the closest environment we have to space] / The Guardian
Bad at Goodbyes is a podcast highlighting a different critically endangered plant or animal on each episode. Recently featured: Vancouver Island Marmot, Dama Gazelle, Koyama's Spruce, Cuban Crocodile, and Pariette Cactus / Bad At Goodbyes
[SIC] 338: Influencer Crucible
Corollary Sources This Week: 1440 / Offball / Royal Braun / Public Announcement / After School/ What I’m Hearing / Morning Brew / The New Statesman / User Mag/ Marginal Revolution / Beats and Bytes / Future Commerce / The Future Party