[SIC] 341: Parsley Content

Vol. 7, No. 31. Later than Never.

Apr 11, 2025

[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 digest was sent free on 4/10/25 to 7338 subscribers. Original source is cited. Corollary sources are listed at the end of each digest.

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Special thanks this week for stories: Geoff Renaud, Erik Lavoie, Celeste Blewitt, Iolanda Carvalho, Edward Cotton and Piers Fawkes. Comments, Questions and Contributions are invited from everyone.

Hi all,

I feel bad sending so late, but sometimes it can’t be helped. I’ll keep the intro brief.

I was out tonight at a launch event for a rather unlikely product collaboration that I had a hand in; it was fun. More on that later. But it brought to mind this Glossy piece on how Young people [are] hot for hair perfume and body mist, suffice it to say. And corollary to that: "Boys may be boys, but sometimes boys can also be horse." Not to mention when Strippers Explain How They Use Fragrance in Their Performances to Dazed.

[SIC] Talks is back next week. In the meantime, check out my latest inter-generational convo in: HIP REPLACEMENT EP. 5 Nicolas Cevallos

You should listen to this one; we’re starting to really hit our stride I think. BTW - any feedback on the Substack Live recording of EP.4 with Rachel Janfaza? I’m Interested to know if you liked and want more of that. Or, nah.

LMK in the comments, please. Big favor. And give the show rating and stuff.

Anyways, one of the many things Kyle, Nico and I touched on this time was can a dumber phone make you smarter? Conclusions were inconclusive.

We didn’t talk about why Wealthy Americans are now looking to build or move into homes free from the technology that makes everything overly complicated, but I am inclined in that direction too.

We did however talk about a potential generational tendency toward anonymism and how I hate pseudonyms, as I wrote in [SIC] Day 313 (for paid subs).

Delia Cai catches a stray therein, which I feel a little bad about, so meet me at Hate Read Live! and we’ll make it up to her.

And since I sent [SIC] Day 314 late too, I unlocked it so free subs can check out what the daily vibe is like. It’s different. Have a look. And if you decide you want to make me your biggest fan, it’s easy to upgrade your subscription here:

Upgrade to Paid Support

ok now the links.

[SIC] 341: Parsley Content

The MacroTaco

Unsurprisingly, Americans Want to Be Rich / The Atlantic
But Peter Zeihan is not encouraging given The Death of US-China Trade / YT
IE: Coffee. Plus tax. Inflation comes for you in the morning / News Items
Game of Tariffs. all the roads lead to uncertainty / Snaxshot
And Game Night Just Got More Expensive. A $25 board game may soon hit the shelves with a $40 price tag because of tariffs / Reason
Meantime: we face a looming rice crisis. The future of one of the world’s most important foodstuffs is mired in a stew of science, politics and economics / FT
How will people shop if everything is about to get more expensive? / Vogue Business
My new make at home hack: Boiled Peanuts / Simply Recipes
If you’re not staying home: The FACE Guide to Going Out In the UK / The FACE ‘
But wait, Why Are These Clubs Closing? The Rent Is High and the Alcohol Isn’t Flowing / NYT
Which is Why You Should Work Like It’s the ’90s. When you leave the office for the day, really leave/ The Atlantic
Or, migrate? The Case for 100 Million Canadians. If the country wants to survive, it needs a lot more people / The Walrus

AI-AI-AI…

From Iolanda: “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high... lalala” [How Google Used AI to Re-Create ‘The Wizard of Oz’ for the Las Vegas Sphere] / WSJ
In contrast, from Ed: “brilliant and a warning..” [Google’s AI Lies] / New Cartographies
Cartography corollary from Celeste: How Microsoft Founder Bill Gates Mapped Out The New Internet Era Back In 1993 / BBC
Another prescient throwback: 9 Rules for New Technology. Wendell Berry's list from 1987 is more relevant than ever before / An Honest Broker
Corollary, from Geoff: “Scary read.. “[AI 2027] We predict that the impact of superhuman AI over the next decade will be enormous, exceeding that of the Industrial Revolution. A scenario that represents our best guess about what that might look like / AI-2027
Soooo… Will AI become God? That’s the wrong question. Tech pioneer Jaron Lanier argues for a different way to think about AI / Vox
Like… Finding calm amid the AI insanity. Why this might not prove as bad as people think... / Network Notes
As in, what if Apple Vision Pro’s killer app is the ‘AI girlfriend’? / Fast Company
I guess then… I’m an AI+human centaur now, and should say something about Terms of Centaur Service / Contraptions
From Piers: “Quadbot related” [ UK trials delivery robot dogs to speed up last-mile doorstep deliveries] / Interesting Engineering
From Celeste: Invasion Of The Home Humanoid Robots / NYT
A biology lab without test tubes? Sooner than you think, says Arc's Patrick Hsu / Crazy Stupid Tech
Corollary: OpenAI Makes ChatGPT Free for College Students / AdWeek
While WhatsApp released a host of new features today. One is an "Online" indicator that lets other users know who in a group chat is currently online to chat / Techcrunch

Publisherations

Which types of people aren’t big fans of “impartial” news? People who don’t have power / Nieman Lab
Which brings us to, from Piers: [The surprising crisis in British television – podcast]. “Not trying to share stories to make a point, but to make a point that people have to change” / The Guardian
Corollary from Molly: Bluesky's Quest To Build Nontoxic Social Media / The New Yorker
But… Bluesky Can’t Take a Joke. Bluesky has been a safe haven for users fleeing X and Threads. But while there’s less hate, there’s also fewer lolz / Wired
But still, Journalism’s Reinvention Is Happening—Just Not Where You Think. Legacy media is collapsing. The future is small / The Walrus
The niche-down playbook. “There are two paths here. You can just focus on a narrow audience segment from the start… The other approach is to build a broader audience, even if focused on a subject area already, and subdivide it further” / The Rebooting
Example one: The Washington Post is having active talks about using micropayments to expand access to its journalism / Axios
Example two: Independent fashion-focused magazines are experiencing a mini boom. See a list of 10 of the freshest and most creative publications / NYT
Example three: Take a seat! This online magazine is dedicated to the wackiest chairs out there / It’s Nice That
Former Substack creators say they’re earning more on new platforms that offer larger shares of subscription revenue / Digiday
Because? Substack competitor beehiv is going hard on those ad placements / Inc
Corollary: The Atlanta Hawks are hiring their very own creator collective. Twenty-five creators with a combined reach of 14.9 million followers will be given special access to games/ Digiday
Symptomatic of, from Iolanda: Optimizing content or ads for "half-seen"... [Pay attention to the rise of easy-focus content]. Key Quote: "In a world where attention is expensive, your message must be economical. It doesn’t matter if this is creatively valid — this is the reality we face now:” /The Media Leader
Hence: Netflix wants to become the Netflix of gaming / LowPass

Business Affairs

[SIC] Talks alum Casey Lewis wrote “The Business of Influence,” a report on the current and future state of fame, in partnership with Day One Agency
While fellow two-time alum Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick was on AJ Lacouette Global Advisory podcast, where the two of them “talked about freelance life, the history of The Trend Report™, post-2010s culture, and lots, lots more 🤭” / Spotify

Mediations.

The State of Media in < 25 Minutes. Outlining the narrative that the last disruption in media was distribution becoming free and the next is creation becoming free / The Mediator
Hence? From Celeste: Protecting Australianness In The Netflix Age' / FT
Corollary: Climate Kids is a series from the University of Melbourne that helps to answer questions about climate change / YT
On the topic of kids: Meta blocks livestreaming by teenagers on Instagram / The Guardian
Instead, Instagram is beefing up its search to compete with TikTok / TechCrunch
While Vimeo is debuting a new feature called “Vimeo Streaming” that allows users to build their own streaming services through the platform / Hollywood Reporter
But? ‘Views’ are lies. Consider this a reminder or a PSA: a “view” on the internet means even less than you think / The Verge
Testing Kagi, a premium search engine for a broken internet. Is replacing Google worth $10 a month? / Nieman Lab
Also broken? Cultural Currency: How Luxury Brands Are Rewriting the Rules of Engagement / Linkedin
Hence? Brands Are in Their Unhinged Mascot Era on Social Media / The Drum
Begs the question: Brands Want Culture. Do Consumers? / Hurs
Case in point? All the Art History Nods in ‘The White Lotus’ Finale / Artnet
Corollary: How an artist made the Severance titles using mocap in his living room / Creative Bloq
Elsewhere: Droga5 Has a Plan to Regain its Creative Edge / Adweek
Apropos of edge: Pro Volleyball’s Secret Weapon: College Stars Who Have Big Fan Bases / Front Office Sports

Personal Relations:

“Icebreaker of the Week” is a recurring feature of The Art of Noticing / Google Docs
Corollary, from Piers: “Sign of times? No more axe throwing, more bullet drilling” [We tested the virtual shooting bar of the 10th arrondissement of Paris] / Sortir a Paris
While Brand USA faces a tourism reckoning as global visitors look elsewhere / The Drum
So: This is Your Sign to Leave the House. And meet someone IRL /Vik’s Busy Corner
Hence A buzzy Gen Z-led poetry night in the East Village has quickly become a fixture for writers, scenesters, and downtown creatives / NYT
And in the Rockaways, the winter doesn’t stop this all-girls group from surfing year round. The Spirit Of Surf. / Byline
Elsewhere: From 'Woke Washing' to Influence Architecture / Musings of a Wandering Mind
And from Molly: On shitposting, Or, Aspirational Labor and Platform Hygiene / Mid-Theory
Not to mention: Desperate For Botox. A fiftysomething writer’s quest to get injectables / The New Yorker

Arts & Artists

From Erik - Will you plug Flora [’Hanitijo]’s project in this weeks newsletter? It's with 20X 200. It's with 20X 200.” [a quiet moment for tumultuous times]. 20x200
Also tumultuous: Global cultural vibes in crisis. Notes from a Swiss art summit / One Thing
Corollary: An Artist on Why ‘Foreverism’ Defines our Present Moment / Artnet
Not forever, from Geoff: [Meet the Radical Designer Who Transformed the 1980s East Village Art Scene—And Left Too Soon] / Artnet
Matty Boy Meets World. Matt DiGiacomo, the former creative director behind Chrome Hearts hosted a wild gallery show in Chelsea this week that doubled as a streetwear drop for his new line, Anti-Promo, and highlighted his sculptures that were going for $60,000 a pop / Puck
Everything’s a clash in Jamaica "Bikes, sound systems, lyrics—it’s always a competition." A conversation with Walshy Fire on the sound and emotion of dancehall culture / Selectism
And An Interview With My Mom About the 8-Track Cassettes in Her Car When I Was a Kid (But Also About More) / Apology Review
From Celeste: Why Aren't You Listening To Jon Pardi? / Esquire
Is the Yokossance Finally Here? / NYT
A 15-minute Art21-produced profile film that plays on a loop in the Whitney galleries as part of the Amy Sherald show right now /YT
This Self-Taught Artist, Known For His Art Magazine Riffs, Lands His First Solo Museum Show at MoMA / Artnet
Anything Can Happen in Geoffrey Todd Smith’s Paintings. Fresh and challenging, Smith’s art sits on the cusp between eccentric abstraction and automated sci-fi figures, and contributes to Chicago’s dense art history / Hyperallergic
Miles Aldridge’s Surreal, Technicolor Domestic Vignettes / Sothebys
Snap! Miles Aldridge takes polaroid pics at Sotheby’s / The Art Newspaper
Tais Sirote’s surreal photos blur the line between real and rendered / It’s Nice That
Weegee, the Pop Artist That Never Was / Hyperallergic
Images of Protest Move Differently Now. We Are Still Catching Up / Artnet
Ergo: Italy's Museion Museum hosts its first major graffiti exhibition, showcasing the evolution of street art from the 1950s to today / Hypeart
Rhymes with ‘graffiti’: We are living through a syzygy: a celestial alignment of technical systems and symbolic structures, of oracles and errors, of datasets and dreams.” FEST25 is back July 31–August 3 / FWB
Back to Italy: Monocle Reports from Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan, with interviews from architect David Rockwell, the CEO of Italian manufacturer Artemide and the design duo behind the studio Formafantasma / Monocle Pod

Fashioning

Inside KidSuper: Colm Dillane on chaos, creativity. The designer opens up about the evolution of KidSuper and why creativity starts with chaos / Jing Daily
A 2023 paper found that employees who dressed better than usual experienced higher self-esteem and productivity / Wired
But…. Do these trousers make me look fascist? A look at what makes an outfit a political identifier / FT
Speaking of identifiable: Mizuno turns Expo 2025 mascot into official trainers / Dezeen
The de minimis loophole is closing: Is Shein’s loss sustainability’s gain? / Vogue Business
Clothing-haul influencers are ordering a lot of Shein and Temu products while prices are still a bargain / The Verge
And either way US fashion brands face an ‘existential threat’ as tariff reality sets in / Vogue Business

F-olding Money

Blumhouse is bringing M3GAN back to theaters with a twist — a second-screen experience provided by Meta that allows audiences to interact with the killer doll during the movie / Variety
Kawasaki made a robot horse called “CORLEO” that people can ride / Hypebeast
Maybe Because?! The Affordable Car Is About to Go Extinct in the US / Wired
Corollary to those, from Iolanda: “Interesting... “[When fear enters the conversation: How brands can turn anxiety into opportunity] / WARC
IE, from Piers: “Nice and Needed” [Penguin To Launch ‘90 Little Book Stops’ In The UK] / SecretLDN
Related: Lending libraries for clothes, in Shropshire / Positive News
Also encyclopedic: The rise of deep research: How agencies are using AI for strategy, content and client pitches / Digiday
On the topic of deep research: The collector who became the envy of TikTok. How Alexander Widener made antiquing go viral / Embedded
Corollary, from Iolanda: A real Classic! [Coca-Cola Celebrates Its Place in Literary History] IBB Online
From Celeste: How Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters Became The Only Thing Worth Doing In April / Tatler
Back stateside: The Harry’s (shaving) founders are rechristening the company as Mammoth Brands, with the intent of turning it into a consumer packaged goods giant / NYT
Skincare corollary: When makeup becomes treatment. Skincare-infused makeup becomes the new standard in China — not the exception. Brands must adapt/ Jing Daily
From Piers: would love to know how a corp like Kenvue got to ideate this [Metropolitan Museum of Art x Bandaid] / Coolhunting
In parallel: Mattel announced it’s releasing a LeBron Ken doll as part of their ‘Kenbassadors’ line. Since he’s the only men’s hooper to be a Barbie / IG
And Beyonce finally sold some clothes: Levi’s hails Beyoncé effect as ‘Reiimagine’ ads drive 8% sales surge / The Drum

Eating Things / Drinking

RFK Jr. could take aim at the food industry with coming dietary guidelines / Quartz
Blanca we barely knew ye / NYT
From Molly: Where Will We Eat When the Middle-Class Restaurant Is Gone? / NYT
Is the Restaurant Good? Or Does It Just Look Good? / NYT
In Manhattan, the walls are talking again: the bar mural is back. The backdrop to New York’s 20th century cocktail scene was hand-painted. After years of minimalist bar design, the frescoes have returned / FT
From Piers: “A. i think the fact that there’s 50 museums worth eating at is amazing, B. where are the cool museum cafes in the rest of the world ??” The 50 best museum cafes in the UK / The Guardian
The perfect cup of coffee, according to scientists/ USA Today
McDonald’s is doubling down on lemonade / Quartz
Steak Fries: Deservedly Reviled or Underappreciated Edible Spoons? “They may be America’s least popular fry, but some chefs are still devoted to them.” /NYT

Final Thoughts

Spring Cleaning. Our increasingly brain-battered world doesn’t need an essay on everything…I’m saying it to myself! / Catchdini
Ibiza James Brown and Cafe Del Mar (in 1986) / Silver Raven
Wildfires destroyed much of the Palisades in Los Angeles — and ignited competing visions for its future / NYT
The Man Who Broke Bowling / GQ
An emotional support parrot led to a fight / NYT
The Archery Edition. On letting go, beginner magic, and Zen Buddhism / WITI
There’s a new Thomas Pynchon novel coming / Penguin Random House

[SIC] 341: Parsley Content

Corollary Sources This Week: Marginal Revolution / Royal Braun / The Future Party / Public Announcement / The Art of Noticing / After School / Ben-Evans / Wall Power / Offball / 1440 / The Material Review / Blazer / Jimmy/ The Publish Press / As Seen On By Ochuko / The FACE

[SIC] 341: Parsley Content

Vol. 7, No. 31. Later than Never.

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