[SIC] 345: Emotional Alcatraz

Vol 6, No. 35. HIP REPLACEMENT with J'Nae Phillips, more apologies, more public speaking, future visions, book perfection and all the liiiiiiinks.

I'm Ben Dietz, longtime media/entertainment business guy, and now advisor-for-hire to brands, publishers and agencies. 

[SIC] Weekly is my digest of developments, published free Thursdays.  It's intended to be read as you would a bulleted list. Feel no compunction to open every item in a new tab. 

This digest was sent free on 5/8/25 to 7469 subscribers. Original source is cited. Corollary sources are listed at the end of each digest. Art courtesy of Gordon Hull.

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If can't pay, help [SIC] proliferate by sharing with friends, family and colleagues. 

Special thanks this week for stories: Sam Valenti, Geoff Renaud, Daisy Alioto, Piers Fawkes, Iolanda Carvalho, Gordon Hull and Celeste Blewitt. Comments, Questions and Contributions are invited from everyone. 

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Hi all,

I’ve been a bad newsletterer of late. I was out West for public speaking gig this week and managed to miss a bunch of sends of [SIC] DAY - I owe my paid subscribers an apology (sorry!) [SIC] DAY will be back tomorrow, promise. Meanwhile, all you business types here for ‘research purposes,' feel free to expense a paid subscription, and you’ll have my undying gratitude.

Anyway, the speaking gig is a new vector for me; I’ve spent almost my whole adult life presenting to rooms full of skeptics; presenting to auditoriums full of more-or-less like minds is new - and fun.

This last one was for a big brand: next week it’ll be for an indie agency, and on June 10th it’ll be at the Visions Summit at MoMA, “A half-day forum at MoMA where commerce meets culture” produced by the media co. Future Commerce. As an aside the logo they’re using feels emblematic of the next wave in media identity; reaching forward and backward on the timeline for graphic inspiration.

Design implications aside, It’ll be a fun one, reprising a conversation I had with Daisy Alioto, Casey Lewis, Erica Chen and a special guest, about the current and future state of parasocial media. Daisy’s been busy launching Clone, a ‘drudge report for for technology and culture, aggregating relevant links on an hourly basis and at the speed of breaking news’ that might cause me to rethink how I do [SIC]/ Meantime, Casey’s guest editing the first few issues of a newsletter American Eagle that launched on Substack this week. And Erica’s still collecting her flowers for her Defense of Serendipity as the reason Human powered discovery platforms are gaining traction.

On the subject of conversations - [SIC] Talks alum and last week’s 🦿HIP REPLACEMENT🦿guest Ochuko Akpovbovbo was live with Sarah Stewart Holland via Substack’s livestream function yest - talking about how she reads so much. I just bought a copy of Vincenzo Latronico’s “Perfection” on the impetus of her “2 Girls 1 Book” review of a couple weeks ago.

2 Girls 1 Book: Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

And apropos of 🦿HIP REPLACEMENT🦿- this week’s episode is with J’Nae Phillips of

Fashion Tingz

who joined us for her first podcast (but definitely not her last, she’s a natural). We talked Boomer mis-generationing, the Gen Z fascination with the physical, whether sex still kills, the sociopolitics of the FIRST MONDAY IN MAY, why ‘kawaii’ cuts through and if IShowSpeed is a a Chinese industry plant. Listen here:

Or here:

Last thing, pertinent to the show - not even a question in my mind, but still, from Celeste: What If The Gen Xers Are ActuallyThe Cool Ones? / Vogue UK

Ok, now, the links.

Ben

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[SIC] 345: Emotional Alcatraz

Gestalting.

• Now playing: The Unraveling Economic Order / American Enterprise Institute

• Because? The old global economic order is dead. China and others must think afresh as the US steps away from its role as balancer of last resort / FT

• Welcome everybody to: Your Home Without China. Hopefully you already have plenty of stuff / NYT

• Speaking of ‘homes’: The Modern Human Umwelt / The Lindy Newsletter

• Elsewhere in divergent biology: Global cocaine supply is at a record high, due largely to agricultural engine producing more potent plants / WSJ

• Ergo? The rise of the West Village sorority girl / NYMag

• Apropos of that: Are We Living in a Time of Cultural Collapse? / The Honest Broker

• The piece Ted is referencing: Is Popular Culture Really in Terminal Decline? An emerging critical consensus argues that we’ve entered a cultural dark age / The Atlantic

• Corollary: How To Create Meaningful Connections By Asking Great Questions / Clearer Thinking

• Like? What Internet Makes You Happy? The post-social media world can be good / The Melt

• And, From Celeste: Nepo Babies Or Superstars In The Making? As Celeste notes: ”Can't quite believe that the NY Mag article on nepo babies is three years old according to this … the term isn't going anywhere” / BBC

• On the topic of clear thinking: Freelance thinkers might have been one-shotted by artificial intelligence / 8Ball

• BUT?! Computers will not replace us. Inside the delusional overlap of tech evangelism and Western decline / Spike Art

• Tho Amazon’s robot is becoming more humanlike / Quartz

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AIAYEAYE

• Brings us to: Humans are becoming luxury goods / Platforms, AI, and the Economics of BigTech

• Though… the most persuasive “people” on a popular Subreddit turned out to be a front for a secret AI experiment / The Atlantic

• At least We can still save influencer marketing before AI eats it alive?! / The Drum

• But Could ChatGPT fix online shopping? / Vogue Business

• From Iolanda: Just vibing along ;) [Apple and Anthropic reportedly partner to build an AI vibe-coding platform] / TechCrunch

• As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, it’s producing more incorrect information. Even the A.I. companies don’t know why / NYT

• Worrying, when Cheating via ChatGPT is rampant in American universities / NYMag

• In Graphic Detail: How AI is changing search and advertising. The advertising industry is bracing for a shift that could redefine consumer journeys and reshape digital marketing strategies / Digiday

• AI Is Coming for Fashion’s Creative Class. As generative artificial intelligence takes on work once reserved for stylists, photographers, and PR strategists, creatives are being pushed to prove the value of human ingenuity — and find new ways to protect it / BoF

• Corollary: Laid Off, a new Substack newsletter, serves as a support group for those who have lost their jobs / NYT

• But wait, from Geoff : [AI NOT taking away jobs]?/ U Chicago

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Platformulations

• Mark Zuckerberg declared war on the entire ad industry last week. His vision for infinite creative would wipe out the way the whole ad stack works / The Verge

• so, like… What if Google isn't forever? Marketers grapple with a platform in flux / Digiday

• More flux: From hype to reality: AI in publishing — by the numbers. The spread of AI technology is having an increasingly clear impact on publishers’ traffic and their ability to control content scraping / Digiday

• What the New York subway tells us about the future of the internet. Crime, divided leadership and problematic innovation could all hold back its potential / FT

• Corollary: Meta recently launched a social feed for AI-generated content / Meta

• Related, from Iolanda: Worst of both worlds? hahahaha [Meta’s ChatGPT competitor shows how your friends use AI] / The Verge

• Meantime LinkedIn emerges as a serious player in the creator economy / Digiday

• And The TikTokker [IS] on the red carpet / Embedded

• Apropos of that: So, Are We Gonna Ban TikTok, or . . . ? / AEIdeas

• And if we do, what happens to The IP Generation. Young people can’t buy homes, but they can generate intellectual property / Embedded

• Ergo: In a Hogwarts-inspired promo video Twitch streamer Kai Cenat announced Streamer University—an application-only, on-campus program for streamers and creators to learn from Cenat and other professors / YT

• While PlayStation has organized a team, dubbed Team LFG, to work on “immersive multiplayer worlds” / The Verge

• And Google launched a film and TV production initiative called 100 Zeros in a multi-year partnership with management company Range Media Partners / Business Insider

• Not to mention, from Iolanda: “Power of Gaming” [Roblox studios begin to consolidate as Super League buys Supersocial] / Digiday

• More creator markets: How M.L.M. world works on Instagram and TikTok / Read Max

• Influencers who find long-term success do so by maintaining a consistent voice, even as they evolve their content and business model / BoF

• Hence the Chicken Shop Date creator is building a creative empire with her studio Dimz Inc / AdWeek

• Speaking of Empire: What Netflix’s new UI tells us about its future / Lowpass

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Entertainmentions

• From Daisy: "Wanted to make sure you saw:" The Popular Alternative. The state of A24 / Dirt

• And speaking of Daisy: Alexandra Lange, a Dirt and Prune contributor, has just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for her work in Bloomberg CityLab. Here she is on Tupperware / Prune

• Back to ‘alternatives’: When a show kills off a beloved character or romance,‘Fix-Its’ Offer Justice. People are using fan fiction to “fix” perceived wrongs / NYT

• Perceiving wrongs for sure: Is Dear Media’s podcast network the “manosphere” for women? / NYT

• Corollary Is this late-night TV’s last gasp? John Mulaney’s show represents an important test in the entertainment industry: Can the traditional talk show format — with an opening monologue, celebrity guests, live musical performances, a sidekick — survive in the streaming era? / NYT

• Also perpetually struggling: How to lose money and influence people. Is there any job in the music biz more damned than being a local show promoter? / CREEM

• Corollary, Trash promoter Larry Tee’s 10 Top Electroclash Tracks and an interview about the glory days / IG

• And this conversation with a DJ Funk from(March 2012) / Beat Connection

• Speaking of old dudes: Lefsetz discovers Matty Matheson via an interview in Toronto/ Lefsetz Letter

• BTW, Matty Matheson is in a hardcore band / IG

• While André 3000 Is Making Clothes Again / GQ

• Corollary, somehow: Doing Poppers At Brutalismus 3000. Short, stupid, and rancid—just how we like it / Rave New World

• Also, WTF is 3-MMC, Berlin’s Weird New Club Drug? And why it might just be the future/ Doubleblind

• Corollary to that: Felicity Ingram’s debut photobook is a globetrotting ode to rave culture / It’s Nice That

• And from Celeste: Hedonism Is Reigning Once Again In West London: Naughty Noughtie Nightclubs Are Having A Modern Revival / Tatler

• Also Noughtie: Fool’s Gold Records founder and New York Nico wedding DJ Nick Catchdubs is on Eddie and Natashia’s Canal Street Dreams / Spotify

• Corollary from Celeste: The First Celebrity Chef. Careme was a 19th century celebrity chef for his time, it leans into kings and queens, luxury evenings in ballrooms and sumptuous creations / BBC

• Elsewhere in unlikely collabs: MrBeast is writing a novel with the best-selling author James Patterson / NYT

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Arts.

• The Next Big Thing Is at Spring Break Art Show. It has a longstanding reputation for being scrappy and DIY, but the latest edition of the New York art fair proves it can also clean up quite nicely / Hyperallergic

• Meantime Frieze New York shows signs of stability in challenging US art market. Side note: I’m going tomorrow morning / Artnet

• I won’t be going to see MSCHF propose the key technology isn’t code—it’s the law at Rhizome Presents: 7x7 2025. Friday, May 9 | 12pm-5pm Cornell Tech - but I’d like to be. Damnable volleyball tournaments, instead / Rhizome

• ‘Technological’ corollary: Eadweard Muybridge and the Making of the Motion Picture. A new comic book tells the social history of photography during the 19th century / Hyperallergic

• On the topic of ‘comic’ books: Roald Dahl’s writing hut / Substack

• Also sneering: Hugh Grant prefers to be bad / The Talks

• More playing against type: Performance Art Star Anne Imhof’s New Passion Is Sculpting in Bronze / Artnet

• And more physical: Shelter fair seeks to surprise even "jaded designers" during NYCxDesign / Dezeen

• While down South Can Can Press is the Risograph studio reshaping the print and zine scene in Mexico City / It’s Nice That

• Corollary: An expert's guide to artists' books: four must-read publications on the genre / Artnet

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Fashioning

• Umm, actually?! Is It That Hard to Design Gucci? / Back Row

• Cause, like, high street brands are mimicking luxury houses. From runway shows to designer creative directors, high-street retailers are borrowing strategies from the luxury playbook to remain relevant / Jing Daily

• Corollary to that: Has Clothing Declined in Quality? Yes. For the money. Actually no. We used to just spend a lot more on it, proportionally / Marginal Revolution

• Speaking of proportional spending: Middle East: Beauty’s next chapter. With skincare penetration at just 12% to 14% compared to 35% globally, MENA represents untapped potential for brands that understand the region’s unique challenges / Jing Daily

• Meantime back home?! It’s Lip Oil and Nepo Babies / BoF

• No babies no more: Menopause care is moving out of the shadows. Brands want in / Vogue Business

• What Future is Gentle Monster Selling? / The Chow

• Corollary: Inside Onitsuka Tiger's 59-Year Plan to Become Your Favorite Sneaker / GQ

• How Spain’s Indie Fashion Scene Nailed Global Growth. Brands including La Veste, Gimaguas and Flabelus…Customers in cities like New York can’t get enough / BoF

• From Piers: Met Gala dress silhouettes over the years / Flowing Data

• From Celeste: Who Still Goes To Weight Watchers? A Dispatch From The Community Centre / FT

• Another dispatch: Come Tees Meets R. Crumb and Eric Kroll / 032C

• Hardcore-ollary, from Sam: “Pretty Good!” [The Haagen Dazs T-Shirt] Intramural

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Marketeering.

• How UTA is helping brands write the script in entertainment’s next act / The Drum

• How Leeds United climbed back to the Premier League (backed by NFL money) / Front Office Sports

• How Lego Built 10 Drivable Formula 1 Cars Using 4 Million Bricks. Formula One’s driver parade for the Miami Grand Prix will go down as one of the most memorable in the sport’s recent history / NYT

• BUT?! F1 saw a 32% year-over-year drop in U.S. viewership for last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix / Front Office Sports

• Speaking of easing off the gas: Progressive Insurance tests limits of AI-generated ads – and learns when to pull back / The Drum

• Not pulling back: Hermès price increases are now in effect. The brand raised prices on handbags, silk scarves, watches, jewelry, and ready-to-wear by 4 to 5 percent / WWD

• More fee talk: The FTC is banning hidden fees on live events, hotels, and short-term rentals starting May 12th / TechCrunch

• Speaking of tough reservations: More stores are becoming restaurants / Shop Rat

• Related, from Celeste: Challenging Economic TImes Are Good For Ikea / FT

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Been TrIRL

• As Global Climate Leadership Stumbles, Cities Are Stepping Up. From green infrastructure to net‐zero commitments, local governments are outpacing national policies / The Walrus

• The resilient coffee discovery that could save our morning brew. As climate change puts pressure on supply, new varieties are coming to the fore /FT

• Evidence that: “Life will almost certainly find a way”: as noted in this interview with David Attenborough, who turns 99 this week / The New Statesman

• Related: Clean Living Under Planetary Circumstances / Scope of Work

• Crickets vs cows. Crickets, along with other insects, are also a food staple for 113 countries around the world, with Africa, Asia and Latin America eating the most. Over 2000 species of insects are edible but currently only 12 crops and five animal species make up 75 percent of global food consumption / The Carbon Almanac

• Also unexpected: Reno. At a time of rising prices, the city remains — at least for now — a mecca of relatively inexpensive all-you-can-eat sushi / NYT

• An unloved two-seat sofa in Gloucestershire has become both an art project and a tourist attraction/ The Guardian

• The Most Beautiful Words in the English Language / Word Smarts

• Tyler Cowen says the o3 list is better / o3

[SIC] 345: Emotional Alcatraz

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Corollary Sources this week: Adweek Daily / Blazer / The Supersonic / Delightful / The Future Party / Marginal Revolution / Catchdini/ Politico Future Daily / Garbage Day / User Mag / The Publish Press / Show Notes / 1440 / Public Announcement