[SIC] 346: Peers Ears

Vol. 7, No. 36. Live from Elon, NC. HIP REPLACEMENT EP.10 with Abha Ahad of Girl Online, and all the links of the week Perplexity tried to hallucinate but couldn't.

May 15, 2025

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 5/15/25 to 7516 subscribers. Original source is cited. Corollary sources are listed at the end of each digest. Art courtesy of Gordon Hull.

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Special thanks this week for stories: Hugh Dietz, Kevin Tachman, Ed Cotton, Isaac Dietz, Foster Kamer, Celeste Blewitt, Iolanda Carvalho and Piers Fawkes. Comments, Questions and Contributions are invited from everyone.

Hi all,

Sending from the road again today - I’m collecting my son from his first year at college, so excuse the short preamble. Not that that’s what you’re here for any way. Minimal ‘corollary’ notation this week too. Got move these boxes and mini-fridges.

Lot of skate /art on my mind - owing to this:

More on that next week. But apropos of it, some of my buddies from Syracuse launched a company called Upskate that makes an indoor board that I might have to add to my PT routine. Living room Ollies as plyometrics. My hips are feeling better already.

Hip Replacement EP.10 Abha Ahad

Ok, now the links.

Ben

[SIC] 346: Peers Ears

Slopternet

Stories by authoritative publications are shaping the results of chatbot queries about companies far more powerfully than a social media campaign could / Semafor
Law&Crime is using A.I. to re-create the proceedings of the P-Diddy trial potentially rendering judicial camera bans obsolete / Mediaite
AI therapy is a surveillance machine in a police state / The Verge
Why do millennials love AI so much? And Gen Z and Gen X, not so much / Embedded
What is the best age to confront AI? / Marginal Revolution
Gen Z is using ChatGPT as their stylist. What does it mean for brands? / Vogue Business
ChatGPT is helping Gen Z make life choices, according to OpenAI’s CEO / Quartz
What it’s like to get your news from ChatGPT / Columbia Journalism Review
From Iolanda: “How to AI” [How journalists’ use of AI can inform advertising] / WARC
And: Nothing to say here ;) [TikTok launches TikTok AI Alive, a new image-to-video tool] / TechCrunch
From Foster: this story [SoundCloud Backtracks on AI and Changes Policies After Artist Outrage]— our story about their AI policies got them to reverse course on their AI policies / Futurism

Thinking Pieces

What’s So Funny ‘Bout… What We Talk About When We Talk About Romanticism / Cross Current
Boredom: the great engine of creativity / Lithub
Why Do Americans Have So Much ADHD? / The Lindy Newsletter
From Ed: a pretty deep and amazing must read [The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction] AI Chatbots, Newark, and the West Village Girls] / Kyla’s Newsletter
Forget Psychedelics. Everyone's Microdosing Ozempic Now / Hollywood Reporter
Gen Z are changing what it means to be a ‘reader’. Panic about the demise of book reading is overblown — across genres, formats and devices, young people are finding and creating their own storytelling communities / FT
From Hugh: I read this article, then watched the video. Pretty darn good: [I Polluted the Minds of 8,679 College Graduates] / WSJ
What makes Aphex Twin and Richard James "English." / ChatGPT
Oh and also can we use economic theory to prevent NBA tanking? / Twitter
From Hugh: Here is link forpatterns in Bach Fugue BWV 542. Comes from discussion in 2014 of Godel Escher Bach, a huge success in 1979 (Pulitzer Prize). It was in every book store window. I never read it, but now you hear so much about pattern recognition that it seems relevant. This is easy access to a couple of the ideas / YT
Under the overpass. Skateboarding among the dirt and grime, there’s a smell, a feeling divine / Simple Magic
This is absolutely nuts: London’s Pedicabs: Sex, loathing, and highway robbery. The inside story of how capital's most chaotic and least understood form of transport actually works / London Centric
How to hop trains / The Paris Review
Why are the world’s cities sinking? The problem of human-induced subsidence is global, urgent and spreading / FT

Technologia

What Is a Website Good For? On mediums, their qualities and affordances / Are.na
The number of professional creators has jumped from 200,000 to 1.5 million between 2020 and 2024 / Axios
From Iolanda: “It's a creator world, we just live in it... “[Creators Are Building Their Own Supersized Studio System As Hollywood Cuts Back] / Hollywood Reporter
We need to talk about Kevin (on TikTok) / Embedded
From Iolanda: "Never leave AI" kind of future [ Perplexity partners with PayPal for in-chat shopping as AI race heats up]/ CNBC
“‘Everybody’s Replaceable’: The New Ways Bosses Talk About Workers” / WSJ
From Isaac: The interesting features and research capacity of https://manus.im/ is now in public beta. Sign up and set it to work / Manus IM
From Kevin: Engineering students at George Mason University made a speaker that puts out fires with nothing but sub-bass / IG
Massachusetts startup Factorial is close to building a solid-state battery that could revolutionize the EV market / NYT
ESPN finally decided on a name for its forthcoming flagship streaming app and it’s (wait for it) “ESPN” / CNBC
Spain's Grid Collapsed in 5 Seconds. The U.S. Could Be Next. A massive blackout in Spain shows what happens when energy policy ignores the physics of electricity / Reason

Generationations

Today’s Young People Need to Learn How to Be Punk: “Your homework is to stop canceling each other, find out about punk, and get laid while you’re at it.” / NYT
Femcels who can’t find love / Dazed
America’s tech bros have gotten really into fighting / NYT
Hinge Wants to Get Gen-Z Dating. Its solution is novel. Hinge is doubling down on its “No Ordinary Love” campaign with a new weekly Substack series featuring the stories of real couples who met on the app / Inc
The millennial sex novel. Why Annie Ernaux surpasses her imitators / The Drift
The Biggest Dating App Faux Pas for Gen Z? Being Cringe. / Wired
Young drivers and old cars are a dangerous mix / Jama Network

Mediareas

Can brands like American Eagle appeal to Gen Z with Substack? Brand-owned publications are arguably a cyclical trend and we’re in the next cycle of such a trend with Substack / Digiday
Even award-winning writers are turning to Substack to publish their latest works of fiction, experimenting with new formats and reviving old devices like serialized releases / The New Yorker
The founder of Popbitch, has been writing for Semafor from the Gulf. Her latest is a dispatch from a rave in the Saudi desert where 110,000 people gathered / Semafor
Dwyane Wade will guest edit Players, a new magazine dedicated to athletes and style / NYT
The massive right-wing network you’ve never heard of / Chaotic Era
In Graphic Detail: How YouTube redrew the TV map / Digiday

The Arts, Widely

Herb Sundays 151: Jenny Hval All dreams and vapor from the Norwegian shapeshifter / Herb Sundays
From Celeste: Love this - the story of The Kooks and HardFi's indie resurgence and what HardFi did when the indie scene disappeared [Why These 2000 Indie Heroes Are Back And Bigger Than Ever] / BBC
Dance Music Is Booming Again. What’s Different This Time? A Lot.Online platforms are bringing fresh sounds and budding stars to bigger audiences worldwide / NYT
Kenny Schachter on AI and art. The American artist reflects on risk, robots, and redefining value in the art world / JIng Daily
Louie Edison’s fabric collages tell stories of a time gone by / It’s Nice That
Folk is having a revival—in the art world too / The Art Newspaper
In ‘Magic Farm’, Amalia Ulman Skewers Influencer Culture. The Argentine-Spanish director on hipster journalism, defying film conventions and why she’ll never become an actor / Frieze
A new London exhibit explores female archetypes across mythology and folklore through wearable humanoid sculptures made of carpet/ Semafor
Metropolitan Museum receives 6,500 works from photography collector Artur Walther / The Art Newspaper
A new photography collection charts a decade of New York City commuter life on the Staten Island Ferry / Semafor
When Ideas Become Visual. Newsha Tavakolian and Zied Ben Romdhane discuss their practice, as well as advice for aspiring or practicing photographers / Magnum
‘Enemies’ is an A24 movie where Jeremy Allen White and Austin Butler play enemies / GQ
Jim Shaw Explores America Line by Line. The artist is the subject of a solo show at Gagosian's 75 and Park space / Artnet
Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd on the “Borderline Unbearable” Scrutiny of Fame / Vanity Fair
One Man’s Trash Is Another’s Art. An exhibition argues that human production — its surplus and waste — is a rising influential force in contemporary art / Hyperallergic
[SIC] Talks alum Aaron Stern is bringing his show Polaroids Small Prints & Ephemera to Webber Gallery in London tocoincide with the Photo London fair and Offprint book fair. Opening May 15th 6pm - 8pm. Will be up for a month ish / Another Newsletter
Available Works, a fair for art books, posters, and other collectibles presented by Something Special Studios and WSA.Saturday and Sunday, May 17—18 - 12—6 PM 180 Maiden Lane New York, NY / IG
LA Art Book Fair! ArtCenter College of Design May 15–18 / TBW Books

Things We Wear

From Celeste: Eyewear is the new entry level luxury good. Sunglasses Are The Rising Luxury Status Symbol Of 2025 / Town & Country
The big winner in the tariff wars is obviously secondhand retail / WSJ
Guess which two of the 35 Spyplane Icons I’ve accumulated from the examples of the Design excellence of the contemporary slapper era and win a free paid [SIC] subscription / Blackbird Spyplane
The rise of one-on-one shopping at New York apartment stores Intimate invite-only stores are on the rise at apartments in NYC / WaPO
Narduwar is getting his own Nike SB special make up / Tiktok
Denim Enters Its ‘No Rules’ Era / BoF
The latest trend in fashion is adding soccer cleats to your OOTD / GQ
Nicola Formichetti is the new global creative director of Mac Cosmetics / Vogue Business

People of Note

From Hugh: “JD souther at DuckDuckGo This portrait is about as good as they get. He is the male voice on Linda Ronstadt's “Faithless Love” (written by him). That cigarette!” / DuckDuckGo
Once, when I was five. Been Caught Stealing (w/ James Harris) / The New Garde
Lupe Fiasco on How MIT’s Public Artworks Inspired His Bold New Rap Project / Artnet
'Boss of the Carpenters' retires this weekend after 50 years building sets for SNL / Gothamist

Market-tang

Airbnb is rebranding to be for not just rentals, but “anything.” / WSJ
From Celeste: AirBnB Is In Midlife Crisis Mode / Wired
MSCHF creates furniture collection from "pile of car parts" / Dezeen
From Celeste: Experiential Spaces Are Getting Even Bigger / Curbed
This is the year of the indie agency. And 2026 will be the year of outstanding creativity / The Drum
Investor Relations as a Strategic Weapon / Mostly Metrics
airlines are beefing up their first-class offerings to cater to luxury fliers / WSJ
KFC and Hackney Gelato serve up gravy ice cream / Famous Campaigns
How expensive can sunscreen get? / Glossy

Food and Drank

How milk got its mojo back. How milk got its mojo back. The dairy industry’s efforts to woo customers away from plant products are a masterclass in corporate survival tactics / FT
The Cola wars just got interesting as Campa Cola takes over India / Creative Bloq
A Mystical, Obsessive Encounter With the Ginseng Root / Hyperallergic
From Celeste: Kombucha's Pet-Nat Moment / This Is Taste
Wine tourism replaces actual wine / Semafor
From Celeste: Printemps Is Full Of Shoppers, But How's The Food? / Grub Street

[SIC] 346: Peers Ears

Corollary Sources This Week: Future of Transportation / Public Announcement / Dealbook/ The Future Party / Marginal Revolution / Offball/ Nieman Lab / Semafor / Delightful / Line Sheet

[SIC] 346: Peers Ears

Vol. 7, No. 36. Live from Elon, NC. HIP REPLACEMENT EP.10 with Abha Ahad of Girl Online, and all the links of the week Perplexity tried to hallucinate but couldn't.

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