[SIC] 347: Relaxylvania

Vol 7, No. 37. C2, Habitat 67, Sociocultural Superposition, Qualification Obscelence, HIP REPLACEMENT EP.11 and many many many liiiiiinks for your brains.

May 23, 2025

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

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

Hi all,

Flying home from a trip to the C2 Montreal conference. Travel like this plays hell with finding time to think and compose [SIC], but it’s still invaluable for informing my worldview and sense of what’s logical / possible now - and what’s coming soon.

I was invited to C2 as part of a cohort of ‘experiential’ professionals - which doesn’t describe me really (unless Breakfast Clubbing counts?!), but does represent a vector that I spend a lot of time thinking about, especially as the machines for more (aka AI writ large) spin out the slop faster and faster. The flight to analog and human proof of life has been underway for a while in certain pockets and continues to gain steam - it’s fascinating given the ‘efficiency’ that digital modes offer. We’ll land at a sociodigital superposition at some point soon, and that’s fine; let’s not get to worked up about it, is my heavily simplified take.

I bring it up because we (the experiential cohort) got offered a chance to tour Habitat 67, the utopian affordable housing development in Montreal that was developed by the government for Expo 67 (a subcategory of World’s Fair) by Moshe Safdie. It’s an icon of brutalism - a seemingly haphazard stack of rectangular boxes that looks from a distance like a kid’s wild day in the Lego brick pile - which still manages to be totally charming, human-scaled and iconic.

Built around a system of uniform ‘blocks’ - apartments are composed of one, two or three apiece - it was intended to be a full-life community (residents would theoretically move between units as their life stages and needs for space changed), with ingenious features. Every block came with attached outdoor / terrace space, HVAC and electrical systems were concealed in the floor boards, bathrooms were fabricated from a single fiberglass form, etc. 60 years on, lots of small issues have made themselves clear (you had to literally cut your original bathroom into pieces to renovate it) but it’s proven remarkably durable and beloved.

The thing that got me most though was that Safdie was only 25 when he won the commission and started construction. He hadn’t built anything, was barely out of school and generally was not a known quantity. it’s literally stunning that Habitat got built at all, given everything we expect now from bureaucracy today.

What struck me mainly in considering that, though, is that we may well be heading into a period that allows Safdie-like anomalies to become more the norm. AI, the flattening of culture, global communication and generally a fatigue for friction all mean that qualification is no longer objectively necessary.

Anybody can do anything. Or at least, nobody can ‘not do’ anything. It’s a function of finding the ley lines of possibility and following them. It’s exciting.

HIP REPLACEMENT EP. 11: Anu Lingala

We have talked a lot on HIP REPLACEMENT (including this week with the marketer and trend specialist Anu Lingala of What’s Anu) about generational malaise - the sense that the future that was promised isn’t coming.

I find this hard to swallow because the idea that *anything* is promised always seemed illogical to me. Things always change, incentives always evolve, life stages necessarily progress. The trick is to roll with it, knowing the initial idea is valuable, and following it doggedly. There are shortcuts, but none that are very good in the long term. The hard yards are the memorable ones, no circumstance is permanent.

Anyway, landing back in NY now so I’ll stop there. Go see Habitat 67 sometime if you can. Read about it if you can’t go. And use it as a reference for making something modular, scalable and lasting of your own.

Now, the links.

Ben

[SIC] 347: Relaxylvania

Living in The Macro

We’re officially Living the Slop Life / NYT
Ergo? Why Conservatives—and Everyone Else—Should Read Novels / American Enterprise Institute
But Where will the next literary movement come from? The new world struggles to be born / Blank
Also struggling: Is the Age of American Exceptionalism Over? / Bloomberg
In contrast, from Celeste: Sweden: A Socialist Paradise Overflowing With Billionaires' / FT
Meantime the UK steps up efforts to woo scientists fleeing the US / FT
A good time to review: The secret to actually trusting each other / Vox
Because: I’m a LinkedIn Executive. I See the Bottom Rung of the Career Ladder Breaking / NYT
And Americans, Especially Women, Feel Less Free. They're Not Wrong. Unfortunately, the data supports Americans’ take on the state of freedom in the world / Reason
Hence?! Dozens of religious leaders experienced magic mushrooms in a university study. Many are now evangelists for psychedelics.This Is Your Priest on Drugs / The New Yorker
A possible fix for? THE NIGHTLIFE VIBE DROUGHT A plague of parasites has descended over clubland / Rave New World
Unrelated: Nothing to see here: CERN is preparing to ship antimatter across Europe / Ars Technica

Influencering

Publicis Groupe intends to acquire Captiv8, an influencer marketing firm / AdWeek
Creator conglomerate Whalar raised capital at a $400 million valuation / Tubefilter
From Iolanda: “And now for something completely different... the CMT - Cultural Moment Targeting”/ Mediapost
Corollary: Subversion as creative strategy. The hidden formula behind the brands that break through / The Sociology of Business
Related; The First StratMonday Session: Matt Jones on Being Thoughtful / Strat Monday

Marketations

Apropos of experiential: Why online shopping feels like a chore in 2025 / Fast Company
Ergo: Printemps crosses the pond. The historic French retailer believes that there is still potential in the US market and opened its first New York pied-à-terre / Monocle
Corollary: Snob walks down memory lane of Kith with founder Ronnie Fieg / Highsnobiety
Related: Collecting Joy.. On Labubu, Licensing, and the Emotional Utility of Fashion Collectibles / Monologue
But will Will Chanel's Weak Results End Bagflation? / Back Row
From Celeste: 'The Status Sweatshirts Making College Girls Crash Out' / The Cut
Also crashing out: Duolingo Deletes Its Tiktok and IG Posts Amid AI Backlash / AdAge
But Gen AI creative is just about to change the face of out of home advertising / The Drum
Leading to: The holdco exodus becoming a founding, independent class / Digiday
Elsewhere: Urban Outfitters’ in-store experiential concept goes after Gen Z — first with Nike. The apparel retailer debuted the On Rotation concept as a way to fuel discovery shaped by the generation’s favorite brands / Retail Dive
Nike’s route to regain cultural relevance / Jing Daily

Aestethics

Airbnb’s relaunch and the texture era of design. High-touch aesthetics show that you care / One Thing
Case in point: THE FLYNN McGARRIAN KITCHEN / FOR-SCALE
More texture: Paved with desire. Ted Barrow on listening for meaning in the negative space / Simple Magic
Stunning statistics: Metered nipslip paywall / Delightful
Apropos of unrequited desire: Do We Still Dream of a Cyborg Future? An exhibition spanning the 1960s through ’90s prods the potentialities and limits of a cyborgian body / Hyperallergic
Futurism corollary: Loope is a new recycled plastic furniture brand that allows customers to return used products to be turned into a different piece of furniture free of charge / Dezeen
Related: the World's tallest 3D-printed tower [was] unveiled in Switzerland / Dezeen
Architecturally linked: Corners, the coolest design shop in the Catskills. How a concrete box became a mecca for art books, rare prints – and the world’s best pens / FT
And From ‘Celeste: From Burghley To Badminton, How Grassy Fields Of The Country's Most Famed Horse Shows And Country Fairs Prove To Be A Breeding Ground For Great British Fashion Success Stories' / Tatler
But Has the "Fun" Watch Trend Gone Too Far? / Esquire
Related, another one from Celeste: 'Lunch With The FT - Beauty Entrepreneur Trinny Woodall' / FT

AIAIA

With the acqui-hire of Jony Ive, OpenAI’s Ambitions Just Became Crystal Clear. But when you promise the world a revolutionary new product, it helps to have actually built one / The Atlantic
What’s more, from Iolanda: “More AI-ing” [Darren Aronofsky joins AI Hollywood push with Google deal] / LA Times
AI Mode is obviously the future of Google Search / The Verge
So… Maybe AI slop is killing the internet, after all / Bloomberg
Case in point: A Major Newspaper Publishes a Summer Reading List—but the Books Don't Exist. The AI disaster is getting worse / The Honest Broker
Genie’s out of the bottle, maybe: Schools are embracing chatbots / NYT
In spite of the fact that AI May Never Completely Conquer Hallucination, Bias / Daily Upside
Written Out So many words. So little meaning? / In Bed With Social
Related: What a Year in a Robotics Lab Taught Me About A.I. and Painting / Artnet
And researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have unveiled “LegoGPT” — an AI system that can build anything out of Legos / Fast Company
Back in the meatspace: AI is making online dating worse / Dazed
Corollary then: Gen Z’s new side hustle: selling data. Young people are increasingly treating personal data as a monetizable asset / Axios
And apropos of that: How to Disappear / The Atlantic
Also, from Iolanda: Taking all the fun out of life ;) [Walmart Prepares for a Future When AI Does the Shopping] / PYMNTS
We all better get familiar with Making AI Work: Leadership, Lab, and Crowd. A formula for AI in companies / One Useful Thing

Art and Artists

What Do We Do with the Work of Immoral Artists? / Hyperallergic
Or with The Virtues of Ideological Art / NYT
More questions: Who Is Tommy Cash? Estonia’s Madcap Eurovision Entry Is Also a Conceptual Artist / Artnet
Who Was Joan Shogren, the Secretary Who Pioneered Computer Art? / Artnet
Why the National Mall Is Suddenly Covered in Hundreds of Quilts / Artnet
Why stories work. Friendship director Andrew DeYoung on his writing bible / Blackbird Spyplane
But stories aren’t forever: He Documented the History of New York’s Lower East Side. Where Will His Archives Go? / NYT
Nadia Lee Cohen and Martin Parr's New Book is an Ode to '90s Essex / Hypebeast
From Celeste: Witchtok, romantasy genres and an avid group of readers and listeners has drawn much attention to the plight of witch trials from times past. How HIstory's Brutal Witch Trials Still Resonate' / BBC
And ‘How Romantasy Seduces Its Readers' / Critics At Large, The New Yorker
Also, consider: The American Midwest as Bastion for New Nordic Tradition / Hyperallergic

Meeeeeedia

Bill Maher’s uncancellable podcast studio has been cancelled / Deadline
Bad timing since Video is making podcasts a premium buy for advertisers / Digiday
Hence: Shane Smith is a podcaster now / Semafor
Elsewhere in the world of boundless ambition : Bluesky is plotting a total takeover of the social internet / Wired
And The Onion’s Ben Collins knows how to save media / Vanity Fair
Which prompts the question: Are the News Media in Their Onion Era? The lessons "America's Finest News Source" could offer the rest of the press / Reason
More lessons: Henry Blodget's new new thing /The Rebooting

Entertainments

Roblox brings the mall to the metaverse, and vice versa / Retail Dive
so… Are Video Games the New Movies? Hideo Kojima and Nicolas Winding Refn In conversation with Shane Anderson on screen addiction and the relationship between film and gaming / 032C
Related to that: The delay of Grand Theft Auto VI will cost the video game industry a cumulative $2.7 billion this year / The Hollywood Reporter
Gen Z is now disconvering TV shows mainly through social media/ The Guardian
Hence Amy Lou Wood is in the Criterion Closet / YT
And Natasha Lyonne’s Closet Picks / YT
FORTY NINE WRITERS??? Craig Jenkins on the dead end Morgan Wallen finds himself in on I’m The Problem
The tension at the heart of country music / NYT
Apropos of writers: the mastermind behind the inescapable “WTHelly” on the art of the viral rap song. How Rob49 Became Rap's Most Viral Hitmaker / GQ
Separately There’s a “Russian Nettspend” / The FACE
90s MTV Corollary to that: The White Zombie Edition / WITI
Also: Black Flag’s new members are all Gen Z / The FACE
From Gordon: Give this playlist a listen: OWL ROCK: SHOCK AND AWE / Spotify
while you peruse The Listening Bar Edition. On Tokyo, a record collection surprise, and truly knowing your possessions / WITI

City Specifics

US News ranks all 50 states / US News
Apropos of that: In the last year, America's major cities started bouncing back in terms of population / WaPo
The cities leading the return-to-work movement… and the cities staying home / Quartz
This is becoming a big topic: The Post-Work City. Cities feel like theme parks and so does the internet / Kneeling Bus
Hence: The Pushcart War Is The Kid's Book We Should All Be Reading. Revisiting Jean Merrill's 1964 "Fight the Power" classic / The Melt

Foooooods

Is there a least bad alcohol? / NYT
It’s probably not BUZZBALLZ - Gen Z’s favourite alcopop? Young people aren’t actually ditching booze, they’re just choosing new formats / FT
Total Delivery App Victory / The Lindy Newsletter
To-go orders—pickups, deliveries, and drive-thrus—now make up nearly 75% of all restaurant traffic / PR Newswire
We spent so much on takeout we can’t afford brand names, hence The End of the ‘Generic’ Grocery-Store Brand.“ They’re no longer terrible—in fact, they’re often the draw.” / The Atlantic
Thomas Keller on Cooking as a Pathway to Happiness / The Slowdown
Also a pathway: The Jenkem 999 Challenge / IG

[SIC] 347: Relaxylvania

Corollary souces this week: The Future Party / 1440 / Marginal Revolution / Public Announcement / Politico Future Daily/ The Unskippables/ After School

[SIC] 347: Relaxylvania

Vol 7, No. 37. C2, Habitat 67, Sociocultural Superposition, Qualification Obscelence, HIP REPLACEMENT EP.11 and many many many liiiiiinks for your brains.

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