[SIC] Sundays 134: The Stressford End

Vol. 3, No. 34: Something a little different given today/tomorrow marks a change (TikTok, Trump etc). Special Free Sunday Send for All.

[SIC] Sundays, is the less-edited, more stream-of-consciousness digest of developments [normally sent exclusively to] paid subscribers of [SIC] Weekly. Thanks for being here. Please share with those who’d enjoy. Here’s a button:

Corollary Sources this week: The New Statesman / Simple Magic / User Mag / Morning Brew / Marginal Revolution / Elevator

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Hi all,

Given the big changes afoot today (in the US, anyway), I’m sending this one to everybody. These Sunday mini-digests normally goes just to paid subscribers.

It’s been a great start to the year for [SIC], numbers-wise at least. Between Caitlin Dewey’s “Your Favorite Newsletters Favorite Newsletters” post and a bunch of other generous referrals, there are nearly 10% more free subscribers to this dispatch than were here on Dec 31st. Welcome, again, everybody.

Lots of generous referrals, like I said - but the largest number of new folks is courtesy of

culturework

’s recommendation, which in turn seems to have largely been driven in the last few days by her posts on Tiktok referring her followers to The Weekly Work as the Tiktok ban loomed. A special welcome to all of you who’ve arrived here since Friday.

In light of the new eyeballs and since some of you have (statistically speaking) a couple of newly free hours today, I thought I’d send this one to everybody, to give a sense of what I’m paying attention to between [SIC] Weekly sends, and to refer you to a couple of MY favorite sources, starting with The Trend Report (first link after the jump) and the place that I discovered Culture Work (below) and proceeding from there. Hope you dig, or find useful reference at least.

​​Culture Work is dissecting celeb culture from the inside

If you do … I send paid supporters a mini digest of 30 links every Sunday. And a micro digest of 10x links each Mon, Tues, Weds, and Fri morning. The annual plan is on sale through end of Jan.

Ok, now the links.

Ben

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[SIC] Sundays 134: The Stressford End

1. RIP CULTURE ???? - 2025 😭. How losing TikTok means losing more than an app and on the rise in cities that survive by performing themselves / The Trend Report

2. The TikTok ban in historical perspective. America has a long history of debates over speech / History Club

3. Corollary: A Xiaohongshu survival guide. As TikTok refugees flock to Xiaohongshu, we break down what the app is and how to use it / Jing Daily

4. As a TikTok Replacement, RedNote Is Okay. For Shopping Fashion, It's a Potential Goldmine / Highsnobiety

5. Zooming out: Peter Zeihan takes the throne to decree China Has No Chance. The Chinese are stockpiling resources - food, fuel, and materials - to help it endure a protracted conflict with the US. Is this something to be concerned about? / Youtube

6. More macro: The Rise of Cognitive Cinema. What if you could live within your own stories? / In Bed With Social

7. Advertising corollary: David Lynch’s hauntingly beautiful commercials / The Drum

8. And Why Icelandic billboards took a 3-day ‘ad break’ to show Isabelle Huppert portraits / The Drum

9. By happenstance there’s a lot of Huppert in Mikey Madison’s in the Criterion Closet / YT

10. The closet itself a reflection of The New Rules of Content Marketing / Storythings

11. Progresso has introduced Chicken Noodle Soup lozenges, which they’re calling “soup you can suck on.“ / General Mills

12. More lozengecore: Alcohol, Meet Your Match. Aspiring to drink moderately? A pill might hold the answer / Airmail

13. While furniture resembling food — a strawberry table, a burger stool — is all the rage online / NYT

14. And Plant-based “meat” is processed, but that doesn’t mean it’s unhealthy / NYT

15. More ruminations on edibles and potables: Bompas and Parr’s Future of Food 2025 Report / Bompas and Parr

16. On the topic of trends: Rawdogging flights, quiet quitting, girl dinners; Gen Z–ers think they’re responsible for a slew of inventive trends—without realizing most of them derive from boomers / Airmail

17. Corollary: Ezra Klein on the Vibe Shift / NYT

18. And: Curtis Yarvin Says Democracy Is Done. Powerful Conservatives Are Listening / NYT

19. Ergo? Young workers taking more time off due to stress / The Times

20. Also stress coded: Fertility Olympics. The fertility anxieties of today are not what they were in the past / Many Such Cases

21. Apropos? Pussy Riot. The Kegel Throne is the latest device promising to strengthen and tighten the pelvic floor. One fearless queen takes a seat / Airmail

22. Speaking of …. cats… Pet spending leapt during Covid, jumping 11% from 2019 to 2023, and has continued even after other pandemic-era fads have gone cold / USA Today

23. Why Have Most People Stopped Wearing Hats? Breaking down the decline of this once-dominant accessory / Youtube

24. Corollary: at Zegna, the Next Generation Takes Inspiration from Family Heritage. Edoardo Zegna is leaning into his family’s legacy to envision Zegna’s future. Filmmaker Roman Coppola, himself the scion of another storied clan, is helping to tell the tale / Sothebys

25. More storytelling: For Nicole McLaughlin, the Pun Is Always Intended. The designer and upcycler extraordinaire has paved a new path — fuled by self-expression, sustainablity and fun / Hypebeast

26. Corollary to that: The Confusing Case of and wander x Zara / Highsnobiety

27. Elsewhere in corporate tie-ups: David Hockney will Present his Largest Show to Date at Foundation Louis Vuitton / IG

28. While in New York: Buyers can name their price at gallery that challenged artists to create hard-to-sell works / The Art Newspaper

29. Back in Blighty: Manchester United draws up plans for Old Trafford replacement. Project to upgrade stadium or build new 100,000-seater promises to boost economic growth across region / FT

30. And apropos of that: "Shred Central: Estimating the user benefits associated with large public skateparks." / Anser Press

    

[SIC] Sundays 134: The Stressford End