[SIC] 356: Streamed Greens

Vol 7, No. 46. Musings on media and attempts to unsubscribe, superformatting and breakfast clubbing. And HIP REPLACEMENT Ep. 20, with Kristin Simon (but not with me)

Jul 31, 2025

[SIC] Weekly is a digest of developments in trends, tech, media, marketing, fashion, food, places and events, published free on Thursdays. 

This digest was sent free on 7/24/25 to 7741 subscribers. Original source is cited. Corollary sources are listed at the end of each digest. [SIC] is intended to be read as you would a bulleted list. Feel no compunction to open every item in a new tab.

[SIC] is made possible by its paid subscribers. It's $8/month or $80/year. Paid subscribers also get "[SIC] Day" most Ma/Tu/W/F & a [SIC] Sundays mini-digest.
Many recipients expense subscriptions as research in marketing, advertising, entertainment + tech. You can too. It's sincerely appreciated. 

If can't pay, help [SIC] proliferate by sharing with friends, family and colleagues. 
Comments, Questions and Contributions are invited from everyone.

I'm Ben Dietz, longtime media/entertainment business guy, and now advisor-for-hire to brands, publishers and agencies. New original art each issue is made by Gordon Hull.
Special thanks this week for stories: Piers Fawkes, Celeste Blewitt, Dish Stanley, and Howard Gray.

Hi all.

Medias are in a weird place right now. Dotdash Meredith just rebranded as People Inc. They've gentrified the set of "Sesame Street." South Park Is Saving Free Speech, while Substack apologized for sending a push alert promoting a Nazi blog. Et cetera.

I’m noting it all because I got this from New York Mag’s “Dinner Party” newsletter this week:

Struck me as odd, for two reasons. First, I open Dinner Party everyday. It’s gone downhilll post Choire, but it’s still fine.

Second, and more saliently, because I have been trying to say goodbye to DP’s sibling newsletter from Vulture for nearly 18 months. I’m on record [multiple times] about how I click ‘unsubscribe’ *every day* on the Vulture newsletter, am redirected to a URL that looks like this:

… and then another email shows up the following weekday anyway.

So, either Vox (NY Mag’s parent) literally can’t afford to lose me, or absolutely no one is home at their customer service department. Or possibly both.

Not to make a molehill into a mountain (I’m a paying NYMag subscriber, I just find the Vulture newsletter redundant), but it’s emblematic of how patchy things are right now; generally focused on the wrong things and missing the forest for the trees. Case in point: The New York Times is in bed with Amazon for pocket change.

I’m not necessarily any better - I spend so much time encouraging the brands, agencies and publishers I consult for to find and develop their superformats, that I forget to work on my own. Case in point; the same week Ochuko named it to her “As Seen On Podcast Diet” list, I missed this week’s HIP REPLACEMENT recording with Kristin Simon of Best Trends Forever.

Annoying for me, but reality. We continue to be in a moment of flux, and so consistency, human effort and audience experience are even more important than ever. It’s a point I’m gonna try to make next Monday during an appearance on stage at Martech Content & Commerce with folks from Snap, Profound and AdWeek (s/o Mark for the invite). And one I’ll try to do better at, myself.

Anyway, Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick and Kristin were fun to listen to and we’re getting the gang back together in September for a make-up sesson, since Kirstin’s co-publisher @Sarah Barnes missed it too. Here’s the Spotify link:

On the subject of Superformats: podcast series producer Campbell is testing one out over at his summer internship at Gymnasium. I tuned into the first episode yesterday for a while and it was fun. Do me a favor and Follow Gymterns here.

Superformat corollary: I haven’t talked much about Breakfast Club (the free, open-to-all, themeless breakfast series I ‘chair’) lately, but since the Manhattan chapter has a new home on St. Mark’s Place, and has expanded to over 45 cities around the world, I figured I should mention it. Come hang some time. Everyone pays their own way. And everyone’s invited, especially you.

Since I’m sending you places: if you’re out East this weekend, so see fave artists Joseph Hart and Andrew Schoultz in new shows , both at longtime favorite gallery Halsey McKay in East Hampton.

And apropos of art (and since wallpaper might be the art world’s next big thing), thought I’d point you to the excellent collab between wallpaper and fabric aces Eskayel and Gordon Harrison Hull, aka [SIC]s resident art director. Buy some.

Ok last thing: inspired by the Throwing Fits Reader Survey in which James and Lawrence attempt to divine the desires of the inscrutable Throw Gang, I’m gonna launch a similar effort for [SIC]. Paid subs get priority input, so if you’ve finding this dispatch useful, or wish to have input on how I should make it moreso, here’s a button. It’s an $8 commit, worst case.

Ok, now the links.

Ben

[SIC] 356: Streamed Greens

The Discourse

The Discourse Is Broken. How did a jeans commercial with Sydney Sweeney come to this? / The Atlantic
Related? To See How America Unraveled, Go Back Five Years. What the summer of 2020 wrought / The Atlantic
Definitely related to that: Why ‘Fawning’ Is The Quiet Epidemic We’re Finally Taking Seriously / Service95
Case in point: Is everyone online mad at me? Meg Josephson on how the internet enables people-pleasing / Embedded
Corollary: Tea was doomed from the start / Embedded
Because?! First Came Tea. Then Came the Male Rage. The app was meant to make dating safer for women. Data breaches exposing its users show why it was so popular in the first place / The Atlantic
And yet?! It’s a "black cat boyfriend" summer, when seeing men be vulnerable [and] 'breaking the masculine code' is big / USA Today
Apropos of nothing, but also emblematic: There’s a … CryptoPunks meetup coming up Aug 9th at … Beeple’s house?! / Beeple Studios

The Discourse, Part II

Why Are We Telling Women That Motherhood Will Make Them Miserable? / Deseret News
Given, from Celeste: Our Shrinking And Ageing World / The Rachman Review, FT
Perhaps because: HOUSING BOOM, BABY BOOM. Housing costs are the single biggest factor preventing Americans aged 18 to 54 from having as many kids as they want / Business Insider
Herce Why Marriage Survives / The Atlantic
Housing corollary: What is the point of owning a mansion in Mayfair? London’s luxury property market has bigger problems than the ‘exodus’ of wealthy non-doms/ FT
Related: Bye-bye St. Tropez, hello Slovenia. Six European stealth-wealth havens (since influencers have taken over the hotspots of old) / Bloomberg
Speaking of non-dogs, from Howard: “Wrote this piece on navigating US business culture for international founders and creatives - thought it may be useful for some SIC subs” /Howard Gray
Elsewhere in geopolitical aestethics: South Park's Trump Takedown Joins a Proud American Tradition / Reason
And The Chinese government is very proud of Labubus for being homegrown intellectual property that gained a global following / The Guardian
South China corollary: The Palau Says No Edition. On diplomacy, islands, and power politics / WITI
Even so… You Can’t Quit America / NYT
Tho America can quit caring: How NASA Engineered Its Own Decline. The agency once projected America’s loftiest ideals. Then it ceded its ambitions to Elon Musk / The Atlantic
But at least back on earth Homelessness in Los Angeles Is Finally Declining / Reasons to Be Cheerful

AIAIAI

Why Is a Bot Like a Gentlemen's Club? And other strange defenses from the techno-optimist community / The Honest Broker
Means and Meaning. We have the technology. Cool, now what? / Not Boring
Well for one thing: The Age-Gated Internet Is Here. Goodbye, online anonymity / Reason
Gen Z Isn't Powerless Against Technology. And we shouldn't tell them they are / Reason
Why is everyone in AI talking about the end of work? / Pathless
Is AI Killing Entry-Level Jobs? Here’s What We Know. New research suggests an emerging paradox / Bloomberg
More paradox: AI is destroying hustle culture. Once driven by productivity hacks and “grindset “influencers, hustle culture has begun to unravel under the weight of AI / GQ UK
So, like… Why can’t I stop cleaning fake dirt off fake objects? In praise of ‘PowerWash Simulator’, part ponderous game, part dreamlike state / FT
Because?! It's Not TV, It's GVOD. App store data shows 'dramaslop' gamified video apps dominating downloads / The Medium
Hence: Slop as a Way of Life. AI slop is just the culmination of how humans have been using the internet for years / Kneeling Bus
An Indian movie studio is re-releasing a version of a tragic 2013 film with an AI-generated happy ending, apparently without the director’s consent / Semafor
Zuck published "Personal Superintelligence" and what it will mean not only for his company but for the world and society at large /
Decoding Zuck’s Superintelligence Memo / On My Om
Chat GPT launched Study Mode, a new version of the chatbot that strives to educate by withholding information until the user works through a problem / TechCrunch
Can LLMs Out-Think the Best Trend Researchers? What [SIC] Talk Alum Piers Fawkes Learned Building an Automated Trends System / PSFK
Good, because Anthropic is capping usage for paid subscribers. It says some developers are running Claude Code continuously / TechCrunch
Maybe UGC is the answer? Amazon invested in Fable Studio’s AI-powered streaming service, Showrunner, which allows people to remix licensed content or make their own original shows / Business Insider
From Piers: “nothing to be worried about….” [what is robot metabolism? watch how machines can grow by consuming other machines] / Design Boom

Arts and Artists

Moods July 2025 / Moodmail
An Interview with Filmmaker Charlie Shackleton: On True Crime & The Creative Process / Zine
The weirdcore art trend is the most unsettling thing to happen to nostalgia. The anti-design aesthetic is changing art, games, and film / Creative Bloq
George Lucas Offers a Peek Into His New Museum: ‘A Temple to the People’s Art’ / Artnet
George Lucas's wild new art museum will transform how you see comic books. Narrative art is finally being taken seriously / Creative Bloq
Artists Reflect on LA Wildfires in opa projects Group Show including Cleon Peterson's life-sized painting and Ed Ruscha's text experiments / Hype Art
This photo series celebrates the muddy feminine heart of northern rural farming / It’s Nice That
More photos: Jillian Russo on Diane Arbus / The Brooklyn Rail
And from Dish: “I don’t think I’ve seen a review /reaction in [SIC] to either the Diane Arbus Show at the Park Avenue Armory (closes mid-August)
Also from Dish: All Blues, the listening bar in Tribeca.

Fashions

Dazed has an archive of old American Apparel ads / Dazed Digital
Vogue’s AI ad is doing more damage than people think / Creative Bloq
Software as a style. [SIC] Talks alum Daisy Alioto on how nostalgia for an earlier internet bleeds into fashion. / Dirt
Tons of people are actually buying The Row's $700 flip flops / Dazed
But how about these Paving stone flip flops? / Dezeen
Or these Slippers made from dust? / Dezeen
in contrast: How LVMH handmakes its new “butter soft” shoes / Highsnobiety
Apropos: What is Marc Jacobs [the brand, not the man himself] post-LVMH future? / Vogue Business
In the meantime: Influencer-favourite affiliate platform ShopMy aquired Thingtesting and is launching a shopping site / Vogue Business
Speaking of influencers, from Piers: “u spotted this already no doubt,” [Ralph Lauren’s Vintage Man of Mystery]. At 71, Doug Bihlmaier has become a style hero to fashion-savvy social media creators / NYT
Also Ralph-coded: Can Buck Mason Become the Next Great American Menswear Brand? / WSJ
MASTER THESE THREE REALMS OF DÉCOR, PLEASE Do: let your ego get in the way / FOR-SCALE
The construct of purity is sullied with every step / The Fox Is Black
IE: I Went Back to Skinny Jeans, and It Feels Incredible / GQ
Slimfit corollary, from Piers: Kenya celebrates International Cowboy Day/ The Guardian
Elsewhere, Beams America has an Evangelion collab coming, apparently / Beams
The Masterplan. How Oasis' tour is turning a cultural behemoth into a fan building masterclass / The Society of the Spectacle

Entertainments

AI Slop Song Drowns Out Tyler, the Creator’s ‘Don’t Tap the Glass’ Album Launch with an AI song with the same name on TikTok / Digital Music News
Elsewhere” Hayley Williams premiered 17 new songs on a website audio player, accessible only to fans who bought her latest hair dye drop / Vulture
And Justin Bieber Finally Gave Us the Song of the Summer. American listeners don’t want to party; they just want a break / The Atlantic
So….Why Are So Many Movies Suddenly About Math? / Vulture
Also not sexy: The Decline And Fall Of The Prestige TV Nude Scene / GQ
Corollary: The Beautifully Dumb Naked Gun / Vanity Fair
The Naked Gun screenwriters on the resurgence of the theatrical comedy / The Writers Panel
Jason Momoa wants to be a sensitive alpha / NYT
Pedro Pascal’s favourite band is The Cure / The FACE
Ed Sheeran is making Pollockesque drop paintings / Heni Editions
Adam Sandler Is a Pickup Basketball God and he’ll play with almost anyone, almost anywhere / NYT
To fight off YouTube, Netflix embraces live TV / Lowpass
So, screw it: LET YOUR KIDS WATCH TV. IT’S FINE. Critic Kathryn VanArendonk argues that letting kids watch TV is essential for helping them develop narrative literacy, autonomy, and cultural taste / Vulture
Corollary, from Celeste: How Ozzy And Sharon Became TVs Favourite Parents / BBC
Podcasts become a strategic IP play for Hollywood talent / Digiday
From Jeff Carvalho: “Good for SIC” [The Untold Story of Our First DDJ Controllers] / Pioneer
An Iconic Austin Brand Is Reinventing the Record Store. The owners of Waterloo Records hope an eye-popping revamp will reinvent the music-shopping experience in uncertain economic times / Texas Monthly
From Celeste: “a brilliant read on the history of libraries and bibliophiles, pecifically with referencing to Renaissance libraries” [No Cheese Please] / London Review of Books

Marketizing

Behind Gwyneth's Astronomer Video Stunt. Analysis of what some are calling a masterclass in PR / Back Row
Also a naked PR ploy?! Overstock eyes luxury expansion with Rolex, Patek Philippe. The brand sees a future in extending its luxury goods offering / Retail Dive
From Celeste: How Hard Could It Be To Open A Cute General Store? / Grub Street
Elsewhere: Rare Beauty is launching fragrances in both spray and balm form / Rare Beauty
Related to that, from Piers: [Perfumehead: A Luxury Fragrance Brand Exploring Scent Through 'The Osmocosm’] / Fashionista
Stellantis' strategy to get back on track after a dismal 2024: muscle cars and Hemi V8 engines / Axios
ASICS, Meta, and M SS Ng P Eces Launch Original VR Fitness Game / LBB Online
Rockstar Games is staffing up its creator platform division ahead of GTA 6 / Digiday
More ‘creative,’ from Piers: Jeff Staple’s rules for PowerPoint, basically [How do I know something is well designed?] / Linkedin
Corollary: ‘Good design is good business’: Paul Hirsch on three decades in advertising / The Drum
another from Piers: Range Rover's controversial new logo is only the beginning. More details of the brand's "confident and contemporary" rebrand have emerged.
Also controversial? MTA banned alcohol ads 7 years ago, citing health concerns. Now it wants the money. Gothamist
Nonetheless, NYC subway and bus fares going up to $3 in 2026 / Gothamist

Medias

A chicken for The New York Times, a star for Bloomberg: A new “Media Capitulation Index” ranks large media and tech companies / Nieman Lab
Corollary: Per [SIC] Talks alum Mo Diggs: Mainstream Media Has Visibly Changed its Tune on Gaza. Audience Capture is Complete / Cross Current
Also complete: [SIC] “5 Questions For” alum Mike Sykes is bringing his The Kicks You Wear to the Business of Fashion roster / BoF
Related, then: So You Want to Start a Substack. [SIC] homie David Coggins with “Some Ideas From a Grizzled Veteran” / The Contender

The Natural World

The Rising Cost of Child and Pet Day Care. Doggie boarding costs about about the same as staying in a Motel 6 / Marginal Revolution
Hence? More than half of dogs in the US are overweight / Studyfinds
Also: Should You Sunscreen Your Cat? / The Atlantic
Because, like, American Summers Are Starting to Feel Like Winter . Extreme weather is keeping more people stuck inside / The Atlantic
Warming world corollary: Meet the people from Buffalo who left home, got rich, and are now moving back and buying incredible old houses / WSJ
Also incredible, since everyone’s staring at their phones while walking: pedestrians are walking 15 per cent faster and stopping to linger 14 per cent less than they used to, according to a study from MIT / Dezeen
Sidewalk corollary: Photovoltaic pavement to bus stops that charge EVs from below, the next generation of clean energy infrastructure is right under our feet / Reasons To Be Cheerful

Foods and Drinks

From Piers: The Attention Economy Ate Big Food Why attention became food's scarcest ingredient / The Future Market
Hence: Is Dubai Chocolate the Next Pumpkin Spice? / WSJ
Is MAHA losing its battle to make Americans healthier? Banning food dye ain’t gonna do much if you're going to let environmental pollution slide / Vox
From Celeste: Awkward moment for This Bowl in NYC [This Bowl Has Been Sending People To The Bowl] / Grub Street
Alcopop brand High Noon is recalling 12-packs it shipped last week because some cans were mislabeled as Celsius energy drinks / CNN
Shares of world’s largest brewer AB InBev tumble 9% on declining volumes. The Budweiser maker said volumes declined 1.9% year-on-year, well ahead of the 0.3% dip forecast by analysts / CNBC
Food prices could jump after the president’s latest tariffs / Quartz
From Piers: “so much to do, such little time” [I drank every cocktail] / Adam Aaronson

[SIC] 356: Streamed Greens

Corollary Sources This Week: Roca News / Public Announcement / Blazer / Gothamist / After School / Feed Me / Catchdini / Beats and Bytes / As Seen On / Nieman Lab / American Enterprise Institute / Morning Brew

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?