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[SIC] 368: Session Reindicator
Vol 8, No 8. [SIC] Talks with Eugene Rabkin (Style Zeitgeist). HIP REPLACEMENT with Patrick Kho (The Chow). Posting Live from Live Events. Youth for Sale. And the links.
[SIC] Weekly is [normally] a digest of 50x developments in trends, tech, media, marketing, fashion, food, places and events, published free on Wednesday. I’m Ben Dietz, advisor-for-hire to brands, publishers and agencies, moderator and occasional exhibit producer.
This digest was sent free on 10/22/25 to 8003 subscribers. Original source is cited. Corollary sources are listed at the end of each digest.
[SIC] is made possible by its paid subscribers, who also get 20 “[SIC] Day” links on Mo/Tu/Th/Fr, and the weekly [SIC] Sundays mini-digest of 30 freeform links.
Many recipients expense subscriptions as research in marketing, advertising, entertainment + tech. You can too.[SIC] prospers when you share it with friends, family and colleagues.
Special thanks this week for ideas: Ed Cotton, Geoff Renaud, John Rough, Iolanda Carvalho, Piers Fawkes and Celeste Blewitt. Comments, questions and contributions are invited from everyone.
New original art and animation each issue is made by Gordon Hull.
Hi all.
“If I had more time, I’d have written you a shorter letter.” ([SIC] Version) today.
When I kicked off Vol. 8 I vowed to keep things to 50x links, misguidedly assuming that fewer links would take less time. Wrong, as it happens. Fewer links *does* take less input, but I have no control over how many developments develop each week, so in particularly interesting weeks (like this one) it’s the editing that’s time consuming. And I’m out of time today.
To that end. I’m writing this from “Find Each Other,” a creative summit that the production company m ss ng p eces is staging for its roster of film, tv and commercial directors and a few friends. I got a last minute invite and it was around the corner, so I popped over even tho [SIC] is due this afternoon.
It’s a very cool little event where people like Director X and Linus Karlsson get up and talk about projects they’re working on, the creatives - who normally never meet - get to hang out and eat Caffe Panna sorbet together, and interlopers like me get to eavesdrop on the proceedings.
Main topic, predictably, is AI, and the ongoing “will-it-won’t-it” discussion about eating the creative biz. While folks like [SIC] Talks alum Emily Segal talk THE CREATIVE RECESSION (and if we can feel it?), and other buddies like Noah Brier admit Transformers are Eating the World (but insist that’s not bad, just to be expected), there’s a notably positivist feeling in the room here, I’d say; AI is tool, not terror. Now, check out my NFL spot with Druski riding a dolphin!
Still, even among the creative stars there’s definitely a sense of Who Killed Cool? And What Do We Chase Now? (as captured but [SIC] homie Anu Lingala that needs to be worked out - a lot of which Eugene and I talked about today (video below).
To borrow from Yancey Strickler’s Dark Forest Theory, six years in, post from earlier today, as submitted by Iolanda, “The internet is dying on the outside but growing on the inside.” Another key quote:
“Everything public feels like an ad. Everything private feels real. The gap widens every day. The dark forest is where decisions are made; public space is where they’re performed. “
Hence, this m ss ng p eces gathering. And the On Air summit, covered here a few weeks back. Not to mention today marking 4 Years of Breakfast Club - which, if it’s not an exemplification of Linus’s “Play” philosophy (no rules, no timeframe, no particular goal) is at least a good approximation.
The friction of IRL becomes proof of real, valuable interaction. Which is why events big and small (and trending toward inclusive over VIP-only) are about to have a GIANT couple of years.
Speaking of events, I’m being shipped out to Adobe Max in DTLA next week. Anyone gonna be floating around? Let’s say hi and roam the halls of creativity together, or something.
[SIC] Talks #108: Eugene Rabkin
Eugene is the man behind Style Zeitgeist, frequent contributor to Highsnobiety, Business of Fashion, author of Stone Island, a history of the fabric-forward Italian sportswear brand. In his second appearance on [SIC] Talks we dug deep into the depravity of the postmodern moment, Demna then and now (and in the future) Alex Danco’s contention that Prediction [is] the Successor to Postmodernism, which Danco calls “The defining reframe of the AI generation.” A Key Quote:
“Everyone is going to have their own personalized parlay on the same series of reference events.”
So I guess [SIC] is that for me?!.
Aproos of that, we *didn’t* end up talking about Kate Lindsay’s “Welcome to the magazine dystopia.” Where journalists are tellers of truth. Sort of in Embedded
To that end also touched on how Everyone is a Strategist And No One is a Writer, making a Kalshi market (more to come on that) and the state of fashion at the moment, with shouts to Rick and Rei and a questioning of Virgil’s beatification (from Eugene, it has to be said).
Also, per Eugene: “Here is a good primer into Mark Fisher. And this is especially relevant to PoMo (and to my book).”
It’s a good one. Listen in here, or watch above. There’s also YouTube here.
This picture (from the otherwise highly recommended Magnum Square Print Show) will make a lot more sense once you’ve tuned in.
Speaking of youth and creativity, it’s like 4:30 now now so if you’re in NYC go rush over to this immediately:
Last thing(s) before the links: [SIC] homie Nick Gazin is selling $100 drawings of Ohtani, Oasis and Ono (among others) to fund his trip to Japan to see Oasis. I bought Oasis #7 and I’d do it again / IG
and now… links.
Ben
[SIC] 368: Session Reindicator
The Current Moment
We’re deep into The K-Shaped Economy / PBS
So in response… Young people are getting married again / Dazed
Corollary: A video primer on how to best navigate the current “jobpocalypse” facing new grads / Fast Company
Related: Gen Z has turned side gigs into 57% of their total income, well above the 43% average across all age groups / AEI
Apropos of cozzie livs: How AI “Slop” Still Pays the Bills / AEI
To that end, [SIC] Talks alum Sean Monahan is defining slop [vs. Aura]; popular new term[s] needing interrogation / 8Ball
Speaking of definitions: Blackpill Aesthetics: A Crash Course in Meme Extremism / YT
Related: From Celeste: The Six Seven Panic / The Cut
Further to that: An excellent Brainrot Diagram herein / LinkedIn
From Geoff: “LLM Brainrot ;(“ [LLMS can literally rot their own brains the same way humans get brain rot from scrolling junk content] / Twitter
But, like, if Floptropica goes mainstream, does that mean we’ve entered a mass state of brain rot?
Unsurprisingly then: These Bars Are Banning Phones and People Love it / WaPo
Corollary, from Celeste: “apparently it’s a trend that is blooming online in all the algorithms, a trend that sees you listen to the Diary of a CEO, go to the gym, shred and focus on self until the winter passes. ‘The Narcissistic Cult of The Winter Arc‘ / New Statesman
Woe, Narcissus: Trad Sons Are the New Homesteading Influencers / Vanity Fair
But… no one likes a hub-son / Inside Hook
But also … Surprise! Even Tradwives Like to Talk About Sex. The Venn diagram of sexual-content creators and morally upright Christian conservatives is looking more like a circle / Vanity Fair
Colonial America was ethnically and religiously diverse. That’s what made its achievements so remarkable / NYT
Futures
Nearly 1000 AI scientists, politicians, celebrities and religious leaders have signed a statement to prevent the creation of “superintelligence” / Superintelligence Statement
But, like… Artificial retinas could help restore vision for people with one particular form of blindness.
From Iolanda: “This is awesome!” [Welcome to the Post-Naive Internet Era] / Mozilla
“And this is terrible... ;) “[A Tool That Crushes Creativity]. AI slop is winning / Atlantic
But maybe? Livestreaming as the antidote to AI / User Mag
Actually?! The real AI risk is “meh” technology that takes jobs and annoys us all / Bloomberg
To that end, great headline: “AI’s Making Event Translation Cheap. Not Everyone Is Convince” / A Media Operator
Meantime, AI has a SpongeBob problem / Politico
But maybe….?! The Silence Around SpongeBob Tells You Everything. All the controversy is about celebrity likenesses, not fictional characters. That silence signals catastrophic devaluation for billion-dollar IP / The Medium
Speaking of (fore)sight: The Federal Reserve is now taking into account a possible AI extinction scenario event in economic forecasts / Dallas Fed
Launches
Actually smart: X is creating a marketplace for inactive handles / TechCrunch
While ChatGPT announces AI browser “Atlas”… / YT
Hitting close to Chrome. Five ways of thinking about OpenAI’s new browser / Platformer
More new thinking: [SIC] Talks alum Sami Reiss just debuted A NEW NEWS INDEX FOR HEALTH SICKOS (AND OBSERVERS) Like Harper’s Index but covering BPC-157, Tren, walking, yoga, raw milk, bee pollen, Vitamin D lamp, ozempic, protein powders, AG1, Gwyneth/Huberman, and so on/ Open Secrets
Meantime, Equator is a publication for the post-American century, which just published its editorial manifesto on its very stylish website / Equator
Also close to the equator: A24 Made a book about Texas. No movie tie-in. Just Texas / A24
While back at home, NYT will add a stand-alone destination for scrollable, vertical news videos, updated daily / Axios
HIP REPLACEMENT Ep. 31 Patrick Kho
Patrick writes The Chow from his home in Hong Kong, but we caught him on a world tour that’s brought him to see Kyle in Barcelona and me this week in NYC. We dug into the K-Shaped economy, Halle Berry as recession indicator, the younger never having been older and the old never having been younger, youthquakes in Madagascar, Morocco, Nepal, France and elsewhere, and the SAD! signage (literally and figuratively) of the No Kings Day marches, among lots of other stuff. Listen here, or watch above.
Platforms
From Iolanda: TikTok didn’t mean to become a breaking news platform - but it did /Journalism.co.uk
On Substack, TV News Personalities Find a 2nd and Successful Life / The Wrap
OpenAI has made a five-year business plan for how it’s going to acquire the trillion-plus dollars it has already pledged to spend on AI technology /
OpenAI Is Building a Banker / Money Stuff
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg admitted that his purchase of Tumblr probably wasn’t the best idea / TechCrunch
Artistics & Stylistics
There is no neutral Space: The Architecture of Donald Judd (Pt. 1)/ Gagosian
Hence: Why Bruno Munari Taught Designers to Embrace Flexibility / Untapped Journal
Related: Es Devlin to build giant, rotating free library on Miami Beach / The Art Newspaper
The Real Reason You’re Wearing Comfortable Clothing / Back Row
Related: The Avery Trufelman Interview with Throwing Fits / Spotify
Unasked in that pod: Honey, why did you pay Kim Kardashian for a bush? / Thought Enthusiast
But corollary to the interview, from Celeste: The Zipper Is Getting Its First Upgrade In 100 Years / Wired
Speaking of IP Protection: Tyshawn Jones vs. Supreme: The Price of Exclusivity Attorney Zak Kurtz of Sneaker Legal unpacks the legal fine print and where he thinks the $26 million dispute is headed / Snobette
Apropos of monthly payments: Ireland is preparing to make its experimental basic income for artists — roughly $1,500/month — permanent in the country / Business Insider
The Louvre Was Robbed, But the Memes Stole the Show / Hyperallergic
How to Bury an Entire Museum / Messy Nessy
Easier to spot: In the Studio With 33 of the Hottest Art Stars on the Planet / Vanity Fair
Corollary: 14 Photographers on Youth as a State of Mind / Aperture
Entertainments
From John: “The Yang to SICs Yin. Single Link podcasts meant for a single person. Haha.” / 4You iPod
Another former colleague, Andy Capper charts the Wet Pavements at 3am. Reflecting on the long-awaited Oasis return / CREEM
More essential reflection (on The Demographic Man et al) : The Mike Sager Interview / The Material Review
Also really long and really good: Five Days with Geese, America’s Most Thrilling Young Rock Band / GQ
Apropos of that, [SIC] Talks alum Mo Digg’s reflections From Warhol to Geese. Some Thoughts on Pop Music, Cultural Stasis and Potential Revolution / Cross Current
Which has ‘imperfect agent’ - IE Geese - parallels in Reggie James’s A Way of Life - Kinference 2025 Talk / Product Lost
Corollary to that, from Piers: inconvenience as a design language / DDW
An interview with Oneohtrix Point Never about including the ugly and banal in his music and his new album ‘Tranquilizer’ / Toneglow
Studios are turning to TikTok creators of “fan edits” that remix a movie or show 9often set to popular, incongruous music) — to help reach younger audiences / Variety
Warner Bros. Discovery is putting itself up for sale / Quartz
The movies that defined Gen X (well, the latter half of us, at least) / Mark Mcinerney
30 Years Of Hackers. The full story behind the cult cyber fairytale / Dazed
Media & Marketing
How Ssense Lost Its Cool. Mismanagement, retail upheaval, and a failed bet on Gen Z have left the luxury site on a lifeline / The Walrus
And also: How Depop Captured the Heart of Gen Z / NYT
Meantime, Influencers are turning into retailers. Now what? / Vogue Business
So: [SIC] Talks Alum Ana Andjelic proposes a paradigm of social franchise; Content, community and commerce, together at last / The Sociology of Business
Related to that, trom Iolanda: “B2A [Winning hearts, minds and models: Brand building in an AI world]. Key Quote: “AI isn’t just giving us a new toolkit to create brand content with, it’s building us a whole new audience to create brand content for” / Marketing Week
“And some POS on media - brandwise and newswise.” [Media’s strategic role in integrating marketing functions for brands] The Media Leader
Also strategic: Why Japan’s Iconic Men’s Magazine Popeye Went English For The First Time Ever / The Melt
Also a first: Walmart taps Stadium Goods for marketplace expansion. Exclusive sneaker styles from the collectibles resale company are now available ahead of the holidays / Retail Dive
While behind the scenes: Walmart & OpenAI: a look at the deal that could rewire retail’s entire operating system a reordering of who controls data, trust and the moment of purchase itself / The Drum
More loss of trust, from Celeste: Popular Sunscreen Brands In Growing Crisis As SPF Ratings Under Fire / AFR
Foods & Drinks
From Ed: this is quite a piece of writing. [Why are all lunch options now shit? And what the hell is a Farmer J?] / Normal London Bloke
The Protein Bar King and the Battle for the Holy Grail of Fat Substitutes / Men’s Health
Corollary, Queen Alison Roman on Recipes as Time Capsules / The Slowdown Pod
The £5.30 orange juice that tells the story of why supermarket prices are sky high / BBC
Hence?! Coca-Cola with cane sugar has started to roll out in the US / CNN
And a meme stock-style frenzy has driven up Beyond Meat shares almost 1,300 percent in recent days / Bloomberg
The Natural World
From Celeste: “Learnings of Wordsworth, the Lakes District and the history of growing up with these historic poets and writers.” A Radical Rural Manifesto / The Observer
But like … Is Lombok The New Bali? / BBC
Either way, the Arctic is open for business. While the region is promising, there are many hidden barriers to growth / FT
Perfect timing, then: The Earthshot Prize has announced the 2025 finalists with the aim of discovering and funding innovative solutions to help repair our planet / The Carbon Almanac
[SIC] 368: Session Reindicator
Corollary sources this week: Public Announcement / Politico Future Daily / After School / One Thing / Platformer / Cross Current / Blackbird Spyplane/ Dirt / The Future Party / Five Things on Friday / Delightful / TBPN / Catchdini / The Trend Report / Ben Evans / BRXND.ai / The Material Review / News Items / Morning Brew / Dealbook
I resonate with what you wrote about the inverse relationship between link quantity and the exponential increase in the time required for careful editorial selection, a clasic problem in information sistemes.