[SIC] 384: Slight Delight

Vol. 8, No. 24. [SIC] Talks with writer Tyler Watamanuk. HIP REPLACEMENT with artist Steven Erazo. Announcing (?!) [SIC] Classifieds. And all the liiiiiiiinks.

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

[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 their subscriptions as research in marketing, advertising, entertainment + tech. You can too.[SIC] prospers when you share it, so please do.

New original art and animation each issue is made by Gordon Hull. Special thanks this week for ideas: Piers Fawkes, Iolanda Carvalho and Celeste Blewitt. Comments, questions and contributions are invited from everyone.

This digest was sent free on 2/11/26 to 8243 subscribers. Original source is cited. Corollary sources are listed at the end of each digest.

I’m Ben Dietz, advisor-for-hire to brands, publishers and agencies, interviewer, moderator and occasionally event/exhibition producer. Give a shout: @dietznutz on socials.

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Hi all,

I’m fortunate to have a network of friends, former colleagues and, frankly, [SIC] subscribers who are in positions to be seeking and hiring people right now, which given the states of upheaval we’re all experiencing, is rare.

The challenge for me is to try and keep top-of-mind the opportunities I’m asked “do you know anyone who…” about, and the queries of “I want to make a move, got any ideas?” It’s a good problem to have but I don’t enjoy feeling like I’m dropping the ball if I don’t have perfect answers immediately at hand. Matchmaking is not my job, but getting the right people together is an accidental forte.

Anyway, it’s not new news but as New York “revives classified ads with a modern twist” and our classified in Deez Links continues to drive new subscribers to the the HIP REPLACEMENT Substack, it occurred to me that maybe a [SIC] classified section might be useful to people.

It’d certainly be useful to me, as a place for these matchmaking link-ups I’m frequently asked for, and pointing you to upcoming events like StratMonday’s- Camp Thrive day that I’ll be presenting at in a few weeks,

So - question for you. [SIC] Classified section? Or nah? Here’s a poll:

LMK what you think. I’ll have a plan (or a demurral) next week.

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[SIC] Talks 117: Tyler Watamanuk

Per Perplexity, Tyler “is a fashion and culture writer best known for his 2025 book” Bigger Than Fashion: How Streetwear Conquered Culture, which Tyler was nice enough to arrange an advance copy of for me. But I first got to know his name circa the acquisition of his newsletter Sitting Pretty by [SIC] homie Daisy Alioto’s Dirt, an early indicator of how newsletters will end up forming the backbone of the next great media companies. Sitting Pretty was rebranded as Prune and continues to be excellent - and just this week announced it’s now selling Prune-sourced design in a further brand expansion play. Among the (many) things we talked about:

• Chloe and Anna sat together for an interview with the New York Times about Chloe’s succession / NYT

• How generative AI tools actually increase workloads / HBR

• Maison Margiela opensourced their archives / Dropbox

• So Long to Cheap Books You Could Fit in Your Pocket / NYT

• Happy Doll Series / Goodreads

Have a Listen Here:

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HIP REPLACEMENT EP.44 Steven Erazo

The designer and artist joins us to discuss the Super Bowl (Steven says Canada won), coastal art culture differences, and the degrees with which we are close to and far from emerging culture. There’s also the impact of digital consumption on art and identity, and the evolving payscape of dating apps, Grindr in particular. We touch on Good Bunny and the nuances of Latino identity in the context of his halftime show (none of us loved it, objectively) and of course the generational differences in cultural consumption. Kyle’s reflection is here at the HIP REPLACEMENT newsletter.

Or, listen here:

And now… liiiiiiiinks.

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The Current Moment

• The struggle to articulate the present / Dirt

• Apropos of that: Keith McNally’s “Words to Use Sparingly (Or Never At All)” / IG

• More abstinence, from Celeste: Is Digital Detoxing Being Performatively Offline? / ICYMI Podcast

• Apropos?: The Rise of Punk Globalism. Punk isn’t “dead,” but it’s changing to reflect a discontent unique to the 2020s / The Chow

• Because? We’re In the Middle of The Great Flattening. Creating can be hard, but it shouldn’t feel impossible / The Melt

• Corollary: Dual Intent. An incomplete and inconclusive personal immigration history, belonging to someone who is totally not me / Transits

• Related: How America Got So Sick / The Atlantic

• Also ‘sick’: Meet Clavicular, the Looksmaxxing, Drugged-up Streamer Taking Over the Internet. He lives in a roided-out hell of his own devising. Now we’re stuck in it with him / The Bulwark

• Case in point: Clavicular getting “Frame Mogged” by a Frat Guy has turned into the latest copypasta meme / Daily Dot

• Also memeworthy: Cardi B Is Cautionary Tale for Prediction Markets / Front Office Sports

• On the subject of predictions: Here’s Where ICE is Going Next. ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign / Wired

• Drug cartels are increasingly turning to crypto to move and hide their profits, building a fast-growing digital money-laundering network / Bloomberg

• Meanwhile Annual tuition at many New York private schools will surpass $70,000 for the upcoming school year, more than many elite colleges / Bloomberg

• Which dovetails kind of with Simple Changes That Supercharge Learning. Everything [David Epstein] knows about desirable difficulties / Range Widely

• Corollary: How Liminalism Became the Defining Aesthetic of Our Time / Hyperallergic

• Also desirable, difficult: Multiple Olympic medals broke within hours at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, prompting organizers to investigate the quality control issues / AP

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Futures

• Back to betting: The Prediction Singularity Is Upon Us. Even superforecasters are guessing that they’ll soon be obsolete / The Atlantic

• Also approaching obselesence: The infinite-scroll childhood may be coming to an end / Platformer

• But is there A ‘Goldilocks’ Effect for Online Teens? Moderate Social Media Users Fare Better Than Abstainers or Heavy Users / Reason

• And if so, What do chatbots think? On Anthropic’s quest to understand Claude / The New Yorker

• Also trying to understand: A Woman Enters the Gooniverse: the future of porn at the AVN expo / Playboy

• Corollary: Why there’s a “huge vibe divergence” between tech and finance on AI: Tech evangelists are hailing a Claude-fueled seismic shift in computer-based work. Investors are, by and large, selling AI stocks / Sherwood

• Hence?! Why All the CEOs Stopped Talking About AI. It’s not a good sign / The Atlantic

• Because?! Faster, Cheaper, Better — Pick One. Pick Faster. Seedance 2.0 and Kling 3.0 launched days apart—delivering faster and better generative AI video. Hollywood is focused on cheaper / The Medium

• Related somehow: Why AI chatbots’ financial advice shouldn’t be trusted / WSJ

• But, like, These A.I. Dreamers Don’t Fit the Stereotype / NY Times

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Launches

• Google’s parent company is going on a borrowing spree to fund its AI ambitions — including a rare 100-year bond / Semafor

• Hyundai Artlab has announced the fourth year of the Artlab Editorial Fellowship Open Call for 2026 / Artlab.Hyundai

• High Maintenance creator Ben Sinclair’s Substack launch led to an Ezra Marcus profile / NY Mag

• Ben was on the “Wear Many Hats” pod this week too / Spotify

• Also has many hats: Palmer Luckey’s Erebor Bank has received a full banking charter from the Treasury Department / The Information

• Vibewriter is an AI writing companion / Vibewriter

• The new, free issue of Trade Magazine, an oversized newsprint capturing creative New Yorkers serving looks and hand-writing Q&As / IG

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Platforms

• Kalshi and Polymarket are increasingly luring pro gamblers / Bloomberg

• Why Meta thinks wearables, not phones, are the next great interface / The Drum

• But….Ring’s Lost Dog Finder Is a Potential Civil Liberties Nightmare / Reason

• More nightmares: Etsy witches say spell casting is no longer welcome on the Platform / Vice

• YouTubers aren’t relying on ad revenue anymore — diversifying and in some cases, their side businesses are growing faster than their channels / TechCrunch

• Ping! The WhatsApps that should have been an email. If your instant message requires immediate attention, fine. But many don’t / FT

• To that end, This meeting could have been an email / Quartz

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Artistics & Stylistics

• Prada’s $170 spoon broke China’s luxury internet / Jing Daily

• [SIC] mighta had a role in this… Starbucks will be “providing financial support” for a group of designers including Collina Strada and Eckhaus Latta/ WWD

• Speaking of alternatives: Alternative Sources for “Interiors Photography”, whence u can derive some important ideas about décor / FOR-SCALE

• Five Photos Five Stories With Daniel Arnold / Monster Children

• And 10 major photography shows you can’t miss in 2026 / Dazed

• Also ‘can’t miss’: How Fashion Is Saving Hollywood. Love or hate the fashion, the ‘Wuthering Heights’ red carpet tour has been an undeniable marketing success / Back Row

• From Celeste: It Immerses you In Fantasy. Why Bridgerton Tourism Is Booming / BBC

• Also from Celeste: Emerald Fennell on “Ruthie’s Table 4” / Ruthie’s Table 4 Pod

• Shanzhai Lyric: Endless Garment. Reclaiming the Language of Counterfeit T-Shirts at Pioneer Works; looks rad / Pioneer Works

• Want a Masterclass in How Not to Work With Artists? Ask Google / Artnet

• More ‘masterclass’ from [SIC] Talks alum Brynn Wallner: 14 watches for February 14. A heart-shaped Valentine’s Day gift guide / Dimepiece

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Entertainments

• Listening to Joe Rogan. David Remnick on the podcaster and his politics / The New Yorker

• Apropos: Finding the soul of slop / The Unskippables

• Corollary? xaviersobased keeps it going. The 22-year-old built a cult fandom around his weird, uninhibited take on SoundCloud rap. His next moves are aimed beyond the underground / The Fader

• Related: ESSDEEKID’s NYC Debut Reviewed/ Rolling Stone

• More ‘reviews’: Karley Sciortino’s Love/Hate List / Dream Baby Press

• And The Truth Behind Bianca Censori / Vanity Fair

• Also ‘the truth’: Walt Disney’s 1957 drawing of his company’s corporate strategy / Insider

• More diagrams: The State of Skate Studies 2025. Professor Brian Glenney’s annual compendium catalogues and analyzes 141 scholarly skateboarding-related books and papers published last year/ Simple Magic

• Sounds like a dissertation title: On chance encounters with Gaspar Noë, entering altered states and beautifully curated soundscapes. In Conversation with Anthony Di Mieri, Co-Founder and EP of Melted Solids / Thought Enthusiast

• Less solid: Chappell Roan Leaves Wasserman / Lefsetz

• Elsewhere: Lucie Fink on Dealing with trolls and viral growth / The Creator Spotlight

• Paramount plans to make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles its next multimedia franchise, with new movies, a YouTube show, a Mattel toy line, and even restaurants / Hollywood Reporter

• Totally unrelated: ​Something for little gay criminals, apparently / A24

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Media & Marketing

• Media Companies Should Be Profitable. The news business is a business / Harry Cheadle

• A data-rich view of how (and what) local news is working on Substack / Project C

• 404 Media’s ad, broadcast exclusively in the hot Ottumwa , Iowa market / 404

• ICE activity is pushing readers to nonprofit news sites that cover immigrant communities / Nieman Lab

• While The Athletic invests in live blogs and video in part to insulate sports coverage from AI scraping / Digiday

• Ad agencies don’t have an AI problem. They have a pricing problem / The Drum

• From Piers: Delta ‘Comfort Basic’ Fares Are So Bad, They’re Designed for You NOT to Buy Them / View From The Wing

• Who Loves Turbulence, Airplane Food and the Middle Seat? They Do. / NYT

• Vogue is suing Dogue / Airmail

• From Iolanda: Beauty on Reddit and the new Dove initiative - r/eal reviews [Dove lets Redditors do the talking in transparency-focused campaign] / Marketing Dive

• Nike creates All Conditions Express train to mark relaunch of ACG brand at Milano Cortina Olympics game / Dezeen

• And Candle Media sells ATTN: back to its co-founders / ATTN

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Foods and Drinks

• Boy Kibble Has Arrived / NYT

• But, related: If Superfoods are so healthy, why isn’t everyone... super healthy? / Super Health

• Because?! Americans are increasingly giving themselves a surprising little treat these days — having dinner out for one / Axios

• More ‘treats’: Where to find the best martinis with fries combos in NYC / Gothamist

• Meantime, Olympians Love Pasta. They’re in the Right Place. Carbo-loading in Italy / NYT

• Is the Era of Small Plates finally over? / House & Garden

• Because? The $20 Side Dish is Here / Grub Street

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The Natural World

• From Celeste “Solstice and Woo:” Facebook Druids Herald The Spring / New Statesman

• To say nothing of The Perks of Being a Mole Rat / Works in Progress

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[SIC] 384: Slight Delight

Corollary Sources This Week: Public Announcement / After School / Roca News / Gothamist / Elevator / The Future Party / Dealbook / Delightful / Platformer / Back Row / Politico Digital Future Daily / Dirt / Today in Tabs / Ritzholtz / Feed Me