WELCOME TO THE·BY·PRODUCT. A WEEKLY RECAP OF WHAT IS GOING DOWN & WHAT IS COMING UP ON THE INTERNET. OBVIOUSLY WE WILL TOUCH ON THE CRASH OF THE SILICON VALLEY BANK, AND THE WHOLE OSCARS THING, BUT THERE ARE A FEW ORE THINGS WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT.
THE HEADLINES ARE DROPPING AROUND PEAK VINTAGE, WHICH FOR ME WAS ALMOST A YEAR AGO, BUT BEING AHEAD OF THE CURVE HAS BLINDSPOTS I GUESS. ALSO AS A LONG TIME FAN OF MISTER TOM SACHS, SOME HEARTBREAKING NEWS DROPPED AROUND HIS STUDIO PRACTICES. FINALLY, TO ROUND IT OFF WE HAVE THE OBLIGATORY SVB, OSCARS, AND AI LINKS THAT HAVE BEEN FLOATING AROUND THE WEB THE PAST FEW DAYS. ENJOY
THIS WEEK’S HOT TAKE
SAME AS IT EVER WAS.
THE BANK THAT TANKED
Who killed SVB? That giant slurping sound on Friday was Silicon Valley Bank imploding. America’s 16th-largest bank had some $175 billion in deposits and disappeared by breakfast. It wouldn’t have happened if not for management mistakes. This was a 21st-century bank run—customers tried to withdraw about $42 billion, a quarter of all deposits. But what triggered the collapse? Also, this. And this. / Via WSJ Opinion
THE CHAMPAGNE CARPET
You can tell just how in need of modernization the Oscars have been when the color of the arrivals carpet is a story.
How long has it been that other “red” carpets haven’t been red, even though everyone calls them that anyway? Probably since the mid-2010s when the idea of personal Instagram aesthetics gripped the culture and red carpet event planners realized, hey, photo backdrops kinda matter! / Via BackRow
ONLY WHEN I’M DRUNK
Alcohol hits us all differently. Some people get silly. Others get angry or overly affectionate. And some people pull out their credit cards and start buying things they probably don’t need. In fact, one in six Americans shops while under the influence, according to a new study from personal finance website Finder. And last year, an estimated 45 million people ran up some $14 billion in drunk purchases. / Via FastCo
WHAT’S OLD IS NEW (AGAIN)
From Lauryn Hill and Tupac to Oasis and Grateful Dead, the influence ‘90s music has had across the world since its inception has been undeniable.
While music has travelled far and wide and remains on millions of playlists across modern-day streaming platforms, its history is still accessible in one of its purest and most nostalgic forms: vintage T-shirts.
Though the industry is now highly saturated and the legitimacy of styles is harder to discover than ever, there’s a gigantic pool of consumers who are still continuing to build their collections every day – and the same goes for those supplying them. That’s why 33-year-old Ladi Kazeem, owner and founder of the Vault MCR has garnered a cult and loyal following after over a decade of buying and selling your favorite band merch. / Via Hypebeast
ARTIFICIAL BORDERS
Despite some high-profile cautionary tales, publishers have been announcing experiments with generative AI — many using OpenAI’s ChatGPT or similar tech — left and right.
But Wired is the first news outlet I’ve seen publish an official AI policy that spells out how the publication plans to use the technology.
The ground rules, published by global editorial director Gideon Lichfield last week, lead off with a set of promises about what the newsroom won’t be doing. / Via Neiman Labs
I SEE DEAD PEOPLE
A Face Recognition Site Crawled the Web for Dead People’s Photos PimEyes appears to have scraped a major ancestry website for pics, without permission. Experts fear the images could be used to identify living relatives.
Finding out Taylor Swift was her 11th cousin twice-removed wasn’t even the most shocking discovery Cher Scarlett made while exploring her family history. “There’s a lot of stuff in my family that’s weird and strange that we wouldn’t know without Ancestry,” says Scarlett, a software engineer and writer based in Kirkland, Washington. “I didn’t even know who my mum’s paternal grandparents were.”
NOT FOR EVERYONE
“The Restaurant” is one of my favorite films that DIS puts out. It is not for everyone. It is certainly not for the “Epicurious” which is not even a real word More on DIS here. Also your CEO will not get this. But that is probably a good thing. / Via DIS
NOT FOR EVERYONE (EXCEPT NYC)
Have you ever woken up and thought, “Gosh, I’d love to eat at a second-best restaurant today?” Of course you haven’t. Whether you’ve lived here your entire life or are visiting for the first time, it’s human nature to want to experience the best of the best. And that’s exactly why The Infatuation wrote this guide / Via The Infatuation
100 QUESTIONS
One of my favorite strategy people, Alex has had this public facing Google Doc for quite sometime. Ask yourself these 100 questions on a weekly basis. You can also subscriber to his substack here. Alex also makes some sick art to boot. / Via Google Docs.
DEATH TO THE KARDASHIANS
It's nearly impossible to imagine pop culture without the Kardashians. The 24-hour news cycle is perpetually fueled by an endless stream of reporting on, reacting to, reveling in, or reviling Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall, and Kylie, whether they're actually doing something or doing quite literally nothing at all. / Via HighSnobiety
NO IS BETTER THAN YES
“Risk is in the eye of the beholder,” said Mischief Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Greg Hahn. “What I feel is risky is to spend a lot of money on a piece of advertising that nobody cares about or notices.” #RESPECT to Greg & Squad. / Via AdAge
CULT OF PERSONALITY
Tom Sachs, a sculptor revered among the Hypebeast crowd in part because of his 11-year collaboration with Nike, likes to call his studio part of his art practice. Working there could often be scary. / Via Curbed