September 11, 2023
what we've been watching...
empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines
Business
The Era of Swift: You may have heard that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has been breaking box office records — the tour kicked off in March, broke Ticketmaster, grossed a projected $2.2BN in North American ticket sales, should generate close to $5BN in consumer spending in the US alone, and has impacted every local economy it charges through. However, Swift has made another novel business decision: she announced that she partnered with AMC Theaters to bring her tour to movie theaters in October (breaking the record for single-day advance ticket sales at $26M). What was unique about the deal was that Swift and her team bypassed the Studios, and negotiated directly with Swift’s father and AMC’s CEO. According to Puck News, “43% of the gross will remain with theaters, while the remaining 57% will be shared (in an undetermined split) by the Swifts and AMC.” After 13 weeks, the Swifts are free to put the film up on streaming services. The Swifts decided to launch the film when Taylormania was at an all-time high and before the start of her European tour. One more blow to the Studios and one more savior (post-Barbie) for the theaters.
Retaliatory Ban: The government is ordering officials not to use foreign-branded devices for work or bring them into the office. Sound familiar? No, it isn’t the US government this time, but the Chinese government is banning iPhones for official use. “Apple dominates the high-end smartphone market in the country and counts China as one of its biggest markets, relying on it for about 19% of its overall revenue.” Following the ban, Apple lost over $190BN in market cap, although analysts believe it should only affect revenue by 4%.
Exotic Car Sharing: Next time you are in Los Angeles (and soon Scottsdale, Arizona), forget your airport car rental and head over to Drive LA: an exotic car-sharing platform. Drive LA hosts super cars and some of the most luxurious, exotic cars around, and they are often the inactive fleet of athletes and celebrities. Athletes, which often have a reputation for squandering their wealth, are now using their assets to make income while they are not around. Think of it like Airbnb for your Rolls Royce, although we can’t fathom the cost of the clean-up fee.
Human Trafficking: Cuba has disrupted a human trafficking ring that had been recruiting Cuban citizens to fight for Russia against Ukraine. 17 have been arrested, and family members of some of the Cuban recruits say they were coerced and promised construction jobs. Russia and Cuba are traditionally close political allies, so the fact that Cuba would openly disclose the news was unexpected.
Technology
Virtual Influence: Noonoouri, the virtual influencer, who already had a modeling contract with IMG, has now become the first AI-generated pop-star to sign with a record label, Warner Music. Noonoouri first hit the scene in 2018, and has had modeling gigs for Balenciaga, Dior, Valentino, to name a few, and even announced her recording contract wearing Versace. (If you scroll through her Instagram page, she has over 400k followers, and has done collaborations with IRL fitness influencers, Heidi Klum, Kim Kardashian, and she cares about the environment.) It is estimated that Noonoouri earns about $2.6M annually from her posts. While the humans (musicians and songwriters) who created her voice and music will get the royalties from her first single, details of the record deal have not been made public.
Golden Orb: Scientists have found a “mysterious golden orb” at the bottom of the seafloor off the coast of Alaska. The scientist used a remote arm to “tickle” the object and discovered that it was “skin-like,” and will be completing DNA testing to determine whether it is a sponge or an egg or an alien that we just woke up by accident.
Gaming your Sleep: As we’ve mentioned many times, we aren’t gamers, but we’ve been known to try out health wearables to measure our sleep or steps. But we are beyond confused by the popularity Pokémon Sleep. Yes, Pokémon released its most boring game yet, and it has reached over 10M downloads worldwide. The gameplay is explained as “just place your smartphone by your pillow, then go to sleep.” You then wake up to discover your sleep style and points related to the time you stayed in bed. We’d think the FOMO of waking up to see what prizes you might have won or levels you’ve conquered would give you sleep anxiety, but then again, we prefer listening to Idris Elba in the Calm App.
Catch a New Comet: Comet Nishimura was just discovered earlier this month by an amateur astronomer, and if you wake up in the pre-dawn hours, you too can get a view of this photogenic visitor. The comet should be on view for the next week or so, or just have a look at these amazing photos.
Culture
The Great Conspiracy: There used to be old folklore (or maybe it was from National Treasure) that when Presidents were elected they finally got to ask about any of the great US secrets that interested them: what is actually at Area 51? who shot JR? what’s under Mount Rushmore? and was JFK shot by a lone gunman in the Texas Book Depository? Well, now even though most of don’t get to sit behind the Resolute Desk, get ready to cross one conspiracy off the list (or maybe add more questions to it). Ex-Secret Service agent Paul Landis, who was standing on the running board of JFK’s motorcade car, has broken his silence and is telling a different story than he did 60 years ago. Mr. Landis now states that he is the one who found the “magic bullet” (thought to have killed the President and injured the Governor of Texas) and placed it on the stretcher near the President, since there was no one “there to secure the scene.” We’re not one for conspiracies, so we’ll wait for Oliver Stone or Stephen King to rewrite their classics.
Street Maps: Were you one of the multitudes who engaged in revenge travel to Europe this Summer, or perhaps you live in Europe and are looking to learn more about your city streets? Mapping Diversity is a platform that researched (and mapped) the names of over 145k streets in 30 major European cities, discovering that over 90% of those named after individuals were dedicated to white men. The platform lets you pick a city and discover how its streets were named.
The Poetry of Nature: If you plan on visiting the National Parks this year, be on the look out for a new initiative entitled “You Are Here: Poetry in Parks.” The initiative is a collaboration between the National Park Service, and the Poetry Society of America, and it will feature site-specific poetry installations in seven national parks. So don’t forget your reading glasses when you set out on your next hike.
The Great Shortcut: Two suspects in China were detained for creating a shortcut through the Great Wall of China. The two used an excavator to enlarge an already crumbling section of the Wall, so that they wouldn’t have to make the trek around it for a construction project. Unfortunately, the team caused “irreversible damage to the integrity” of the section of the Wall, which dates back to the Ming dynasty, 1368-1644.
Chicago Prankster: A local prankster has struck again, placing a sign at Chicago’s Loyola Beach that read “Nude Beach” over the Labor Day holiday. The sign looked authentic as it contained the official Chicago Park District seal, and unfortunately, the sign had been removed by authorities by Monday afternoon. During the pandemic, a prankster was active in the area placing fake official-looking public notices, but was never caught. We appreciate the prankster’s sense of humor, and luckily we didn’t have to witness any of the unsuspecting nudes.
Saucy Latte: China’s Luckin Coffee is jumping in on the day drinking trend by partnering with Moutai to create an alcoholic latte. Moutai is the maker of China’s national liquor baijiu which is often called firewater, contains 53% alcohol, and has subtle notes of soy sauce (hence the “sauce flavored latte”). Don’t worry, the latte comes with a dollop of whip cream to disguise the senses.
Saucy Noodles: Instant Ramen is the “breakfast of champions” for most college students or anyone on a time and pocketbook budget. Nissin, the maker of Cup Noodle, definitely knows its audience: it is releasing a caffeinated version of the staple specifically designed for gamers (sadly only in Japan). The Gaming Energy Garlic & Black Pepper Yakisoba contains a mystery meat which will improve a “gamer’s strength in terms of attack power, defense power, resilience, and movement speed within a game.” Nissin has even been thoughtful enough to make the Cup Noodle a sauce-based dish, rather than a broth, so that you don’t have to worry about spilling soup on your gaming set-up. Eat up and play on!
— Lauren Eve Cantor
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