In this issue:

PRESENT
-What young people think is cool, statistically-
-Opulent immigrant swag at New York Fashion Week-
-Xbox is not doing too well-

PAST
-His last wish: turn his ashes into a Frisbee-
-The free-form culture of gargoyles-

“Your job is to get your audience to care about your obsessions.”
― Martin Scorcese

New segment!

✦Top Trends✦

Consumer Trends

Research shows that people from ages 13-39 really, really like Nikes.

✦What is cool? Like, statistically.✦

YPulse, who calls themselves the “Gen Z & Millenial intelligence” that analyzes 1,200 top brands has the answer. This week, YPulse released an annual report detailing what brands Zoomers and Millenials consider the coolest.

Here’s the gist of it:

The youth likes Nike, YouTube, and Rihanna. YPulse chief content officer MaryLeigh Bliss told Axios that these brands are winners because they’re kings of innovating, trend-capturing, and inclusion.

Who cares about what’s cool? Does it really have anything to do with a company’s bottom line? As much as you might want to go against the stream of what’s cool - it seems that 69% of 13 to 39-year-olds say that they prefer purchasing from a brand that’s considered “cool”.

✦✦✦

King says:
“Young people would benefit more from an interest in bomb shelters and food supplies rather than Nikes and Tiktok.”

New segment!

✦Poll of the day✦

Vote and see what other readers voted in the next issue.

Fashion

Willy Chavarria’s American Dream (+ the best 4 looks).

Big Brooklyn Mobster Aura; that’s Willy Chavarria’s Fall/Winter 2024.

New York Fashion Week is in full effect, and Chavarria stole the show. Street silhouettes of tracksuits, powerful coats, and Catholic imagery gave out a feeling one could generally describe as “Immigrant Opulence”.

A grand majority of the models who walked the show weren’t career models, they’re actually just friends of Willy.

Here are the best looks:

✦✦✦

King says:
“Honestly? Pretty fucking good.”

Gaming

Xbox? More like Xcuse-me-but-who-even-wants-that?

Times are rough for Xbox. The sales of Xbox Series S and X aren't doing as well as the PS5 + Xbox Game Pass subscriptions are slowing down too.

Rumors are swirling that some Xbox-exclusive games might start appearing on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Games like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and even some Bethesda games could make the jump.

✦The game plan✦

Last year, Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for a massive $68.7 billion in a move that seemed like it was going to exponentially grow Xbox Game Pass. But a headache presides; the growth of Xbox Game Pass has been slower than expected.

✦But…✦

With games going to other consoles, people are wondering what's the point of owning an Xbox. On the other hand, fans are seemingly excited about rumors about a potential handheld device with streaming capabilities.

✦✦✦

King says:
“Gaming is for dweebs.”

✦Quick hits✦

• Gen Z’s work-and-play balance is being challenged, as everything they post online can be used against them by employers. (Business Insider)

• Sex toy retailer Adam and Eve is getting sued. A woman claims the company shared data about her dildos. (404Media)

• Disney’s stake in Fortnite might mean more than some video games. Some are speculating a “Metaversal Theme Park”. (Digiday)

• Supreme previewed their SS24 collection, seemingly with no named creative director after Tremaine Emory’s controversial exit last year. (Hypebeast)

• President Biden launches a TikTok account, haha. His first post: a Superbowl Q&A titled “lol hey guys”. This seems to be an effort to capture the young crowds he has alienated with the Israel-Hamas wars. (Morning Brew)

• Wilson, creator of, well… balls, have announced a new airless 3D-printed basketball. (Hypebeast)

• Seth Rogen, the actor, producer, weed smoker, and ceramics enthusiast, is now selling coffee through Houseplant, his ceramics and lifestyle brand. (High Times)

• Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s collaboration album VULTURES 1 is projected to debut at place no.1 on the charts, despite the controversies surrounding Ye. (Hypebeast)

• Also, Ye sold $19 million worth of clothes from his YEEZY brand in one day, including 260,000 of his new shoe, the YZY Pods."The people have spoken," Ye wrote on his Instagram. (Complex)

• TikTok’s “Creative Assistant” is now integrated with Adobe Express, for free. This add-on can write scripts, design templates, edit, and give insights into what hashtags are trending on TikTok. (The Verge)

PAST

/Product History

How the Frisbee inventor had his ashes turned into a Frisbee.

✦It’s been a thing, since forever✦

Ever since ancient Greece, humans have been throwing flat, round objects. So much so that discus hurling was turned into a sport at the early Greek Olympics.

In the 1800s, during the Industrial Revolution, products like pie tins became popular to toss around, especially among kids. Such was the case for a good 100 years when Fred Morrison was born, in 1920.

✦Obsession into innovation✦

As a kid, Fred loved to throw things like paint can lids and pie tins. He never got tired of the plain old fun of seeing something fly out of your hands and defy gravity.

After a fun Thanksgiving Day game with a popcorn can lid, Fred and his girlfriend Lu started throwing a cake pan around for fun. This sparked a business idea for Fred.

Just like that, "Flyin’ Cake Pans" became a full-on business and even funded his wedding with Lu through this venture.

✦Big distribution, big bucks✦

Soon Fred moved to using plastic for the discs, using names like the "Flyin-Saucer" and “Pluto Platter” to catch onto the UFO craze.

This eventually caught the attention of toy company Wham-O, who renamed it “Frisbee” and significantly boosted its popularity. Today, frisbees are so well-known and common that we don’t even think about it being an invention. Fred’s contributions are seemingly engrained into our cultural reality.

✦Final wish✦

When Fred passed away in February 2010 at 90, he left a quirky wish behind: to be cremated and turned into a Frisbee. His family made it happen, mixing a bit of his ashes into the plastic for a special batch of Frisbees. Today, they’re being kept by family and friends as a way to remember him and the joy he brought to the world.

✦✦✦

King says:
“When I die... you need to find a way to put my ashes in a lame ass email newsletter.”

/Architecture

Look at these weird gargoyles.

In an awesome thread by X-poster Cultural Tutor, you get a walkthrough of some of the scariest, silliest, and nastiest gargoyles around the world.

Cultural Tutor tweets: “There were no regular types, no rules, no conventional motifs; masons seemingly carved whatever they wanted.”

Many of the gargoyles are depicted kidnapping children, dogs, and humans and holding them over the edge.

And some of them are depicted as straight-up shitting upon the heads of passers-by.

Cultural Tutor remarks that these gargoyles are a great example of the Medieval mind; art was to be placed everywhere and anywhere.

The problem is that it creates a vacuum in the understanding of the Medieval times, as many of these gargoyles are placed on churches. Why were people allowed to create silly vulgarities on top of a place of worship?

This is the type of question that has left historians wondering what the cultural zeitgeist of Medieval times was actually like. The problem is that ideas die along with people, and so we’ll probably never know.

✦✦✦

King says:
“I like the one that shits.”