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OVERWORLD:
-How Hermès forced “The Hermès Game,” then got sued-

MINI-STORIES:
-Martin Scorcese’s video collection-
-EU’s big fight against tech giants-

THE DEPTHS:
-This is the Devil’s Bilbe (Codex Gigas)-

”The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.
— Isaac Asimov

✦Trend Picks✦

Fashion

Hermès gets sued for forcing customers into “The Hermès Game”

Maybe you know this, but you need a lot of saliva and money to kiss ass and spend money at Hermès before they offer you a Birkin bag.

That's upwards of €20,000 before you get to buy a bag which starts at €9,000 and can go up to €30,000.

For this, Hermès is getting sued. Yes, it's happening. Two would-be buyers just sued Hermès for being too exclusive.

They're saying the method is illegal, and they might be right. US antitrust laws actually forbid market power by bundling goods or tying them to other purchases.

(Fun tidbit: Microsoft got shit for the exact type of antitrust violation in the 90s for passively forcing Windows users to use Internet Explorer.)

The lawsuit is a good time to learn a little about “The Hermes Game” - the acquainted Hermès consumer’s name for their vague system.

✦How to play “The Hermès Game”✦

Hermès has a tight grip on distribution. They have to. Demand needs always to outweigh supply to create a true luxury feel. The fact that nobody has a Birkin is why everybody wants a Birkin - and it’s all on purpose. It lets Hermès sell them out. Every. Single. Time.

Hermès vagueness has led to what Birkin wannabes call "The Hermes Game." Basically, it's all about how the fuck you get the Birkin and spend as little as possible. And it really is a game with its own tactics, methods, and changing meta.

The TikTok hashtag #HermesGame has thousands of videos, with some racking up tens of millions of views. And Reddit's r/TheHermesGame has 14K subscribers.

Here’s a quick cheat sheet, if you want to play the game:

✦Winning ain't easy✦

Controlling who gets Birkin bags is a highly successful strategy. Hermès has been shitting all over their competition. As of right now, the whole luxury market is suffering from a post-pandemic shopping slowdown - but not Hermès. Revenue rose 21% year-over-year in 2023, while net profit was up 28%, which is huge.

Now, time will tell if this method actually is illegal. We'll simply have to wait for Hermès to respond. Whether it is or isn't illegal though, it might hurt Hermès. The lawsuit opens the brand and its practices up to further scrutiny.

✦Mini Stories✦

-Martin Scorcese’s on-demand video, before streaming-
-EU’s big fight against tech giants-

💥 Martin Scorsese’s on-demand video, before streaming
There's an old Hollywood myth out there that Martin Scorsese has seen every single movie released from his birth up til 1980. Sounds like absolute BS - but there's proof.

Martin Scorsese was born in 1942. He can't have streamed movies, rather he needs to have had access to every single flick in physical format.

And that’s the thing. His collection is public. So it's real.

In the heart of the University of Colorado Boulder, tucked away in the library's basement, lies a treasure trove unlike any other: over 50 storage boxes filled with VHS tapes, a collection amassed by none other than Martin Scorsese.

Long before YouTube and Netflix, Scorsese began the project of amassing his own private on-demand video library.

In each week’s TV Guide, he would highlight movies and shows that caught his interest. Then, he had full-time staff that would record everything. The tapes were then meticulously organized and filed away for Scorsese’s personal viewing and research. The collection spans decades and include over 4,400 titles.

From European arthouse films, to commercials, to episodes of popular TV shows, this collection helped Scorcese map out his cinematic vision.

The Guardian recently released a splendid deep-dive covering Scorcese's little-known mission as a preservationist. Read it here.

🤮 EU’s big fight against tech giants
Apple can't seem to catch a break. Last week the Department of Justice sued them for anti-trust breaching via their closed ecosystem, now the EU is coming for them.

Long story short: The EU has launched a huge investigation into tech giants Apple, Alphabet, and Meta under the new Digital Markets Act (DMA). They're probing them for potential non-compliance issues. The focus is on Alphabet and Apple's anti-steering rules and Meta's "pay or consent" model.

✦Quick hits✦

OpenAI let a bunch of filmmakers use their text-to-video AI Sora, and the result is sick.

A Dragon Ball theme park is being built in Saudi Arabia on a 500,000 square meter site, featuring seven areas, five rides, over 30 attractions, and a 70-meter tall Shenron.

Canva Inc. acquired Affinity software for "several hundred million pounds," marking its biggest buy to date and intensifying competition with Adobe Inc.

Forrest Gump’s Nike Cortez which Tom Hanks wore for the 1994 movie just sold for $57,500.

Reddit's shares surged 30% post-IPO, closing at $59.80 from a $34 debut, raising $750 million. Pretty darn swell.

Ericsson plans to lay off 1,200 employees in Sweden amid slowed 5G demand, part of a broader effort to cut costs and improve efficiency due to a challenging market in 2024. This follows last year's 8,500 job cuts.

Diddy’s Los Angeles and Miami homes were raided as a part of a sex trafficking investigation led by Homeland Security.

Margiela x Supreme is tapped the fuck in.

You should buy this: Mike Tyson’s beautiful all-black 1994 Range Rover limousine.

THE DEPTHS

History

This is the Devil’s Bible (Codex Gigas)

Here's a quick lesson in Latin for you:

Codex means book. Gigas means giant (or big).

And Codex Gigas, of course, means giant book. Which is the perfect name for this 1-meter-tall, 620-page tome. Because it is indeed, a big book.

✦What even is that?✦

Codex Gigas is the world's largest medieval manuscript and the fact that it even exists is insane. Remember, no printing press - this was all done by hand! It's actually believed to be the work of a single monk in 13th-century Bohemia (now Czechia).

✦Content creator of the century✦

Please be inspired by this monk. He hand-lettered each page in a labor that spanned somewhere between 20 to 30 years.

The big book encompasses a wide range of texts including the Old and New Testaments, exorcism rituals, grammar guidelines, a calendar, and medical treatises.

(Below is an image of “The Heavenly City.” Basically, heaven as the monk imagined it.)

The sickest part: This thing is known as "The Devil’s Bible"... because it has a huge full-page drawn picture of the red fucker himself. This unusual inclusion has fueled endless speculation and fascination as to why the monk went to such lengths to paint the Devil.

Originally housed in a Benedictine monastery, the Codex was taken to Stockholm in the late 16th century as war loot. Today, it is carefully preserved in the National Library of Sweden, shielded from light to prevent damage.

Those unable to view the manuscript in person can explore a digitized version online. Here's a link.