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Great Artists Steal
Welcome to Wednesday, futurists. It’s jam-packed today. Here are our top stories from the long weekend:
Mr. Beast, hold the Burger. Jimmy’s done it again; lines wrapped around the American Dream Mall this weekend as Mr. Beast Burger opened its first physical location.
- While they served a Whoppering 5,500 burgers, there were lines in excess of 10,000 desperate fans waiting to get on his Youtube channel
- Mr. Beast claims a “World Record” was broken for the number of burgers sold in a single location in a single day
- Guinness started Twitter beef asking for proof, Mr. Beast has yet to respond
Hero Cosmetics Sells to Church and Dwight for $635M smackers, or roughly 192 million pimple patches
- We can’t find a blemish in this deal, especially since we predicted it in our 2022 predictions episode of the podcast
Celebrands are so hot right now. The D’Amelios announced a $6M raise and two forthcoming brands, Kourtney files trademarks for a new brand, Lemme, which looks to enter the supplement space; while sister Kim announces a new PE firm.
Finally, every Friday we talk about Science, Tech, and Culture on our Future Fridays Twitter Space, a live event in partnership with Rhian Beutler, founder of Govalo! Set a reminder for this week’s Space where we’ll cover anti-aging tech, NASA playing billiards with asteroids, and robot zombie roaches (and catch last Friday’s here)!
— Phillip
A Bug’s Life A group of scientists has attached a chip to the nervous system of cockroaches which enables them to be remote controlled. These remote control bugs could be used in search and rescue operations, or to play pranks on your kid sister.
More Sights & Sounds. GM is offering to buy out Buick dealers that aren’t wanting to invest in Electric Vehicles. Amazon’s sales growth is slowing and the company is abandoning plans for future facilities as well as existing ones. Bed Bath & Beyond’s CFO has passed away in a tragic event. CommerceHub is acquiring ChannelAdvisor for $23.10 a share. Pinterest may be trying to win over Gen Z with its invite-only app, Shuffles. “Peloton’s usage is declining” as reported by Wifi software maker Plume, but THE REAL STORY IS THAT WE’RE BEING SPIED ON. Restoration Hardware’s CEO, Gary Friedman, who is hellbent on calling it “RH”, is pursuing the brand’s first lodging concept.
Great Artists Steal Ideas. CJ Hendry, the pre-eminent modern realism artist, has often been described as an “omnichannel auteur”, creating physical activations and retail experiences around her artwork. “Copyright Infringement 5.0” is a new project selling three artworks, in lots: 999 prints, and 1 original, being shipped at random.
- Our Take: The project follows a similar stunt by MSCHF mixing up pencil drawings by Andy Warhol with fakes, rendering the originals worthless. CJ’s original “Copyright Infringement” project took place in 2021 when she received a cease and desist from the Basquiat estate to destroy art that featured the artist’s likeness. Hendry spray painted over the painting and sold it via NFT auction at SuperRare.
It’s unclear if Hendry’s audience understands the meta-commentary on MSCHF’s prior art, or if they see this as some sort of lottery. Prints listed on the site are unpriced, with a 10-day countdown timer.
Can-Do Attitude. Canned foods are getting a makeover if Heyday Canning Co. has anything to say about it. The company, founded by former Cliff Bar and Sweet Earth execs, plans to disrupt the industry with thoughtful flavors that will appeal to younger generations.
The RARE Triple Collab. Evil Genius has paired up with Auntie Anne’s to make a Mean Girls-inspired pretzel beer for Oktoberfest. The mashup drink is called “Is Butter a Carb?” But, is it though?
The Struggle Beyond the Numbers. Reports show that U.S. workforce numbers are nearly back to what they were pre-pandemic, but real-life experience is showing that the numbers represent a quickly-hired and largely unseasoned workforce. The current workforce is less efficient and less knowledgeable with veteran employees retired and noticeably gone, and companies are struggling to keep up with the number of training workers need.
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