Shakespeare Gets a GTA Makeover, Mexico Says ‘No Más’ to Trade Loopholes

To Grief, or Not to Grief? Soliloquies meet street crime in a version of Hamlet filmed entirely in GTA Online. The boundaries between creator and creation continue to blur as players transform Hamlet into a GTA Online masterwork, manifesting the precise phenomenon we predicted in our zine: The Multiplayer Brand and its core thesis that culture and commerce are becoming participators. This participatory reimagining—where Shakespeare's immortal tragedy finds new life through the collaborative mechanics of Grand Theft Auto's engine—proves that gaming platforms are becoming platforms for collective cultural production.

Our Take: The production, birthed entirely within GTA Online's ecosystem, demonstrates the emerging paradigm of multiplayer creation, where intellectual property becomes malleable in the hands of a digitally native audience. Here, Rockstar Games' sophisticated physics engine and character animation tools serve not just as game mechanics but as a democratized studio system for emergent theatrical expression.

What's particularly fascinating is how this work secured distribution through established channels—a feat that would have been unthinkable in the pre-pandemic era. The legitimization of user-generated content at this scale signals we've crossed a cultural threshold where the boundaries between official IP and community creation have become porous (in a productive way).

De Minimis Maximized. Regulatory checkmate, apparel brands! Mexico's abrupt termination of its Section 321 program reverberates through global commerce, casting long shadows over cross-border retail. The move is Mexico's strategic pivot toward domestic textile manufacturing—a response to years of serving as an unwitting middleman for US-bound shipments.

Party's Over. In a sobering end to a 40-year retail legacy, Party City announces the closure of all locations, catching employees off-guard after management maintained an optimistic facade during recent town halls. The announcement marks another casualty in the ongoing retail apocalypse.

The Department Store Shuffle. Three major retail players make seismic moves at year’s end as Nordstrom agrees to a $6.25 billion buyout from founding family members and Mexican retail giant El Puerto de Liverpool, while Saks and Neiman Marcus confirm internal deal closures at $2.7B backed by Amazon, marking a dramatic realignment in luxury retail's competitive landscape. The acquisition unites Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks OFF 5TH, and Neiman Marcus under Saks Global with a new mandate to unify and streamline all digital services under the leadership of Amazon.

The $26M Olive Oil Gambit. Starbucks' ambitious bet on olive oil-infused beverages faces scrutiny (which we’ve previously characterized as ‘diarrhea coffee’) after a $26 million investment in olive oil inventory surfaced on Reddit in earnings disclosures—some of the key highlights include a 19% indirect ownership stake by Starbucks founder Howard Schulz in Partanna, the olive oil brand partner behind the unsuccessful drink launch.

‍Honey app faces backlash: Popular coupon service Honey faces accusations of undermining user trust through manipulative deals and misleading savings claims, sparking criticism from online shoppers.

Biorhythms Get Smart. Fitness band WHOOP's research team publishes groundbreaking findings in the science journal Nature, which revealed original research with novel biomarkers for monitoring menstrual cycles through wearable technology. This could be a pioneering advancement in applying AI and sensor technology to women's health monitoring.