time goes by.... so slowly

Everything turns, rotates, spins, circles, loops, pulsates, resonates and repeats.

Author

Micael Balioni
May 16, 2024

THE MUSTS

 

Business

the ending cycle of creation and destruction

MET Gala Economics

If the Oscars is the red carpet for movies and the Grammys for music... the Met Gala is the fashion industry's equivalent. Here, I am not going to give my opinions on looks (which you can text me anytime to discuss it), but rather analyze the figures behind one of the most glamorous events in the world, which took place last week.

The Met Gala is a charity fundraising event produced by Vogue's editor-in-chief, the mighty Anna Wintour. Tickets this year range from $75k per person or $350k for a table - but even if you have the money, you still need an invitation from Anna, who also approves 80% of the dresses.

Last year, the cost of production was U$6m and the proceeds U$22m. This year's event reported raising U$26m in donations.

But the bulk of the capital isn't in tickets and donations. It's in the exhibition. In just 48 hours, the Met Gala generated U$995m in media impact value (MIV), in a total of 115,919 airings, according to Launchmetrics. The five highlights of the year were:

  • Chanel: U$ 110.7 million in MIV

  • Fendi: U$32 million

  • Valentino: U$24 million

  • Gucci: $20 million

  • Schiaparelli: $16 million

In addition, the official sponsors were TikTok, Loewe (a Spanish luxury brand) and Condé Nast. In short, the rich and famous get free publicity, the fashion brands get media and the museum/institute gets more resources. It is, after all, a win win situation for everybody.

Ps: This year’s theme was “The Gardens of Time” inspired in J.G Ballard’s 1962 short story, one of my favorite themes of recent years.

If you're curious to see this year's dresses, here's the full list.

What else in on

  • Free Market for whom? Google paid $20 billion - no less than 36% of its revenue - to remain the default search engine for Apple devices on Safari (the Apple browser) until 2022. In return, Apple makes 17% of its operating income from the deal.

  • 3 years later... GameStop skyrockets 75% after trader who influenced the 2021 rise returns to post on X. The jump, however, had nothing to do with the ailing company's fundamentals; but rather with a meme that the trader, nicknamed Roaring Kitty, shared on the platform.

  • AI vs. Traditional Media: The NY Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for using its content as part of the training data behind ChatGPT. While the news industry has been floundering ever since the internet really gained traction, AI startups are reaching valuations of hundreds of billions using the content produced by media outlets as the raw material for their LLMs.

World

¿quién es ese niño del que todo el mundo habla?

The reefs are about to be whiter than ever

Today in bad news, scientists are metaphorically shaking world leaders by the lapels over alarming new evidence of a global coral reef bleaching event that threatens to be the worst in history.

Over the past year, ocean temperatures have gotten high enough to cause coral bleaching at more than 54% of the reefs on Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That portion has been growing by ~1% per week, putting marine wildlife and coastal economies at risk of losing a critical habitat that shelters 25% of ocean life and generates ~$2.7 trillion each year by supporting tourism, storm surge protection, and fisheries, according to the International Coral Reef Initiative.

Time is of the essence. Bleached coral is starving and can only survive warm temperatures for one or two months. Scientists say it’s too late for small-scale restoration work—a global crackdown on greenhouse gas emissions is the only way to save some of the reefs.

This is the fourth mass bleaching in 26 years. All of them have coincided with El Niño, which compounded climate change over the past year to send ocean temperatures to record highs.

Other warnings:

More than 1.4 million people have been affected by the rains in Brazil. There have been 100 deaths, 372 injured and 128 missing. Around 80% of the cities of the state were affected. If you want and you can donate to help the people of Rio Grande do Sul, The Luz Alliance Fund, created by Gisele Bündchen in partnership with BrazilFoundation, is receiving donations to directly support Rio Grande do Sul flood victims.

 

Culture & Life

it’s the best of both worlds

New Streaming feature? Cable TV

 

If you missed flipping through channels on the remote control almost endlessly and finding out what's on TV as you go, your problems are over - again. Disney+ is bringing live channels to streaming.

Let’s remember that it was in the cable era that Disney built much of its empire. But when it was threatened by streaming, it wasn't left behind either. It currently owns Disney+, Star+, ESPN+, Hulu and Hotstar.

  • If for the user the advantage is not having to spend hours on the homepage searching for a movie/series, for the provider the advantage is being able to highlight less watched titles in the catalog, direct the user's attention to specific content and, of course, create a 24/7 ad paradise.

Zoom out: Even with revenues growing to over US$ 70 billion, streaming services are still struggling to make a profit. Last year, among the world's major services, only Netflix turned a profit.

What else is on:

EDITOR’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Documentary

how much free will we actually have?

Three Identical Strangers by Tim Wardle: Imagine you discover one day that you have a twin brother that you never knew about, and then a few days later you both discover there is actually a third one.

This documentary talks about a set of identical triplet brothers adopted as infants by separate families. It recounts how the triplet brothers discovered one another by chance in New York in 1980 at age 19, and their eventual discovery that their adoption had been part of an undisclosed scientific "nature versus nurture" study of the development of genetically identical siblings raised in differing socioeconomic circumstances.

Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the relative influence on human beings of their genetic inheritance (nature) and the environmental conditions of their development (nurture).

With all three of them wresting in high school, having the same taste in food, and even smoking the same brand of cigarettes, the documentary puts into question how much of our choices are really derived from free will or how much is actually just genetics. It makes one wonder. (Rating 7/10)

Music

I don’t think you know como me llaman a mi

Funk Generation by Anitta: First, she took over Brazil. Now, she is ready to take over the world. The trilingual Brazilian pop star and my personal friend Anitta has returned with a new album, the club-to-bedroom ready “Funk Generation.”

This is an infectious collection of dance songs celebrating a once maligned genre that also manages to experiment beyond its confines. Like hip-hop and reggaetón before it, funk in Brazil has been stigmatized for its lyrics about everyday realities: sex, violence, drugs. But music is storytelling, rhythms can bring about change, and Anitta’s new album makes it clear.

  • There are no attempts at mimicking mainstream pop music trends here, rather, her pop sensibilities arise only where they can amplify the funk she’s centered her life around.

This is a cohesive album, with an identity and concept, going back to the baile-funk era in its origins, but adapting the sound for an audience that goes beyond the limits of national territory. She manages to highlight the musical genre and take it to a new level, the result being a sound that should dictate the future of funk and the reach of the rhythm worldwide. By far Anitta's most ambitious work, but also the best of her career.

For those that like Bad Gyal; Karol G; J Balvin; Becky G; (Rating 9/10)

WHAT ABOUT ME?

Micael

time for a short story

Hi everyone,

A lot has happened during the past few weeks and I am ready excited to share it with you—just not yet. I need some more time to process and reflect on everything and rushing to write about it now wouldn't do justice to my experiences or to you, my readers. So, today's "What about me" section will take a different turn. I want to share a story with you.

  • Do you recall the second edition of tanamesa, where I shared my adventures in Australia? I talked about how knowing my time there was limited made every moment more precious. Annoyances were easily brushed off, and the good times felt even more special because I knew they wouldn't last forever. I wondered exactly, "how can we infuse the beauty of the finite into our daily existence - allowing us to appreciate more what life can bring?"

Last week, seven months later, I came across this story from Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. The story talks about a Thai meditation master and a student. One day the student asked the master:

"In a world where everything changes, where nothing lasts, and where loss and grief are just part of existence, how can we find happiness? How can we feel secure when nothing is guaranteed?"

The master, holding a glass given to him that morning, responded with compassion:

❝

You see this glass? For me, it's already broken. I enjoy it, drink from it, and admire the way it catches the light. But I know that one day it will fall and shatter. And when that happens, I'll simply say, 'Of course.' Understanding that the glass is already broken makes every moment with it precious."

This story struck a chord with me because it framed exactly the feelings I had in Australia in a new light. Just as the master sees the glass as already broken, knowing my time in Australia was finite made every second magical.

But I invite you to take this a step further. Consider our lives in the same way. Just like the glass, our body is already broken (since we know for a fact we are going to die), and if we lived as we were “already dead”, we are open to life just as it is, in the moment it is occurring and every second its magical. When we understand that all our loved ones are already dead — our children, our mates, our friends — how precious they become?

How little fear could interpose; how little doubt could estrange us. If we lived our lifes as though we were already dead, life would take on a whole new meaning. Each moment becomes a whole lifetime, almost a universe unto itself.  

That’s a wrap for today. I hope this story resonates with you as much as it did with me.

With love,

Micael.

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