smize & sidequest

dancing2 deinfluence

Lanyard free down at the men in music business conference, we trek through the flat-org iteration of the Capo Playground towards the TikTok party, where a golden guest list gives us a taste of the sweet side of virality. TOPICS ☆ Cyber insecurity at the Capo Playground ☆ Fit checking strangers at SXSW Sydney ☆ Keli Holiday & Tammy Hembrow were dancing at the TikTok party and we were Dancing2

smize & sidequest

Recapping our side quests in Sydney before SXSW and Surplus because therapy is expensive but podding is free. TOPICS ☆ Hotel lobbies are elite and Airbnb's are just lonely ☆ How the TikTok party blew out the timeline ☆ SMiZE & DREAM is a circus and we are all clowns ☆ Frowny faces and the Freo footy team

don't stop believin'

If you're lucky, you'll remember the little moments, like the 2025 AFL season, that were good. TOPICS ☆ Slow-burn romance: how we fell for our new TCL TV ☆ Foreshadowing our pilgrimage to Lexus of Blackburn ☆ Our Lions vs Magpies rivalry and the return of the Fan WAG mane

fossil fools & festival fallacies

A timestamp before the US election, when we were suffering from meme burnout and deemed all of politics "boring", when prime minister Albo let his Specsavers slip to do the most boomer thing ever (buy a house), when Pesto the Penguin still wore fur, and the Laneway Festival lineup dropped in time to save summer retail by sending jean shorts and ribbon sales skyrocketing.

sxsw sydney: maypoles & modernity

We returned to Sydney for the SXSW 2024 conference, a Midsummer-esque celebration where industry folk dance around Darling Harbour in vibrant lanyards, hoping to meet their future co-founder, investor, mentor, team, employer or trauma-bonded-friend. Our last dance around the maypole ended in a decadent and debaucherous 5-night fling at the Abercrombie, so we approached the 'Capitalism Playground' differently this year, exercising our brains at panel talks and putting our bodies on the line for branded activations. Night time, our time, was reserved for matters of the musical heart, but we'll save those stories for another time. [ TOPICS ] (00:00:00) Sxsw Overview - Capo Playground fly through, The year of AI, More than music, Overall improvements and an air of confidence (00:05:45) Black T-Shirts Pod Live with Adam Ferrier and Brent Smart: marketing chatter and the bain-marie buffet  (00:16:45) On & Off the Court ft. Nick Kyrgios & Friends (00:25:22) How to invest like Buffett and create generational wealth ft. Nick Nicolaides, Queenie Tan, Ben Nash & Vince Scully (00:33:19) Retirees are obsessed with their pensions (00:36:47) Adventures with Aria from Bazaa: Tech Expo, Why Startups Fail with Michael Batko of Startmate (00:38:42) New Playing Field: Opportunities to Monetise Athlete IP and Expand Sport Globally ft. David Gallop, Tilly Kearns, Nicholas Saady & David Warner (00:44:21) Go out and be good: a way forward for hospitality ft. Ben Shewry & Hamish Blake (00:51:32) Teeth rot at Amazon Primeville Sweet Spot (01:09:56) Tim Tam Won SXSW Sydney