Turn headlines into talking points

Feb 17th – March 3rd. Lunar New Year.
Year of the Fiery Horse. 🐴🔥 (What could go wrong!)

Usually, that means Tokyo in full invasion mode —
Suitcases.
Selfie sticks (still!)
Donki stripped bare, like it’s apocalypse prep.

This year? Quieter.

Why? China and Japan have fallen out. Again.
Political spats.
Chinese fighter jets “teasing” airspace.
Illegal fishing boats seized.

More tension than a high school dance.

The result?
Tour buses: missing in action.
Temples: almost peaceful.
You might even be able to hear yourself think (dangerous…)

But zoom out — and China feels anything but quiet.

And now Gen Z “Chinamaxxing.”
Red tracksuits. Slippers. Hot tea. Mandarin lessons.
Not propaganda. Just...vibes. 🙄

America dominated the 20th century with factories and films.
Hollywood. McDonald’s. Levi’s. The American Dream™.
(Remember that?)

Is this century tilting east?

Manufacturing? Done.
China makes roughly a third of everything on Earth.

Soft power, though?

We ran that poll. China scored zero percent. (Ouch.)

And yet?

Soft power doesn't need a government strategy if Gen Z is doing the job for free. Viral robots. Aesthetic TikToks. Western teens clicking “Chinese” on Duolingo.

While the West argues about bathrooms, borders, and the manosphere…

Is the 21st century quietly being assembled somewhere else?

Sometimes soft power doesn’t shout (unlike a red tracksuit.)
It hangs quietly on a white wall.

My youngest (9) has a theory about art galleries - they’re boring.

All of them.

Picasso? Boring!
Rothko? Boring! (he is, but in a good way.)
The gift shop, though?
Full spiritual awakening. 🛍️

She’s not completely wrong.

There is a highbrow/lowbrow divide:

And in conversation, people use culture as shorthand.
“I saw the Hockney retrospective.”
Translation: I have taste.

But there's no need to fake the highbrow (I’ve seen people try…)
Show interest, ask questions, and it’ll be appreciated.

The best conversations happen when someone admits they love both Rothko… and The Real Housewives.

Taste is a spectrum. All of it counts.

💡 PRO TIP: Ask, “What do you love about it?”
High or low…it’s a win-win!

💬 FOLLOW-UP: “Is there anything 'lowbrow’ you’d defend as great art?”
Everyone has one. Nobody goes first (OK, me: zombies)

⛔ DON’T SAY: “I don’t really get modern art.”
No one does. That’s half the fun. (The other half is pretending.)

"Art is what you can get away with."
(Andy Warhol, see below👇)

👇 Answer at the end

Ever bombed in a conversation?
I certainly have.
I crashed and burned, but thankfully learned.

You can read about it here and how to build instant rapport with my BLT Method.
(No, nothing to do with the sandwich).
(5 min read)

Andy Warhol didn’t just make art.

He blew up the wall between highbrow and lowbrow (then sold the rubble.)

Supermarket stuff, hung in white galleries, priced like small yachts.

Critics didn’t know whether to be offended or impressed (most managed both.)

My youngest would definitely like that gift shop.

🤯 Did you know…?

Warhol asked, “Is this art? Why not?”

And sixty years later, we’re still arguing.

💬 FOLLOW-UP: “Do you think anything can be art?
Nobody agrees. Everyone has an opinion.

⛔ DON’T SAY: “It’s just a soup can.” That’s the whole point.

Warhol said art is what you can get away with.
Turns out… you might be able to get away with owning some.

How have 70,679 everyday investors joined in on the billionaire’s asset class?

A Klimt painting sold for $236 million—the most expensive modern artwork ever sold at auction.

A Kahlo broke the auction record for a female artist at $54 million.

Obvious outliers, sure, but the 2025 fall auction season signaled the postwar and contemporary art market could be entering a bull run.

Why?

Of course, who can afford to spend millions on a painting, right?

But now it’s easy to fractionally invest in art by legends like Banksy and more, thanks to Masterworks.

They acquire it, securitize it, offer shares, and eventually look to sell it.

Net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% for works held over a year.

See why members have allocated $1.3 billion across 500+ works:

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_{*According to Masterworks data.  Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. See important disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.}

Back to China again, as they are killing it with their bots.

Check out their latest jaw-dropping kung-fu showcase - spears, nunchucks and wall flips (3:16 almost made me drop my tea.)
All in close proximity to children (all very safe, I’m sure.)

How long before they are on the front lines? (The bots, not the kids. Probably.)

A teenager fakes sick, “borrows” a Ferrari, and hits Chicago for one perfect day.

💬 YOUR TURN: If you took one completely unplanned day off tomorrow — no guilt, no obligations — what would you actually do?

A) 🎬 Love a great one — mini cinema - 31%
B) 🤷 Most are just noise – 69%.
C) 🚫 Hate them. All of them - 0%

💬 Your Two Cents

A.C: “Kia Ora, racist? I'll take that and raise you Um Bongo (they drink it in the Congo!). That's the one I've never forgotten.”
B.A: “It's when they repeat the same goddamn ad two or even THREE times in the same slot that drives me NUTS.”
S.Y: “A lot of pointless garbage. Wonder who signs them off sometimes…”

Thanks for the comment. Glad you agree.

That's it for #58

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