Gramajo’s Corner
GM GM.
Ton of work behind the scenes on my end. I have about 5+ artist interviews lined up and wrapping them up to launch. Some will be premium only, others will be podcast and some free. Will keep you all posted as they drop.
I recently turned on collecting for my newsletter and podcast (latest addition). You can find my newsletter here, and podcast here. So why would I do this? Honestly, not even sure. I turned it on not really expecting people to collect any of my work, but I have had over 10 people mint my work which felt nice. Alot of the arguments on why would you even do this remind me of early NFT discussions. “I can just read it for free”, “this doesnt make sense”, “why would anyone mint that” and my old self would have agreed but now that I have been in web3 for a couple years and crypto for over a decade, all I have to say is why the fuck not? We don’t understand how this tech can develop, all I know is that it is extremely easy for me to pull a CSV of everyone that has ever collected my work or is a supporter of my content and airdrop them something (which I definitely plan to do). No one really knows what the future holds, if degens are willing to buy a rock jpg that is handled offchain, or minting an ordinal of a poem, then why would I not enable cheap, capped mints of my work. Welcome to Web3, buckle up.
I also started a 1 month sprint on Zealy. Zealy helps me keep track of users consuming my content and I reward them for their efforts. Currently for this sprint I will be giving away a Tiffatronn NFT and a copy of The Everything Token Book (1st and 2nd prize). It is free to join, participate and if you are already consuming my content might as well throw your hat in the ring for a chance to win.
Knowledge
As F1 season is inching closer and closer to starting again. And this being one of the craziest off-season's for the sport, from Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari (think Lebron James going to Miami) to Christian Horner being accused of harassments (think your HS principal who has been at the school for over 2 decades). I wanted to share this bit of knowledge with you all.
It may seem from the outside looking in that all these drivers do is sit and drive and it is not a real sport. And I kind of get that, I thought the same for a bit. But these guys are driving some of the highest end car in the world and their bodies pay the price for this. Most drivers lose about 4.4 to 6.6 pounds during a race due to the heat inside the cockpit. But the fact I wanted to bring to your attention is that F1 drivers can experience 5Gs while turning corners. Which is about 40+ pounds/20kg of pressure being put on your neck.
NFT Space
We usually don't talk about PFPs in this neck of the woods but this one is a bit too big not to talk about. Yuga Labs has acquired Proof. Some are happy, some are pissed, but in the end KRO made out like a bandit. I was trying to wrap my head around this move and a couple thoughts came to mind. 1st was this is a smart play by Yuga to start making inroads with the art crowd. Grails is a successful, well known established brand at this point. This gives Yuga access to a ton of street cred and it diversifies them from PFPs. The second thought is from others around me, OG and friends reminded me that Proof recently raised 50m less than 6 months ago so assuming that cash is still there that an easy move to acquire cash now vs going for a round of funding. 3rd, with Yuga and MagicEden getting comfy in bed with each other, and royalties being enforced over at ME, Yuga just got themselves another PFP asset for the small %s. Either way, its a huge move in our space.
Jak dropped his ordinals genesis this past week. Titled “JAKOSHI” which looks to be inspired by the Rare Pepe Nakamoto card. The card is still for sale for 0.169BTC and it is a great entry into the ordinals space by Jak. Ordinals is definitely heating up with more and more artists getting onboarded. I am looking forward to seeing what else Jak may have up his sleeve.
Continuing with Ordinals, Lucrece recently gave us a really nice trailer video to his upcoming Ordinals edition collection titled BitMon. These evolved 8bidou monsters look to be related to the ones that dropped on Tezos platform 8bidou a while back. I am looking forward to reading how Lucrece got these animated pixelated monsters on Bitcoin.
Last bit on the BTC side, many have always wondered who is Satoshi Nakamoto? We all know for a fact it is not Craig Wright. If it was him, he would have proven it by now with a simple tx. Most have always suspected it was Hal Finney who was the 1st person to transact with Satoshi Nakamoto. Well there is an interesting rumor going around that seems to be getting traction. The rumor revolves around the idea that Satoshi Nakamoto is actually Japanese Leet speak for Hal Finney.
Over on the Eth side of things, Tiffatronn dropped a new edition piece but you had to go on scavenger hunt to be able to buy the piece. There was 12 codes that were spread around her universe and it looked like it was a fun way for collectors and new joiners to get in on the fun without rushing to spam the gas. I did not participate as I suck at these kind of things, but it seems like the community really enjoyed it. All 12 pieces where found in less than 48 hours.
You may recall that a year ago or so, National Geographic was getting into the NFT space with photographers. Most notably, Cath Simard was included in their lineup. A couple weeks back I reported she had posted a tweet that was deleted with her being not happy with the whole drop and the overall partnership. This is all speculation on my side, but she may have gotten a notice to take down that tweet. It does appear that whatever did transpire will be finally over for all those involved. All collectors of their drops are eligible for a refund and it seems artist will get their images back as well/the rights to them. It is a bit sad, Nat Geo which has done so much for photographers around the world came in like this and is leaving the space like this. I do hope they try and relaunch again in the future.
Capi dropped this really dope interpretation of NightHawks by Hopper (you will recognize this image immediately). The piece is currently not at auction but may need to put in a bid on this one soon enough.
The Zealy.io word for this weeks read is, “sprint”. Make sure to get in on the fun and giveaways.
Notable Sales
One of the craziest collabs we have seen in a bit. Die With The Most Likes x Luis Ponce x Xer0x all 35 editions of The Rise And Fall sold out for .31 eth each due to rebate.
Rabble 3 by XCOPY sold for 10eth, aka Free. Or as Hiim_Dave would say, free until you need the liquidity haha.
Disintegration by XCOPY sold for 13eth. I will get one of these fuckers one day.
nowhere by ZeroX sold for 0.516eth to Ben_Leb.
Upcoming
Things I am looking forward to.
Efdot will be dropping some pieces with NiftyGateway from February 27-29th. I’ve been itching to get an Efdot 1/1 so let’s see what this drop has in store for us.
Pop Wonder has not dropped a 1/1 in a bit but we will have a new 1/1 holder by mid this week. X-Communicated is currently sitting at .869 bid by Shatt.
I am curious to see if this banger piece by Rust actually gets minted. It is beautifully done in their style and nice commentary on what is going on in the tech world right now.
Collectibles
I fucking love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And these had to be called out. They are partnering up with Adidas to drop an absolute banger. From the toeshell being an actual turtle shell, to the gum bottoms, the olive and red, and the fact they drop so close to my birthday, these are on my list to cop (h/t macvynls).
Meme Of The Week
This one gave me a good chuckle as I was recently trying to sell a boat on Facebook Marketplace.
Fin
Have a great rest of your week!
CIAHOAD-Rick James
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