Every Wednesday features a new newsletter from NGL on how culture influences business, the future of the media, and the pods, songs, and memes you should be paying attention to! This week touches on our journey before dishing on Todd Phillips' comments and Brad Pitt's masterpiece.

Something I think about a lot as we work to bring accomplished guests on our podcasts and organize events for our peers is the concept of distinguishing ourselves from being a student club and a group of college kids pursuing a venture.

Most people engage with student clubs in college. For many, it's the tight-knit group that they remember fondly and keep in touch with long after graduating. And given these baked-in connections and alumni networks, student groups often have a strong pull and a treasure chest of assets on campus.

With that being said, associating yourself with a school has it's limitations. You need to fit certain requirements in order to receive funding from a given school; you're also usually not allowed to turn away anyone who wants to join, either.

In building our brand, it's a constant push-pull when it comes to engaging with Northwestern. For starters, if there's one thing college students covet, it's that vague concept of "connections." I've found that pretty much all of the connections I've made — whether it be individuals, brands, or something in between — have come through school; therefore, when reaching out to people via cold email, I often highlight my connection to NU and use my school email.

Plus, as we plan our first slate of events (more info coming really soon!), the easiest locale has to be something on campus. It's free, it's convenient, and it's familiar with our target audience. The school also has the resources necessary to bring in big names; for example, I heard rumblings about several clubs ponying up $20,000 to have Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley talk at an event.

Kellogg Global Hub at Northwestern University (Nathan Graber-Lipperman)

At the same time, if we really want to push authentic dialogue among our peers, limiting ourselves to our school limits everything we stand for. How can our conversations represent a diverse set of voices if it's comprised of only attendees of a private school like Northwestern? How can we challenge dialogue while in a Simpsons-Movie-esque bubble that recently got named as one of the most leftist in the country? And with many infamous cases of controversial speakers being pushed out of campuses across the country, would a potential guest even want to come to one of our events if we associated with the school?

Also, in looking for new contributors, we would love to tap into the talented community we find ourselves embedded in. Yet at the same time, we're trying to build a brand and put out a professional product that people can and will buy into. We're not trying to just "get reps," which many student publications are wholly created to do.

There is, of course, absolutely nothing fundamentally wrong with this concept of practicing your craft; after all, isn't that why we go to college in the first place? But in pursuing a venture, investors don't want to hear about how the mic stopped working mid-podcast, and why you had to record the rest with your phone. They just wanna know the numbers, and that they're committing to something with long-term potential.

All in all, it's a constant tight-rope we're trying to balance, and I didn't even really touch on the difficult task of receiving money from the school and dealing with bureaucracy...which is something we have successfully done, yet oftentimes has its own strings attached. In the end, I think it would benefit most student entrepreneurs to think of their startups as "college students who happen to be working on a venture" as opposed to, say, a "Northwestern venture." That way, you can build your user base and network outside of your school's sphere, growing an audience that cares about your idea more than the seal on your degree.

Or don't. After all, one company focused on building a following in the Harvard community before branching out to other exclusive Ivy League schools. That company, Facebook, is now worth over $500 billion...so what do I really know?

As always, if you’re interested in supporting us, consider becoming a Patron over on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! We’re revamping our benefit system, so if you could fill out this quick two-minute survey, we’d appreciate it so much, we’ll send you a surprise gift!

Finally, if you enjoy this newsletter, consider sharing it with one other person. A lot of work goes into it, and I will be writing one weekly over the next twelve weeks. I would love to talk to you about any of the ideas presented here, so feel free to drop an email to ngl@powderbluemedia.com or DM me on Twitter @bynategl!

That’s all I got for our journey. Until next week!

Links (and Other Things)

Nike vs. Skechers are Locked in a Battle for Originality

In opening up a patent-infringement case against Skechers, Nike is committing to a lawsuit to stand up for their ideals of creative design. This isn't Nike's first rodeo, however, as in 2015, Jordan Brand (which is technically a subsidiary of Nike, but that's besides the point) lost a trademark lawsuit in China.

Nike is "taking a page out of Apple's playbook," as one Yahoo! Finance article writes, by obtaining patents for almost all of their designs and launching suits as they see fit. It's a bold move, yet Nike is basically arguing that their constant push for innovation warrants both intellectual and economic value.

Given the industry they're dealing with, the odds that Nike wins this battle are slim. Yet if they succeed, it could set a precedent where copycat brands will no longer be tolerated, and we'll begin to see a greater investment in the design and innovation teams behind the apparel we wear...which, in my opinion, would be the best possible outcome for the consumer.

Todd Phillips' Complicated Message About Comedy

The idea of what defines "comedy" has been ever more pervasive in recent news, and the latest to throw his hat in the ring is none other than Todd Phillips. In a Vanity Fair profile of Joaquin Phoenix, the Joker writer-director ⁠— who grew to prominence with comedies like Old School and the Hangover Trilogy — commented on "woke culture" by stating, “[comedies don't work] because all the fucking funny guys are like, ‘Fuck this shit, because I don’t want to offend you.’ It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right?”

And whaddaya know, Phillips quickly became a source of criticism on the exact app he criticized. As much as some people don't want to believe it, however, he does have a point. I've seen a lot of descriptors thrown around in regards to Phillips, with words like "boorish" and "fratty" coming to mind. And while they more or less describe the style of humor that led to his rise to prominence, Phillips isn't the only one bringing up the point that comedians who desire to push boundaries and denounce stereotypes through their own lens — humor — are finding it difficult to do so.

TL;DR: Was Phillips the best person to make these comments? Eh. The greater question to me is whether or not comedians like Dave Chappelle will have a place and an audience moving forward, or if their voices will be drowned out by the billions on the interwebs.

Author's Note: I by no means am endorsing hate (or hateful) speech when I share my observations on Phillips' comments. I just think there's more to be talked about in this broader conversation, and in this specific example, a lot of people aren't reading past the headlines.

TOTW: Never Go Full Michael Bay (?)

Michael Bay — of Transformers and Generic-Movies-Where-Shit-Blows-Up fame — partnered up with Netflix and Ryan Reynolds to make a vigilante-action-thriller film that...actually looks kind of awesome.

(Netflix)

6 Underground is like if Mission: Impossible, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, and the Fast and Furious franchise all had a child that more or less looked like Deadpool. Anyway, it's important because in the age of streaming services battling for original IP, large-scale blockbusters could convince Netflix users to stay for good. And we know that if there's one thing Michael Bay is good at it, it's getting audiences to come to the theater, as the director's filmography has grossed over $5 billion.

What I'm Watching: 'Ad Astra' (20th Century Fox)

This week's newsletter is pretty Hollywood-heavy, but I simply couldn't go the whole way without mentioning one of the best movies I've seen...like, ever?

Seriously, though. Drop everything and go watch Ad Astra in theaters. It's that good.

Yeah, the space-movie-thing has been done quite a lot. It's the near future, and the Earth is facing an worldwide crisis that can only be solved by a brave individual dropping everything and racing across the galaxy to find the solution. Interstellar, much?

Well, where Nolan succeeded in visuals and scientific backup, it failed in plot and character development. And while Ad Astra doesn't really dip into the science to the same degree as Interstellar, it thoroughly surpasses its 2013 predecessor in all other categories. The James Gray-helmed project is ultimately a case study of Brad Pitt's character, Roy McBride, and the hegemonic masculinity that defines a frontiersman. After all, Roy is chasing his legendary dad, H. Clifford McBride (played by Tommy Lee Jones), who's been missing for 30 years after venturing to discover extraterrestrial life; in doing so, he has to confront the complexities of his adolescence and grapple with the scars as they reopen.

The film is visually beautiful; the score is moving; and this might be the best version of Pitt we've ever gotten on the silver screen. It's refreshing to know that original, incredible movies such as Ad Astra can still be made in Hollywood, though we're gonna have to do a better job supporting these projects if we want to see more of them moving forward.

NGL is an O.G. sneakerhead, diehard Chargers fan, and huge ultimate frisbee nut. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Student Clubs and Student Ventures