| | | | | |  Will Varner | | IN THIS ISSUE | The rats are taking over | America's richest have a new status symbol | You may be embarrassed for Amber Tamblyn | | | | "I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love."—Elon Musk in a tweet "If I told you that, I might as well just…swim into the ocean and never be seen again."—Lupita Nyong'o to The Hollywood Reporter on whether she's in the new Black Panther movie "I'm thinking maybe I underpaid him."—John Middleton, the Phillies' principal owner, talking about Bryce Harper | | | | | | | Buddy the Rat is a New York City sensation. The man-sized "rat" crawls through the city, charges at crowds gathered around NYC landmarks, climbs over trash cans, and—in a reference to the infamous pizza rat—carries a giant slice of pizza up subway stairs. Buddy draws a crowd whenever he appears. Curious New Yorkers pull out their phones to snap pictures, and sometimes they even pet him. They haven't fallen for an actual rat: Buddy is the alter ego of artist Jonothon Lyons. His performance exaggerates a real problem. So far in 2022, New Yorkers have filed 35,567 rodent complaints so far, up from 32,471 during the same period last year, and more than the total number of complaints filed in 2019, according to data provided by 311. During the pandemic, as people retreated indoors, rats enjoyed having the run of the city. And it didn't just happen in New York. New Orleans and other large cities reported rats living it up. In 2020, the CDC warned that rats were getting "aggressive" in certain areas of the country, since their primary food source—restaurant dumpsters and garbage on the street—dried up. So the rats did what everyone else did: They abandoned dense downtown neighborhoods and moved to the residential parts of cities. Lucky for the rats, but not so lucky for their human counterparts. NYC Mayor Eric Adams declared a war on rats, vowing to keep the streets "squeaky clean." The city now asks residents to take out the trash later in the evening, reducing the number of hours the black bags sit curbside. Calling the black bags an "all-you-can-eat buffet for rats," Jessica Tisch, the city's sanitation commissioner, said: "If the bags are sitting out there for 14 hours, that is a long buffet, and we want to shut it down." (Sorry, Templeton.) Meanwhile, the city government shelled out a whopping $1.3 million to install sealed, rat-resistant containers for trash bags across five bureaus. Plus, the city has allocated $22 million to empty public "litter baskets" more often as part of the $100 billion budget to clean up public spaces this year. An urban ecologist said the new curb restrictions are "some kind of knee-jerk reaction" rather than a solution that will get at the root of the problem. New Yorkers are also suspicious of the impacts of the new rule. As one South Bronx homeowner told the Daily News, "They eat all night anyway." Buddy the Rat has paired up with a raccoon to star in a social media campaign for NYC Sanitation. As they take a leap and land on the trash cans looking for a smorgasbord, they find the bins locked. The caption reads: "@jonothonlyons trying to get lunch out of our newest Clean Curbs bins with no luck!" Sure, the campaign is meant to be fun, but its undertones are entirely dystopian. —Sherry Qin | | | Elon Musk, Halloween, and a New York Jet: This is our Sunday crossword that nods to the news of the week. Play it here. | | | | | | Real estate has a rep for being a solid investment, especially during times of economic uncertainty. Origin Investments' IncomePlus Fund takes that reputation to a whole new level. This private real estate fund is strategically designed to withstand all market cycles, with a primary focus on protecting and growing wealth. How? By building, buying, and lending to multifamily real estate projects in fast-growing markets across the US. Let's talk numbers: The Fund's total net return is 7.3% YTD, with a current income yield of 5.6%. And it's had 29 straight months of positive returns with only one down month (oh, March 2020). The IncomePlus Fund is open to accredited investors. Learn more. | | | | Francis Scialabba The olive tree has an intricate trunk, made of tangled wood that seems to have woven together as it grew over decades. The trunk splits into sections, each looking strong and sturdy. The untrained eye wouldn't know the tree just arrived in its new home, but it's a transplant to a modern luxury property in California. "Let me show you how a 150-year-old tree on a brand-new, one-year-old house really makes it feel lived in," Justin Fox says in a TikTok. The gate concealing the home and driveway opens, and more olive trees line the expanse. The trees cost $10,000–$15,000 each, he says. The TikTok account showcases Foxterra Design, the landscaping business owned by Justin and his brother, Nate. They design striking outdoor spaces for luxury properties. That means $200,000 roof-decks and backyard oases with budgets over $1 million. There are pools with lazy rivers and pairs of racing water slides, or fire pits surrounded by the water and sheltered grilling and dining areas. But softening those modern features are trees: olives, palms, and giant colorful bougainvillea. For the ultra-rich, statement trees have become the new way to flaunt wealth. The luxury landscaping market has seen an uptick since the Covid-19 crisis led many wealthy people to stop traveling and spend more time at home, and they've given their spaces a facelift. While trees often aren't thought of as pricey assets on a property, having tall, mature trees in an instant is something only the wealthy can do; planting new trees is much cheaper, but people pay with patience. For the rich who don't want to wait 20 years to enjoy a tree, money is the answer for eagerness, and trees are a status symbol that has no substitute. "It's not the tile in the driveway, it's not the custom walls, it's not the water feature—it's the statement tree, because it allows you to have this livable, mature feeling of tranquility that nothing else would give," Justin Fox told Morning Brew, noting trees are the most important features in designs. "And so if you could only budget for one thing, I feel like it's always going to be the tree. There's just something so beautiful and artistic about them." The popularity of luxury landscaping far outpaces its niche, privileged customer base. The Fox brothers have 1 million followers on TikTok, evidence that there are many people eager to see how the rich spend their time and money. And while social media fame has brought them business, it also puts their work in front of a younger generation who turn to TikTok over HGTV. "We started to get a lot of calls from teenagers who were then actually trying to figure out how to convince their parents to get on board" and pay for a new luxury backyard, Nate Fox said. Besides aspirational Gen Zers, investors, too, have their eye on the work. Developers in California are seeking out luxury landscapers like Foxterra since the demand for outdoor living spaces is up and bringing a big return when a house sells. While palms in paradises like Southern California and Florida are common, the trophy tree trend extends beyond the year-round warm climates. One Foxterra client in Massachusetts bought palm trees and plans to replace them each year, as they'll die in the cold New England winters, the brothers said. In Oregon, Conifer Kingdom grows trophy trees and sells them to people across the nation. Customers come from as far as Chicago and Long Island to pick out towering trees that can cost as much as $75,000. They traverse the country in refrigerated freight trucks, sometimes in pots weighing as much as 5,000 pounds to keep their roots watered and alive. "It's a little bit of a status symbol thing," said Sam Pratt, sales and inventory manager of Conifer Kingdom. "But it's also that people like plants, and particularly for our more wealthy customers, they tend to be a little more aged, and so they don't want to wait for them to grow large. They want to start with them large." Read more of Amanda Hoover's story about the one percent's obsession with trophy trees. | | | If you're a millennial, you definitely know Amber Tamblyn from 2005's iconic The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. (Yes, it's absolutely iconic.) Beyond bringing Tibby to life, Tamblyn is an accomplished actor, director, and writer. Recently, she edited a book of essays called Listening in the Dark: Women Reclaiming the Power of Intuition. Though the contributors are pulled from a range of industries and experiences, from the very funny Samantha Irby to the very smart Jia Tolentino, actor Amy Poehler, and US Poet Laureate Ada Limón, each writer examines the power of listening to their intuition and grapples with how women are often conditioned to ignore that inner voice. Tamblyn also contributed her own writing to the book, including a conversation with Sisterhood co-star America Ferrera. What's the best advice you ever received? When it comes to writing, there's no such thing as writer's block—sometimes you just need to let the muse rest. Meaning, see your creative process as something that needs to take its own time to manifest good work. Sometimes it needs to sleep, hibernate, procrastinate, or do nothing at all for long stretches of time. Not every writer writes every day. Find out how your own personal muse works best for you. What's the most embarrassing song you'll admit to liking publicly? "Please Don't Go" by Double You. Sorry, not sorry. This song, while it might seem like nothing more than a silly club song from the '90s, is an emotional powder keg. It's got everything: a really good song structure and rhythm, good lyrics you want to sing at the top of your lungs, and the perfect dance beat. So, I guess I'm not really embarrassed about how much I love this song? Though you may be embarrassed for me. What fictional person do you wish were real? Hear me out. I wish that Horse from the Netflix cartoon Centaurworld was real. I feel like we would be best friends. I feel like, in an alternate universe, I am Rider (her best human friend/companion she spends the season searching for). I'm such a fan of this weird, wild world created by Megan Nicole Dong and it's a show I can watch with my daughter and relish in. What real person do you wish were fictional? Newt Gingrich. He paved a direct path for the discourse we see in politics now and is responsible for the rise and success of all the disinformation provocateurs who have made fortunes off of lying to people and stoking their worst fears in this country. People like Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, and the former president of the United States. What would our world have looked like without the lies [Gingrich] stoked in the 1970s and '80s? I'm sure it still would be a contentious one, but not one where disinformation and conspiracy theories reigned supreme. What invention do you wish you could take credit for? Telescopes. To say you're the one responsible for being able to see into other universes, and galaxies—to study stars and blackholes and so much more—that would be a pretty solid mic drop. What always makes you laugh? My five-year-old daughter doing a British accent. (Note: She is not British. The accent ends up sounding like an Australian with a sinus infection.) If you were given a billboard in Times Square, what would you put on it? "If you were given a billboard in Times Square, what would you put on it?" —Interview by Stassa Edwards | | | | | | One hoodie to rule them all. It finally happened. American Giant engineered the "Greatest Hoodie Ever Made," setting the bar for comfy, durable hoodies that look gooood. Milled from Carolina cotton by local farmers and sewn by expert craftspeople, their homegrown garments are built to last. Use code MORNINGBREW for 20% off your first order. | | | | When an electric vehicle charger breaks, who's responsible for fixing it? [Emerging Tech Brew] This ice cream brand refused to accept cash for years, in clear violation of local laws. They've changed their tune, but still won't let anyone know why they wouldn't accept cash. [Retail Brew] HBO spent about $200 million on the first season of House of the Dragon, and Amazon spent $500 million on the first season of The Rings of Power. Were they worth it? [Morning Brew] Scott Galloway stopped by to discuss his new book Adrift: America in 100 Charts, which makes the case that America is at a crossroads and on the brink of massive change. [Business Casual] The best thing we read this week: Take your time with this magical profile of Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe. [GQ] Good for your gut: Pendulum's Akkermansia uses a powerful (and exclusive) live probiotic strain that helps manage a healthy weight, boosts metabolism, and more. Use code BREW to get 20% off your first month here.* *This is sponsored advertising content. | | | | |  | Written by Rohan Anthony, Stassa Edwards, Amanda Hoover, Sherry Qin, Ashwin Rodrigues, and Holly Van Leuven Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - CFO Brew: your go-to source for global finance insights
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