Maybe Next Time. Maybe Not This is a photo of the southeast ridge of a mountain called Sentinel Peak, at the north end of Lake Hawea in New Zealand: The guy in the photo is my friend Martin. I took this photo on March 6 on our way down from the summit of Sentinel Peak, because, I mean, look at it. This is a photo of my brother-in-law, Tim: He’s Australian but has been living in New Zealand for eight years now, after he and my sister-in-law, Whitney, got married. When I got back to his house...
7 days ago • 6 min read
Friday Inspiration 479 Perhaps you heard that Jasmin Paris became the first woman ever to finish the notoriously difficult Barkley Marathons in 2024. Even if you already know that information, I think this video is worth watching—I was still anxious watching the final lap of her race, and still got a lump in my throat at the finish. But maybe that’s just me. (Just kidding, it’s not just me, according to the number of YouTube views and comments). (video) This story has come up in conversation...
13 days ago • 2 min read
Friday Inspiration 478 As a fan of How to With John Wilson (and a fan who was saddened there were only three seasons), I was excited to see this MOMA video about his creative process, and also about the paper mache E.T. he is building, for some reason (video) Val Kilmer died this past week, and of course there were many obituaries and tribute articles written, but I think this was my favorite of all those things: Val Kilmer’s response to someone asking him (on a Reddit AMA, I think?) about...
20 days ago • 3 min read
Update: I Don't Actually Hate Running Now My book I Hate Running and You Can Too recently celebrated its fourth birthday, and I have for a while now felt like I needed to get something off my chest: I don’t really hate running. I did write that book, but the title was supposed to have a heart in place of the “a” in “hate,” which it did, on the book cover: But you can’t put the heart into book title databases, and you can’t actually pronounce the word “h♡te,” so if you googled the book, or...
21 days ago • 2 min read
Friday Inspiration 477 This is probably not for everyone, but damn if it isn’t touching, extremely entertaining, and incredibly creative. And also kind of about collecting salt and pepper shakers. (video) Every time I talk to Scott Kummer for his Ten Junk Miles podcast, it just feels like catching up with a buddy. I remembered why during the last session we recorded, in which he called me on the phone and as we started chatting, I asked, “are you already recording?” and he said yes, which I...
27 days ago • 3 min read
Friday Inspiration 476 [NOTE: Sorry my Thursday newsletter didn't go out until 9:30 p.m. MST last night—I located the problem, and it was: e. I somehow posted it on my website but deleted the email from my email provider, and didn't notice until I was loading the Friday email. If you missed it, here's a link to it on my website: It'll Never Be Enough Until You Decide It's Enough] -- The summary of this short film reads: “A woman comes to believe that building a great ass will single-handedly...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
It'll Never Be Enough Until You Decide It's Enough In and around the Devils Tower Lodge back in 2014, there was not much cell reception, and the satellite internet was kind of unpredictable. My friend Forest and I were there to shoot a short film, and Max Lowe was there working on a different video project. One afternoon, I walked into the living room at the lodge to check my messages and social media on my phone, and jokingly said something like, “Ooh I better check Instagram, how many likes...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Friday Inspiration 475 I have said something very similar to this before in this newsletter, but: I could watch Action Bronson going around to restaurants and eating their food all day. I love to eat food, he loves to eat food, and I love to watch him eat food and talk about it while connecting with the people who made the food. (video) I was trying to find a word to describe the images Eric Kogan captures in his photography around New York, and I think “playful” is close, but I assume he...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Friday Inspiration 474 I love Nathan Zed’s YouTube videos, which are kind of short editorials about his ideas, and I especially love this one, about how trying hard is becoming cool again (I hope he’s right) (video) I certainly don’t want to tell you how to live your life, but if you ever get tired/sick of scrolling through whatever kinds of videos your preferred social media is feeding you, may I suggest finding a subreddit you like and scrolling through that instead? For example, the Things...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
