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...
7 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...
14 days 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...
14 days 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...
21 days 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...
28 days ago • 3 min read
Race Report: Motatapu Ultra Maybe a half-hour earlier, I had thought, “What if nothing really happens during this race, and I don’t have anything to write about?” Then I fell into the river. I guess to be more accurate, I was already in the river, as I had been walking/jogging in it for almost a mile and a half—I just stepped in the wrong spot and fell kind of sideways, up to about my armpits. This was about Mile 21.5 of the Motatapu Ultra, a 52.5 km/32.5 mi race on New Zealand’s Motatapu...
29 days ago • 9 min read
Friday Inspiration 473 I kind of wondered, “is it just me, or is this a really good 3.5-minute film about a guy who bike commutes in Oklahoma City?" It has 46,000 views on YouTube, so I feel like I’m not alone. (video) This post from the Tales From Retail subreddit is about someone bringing an ADMIRABLE amount of coupons to a checkout, but it’s also possibly the most literary thing I’ve read on Reddit, and I am definitely saving it to maybe use in my writing course in the future. At first I I...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Friday Inspiration 472 You may not be a pizza history nerd to the degree that you’ll watch this entire 24-minute video, but I am, and I would just like to point out that around the 4-minute mark, we are introduced to Peter Regas, who is just a regular guy/financial trader whose “passion job” is researching the history of different pizza restaurants around the U.S., which I think is just inspiring. Also, if you believe the first pizzeria in the U.S. was Lombardo’s in New York (I sure did),...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Reminder To Touch Grass The snow felt like it was just going to keep coming, like the news has been, but at least you can ski on snow. I pushed our shovel down the middle of the sidewalk, clearing a path, heaving piles of snow onto the parking strip. I mean, somebody was going to have to do it. I usually shovel the walk of the house next door too, and the other house, the other next door, because I might as well, while I’m out there. Nathan lives four doors down, on the corner, and we don’t...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
