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Semi-Rad

Brendan Leonard

Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.

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Friday Inspiration 432

Friday Inspiration 432 If you’re of a certain age, or just remember the movie Swingers, here’s a fun mini-documentary about how Jon Favreau wrote and produced it (on a $250,000 budget!), and why it looks the way it does (video) I referenced the Italian term “umarell” in the video I made about the shed I converted into an office for Hilary in 2022, since our neighbor Pat is essentially head umarell of our neighborhood. So when I read about the World Umarelling Championships announced by Scope...

2 days ago • 2 min read

Friday Inspiration 431 This film has so much going on in 16 minutes, including two heroes, joy, struggle, pain, laughter, camaraderie, scenery—the only thing I wish there was more of is: The singing. (thanks, Brendan) (video) You know, artists choose to work in different kinds of media—some artists use paint and canvas, some artists type on keyboards, some create … I don’t even know what to say, this is a cake, I guess, but it’s just incredible. It’s actually really hard for me to not...

9 days ago • 2 min read

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10 days ago • 1 min read

Friday Inspiration 430 One final book tour update: I'll be in Washington DC (May 6th) and Chicago (May 8th) next week! If you haven't RSVPed yet, the links are below. The DC event has a waitlist, but if you'd like to come, just sign up for the waitlist and show up to the event—we'll get you in no matter what. Also: The Chicago event still hasn't filled up as of Thursday, so I guess we have plenty of room (and plenty of books, unless someone buys like 15 copies). See you there! Washington DC...

16 days ago • 1 min read

Friday Inspiration 429 If you live in Washington DC or Chicago:I will be in your city May 6 (DC) or May 8 (Chicago) delivering a goofy presentation called “30 Questions You May Or May Not Have About Ultrarunning” at your local Arcteryx store. It’s based on my new book, which is only for sale at these events until May 23. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but the events we’ve done in Seattle, Portland, and Boulder have all been standing room only and not a single attendee has thrown a...

23 days ago • 2 min read

Moby-Dick Is My Literary Ultramarathon The evening of September 4th, 2013, freshly zipped into my sleeping bag next to my friend Jim, inside a lightweight backpacking tent near the ridge of the north end of the Sangre de Cristo range in southern Colorado, I opened a copy of Moby-Dick, Bantam Classic edition. I read the opening line, one of the most famous in the history of western literature: “Call me Ishmael.” Then I read maybe five pages before I clicked off my headlamp and went to sleep. I...

24 days ago • 5 min read

Friday Inspiration 428 BOOK TOUR UPDATE: I will be signing and selling copies of my new book, Ultra-Something, at the Arc’teryx store in Boulder next week at 6 p.m. April 24. It’s full, but so were the events in Seattle and Portland, and we still had room for people who just showed up the night of the event. More info here. I’ll also be in Washington DC and Chicago, and if you can make either of those events, RSVP here:Washington DC: May 6 Chicago: May 8 The book goes on sale in mid-May, and...

30 days ago • 1 min read

Friday Inspiration 427 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I have a new book called “Ultra-Something” coming out May 23rd, but I’m doing a sort of advance book tour April 17-May 8, in Arc’teryx stores in the following cities: Seattle: April 17 Portland: April 18 Boulder: April 24 Washington DC: May 6 Chicago: May 8 If you’re in one of those cities, here’s a page with more info and RSVP links. If you’re not in one of those cities, and you want info about the book, here’s the basic gist (and a link to get a...

about 1 month ago • 2 min read

How I Handwrite My Illustrated Stories A few months back, I posted on Instagram a short video of myself hand-writing something on my iPad, and someone commented, "You mean you actually write that stuff out by hand?" And I realized, I've never really explained how I make these handwritten and illustrated stories, so I thought I'd take a minute to do that in this video. (OK, it's actually 3 minutes and 29 seconds) And of course, here's a handwritten + illustrated version of the above video: If...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Friday Inspiration 426 I think it’s a testament to Beau Miles’s YouTube following that he can make a 7-minute video about sorting old screws and it gets half a million views. Did I watch the whole thing? I did. In one shot. (video) IMPORTANT: If you missed this announcement last week, TODAY is the LAST DAY to order a limited edition Periodic Table of the Elements of Adventure Nalgene bottle. You have until midnight MST tonight. We’ve sold 200+ so far, so thanks to everyone who’s ordered. OK...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read
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