Friday Inspiration 450



Friday Inspiration 450

My friend Mark made this video, and I love everything about it: A regular guy runs his own 100-mile ultramarathon in his backyard mountain range (his third attempt at it, BTW), films the whole thing, and gets them both done, with fast food, hallucinations, and a brief section in Crocs. (video)

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant seems to be everywhere the past few years—most recently, inside my head with this tough love about “research” actually sometimes sometimes SOMETIMES being … a way to procrastinate.

A paragraph from the interview titled, “Meet the writer who added 'lol' to the end of every sentence of In Search of Lost Time.”:
"I was writing a work email and ended consecutive sentences with 'lol.' In that moment, I recognized the literary potential of using “lol” at the end of every sentence of a piece of writing, and immediately—almost reflexively—thought: 'In Search of Lost Time but every sentence ends with "lol."' I thought I would just tweet that, but then I wanted to see what that would actually look like."

Lots of people have been talking about Jane’s Addiction this week because lead singer Perry Farrell went kind of bananas on stage and got in a fistfight with the rest of the band, and that sucks, and maybe the band has its problems, and hopefully people are OK and everyone’s figuring their shit out, but whatever happens, it reminded me of this live version of Jane Says that I listened to probably 400 times the summer of 2000 (or was it 1999?), from Kettle Whistle, and how great the steel drums are and how good it feels after listening to the song for a minute and 25 seconds and they finally come in and the crowd goes nuts.

I think there’s a much better chance you’ve heard of or used an AeroPress than the Aerobie flying ring. I mean, I remember seeing Aerobie rings in the 90s, and somehow knowing that you could throw them really far (the world record throw is 1,333 feet), but I never owned one or knew anyone who owned one. But the Aeropress, I’ve used, and in my experience, people either have a) no familiarity with an Aeropress or b) think the Aeropress is the greatest thing to ever happen to coffee. BUT: Did you know the same guy invented both of them? It’s true, and his name is Alan Adler. (via Kottke)

If you read books about adventure, or the outdoors, or the Grand Canyon, or about outdoor adventures in the Grand Canyon, you probably know this already, or have heard this from someone else, but Kevin Fedarko’s book about his trek across the Grand Canyon, A Walk in the Park, is a fantastic read, and I recommend it if you need a book to read that you will talk about to everyone you know who reads books for the next month and a half.

I am a later convert to the Substack writing of Alex Dobrenko, but I read his stuff and keep thinking “this is so good,” but struggle to describe why I like it so much. I think maybe the best I can to is say that his writing voice is “wonderfully chaotic.” This essay about someone stealing his bike is exactly that, and so is the ending.

Also: I feel like I haven't mentioned the stuff in my DFTBA shop in a while, but I just got a test printed Practice Maximum Enthusiasm hoody last week and I am pretty psyched on how they turned out. And I'm very excited for the return of cotton hoody weather, which has already started in the evenings in Missoula(!). More info via this link, or click on the photo below:

Semi-Rad

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 491 NOTE: I'm publishing this week's post on Thursday since this Friday is July 4th, and lots of people/Americans do other things on July 4th. Please feel free to read it on Thursday, Friday, or whatever day suits your needs. This is a bit longer than the videos I usually include here, but I got sucked into this guy’s adventure on “America’s Worst Rated Train,” and honestly, it delivered. About halfway through, I wasn't sure it was good press for Amtrak, but by the end of...

Friday Inspiration 490 IMPORTANT FINAL REMINDER: If you or someone you know/love would enjoy this water bottle because you/they struggle to stay hydrated (or just enjoy the chart on the bottle), we’re in the final days of the pre-order campaign. After June 30, you will no longer be able to purchase these bottles (even during the holiday shopping season, when you remember that you need to get a gift for your friend Jeff, who probably would have loved one of these). Here’s the link (you can...

Friday Inspiration 489 I haven’t listened to a Moth story in a long time, but I somehow found out The Moth had a YouTube channel, and this was the first story I watched. This guy isn’t famous or anything, but I love this story, and his mom sounds like a real one. File under: Suprisingly Emotional Stories About Baseball. (video) It’s a good question: Is it possible to buy a Bob Ross painting? I mean, it should be easy, shouldn’t it? But no, in fact it is not easy, and it is possible, and...