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​Friday Inspiration 533​
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A FINAL NOTICE: As of me typing these words on Thursday afternoon, we still had three (3) spots remaining in this session of the How To Tell One Story online writing course. It is a do-it-at-your-own-pace e-mail course, with 12 lessons delivered over the span of 6 weeks. Each email is a 3- to 5-minute read, with an illustration, a quick video, and a short writing exercise at the end. More than 225 people have now completed the course, and registration for this session closes tomorrow night (11:59 p.m. April 25) or once those final three spots are filled. Click here for more info and/or to register before it's full(!). ​

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If you have ever caught yourself suddenly distracted from a movie because a baby in a scene didn’t look realistic, this video is a great explainer why that is—or maybe more accurately, how babies in movies are a problem even Hollywood millions can’t solve. (video)​

I’m sure this person could have just googled “What does CVS stand for?” but the replies they got in response to posting the question on Threads are so much better than the actual correct answer.

I’ve been hearing from a lot of folks about their musical memories in response to the post I wrote last week about my way-too-expensive vintage (antique?) boom box, and Sheila sent me this link to a story about the psychology of why songs we loved between ages 13 to 18 hit so much harder emotionally, and why they feel even more intense later in life (which, in my experience, checks out).

Also RE: the boom box essay, Monica sent me this WGN story about a Chicago guy who recorded 10,000+ concerts on cassette from 1984 to the mid-2000s, which is amazing, and what’s even more amazing is that they’re in the process of being digitally archived—2500+ of them are already available to listen to here.

Injinji is sponsoring this newsletter, which means my toes have been happily esconced in individual fabric compartments during every run I’ve done in the past few week. Not coincidentally, this is also the case for the toes of ultrarunning legends Courtney Dauwalter and Jeff Browning when they line up at the Cocodona 250 a week and a half from now on May 4. I don’t know what Courtney and Jeff’s favorite socks are, but mine are the Trail Midweight Crew, which you can see via this link (where there’s also a 20% off code, SEMIRADCOCO).

This is kind of old news since it came out on March 10, but I made 100 illustrations for Chris Burkard’s new book, Out There: An Uncomplicated Field Guide to Outdoor Photography, in the process learning a bit about photography but also feeling kind of smart that I understood what Chris was talking about most of the time when it came to photo tips.

I’m not saying this joke about spending money on a new hobby is necessarily about you and your hobbies, but I’m pretty sure it’s about me and some of the hobbies I’ve picked up over the years.

This is super fun and I can’t believe I had no idea it was going on for the past few weeks: LitHub did a March Madness-style playoff to determine the best literary film adaptation of the past 50 years, letting readers vote to decide. I won’t tell you who won, but you can find out here, as well as view the entire bracket (which includes a bunch of my favorite movies, some of which didn’t even make it past the first round(!)).

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