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​Friday Inspiration 539​

I haven’t watched that many TED talks recently, but the title of this one pulled me in and I have to say it did not disappoint: The Accidental Brilliance of Makeshift Signs (video)

So basically this guy posed a question about highway design on Threads, and almost no one even attempted to give him a legitimate answer, but the comments just keep delivering more and more jokes, which are I think even more rewarding (my favorite is probably the cardigan with one giant button). Also the guy probably could have googled his question, but thankfully, he didn’t.

I am borrowing this link directly from my friend Nick Triolo’s newsletter, which I read, and because I read it, I was able to take his recommendation and listen to this interview with director Ryan Coogler, who directed Sinners, which now holds the record for most Oscar nominations ever, and would you believe that Ryan Coogler went to college on a football scholarship and was majoring in chemistry, but thankfully for American cinema, he took a creative writing class, wrote one essay, and his professor told him he should think about writing screenplays (!!!).

I have found myself not once but twice during recent long trail runs stopping at the University Center on the UM campus to refill my running water bottles because I’ve planned poorly. This has reminded me that my trail days are getting longer as the temperatures are becoming more summer-y (much to my chagrin), which means I have to adjust my self-care. Which I am doing with the four products in this package from newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel and Hydration (they made an actual web page titled “Brendan Leonard’s Favorite Fuel”!). [<--This link will give you 15% off your first purchase of PFH stuff.]

This is such a cool project: Illuminated windows of New York (with no people in them, which would of course be very creepy).

There are so many interesting and wonderful things in this story about the preservation of the world’s oldest continuously used skate spot (under London’s Southbank Center), but my favorite might be the mention of London Skate Mums, whose founder, Aiwa Saito, 47, “said that although the Undercroft could be intimidating, the beginners had found a welcoming community. ‘Every skater started from the same spot, so they know how scary it is,’ she said.” [GIFT LINK]

As a kid who played basketball, I knew about Rick Barry’s amazingly high free-throw percentage (.880 in the ABA, .900 in the NBA) achieved through his underhanded (“granny shot”) technique, but I never knew he offered to teach Shaquille O’Neal (52% career free throw percentage) the underhanded shot, and that Shaq refused because he said he was “too cool for that.” Steve Magness uses this story to talk about why we sometimes choose failure because of fear (i.e. fear of looking uncool).

I have been reading (and supporting!) McSweeney’s for a long, long time, and one of my favorite recurring features of theirs has always been “Reviews of New Food,” which are less about reviewing the food and more a creative writing exercise about a new-ish food. Like this newest one about Taco Bell’s Diablo Dusted Crispy Chicken Nuggets.

If you're not currently subscribed to the My Favorite Things podcast, this newest episode is a fun one: I talked to my friend Anna Brones (artist, author, creator of the Creative Fuel newsletter) about some of her favorite things, including Swedish children's books, coffee, Daft Punk's Alive 2007, The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, and the Oblique Strategies card deck. BUT ALSO about how airlines used to a) let unaccompanied minors fly internationally not so long ago and b) make them wear a lanyard that says they're an unaccompanied minor, both facts I now know because Anna flew to Sweden from SeaTac when she was in fourth grade. The whole episode is here.​

PS: A big thanks to Tess, Roy, Adam, Emery, Adam, Laura, and Gary, who are now supporting this newsletter via Patreon and/or paid Substack subscriptions!

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