A Letter for Future Artists, Ben Franklin's Virtues, Surviving the Seas, etc.
In which I share a lot of things I discovered this week, but no skate videos. OK, one skate video.
🙋♀️ Hi, everybody. I hope you had a pleasant week. For the second time, I have agreed to be a mentor in the region’s One and All, an “eight-week program designed to support more equitable access to successful entrepreneurship and small-business ownership through a combination of webinar-based learning, networking, mentorship, business coaching, engagement with subject matter experts and access to an extended resource network.” Looking forward to working with my mentee and sharing my experiences.
📖 Just finished The Pale King, by David Foster Wallace. “If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish.”
🎷 Jazz legend Wayne Shorter passed away a few days ago. An open letter he and Herbie Hancock wrote for the next generation of artists:
“First, awaken to your humanity. We are not alone. We do not exist alone and we cannot create alone. What this world needs is a humanistic awakening of the desire to raise one’s life condition to a place where our actions are rooted in altruism and compassion. You cannot hide behind a profession or instrument; you have to be human. Focus your energy on becoming the best human you can be. Focus on developing empathy and compassion. Through the process you’ll tap into a wealth of inspiration rooted in the complexity and curiosity of what it means to simply exist on this planet. Music is but a drop in the ocean of life.”
✍️ In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin shared his thirteen virtues. “Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
✒️ The shape of stories, a lecture by Kurt Vonnegut. “This rise and fall [is] artificial. It pretends that we know more about life than we really do.”
📚 Thought this was interesting. Francis Bacon was opposed to the printing press because of the “quality, quantity, and authority of printed knowledge.” Somewhat related: the human tendency to put everything in one place, which led to the encyclopedia, largely eradicated in this day and age.
🎡 A video highlighting the work of Vollis Simpson, who used “found scrap metal along with many colorful bits of material to create” unique windmills that looked like rocket ships and carnival rides.
🍿A breakdown of box office success by MPAA rating, from 1980 to 2022. “The year which saw the highest percentage of R-rated hits in the top ten was 1987, where movies like Fatal Attraction, Beverly Hills Cop II, Good Morning, Vietnam, The Untouchables, Stakeout, Lethal Weapon and The Witches of Eastwick made up 70% of the top ten box office.”
🎥 Take a peak at White Lotus’ homage to L’Avventura, a film that was also an influence and was referenced in the second season of Master of None.
📺 Party Down just made its triumphant return. If you haven’t seen the original series, I recommend, unless you hate cuss words. The Ringer did an oral history of the show, an entertaining read unless you, ya know, hate cuss words.
🎶 ‘Member Pocket Rockers?
☀️ Let’s think about all the beach towns we’re gonna visit this summer, shall we? Happy to see Saugatuck and Douglas made the cut.
🤘 “There is a very limited range of hobbies that are acceptable as an older woman,” said Miller. “If you like music, for example, then you’re expected to join a choir.” On a UK city’s punk collective for older women.
🏀 Love this video on unexpected NBA performances since 1985. “You also get a fun little tutorial in how statistical analysis works and the importance of paying attention to the right data in order to get an answer that’s actually meaningful and relevant.”
😴 One thing I read a lot about, because I’m not the best at it, is sleep. On the importance of REM: “If you’ve ever gone to bed upset about something and woken up noticeably less bothered, it’s likely a result of the emotional processing and memory reconsolidation that happen during REM.”
💦 Rare drone footage of a “reverse waterfall” in Utah. Neat.
🛹 Watched this video of freestyle skater Isamu Yamamoto one too many times not to share.
🥃 So canned beef bouillon on the rocks might not sound like a cocktail, but that didn’t stop Campbell’s from marketing as such. “Don Draper might have snorted at the idea of a zero-proof libation, but Campbell’s took their “Soup on the Rocks” campaign completely seriously. In August 1955, the company rolled out a splashy ad with a color illustration of its ‘cocktail’ in LIFE magazine. More ads followed, along with promotional gifts of Soup on the Rocks to actors and athletes, including the entire Chicago White Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers. The drink appeared on menus from the Brown Derby in Los Angeles and Sardi’s in New York.” Bottoms up.
🌊 In 1971, Dougal Robertson and his family spent over a month on a life raft after a whale attack sunk their schooner 200 miles off the coast of Galapagos. They were eventually rescued by a Japanese fishing boat. Robertson would go on to write Sea Survival: A Manual, containing passages that could be applied to any who feel like they’ve lost all hope. “I have no words to offer which may comfort the reader who is also a castaway, except that rescue may come at any time but not necessarily when you expect it; and that even if you give up hope, you must never give up trying, for, as the result of your efforts, hope may well return and with justification.”
❤️ “Folks, I'm telling you, birthing is hard and dying is mean—so get yourself a little loving in between.” -Langston Hughes
✌️ That’s it for this week. I will talk to you next Sunday, and until then, Remember to keep the Hoping Machine Running.
Love,
Luke
