Month: August 2023
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Tools of the moment
An ongoing series Not Spotify. The only reason I used Spotify was to listen to the Armchair Expert podcast, which was part of the unfortunate trend of podcasts going Spotify-exclusive a few years ago. But now it’s back out in the open internet, which means I can finally stop using Spotify! Not Disney+. Last year…
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Quarterback
Didn’t think I’d actually watch Netflix’s new 8-part Quarterback miniseries, but I got sucked in. The series follows Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota throughout the 2022 season both on and off the field. I haven’t seen Hard Knocks so I don’t know how it compares in terms of tone or content, but this…
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Journalism is just the art of capturing behavior
The opening monologue of the 2003 film Shattered Glass: Some reporters think it’s political content that makes a story memorable. I think it’s the people you find… their quirks, their flaws, what makes them funny, what makes them human. Journalism is just the art of capturing behavior. You have to know who you’re writing for.…
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The Ben Folds principle of ignorance
Something I think about a lot are these lyrics from the Ben Folds song “Bastard”: You get smaller as the world gets bigThe more you know you know you don’t know shit“The whiz man” will never fit you like “the whiz kid” didSo why you gotta act like you know when you don’t know?It’s okay…
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Towards a better masculinity
The Washington Post essay by Christine Emba called “Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness” has made the rounds over the last month, and for good reason. Emba takes stock of the currently tenuous state of American masculinity, with insightful commentary from Of Boys and Men author Richard Reeves and professor Scott…