It’s unseasonably warm in Minnesota, and spring birds are returning: phoebes and bluebirds are back this week, but my local Great Horned Owls are quiet. I never know if that’s because it’s easier to hear them in winter (it’s very bare, so sound travels), or if I just get more busy this time of year and miss out on their hooting at dusk.
Here are 10 interesting things worth sharing this week:
- “When somebody wants to be a writer, I think the biggest obstacle many of us have is to give ourselves permission to try doing it.” Great video from Brendan, who’s unwittingly given me permission and shown me a path to be a writer in the 14 years I’ve followed him. “People are writers because they’re writing. They’re doing the thing that they were curious about doing.” Writing is a verb, not a noun.
- Maria got this karaoke mixer with 2 wireless mics that can pair to our phones and bluetooth speaker so we can use Apple Music’s karaoke mode to do karaoke at home. Bonus: it’s the actual song, not a karaoke version, and you can adjust the recorded singer’s volume!
- Geese’s “Getting Killed” album finally clicked for me! It reminds me of Velvet Underground and Rolling Stones and sounds like a summer party with the windows open.
- A year ago I would spend my morning reading an essay of Montaigne’s instead of scrolling on my phone. Somewhere along the way I fell out of the habit. But it reminds me of Austin Kleon reading Thoreau’s journals as an “On This Day” practice, something I might have to try after spring ahead’s given me more time to read in the mornings.
- Some writers spend a half hour journalling when they wake up, a la “The Artist’s Way,” which I found fulfilling at quieting my brain chatter but very time-consuming and hand-cramping. Lately, I’ve been typing into my Obsidian Daily Note in the morning and throughout the day instead. I’ve found new things to write about, and it helps me get out of my own way and get more on the page instead.
- In my experience just doing things feels uncomfortable in the short-term but is the fastest way to make positive changes in your life. I was simultaneously thrilled and scared when I quit my job to freelance full-time, but it was a formative! Life’s brief, just do stuff.
- This video of Kermit the Frog singing Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” consistently puts me in a better mood. (Yes this is a go-to karaoke song.)
- In the age of AI slop and outright wrong AI summaries, I can’t recommend enough Britannica as an excellent complement to Wikipedia when looking for a quick, accurate overview of something. I use it to look up people and events every day; their paywall is nonexistent if you use Google Search instead of theirs.
- Very excited to hear that Stephen Colbert, a card-carrying Tolkien nerd, is a co-writer for a new Lord of the Rings movie — and one that will probably have Tom Bombadil?!
- I can’t completely articulate what makes Dave Fogler’s drive to hide his home stereo system control inside this book on his fireplace mantel so relatable, but I loved every second of it.
See ya on down the dusty trial,
Isak