Friday Inspiration 378

brendan

May 5

I have been listening to the My Analog Journal DJ mixes for a couple years now, and I know music recommendations are always hit or miss, but I will say that this one, Deep Fried Funk 45s with Ken Okuda, is the set that finally got me to support them on Patreon. You can't skip ahead through the tracks, but let me just say some of my favorites are on the back half. (video)

A GENTLE REMINDER: You can still sign up for my *FREE* pop-up newsletter about creativity, MAKE IT, a daily illustrated micro-essay from May 15th to June 8th. (It is separate from this newsletter, and the subscriber list will be deleted on June 8th after the final email is sent out). 2,300+ people have signed up so far and I could not be more excited.

A long time ago, when he was a grad student at the Colorado School of Mines, my friend Kurt went up to the jukebox in a bar (I think maybe the Ace-Hi?) and played "Midnight Rider" by the Allman Brothers Band several times in a row—if memory serves, maybe eight. No one even noticed that it was the same song, because, as Kurt said, that guitar just lulls everyone into a daze. A few years after he told me that story, I read this brilliant essay about a similar situation involving Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town," and just remembered it again when the author tweeted about it this week. I highly recommend reading it if you enjoy laughing—the whole idea and execution of it is pure art.

I just discovered last week that there is a twitter account dedicated to tracking down, and illustrating, all of the Nike sneakers worn by characters in Ted Lasso. How did I discover this? Hilary and I were watching Episode 5 of Season 3, and I shouted "Look at Zava's shoes!" They're the same running shoes I wore in last year's NYC Marathon (along with my Roy Kent jersey). I bought three pairs because they were on sale later in the fall. I'm not saying the shoes are cool, or that I'm cool, but now I call them "the Zava shoes."

When I was in high school, I don't think I even knew that going to "design school" was a real thing, but over the past few years, I've started getting increasingly into design, partly through the 99 Percent Invisible podcast, Design Matters, and watching Aaron Draplin presentations. And I am not the biggest sci-fi geek in the world (or maybe even on my block), but this collection of sci-fi movie logos just hits some sort of sweet spot of design + nostalgia for me.

Speaking of geekdom, I completely forgot yesterday was Star Wars Day until I read this list, which is pretty genius: Yoda Botches Five Classic Jokes

OK this is more than one link about Ted Lasso for this week, but on a completely different note from the first one: An Anglican priest breaks down the idea of Ted Lasso as a "holy fool." I was quite pleasantly surprised by this one, honestly.

The only thing that would make this Kool-Aid Man statue in Hastings, Nebraska, better is if he was actually crashing through a brick wall, like in the 1980s commercials that have been burned into my brain forever.

Speaking of Kool-Aid Man, if you're anywhere near Seattle next Saturday, May 13th, I'm doing an art installation at Assembly Coffee in Ballard, and it will be up for a month. I'll be there from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday—come and say hi! Also, you can pick up one of these limited edition cards, which you can hang somewhere in your home to remind yourself of the time you bought coffee for someone you didn't know: