Real quick, before diving in, I’ve loved sharing my thoughts, ideas, and finds here on Matters of Varying Importance! Hopefully some of you have found it fun, too! If you have, consider sharing it using the buttons at the top of this newsletter. I love writing it and would love to share it with even more people.
Thank you in advance!
Photo by Travis Rainey, Styling by Joseph De Leo
Winter is toying with me this year. Four weeks ago we had weather near 80 degrees, two weeks ago I had to spend a couple minutes warming my 3-year-old’s hands up before we biked the quarter-mile home from the park, last week I rarely needed more than a light jacket, and all this week we’ve vacillated back and forth between jacket and no jacket weather…I just want to wear my jackets, it’s one of life’s little pleasures!
It’s also keeping me from moving into “cozy season.” Am I supposed to settle in for some nice movies nights? Or should I be taking advantage of a 50 degree afternoon and hit the park or a hiking trail? Hot coffee or cold brew?? I need some clearer messaging. Right now I’m getting all sorts of mixed signals from Mother Nature.
Well, it has been consistently wet, which has made it a good time to get some reads in.
Reading
Normally, a significant amount of my reading time goes to the myriad news apps I have on my phone and newsletters sent to my email. The content there hasn’t been nearly as enjoyable due to…well, the state of everything. So, I’ve had to find other sources of words.
Over the last months I’ve been moving away from the news (a highly recommended mental health move - five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐).
What have I been filling my time with? Mostly food, hide and seek with the kiddo, and working some extra hours at the new job, but I’ve also managed to sprinkle in some really wonderful new reads:
Delayed Gratification - boy, what a cool publication. Delayed Gratification calls itself “The Slow Journalism Magazine,” and does exactly that. The magazine releases an issue each quarter that dives deeply into the events of the previous quarter. What’s the use of getting the news late you may ask? Two things: quality of the reporting and the ability to tell the whole story.
These days, a lot of news is headlines, clickbait, a social media post…it’s the entirety of a massively complex issue being distilled into 4 bullet points. Delayed Gratification lets you sink into a story, understand the context, and often learn about the resolution to the issue - something I feel is often missing from today’s media environment…they like to talk about the issue when it’s at its craziest, not when it’s been resolved.
Mountain Gazette - alright, Mountain Gazette is, if I’m being honest, a bit pretentious. It’s website says things like “nobody writes stories about the joy of going outside“ - except them of course. Obviously, there are plenty of people who write stories about the joy of going outside. While not intentionally, I think it sometimes makes the outdoors feel like a luxury good…not my preferred way of looking at it. BUT…the magazine is gorgeous. Like, wow. It’s printed in an 11×17 format and has massive, beautiful, raw, vivid photography and I love it. I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for it. The stories are honestly incredible, too, and are often from people who aren’t professional journalists, just outdoor or adventure enthusiasts.
The Name of the Wind - this book, written by Patrick Rothfuss, is likely my favorite book. Ever. I finished it (for the second time) two nights ago and it did not disappoint. Adventure ✔ Magics ✔ Incredible Narrative ✔ Emotions ✔ Unbelievable Characters ✔ The book has so much to offer and tells its story in a way that is refreshingly unique. Buy this book and read it.
The Work of Art - Author Adam Moss has made his career largely in magazine editing, but through that found a desire to discover what inspires and drives people during some of their creative acts. Moss’s writing style is one of my favorite parts of the book. It feels effortless, and avoids seeming self-important on a topic where people easily begin to sound like they think they’re gods surrounded by uncreative, simplistic mortals 😅
If you’re looking for a good fantasy series, and a bit of an easier read that The Name of the Wind, I’m in the middle of the second book of The Licanius Trilogy and it has been fantastic so far. Excellent worldbuilding, solid characters, cool magics.
The shift away from news and social media as my primary areas of reading has been nice. I’ve definitely become a big fan of magazines. There are some high quality publications out there. The other things I’ve found interesting are the niche subjects different magazines cover and the sense of community that comes from reading those. For example, I subscribe to one called Fujilove that is all about Fujifilm cameras and camera talk. I love it and think I may try to submit a story to it someday!
If you have any recommendations (books, magazines, newsletters, short stories, whatever) feel free to send them over to my email, [email protected], and I’ll likely share people’s recommendations in a future newsletter.
Interesting Finds
Hank Green has been a staple of the internet for as long as I can remember. He specializes in simply explaining scientific concepts but also loves to ensure that people understand how to engage with the modern information environment to make sure they come away with correct information, which can be hard these days. He recently posted two videos I’ve loved. One on algorithmic manipulation on X vs. Bluesky vs. Threads. The other is about looking beyond rage bating tweets or clickbait headlines to find out what’s actually going on. Both are fantastic.
I was introduced to the band Falling in Reverse a couple weeks ago by a coworker. It’s not my typical kind of music, but I dove in. More than anything, I noticed that their music video production value is better than most Marvel productions. It’s absolutely insane. Check out Prequel for a good example.
If you’re looking for some good music to play around the house, NPR’s top 50 albums of the year is a great place to start. I personally loved Remi Wolf’s Big Ideas and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter.
Reviews
I recently got the Uni Jetstream x Karimoku 4&1 pen for my wife. She loved it so much I got myself a slightly cheaper version and wow…I thought any pen was fine but this pen is fantastic. It always writes well, never bleeds, and I’ve loved having color options for organizing my work and personal project notes.
In the vein of stationary, the Kokuyo Campus Flat Notebook is awesome. The binding was engineered to allow the notebook to lay completely flat, making it easy to take notes across two pages. It’s fantastic.
If you have kids, I highly recommend the movie Klaus. It is funny, heartfelt, the animation is amazing, and it’s a fun take on the origin of Santa Claus. We watched it with our 3-year-old and it’s been a while since I’ve heard him laugh that hard. The movie can be found on Netflix.