Do you know the most disappointing thing about the United States of America?
That the entire narrative of and about the country is defined by a small handful of topics recycled so quickly that outsiders often don’t even know which Police Officer killing, which mass shooting, which disappointing President, or which sexually abusive old white male you’re all angry about this week. It’s hard to keep up, and you need new stories. Not new fake stories so the rest of the world thinks you’re cool again. You need new truths so the new stories just kinda flow pretty easily.
Or be like Iceland. No-one ever hears about Iceland unless it’s a photo of some cool landscape.
Luna just asked Britt, “will you ever kill me, mummy?” And honestly, at the age of four it’s impressive that she’s already assembling friends and enemies lists, and that I got an auto-invite to the friends list but her mother required some investigation first.
One Million Downloads on Unsplash
Ive always secretly thought that when I reached 1 million downloads on Unsplash I’d stop posting there.
But as I passed the landmark this week I realised that sometimes we set silly goals about silly things.
I still don’t know why I share my art there, but I know I get more messages, emails, and commissioned paid work from Unsplash than I do from any other of my networks or communities.
It might be 8yrs late, but you’re finally getting my book: The Rebel’s Guide To Getting Married is coming in 2023. It’s a book about planning a wedding with intention and purpose, written by yours truly, Oz’s most hated celebrant & I’m writing live on my wedding blog.
Every time Buzz Aldrin comes up in the news or conversation I think of this Rhys Darby standup piece from 15-odd years ago. Starts 2:30 in.
Current status: forgot to put coffee in the percolator.
Throwback to that time ten years ago when I had awesome not-grey hair
Judging by the many different recordings I’m hearing and also seeing pop up on the web of Rick Rubin doing the circuit to promote his new 📚 book, The Creative Act, he’s much better in conversation than the written word. I’m reading the book and I’m struggling to stay tuned in.
📚 The Art of Growing Up by John Marsden:
“A friend of mine told the story of driving along a country road one day with her little son, when he remarked: ‘Look at the beautiful tree, Mummy.’ She replied: ‘Yes, it’s a manna gum.’ There was a long silence from the back seat, broken at last by her child asking: ‘So is there a name for everything, then?’”
Current status: horizontal at El Pescadero
E.B. White in Here Is New York:
“New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation; and better than most dense communities it succeeds in insulating the individual (if he wants it, and almost everybody wants or needs it) against all enormous and violent and wonderful events that are taking place every minute.”
If you’re wondering how Starlink is going, at my local Todos Santos (Baja California Sur, Mexico) post office today there 16 new Starlink packages and they say that every day there’s “lots.”
Why is no-one talking about how most movies are just made up in people’s brains?!
Sad. The person typing this has finally given up on the dream of eternal youth and is scaling back his dream of More Space to Default.
Popped up to say hi then went back down again
Hola
I’ve lived around the ocean my whole life and I’ve never seen the ocean as angry and ferocious as I have at Todos santos, Baja California Sur, this week.
In so many ways existing on earth has never been better with threat of war or famine never being lower for so many of us. But for 339 million people in 2023 things aren’t so rosy. The New Humanitarian writes: Why these 10 humanitarian crises demand your attention now.
Currently reading: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin 📚