Links
A regularly updated collection of things I find worth reading, watching, or listening to. Subscribe via RSS.-
After reading Dan Charnas' book on J Dilla, I am even more convinced he belongs among the legends. This op-ed in the LA Times briefly explains why. If you're a fan of J Dilla—or The Roots, or Thundercat, or Kamasi Washington, or Erykah Badu, or...—I highly recommend you read Dilla Time.
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Thinking Is Work
№ 33“It is entirely reasonable to set a schedule so that in 24 hours, 8 hours are spent sleeping, 8 hours are spent working, and 8 hours are spent living. Any work that can’t be achieved in 8 hours can—must—wait until the next day.”
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A long read distilling two years of learning by Emmanuel Quartey, who designed a home for his family in Accra, Ghana. Fascinating peek at the design process—one can only hope to be able to dabble with a project like this at some point in life.
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Thank you to Nat for bringing this to my attention; a very thoughtful handbook created by the folks at Fictive Kin, on how you can transform your website into an "ROI-generating money machine".
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This 5-chapter podcast by journalist Alex Pappademas is the best podcast on music I've found in quite some time. Instead of dissecting the music beat by beat, he dives deeper into the creative process and the context in which the music was made, speaking to the collaborators that helped Kendrick make the album, as well as to the man himself. "Good Kid was the classic, DAMN. was the blockbuster, and To Pimp A Butterfly the masterpiece."
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Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is, already, one of my favourite books I've read in 2022. It's an incredible and sensitively written book. He has now won a MacArthur "genius" grant, and spoke to The New Yorker about his approach to writing.
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Jerry Useem with some interesting nuggets with regards to what we're missing out on when we don't commute.
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A long summary of Johnny Rodgers' experience building a modern home in the woods. "It covers the 5 years from before we bought the land to after we completed the house and took residency." Inspiring read, reminiscent of the one by Emmanuel.
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A fascinating look behind the scenes of Bookshop.org's unexpected growth. What may come across as an overnight success is (of course) the result of lots of hard, hard work (although, there is an element of 'overnight' hidden in the bookselling-boom of the pandemic).
I'm currently awaiting my Bookshop affiliate profile. I was already linking to them from my newsletter, and will soon be linking to them from my website, as well.
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Eames Institute
№ 25The Eames Institute enlisted Instrument to "co-create a digital platform to unveil their vast collection to the world". A dream client if there ever was one, the folks at Instrument asked themselves: can a website have a soul? The answer is a resounding yes, and the accompanying case study documents that work beautifully.