A song, a video, and a book walk into a bar
...that's it
It’s Tuesday! Maybe it’s because of this newsletter or maybe because Mondays have been going quickly, but Tuesdays are starting to feel like the first day of the week to me. Anyways, I spent the last week/weekend jotting down everything that inspired me in any way. Every time I encountered something that spurred ideas or certain emotions, I jotted them down. I picked three things for todays letter. Hopefully they inspire you too.
In this issue
🎶 A Grammy-winning artist I heard for the first time last weekend.
🎨 A great video essay about some of my favorite animation films.
📚 Before there was Harry Potter, Milo ran shit.
Gray Area
Kaytranada. That’s the artist. I’m pretty sure he yells when he spells his name though, so technically it’s spelled KAYTRANADA. Whatever. He was nominated for best new artist this year at the Grammys and won a few other categories. But as someone who lives perpetually in the musical world of 2009, I had no idea who he was.
This past weekend Jess played me his most recent album while we drove around and I sat in silence and listened to the whole thing. It’s pretty great. If Daft Punk and DJ Khaled had a baby, it’d be Kaytranada. I can think of no better compliment. My favorite song I’ve heard so far is called “Gray Area” and if you listen to it you’ll know what I mean (hopefully).
Sound design and Hayao Miyazaki
Last week my friend Brandon recommended I check out an old YouTube channel called kaptainkristian that specializes in video essays about random nostalgic topics. One thing about me: I love a good video essay. My most watched YouTube video of all time is probably this Nerdwriter piece about the painting The Death of Socrates. So any channel that takes a similar approach to art is right up my alley.
This particular video isn’t about an old artist though, it’s about how the sound design in Hayao Miyazaki films makes the animation come to life. I’m not unique or exaggerating when I say that there are a few Ghibli films that are in my top 10 list of all time. I’ve always noticed how different the sounds in these films are. But until now, I’ve never heard it articulated so well as to why it matters.
Before HP, there was PT
I don’t remember which celebrity we were stalking, but sometime last week I saw someone post about The Phantom Tollbooth. It turns out that the reason for the post was that the writer, Norton Juster, passed away on March 8th. Seeing as he was 91 when he died I wasn’t really shocked, but it did make me pause for a second.
Anyone who knows me IRL also knows that I’m mildly obsessed with Harry Potter. It’s my favorite story hands-down. But before I picked up the first book in that saga, I was just as obsessed with The Phantom Tollbooth. It’s a quirky story about a bored boy that finds his way into a magical world of wordplay that teaches him to find joy in the mundane. It’s a cute book and I loved reading it. It’s a quick read and if you’re into wordplay I definitely recommend it. I still use the name of the main character as my own sometimes when I’m making a social media username or something. Milo.
