Movies
- Anna
- Spiderman: Far From Home
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
- The Accountant
- Irrational Man
Books
- The Count of Monte Cristo
- The Smartest Guys in the Room
- Talking to Strangers
- Can’t Hurt Me
- Sum
- The Right Stuff
- Wittgenstein’s Mistress
New Music
- Pop 2 by Charli XCX
- A Real Good Kid by Mike Posner
- Broken by Nine Inch Nails
- Be the Cowboy by Mitski
- Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend
Old Music
- Toxicity by System of a Down
- 808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West
- Bangarang EP by Skrillex
- Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes by Propagandhi
- The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance
Songs
- Perfect by Mike Posner
- Bambina by Vampire Weekend
- It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) by The 1975
- Slip Away by Perfume Genius
- Wish by Nine Inch Nails
- Lover I Don’t Have to Love by Bright Eyes
- On the Luna by Foals
- Unlock It by Charli XCX
- I Dare You by The XX
- Washing Machine Heart by Mitski
Ideas
- Self-pity is so seductive because:
- it allows you to win a competition of having the saddest story ever (totally unfalsifiable)
- it gives you the ultimate excuse whenever your life is less than expected
- Most petty frustration comes from artificial, unnecessary constraints (i.e., schedules)
- Looking forward to anything is deeply ingrained as a way to rescue oneself from momentary suffering
- Nervousness is merely an indication that on the other side of the current confrontation is a possibility of accomplishment
- Nobody actually wants advice, they want to be understood
- Too much luxury and convenience makes one weak aka unable to adapt aka likely to be triggered into a state of anxiety from fairly innocuous plan departures
Changed Mind About
- Spotify: the recommendation and sharing upside was worth the plunge
- Oxford commas: I use them now
- Living alone: no, I like roommates
- Tariffs: just because all economists are against something, doesn’t mean it’s stupid; people far smarter than me thought about this; it may be worth higher consumer prices to up “good” jobs in America (yes, that means their purchasing power goes down)
- Trump: came to appreciate him more; observed the total preposterousness of many of his critics; really felt how great it would be to have him as a teammate; find him funny now