August 2022

😀 Updates since last month

Updated: August 1, 2022

📗 Book I’m currently reading

  • The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
    • Still working on this one. I found it a little tougher than I though and I had to go check out the Cliffs Notes after reading each chapter.  I took a break while reading What Makes Sammy Run, but finishing it up now.
  • The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
    • I’ve never read this, so why not?

📕 Book I finished reading last month

  • What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg
    • This was something different than what I usually read.  It’s a novel about a guy who will stop at nothing, and do things that most of us would not be proud of, to succeed in early Hollywood.

🎸 Music I’ve been listening to

  • Spotify Sessions, John Moreland
    • John Moreland came out with his new album last month, Birds in the Ceiling.  But nothing beats his old, sad songs that he plays on the live Spotify Sessions.

🎧 Podcast episodes I thought were interesting

  • Time Management for Mortals, Making Sense with Sam Harris
    • This was quite a different perspective on time management and task management.  It was a refreshing take on this topic.
  • Episode 225: Joy Oladokun, Song Exploder
    • We watched Joy open up for Dermot Kennedy last year in St Louis.  Dermot was having an off-night, it seemed, so Joy was the highlight.  This podcast was interesting to hear how she wrote her song, Look Up.

🎥 Videos I thought were worth watching

  • Neil deGrasse Tyson explains Starry Night, Joe Rogan
    • I had watched this once before, but after going to the Beyond Van Gogh exhibit, I revisited this video.  I think he explains art, in general, pretty good.
  • Cemetery Scene, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
    • I’ve never watched this movie, but I like this scene.  Movies moved a little slower in the 60’s than they do today.

Quote I’ve been thinking about



When we say that our lives are short; short compared to what?

Certainly short compared to the life of a hypothetical immortal being.  But it might make more sense to compare our lives, not to a hypothetical immortal being – but to all the countless hypothetical people who never got to be born in the first place. From that perspective, it’s not really cruel that our lives aren’t longer – rather it’s a staggering, stupendous bonus that we get any time on the planet as conscious creatures at all.

– Oliver Burkeman on the Making Sense podcast