The Friday High Five

Stuff I'm into, for January 6, 2023

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Every Friday I share 5 things I am digging at the moment. This is that.

One super brief administrative note: earlier this week, this newsletter crossed the 100 subscriber milestone and is well on the way to 200. I don’t know what’s more mind-blowing—that we did it in less than 1 month, or that so many people are interested. I legitimately tried to talk myself out of doing this newsletter. I thought nobody would care. Thanks for proving me wrong!

The support and encouragement means more to me than you can possibly know. It’s one thing to read something I wrote on the Internet. It’s another thing entirely to trust me with your inbox. I’m sincerely grateful for every one of you.

Stuff I’m Crying About

Look—if we’re going to be friends, we should probably get this one out of the way. I am a huge sap. I cry at movies. I cry at cards. Sometimes I start welling up for no good reason when I look at my teenage daughter (they’re more prideful tears than, ‘dear God, what have I done’ tears).

I’m sure all of you know who Damar Hamlin is. Even if you don’t watch American Football, you probably know his name. Like most of you, I’ve been following the story. Checking for updates multiple times a day. Praying the kid wakes up.

It’s still early days, but it looks like we might get the happy ending we were hoping for. I don’t know what’s more inspiring: the way his ‘Christmas gifts for kids’ GoFundMe blew past 7 Million Dollars, or seeing everyone come together in unity over this. I know that togetherness is just a passing thing, but it’s nice while it lasts.

Stuff I’m Watching

I know the fifth season of The Crown released quite a bit ago, but it’s pretty rare for me to watch anything right after it releases any more. I was often a week or two behind on my precious Andor. Life is just busy. And it doesn’t help that there are so many shows worth seeing.

My wife and I are big fans of The Crown (on Netflix), which is kinda funny because I lowkey despise the royals. Not so much the people—I’m sure some of them are perfectly fine, though I tend to think obscene wealth and privilege has a deteriorating effect on people. It’s the way Americans go all gaga over them that rubs me the wrong way. Why do so many people care about the royalty of a foreign country? Is it the whole ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous’ vibe? (Seriously: if you have an answer for this, let me know. I genuinely don’t understand.)

Anyway… The Crown follows the royal family through decades and decades. As a history guy, it makes for some seriously addicting TV. Season five concerns Princess Diana and her tragic death, which I vaguely remember (I was 19 at the time and had other things on my mind). I love seeing how the little, seemingly innocuous things—a chance meeting, an accident of fate—end up determining the course of our lives.

Stuff I’m Reading

I mentioned previously that I’m a promiscuous reader. I don’t mean to be. I certainly don’t want to be. I just find that most books aren’t more interesting than something new I could start reading, which is why my ‘currently reading’ list on GoodReads has over 50 books on it. I’m obviously not reading 50 books at the same time—that would be crazy—I just put them down in favor of something more interesting and don’t pick them up again, though I intend to. Someday.

I started W. Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge a few weeks ago. The early pages were admittedly a bit rough and I struggled to latch on. Frankly, if not for the recommendation of my friend Paul Combs, I probably would’ve stopped reading. Which would’ve been a tragedy, because this is a Book. Here’s the best endorsement I can give: Not only have I stopped reading anything else, I’ve reached that stage where I carry the book around the house with me, just in case.

Stuff I’m Building

I’m now going to talk about something in the most vague terms imaginable and still try to elicit your interest. It’s like a magician’s trick, but with words. Behold!

I’ve been working with a handful of amazing writers on something really cool. Something really nice.

I can’t talk about it yet because that would be not cool. But I can say that writers in particular will get value out this. We are aiming to launch in January. I’ll obviously be talking about it here, so stayed tuned!

Stuff I’ve Written

A list of stuff I’ve published around the web in the past week.

• My 2023 Writing Goals (Medium) 2023 should be my best year yet.

• Marvel’s Bubble Has Finally Burst and There’s No Going Back (Medium) Even as a longtime fan, the MCU has become too much.

• I Wasn’t Prepared for How Thirsty and Gay Star Wars Tumblr Is (Medium) I think the title on this one speaks for itself.

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What are you into at the moment? Drop a comment and let me know! Don’t be shy. :)