Soundscapes for Work
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Hi friends,
This week I'm letting you into my bizarre way of creating soundscapes to help me get work done. My hope is you're bizarre in a similar way. For an on-theme promotion I'll be raffling off a vinyl copy of Tycho's Awake LP. Enter by emailing back your favorite work album, playlist, or artist.
- I did Fried Clay this past weekend and it was amazing. It's a 200km gravel race where you camp and ride in the woods south of Atlanta in rural Georgia. It embodies the DIY ethos of chaos and camaraderie I think gravel should always embody. After pedaling from dusk til dawn through horse trails, controlled forest service burns (literally seeing fire off the trail), and endless miles of rolling back country roads, my group called it quits before finishing the 200km - but time spent with friends I won't ever forget. Time to go back and push a little further next time. Shout out to Jim and Borja for making this so fun.
- Finding a new, bonkers YouTube video makes me want to sing. This 80s-era training video for Old Country Buffet restaurant is internet archive gold. One of the most awkwardly funny videos I've ever seen. It immediately gets placed on my YouTube Nights Playlist of weird wonders collected. "Still hot out there?"
- I think often about the simple rules that Laurie Anderson said Lou Reed lived by. First, most provocatively: "OK, so the first one is: Don't be afraid of anyone." The rest are great as well.
- I've gotten really into following professional cycling in the past several years and, although not for everyone, I enjoy it immensely. The reason to bring it up now is one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen on a bike happened this past week in Milan-San Remo (one of the "monuments" of the bike season). To set the stage - Tadej Pogačar is the best cyclist in the world. I don't root for him because 1) getting into the sport and choosing to support him is a little like getting into the NBA in the 90s and being a Michael Jordan fan, and 2) he rides for a team that is the poster child for sportswashing. Ok, not the point here. Just watch the photo finish and know that he's never won this race, it's famously stifled him in the past, he isn't best suited to it by his profile - crashes his bike, is bleeding and torn up with miles left to go, and finishes with a cracked frame. Insane.
- Interested in following a bit yourself? The Volta a Catalunya is on right now and Lantern Rouge is a great way to dip your toes.
- Cowards and Villains. I keep coming back to this article, which is a good reminder for framing politicians and politics.
- I'm a sucker for a fun web project and have been playing around with Webamp, which is a faithful browser-based recreation of the classic Winamp media player - complete with the original skins, visualizer, and that satisfying chunky UI from 1990s desktop software.
Joey
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