MNTS # 49

[Week 44 / Year 2024] Lasorda, Maddux, School is Not Enough, Rory Sutherland, Ray Bradbury, Private Train Cars, Rubato, Fall Jazz, Thucydides, Camera Roll

Mainly Notes To Self - A rundown of stuff worth sharing.

Gentlemen. Welcome to the 49th edition of MNTS.

Let’s rock and fire.

Tommy Lasorda talking shit and throwing chedd from behind the L screen. Go Dodgers!

Greg Maddux One of a Kind Documentary

Maddux represents absolutely everything I loved about baseball. This is so good.

School is Not Enough

Simon Sarris

Sarris is on fire lately. This makes me so pumped to be a parent.

The goal of education is to create a path to mastery or responsibility. If a child can sell the fruit of his labor, so much the better. But the essential lesson is that every difficult thing attempted acts as a multiplier on his confidence and the rest of his knowledge. Drudgery is sometimes confused with building character, and I think this is a mistake. It is building skill itself that builds self-possession. After selling thousands of dollars worth of pastries over the summer, a child does not only know that he can make pastries. He knows that he can make anything.

Rory Sutherland on TikTok fame

Eventually Sutherland and Ogilvy bought the account from its creator and have continued the upload process themselves. “I don’t have any sense that this was a resentment because he thought of doing it and I didn’t, I can only be grateful for him for spotting it,” he says.

Sutherland’s reaction to this is quite telling of his character. He could have just as easily been outraged and lawyered up. It’s always a pleasure to see someones behaviors align with what they espouse when the chips are on the table.

“It occurs to me that there’s a lot of knowledge in ad agencies or the marketing departments of Unilever, or whatever. Knowledge which … if every small business, if every cafe in Britain, got just a little better at understanding the stuff then you could put a percentage point or two on GDP,” he says.

Ray Bradbury on intuition, agency, and love.

We are big fans of Mr. Bradbury.

“The man who cannot laugh freely is a sick man.

The man who cannot cry and releases tears in that direction there's a sick man.

The man who cannot be violent through exercise, through sports, through acting out his violence on paper, or painting, or acting on a stage is a sick man”.

Private Train Cars

Why is this interesting?

Can we get a NetJets but for private rail cars? I’m buying.

The interior of the Cedar Rapids private rail car.

Rubato

The folks at Rubato are absolutely nailing it. Overall, super thoughtful and well executed. I love every piece they conjure up. They make garments worthy aspiration. I’ve watched this whimsical day dream of a brand video for their latest collection more times than I care to admit. I’m struck by the masterful use of natural light, texture, and color/color grading in the cinematography and how perfectly harmonized all the imagery is. Really fun stuff.

If you want to nerd out on the brand a bit more like I did, this interview with the founders is great.

Music I’m Enjoying

Something about this season of the year calls for jazz. These are two of my favorites albums in rotation this fall.

Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz 1969-1974

Getz/Gilerto ‘76

Quote that’s been on my mind lately

What used to be described as a thoughtless act of aggression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member; to think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one's unmanly character; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action. Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of a real man, and to plot against an enemy behind his back was perfectly legitimate selfdefence.

- Thucydides

From my camera roll

That’s a wrap on 49.

Vividus Invictus!¹

AP

1. Rough Latin translation for Spirited and Resilient