The Monthly Mention - January 2022

The Monthly Mention - January 2022

My monthly recommendations newsletter “The Monthly Mention” covers what I’ve been enjoying from the world of Books, Movies, Podcasts, YouTube etc.

This month’s roundup is quite word centric. But at the end of the day, it’s freezing outside - at least here in the northern hemisphere. What else would you rather do than snuggle up with a good book or even better, be writing one? (Preferably sitting by a log fire if you’ve got one.)

If you've been following my ship30for30 posts carefully a few of these recommendations will be familiar. As these have been my cultural intake over that period, they seeped into that project.

Quick Overview

📕 “Show Your Work!” - Austin Kleon

🎹 “Broken Mirror” - Elderbrook - Innerlight Ep

📘 “Make Time” - Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

🎙 TED Talk - “What you discover when you really listen.” - Hrishikesh Hirway

🎞  ”King of Kong” - Documentary

📕 BOOK

“Show Your Work!: 10 Ways To Share Your Creativity And Get Discovered” - Austin Kleon

Read this one twice. Back to back. In fairness it’s a very short book. But it was enough to give me a kick! I’ve had aspirations of being a writer for years and years and years. Yet I’ve never sat down to write a sentence, let alone a blog post. Then I read this book. And followed “the one piece of advice you must take away from this book” and went out (or should I say, stayed in) and bought a web domain and set up a site to publish a blog. And I’ve even written a post or two. For me it’s the sign of a great book if it can get me to put my bum on a chair and give writing a go. And I’ve read a lot of them - “On Writing” by Stephen King, “On Writers and Writing” by Margaret Atwood, “Draft No4” by John McPhee. All great works. Yet they didn't get me to do that. If you have creative aspirations this is a must read.

🎹 TRACK

“Broken Mirror” - Elderbrook - Innerlight Ep

Found this song via Nike’s Long Run Playlist on Apple Music. Cracking wee track to run too. But with a bit more substance than your usual boom boom boom track. The lyrics really struck a chord with me. Love the opening verse: “I don't wanna be broken and quiet, Shut off and tired at times but I am, I don't wanna be distant and cold 'Til nobody knows the person I am.” No need to get in the gym to enjoy this one though. But it’s likely what many are doing that this month! Also a plug here for Nike Run Club App. Its a great free service from Nike to get you out there and moving. Coached runs for beginners all the way to those training for marathons.

📘 BOOK

“Make Time: How To Focus On What Matters Every Day” - Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky

Written in a short form style, each chapter (tactic) is full of common sense notes. There will surely be a tip or two that applies in your daily life. We all want to do more of the things we enjoy but feel we don’t have the time. I know there is a lot of books out there that promise to provide the solution to this age old problem. I’ve read several of them. But this one seemed more realistic and applicable to me. The authors seem to get that people have jobs, kids, homes, pets etc and only have 24 hours in a day. The highlight for me is the idea of having, you guessed it, a “Highlight” blocked off in your calendar every day. This doesn’t need to be for 5 hours, but by just setting aside 1 hour per day for something that will get you through the other 23 hours. Simple, common sense advice here. But I do believe the suggestions given really will work for you in whatever circumstances you face. There is also some interesting tips on the “right” time to enjoy caffeine. For me, worth it for those pages alone. However, just for balance, I can’t abide tactic 33 - Be a Fair-Weather Sports Fan. You may as well not be a sports fan in my opinion if that’s your baseline! See my response via an atomic essay, found here.

🎙TED Talk

“What you discover when you really listen.” - Hrishikesh Hirway

Like all good Ted talks this one is built around story. It's Hrishi's story of his award-winning podcast (and now Netflix show) "Song Exploder" as well as the track he wrote after the passing of his mother. It's an open window into the creative process as well as the stories that lie behind the music. He bases the second half of his talk around the formula he uses on Song Exploder. He takes apart his song and piece by piece shows us how it was made. It's very well done, also his takeaways about listening in a world full of noise are pretty good too.

If you haven’t checked out "Song Exploder" or "The West Wing Weekly" (his other podcast), then I highly recommend them. Even if you’re not a mega fan of "The West Wing" you will enjoy the wider lessons that he and his co-host - Joshua Malina, who stared on the show - glean from all 7 seasons of the hit drama. They also have a great playful chemistry which works well on audio. When it was being released weekly it prompted me to go back and watch along with them as they went through every episode of the show.

🎞 DOCUMENTARY

"King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters"

I’ve had this gem of a documentary, The King of Kong, on my watchlist for the longest time and I finally got round to watching it. At the movies core is the often-asked question of whether the nice guy (Steve Wiebe in this case) can actually win, or do you have to be cut-throat to succeed? Does the competitive spirit squeeze out every ounce of humanity and humility that any champion has? It’s the classic David vs Goliath or in this instance Mario vs Donkey Kong. I won’t give the game away; you’ll just have to watch for yourself to find out who prevails in this duel. See my micro review here. Bottom line: A great light-hearted yet poignant watch.

📖 QUOTE FOR REFLECTION:

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb

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