#13 A March Madness-style bracket matching bear against bear.
Each with photos proving girth and inviting the public to vote on the fattest bear in each pair.
A reminder: Season One of Parentheses finishes up next week, so I’ll have time to step into my role of hapless new father. Season Two is scheduled for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (let’s say early 2020ish).
The Good Place is about the afterlife, existentialism, moral philosophy, what it means to live a good life. The show starts with a group of people dying and arriving in heaven, and then having to work out what to do next. The first twist is that some of them shouldn’t be there. And it has Ted Danson in it, and it’s very very funny
It’s made by Mike Schur, the guy who did Parks and Recreation, which means it’s both very clever (lots of twists! Don’t look it up!) and very warm-hearted. Its main thesis is the idea that people should be decent to one another, and there are basically zero other shows (or content in general, or actual people in real life) that have that message.
I know it’s not exactly news to recommend a very popular NBC show that is in its fourth season, but today I’m mainly telling you to check out the official podcast. It’s hosted by cast member Marc Evan Jackson, who has the self-described affect of C3P0, the best voice in the world and who plays the straight man in every show ever (except for this one, where he plays a different thing).
Every episode he interviews cast and crew about a specific episode, using it as a jumping off point to discuss aspects of philosophy, film production, writing room anecdotes, all that stuff. Sometimes you’ll hear from Ted Danson or Kristen Bell, sometimes you’ll hear from a graphic designer who made the signage for the fake soda brands (that’s called Greeking), or the guy who does the VFX. Either way, they’re all very clever people saying interesting things about a cool thing they did. It’s delightful. They’re genuinely geeking out about how amazing this show is (“this show is the smartest dumbest show ever" is a regular comment).
I think the reason I like it so much is that they’re a bunch of very nice, talented people who are all really proud of a cool thing they made, and are mutual fans of each other’s work. It’s good.
Every episode finishes with Jackson issuing a pretty catchy call-to-action: go do something good.
Related: Entertainment that’ll help you decompress. My wife and I are currently making our way through the Great British Bake-off, and while opinions may vary on Paul Hollywood (his hair, his eyes or his overall vibe attitude), the show itself is often exactly what we need after a long day waiting for a baby to arrive.
Moving Pictures
Check out this cool thing
This animation is made without any JavaScript or even HTML. Witchcraft.
Unsolved Mysteries
Learn/try this thing
How to create tables in Figma.
Eight habits of expert software designers.
Does a Bear Snack in the Woods?
Some silly things
An abridged audio version of Margaret Atwood’s the Testaments. I haven’t read the book yet, so I’m just assuming it’s silly.
Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons is amazing aside from having no jump shot whatsoever. So even if you don’t care about basketball, you have to appreciate watching some Philly fans celebrate him draining one in a (pre-season) game this week. Sports are cool.
Finally, I can’t believe I missed Fat Bear Week again.
Call to Action
Send this to someone you think may enjoy it, as long as they’re cool. I would love to have more of y’all on the team. No haters.
Also, go do something good.
See you next week
