Hi All,
Welcome to the Weekly Rapport. A weekly guide of things I’m reading, doing, and experimenting with during this boring-ass quarantine. Enjoy.
Announcing my Newsletter
I finally figured out how to do a newsletter through this blog, so if you’d like to receive it feel free to enter your email address on the right hand side. I promise not to spam your inbox and you can unsubscribe at any time. I’m going to use the blog to write long-form content and I’ll use the newsletter as a weekly view to highlight what I’m reading, viewing, doing, etc.
I do apologize if it doesn’t send through initially or you have any difficulties getting it – I’m still figuring out some of the backend tech to get it exactly how I need. Forgive me, but I hope you get it in your inbox and drink your morning coffee while reading my orgasmic words.
Quote of the Week
“Whatever unique spark you bring to the world, hold onto it. Nurture it, develop it,” writes Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon in a message to 2020 graduates. “Be curious and open to new thinking, different cultures, the rich diversity of the lives of others. Yet always stay true to the principles that matter most to you. You know what those principles are. Don’t surrender them easily.”
Instagram Post of the Week – My Three Book Recommendations
What I’m Reading
On Writing by Stephen King
This is no doubt the best book on writing that I know of. In college we were forced to read The Elements of Style, which I’m sure if I went back to look at it, would find incredibly valuable. But at the time it read more like a textbook to me. Stephen King’s On Writing is so well articulated and literally the exact type of instruction I was looking for. It’s part-memoir of how he grew in the writing world, and part-instructional book on the key aspects to writing which often go unanswered or unnoticed. It feels like he’s writing the book directly for you as he speaks in a sarcastic ways to get his point across. I highlighted so many sections and it has given me the confidence to continue writing every day, which is mandatory if you want to be even a mediocre writer.
It features some gems and has gotten me to start writing for at least 30 minutes every single day.
“You must not come lightly to the blank page.”
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.”
“Write with the door closed. Rewrite with the door open.”
“Once you know what the story is and get it right – or as right as you can, anyway – it belongs to anyone who wants to read it.”
What I’m Watching
Dave, starring Lil Dicky
I love Lil Dicky and his odd sense of humor. I also love comedian Andrew Santino who plays the best friend in Lil Dicky’s new show on FX, Dave (check out Santino’s hilarious podcast Whiskey Ginger). I watched the first three episodes and it’s pretty good. I will warn that there are a lot of dick and sex jokes that I’m not a huge fan of. I’m not prude to it, I just don’t find dick or dirty sex jokes particularly funny. I feel like the show is still raw but it definitely has a lot of potential. Between the guests and the actors on the show, I’m going to give it a few more episodes before I fully form my opinion on it.
New Add-On I’m Using
You may notice a lot of typos in my posts. It’s not that I’m a bad speller, I just like to get all my thoughts out quickly without caring about typos or grammatical errors. I’ll go back to edit it later. Sometimes I’m too lazy to edit, or I just miss the typo altogether.
Surprisingly, WordPress (who hosts this site) does not have a spellcheck built in, so I have no idea if I’m spelling the restaurant correctly (still have a tough time with that one). Grammarly is a browser add-on that you can download for free on Chrome and it will not only show your spelling and grammar mistakes, but it will suggest different writing styles (I turned that feature off, mainly not to sap my self-confidence…)
What I’m Drinking
Joe Rogan is really the only reason I have even heard of this. I like CBD but don’t like how expensive it can be. I know it’s gotten a lot of flack for being this sort of snake oil substance that claims all of these different healing devices, but I really just use it for inflammation. I saw that Kill Cliff was offering a 30% discount on a 12-pack of their “Orange Kush” canned drink so I went for it. It was only $48 for the 12-pack and I love the drinks. Ordering a few more today.
What I’m Listening To to Focus
Junip/José Gonzalez
I’ve always been a huge fan of José Gonzalez and his band, Junip. Especially after I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, whose soundtrack is made up of a few of their songs. It’s great music to focus to and it’s what I’m listening to now as I write this.
Thanks for reading!
KB