{D} 162: Are you trapped?

pics + links // photos are gateways // questions are invitations

Hey there from the high valley of Mexico City.

I saw Paris, Texas in the theater the other day.

So langorously slow, that movie. From the moment Harry Dean Stanton walks out of the old quiet desert you know you could never watch this at home.

That’s the last remaining benefit of a theater, almost — a place to keep cellular distractions in your pocket.

Used to be you’d go to a theater to get something you couldn’t get anywhere else: see a movie star, recline in a comfortable seat, enjoy a communal experience.

But the stars appear on every podcast now, your own sofa is more plush, and your community is online, all the time, just like you.

One day we’ll think of movies attached to theaters like we think of landlines attached to buildings. You used to have to travel to a building to call another building, and wasn’t that strange.

Strange, too, that Paris, Texas is set in the vast American West, but the characters are each trapped inside the tiny rooms of their own emotions.

The desert and highways splay outwards forever but the people can’t really go anywhere, no matter how hard they try.

They’re trapped as if behind glass, I think, as I run my thumb down the screen of my phone.

-s.

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💕 All photos have secret links. If you’re not clicking the photos you’re missing out on the secret links. Click a secret link today. 💕

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• “When I doubt what I do or am unable to get myself to work, the only ­thing that has got me out of bed is a self-­administered assignment.” 100 Not So Oblique Strategies from Nayland Blake [Hyperallergic]

• Speaking of beds: “If I find I’m not in a state of grace I try to go back to bed.” Leonard Cohen on riding the chaos [Why are you not reading]

• “It led me to write in order for the first time in my career.” The Freedom of Constraints [Author Insider]

• Point: Dating app Feeld’s new magazine celebrates f***ing [It’s Nice That]

• Counterpoint: Nobody’s naked in locker rooms anymore [The Atlantic]

• Other point: signs that culture is returning (again) to the physical [Ness]

• how to use the internet again: a curriculum [Offline Crush]

• Behind the scenes: Casino Noticings [Arena]

• The secret history of Hollywood’s top magical consultancy firm, Deceptive Practices [Metrograph]

• Faster Content Creators, Kill Kill: This is the marketing team that’s helping the Army recruit [Monocle] and this is the youtuber with 1.42M scubscribers who’s helping the Air Force [Sam Eckholm]

• The future is engagement prompts: AI’s Next Smart Move Might Be Scrapping the Chatbot [Bloomberg]

• Related: “I put together a living Google Sheet with all the words, phrases, and structural patterns I’ve found that have become obvious tells of AI writing.” [Sally Slater]

• “People love process. People like watching other people do their jobs, especially if it’s a job you yourself are not familiar with, and especially if that person is actually good at their job.” Pluribus and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan on how Stephen King’s book “On Writing” helped him hone his craft [The Watch pod]

• David Coggins on 50 Things Learned By 50. I misread #4 entirely: “You Are Responsible For Your Own Wake.” [The Contender]

• A former buddy from the Thrillist days is now making canned sparkling espresso spritz drinks and I would really like to try one [Esprizzo]

• Timothy Chalamet, elf princes, and The Hollywood Handsome Man Chart

• “You wear a sleep apnea machine and i’m in early menopause, let’s f*ck.”

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i draw things

Vegas baby. Vegas. Working on this illo has given me the opportunity to explore a variety of brushes in Procreate. Goddamn I love neon.

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Delightful is a 100% organic, free-range, desktop-to-inbox newsletter with links and things, usually. Your host is Steve Bryant, friendly neighborhood insights and content strategist. Let’s work together or go on a hike or something. steve@thisisdelightful.com

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{ 🔒 archive }

Creativity, illustration, language, stuff like that

• What did you learn about yourself today?
  Notes on picking up drawing 30 years later

• 26 things I’ve learned while learning a language
  Notes from someone who’s working at it

• How to write
  Notes on moving and watching and paying attention

• Curiosity and Research 101
  Notes on how to find out about things

• A map of what you meant to say
  Notes on the 3D space of language

• The A.I. isn’t a moron. She’s your wife.
  Notes on making ads with AI

Brand strategy, content strategy, etc

• Observational and Culture Study Cheat Sheet
  A template and tools for researching people and communities

• My content strategy toolkit
  14 tools for organizing, measuring, and creating content

• My concept diagram template
  A Figjam for diagramming the complex relationships between concepts

• Product Content Strategy 101
  For anybody who’s creating a product that requires editorial content

• The Bento Box Method for developing topical content
  A cute and useful way to structure your content topics

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Thanks for reading. Be seeing you.

Experience is algorithmically incompressible.

— Ted Chiang