Various and Sundry

The Cult of Overproductivity

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about work-life balance, but it does feel that, in 2025, more people have the assumption that WORK has won and the imbalance is fine. We know it. We’ve felt it. I’m sure some researchers have excellent terms for it, but I’m thinking of it these days as overproductivity. And it succeeds because we have zealots, who probably get up at 4am, who push for overproductivity. And when they,…

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Reviews Various and Sundry

Yeah, yeah, civil war. But is it accurate?

I know it’s hard to imagine in this peaceful time of extraordinary bipartisanship and respectful political discourse, but this country hasn’t always been so easygoing and [checks notes]. Whoops! Wrong timeline. Eesh. Okay, so you’re not in the mood for 1776, Hamilton, or even Stan Freberg presenting the United States of America. Well, maybe you will want to try one of these films out. Having worked for a company that published multiple civil war magazines…

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Various and Sundry

The Science of Storytelling

I’ve delivered a couple presentations over the past few weeks that in work terms were “big” — not in terms of the number of slides of course, but in telling the story clearly. In preparation, I rewatched a couple videos by David JP Phillips, a speaker… and speaker about speaking. Here he is from 8 years ago about the science of storytelling” And if that’s released the “angel’s cocktail” of chemicals into your brain, you…

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Various and Sundry

That Line from That Film

It’s been a packed week, so I’m looking forward to relaxing with some filmwatching this weekend. But which film? An old one? A new one? That one where they say…? To give you, and perhaps me, some ideas about which films to wile away the hours, the folks at Cine Fix helpfully compiled a list of the top 100 movie quotes of all time: Not content with that (and perhaps because of the comments, they…

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Various and Sundry

Costco’s Gamble with Kirkland, its Store Brand

With over 135 million members as of last year, if you don’t have a Costco card, you probably know someone who does. So I was interested in this 10-minute piece that explains something of Costco’s business model and, importantly, the bold decision on what to do with its store brand (aka “private label”) products. And now I’m thinking of the Safeway’s “Cragmont” store brand for sodas, especially their Dr. Pepper clone, “The Skipper.”

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Producing Writing

Exercising Stiff Creative Muscles

Motivation to create –and breaking out of perceived writing blocks and creative ruts– feels like an evergreen problem. In fact, there’s enough books and articles and videos about such things that I believe it’s fair to say creative folks find themselves in different shaped ruts so that one solution might not fit all. BUT, in case this video is the one that helps you today, spend 15 minutes with filmmaker Luc Forsyth as he explains…

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Various and Sundry

Beware the Stupid

I’ve previously mentioned the unremarkable observation that we’re living in “interesting times,” but it did get me to thinking about some of the aspects the times and I found myself reading up about Dietrich Bonhoeffer for, you know, reasons. There are a multitude of resources written about and by Bonhoeffer which you may find of interest, but here’s a brief introduction to one of his theories that you may find particularly relevant in these interesting…

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Various and Sundry

Your Mid-Life Meta-Physical

Thinking of last Monday’s post about how to tackle life and its inherent constraints, here’s a video from leadership speaker and business school lecturer Conor Neill that might scratch some similar self-reflective itches. The video was posted five years ago when the pandemic was in full swing and the title purports to be something for middle-aged folks to ponder, but I would suggest it’s useful for many people. For example, teenagers might not get the…

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Various and Sundry

Strange New Space Media!

I’ve had a chance to check out two trailers that have dropped in the past week, the first being the latest trailer for the long awaited third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (even as it’s been announced this same week that it’s been renewed for a fifth and final season): Very much in line with the trailer from a couple months ago, they are presenting the series that, in Pike’s words is “whatever…

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