Michelle A @Filterologist

Two icons gone on the same day… Richard Simmons and Dr. Ruth!

Pulitzer-prize winning photographer @evanvucci running across the podium -- amidst gunfire and screams -- to get the iconic photo everyone is sharing

Students at NYU asked the creators of South Park the million-dollar question: “What makes a good story?” They gave one of the best explanations of story I’ve heard: “If we can take the beats of your outline, and the words ‘and then’ belong between those beats… you got something pretty boring. What should happen between every beat you’ve written down is the words ‘therefore’ or ‘but.’” They go on to say, “That gives you the causation between each beat, and that makes a story.” Point 1: There’s an idea in storytelling called ‘Promise, Progress, Payoff.’ Essentially, a story is a neverending cycle of promises that are paid off over the span of the story. It’s a cycle of expectation and resolution. Cause and effect. Conflict and progress. Point 2: A story isn’t a bunch of random events thrown together. A story is a series of but / because / therefore moments. A famous example: • Harry discovers he's a wizard. Because of this, he goes to learn magic at Hogwarts. • But then he learns Voldemort wants to kill him and rule the world. • Therefore, he must find a way to defeat him. Point 3: ‘And’ implies a simple continuation. ‘But / Therefore’ give prior events meaning through causation. ‘But’ implies conflict. ‘Therefore’ implies progress. I’m reminded of a Hemingway quote: “Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.” Great writing is intentional. It doesn’t wander. It builds upon itself. *** I hope you enjoyed that! If so, follow @nathanbaugh27 for more ideas and writing like this.

Anyone else notice how the quality at @LongosMarkets has gone downhill since they were bought by @sobeys ? I guess it’s to be expected. Expired items on the shelves, mediocre produce. Sad because I used to be such a fan.

You can give ChatGPT a picture of your team’s whiteboarding session and have it write the code for you. This is absolutely insane.

I collect 'Sentences I wish I wrote.' Here are 7 of the best: 1. George RR Martin, A Dance with Dragons

A New Hampshire man celebrating his birthday on the ocean with his three daughters captured video of something so rare that even marine scientists are jealous — three humpback whales leaping from the water in near perfect unison.

Best part of being an elder millennial is at the grocery store every song is an absolute banger. Wonderwall at 8am? Let's gooo

I think about this Tom Waits story all the time.

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When a teacher gave her kids my poetry prompts, this happened: My name is Rhett Today I feel like a bright light in the galaxy Sometimes I am a comet Sometimes I am a meteor But always I am amazing I ask the world, "Can one dot be art?” And the answer is a bright light shining in the galaxy

@jmitchem Come on over - you can easily bring all your Insta friends : )

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig should have won Oscars for this

Today's Poetry Thread: TENDERNESS I love this one. Feel free to add poems.

@jmitchem

@jmitchem

Not to be a party pooper, but thinking they could skip the fireworks this year and give the air a break considering the impact of the forest fires. #OhCanada

A married couple discovered a photo of themselves from 11 years before they met. Xue and her now-husband Ye were photographed together in 2000 as teenagers, but they only found out about it after getting married! In the summer of 2000, they both visited May Fourth Square in Qingdao, China. Several years later, while going through photos of a younger Xue to compare her resemblance to their daughters, Ye stumbled upon the picture. As soon as Ye saw the photo, he instantly recognized himself. He recalled, "I remember her mentioning that she had been to Qingdao, and coincidentally, I had also visited Qingdao and taken pictures at the May Fourth Square. When I saw the photo, I was completely surprised, and I got goosebumps all over my body... it was the exact pose I used for taking photos. I even took a picture from a different angle but in the same posture."

James Cameron has written & directed 3 of the top 4 highest-grossing movies of all time (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic). Before he made movies, Cameron was a truck driver. He didn't go to film school. Instead, on the weekends, he would go to the library and.. "I'd pull any thesis that [University of Southern California] graduate students had written [on] anything that related to film technology," Cameron explained. "And for the cost of xeroxing (photocopying), I [got] all these doctoral dissertations [and] build up these big binders on how everything was done." "So I literally gave myself a full graduate course on film technology for about $120. I didn’t have to enroll in school because it was all there in the library. I’d set it up to go in like I was on a tactical mission, find out what I needed to know, and take it all home." Takeaway 1: When asked what motivated him to read those big binders full of information on filmmaking, Cameron said he was just following what excited him. "People seek out the information and knowledge they need," he said. "It's like a divining rod." The mythologist Joseph Campbell similarly talked about how reading is like "a divining rod," a way to find what you are uniquely attracted to and meant to do. "You’ve got to read," Campbell said. "Find [what] excites you. And if it doesn’t excite you…It’s not yours.” Takeaway 2: Of course, at some point, Cameron had to put the binders down and pick up a camera. When he eventually attempted to make his first movie, Cameron said, “It was a bit like a doctor doing his first appendectomy after having only read about it." The bestselling author and learning expert, Scott Young, has a great article with a great title, "Do The Real Thing." "When you examine case studies of people who have had major accomplishments," Scott writes, "you expect there to be some trick or shortcut...More often, however, the strategy used is dead simple: doing the real thing." Takeaway 3: Leonardo da Vinci used to sign off his letters, “Leonardo da Vinci, disscepolo della sperientia” ("disciple of experience"). He used to believe that one learns best by solely "doing the real thing." Over time, however, he evolved out of this belief and, biographer Walter Isaacson writes, "became a disciple of both experience and received wisdom." When you examine case studies of people who have mastered their craft, you usually find they are "disciples of both experience and received wisdom." Like Cameron, they read the library and they do the real thing. - - - “Those who are in love with practice without theoretical knowledge are like the sailor who goes onto a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whither he is going.” — Leonardo da Vinci Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!