Friday Inspiration 442

I just want to say that Keanu Reeves continues to seem like a really nice guy (video)

As a person who has read a lot of adventure writing over the years, and has come up with a handful of ideas for adventure stories, I have to say, this one, in which Ben Buckland attempts to walk across Switzerland relying on maps he had strangers hand-draw for him, is genius. (thanks, Felix) (gift link)

I have only been following Dave Pollot for a few weeks, but I love his whole upcycling-of-thrift-store-paintings-into-remixed-works portfolio—I have a story about buying an upcycled piece of art that I’ve been trying to get out of my head for a couple years now, and this hits that same part of my feelings.

This is a wonderful quick illustrated essay about being seen reading a book, and why we might or might not want that to happen: A Man Powerwashing vs. A Woman Reading

I don’t really need to re-write the only paragraph that goes with these mind-blowing (and beautiful) meander maps of the Mississippi River: “In 1941, Harold Fisk was hired by the Mississippi River Commission to embark on a years-long study of the river’s movements, a project which would entail the procurement of over sixteen thousand sediment core samples to reveal the presence of soil deposits over time. The map was published in 1944 as a series of fifteen panels, each showing a time-lapse history of the river’s undulations in recent centuries. Seen together, the panels capture a restless body whose breadth may surprise those who only ever see it fixed in one place, wherever that is.”

I have not seen this book in its final form yet, but as I understand it, it’s a Dirtbag Diaries anthology in book form, with photos, and I am excited to get my hands on it: States of Adventure: 30 Outdoor Adventure Stories About Finding Yourself by Getting Lost (I am a little biased, as I do have a story in there, Go West, from back in 2010.)

For no reason other than I have become addicted to watching this lately, here’s the riveting first 9 minutes and 14 seconds of Drive, a movie I am astonished to learn is now 13 years old. (Bonus: if you are looking for a song to put on repeat to help you focus on writing/drawing/whatever, here’s a link to the background song, “Tick of the Clock” by Chromatics)

I’m not switching this newsletter to Substack, but if you are on Substack and prefer reading things there, or have a friend who loves Substack and you think might enjoy this newsletter, I have started putting the content from this newsletter there: https://semirad.substack.com/

And finally, I made this series of slides for Instagram, compiling some of the things people have said about Ultra-Something so far (if you haven’t picked up a copy, here’s where you can do that):

Buy the book through these retailers or at your local bookstore: 

Bookshop | Amazon (paperback) | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | DFTBA (signed copies) | Gumroad (ebook) | Fact and Fiction (Missoula, MT) | Elliott Bay Book Company (Seattle) | Tattered Cover (Denver) | Boulder Bookstore | Powell’s