onfocus

Kanopy is a streaming service like Netflix that has a bunch of movies and documentaries that you've probably been meaning to see. It has classic films like L'Avventura and The 400 Blows. But also more recent A24 Films like Moonlight and Lady Bird. And also documentaries like Helvetica and Manufactured Landscapes. Additionally further besides entire runs of Great Courses videos. Also conjointly furthermore some classic PBS and BBC TV series. I was shocked at the depth looking through their catalog. The best part is that you can likely get free access through your library.

Good morning Newsletter Wednedsay fans! I have been a fan of Mule Design Studio since I lived in California eons ago walking around wearing this provocative shirt they designed. Their monthly-ish newsletter includes a handful of short posts from personal stories to global news. Sure it promotes their upcoming talks and books and events as well, but those things are good and you won't mind. This link is to their blog which I guess you could also subscribe to but this post is about their newsletter which you can sign up for at the very bottom. Your design mind will thank you.

If you missed the fallout from the latest revelations about Facebook, Jason Kottke has a good summary. Hiring a PR firm to create fake news to smear critics does transcend merely awful and puts them into the truly evil category. They made it! With all of this pressure to improve, Facebook feels like they're at war, but Josh Marshall asks: Who is Facebook at war with? Gina Bianchini thinks we'll see a renaissance in smaller social media because The Facebook Era is Over. I want to believe! (Maybe we'll all start blogging at LinkedIn instead?)

Have you ever been sitting there staring at an Excel spreadsheet thinking, "If I could just run a SQL query I'd have my answer." And then you have to export to CSV, import the thing into MySQL, and waste an hour figuring out why your import is failing. Anyway, this tool solves that particular problem nicely.

Sometimes I just assume everyone listens to the same things I do. I feel like this YouTube stream of chill beats to relax/study to by ChilledCow is ubiquitous, but maybe not! I throw this on all the time when I need to relax/study. Lately I've been throwing on a similar playlist on Spotify by Chillhop Music: cozy chillhop beats. It's not just me! Apparently these lofi hip hop streams are a thing.

Podcast Saturday continues with another one of my desert island picks. 99% Invisible is a design podcast that explores the mostly invisible work of planning and design that goes into all the things around us from cities to buildings to everyday objects. It is the Platonic Form of podcasts. Episodes are typically a tight, highly produced 20 minutes with interviews, locations, and music. It is a masterclass in audio storytelling every time. The show's host Roman Mars also started the podcast collective Radiotopia and if you're new to podcasts you won't go wrong browsing through their offerings.

Matt recently visited the Whitney Plantation, the only slavery museum in the United States. It sounds like a harrowing experience—and one that we should all have so we can understand our nation's history.

The Correspondent is an effort to create a news organization funded by news consumers rather than advertisers. They're raising money Kickstarter-style with a goal of raising 2.5 million in 30 days. They also have a nicely designed site if you're into that sort of thing.

Remember podcasts? They're an industry now where people have careers and businesses grow and thrive. Hot Pod tracks this burgeoning industry so you don't have to. I like to pick up suggestions for podcasts I might be interested in, but hearing how companies are investing (or not) in podcasting is also interesting and I don't see this news covered anywhere else. This Newsletter Wednesday was brought to you by Squares...sorry, can't do it.

I’m on team space probe though I’m sympathetic to team hubcap. Looking at the path it carved through our solar system it just has to be a drive by.

I like this framing of the Mastodon vs. All Social Media story. Mastodon doesn't have to supplant Twitter to be a success. If people like me enjoy using it (and I do!) then it's working on some level. Yet every article about Mastodon says, "it has a long way to go to supplant Twitter." When you look at raw number of users, that's true, but do we need massive centralized networks? This recent Mastodon 101 article falls into the same framing trap, but it's a good summary nonetheless: The quest to design an ethical social media platform.

I really enjoyed this 60 second music lesson about the way chords color a melody. It made me think of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style. So if you like this thing you might like that thing too. [via mefi]