Quick heads-up: Next week, I’m reopening The AI Advantage—my course for using AI to amplify your creativity, save 10+ hours a week, and bring your best ideas to life.
You’ll see more emails from me than usual during the launch. Most people need multiple touchpoints before deciding if something’s right for them (I do too). Life gets busy, and I want you to have everything you need to make an informed choice.
If it’s not for you, just use the “AI Advantage opt-out” link at the bottom of those emails. You’ll keep getting these Thursday newsletters as usual.
Onto the regularly scheduled programming . . .
Once a month, I share the best of what I’ve been reading, watching, and exploring. Enjoy!
Books
The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown. I used to call the Robert Langdon books my “guilty pleasure.” I’ve dropped the “guilty.” They’re just fun. Do they all have the same formula? Yes. Do they work? Also yes. It’s like ordering the same dish at your favorite restaurant—you know exactly what you’re getting, and that’s the point. This latest one in the series takes the globe-trotting, code-cracking professor into Prague, and I devoured it.
Films
Back to the Future (1985). [Netflix | Amazon Prime] I’ve seen this one more times than I can count, but this was my first time seeing it on the big screen for its 40th anniversary (yes, forty). It’s the rare movie that’s pitch-perfect in every frame, and you can feel how much fun everyone had making it. Fun facts: Our dog Einstein is named after Doc Brown’s. My first LLC was called Outatime. So yeah, this movie hardwired itself into my childhood and never left.
Empire Records (1995). [Amazon Prime | Apple TV+] One of those movies where nothing really happens, and somehow everything does. It’s about a group of misfit employees trying to save their record store, but the real draw is the way it lingers—on the jokes, the heartbreak, the music, the quiet moments between the chaos. Watching it feels like hanging out in a place where nobody has it figured out, but everyone’s in it together.
Point Break (1991). [Amazon Prime | Apple TV+] A cult classic that starts as an undercover cop movie and ends up somewhere far weirder and wilder. Keanu Reeves is the rookie FBI agent, Patrick Swayze the zen-outlaw surfer. The plot doesn’t always make sense. The dialogue is borderline ridiculous. And yet, it still works, all these years later.
Show
Slow Horses Season 5. [Apple TV+] One of my favorite shows is back with a new season—and it’s as sharp and scrappy as ever. Gary Oldman plays a gloriously grumpy intelligence boss stuck with a team of washed-up spies. It’s equal parts espionage and office comedy, with enough dry humor and plot twists to keep you hooked.
Music
“Road Trippin’” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. A quiet song from a loud band, and the perfect soundtrack to the road trip we took from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California last month. It’s basically a love letter to Highway 1—sunlight off the ocean, the dogs asleep in the back, and nothing on the agenda but forward motion. It’ll make you want to trade your inbox for the open road.
Related
Bold
