🧠 Thought of the Week
Old Movies, New Music
While on Joe Rogan’s podcast, comedian Jimmy Carr made an astute observation: as we age, we flip our cultural appetites. We chase new movies—whatever’s on Netflix’s Top 10, the Marvel sequel we didn’t ask for—while clinging to the old music we loved as teenagers.
It’s a bit backwards when you think about it. New movies give us quick dopamine hits but are often forgettable. Old music comforts us but rarely expands our horizons. What if we reversed the formula?
Watch old movies. Listen to new music.
I’m certainly guilty on both counts. I’ve never seen half the so-called “classics” (The Godfather II, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Sound of Music), and if you asked me about Chappell Roan, I’d think it was some church in Italy or something.
So, in an effort to open myself up to new experiences, I’m making it a goal to try these two approaches. Here is my wish list:
Old Movies I Owe Myself:
Citizen Kane
2001: A Space Odyssey
Scarface
Schindler’s List
Alien
New Music I Need to Hear:
Doechii
Chappel Roan
Lil Uzi Vert
Raye
DOMi & JD BECK
Try it out, and let me know if there’s anything else I should add to these lists!
📚 What I’m Reading
Not Much, To Be Honest
I’ve finally reached the stage of fatherhood where finding time to read is virtually impossible. I used to be able to wake up early, make some coffee, and maybe read for 10-15 mins before my daughter would stir awake. Now? It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree since Macy likes to get after it just as early as I do.
Needless to say, having the time and energy for reading has become quite difficult, but I’m regaining it through priceless moments spent with my wife and daughter. Anyways, here are the two books I’ve been crawling through for the last few weeks:
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace — A gargantuan, mind-altering comedy about the pursuit of happiness in America. Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda — The inspiring chronicle of his life: the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounters with many saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an illumined teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the thirty years that he lived and taught in America. Also recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West.
📰 Article I’m Reading
I love the idea of adding more “niche” sports to academic institutions. We’ve already seen it with schools beginning to offer Gaming as a sports club, but I’ve yet to see this with martial arts (outside of wrestling, of course). Boxing was once a prominent club in the Ivy Leagues and military institutions well into the 70s, until the death of one student caused panic and immediate termination in the NCAA. While many would argue MMA is too violent, it actually turns out that gymnastics is the #1 sport for injuries in college athletics (including CTE). Students at Sacramento State could already take classes in physical pursuits ranging from dance to golf. Why not fight sports as well? And if students who excel at NCAA sports like football and basketball can earn college scholarships for their athletic achievements, why couldn't it work the same for students who had dedicated their lives to the martial arts?
📖 Tweet I’m Thinking About
This reminds me of Scott Adams' adage that 90% of your mood is chemistry — what you’re eating, how you’re moving your body, sleep, and routines. But one area that he didn’t highlight was the environment you set for yourself. Of course, we can create systems, so in a way, your “system” should be to create an atmosphere that produces the version of you that’s ready to rip.
For me, that means getting set up at my standing desk, turning the lights down low, putting on an instrumental playlist, and setting my phone on silent.
💸 Money Lessons
I’ve been a big fan of Sahil Bloom’s weekly newsletter, The Curiosity Chronicle, for years. In this week’s newsletter, he provides a thought-provoking list of the 34 short lessons on money he’s learned and applied over the last 34 years. Below are some of my favorite concepts:
The best uses of money are those that create one of four things in your life: Time, experiences, purpose, or health. Above a certain level, money is best viewed as a tool to create those other things, not a goal in and of itself.
Never, ever carry credit card debt. I’ve seen too many friends and family members held back by the insane interest rates on credit card debt. Treat your credit card like a debit card: Only spend money you actually have and pay off the bill in full every single month. If you’re in credit card debt today, make the tough short-term lifestyle cuts and create a plan to pay it off as quickly as possible. It’s almost impossible to get your compounding engine going until you eliminate that drag.
Lifestyle Creep is really just a byproduct of Expectations Creep. Expectations are your single greatest financial liability. Your expectations for what you need to be happy will steadily increase if you don’t keep an eye on them. The changes are subtle enough that you won’t notice them in the days, but they’ll have a dramatic impact in the years. Always maintain a healthy Margin of Freedom (the gap between your expectations and your reality).
Conduct a regular audit of your recurring monthly expenses. I've found hundreds of dollars in monthly burn through random subscriptions that I never use and didn't know I had. Any financial tracking tool (like Origin) will do this for you.
🎙️ Podcast I’m Listening To
I can listen to these two comedians talk about nonsense for hours. Been loving this podcast recently, and I’ve even been going back in the archives to listen to some of my favorite guests like Tim Dillon, Chris DiStefano, and Theo Von. Check it out!
📺 What I’m Watching
HOME [AppleTV+]
After watching an adrenaline-fueled show like Severance, Lauren and I like to wind down with a more relaxing 30-minute show before bed. We came across the documentary series, HOME, on Apple TV+ and have been cruising through episodes. Normally, these shows are pretty boring and put us right to sleep. But HOME has been consistently gripping. Each episode highlights a masterpiece of domestic architecture — including the designers, the families, and the stories behind it. Some wild ideas and really inspiring creativity.
💭 Quote I’m Pondering
All we are not stares back at what we are.
🎙️The Observe & Rapport Show
Episode #39 | HOKA’s, Epstein, Lacrosse [Spotify]
Keith and Kyle sit down to discuss the benefits of running and the pros and cons of the current biggest brand names in the sport, the Epstein controversy, the origins of Lacrosse as told in the fascinating book The American Game and why it's in everyone’s best interest to do as they do in Copenhagen and smoke some weed, drink some alcohol and go for a bike ride.
📚 Books discussed in this episode:
Follow us: https://observeandrapport.com/ | IG: @observeandrapport @keithsullivan_91 | X: @observeandrapport | TikTok: @observeandrapport @keithsullivan2 | Produced by Keith Sullivan
📚 Books on My Watchlist
🔗 Links to More Reading
Thanks for reading!
