This week in consumption.
Billy Yang Podcast; Jim & Andy; And this season’s first Christmas Vacation viewing.
With my mobility severely limited by a boot coupled with being sent home from work based on the misinterpretation of a doctor’s note by HR, I’ve had time to sit on my butt and consume this week.
Below are a few highlights.
Strava Co-Founder, Mark Gainey, on Billy Yang’s Pod.
I mentioned the Billy Yang Podcast in last week’s post as a podcast staple even though it was brand new.
The first three episodes featured a few characters from the ultra running world I am quite familiar with, Anton Krupicka, Tim Tollefsen and Magdalena Boulet. I enjoyed the episodes but not a lot of new ground was covered for an ultrarunning junkie, like myself.
That changed this week with the Co-Founder and Chairman of Strava, Mark Gainey.
Strava is, by far, my most-used social media because of its simplicity and purity. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to learn the founder would be on the pod.
For the uninitiated, a bit about Strava from their About Us page:
Strava is the Swedish word for “strive,” which epitomizes who we are and what we do: If you’re striving to improve, no matter your goals or ability, you’re one of us.
Strava is the social network for athletes. We’re a global community of millions of runners, cyclists and triathletes, united by the camaraderie of sport. Our website and mobile apps bring athletes together from all walks of life and inspire them to unlock their potential — both as individuals and as communities. From Olympians to weekend warriors, we’re out there on the road and trail, all over the world, day after day.
Billy and Mark talk extensively about his non-traditional tech background. Okay, yes, he went to Harvard, but the twist is he was an Art History major!
I always love a good origin story.
Two points stood out to me during the interview that I especially enjoyed.
Mark discussing the introduction of photos to Strava. One of the main complaints about Strava has always been the competition aspect. It makes people push harder than they should to snag the CR or KOM on a segment. And that is pretty lame.
Mark said allowing users to post photos with their activities was a calculated addition to encourage the users to slow down. Capture the moment. And quit worrying about the pace.
I feel like they definitely achieved that goal. At least in my feed.
The other piece that stuck with me was towards the end of the interview. Billy asked Mark to give advice to an aspiring entrepreneur with a big idea and his advice was so poignant and perfect.
Don’t sweat your first idea. It’s not going to be the one you end up with, anyway.
He goes on to say that he talks with entrepreneurs all the time who complain they don’t have the right idea or their idea isn’t strong enough. But he just encourages them to start talking to people.
That first idea creates the conversation and from that, if you’re patient and you’re persistent you’ll find that real need in the marketplace. That’s the critical thing. People get too tied up in the very earliest stages that they somehow they don’t have the right thing and therefore its not going to work.
But that wrong thing will open up the door to find the right one.
[That took way longer to transcribe than expected]
Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond
What did I just watch?
There is a chance that playing Andy Kaufman drove Jim Carrey insane but I suspect he may have been insane all along.
This was an uncomfortable 93 minutes. But also compelling af.
Jim & Andy is a netflix documentary about Jim Carrey going full Daniel Day-Lewis method acting and 100% staying in character for the entire shoot as either Andy Kaufman or Tony Clifton and driving everyone around him fucking insane.
Universal didn’t want the footage we took behind the scenes to surface, because they didn’t want people to think that I was an asshole. — Jim mentions during the doc (and the trailer above).
They might not have been wrong about that, Jim.
As someone [me] who is always open to inspiration, Jim did have a story that he told about his father that I particularly enjoyed. (I found this text from an old interview but he mentioned it in the film).
“So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality,” he said in a video posted by Daily Mail. “My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that was possible for him. So, he made a conservative choice and instead he got a job as an accountant.”
Then Carrey reveals the moral of the story.
“When I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job,” he added. “Our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which is that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”
I guess being crazy and insightful aren’t mutually exclusive.
First Christmas vacation viewing of the holiday season.
The holiday season has officially kicked off in the Weisgerber household.
Yes, we have had our tree up since Black Friday (Stacy runs a tight ship), but things were taken up a notch on Wednesday.
Now we’re ready.
Not as full as our hearts, cousin Eddie.
Happy holidays.
