Welcome!

There's 46 of us now. That's enough bodies on the dance floor at the Biltmore Cabaret for a band to feel they've got good crowd energy to work with. It's a pleasure to be here, front row to the show, with all of you. 🎸 🎶

Today I flew from Toronto to Vancouver. I'll be here for the next 4 weeks, catching up with friends and family over the holidays. I'm especially excited to see my aunt, uncle and cousins soon, who are visiting from London and the Yukon. Haven't seen them since pre-COVID times.

Thanks for being an early subscriber to my digital postcard. I prefer the description postcard (rather than newsletter) cuz it feels more casual, personal and specific to a moment in time. Each week I share updates, anecdotes and links to things I enjoyed recently.

TIP: First-time recipient? A reply will help prevent these emails being marked spam. Don't feel obligated to say something kind or clever. In fact, I encourage the opposite. Make your reply as conveniently incoherent as possible. A quick: "sDGHsdasd" is splendid :)

Janis Course

This Monday I made my final knowledge investment of 2021. I joined Janis Ozolins' course and community on Explaining Ideas Visually. Here's a couple of his illustrations:

Janis Ozolins @OzolinsJanis You can change, and you can grow. All you need is the right mindset. pic.twitter.com/CfdrhHg7Si November 25th 2021 125 Retweets 679 Likes

Janis Ozolins @OzolinsJanis gm. let's use airplane mode pic.twitter.com/RPYDjQP1hm October 25th 2021 21 Retweets 234 Likes

Drawings and illustrations are my growth focus for 2022. This visual from Janis' landing page shows why:

Visuals that communicate provide instantaneous value. We grasp the full meaning in seconds. That’s much more shareable than a 15min essay.

I love long-form articles, but almost never include them in this postcard. I know we each have enough already in our to-read queue. In contrast, when I share a funny/clever/clarifying illustration with a friend it always feels like I'm sending them a gift (rather than an assignment).

Look forward to sharing my early illustrations here in the coming weeks... 🎨

Oh the Magnitude!

I was scrolling through my notes + quotes when I stumbled on this image from Tim Urban. It's one of those 'wow we're lucky to be alive' perspectives:

Tim Urban @waitbutwhy Go hug someone pic.twitter.com/I63AaP1xQu September 16th 2021 2,750 Retweets 13,882 Likes

This kind of thinking inevitably leads my imagination to the final 40 second zoom-out of aliens playing marbles in Men In Black. This scene absolutely blew my mind when I first saw it as a kid...

Of all the Hollywood franchises, I think a Men In Black reboot would be the most fun to write and direct in 16yrs. The fantastical sci-fi absurdity and zany supporting characters are such a fun sandbox for visual ideas.

Confirmation - SSBD

This was my #5 most played song of 2021. Back in spring, I went through a phase of working to it on continuous loop.

The opening chords feel like a mellowed out version of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky". The chorus is super catchy. The whole song has a comforting retro vibe that reminds me of the Peter Gabriel / Phil Collins musical-terrain my dad played a lot when I was growing up.

Confirmation - SSBD Westerman

That's all till next week!

My brain is still calibrated to a timezone 3hrs ahead (where it's 12:28am). Still got my evening TM session and decorating the Christmas tree ahead on the evening agenda. Time to move from postcard to 🧘‍♂️, 🎄, and 😴.

Thanks for reading,

Tommy

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PS. Replies Encouraged :)

• If you have 27 seconds to jot an impression of this postcard, please do!
• I know each of your lives bustle with activity. If it helps, think of the reply as a text (rather than an email).
• A quick jotted: “duddde yes! This MIB scene is iconic👌 ” or "Janis Course looks cool!" is valuable signal of where to re-invest :)