Hey there,
Welcome back to Thoroughly Thursday, the I Love L.A. Edition. Recently, it occurred to me that I have been living in Los Angeles for 22 years, which is far, far longer than any other place I have ever stayed. In many respects, I have a powerful affinity for my adopted city: the mountains, the beaches, the endless sense of possibility which only comes from having thousands of new dreamers arriving each year. Of course, it’s too spread out, the summers can be relentless, and no one yet has bought my screenplay idea (a sequel to They Live where the Skeksis from the Dark Crystal play the aliens), but my kids are Angelenos, which I guess makes me one too.
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What I'm Watching - It’s Not Really About the Food
This week I got to watch the fantastic documentary City of Gold. If you haven’t seen it (and you should), Jonathan Gold was a Pulitzer-winning food critic who changed the way diners looked at food in Los Angeles. A quiet man with an absurd mullet, a rumpled shirt, and suspenders, Gold used his various platforms, initially the LA Weekly then the LA Times, to talk about the many remarkable restaurants, food trucks, and sidewalk grills that fill the city with adventurous cooks and surprising ethnic cuisines. The doc does an excellent job of both celebrating his unique talents (he passed away in 2018) and highlighting the bewildering diversity of Los Angeles. You can check it out here.
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What I'm Reading (Article) - Well, I Guess I Skimmed It
At a dinner this weekend, my mentor complained about how one of his managers always calls him rather than reading the emails he sends to him. The manager (who was dining with us) explained, “I don’t have time to remember a full email.” Apparently, it’s not just him and Scott Pilgrim. Per Maryanne Wolf, our reading brains are rewiring to absorb information in new and different ways in this digital world which is heavy on content volume, multitasking, and distractions. This isn’t necessarily bad, however, modern students now struggle with the “deep reading” that is required when trying to understand a concept more complex than a Buzzfeed listicle. The problem is not just comprehension, but also the ability to absorb and empathize with what we have just read. An easy suggestion is to occasionally shift to physical books, which makes it easier for us to stay “bi-literate,” though sadly lack access to Wordscapes.
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What I'm Doing - The Giraffes were in Love
A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to the Los Angeles Zoo. As much as I wanted to create a video about it, almost immediately I decided to use the opportunity to try out the nifty Stop Motion iOS app as a way for showing it. It was super-fun! Let me know what you think.
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All the best, and remember, tomorrow is Friday. :)
Scott Moe
scottdavidmoe.com
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P.P.S. I'm always on the lookout for new items to write about. If you notice something that you think would be worth sharing, send it my way.
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