Eric Rothman
@ericmsandwich
Filmmaker, editor, animator, stationary bicycle rider, sandwich enthusiast. My work has won very few awards. I currently reside in Dayton, Ohio.
Eric Rothman
newhappystar.com
Saul Bass: On Making Money vs Quality Work
youtube.com“It costs every designer money to make things beautiful.”
Something else happens in a world of superabundance, and an attention economy. Because you can’t find what you want, you start to dig yourself into very specific niches, and join sub-groups. Everyone atomizes into millions of groups connected by very specific interests. In more benign ways, it can be great – you find your fellow travelers, and I... See more
Ten (Big) Trends
Reminds me of Yuval Noah Harari’s, Sapiens, and his thesis about shared stories. Has the story of America been fractured into thousands of competing ones?
Also, I love the last sentence here, “…because you read this newsletter I’ve got your attention and we are a tiny polarized sub-group who know something others don’t, right?!” Phew, if that ain’t what makes a good newsletter!
Photography is the Exchanging of Hearts -- Walkie Talkie w/ Sara Messinger (ep. 44)
youtube.comThere’s this whole thing about street photography where, if you want “authenticity” you’re supposed to steal shots, and just assault people with your camera. That always felt wrong and strange and uncomfortable to me, and this is just another reminder (a necessary reminder) that you can do things however you want. Do things the way you want to do them and the way that feels right to you. Don’t let some imaginary ruleset control you.
Also, the way Sara talks about hanging out with her friends—instead of going out to bars or partying or whatever people do on the weekends—just walking around with cameras to see what’s going on in the world. That sounds so fun to me. Why am I not doing that?
I'm diagnosed schizophrenic, and the main barrier to re-entering the world after my first psychotic break was that I could no longer relate to the person I once was. My memories felt like memories of another person outside of myself, I didn't believe it was me. It was very traumatizing and I withdrew from everyone I knew and became catatonic for... See more
Link
A story of culture and norms overriding the default urge to find blame.
“…the primary purpose of an aircraft accident investigation is to prevent future accidents — a decision that implicitly privileged prevention above the search for liability. Conducting a police-style investigation that faults a deceased pilot does nothing to affect the probability of future accidents.”
Fantastic advice, for software builders:
Headline driven development
Here is a simple process for shipping software projects that works. First, decompose the project into a stream1 of headlines. Then pick an aggressive date to ship the first headline and work like hell to meet that date. Have everyone work only on one headline at a time– the
... See more
Couples Therapy (2019 TV series)
en.wikipedia.orgThis is so valuable. As someone who grew up in a semi-vacuum of healthy conflict modeling, my adult life has been trial and error in this area, and so it’s just wildly helpful to see other people working on their relationships. I find myself measuring my own progress against the couples in the show in a way that’s clarifying. For example, this one woman is so clearly trapped inside of her own story that she can’t even see how she’s in her own way about it—and I think I was that way once, and seeing it, I can see that I’ve moved past that, and that articulation is useful in understanding myself. And then this other guy extends such thought and care to his partner that it stuns you that people can be that good and caring and that gives you something to aspire to. It also helps you appreciate that there are so many different kinds of people, with different and completely valid life experiences. The slow depth of the show helps you move past whatever initial biases you might bring such that you can genuinely appreciate people that are different from you. It’s also heartwarming to see progress, and heartbreaking to see things fall apart. Such drama. You really grow to love, empathize, be frustrated by these people over the course of a season.
“I commit to using my creative superpowers as an artist to give extraordinary value and service to those I deeply wish to serve; while sharing my vision, ethos, and philosophy along the journey.”