I wrote the first edition of Branches (or Excellent Things, as I called it back then) on New Yearโs Day 2016, nearly eight years ago.
โIf you were trying to live an excellent life, youโd limit the content you consumed to only the bestโฆ
โฆFor some reason, itโs difficult to keep that up. You keep clicking on things you shouldnโt.One of the best things about the internet is that it gives you unlimited chances for content redemption.
Every time you sink into the morass, the internet gives you a new day, a new chance to get back to the excellent.โ
Each edition of Branches is an attempt to distill something excellent from the nearly infinite amount of content out there.
I call it โan attemptโ because I donโt always get it right. There are things I recommended then that I wouldnโt, or couldnโt now. Things that havenโt passed the test of time - Making a Murderer, my favourite Fitzroy North cafe (now closed), Snapchatโs Spectacles.
Eight years is a long time, and a lot of content.
Iโve gone back and reread every edition, and surfaced up a list of the things I still love now.
I have an eight year old son, so you will find in the list an absence of books and movies. Things that fit better into the long breaks that havenโt really existed since he was born.
This is not an objective list. Iโm not sorry for including seven links to live recordings of Bon Iver songs.
I am still grateful to the people who introduced me to excellent things along the way.
My high school friend Josh who introduced me to Pitchfork.com in 1999. Kanyi for introducing me to Nicolas Jaarโs Essential Mix as we sat in Adirondack chairs, our feet in a shallow river in Big Sur. This Paul Graham tweet for causing me to read Barbarian Days.
Iโm forty today.
These wonโt all stick with you, but if one does, then all of this will have been worthwhile.
TV/Movie: ๐บ | Essay: ๐ | YouTube: ๐ฅ | Music: ๐ถ | Podcast: ๐ง | Book: ๐
A Murder Foretold ๐
All Too Well ๐ถ
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE ๐ฅ
Aphex Twinโs Avril 14 on pedal steel ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Barbarian Days ๐
Before I Go ๐
Bon Iver - ____45_____ / Saal 1 / PEOPLE Festival 16 ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Bon Iver - Blood Bank (Live at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2019) ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Bon Iver - 715 - CRโโKS - Paris Philharmonie 2016 ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Bon Iver - 715 - CRโโKS, TD Garden Boston (10/15/19) ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Bon Iver - "Heavenly Father" (Acapella) | Live at Sydney Opera House ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Bon Iver - I Canโt Make You Love Me ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Bon Iver - Woods - Live in Seoul 2016 ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Counting Crows - Anna Begins (@ MTV Most Wanted).mpg ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Dear April ๐ถ
David August Boiler Room Berlin Live Set ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Fast response times signal social connection in conversation ๐
Frank Ocean - I Miss You (Live At The Bowery Ballroom In New York City!) ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Gerd Jansonโs Boiler Room x Sugar Mountain 2018 DJ Set ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Good ๐ฅ
Havoc ๐
Hania Rani - @arteconcert's Piano Day ๐ฅ ๐ถ
In & Of Itself ๐บ
It Was Just a Kayaking Trip. Until It Upended Our Lives ๐
Jamie XX - Gosh ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Japanese Maple ๐
Joe Montana Was Here ๐
John Butler - Ocean ๐ฅ ๐ถ
Kanye West Sunday Service - Easy On Me (for Virgil Ablohโs funeral) ๐ถ
Look for me in the trees. I will be there in the trees. ๐
Meditation is preparation for the worst day of your life. ๐ฅ
Miserere Mei ๐ถ
Mouse of Silver ๐บ
Now Matters ๐ง
on being known ๐
One Day In America ๐บ
People underestimate how enjoyable and engaging just waiting is. ๐
Perfect, Briefly ๐
Richard Hammond explains what he experienced during his coma ๐ฅ
Saying Yes More Slowly Will Allow You to Say No More Often ๐
Alone: Series 7 ๐บ
The Bureau ๐บ
The Bystander ๐
The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar ๐ฅ ๐ถ
The Colonel ๐
The Drones: Shark Fin Blues ๐ฅ ๐ถ
The Fair Play Deck: A Couple's Conversation Deck for Prioritizing What's Important ๐
The Fun Scale ๐
The high-return activity of raising othersโ aspirations ๐
The Rule of Thirds ๐ฅ
The Swimming Chair ๐
The Tail End ๐
These Precious Days ๐
Trump Solo ๐
To Run My Best Marathon at Age 44, I Had to Outrun My Past ๐
Why She Broke ๐
Your Life in Weeks ๐
Your real biological clock is that youโre going to die. ๐
โI remember that time that you told me,
you said โLove is touching soulsโ
Surely you touched mine โcause
Part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time.โ
โ Joni Mitchell, โA Case of Youโ
Happy bday