Season 3, Episode 12: Whale I Never

I willingly accept my pun-ishment.

1. The Week That Was

Just when you think you’re out, they drag you back in. After editing last week’s newsletter, I thought I was done for a few weeks, but I’m back folks: It’s me, James.

The vast and resplendent halls of Good Enough are still quiet this week, with folks travelling during these summer months, but if you listen carefully, you can still hear the unmistakable hum of work being done, thoughts being thought, and ideas being conjured and dispatched into the maelstrom.

On our blog, I wrote a little about managing the software for our Printer project. Building and updating software for the web is not exactly easy, but it’s orders of magnitude easier than building and updating software for a little box that’s going to sit on a desk with no visible means of configuring it.

I’ve also just deployed the first alpha version of Chicken, which is the codename for the part of the Cosmic Maelstrom that I’ve been conducting. Exciting times.

And, Lettini and I have shepherded in a lovely new feature for AlbumWhale. See below!

Elsewhere, work on our super simple single site serving service (who needs Amazon S3 when you can get Good Enough S6?!, amirite?) continues, but with a less technical and more philosophical perspective. Who do we want as users? Who do we not want as users? How do we steer that? But dear reader, do not worry: as a subscriber of this humble newsletter, you are officially pre-approved.

—JA

2. Album Whale, Remember Us?

It’s been a minute since we checked in on Album Whale, the second app we launched (after DoEvery.Day, remember that?). With our recent focus on prototyping new ideas, we haven’t updated the whale in a few months. Well over the course of those few months, we’ve gained a few hundred users, and we wanted an easier way to see who has similar taste. This week we added a new feature: the album page.

Every album added to a list in Album Whale now has its own page where you can see who else added it to their list, and what they have to say about it. Now it’s even easier to find great music and curators that share your same taste. Here’s an example:

Haven’t checked in on Album Whale in awhile either? Get back into it with these great lists from our community:

• Trilogies by Robert Rackley makes great use of our 3-up grid on desktop.

• Hardcore by Rachel Cabitt takes us on a brief visual history of the art of hardcore music (see also her related newsletter!)

• Instrumental stuff for Steve by stumpnugget is a list that begs the question “Who’s Steve?” and makes you realize “We all are.”

—ML

3. Tom Cruise Runnin’

Hello, this is Shawn reporting from Taipei, where it’s currently a mild 92 degrees. I really don’t like it here in the summer. 🥲One of the highlights of our trip so far is seeing Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning in the movie theater. 

No spoiler here! Ok maybe a little bit: Tom Cruise / Ethan Hunt ran a lot in the movie, and I clapped and cheered every time. It was a 1pm showing and there weren’t that many people in the theater and I didn’t care what people thought.

Tom Cruise running is one of the best things on screen, and my Good Enough friends agree. Lettini shared this gem of a YouTube video, and Patrick shared an ESPN article analyzing Tom Cruise’s running (he’s fast, but running coaches think that he can run faster if he were to angle his body forward a bit).

The most memorable thing about the movie was that the theater had good sound, crisp projection, tasty popcorn, and a quiet & respectful audience––which we haven’t experienced in movie theaters back in New York City. Alamo Drafthouse has terrible sound and their theaters aren’t dark enough (because they’re more like a restaurant with a screen). Regal and AMC have terrible projections and serve stale popcorn. And we’ve had some bad luck with the audience (annoying grownups making stupid comments, or children crying at an R-rated movie).

Please hook me up If you know of a good movie theater in New York City! Also: if you’re a parent with little kids, please don’t take them to see R-rated movies! Thank you!

(As for the movie itself: the plot was kinda weak, but the stunts and running were excellent. Good enough!)

—SL

3. Barbenwhatnow?

Patrick here to continue the movie train. You’ve no doubt heard this weekend brings the theatrical releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer – aka Barbenheimer. The pairing of two movies so thematically opposite has seemingly sparked a return to theaters (for at least one weekend anyways) and a lot of fun internet memes. Go look for yourself!

Not that long ago, I would have absolutely been signed up for a double feature weekend. Instead, I’m in a bit of a movie theater drought brought on by a 6 month old who won’t yet let his mom get away for long enough to sit through a full movie. Getting to see one movie in the theater this weekend would be an incredible treat – the luxuriousness of seeing two is almost unimaginable.

In a world where going to the movies was actually on the table this weekend, I’d have a genuinely hard time picking between the two. Oppenheimer is better reviewed and seems like the kind of fare perfect for giant screens and speakers. I love the way the Barbie movie looks from the costumes to the sets to the pink (my favorite color). I mean, just look at how meticulously crafted the Barbie Dreamhouse set is!

I’m not sure I could pick so I’d probably just take Shawn’s advice and see Mission Impossible.

–PF

4. Hello From Seoul

Barry is currently in the city of Seoul and sent us this photo:

5. In Conclusion

Two weeks in a row? Maybe this is my newsletter now. Tune in next week (i.e. please don’t unsubscribe) to see what I do with this unchecked power, or, more likely, which of my colleagues has successfully ousted me from my editorial throne and changed all my British English spellings back to American English.

Anyway, I must apologise, I’ve been rambling for some time now. How are you?

—JA