1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 17 ounces of egg nog…it’s Monday Soup!
+ It’s been almost a year and a half since my last Monday Soup blog post.
UNACCEPTABLE!!!
+ Gotta give props to my man Bill Simmons for his relentless hounding of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. This guy (Goodell) continues to show a shocking level of incompetence considering that he’s running the country’s biggest sports league and making $44 million a year to do it.
Simmons’ latest podcast with reporter Don Van Natta was particularly eye-opening. Not sure that Goodell should lose his job…though maybe he should…but it really does feel like he’s being paid all that money to take the punches for the owners, and the fact that he keeps bungling decisions doesn’t even matter to them.
+ Speaking of podcasts, you have been listening to Serial, right?
If you haven’t, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Think 48 Hours Mystery, only the story is slowly unfolded over the course of a dozen hour-long episodes that feature good writing, a likable narrator, and thorough reporting. And what really sets it apart is that the case they are reporting on – an actual murder case from 1999 – is a particularly fascinating one. Check it out.
If you have been listening, check this out. I was in Maryland last week for business and decided to go check out a couple of the locations from the story. First I went to the Best Buy where Jay claims Adnan called him from a payphone, despite there being no record of a payphone ever being there. The visual proof.
Then I drove over to Leakin Park where the body was buried back in 1999. It’s a huge park and I don’t think I was near where the body was buried, but man it was still creepy to be there after hearing so much about it on the podcast.
+ Been on a mini Christopher Nolan kick lately with my son Parker. We saw Interstellar in theaters last weekend, and on Saturday we watched Inception together (which I had already seen). It’s fun being able to share “grown-up” movies with him that have complicated plots and interesting twists, one of my new favorite things about this season of parenting.
Oh and in case you’re scoring at home, I give Interstellar +1 cannarfs and the rewatch of Inception +2 cannarfs.
+ I hate the Soap Opera Effect that a lot of newer TVs have. This is a good article on what Soap Opera Effect is and how to get rid of it.
+ Speaking of pictures (even though we weren’t), I recently took this picture of a grammatically terrible sign here in Amish country:
…and it got featured in this BuzzFeed article on bad grammar and annoying language mistakes. Too funny.
+ So excited to read Shawn Smucker’s first novel, The Day the Angels Fell. Check out this cover:
+ Have you seen the new free guide Tyler and I are giving away for FreeTravlr? It’s 3 simple steps to help you save over $700. We are so excited to see the results coming in from people we’ve been helping with FreeTravlr. Just got this feedback last week:
“We just booked four nights hotel and roundtrip airfare for my family of four to NYC in March. It was a $2400 trip that we booked for $44 in fees! The reality is that it is not just a big $ savings but it is a trip my family will enjoy that we would not be going on without FreeTravlr!”
Love hearing that!!! (If you haven’t given FreeTravlr a try yet, get our free guide and see if we can’t blow you away.)
+ Last week I wrote lyrics for a parody of Let it Go for a video my church is doing and that night I had the song so embedded in my brain that I couldn’t sleep most of the night. The lesson, as always, don’t mess with Disney.
Have a great week everyone…