Come hang out with me (July update)

in real time and space

Hello, here is my update post, featuring opportunities to seek me out in actual 3D space, as opposed to the 2D realm where we are comfortable, but lonely.

Three Bay Area events with my friend Misha

This month, I am bringing a shocking three events with my friend Misha Glouberman to the Bay. Misha is a communications genius who throws events that aren’t really like anything else. They are funny, intimate, weird, highly participatory, and stretch the boundaries of what feels socially possible, but in an approachable fashion.

The big one is Trampoline Hall, on July 16, a lecture series by non-experts, curated by me, hosted by Misha. This event is usually in Toronto, and it has sold out every show for more than a decade. Please imagine how fun a lecture series would have to be in order to do this. Also, the last San Francisco show sold out in two days—so, if this sounds good to you, I would suggest moving on it quickly! This episode, the lectures are: “Fort-Building,” “Deaths from Ceremonial Snake Handling,” and “Being Stupid On Purpose.”

The other two events are smaller, but still worthy of your attention. Tell Me Everything, Now Stop Talking, on July 14, is a non-celebrity talk show, wherein the audience attempts to get to know each other as thoroughly as possible in 7 minutes. Terrible Noises for Beautiful People, on July 17, is something I begged Misha to bring back from a decade ago, when I attended it first. It’s an improvisational choral event that requires no singing skill, wherein the participants are directed to improvise vocal collaborations that range from beautiful to infernal, ordered to random. It is legitimately psychedelic.

You can see me at all three if you want to, and I would, in fact, encourage it!

I’m doing podcasts now, more often

Historically, I have resisted podcast invitations. I told myself all sorts of stories about why this was. But, in the final analysis, it was very simple: I was not at peace with the fact that I am less articulate when speaking than I am when writing. I decided to get the fuck over this, and, in that spirit, here are two podcasts I recorded recently.

The first is with Spencer Greenberg over at Clearer Thinking. This was a fun podcast, because Spencer is a rationally-minded guy who believes in data, and we had a conversation all about the value of woo psychological practices, and difficult-to-measure contemplative phenomena. It was productive and fun.

This second one is a discussion of meditation practice with my friend Wystan, a gifted meditation teacher and anti-suffering enthusiast. This one gets into the weeds of my spiritual journey and will probably be less exciting for you if you don’t want to know about the minutiae of doing nothing, or the famous Rangtong/Shentong debate.

Perfume on the way

Given the instant gratification I’m accustomed to, it’s felt hard to work on the project of my perfume company for a year without many tangible outputs to show for it so far. But this state of affairs is changing soon. It seems like our projected release date of September is going to hold up to the ravages of real supply chains and our management skills. So, in short order, I will have much to tell you about scents we’ve designed and the story of how my company came to be. Until then, all I have is tantalizing paragraphs like this one, which will hopefully add more refreshing suspense to your life.