📚 Formats unpacked, Death of partying, Unpacking, Least village has its blacksmiths, Weeding
New tourism, Emily & Control, Crumbling walls & Lego bricks, Dodge this & more
Hello, this is post #225.
What a week it’s been! Monday kicked off on a high. By Tuesday, I was in Mumbai, wading through heavy rains while soaking up ideas for a new business opportunity. Then, between Tuesday evening and Wednesday noon, things spun so fast we barely had time to catch our breath. Cue this meme. This meme described my state of mind by Wednesday EOD.
In moments like this, I go back to a lesson a wise man had shared with us early in my career: there are two circles in life: the circle of control and the circle of influence. Your energy belongs only in one of them, and that’s the one worth caring about.
So here I am, weathering the storm (literal and figurative) and chasing my curiosity. The rest of this post is all about the best finds from this wild week.
I’m really excited about today’s picks. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did putting them together. Let’s dive in!
📝 Formats Unpacked
For the past couple of months, I’ve been diving into new content formats that are picking up momentum. While there’s a small revival of long-form pieces—epic essays, marathon podcasts, detailed documentaries—the larger trend is clear. The world wants shorter, sharper, and more dramatic formats. The message has to spark curiosity, land fast, and keep the dopamine flowing. Low attention spans are shaping the new playbook for what works, and what’s likely to grow in the months and years ahead.
On this theme, I came across The Audiencer’s post, “When the article is no longer enough: formats that outperform the article on news apps.” It breaks down how news, in particular, is being reimagined. What struck me most is how the same piece of information can be packaged in different ways, each creating a very different impact.
Here’s one snippet that is relevant for you no matter your interest in content formats:
That we continue playing with old tools to create new outputs is not a pattern you will notice in content business. It’s universal, and has a lot more impact on the future of your craft (and business) than you imagine right now.
If you’re curious about where formats are headed and why they matter, I’d also recommend the Format Unpacked newsletter. They explore fresh ideas across TV, audio, print, digital, and interactive media. Always a fun way to stumble onto something new and figure out what makes it click.
🎉 Death of Partying
In “The Death of Partying in the U.S.A.—and Why It Matters,” Derek Thompson traces the rise and decline of partying in America over the past fifty years.
Here’s a glimpse of what “partying” once meant, long ago:
The many types of visiting ranged from pure socializing to communal labor: visitors took afternoon tea, made informal Sunday visits, attended maple sugar parties and cider tastings, stayed for extended visits, offered assistance in giving birth, paid their respects to the family of the deceased, participated in quilting parties, and raised houses and barns. Visits lasted from a brief stopover, or a “call,” to a leisurely afternoon, to a month-long stay. Visitors frequently stayed overnight. The difficulty of travel—particularly in winter, by foot, horse, stage, wagon, or train—created barriers to visiting but did not deter visitors who highly valued their contact with neighbors and kin. It was through visiting, in fact, that they created their communities.
This may not match our current image of “partying,” but the core need remains the same: gatherings shaped the social fabric of communities.
It’s easy to blame screens, social media, or TikTok for the decline of in-person parties. But those are recent shifts. Thompson points to deeper, structural changes—especially around work and parenthood. Women’s participation in formal work has grown sharply in the past half-century, triggering ripple effects that reshaped social rituals. These forces are just as relevant outside the U.S.
Another sharp observation is around alcohol. Gen Z is drinking less, and that’s probably a positive trend. But it raises a question: what takes alcohol’s place as the social glue? We’ll need other interactive, tactile ways of bringing people together. What that looks like is still unfolding.
🤓 Face it: You're a Crazy Person
For everyone who still dreams of opening that coffee shop and feels thrilled about the choice, Adam Mastroianni has one blunt message: Face it: you're a crazy person.
This so-called Coffee Bean Procedure is really about unpacking—digging into what a decision truly involves. Adam’s post lays out what unpacking means, why it’s so hard, and why it’s essential if you want to build something meaningful.
He warns:
High-status professions are the hardest ones to unpack because the upsides are obvious and appealing, while the downsides are often deliberately hidden and tolerable only to a tiny minority.
His examples—from YouTube creators to photo collectors—hit home and make the point clear. It’s sharp, relatable, and leaves you with plenty to chew on.
⚒️ Least Village Has Its Blacksmiths
FOR MILLENNIA, it was the greatest show in town. The distant rhythmic clanging of metal on metal was an invitation to draw near. Up close, you saw magic. Hard metal was made soft and then hard again in a useful new shape through controlled violence—intense heat, hammer blows, sparks flying, and explosive quenching in water. It was like a reverse volcano that turned chaos into order and utility.
All of it was in the charge of one man moving calmly from forge to anvil with white-hot metal, pounding it red, creating horseshoes, knives, hoes, nails, pots, hinges, and locks—and repairing them when they became worn or broken. Crafting metal was so essential that every town had to have at least one blacksmith, and many saw him as the very embodiment of virility. No wonder the commonest family name in some societies is Smith.
[...]
Even more in town, a blacksmith’s shop was a place to hang out, watch the action, and swap gossip and news.
This snippet pulled me in to read the newly released draft of Maintenance: Of Everything by Stewart Brand. What I found was fascinating. From the role of blacksmiths to the craft of Japanese swordmakers, and even a short history of John Deere and how he transformed farm equipment (especially tractors), there’s so much in here that feels worth knowing.
It’s an enjoyable read on history, craft, and a part of our industrial revolution that we risk forgetting. I grew up in small towns in central India and remember the blacksmiths near my house. They worked on simple tools with what looked like basic equipment, but the sight of glowing red metal being hammered into shape was pure magic. Large wheels for bailgadis (ox carts used to transport goods and people) and horse carriages (tonga or tanga, depending on what you called it) were some of their most common creations. Those images are still vivid.
This book has a fascinating theme: maintenance. The chapter I read is from the section on Communities of Practice. I had shared another chapter earlier, “the soul of maintaining a new machine,” and that one is worth revisiting too.
🧳 New Ways of Tourism
Airbnb, social media, and the wave of revenge travel after Covid have reshaped the tourism industry. Classic destinations still dominate, attracting more visitors than ever. They’ve defined travel for centuries and will continue to do so.
But there’s also a surge of new destinations and unusual reasons to travel. People are flying across countries and continents to do things no one once considered “travel-worthy.” The joy of discovering something new, or being part of a moment that feels historic, is powerful. Some call this an extension of the experience economy, and I agree. Here are two ideas on this theme that stood out for me this week:
1. Sports Tourism:
This blends passion, milestone events, and personal achievement. It comes in two flavors: spectator and participatory. You’ve probably seen friends travel for marathons (the most popular participatory theme in my circle), or head abroad to catch F1 or football. Strangely, fewer people I know travel overseas for cricket. On the spectator side, music has already cracked the code; Coldplay and Taylor Swift are proof. Sports feels like the natural next frontier.
This one is all about culture. Japan has made it iconic. It’s not just about seeing, but doing—and taking something back. A quirky snack, a collectible item, a colorful package that feels Instagram-ready. I’ve wandered through grocery aisles in different countries and found the experience oddly addictive. There’s something joyful about spotting the unfamiliar. Hauls aren’t my thing yet, unless it’s stationery. Let’s see what my next trip brings.
📚 Weeding with 99% Invisible
Libraries get rid of books all the time. There are so many new books coming in every day and only a finite amount of library space. The practice of freeing up library space is called weeding. “It’s like, you have to weed your garden for […] the flowers to grow,” says Sharon McKellar who supervises Teen Services at the Oakland Public Library.
That’s the theme of this brilliant episode from the 99% Invisible podcast: Weeding is Fundamental.
If you’ve been around this newsletter (or you’re already a fan of 99% Invisible), you know exactly what to expect once you hit play.
For those new here, 99PI is one of the most beautiful formats of storytelling I’ve ever come across. From the unusual topics they explore, to the way the narrative unfolds, to Roman Mars’ unmistakable voice—it’s my go-to whenever I need a spark or a lift.
This year marks the podcast’s 15th anniversary. I stumbled on another show, Phonograph, celebrating their journey, looking back at how it all began and what makes 99PI so special. As a fan, I had to listen. And I’m glad I did.
Projects like 99PI come alive through passion and endless curiosity. That’s the spirit I admire, and the same one I try to capture and instill with Stay Curious.
✨ Everything else
The Story of Emily and Control. It’s been a while since I read a piece of fiction that truly grabbed me. This short story was a welcome change—kept me hooked, even if a little confused at times.
Jan Vormann invites playful interaction by Patching Crumbling Walls with LEGO Bricks. A story from Colossal, Lego blocks, Art interacting with reality in a beautiful way – what’s not there to like in this one?
Dodge This. Move to dodge the bullets. How long can you survive? A super fun and minimal game made using AI. I survived 64 seconds, can you beat that?
ICYMI
Kailash Nadh’s ideas around hacker culture, Kevin Kwok’s The Arc of Collaboration and Julie Zhuo’s tips on Hiring Great Anything are my favorite picks from the last post. Don’t miss them. Here’s a quick link for you:
That's all for this week, folks!
I hope I've earned the privilege of your time.
Did this spark a thought, a memory, or even a question? Drop it in the comments—I’d love to hear how it connects with you. And if someone in your circle loves chasing ideas, share this with them. Curiosity spreads best when it travels together.
