Abel Brainz Digest, Vol. 55 (QUASI LATE EDITION) - June 20, 2024

Welcome to Volume 55!!

Sorry (not sorry) this is late again. When you're teaching a camp all day and encouraging young actors to write and create their own material, it gets a little tiring. Anyway, let's get to it. 

cool graduation stuff

This speech from Ken Burns is so well written, I'll let it speak for itself. 

cool music stuff

Started watching Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. the documentary series on MAX and it does not disappoint. If you aren't familiar with the Stax label or their sound, please click here for a pretty decent playlist. I have NO IDEA why Green Onions isn't on there. It's the most recognizable instrumental of all time, outside of classical music.

RIP Willie Mays

     My favorite baseball player of all time is dead, weeks after his 93rd birthday, and days before MLB was going to pay tribute to him at the first professional park he ever played in: Rickwood Field

     I can go on about the 'Say Hey' Kid and his video game numbers before there were video games, and the plays that he made that are still unbelievable even though there's video footage

     The only number of his that I'll bring up is his career batting average of .301. As many of you know, I love comparing improv and acting with baseball. Baseball is a game of failure. You swing and miss, give it your all, and still strike out. And then you get to do it again. The greatest baseball player who ever lived failed almost 70 percent of the time when trying to get a hit. 

     If I had that failure rate, I'd be a millionaire... Okay, maybe a thousand-aire. Either way, you get my point. 

Thoughts? Questions? Hit me up! 

That's going to do it for me. 

Click here for all the past volumez. 


And remember, this labor of love is handcrafted and distilled every week. Click here if you want to show some love and "subscribe." And even if you don't, I'll still send you the newsletter :) 

Much love, 

Abel

Abel Arias