How do you focus? We recently produced a piece for a new client—more on that below—about the attention economy and when users are “in-focus” on an app, which got me thinking: When am I in focus on Three Point Four Media matters? This is a basic sophomore creative writing major epiphany: How do I focus, man? But it also made me rethink how I work. At TPF, we live the thought leadership we write.
You ever go full screen with your browser or app? Not to go all Atomic Habits on you, but over the past few weeks I started making whatever task that necessitates real focus—say, writing a longform piece about attention—a full screen operation. No Slack. No Asana notifications popping up. No emails! Just me and the task at hand, whether it’s a big Google Doc or poring over a Figma file. It’s remarkable how much faster the work gets done, how strong the work is, and how the emails and Slacks still get answered in a timely manner.
Onto the links.
An article
New Yorkers of a certain age will remember the Elvis bust that stood in the window of lower Manhattan’s Great Jones Cafe. It was a good bar, and indie rock dorks will remember that Pavement bassist Mark Ibold tended bar there.
Anyway, “The Case of the Missing Elvis” has everything a New York(er) story needs: Changing of the guard at a longtime watering hole, first- and second-wave gentrifiers, a cranky-and-hilarious landlord, people taking themselves way too seriously.
***
A project
We signed on with Spotify last month. We’ll be working with their Advertising team for the rest of 2025 to produce longform stories exploring trends in the advertising and marketing industry.
The first piece is all about attention—which you’d know if you were paying attention earlier—and how Spotify is capturing it: The wild, wild west of attention. Read it in full screen. More soon!
***
Another project
We worked with Acumen America managing partners Catherine Casey-Nanda and Amon Anderson on this piece detailing how their work in Medicaid is more vital than ever.
Investing in Medicaid isn’t just a moral responsibility, but a fiscally sound one too.
Over the last 10 years working with entrepreneurs, health plans, and policy leaders, we have seen Medicaid as the home for innovation in healthcare. And the innovators we work with are making Medicaid—and all of healthcare—better, more accessible, and more efficient for everyone. They’re showing that investing in Medicaid works.
***
A cocktail
This was a happy accident. Friend of the newsletter and frequent TPF contributor Alex Beggs intended to batch a cocktail. She completely messed up the proportions so we had to wing it (add tonic!). After the mishap, I spent a week in the lab tweaking it (tough work).
A Billy Original:
2oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
1oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
2oz mezcal
.5oz chile liquor (if you have it, not necessary—I like this stuff).
Shake vigorously, strain into a glass over ice (salt the rim!), top with tonic and some sort of ridiculous garnish.
***
A recipe
Chef Rick Martinez, who we worked with on some videos in the early days of Three Point Four, has a cookbook out later this month. It’s all about salsa and aptly-named SALSA DADDY (pre-order it now).
I’ve been cooking out of an advance copy (Cool Guy Alert) and stocked my fridge, pantry, and freezer with a wide array of salsas. My favorite so far is the salsa matcha pictured above: a roasty toasty and crispy crunchy salsa with chiles, garlic, peanuts, and sesame seeds. (Rick has a slightly different salsa matcha recipe in the Times if you can’t wait for the book to drop, though I prefer the Salsa Daddy version.)
***
A run
Altitude is humbling. I went to Mexico City at the end of March and ran every day for the six days I was there. When you live and train at sea level, 7,400 feet is a shock to the system: Dry throat, heavy legs, high heart rate. Paso suave it is! By the fifth day, I started to feel OK. The sixth day I ran some intervals. I felt superhuman for two days when I returned to sea level. Now I just feel middle-aged again, and that’s just fine by me.
We have a fun Q&A for you next week. And
will be with you in two weeks—he’s back folks!
 | A guest post by
|
good stuff