Three Point Four Media is back! We thrived/survived/drank a bunch of coffee during our week-long holiday break and are firing on all cylinders to kick off 2024. Planning meetings! Project proposals! The sending of invoices! Work; it’s fantastic!
This enthusiasm may be temporary.
It’s also cross country ski season. Congrats to all those who celebrate. (Not me.)
An Article
Tom Scocca writes about his ongoing, unending medical mystery. It’s a story about a broken man, a broken healthcare system, a broken media landscape, and hope and resilience, too. Devastating. As someone dealing with his own, although thankfully much less severe, medical mystery, so much of this piece rings true. I would not be surprised if it was the best thing I read in 2024.
Tangent! Scocca’s weather reviews on The Awl were quietly the most exceptional writing anyone was doing on a daily basis in 2016-2018ish (mostly lost to history, but a few remain here). For more like all this, subscribe to his newsletter.
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A Show
I went down a Squid Game-related rabbit hole the other day, and ended up at The Devil’s Plan, a reality show where a bunch of sort of famous people who also have impressive educational backgrounds try to solve fiendishly difficult puzzles. Watching a reality show where everyone is smarter than you are and it takes literally five minutes to explain the rules of each game is a trip. Bonus feature: no one dies. There are a lot of tears, however.
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A Project
How To Become A Freelance Copywriter (Study Hall)
Waiting for books (One Thing)
In our ongoing efforts to “get our name out there” and “do PR,” we helped out with a couple of newsletters. We chatted with the good folks at Study Hall about how to become a freelance copywriter, trying to give helpful advice that also wouldn’t put us out of work. (We kid, we kid; we don’t have any idea what we’re talking about.)
Additionally, I wrote about how much I love the Brooklyn Library app for Kyle Chayka’s brilliant and weird newsletter, One Thing, launched in the run-up to his new book, Filterworld. Kyle is a much more interesting thinker than I am, so go buy his book.
Also we wrote a piece for Dropbox about how an animation studio built itself to scale on demand.
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A Coffee Shop
Dae opened near me awhile back and became enough of a sensation that they had to ban Instagramers, which I loved. I had not gone until last week because they seemed to keep strange hours. (Having looked at the website, these “strange hours” seem to be mostly 10-5, so I’m not sure what I was thinking although the aesthetic is so sparse that it does look closed even when it’s open.) But I finally got there and damn if it’s not the best cappuccino I had in 2023. Highly recommend, if you have figured out when it’s open.
DAE is a homeware and design shop, café, wine bar, and private event space. With no singular focus, we specialize in retail, dining, and above all, tranquility, with equal consideration. DAE is a respite from the hustle and bustle of urban life and within our walls, we ask guests and visitors to pause and savor the intention with which our bites, libations, and home goods were created and curated.
This means they sell $100 beeswax candles in addition to capps.
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A Swim
My continually balky ankle continues to be balky, so I haven’t been running and I’m getting pretty tired of the old Peloton (Cody can only inspire so much enthusiasm), so I’ve been trying to hit the pool once a week. I put a float between my legs so I don’t have to kick and only swim with my arms. It’s tiring. I did recently purchase some sort of almost-knee length tight bathing suit situation after deciding that a swimsuit appropriate for Fort Tiden is probably not the best pool workout attire. I have not worn them yet, but check your six, Michael Phelps.
Happy 2024. We’ll be back in a couple weeks.