I won’t bore you with a heartfelt, hustle-and-grind bro style Lessons Learned year-end newsletter full of useless maxims and tangents about the benefits of cold plunges. But I will leave you with these high-level notes and greatest hits from 2023 at Three Point Four Media HQ: We learned a lot about formalizing business development (still a work-in-progress), weathered a sometimes iffy economy and tight marketing budgets, garnered some PR (more in the new year), sharpened our POV (lol), and re-signed with our longest-tenured client for another year (we’ll have lots to share from them soon).
Onward!
An Article
Really enjoyed this long and wide-ranging profile of Michael Stipe in the New York Times Magazine. A couple years ago, I made the conscious effort to “get into R.E.M.,” mostly because a lot of my favorite bands always cited the group as their favorite band. Took a minute, but these days I could listen to Stipe read the phonebook. There are a lot of good anecdotes and easter eggs in the piece (including cameos from Patti Smith and The National), but I liked this bit about Stipe’s voice, which often turns people off on R.E.M.
“The Voice.” That’s how Stipe often refers to his own singing voice, an instrument that can range from gravelly and somber to a plaintive, nasal, belting cry—but is somehow always loaded with a startling density of emotion, blanketed in warmth.
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A Project
Launching a new site for a longtime client in the new year. Cooking up a few other things, too. 2024, baby.
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A Recipe
Big fan of this Bon Appétit breakfast sandwich recipe. I just follow the recipe for the egg part—cut the jalapeño, if you’d like—and then assemble the sandwiches to my liking. I made them for the Michigan-Ohio State game tailgate and they were a huge hit. (Bonus points if you put hash browns ON the sandwich.) You don’t need to eat these delicious sandwiches with a bloody Mary and a bunch of grown men in matching colors at 9am in 19-degree weather, but it is excellent meal prep.
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A Movie
The Michigan Theater screened The Big Chill a few weeks ago. My dad played the legendary soundtrack all the time growing up, but I had somehow never seen the movie—about a group of friends who met at the University of Michigan reuniting at the funeral of a friend—which is near perfect. Highly recommend.
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Some Yoga
A dear old friend got married in Costa Rica last weekend. I went to yoga every morning, ran on the beach, ate a ton of fruit and fish. Recharged and ready for 2024.
Thanks for following along with us in 2023. Noah will be with you in the new year.