Cultish Creative Weekly Recap (9/7/2024)

Seeing two interviews with two of my favorite finance industry thinkers get released this week, it’s a crazy feeling. A few years ago I would be listening to these and cursing at my headphones on a walk saying, “Why didn’t the host ask another question about that?!” Now, well, I guess you get to curse at me.

Jim O’Shaughnessy’s done enough podcasts that I struggled mightily with the “what can I ask that hasn’t already been asked” feels. In the great tradition of “f*** it,” I went with the only approach I really know, and pulled an old edition of his first book off my shelf and complained to him about the expired coupon in my copy. I learned some new things about Jim, and I laughed A LOT so hopefully you will too. His talk about his grandfather, in particular, hit me really hard when we recorded a few weeks back, and mean even more to me now (more on that tomorrow).

Check out my interview with Jim O’Shaughnessy, for The Intentional Investor, on the Epsilon Theory YouTube channel:

Secondly, thanks to everyone who checked out the Aswath Damodaran interview Jack Forehand and I did for Excess Returns—22k watches in the first week is not a number I’m used to seeing, and I respect just how earned it was. Aswath was great. I even wrote a post about one of his big statements, about how he doesn’t ever go into the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting room, and why faith is better than dogma.

Very few people think about the overlap between stories and numbers the way Prof. Damodaran do (here are several previous posts about him), so getting to talk to him directly and hide my fanboy-side was an excellent, and fun, and worthwhile challenge. Beyond being as brilliant as expected in terms of breaking down his standard subject fare, he gave a masterclass on how to speak publicly about your areas of expertise. It’s formal, but my god can this guy put a bow on a point at will. I’ll be revisiting this one often (maybe not 22k times, but don’t think I won’t tip these numbers even higher any way I can). It’s a real skill to be able to present your thoughts this succinctly: 

Posts you might have missed:

Kathleen Hanna’s book (and music) continue to kick my butt. Here’s “Rebel Girl, Riot Grrrl, And Kathleen Hanna Books,” her story about the time “Kurt Cobain Saves the Day,” and the explanation of the history of the band name in, “Bombshell, Bikinis, and Bikini Kill.”

It was a big week for music nerdery apparently. I also re-shared this old YouTube favorite, “Liam Gallagher Vs. Cute Kids,” which ties into a reoccurring life theme I keep seeing about how you should speak with kids like adults.

The Ethan Hawke Ted Talk I didn’t know I needed was reflected on here, “Ethan Hawke on (WILD) Creativity.” If you missed this one, seriously, check it out. It’s 10-ish brilliant minutes.