Hall of Fame… Pitcher?@PujolsFive breaks down his epic performance out of the ‘pen! pic.twitter.com/lHnLTvNHZj

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 22, 2022

Last week, St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols took the mound for the first time. On Sunday, during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he took the opportunity to break down the performance.

I could not care less about Shady Rays sunglasses, but the rest of the analysis is spot on.

Shawn Blanc on focus and decision making.

One definition of Focus is “Maximum Clarity”. But, in life, having maximum clarity doesn’t always mean having absolute, perfect clarity. Focus can be a graduating scale.

Sometimes, having maximum clarity right now, may still seem a bit vague… maybe you are only 80% confident and clear. But that’s the best you’ve got right now so you make the best decision you can at the time with the values, motivation, and information available to you right now.

Thus you must make a decision with the most amount of clarity you have right now. Knowing that, as you move forward, things will come more into view and you can make adjustments.

I’ve never thought of focus being on a graduating scale before.

Results of a study that asked participants to take a week-long break from social media find positive effects on well-being depression, and anxiety. This should come as no surprise to anyone on social media.

A team of researchers from the University of Bath (UK) evaluated the mental health impacts of a week-long social media hiatus. For some research participants, this meant freeing up roughly nine hours of their week that would otherwise have been spent browsing through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

Their results — published on Friday, May 6th, 2022 in the US journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking — suggest that just one week off social media improved individuals’ overall level of well-being, as well as reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety.

A full week was awesome, but fully removing oneself from social media was better. Digital Minimalism and Deep Work author Cal Newport, pointed out the “full abstention” benefit.

The researchers further found that they could obtain smaller, but still significant improvements in depression and anxiety by having users simply reduce the time they spend on Twitter and TikTok. The biggest effects, however, came from full abstention.

I’m pretty minimally engaged with social media these days. I still have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but I don’t really post all that much, especially to Facebook and Instagram. I do have a pretty bad habit of scrolling through Instagram Reels, and that most likely needs to be curtailed.

Honestly, I should just stop and do practically anything else.

I can’t believe something like this exists. The George Lazenby bit was incredible.

Everyone was having a good time here.

1. Identify what you want to do.

2. Plan a time you will do it.

3. Celebrate that you followed through.

(And then, repeat.)

Jordan Moreau, writing for Variety, has the scoop on the sequel to one of the greatest movies of all time, This is Spinal Tap.

A sequel is in the works to the 1984 rock mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” with director Rob Reiner returning alongside stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer.

The movie package will launch sales at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. It will be released on March, 19 2024, tied to the 40th anniversary of the original. The sequel will be in the style of Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz,” the legendary concert documentary that followed the farewell tour of the Canadian American rock group The Band. “Spinal Tap 2″ will also feature real-life musicians in the film. No names have been revealed yet, but it will likely depend on the artists’ touring schedules.

I hope they call it This Was Spinal Tap.

Patrick Rhone has a few thoughts about friendship. This bit got me.

Even worse, messaging a friend to get together for no reason at all often doesn’t even occur to us as an option. We have some open time in our self-important schedules and in the myriad of things we could choose to do, we don’t even think about spending it with a friend. Friendships, and the time they require for nourishment, never seem to enter the equation. They don’t even make it on our to-do lists.

I’m so happy I’m seeing one of my best friends at the end of the month.

Kevin Townsend, Sophie Gilbert, David Sims, and Spencer Kornhaber, writing for The Atlantic, outline what’s great about Severance.

It’s an interesting discussion, but I wish they’d talk more about the true inspiration for the show, namely The Prisoner and Lost. Although they do mention Twin Peaks and Westworld…

The future is here! Ncuti Gatwa is the Doctor. ❤️❤️➕🟦 #DoctorWho

Read more here ➡️ https://t.co/KoxPmoNAdL pic.twitter.com/peKsH6gCjI

— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) May 8, 2022

I have not seen a single thing he’s been in, but I’m sure he’ll be fantastic.

My all-time favorite comic book artist has died.

George Perez, comic book artist and cornerstone of the industry, has died aged 67. George was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in 2021.

Official obituary at CBR. DC comics remembers him. Marvel pays tribute.

I met him once, and he spent an hour penciling and inking with a sharpie a Batman portrait I have framed in my office. Sometimes, they say never meet your heroes. Well, for me, Mr. Pérez was wonderful.

I kinda like the idea of Wesley Crusher as a Time Lord.

Imagine if they took the Ben Templesmith and Pia Guerra version of the 13th Doctor and copy and pasted Wesley. Obviously, no TARDIS or K9 and add a beard, but that could work.

Here’s the official trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

This continues to look amazing. May 27 can’t get her fast enough.

A simple pun somehow turned into a worldwide celebration of all things Star Wars. It’s futile to try to pinpoint who first made the joke, but Zaron Burnett at Mel Magazine tries to pin it down.

With Burnett’s investigation, it seems to me the real culprit is Randy Thom.

It was further popularized by Randy Thom, the director of sound design at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound. On May 4, 1982, he was working on Return of the Jedi when his brain kicked over the pun, and he just started telling his co-workers, “May the Fourth be with you.” The bit was good for morale and well-received, so he brought it back year after year after year, spreading the pun around the company. 

I’m rather partial to “Revenge of the Sixth” to indicate May 6.

Shawn Blanc reminds us the quality of our questions matter.

Perhaps, like me, you grew up being taught that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. But that doesn’t mean all questions are equal.

A great question will go much further in getting you to a great answer.

Three of my favorite smarter questions are:

What should I start doing?

What should I stop doing?

What should I keep doing?

I wrestle with these three all the time.

One of the most influential comic book artists of the 20th century, Neal Adams, died at 80. Along with Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, and Curt Swan, Adams was one of a handful of artists I could identify without looking at the credits page.

Looking at modern pencilers like Jim Lee, you can see the influence of Adams. When Neal Adams drew a character, he would emphasize certain things. His Joker is an excellent example of exaggeration for effect.

A great joy from my childhood was going through my father’s banker’s boxes and pulling out issues of Batman that featured stories vastly different than what I was seeing as reruns on television. In the 1970s, DC and Marvel used to produce oversized anthology books that, instead of being priced at 15 cents or a quarter, cost an unbelievably expensive one American dollar. I remember a Batman version with a stylized Batman penciled by Neal Adams on the cover. For years, that image was the go-to image of an exciting Batman patrolling Gotham City.

Adams was instrumental in reviving Batman as the “Dark Detective” in the wake of the campy Adam West television series. With writer Denny O’Neill in 1970, he sparked a trend in socially relevant comics with Green Lantern & Green Arrow’s road trip across America. Adams gave many budding artists their start in the business and was a champion of creator’s rights.

It’s making me sad that the artists and creatives that filled my young life are now leaving us. This is, of course, the way life goes. Leaving a legacy as Neal Adams did is the silver lining to this dark cloud. I can always revisit the art and the stories and, for a little while, remember a simpler time.

Per Shawn Blanc’s Twitter:

Every Monday I start with this template:

• Top 3 projects 

• Events or themes each day 

• Any misc tasks 

• How I want to celebrate at the end of the week 

Even a simple plan like this will eliminate dozens of redundant decisions.

I think I can implement something like this in my life.

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RIP Naomi Judd