One of my favorite newsletters is TITAA (Things I Think Are Awesome) by Lynn Cherny, a data scientist consultant who sends out a monthly roundup of whatever she finds interesting in the fields of creative AI, generative art, science fiction, fantasy, games, folklore, poetry and more. It’s weirdly fascinating and always inspiring. Here is a link to the archive. — CD
A swell account I follow on Twitter is Massimo. They consistently posts the most interesting science-y, curious, and educational stuff. (And no outrage!) It bills itself as “Astronomy, astronautics, meteorology, physics. Engineer, trying to build the big picture of #science via selected & curated pics, videos & links,” which it does spectacularly well. — KK
A silly, fun, and weirdly mesmerizing Twitter follow. People Selling Mirrors collects the images that people post while selling their old mirror. The photos inevitably include them, so these snapshots become unintended selfies. They are amusing because they are the opposite of posed portraits — they are the anti-selfie. — KK
More people are working from home, or working from remote locations, or working while traveling, or traveling while working. We, the Recomendo crew, are launching a new newsletter dedicated to this realm. Nomadico is a weekly, one-pager emailed to you each Thursday which will have 4 tips for working beyond the office, and living in motion. Covers digital nomads, remote work, travel hacking, van life, FIRE, learning journeys and more. Nomadico is edited by Tim Leffel, who is the world’s expert on distributed living. Sign up here. It is free for now. — KK
I am mesmerized by the short videos of Zach King. Are they real? Are they magic tricks? Or are they special CGI effects? Who cares? They are awesome. King’s visual tricks are witty, clever, and uplifting. I think of them as cinemagic. They have become a whole new creative genre, as King forwards and feature shorts inspired by his style but made by others. They travel well on TikTok so he has legions of followers. — KK
One of my favorite Instagrammers worth following is Geomorphilogical Landscapes. It’s a parade of unusual, amazing, bizarre, weird, and surprising natural landscapes. Geological, biological, weather, and urban. Some scenes are beautiful but most are just astounding. I feel glad to be on the same planet. — KK
I’m a big fan of Clearer Thinking and have recommended several of their tests and newsletter before, and Spencer Greenberg, the social scientist behind Clearer Thinking also has a weekly newsletter that I click on as soon as it hits. Each week, he sends out “One Helpful Idea” and it’s short and sweet and it makes me feel smart. This week’s helpful idea was:
Many have made the argument that trying not to think about something makes us think about it more. As proof, they say: “Try not to think about a white bear. Gotcha!” But the way to not think of a white bear is not to “not think about a white bear” — it’s to think about a red plum.
You can view all the past issues and subscribe here. — CD
The Internet Dungeon of Unexplained Phenomena is a website of AI-generated images and text depicting paranormal occurrences — like Dimensional rift at Scholastic Book Fair and The spooky locked door in the public library. It reminds me of a visual “Welcome to Night Vale”. It’s creepy and poetic and just scrolling through the blog excites my imagination. — CD
My favorite out-of-this-world twitter account to follow is the Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity. It keeps me up to date on Rover’s findings and images, like this picture postcard posted recently. It’s a dose of awe in my timeline. The most recent raw images of Mars can be found here: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw-images/ — CD
Some silly humor to add to your feed is the r/DramaticHouseplants subreddit. It’s just images of houseplants being dramatic, like this plant in a pig planter or this one. Both Fittonias. This sub is a great place to learn new plants! The time lapse videos are also beautiful to watch. — CD
Every couple of days the musician/artist David Byrne posts on his Instagram a picture of something interesting he notices: a juxtaposition of forms, an odd alignment of shadows, something offbeat, the unexpectedly original in the mundane, or one moment of aha. That’s it. Because he notices, I notice. And then I notice more on my own. Small joys. — KK
Instagram has become one kind of art museum for me. I like to get my art in diverse small doses. Among the artists I follow, I seek these accounts because they keep me surprised.
https://www.instagram.com/ifyouhigh/ — Different, odd, unexpected, weird. My favorite.
https://www.instagram.com/vikmuniz/ — Always surprising bits of beauty.
https://www.instagram.com/rawvisionmagazine/ — Select folk art from magazine.
https://www.instagram.com/geometriasagrada/ — Geometrical / mathematical art worldwide.
https://www.instagram.com/ememem.flacking/ — Creative public tile mosaics.
https://www.instagram.com/okudart/ — Colorful polygon master.
https://www.instagram.com/studioolafureliasson/ — Star artist’s tech sophisticated installations.
If you have a favorite art follow that always surprises you, let me know. — KK
Gastro Obscura is an Instagram account with photos and descriptions on unusual foods from around the world. You’ll find Japanese cream puffs that look like kittens, fruit that looks like an exploding planet, fruit that tastes like chocolate pudding, and lots more. It gave me a greater appreciation for just how diverse the world’s culinary options can be. — MF
I follow two bots on Twitter to break up its relentless seriousness. Systemantic Quotes posts one-line riddles about the antics and behavior of all systems derived from the book “Systemantics, or the Systems Bible.” Such as: “In dealing with the shape of things to come, it pays to be good at recognizing shapes.” Every four hours the Magical Realism Bot posts a one-sentence “story” written by an AI. These summaries are surreal, mostly absurd, but every once in a while, it’s a core of a decent idea. Other bots to follow are welcomed. — KK
Last year a college student named Annie Rauwerda launched Depths of Wikipedia, an addictive Instagram account with screenshots of unusual and fascinating Wikipedia entries. I’ve learned about Revenge bedtime procrastination, Broken escalator phenomenon, the Fregoli delusion, and a lot more. — MF
I took one Art History course in college, but everything else I’ve learned about the art world has been piecemealed and picked up through occasional museum visits. But since I created a free account on Artsy my whole aesthetic world has opened up. Every day I get an email digest of contemporary art for sale, current collections in galleries all over the world, and features on up-and-coming artists. (You can set your preferences to receive only one email per week.) I don’t plan on actually buying anything, although I am coveting everything created by Leonora Carrington. When I see something that draws me in, it takes me down a rabbit hole of artist bios and their work and if they’re on Instagram I immediately follow. I’ve been slowly muting the meme accounts, influencers, and friends who overpost selfies, and I’m curating an Instagram stream of beautiful art to inspire. — CD
I am the daughter of two Mexican immigrants and when I was younger I had a lot of shame around my last name, the way that I looked, how poor we were, etc. When I found Brown Girl Therapy on Instagram I finally felt understood. Brown Girl Therapy is an online mental health community for children of immigrants founded by Sahaj Kohli, a mental health therapist in training. Her posts are like mini-therapy sessions for me. Here is a reminder from Sahaj that really hits home: “You can love and be grateful for your immigrant parents’ journey & make different choices than they’d want. You can love and be grateful for your immigrant parents & need time away from them. You can love and be grateful for your immigrant parents & protect your mental health.” Here are a few others: Growth work and White girl ponytail. — CD
Since March of last year, my sister Wendy has been posting a creative cocktail recipe on her Instagram channel, The Quarantini. Even if you don’t drink alcohol it’s fun to see the unusual drinks she has concocted, like The Cure, which pays homage to the Covid-19 vaccine. Bottoms up! — MF
I follow jekiyoo on Instagram. Jeki Yoo is a close-up magician of astounding talent, clever innovation, and immense entertainment. He is prolific, posting often, and a lot of fun, playing around with delightful ways to do magic online. Oh my! — KK