United 93. I don’t know how this one slipped past me when it came out in 2006, but we only just recently watched it. I initially wondered how you could make a whole movie out of what happened to United 93 — the only one of the four hijacked flights on 9/11 that didn’t reach its intended target, instead crashing into a field in Pennsylvania as it headed toward Washington, D.C. But the film is almost as much about what was unfolding in air traffic control centers and military command rooms on that infamous morning as it is about the flight itself. Since we now know how events turned out, it’s easy to forget how initially confusing and unprecedented the unfolding disaster was. Masterfully directed by Paul Greengrass, the minute-by-minute portrait of the chaos (the film’s run time syncs up with the duration of United 93’s hijacking) is intense and engrossing. There’s no melodrama, no heroic speeches. Just people trying to make sense of the unthinkable in real time. Of course, the story eventually centers on the passengers of United 93, who fought back against the hijackers, likely preventing a fourth attack. It doesn’t feel quite right to say a movie about such an epic tragedy is a “good” film, but this is a damn good film.
Maybe Don’t Say “Maybe.” We’ve all had this experience: we get an invitation to an event, and we’re not sure if we can make it, so we reply with a tentative “maybe.” Seems like the diplomatic thing to do, right? Turns out, it might not be. Researchers ran six experiments examining what happens when invitees respond with “maybe” instead of a direct “no,” and they found that inviters overwhelmingly prefer a definitive “no” to a wishy-washy “maybe.” The reason? A “maybe” makes the invitee feel more disrespected. We think we’re being polite by keeping options open, but we’re actually just kicking the decision down the road in a way that puts the inviter in limbo. They don’t know if they should get more food or drinks or what sorts of activities to plan when there’s a chance you may or may not show up. The researchers found that our preference for saying “maybe” is driven mostly by a desire not to be the bad guy by saying “no.” The “maybe” serves our interest in maintaining our self-image as a nice guy more than the inviter’s interest in planning a party. The takeaway: when you know you probably can’t or don’t want to go, skip the “maybe” and just decline. Your friends will appreciate the clarity.
VEVOR Preacher Curl Pad. I’ve been looking to add preacher curls to my training routine. Getting a VEVOR pad was a cheap way to enable me to do that exercise in my garage gym. It’s a simple angled pad that you rest in your lap while sitting on a bench. Nothing fancy, but it’s stable enough for what I need. I’ve been alternating between EZ bar preacher curls and hammer dumbbell preacher curls, and the pad works well for both.
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe. I’ve decided to work my way through Tom Wolfe’s canon this year. So I started off with his scathing portrait of 1980s New York: The Bonfire of the Vanities. The novel follows Sherman McCoy, a self-proclaimed “Master of the Universe” bond trader whose life unravels after a wrong turn in the Bronx with his mistress leads to a hit-and-run accident. Wolfe skewers everyone in this book — Wall Street traders, journalists, politicians, activists — with prose that’s as sharp as it is entertaining. He’s a lot of fun to read. The social dynamics he dissects — class resentment, media sensationalism, the performance of justice — feel surprisingly current. At over 600 pages, it’s a commitment, but Wolfe’s satirical eye and ear for dialogue kept me turning the pages.
On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Sunday Firesides: Consistency Is King and Nietzsche’s Last Man Wears a WHOOP Band.
Quote of the Week
I don’t like the cold, precise, perfect people, who, in order not to speak wrong, never speak at all, and in order not to do wrong, never do anything.
—Henry Ward Beecher
