Odds & Ends: September 18, 2026

By: Brett & Kate McKay

September 18, 2026

The virtual Criterion Closet. If you’ve been following along with me for a while, you know I’ve been on a quest to become a cinephile, which I’ve been pursuing by watching films from the Criterion Collection during my zone 2 cardio sessions on the treadmill. To find my next pick, I usually just ask ChatGPT to recommend a random movie from the collection. Longtime AoM reader Robert H. recently shared a more fun way to find my next picks: a virtual version of the famous Criterion closet. The actual Criterion closet is visited by filmmakers and actors, and they get filmed pulling their favorite discs off the shelves. This site allows you to have that experience virtually. You can browse all 1,327 spines, pull down a case to inspect it, or hit “Random” to have it hand you a surprise selection. You can even make your own four closet picks and share them as a Polaroid, just like the celebrity visitors do. I love when the internet is fun, and this is definitely fun.

Dan and Dave Playing Cards. Classic card games still have a satisfying place in the modern world (here are the 6 every man should know), and you can always use standard Bicycle cards to play them. But if you’d like some playing cards that look different while still feeling good in your hand, check out Dan and Dave. The company was started by twin brothers Dan and Dave Buck, sleight-of-hand artists who helped pioneer cardistry (the art of card flourishing) before getting into producing designer decks. They’ve got all sorts of great-looking designs. One of my favorites is their Vintage Plaid deck. Antlers is another handsome one. They’ve also done a bunch of collaborations with designer Brad Fulton, whose decks have a vintage 1950s casino vibe — like the Ace Fulton’s “Canceled Edition,” which comes with a hole drilled through the center, mimicking the way old casinos canceled their decks to keep the cards from being snuck back onto the tables.

Compelling People by John Neffinger and Matthew Kohut. I read this book a long time ago, but I still think about it a lot. Neffinger and Kohut argue that all our social judgments of other people hinge on two qualities: strength (the ability to get things done) and warmth (making people feel cared for). Someone who projects both is compelling; someone who projects neither comes across as contemptible. Once you have that axis in your head, you start seeing it in everyone: politicians, co-workers, and yourself. The book got me thinking so much that it inspired an article on AoM about how to gut-check whether you’re contemptible. If you want an overview of the strength/warmth idea, check out my podcast interview with Kohut.

How to Raise a Son Who Is Boring and Unattractive to Women. Anthony B. Bradley, who I’ve had on the AoM podcast before, wrote a piece on why so many young men today struggle in the dating market. His argument: a lot of these guys are just boring. Raised to build résumés rather than inner lives, they specialized early in one activity, never picked up an instrument or read a book for pleasure, and spent their teenage years around screens and same-age peers instead of multi-generation cohorts. The result is a young man with strong grades and good stats who can’t hold a conversation about anything. Bradley writes the piece as a satirical ten-step guide for parents who want to produce such a son. Worth reading if you’ve got boys at home. Don’t raise potato heads!

On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Sunday Firesides: Someone Has to Enjoy the Party and Exit, Voice, Loyalty, Neglect: Why People Leave, Stay, or Try to Burn It All Down.

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