Finkel's Fast Five - Issue #35

September 28th, 2018

It has been 33 years since this crucial question was posed: "Does the crowd understand? Is it East versus West or man against man?" The question was asked by Survivor in the lyrics to Burning Heart on the Rocky IV soundtrack. I think we all know the answer: both. Most of you probably saw the Creed 2 trailer own the Internet on Wednesday but if you need to get more hyped, I found this video of Florian Munteanu, who plays Ivan Drago's son, doing the real life training for the movie. The guy is a BEAST. Watch here.  The free video editing software I'm learning to use: I've always wanted to take the videos on my phone and goofy family photos and turn them into cool, short movies for us to have. I know there's a lot of software out there, but I've started using OpenShot and to this point, it's super easy. But I'm open to suggestions. You can learn about it here.  A pair of great writing brothers I've started following on Instagram: Full disclosure: I started following these guys because I saw this funny photo of them on Instagram. Only after I clicked on the bio did I see that one of the guys was John Green who wrote the massive hit book, Turtles All the Way Down (which I haven't read, but I will at some point now). His brother is about to have his first book come out and they're on tour together. They look like they have a blast.  This is a terrific long-form piece about how big box gyms are in trouble with the rise of boutique fitness studios and training centers: With places like SoulCycle and my wife's favorite, Orange Theory, exploding in popularity, the old school giant gym with tons of weights and rows of treadmills is in trouble. I long ago moved my workouts to my garage, but the slow adaptation of these legacy gyms to the changing needs of people who work out is a great lesson in economics. It's a well-written piece, too. Check it out here.  A tremendously written sentence from one of the best baseball books ever written as we head into the post season: "Life is a battle and baseball life is an endless series of skirmishes about who will control the periphery of the plate, batters or pitchers." - George Will, Men at Work  Have a great weekend and try to avoid endless skirmishes about who will control the periphery of the plate!  We have a lot of new readers and members of the FF5 crew this week, so here is A LINK TO AN ARCHIVE OF EVERY FF5 ISSUE SO YOU CAN CATCH UP.  We're growing fast! Please send this next link to ONE person who you think would like it. It would mean a ton. THANK YOU:

- Jon