Finkel's Fast Five - Issue #52 PLUS: A GIANT THANK YOU

FINKEL'S FAST FIVE - ISSUE #52 January 25th, 2019

I started this project one year ago and here we are, 52 issues later and we still have that great new newsletter smell. Ahhhh, breathe it in... Whether you've been reading since Issue #1 (you know who you are) or this is your very first FF5 (welcome!), I can't thank you enough for inviting me inside your inbox week after week (I know you don't do that for everyone so it'll be our secret).   If you could flip over this FF5 and look at the stats like a baseball card, you'd see that in the last year we've covered 250+ recommendations, 28,000+ words and, most importantly, the number of subscribers has grown an incredible 14X since we sent the first issue. To everyone who has shared, recommended or forwarded an issue, thank you so much! You're all Hall of Famers in my book.  And to every FF5er out there, with Google at your fingertips you could be reading almost anything in the world at any given time and you choose to spend a few minutes with me. I am humbled and grateful. Thank you. On to Issue #53:  1) The iconic Air Jordan I was designed by Peter Moore, came out in 1985 and now you can eat it: Well, you can't eat the actual shoe, but you have to watch this 21-second (should be 23-second) video of this baker designing a cake that looks EXACTLY like the original Jordans, right down to the seams, tread and laces. Sometimes I dream, that he is me, you have to see that's how I dream to be... To dream I move, to dream I groove (and have cake made out of my shoes) Like Mike... Watch the video here.  2) A documentary besides the one on the Fyre Festival (which was amazing) that's absolutely worth your time if you're into fitness and weight training: You probably haven't heard of Eugen Sandow unless you're a huuuge meathead, but he's known as the 'father of bodybuilding'. In fact, the winner of the Mr. Olympia gets a Sandow Trophy every year. Back in his prime, Sandow was so famous and people were in such awe of his body that Thomas Edison filmed an entire movie of him just flexing (I've been practicing for the sequel for years in my own bathroom but nobody has called). He also performed insane feats of strength and once successfully wrestled a lion (meaning he didn't die). I really enjoyed it and you can watch the Legends of Strength documentary here from Rogue Fitness.  3) Remember that time the Washington Post could have had a 10% stake in Facebook? Or when the New York Times whiffed on the chance to invest very early in Google? Lost amidst the stories of the death of journalism and disappearance of newspapers is the fact that if not for some poor foresight and horrible predictions about the future (and the dismissal of the Internet) many of the largest "old media" companies would be awash in "new media" money. This outstanding feature in the New Yorker (yes, it's a sprawling, wordy, but undeniably great piece) takes us through a blow-by-blow of how journalism in particular and newspapers in general find themselves in 2019 with a failed business model and in a fight for their very existence. Read it here.  4) If you've ever taken some time off from exercising and then jumped back into it, you've experienced DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness): It's that throbbing, locked-up feeling that you get the day AFTER you workout and it feels like your whole muscle group has been tenderized. I had to take about 3 weeks off from some of my favorite lifts because of hand stitches (totally fine now) and even though I thought I was taking it easy, it didn't matter. The day after I lifted heavy again I couldn't move half my body when I woke up. Everything was sore. So I found this easy "cure". Ginger. Actually, pickled ginger (though I bought ginger chews, and it actually worked, I think). Here's the post from the expert explaining it.  5) A tremendous magazine lede that is everything right with strong feature writing: "The wood-panelled tailgate of the 1972 Oldsmobile station wagon dangled open like a broken jaw, making a wobbly bench on which four kids could sit, eight legs swinging." - Jill Lepore, Does Journalism Have a Future?  Have a great weekend and be on the lookout for a '72 Oldsmobile with a tailgate dangling like a broken jaw!  Thanks for reading! Any and all feedback is much appreciated. Reply to this e-mail or write me on Twitter HERE.

- Jon

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