Peter Vack
May 31, 2022 BY
@peter-vackđ§ââď¸
The only thing I proselytize is stretching. Especially since all my peers are addicted to computer and phone. I see a great deal of back and neck pain in the future. Please, even if you find it boring, cringe, or annoying, stretch. Do whatever you can to make this part of your daily routine. If not, I guarantee youâll spend more than half your life in physical pain. And, with all the potential sources of existential pain on offer, why not do your best to mitigate your inevitable physical demise as much as possible.
May 31, 2022
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I used to see myself as someone with very few friends and even made a little fetish out of the idea of being âa lonely guy.â  That may or may not have ever even been true. Itâs likely I always had friends but romanticized the idea of not having them. Now, I see myself as someone with friends and while it can be overwhelming in moments, itâs preferable to loneliness or romanticizing loneliness. Having friends/community is also healthier I am told than being alone. So, make friends, enjoy them, cherish them.
May 31, 2022
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At the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library you can watch almost any theatrical production performed in New York City since 1970. Due to union laws, you can only watch a production once and must stay in the libraryâs viewing cubicles. Recently, I watched John C. Riley and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Sam Shepardâs True West. If you love theater, do yourself a favor and spend an afternoon watching an old production. I love theater and want new plays. I am imagining a burgeoning playwright creeping into the library to watch Meryl Streep in âMouther Courage and Her Childrenâ and going on to write their own Mother Courage (and casting me).
May 31, 2022
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This is a sort of a cult I was born into but still believe in. Psychoanalysis isnât therapy and finding a good psychoanalyst is as hard as finding a good artist. Most of you who think youâve gone to therapy have never been to Psychoanalysis. Analysis was fashionable, then it wasnât, then it was... now my feeling is itâs no longer fashionable. No matter, itâs an advantage to have dipped your toes into the psychoanalytic waters. I donât think it makes you âannoyingâ or âbad at art, or whatever" thatâs a cope employed by people who are resistant to productive regression on the grand ole couch.
May 31, 2022
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Iâm anti-Adderall for the most part. Probably one percent of people who take it actually âneedâ it. However, I am not anti-pre-work-out powder which is essentially a very high dose of caffeine, B12, and other nootropic-like ingredients punctuated by dashes. I use it as directed before the gym, but I think itâs okay to use recreationally like a very strong cup of coffee. It gives your mood a boost and the kind I have âMVPpreâ by InnovaPharm doesnât crash you like Adderall does.
May 31, 2022
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Itâs common to get an egg sandwich with cheese. I get mine without cheese and a little bit of mayo. A cheap and delicious breakfast.
May 31, 2022
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Growing up on the Upper West (Upper Diane Wiest) Side of Manhattan, our apartment was close to Times Square. âHow amazing,â I thought, âthat this small area so close to where I live is also a place tourists come from all over the world to visit.â Times Square is where Broadway is and itâs a good snapshot of mainstream culture at any given moment. As a boy, I felt lucky to be able to walk through the square and enjoy the unique sights and sounds as part of my âordinary day.â Later in life, it came as a surprise when I discovered people hating on Times Square. They felt that to identify as a âreal New Yorkerâ was to despise Times Square. I believe being a âreal New Yorkerâ is to adore Times Square. I suggest going alone. Sit on one of the new chairs. Gaze at the screens. Take a photo. Walk up the TKTS steps. Read. Write. Watch people. Like I always say, âIf NYC were a face, Times Square is the lips, and we are frenching.â
May 31, 2022
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Dean Kissick said these were âdeadâ last summer but thatâs not true. I see them all the time. Niche accounts that beat a single subject into the ground. I hope the new generation of pics-artists who migrate to Urbit or whatever Web3 becomes keep up the cellectuals style post-erinos for as long as weâre not extinct.
May 31, 2022
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I love when people do this whatever format theyâre subverting. I thought I was going to try to do that with this article but Honor and Dasha told me I shouldnât. And, last night I was âcalled outâ for being too âironicâ so now is not the time to add any more potential fodder to the irony allegations. But, for all of you who have a format and the desire to subvert it, I canât guarantee Iâll enjoy or understand what youâre doing, but Iâll appreciate/applaud the effort.
May 31, 2022
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When I say âwork,â I donât mean your job. I mean spiritual or artistic work whatever that may be. Whole lotta folx wanna be artists and I donât disapprove of that. Itâs good people want to be âcreativeâ even though itâs painful and most ideas are bad. If you have the desire to be âcreativeâ (and maybe one day, featured in this very newsletter alongside these contemporary luminaries) you must do your work every day. If you do it every day, eventually youâll have something resembling a body of work and maybe even mastery of a craft.
May 31, 2022
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I have one pair of expensive sunglasses Iâve had since 2012 but the anxiety of holding on to them for that long has definitely not been worth it. I no longer like the way they look. Cheap sunglasses can be as âgood lookingâ as expensive ones and you needn't be as worried about them getting lost or damaged.
May 31, 2022
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NGL I love trends. I love to follow them. Doing this newsletter is an example of this tendency in me. Following trends isnât lame; itâs fun and can make you friends.
May 31, 2022
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NGL I love being a contrarian. So, I was stuck, between my impulse to follow a trend and be a contrarian when deciding whether or not to write one of these lists. Itâs enjoyable to be a contrarian. It can bolster your sense of self, lead to intense discussion, and also make you friends.
May 31, 2022