The Executive Edition (10/24/21)

Colin here. Hello and welcome to our first subscriber-only edition. We’re going to experiment with the format but will always put in some deep cuts that don’t make it into the free editions. As always, you have a direct line to us with any feedback, thoughts, or if a topic you’re interested in writing about. Reach us noahandcolin@whyisthisinteresting.com.

Doha subway

The Middle East isn’t generally known as an urbanist’s paradise. Places like Dubai are very much centered around cars (white Range Rovers and Land Cruisers, specifically). I was recently in Doha to do a story on the run-up to the World Cup and was pleasantly surprised by the subway they’ve opened. While it has been functional since 2019, they’ve been expanding and adding more lines. Up to now, my standard for a functional, well-run subway was Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul. But this experience blew me away. It’s clean, efficient, well designed, and even has a “Gold Class” which is a business class styled car. All for the price of an NYC subway swipe, if you can believe that. Of course, this type of infrastructure will be necessary as the city will need to ferry a lot of fans through to stadiums to take the strain off of motorways, but I was actually super happy that I skipped the Uber and went underground to explore. Some photos here (Gold Class seats, the station at Msherib). 

ICYMI: 

We had a strong week of WITI, but if you didn’t see Rex’s Key Art Edition, that seemed to jump out a bit from the pack. Got a nice link from Kottke. We like doing these longer editions from time to time.

The rest of the week:

• The Monday Media Diet with Rob Walker: On Rome, recording your sleep, and Christine McVie

• The Serverless Edition: On Alexa, connecting systems, and programming

• The Microdosing Edition (Joseph Dana): On psychedelics, mental health, and finding calm (if you want to go deeper with Joseph he wrote a two-parter on his psilocybin experience)

• The Footwear Edition (Ben Dietz): On profiling, details, and shoemaking (if you’ve never read Ben’s Skate Gaze Edition it’s an all-time WITI)

A few recommendations:

I liked reading Marc Newson’s “what I can’t live without” feature on NY Mag. There’s gold in there, but he really got me to re-investigate Sunspel, a British clothing brand known for its exceptional cotton. The shirts are absolutely superb and only get better as they break in with several washes. Best not to put them in the dryer, though. (CJN)

Digging the Youtube channel My Analog Journal. There’s a collection of interesting world music, played from vinyl. It’s a nice chance to hand your attention over to someone else’s taste and dig into genres and sounds you might not know very well. Check it out here. (CJN)

Loving this blazer from Trunk Clothiers in London and Zurich. It’s unstructured, cut out of ventile cotton. Super good for travel. Wind and waterproof and very hard to wrinkle. (CJN)

Check out the November print issue of Monocle for a piece I wrote about the Serena hotel in Kabul. (CJN) 

A long-time friend of WITI, the FT’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson wrote in following our Footwear Edition. His father has owned a bespoke shoemaker in London for the past 15 years, Henry Maxwell, established in 1750. (CJN)

What Noah watched on Youtube this week: 

Each week I watch a lot of YouTube. I thought it might be fun to pull out a few favorites.

Let’s start with some “sports.” Jelle’s Marble Runs (see: Marble Racing Edition) partnered with the electric car series Formula E for the “Marbula E” series which recreated Formula E tracks for marbles and features commentary from F1/Formula E commentator Jack Nicholls. It’s weird and fun. Here’s the “Seoul” race.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I love watching snooker. I find it oddly relaxing. I have no idea how I didn’t know that the World Snooker Tour had full matches on Youtube. Here’s the 2014 UK Championship final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump. Also, if you’ve never read Sam Knight’s 2015 profile of O’Sullivan, it’s worth going back.

When a MotoGP rider saves a bike from crashing it’s always crazy to see.

Last sports one: the 2019 Bowls World Championship. Like snooker, I could watch stuff like this for hours when I just want to zone out.

I watch a lot of random science YouTube videos with my kids (often over and over and over again). This week’s rewatch was Veritasium on Why Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others. 

Everyone was talking about this crazy shot from the 1957 Soviet film “The Cranes are Flying”, which brought me to this impressive demo of the DJI Ronin.

Shading in Excel (just watch it). Related: On The Turing Completeness of PowerPoint.

Watching talented people explore their craft is one of my favorite genres. This video of drummer Larnell Lewis listening to “Enter Sandman” for the first time and attempting to play it is a great version.

Meet the Most Infamous Dirt Bike Rider in NYC. In case you’ve ever wondered what’s in the head of dirtbikers on NYC streets.

GAN, who made the cube I wrote about in the Rubik’s Cube Edition, has a new cube out that uses magnets instead of screws.

Finally, even though I already put it in a WITI this week: children with fake beards, grey hair, and cigarettes serenede a chain-smoking Serge Gainsbourg on French television. 

Remarks Complete. Nothing Follows.

Colin Nagy (CJN) and Noah Brier (NRB)