Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 110
Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 110
Bill Gates can’t stop playing Wordle! The most famous person from my high school, New Yorker Cartoon of the Week, football szn kickoff Recipe Corner.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week. Sorry we’re late, lots of catching up to do after the holiday.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting. Check out the archive of previous newsletters here.
Bill Gates can’t stop playing Wordle!
His strategy for solving it fast.
Ever feel like you share a lot in common with a billionaire? Maybe Bill Gates is just like us!
I’ve started every day since February or March doing the same thing. Not long after I wake up, I grab my phone or laptop and solve Wordle, the puzzle where you get six chances to guess a five-letter English word. Then I do the variations where you guess four words (that’s called Quordle) and eight words (that’s called Octordle). Finally, I check my email to see how I stacked up against the friends and family who share my obsession.
Same!
Unlike some time sinks, Wordle and the other puzzles are a great way to stay connected with people, because they’re the same for everyone. Every day you can ask your fellow Wordle fans, “Are you ready to discuss it? If you haven’t done it, I’m not going to say a thing, because I could spoil it just by telling you one word was especially easy or hard.” And by seeing who sends out their scores first, we know who got up earlier and who maybe stayed up too late the night before.
Haha, Bill judges his friends for staying up too late lol. Very relatable.
How about some strategy?
If you’ve played Wordle, you know how important it is to make your first guess strategically. I like to start with a word that contains lots of vowels, like AUDIO or OUNCE. ADIEU is a good one too.
This actually goes against conventional wisdom that suggests that vowels are to be limited in early guesses.
It’s easy to get fooled by words that start with a vowel. I have to remind myself, “That vowel could be at the start or the end of the word.” When I have two vowels, I like to try them in the second and fourth positions, like in CAGED.
The worst thing is when you have four of the five letters—IGHT for instance—and the answer could be LIGHT, TIGHT, FIGHT, SIGHT, RIGHT, and so on. It’s just a matter of luck whether you get the correct word before you run out of guesses.
Right? Bill and I have SO MUCH in common.
I usually solve the Wordle within four guesses, sometimes five.
Yes! Same! I think we should be friends. If anyone out there has a connect, go ahead and invite Bill to our next Micah’s Yoga Club. Thx.
Mark Manson
Mark Manson sold 12 million copies of his self-help hit. Then he started taking his own advice.
Who’s the most famous person from your high school?
For me, it’s Mark Manson.
Mark was a year above me in school. Nice guy. Spent a lot of time alone playing guitar. He was one of those guitar players that were really into Steve Vai. IYKYK.
Drove a new Saturn sedan. We used to talk about music and politics, but I don’t remember hanging out at parties or seeing him outside school. After high school, we lost touch. Once Facebook got rolling, I would periodically follow his life and career, which seemed pretty mundane. Until it wasn’t.
One day, Mark Manson became the biggest author in the world. His big hit, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, is one of the top ten selling books of the past decade.
Manson seemed to be following the familiar self-help-titan path. Besides the school, which launched in January, he had published Everything Is Fucked, a best-selling follow-up to his megaselling first book. (Along the way, he found time to co-author Will Smith’s memoir, Will.) He had recently released a The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck journal and a The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck NFT collection. A The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck documentary was in the works. But when your creed is not giving a fuck, practicing what you preach means learning not to give a fuck about the multi-million-dollar empire you’ve built — the one that brought you a real-estate-porn Tribeca loft and the adulation of celebrities.
We visited his old turf north of the city. Growing up here, Manson said, he’d felt out of place. Austin was much smaller then — pre–tech boom, pre–famous transplants like Tim Ferriss, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk — and he’d lived in a Bible Belt “Podunk exurb” with cows and creeks, “bubbas and barbecues.” He’d chafed at the middle-class conservatism, skipping out on Sunday school and developing an aversion to authority figures. “I got a lot of Jesus as a kid,” he said.
What had been a rural area was now paved over with strip malls and sprawl; everywhere, it seemed, new housing developments were under construction. We passed Canyon Vista Middle School, where Manson had been arrested in eighth grade for marijuana possession and expelled.
After high school, with mediocre grades and vague notions of becoming a rock star, he went to a small music college in Denton, Texas, before realizing he didn’t have the talent to make it and transferring to Boston University, where he studied international business. Traumatized by a friend’s drowning and by a high-school sweetheart’s dumping him, and lacking confidence with women, he spent much of his early 20s going out at night as part of the ascendant “pickup artist” scene popularized by Neil Strauss’s book The Game. Among PUAs, men who traded tips for bedding women, it was common to use a pseudonym, but while most PUAs chose self-glamorizing handles like Style and Mystery, Manson went by Entropy.
Ok. Now, this is where things get interesting.
Manson came to PUA with better social skills than many of the men drawn to it. As Entropy, he began blogging about his experiences and giving advice, counseling men on how to dress better, among other things, and gaining a following through his writing. “What Mark helped people see was it was never about the women,” Mr. Awesome, now a West Coast academic, recalls. “It was about you. When you got your shit together, pickup got easier.”
“I basically kind of built my name by explaining why all this stuff that Neil Strauss wrote was toxic and really damaging, and not just to women — to men,” he told me. “Like, okay, yes, this does hurt women, but you’re also objectifying yourself and degrading yourself.” In his view, the reason pickup became a thing was that it wasn’t acceptable for men to read self-help books.
In 2013, he rebranded once again, this time to MarkManson.net (“Author. Thinker. Life Enthusiast.”). Going forward, he would write for everyone. His blog traffic began to soar, rising to over a million monthly readers.
He was fashioning a niche for himself as the tough-love counterpart to a wave of sunnier self-help blogs then in vogue. One popular site, Tiny Buddha, Manson held in particular contempt. “It posts, like, a bajillion articles every day, and every single article was just the same flavorless, shallow, powder-puff, feel-good piece,” Manson says. “I used to be very bitter about that. I was like, ‘You know what people really need is somebody to tell ’em, like, ‘Hey, your life is bullshit and fucked up because of you. And guess what? You’re always gonna have problems.’ This is what people actually need to hear.”
On January 8, 2015, under a banner photo of a kitten nonchalantly padding away from a fiery explosion, Manson published a blog post that would seed a once-in-a-decade publishing phenomenon. He titled it “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck,” and 110 of its 2,354 words were fuck or derivations thereof: fuck-worthy, motherfucking, unfuckable. It was a chippy, giddily profane riff on platitudes like “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” “Don’t worry what other people think,” and “To thine own self be true,” and it went viral.
Soon after he had a book deal. Manson’s book came out in September 2016. It was an instant smash.
It first appeared on the Times best-seller list at No. 6 in the category of Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous in early October. And over the next months, it steadily climbed the rankings. On July 16 of the following year, after 29 weeks on the list, it reached No. 1, displacing Admiral William McRaven’s Make Your Bed. At that point, HarperOne created a version of the cover with FUCK represented as “#@%!” (on the original version, only the U was replaced by a symbol), and Walmart began stocking it. It popped up in celebrities’ feeds: Simone Biles, Chris Hemsworth, Chelsea Handler, and Paris Hilton mentioned it, and there it was on the floor between the Edge’s feet in a magazine photo. (For famous people alternately cosseted by courtiers and trolled by the masses, Manson’s helpful telling-it-like-it-is realism had an obvious appeal; it was the “good kick in the arse that I needed!,” as Hemsworth posted on Instagram.) Subtle Art has now been on the Times list for more than 250 weeks, selling more than 12 million copies in 65 languages (including Uzbek and Greenlandic).
Despite this wild success, doesn’t seem to be satisfied.
Over lunch at a Tex-Mex place in Austin this past May, Manson did seem as if he gave a fuck that he had been largely overlooked by the Establishment despite his book’s runaway sales. The New York Times hadn’t reviewed it, he’d never been asked to give a TED Talk, and none of the schools he’d attended had asked him to come back to speak. At least in part, this clearly had to do with the title.
Last fall, I visited Manson at his home in Tribeca. The elevator opened directly into the 5,475-square-foot apartment, a floor-through penthouse loft in a doorman building. It was location-scout bait with contemporary art and big windows that let in lots of light. But he wore his success uneasily.
“It’s weird,” he said. “When Subtle Art took off, you basically just get all this money like dumped on top of you. And we’re both pretty simple. Like, I don’t wear fancy clothes. I don’t own cars. I don’t have watches or anything, you know? I pretty much wear stuff like this every day.” He had on gym clothes. “But we love living in New York, so we’re like, Oh shit, now we can get that penthouse that everyone dreams about with all the space, and, You know, we can have the beautiful New York life that you fantasize about, or whatever.”
So what’s next? How does a self-help guru follow a major success?
“I feel like there are a lot of authors in the self-help genre who get their hit book and then they kind of just make a career by repeating that book over and over for like 30 years,” he said. The easiest thing he could do would be to crank out brand extensions like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck for Pregnant Moms, he added, and have “armies of coaches” who pay him to certify them. “But yeah, I have zero interest, I have negative interest in doing that. To me, that would be boring.”
Along with the documentary, the Subtle Art journal, and the newly launched Subtle Art School, Manson was planning one other Subtle Art project, a
collection of 1,000 quotes from the book to be sold as NFTs, which excited him as an experiment. “I told my agent, ‘In ten years, it’s either going to be one of the smartest things I ever did, or it will be a joke and an embarrassment.’ I don’t think there’s really an in-between there. Is it the edge of something new, or is it just a cliff and we’re going to fall off?” He laughed. (Months later, after a lackluster NFT launch, he said he considered it “a failed experiment.”) Collectively, as he saw it, these projects were the last real efforts he would make with the Subtle Art brand; they would “get it out of my system,” he said. His plan was to spin off the brand as its own thing, run by his team, and at some point fulfill his obligation to Harper. After that, he would be done. “I’ve said this many times: The whole point of self-help is to leave self-help. If self-help works, you don’t need it anymore.”
New Yorker Cartoon of the Week
Fall is here. Right?
Recipe Corner
Football season is here. Get ready to enjoy 7 hours of commercial-free football with Scott Hansen, then call a couple of buddies over to watch the Cowboys and cook something special for the Sunday night game.
Lacquered Rib Eye
Ok, so this isn’t a recipe as much as it’s a technique. Let’s buy a big-ass steak and serve everybody.
¼ cup sherry vinegar or wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 tsp. sugar
1 garlic clove, crushed
Vegetable oil (for grill)
1 2–2½-lb. bone-in rib eye (about 2" thick), preferably prime or as well-marbled as you can find
Kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil (for drizzling)
Flaky sea salt
Lemon wedges (for serving)
Bring vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and garlic to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and gently simmer until reduced by about half (it will still be fairly loose and won’t yet coat a spoon), 6–8 minutes. Set sauce aside.
Prepare a grill for high indirect heat (for a charcoal grill, bank coals on one side of grill; for a gas grill, leave one or two burners off); oil grate with vegetable oil. Season steak generously with kosher salt. Grill over direct heat, turning every minute, until deeply browned on all sides (including standing it on its side with tongs to render fat cap), 6–8 minutes.
Move steak over indirect heat and grill, turning every 1–2 minutes and moving closer to or farther away from heat as needed to build even color, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of steak registers 100°, 10–12 minutes. Start basting steak. Continue to grill, turning and basting with a light coating of sauce and moving closer to or farther away from heat as needed to create a deep crust on steak without scorching, until very dark brown and thermometer registers 120° for medium-rare (internal temperature should climb to about 130° as steak rests), about 10 minutes. Transfer steak to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet and let rest 15–30 minutes.
Transfer steak to a cutting board and slice into thick strips. Arrange on a platter; drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve with lemon wedges.
Warm Okra, Tomato and Bacon Salad
Tomato szn is almost over. Okra too. Let’s use up all that summer produce with a showstopping side.
For the salad
1 pound fresh okra, sliced lengthwise
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
2 cups (14 to 16 ounces) grape tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta
5 slices thick-cut bacon (about 5 ounces), cooked and coarsely crumbled
1/2 cup (2 ounces) raw pecan halves
Warm bread, for serving (optional)
For the vinaigrette
1 shallot, finely grated or minced
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Roast the okra: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees.
In a large, ovenproof skillet or pan, toss the okra with the olive oil, salt and pepper and arrange in a single layer as best you can. Transfer to the oven and roast 15 minutes, or until the okra is just starting to turn brown in spots.
Make the vinaigrette: While the okra is roasting, in a small bowl whisk together the shallot, lemon zest and juice, mustard, salt and pepper. Slowly add the oil, whisking constantly until emulsified.
Make the salad: Remove the okra from the oven, add three-quarters of the vinaigrette, toss to coat and again spread the okra in a single layer in the pan. Add the tomatoes, cheese, bacon and pecans and dot with the rest of the dressing. Return the pan to the oven and roast an additional 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes just start to shrivel.
Serve family-style, with warm bread, if desired.
Orange-Cardamom Olive Oil Cake
Dessert for the whole squad.
For the candied orange:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 cardamom pods, crushed or 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 oranges, thinly sliced
For the cake:
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup plus, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cardamom pods or 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup plus, 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Start by washing the oranges, then cut 0.15-0.20 inch thin slices crosswise. A sharp knife is key here! If you cut some thicker slices by mistake, save them for another dish. In a saucepan on medium heat, combine 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, and 2 crushed cardamom pods. Once the mixture comes to a boil, turn the heat to medium-low, add the sliced oranges to the saucepan and let them simmer for 15 minutes.
While the orange slices are simmering, preheat the oven at 345°F. 3. Beat 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt using a whisk or an electric mixer, until the mixture becomes pale, light and fluffy. Slowly drizzle the olive oil in the egg mixture, while constantly mixing everything together. Add the vanilla extract, orange zest, orange juice, cardamom, and baking soda to the mixture mix them in using a spatula. 4. In a separate bowl, whisk the baking powder and flour together. Sift them in the egg mixture, then gently fold the dry ingredients using a spatula.
Brush a 8-inch diameter springform pan with oil, then line the bottom and the sides of the pan with parchment paper. Next, arrange all the syrupy orange slices on the bottom and on the sides of the pan. Gently pour the cake batter in the pan, over the orange slices, then pop it in the oven. Place another tray underneath the springform pan to catch any potential sugar syrup drops. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester or a skewer comes out clean, once inserted in the middle of the cake.
Allow the cake to cool off for at least 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan. Brush some of the remaining orange cardamom syrup on top of the cake. I also like to drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil directly on the cake slices, right before serving them.
Did Micah practice yoga this weekend?
Yes. One hour Sunday at Meanwhile Brewing for Micah’s Yoga Club. Thanks to everyone who came through!
That’s 32 in-person weekend classes in 35 weeks this year.
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