Well Rounded (Issue 7)
Taking you back to the 50s.
Welcome to Well Rounded, a series in the newsletter where I curate a catalog of hyperlinks I recently found to be insightful and interesting on a diverse range of topics—from business to self-improvement to popular culture and design.
Hi everyone, long time no see. Apologies for the sudden incognito; I’ve been caught up in the fast pace of life. Here in Montreal, Christmas markets are popping up and ice rinks are in full swing. The first fall of snow should arrive at any minute now. It’s an exciting time of the year to be in. Anyways, I am thrilled to be here today to present to you a new issue of Well Rounded, with a different cover! I thought it might be fun to experiment a bit more with the graphics here. Inspired by vintage NYMag subscription cards and early 1900s Atlantic covers, I’m happy with how it turned out. I’ll detail the color pattern and type below in the Design section, along with the references.
And of course, I hope you’ve had a wonderful day. In the past few weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking and reading—and I hope these curated reads today will encourage you to do the same. Also peek at a short Field Notes section with wardrobe recommendations at the end. Enjoy!
Profiles & Conversations:
“Emma Chamberlain Is Reconsidering Her Dream Job” from the New York Times
In recent years, a regular habit of mine on Thursdays and Sundays is to tune in to Emma Chamberlain’s podcast Anything Goes on my walks. I appreciate her philosophies and approach to life—her reflection of personal dilemmas and presenting possible solutions to navigate through them. I like her emphasis on living a “fulfilled” but not “perfect” life because “that’s just not possible.” Throughout my hours of listening time, one quality of hers remain consistent: authenticity.
In her most recent collaboration with Warby Parker, the brand’s chief merchandising officer told the NYTimes in her profile, “Ms. Chamberlain showed up to meetings with mood boards of eyewear from the 1960s and 1990s, and made suggestions about silhouettes, tints, etching and temple curvature.” This involvement and intentionality presents itself well in the things she put out (see: Chamberlain Coffee Campaign, Warby Campaign). Being able to infuse her personality into everything she touches also brings about new opportunities for her career, allowing for a smooth transition from the influencer realm to high fashion, without following any specific blueprint. From fashion week with heritage-rich fashion houses to becoming the Met Gala’s interviewer for the past few years running—they all seem to be a product of this quality and how they resonate with viewers.
“Truman Capote, The Art of Fiction No. 17” from The Paris Review
And traveling sixty years back, I also enjoyed this Truman Capote interview with The Paris Review in 1957, just a year before his Breakfast At Tiffany’s novella was published, and subsequently adapted to the big screen, starring Audrey Hepburn.
In this conversation, Capote spoke thoroughly about writing—what makes them good, techniques, and inspirations.
INTERVIEWER: Are there devices one can use in improving one's technique?
CAPOTE: Work is the only device I know of. Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.
Truman was also quite an interesting character himself. A work of his, which was supposed to be his Magnum Opus, led to his downfall. In 1975, Capote published his “La Côte Basque, 1965,” in Esquire Magazine, a roman à clef and exposé, detailing scandalous stories of New York’s high society circle. The subjects? Upper East Side and 5th Avenue society friends of his spanning decades, dubbed “the swans.” They included Babe Paley (once an Editor at Vogue, wife to CBS Network executive William Paley), Slim Keith (married to an English Aristocrat), Bouvier sisters (Jackie Kennedy and her sister) and other socialites. Blindsided after the excerpt was published, the swans never spoke to him again. Vanity Fair wrote a great narrative-style breakdown on the whole story, if you’re interested. Read it here.
Fiction: “Minimum Payment Due” from The New Yorker
“I spent the first few weeks lying on a couch, staring up at the ceiling, trying to pretend I wasn’t self-conscious about having a conversation with a stranger while in a supine position. There was a box of tissues beside me on the floor, the presumption being, I suppose, that I would eventually have a breakthrough in which the tears would flow freely, providing me with clarity and the ability to pay off my bills.”
This was a great piece by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, touching on the human condition behind “the perfect portfolio” façade. The fiction also explored modern-day societal ailments: loneliness, overconsumption, and impulsivity.
Design: Issue Thirty Six: Like and Subscribe from
on SubstackNot a read, but a good curation of vintage magazine subscription cards by Casual Archivist’s Elizabeth Goodspeed. Big bold typography, catchy taglines. These were my favorites:
Can we appreciate how cheaper magazine subscriptions cost back in the day? (Inflation, I know, I know).
Inspired by the NYMag cards above, here are the design details regarding this week’s cover. I didn’t use the blue but together, these four swatches make such a nice combination. The type, Neue Kabel—with a variety of weights—also makes a great choice for a bold statement or smaller subheadings. They’re available on Adobe Fonts.
One Great Story: “How the tiny Carribean island of Anguilla has turned the AI boom into a digital goldmine” from the Associated Press
Anguilla—a British Overseas Territory—nested in the Caribbean with a small population of 15,000 people and a land mass about 1/8 the size of New York City (specifically, the country covers 91km2 of land), is experiencing benefits from the recent AI boom and it could be traced back to their control over the ‘.ai’ Internet address (that is, website names that ends with .ai) from the 90s. Last year, they made $32 million from those domain names alone, and to put it into perspective, it’s 20% of their government’s revenue.
I was curious to see how much an .ai domain would cost so I visited Namecheap, a place to search and buy domain names.
Turns out it’s $80 USD per year in comparison to the usual .com, which goes for only 12 bucks. That’s a x6 markup.
A Long Weekend Read: “How the Ivy League Broke America” from The Atlantic
Elite, prestige, exclusivity. The Ivy League. In this article, David Brooks takes us from understanding the societal ideal of a “Well-Bred Man” in the 1950s (the prep school and Ivy League to a job in Finance pipeline) to the modern day failures of meritocracy. Brooks then proposed ideas to redefine them with “four crucial qualities,” that is, curiosity, a sense of drive, social intelligence, and agility. During this read, one excerpt was striking:
“Students learn to ride an emotional roller coaster—congratulating themselves for clearing a hurdle one day and demoralized by their failure the next. This leads to an existential fragility: If you don’t keep succeeding by somebody else’s metrics, your self-worth crumbles.”
If you liked this read, you might enjoy “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.”
Food and Drinks: “The Unexpected Pleasures of a Dirty Soda” from The New Yorker
Want to quit caffeinated beverages, but find yourself thirsting for a drink to entertain your taste buds? A concoction of soda, coffee creamer, and syrup in a Stanley cup might just do the trick. It’s called a dirty soda, a specialty among Mormons in Utah. New Yorker’s Hannah Goldfield explores:
“I’d been skeptical of the idea of adding something milky to a soda, but any doubt was washed away with my first sips. As with coffee or tea, the mellow lusciousness of the cream played off the acidity of Coke and Dr Pepper especially, offsetting and enhancing each soda’s darkest, spiciest notes.”
Music: The Velvet Underground on Spotify, Youtube
I’ve been enjoying this band recently. Their music would fall into the Alternative/Indie genre. It’s a unique sound, almost lullaby-like, and many were considered avant-garde at the time of release (1967).
Some of my on-repeat tracks include:
I’ll Be Your Mirror
Femme Fatale
Sunday Morning
Pale Blue Eyes
Field Notes:
Luca Guadagnino—director of Call Me By Your Name (2017) & Challengers (2024)—is releasing a new A24 film in November called “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey. The recently-released movie trailer looks great! In theaters on November 27 in the USA, December 13 in Canada.
Designers, Adobe have amazing deals this Black Friday. 50% off for the Creative Cloud (basically include all essential softwares—Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, etc.) and an additional 20% if you’re a student. It’s $29.98 USD/ month and $15.97, respectively. Promotion ends Nov. 29th. You won’t regret it, trust me.
This Adidas X Sport & Rich recent shoe collaboration (SL72) in Yellow/Blue for everyday wear ($120 USD).
The Every Other Thursday “Rigid Everything” tote is so good ($159 USD).
A beautiful Wool/Mohair Striped Knit in the color Rose, by Australian brand, Observe Gallery ($133 USD).
And lastly, I’ve been rewatching Friends again. In honor of the end-of-year festivities, you’d love Season 2, Episode 09 “The One with Phoebe’s Dad,” a Christmas episode.
Thank you for reading the seventh issue of the Well Rounded series. I appreciate your time. Have a great day, a great Thanksgiving next week, and I’ll see you soon.
-CS