I would love to hear from any of you about what you would like to get more out of this newsletter, so replies are appreciated. Anyway, here are some recommendations from the past week or so.

A beautiful book can do wonders for a room. I love the bold type on this one's spine and the colors. Inside, the photography is incredible. The price and the option to get a matching $80 candle to accompany it are another story. The book is a work of art nonetheless, and books should be on display in your home.

I’ve been looking at a lower-to-the-floor bed for a couple of reasons. It would make it easier for my aging dog (don’t like that) to get into. Also, I think they look great, and I've never had one. This one from Karup in the oiled oak is beautiful. I plan to get this for my next place, which I’ve been looking for far too long.

I love a dual-purpose business. Clements Lock and Security is a locksmith by day and a bar by night. They’ve been around since 1973, cutting keys and handling lock installations, all the things a locksmith would do. But on Thursdays (or by chance) from 4 to midnight, they’re a bar. One with a visually pleasing aesthetic, at that.

Also, St. Louis is incredibly underrated. I don’t live there, but I’ve been beating this drum for more than a decade. St. Louis’s food and art scenes punch above their weight. Hit me up if you ever find yourself there and want more recs.

I had no plans to see The Weight. But Ethan Hawke always draws me in. I knew almost nothing about the movie, yet I really enjoyed it. It's a movie about perseverance and a desperate father. Nothing groundbreaking in the premise, but the acting was great.

Ome Dezin does it again. Longtime friends Joelle Kutner and Jesse Rudolph founded Ome Dezin in 2020 as a design-build studio that restores character-driven homes in Los Angeles. The home shown here is currently for sale. I’m especially a fan of the large artwork seen in multiple rooms. There’s also a cohesion that many homes miss, and they nail it here. Big fan. Also, when looking at homes like this, no matter what your home looks like or its size, there are always elements you can borrow.

A four-year course to read and discuss a collection of the finest works of literature, philosophy, history, and social thought ever written? The University of Chicago offers this certificate to anyone. After speaking with someone who has taken it, I learned that many students are retirees and that it’s an exceptional course if you have the time to commit. It's primarily online, with occasional optional in-person sessions. I’ve been fortunate to attend executive education courses at the University of Chicago, and all the professors I’ve had are top-tier, so I’m not surprised to hear firsthand high praise for this course.

I took this picture last week in Columbia, Mo. I wasn’t familiar with Steve Garber, but his talk was excellent. He shared that the goal of our work should not be perfection but to make the world around us "more honest, more right, more true." I was captivated by the poetry of his speech. The question in the photo above stayed with me on my drive home. I think it’s a good one to ask yourself often. What do you care about, and why?

Thanks for reading. I never take your attention for granted. It is only appreciated.

Here are some things I’ve been into lately.

Analog Reader turns your digital reading into a weekly newspaper-style edition. You pick the sources you want (Substack newsletters, saved articles, etc.), and the service gathers that content overnight, typesets it in a newspaper layout, and delivers it once a week to your inbox or Kindle, with a PDF you can print. Great way to escape the infinite scroll, and I personally love the idea of a printed copy.

Hotel Lucile in Silver Lake was once a church and is now a 25-room boutique hotel. I worked in historic restoration years ago, so the idea of taking a 1931 building that had sat empty for the past decade and turning it into a beautiful hotel is incredible to me. Electric Bowery handled the architecture and interiors and did a fantastic job of preserving the building’s core features. There’s a rooftop deck and a courtyard with a pool. It’s truly something else.

Corded headphones are everywhere these days. They signal being offline without quite being offline. And the nostalgia aesthetic has most everyone in its grip. I went back to the corded Apple headphones in 2023 after a couple of sets of AirPods. The only time I miss AirPods is when working out. I’m sure I’ll pick up another pair at some point. This AIAIAI x JJJJound collab is fun. They also come in yellow, which reminds me of the yellow Sony Walkmans. If you’re not into these, there’s always the chrome buds.

After seeing very few, and I mean very few, movies in the last couple of years, I’ve caught a few lately. I went into The Sun Never Sets with no idea what it was about. I didn’t see a preview or read a synopsis. I just saw Jake Johnson’s name attached to it and thought that was good enough. It’s a movie that makes you think about the paths you can take, especially in relationships. It shows two people wrestling with the gap between loving someone and wanting the same life as them. It’s a slower movie, but I enjoyed it.

I don’t know much about this one, but I’m a sucker for cars in coffee shops or men’s clothing stores. Alloy Autohaus and Second Wind Coffee Co. just held their soft opening, and the space looks great, with a relaxing hi-fi listening lounge. I’ll check it out next time I’m in Austin. It’s been way too long.

Dos Santos Collective, based in San Diego, creates unique concrete objects for your home or office. I’m especially a fan of the Togo set and the Dune tray shown in the photo. Piedra Studios is another option for concrete objects, including this Porsche 911.

My friend Gabriella Valladares took the photos you see above. She’s an incredible photographer who does a lot of work in hospitality. Recente is a new coastal Italian restaurant in the East Village. I hope to make it back to NYC by the end of the year, and this place may make the list. Early reviews are positive.

I’ve long been a fan of Medium Build and of Nick Carpenter in general. With this album out last week, he seems to be everywhere right now. He’s put out a lot of music over the years, but some of these songs are his most polished. “In My Gut” is my favorite on this album. My personal music taste is broad and spans many genres. This album fills the indie-rock void and has hints of folk and pop, too.

Hit reply and let me know if there’s something you’re into or if you've been to any of the places mentioned. Or just to say hey.

I will be sharing recommendations for things I find interesting, well-designed, and enjoyable. Some I’ve experienced, and some I hope to. There will be a wide range of categories, as I’m always bookmarking things. From time to time, I’ll also share what I’ve been thinking about lately and, occasionally, an interview with someone I find interesting, but not in every email.

Let’s get started.

This wool jacket by House of Errors jumped out at me immediately. I’m not even sure when I would wear it. Maybe there is the right event I'd wear it to, but it’s not the outing that draws me to it. What I like about it is that it’s art. I’ve long said “everything is a canvas,” and this is a perfect example of it. I’ll write down my thoughts on expressing ourselves and how we all want to do it more through our clothing, but most don’t, for a future newsletter.

I came across this article in the Financial Times a few days ago and had to do a deep dive on José Manuel Albesa and Puig. I’ll save my thoughts on “taste” for another time, but I enjoyed this piece and made many mental notes. We should all work to lead our lives more intentionally. Here’s an excerpt with some recommendations:

An object I would never part with is my sleep kit: eye mask, earplugs, lavender oil and supplements such as magnesium and melatonin. I’m a terribly light sleeper, and I’m constantly traveling. I don’t think I ever spend more than four nights in the same place and I rarely get more than four hours’ sleep at a time. My best tip for beating jet lag is to have a light early dinner, avoid alcohol and try to adapt to the local schedule as soon as possible after arriving.

This hotel is stunning. And I’m really into the nightstand in the photo above. Something about a step-inspired nightstand matching the bed frame. Anyways, this place goes on the someday list for Paris. I’ve been, but didn’t spend nearly enough time there. Go view their Instagram and appreciate the beauty.

This reminds me of the old internet. Where people did interesting projects for the heck of it. This site takes images and objects from Wikipedia and turns them into an endless game of “I Spy,” where you can type a topic and hunt for hidden items in the pictures and go to their Wikipedia pages. Thank you, Neal Agarwal, for creating this.

I use Apple Notes all the time. I’ve used Notion. I’ve used Things. I’ve used a lot of different apps centered around being organized. Besides Notes, none have stuck for me. I’ll never stop using Notes, but I wanted something a little more, and that I could easily use on iPhone and Mac. I came across Craft and have built a habit of using it regularly over the last couple of months. Well-designed and smooth. No complaints.

I saw Tony without seeing a preview. Long-time fan of Anthony Bourdain, but didn’t watch Roadrunner (documentary) until July. I had no idea this movie was coming out. I also happened to see it on a day when I got a text earlier that ended with “now go ‘feast on your life,'” which is the last line of the poem “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott. It was the perfect movie to see that night.

I was a fan of the story, which focused on a formative summer in Anthony Bourdain’s life. I thought the acting was excellent, and I walked away thinking about the passing of time, in a positive way. I also thought about how serendipity plays such a huge part in our lives and how we can put ourselves out there to experience it more.

That’s all I’ve got for this week. I've got a much longer list of things I’ve read, watched, observed, and appreciated. I may start adding the additional things I didn’t write about but liked at the end in a linked list format.

Thanks for subscribing and reading. I appreciate it more than you know. Have a great holiday weekend.

Note: I’m not sure how often I’ll send this out. Right now, the plan is every Thursday. I’d love to hear from you if you have any suggestions, things you want me to share or write about, want to discuss anything featured here, or just want to say hi. Hit reply or email me at bk@outermood.com. I can also be found at @bk_moore on social media.