#22 – The virtues of being bad, finding out what funny is, how Pixar is shaping the future, and why thinking makes our brains tired
Hello, hello!
From rainy weekends to gloriously hot weeks. This week’s issue is a bit more compact than usual (Uncommon London is going for a walk, to get away from our screens), which should give you even more reason to click through to some or all of the stories about what brands UK kids are thinking about, whether there’s a shortcut to luxury, whether there’s virtue in the bad, why thinking makes our brain tired, and how Pixar is shaping the future, and a piece by Steve Martin on finding out what funny is.
Here are this week’s Six Links of Inspiration:
UK kids have brands on the brain. Beano Brain have released new research that shows that children in the UK are spontaneously talking about more brands than ever before. Looking at the top ten in this list is a stark reminder why brands have a big responsibility when communicating with kids – considering that four of them are not the healthiest or most nutritional food options. The top ten coolest brands for UK kids are, in order: Netflix, YouTube, McDonald’s, Nike, Oreo, Nintendo, Pringles, Disney, Roblox, Coca-Cola.
Brands can’t shortcut their way to luxury. With the huge valuations we’re currently see for luxury brands and the way they command attention it’s not a big surprise that a lot of other brands are trying to rip a page out of their playbook. Jeremy Brown argues in this post that it’s not that simple. It’s worth reading Adrian Langford’s comment, too.
The virtues of being bad. 16 respectable writers share the irresponsible, indulgent, immoral things they do. It’s an entertaining scroll that reminds us about the small pleasures of little evils. From indulging in trashy fast food, shopping with Amazon to shoplifting and taking drugs – modern vices surely sound differently than what they were in the past.
How thinking hard makes the brain tired. This article introduces a new hypothesis why we feel tired when using our brains too much. We all know, from our own experiences, how cognitive work can make you feel tired. There are various explanations on why that is, the most widely known is a biological one that posits that “exerting cognitive control uses up energy in the form of glucose. At the end of a day spent intensely cogitating, the brain is metaphorically running on fumes.” But an analysis suggests “that cognitively overworked and ‘depleted’ brains use less than one-tenth of a Tic-Tac’s worth of additional glucose."
A new hypothesis now goes like this: ”Cognitive fatigue results from an accumulation of a certain chemical in the region of the brain underpinning control. That substance, glutamate, is an excitatory neurotransmitter that abounds in the central nervous systems of mammals and plays a role in a multitude of activities, such as learning, memory and the sleep-wake cycle. In other words, cognitive work results in chemical changes in the brain, which present behaviourally as fatigue. This, therefore, is a signal to stop working in order to restore balance to the brain.”The future looks a lot like…Pixar? Can’t go wrong with sharing an article from Rex Woodbury, particularly if its about every creative’s darling Pixar. The post outlines how challenges in animation have created innovation that will be incredibly powerful in (semi) virtual worlds. Read it for yourself, you’ll learn fun little small talk nuggets like this one: “A long-term challenge for Pixar had been animating shoulders, which have complex movements—as workarounds, Buzz Lightyear was given shoulders that consist of a ball and socket, while Woody was given a stitch where his arm meets his shoulder, allowing for easier animation.”
In the birdcage. Steve Martin about what funny is. No words of mine could do justice to this piece, so just read it for yourself.
This is it for this week. Enjoy the reads. And if you think your friends might enjoy them, too, feel free to share this issue with them.
Read you all next week. Enjoy your weekends.