Hello!

I hope you had a nice week.

I skipped the newsletter the last couple weeks because it was Thanksgiving weekend and I was taking a nice break from the studio. Then last Friday I started writing the newsletter from my hotel room in Rexburg Idaho but never finished it.

The kind people of the BYU Idaho Art department flew me up to give a seminar and a workshop. I had never been there and was impressed with the school and it's students. Rexburg seems like a cool little town in the middle of nowhere. I nice place to hide out and get some creative work done. I see the appeal.

Follow up: I ran the Gilbert Half-Marathon and smashed my last half-marathon time. My time was 1:41:46 with an average mile pace of 7:46! I like racing just fine, but really, I'm more about my morning runs as a way to meditate and clear my head. The race is just a nice bonus that boosts my self esteem a little.

Here's five things I thought you'd like to know about this weekend. Enjoy!

1) New Sticker Pack!

From the Division of Products and Services

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I made a new sticker pack for the Space Punks that's available in the shop now. these are so fun to put together, makes me want to do more this next year. I'm thinking of making sticker sets with dinosaurs, aliens, robots, and spaceships. if there's a sticker set you think would be cool let me know.

Available here: LINK​

Also, I have SkyHeart hardcovers available now: LINK​

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2) What I'm watching

From the Arts and Culture Unit

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I grew up with the Beatles in my listening rotation. Ever since the day my friend's older brother played Yellow Submarine for me one summer in the late 80's I was hooked. A few years ago I wanted to listen to each of their albums in context. It was a transcendent musical experience. I began by reading the wikipedia entry for the band, then the specific wikipedia entry for their first album, then I listened to the album while I worked. I repeated this with each of their albums until I made it through their entire discography. (Typing this makes me want to do it again!)

I felt like a time-traveler. It's one thing to listen to their hits in a playlist. But I feel like I lived the sixties with them as I went through each album and experienced their progression as artists and ultimate breakup.

So, when I saw that Peter Jackson had edited together an 8 hour documentary of their final recording sessions it was like crack for this Beatles fan. I came to this to see the Beatles make a record, what I did not expect to get was the most accurate portrayal of the creative process put to film.

If you've ever wanted to make something and have been frustrated with collaborators, deadlines, and the creative process itself, watch this. You will feel all at once relieved that these feelings are shared with some of the most creative individuals in the last 500 years and you'll also feel like you can do this. Like you can power through and make the thing you're working on.

It's only on Disney+ right now. I'm hoping for a release on disc someday because I have trust issues with streaming services.

Trailer: LINK​

(Seriously...watching this has been the closest I've felt to being a time-traveler in a long time)

3) Step Aside Papo

From the Division of Prehistoric Studies

It's no secret I love dinosaurs. When a cool new dinosaur model or toy pops up I take notice. My go to has been the dinosaurs by Papo. They're not cheap, but I've found the quality in sculpts, molds, and painting to be worth the price tag.

But now there's a new game in town...or maybe they're not new to the town, they are however new to me. My buddy Jed sent me a photo of an Allosaurus he received from PSNO. It looks AMAZING.
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So I checked out a site that sells these things and was impressed. PNSO is shooting for "Museum Accuracy" and you can see it in the proportions and coloration of their models. Check out this resting t-rex:

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Here's one standing up:

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I'm really happy that they give a lot of love to water based prehistoric animals too:

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I guess it's no secret what I want for Christmas...These would make a great gift for the person in your life that has shelf space and a love for things with sharp teeth.

These are available on Amazon: LINK​

4) NYTimes interview with Miyazaki

From the Film and Animation Division

I'm a simple man, you write a 6800+ word article on Miyazaki, I stop everything and I read it.

Not a ton of new information if you've done any sort of research on the guy, but it was a great overview of his life and a peek into his personality (it's more complex than the memes) and his personal life (the part about his relationship with a leper was poignant). In short, he's just as complex as you might expect from watching his films.

I've been thinking about this part the most:

Hayao Miyazaki Prepares to Cast One Last Spell: LINK​

5) On Doing Something Good for Yourself

From the Inspirational Thought Unit

I was on a run this morning andI was thinking about some of the things I wish I had remembered to say to the students in Idaho. One of them being that you should make sure that every day you are doing something that you'll appreciate 10 years from now. And then this thought popped into my head:

I think this applies to any arena of success from family relationships, to your career, and to your health.

It might be three different things you do in a day, or it might be that one thing you do satisfies the needs of all of your selves.

Take running for example. I used to not like running, I did it because it was a good way for me to get exercise, but I thought it was torture. I thought I could never do what my friend Dave did: run 5 miles a day. Now when I run, I exceed the expectations and aspirations of my past self. I also clear my head and give my present self a nice endorphin release. I also strengthen my cardio vascular system so that my future self doesn't have heart problems.

Think about it, and if you have anything to add to this, I'd love to hear it.

That's all for this week. Thank you for reading this newsletter and hope you have a great weekend!

-Jake

My sponsor for this newsletter is…me. It's me, because I'm not accepting sponsors for my email list, and don't plan to any time soon. Really, I'd just like people to buy stuff from my shop. If you like this newsletter, you can support it a few ways:

​Order something from the shop (Best)

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I'd appreciate any of these when you can. Thanks!

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