Stuff I Like That Maybe You Should Try, Vol. 1

Get back to work, Stuart.

Half-ideas are the scourge of the writer. Once you find a small bit of inspiration, you hope it is "sticky" — that is, something to which other, smaller ideas will attach. You roll the original idea round in your head, hoping that it will grow. But most ideas aren't "sticky"; they're essentially standalone, monotone things that may have some value but likely aren't worth the time to expound on them.

Perhaps that's why Twitter is so popular and (arguably) valuable — it's a haven of half-ideas thanks to its character limit. Speaking of which, follow me on Twitter for plenty of half-ideas.

But half-ideas aren't conducive to most kinds of blogs — well, except Tumblr, but the world has too many Tumblrs, and I don't want this particular blog to be a Tumblr — and so we must be a bit more thoughtful.

The solution: Stuff I Like That Maybe You Should Try — or, SILTMYST.

It's not worth my time or yours to devote a blog post to a book I would recommend; or a TV show; or an article. But if I can combine them all into one semi-regular post — a gallimaufry of sorts? That's worth everyone's time.

(Unless you don't care what I think, which is similarly valid.)

So, here we go. Here are some things that I have enjoyed over the past month or so that I would recommend that you check out. Or don't! Your call.

• Skip Hollandworth at Texas Monthly is one of the five most talented writers in the world right now, in my opinion. You probably know him as the guy who co-wrote "Bernie", the black comedy starring Jack Black. He doesn't flood the zone with many pieces — in a good year, you'll get a half-dozen Hollandsworth stories — but he's batting about 1.000. His latest is "The Prisoner", the story of a guy convicted of murder in San Antonio at age 12, and now finds himself 25 years into a 40-year prison sentence. It's gut-wrenching, thought-provoking and, like all Hollandsworth pieces, tremendously crafted.
• My Christmas list tends to be short: books. I'm pretty easy to shop for in that regard. I intentionally don't ask for specific books, because I like to see what the gift-giver thinks I would like. I'm not entirely sure why my mother-in-law put Paulette Jiles' News of the World under the tree for me, but I'm awful glad she did. Set in Texas just after the end of the Civil War, Jiles paints a vivid picture of life in what was still very much the wild west, and tells a compelling story on top of it. The writing style helps with that feel — Jiles writes in an intentionally antiquated style so as to help transport the reader. It's also a quick read, coming in at a shade over 200 pages.
• I'm nine years late to this, but if you haven't seen the documentary "Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about his Father", do yourself a favor and check it out; it's streaming on Netflix. The more I say, the more I'll ruin it...but suffice to say that while it is tremendously well-made, it may be the saddest movie I've ever seen. You have been warned.
• I cycle through a handful of podcasts at a time, and if you're into that kind of thing, implore you to check out "In The Dark", a podcast from American Public Media. It takes a deep dive into the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old boy that remained unsolved for 27 years though the murderer was literally still in town. It asks the question: what went wrong, and how? It's comprised of nine episodes that are each about 42 minutes, plus a 35-minute epilogue. My jaw dropped a couple of times.
• A couple of months ago, my wife and I headed to show headlined by Sean McConnell. Sean McConnell is great! You should listen to his music! But the guy I came away enamored by was his opening act, Ryan Scott Travis. The pride of Boerne, Texas belts out soulful old-school country — you could almost call it alt-country — and his 2015 release "The Guadalupe Breakdown" hasn't left my car's CD slot since.

• I was as skeptical of "Bob's Burgers" as you are currently reading this sentence. After all, it's a cartoon, and a pretty silly one. But after plowing through the first four seasons on Netflix (you can skip the first one, to be honest), I can safely say that there is no show currently on television that makes me laugh as consistently as this one. My wife even likes it, and that's saying something.
• Full disclosure: I know Michael Atchison — the author of Mellow Submarine — from running in the same Internet circles. But all that gave me was an entree to his work, and I'm so glad I got it. His first novel, XL, was good; his sophomore release, Mellow Submarine, is even better. What I like about Atchison's writing style is his commitment to character development; you genuinely feel as if you get to know these people, as they're made three-dimensional with fears and goals and hopes and flaws. Give it a try.
• Here is an online game based on the theme song to "Perfect Strangers". Why haven't you clicked yet?
• Jon Bois is a weirdo who writes (?) about sports (?) for SB Nation. He's immensely talented; I'm just not sure at what. He has a video series called "Pretty Good" in which (in his words) he examines "stories that are pretty good." The entire series is worth your time, but this one simply called "NO!!!!!!" is one of my favorite things on the Internet.

• Finally, a shameless plug: at TexasFootball.com, we launched a daily live show called "DCTF Live" about 18 months ago. We've done more than 280 episodes, talking about high school football and college football in Texas. It's live every weekday at noon. We also have a podcast. Please consider checking one or more of them out. Here's an interview we did with a high school football coach — Gunter coach Jake Fieszel — after winning the state championship.

Thank you for tuning in to the first (and maybe last!) edition of SILTMYST.