monday memo 142: sketches, suits, & snow angels

Welcome to the Monday Memo — your pop culture snapshot from Manifesto.

Hey friends, Mondays can be tough. Here are 7 things to make August 21st, 2023, a bit better. Congrats to the courageous women of Spain for their first Women's World Cup win!

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1. Artist of the Week: Harry Frost

Harry Frost is an artist and illustrator known for his work with ink and paper. His pieces explore the twin themes of memory and landscape through intricate linework. This is definitely inspiring the doodles during our next meeting...

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2. What we're listening to: Against the Odds - Apple Podcasts

In this immersive series from Wondery, host-adventurers Mike Corey and Cassie De Pecol will share thrilling stories of survival. From the daring rescue of a soccer team trapped in an underwater cave in Thailand, to a woman taken hostage by Somali pirates, these stories made headlines worldwide. This podcast will make you feel like you’re living these experiences with our heroes as they push themselves to their limits.

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3. What we're watching: Suits - Netflix

One of the joys of streaming is some shows can hit their stride years after they end. Such is the case (pun intended) for Suits, the USA Network drama that aired from 2011 to 2019. The show follows brilliant college dropout Mike Ross, who finds himself working with Harvey Specter, one of New York City's best lawyers. Plus, it stars the now Dutchess of Sussex...

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4. Trend & Advertising Highlight: A Toast to Aldi's New Spot With a 40p (cent for those of us stateside) raise in salary, Aldi became the best-paying supermarket in the UK. To celebrate, the grocery brand launched a series of pun-based spots to help boost applications. It feels like everyone is hiring nowadays, and brands need to do more than just put up a "help wanted" sign to bring in candidates. Kelly Stokes, HR director at Aldi, said: “Just as we promise Aldi customers we will always offer the lowest grocery prices in Britain, we are committed to being the best-paying supermarket for our colleagues. We wanted to show, once again, how Aldi has committed to fairly rewarding its colleagues for their hard work in a way that uses our famously cheeky tone of voice, which makes people stop, listen and laugh along the way.” Not only does this spot show that Aldi is willing to pay its employees more, but they are willing to have fun and show a little personality with their ads. Now, if we could just remember a coin to unlock our cart...

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5. Cognitive Bias of the Week: Bounded Rationality Bounded rationality is a human decision-making process in which we attempt to satisfy, rather than optimize. In other words, we seek a decision that will be good enough, rather than the best possible decision. Imagine you are at the grocery store buying eggs. You look at the various brands and buy a carton of eggs labeled “cage-free.” This decision satisfies your desire to be ethical by choosing eggs from chickens not raised in cages. However, when we make quick choices based on labels like “cage-free,” we often fail to stop and think about what those terms actually mean. Our decision is based on a false sense of rationality because we do not have all the information available. Maybe we don’t have the time to look up that “cage-free” can mean both “free-run” and “free-range,” but only “free-range” chickens have a chance to go outside. Bounded rationality encourages us to make decisions that satisfy a particular criterion, such as being ethical, without making the most optimal choice within that criterion.

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This Eras Tour inspired shirt helped raise $17K for wildlife conservation.

6. Good News of the Week:

• According to new research, there may be less plastic in the oceans than previously estimated (NL Times)

• A viral Eras Tour t-shirt has raised over $17,000 to protect and care for wildlife in Maine (GGG)

• New paint gives extra insulation, saving on energy, costs, and carbon emissions (Stanford News)

• According to new research, there may be less plastic in the oceans than previously estimated. (NL News)

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7. Bonus: Snow Angel by Reneé Rapp With her sophomore album, Snow Angel, Rapp leverages her incredible voice with a rock'n roll sound to create a dramatic, theatrical, and show-stopping album. Our favorite song is the title track, "Snow Angel." Rapp is THE rising star to watch.