Three things are capturing my attention in pop culture this week, and they have almost nothing to do with each other — which is exactly why I can't stop thinking about them.

First: Threads. I was never a Twitter person, I deleted TikTok to be less distracted, and lately Instagram just feels like too much. But Threads has become one of the happiest, most affirming, genuinely funny places I land — people writing mini novels in the comments, telling wild stories, all of it. I built an algorithm that actually feels like me, and the funny part is it's a Meta platform. So now I've got a full-blown love-hate relationship with Meta, all because of Threads.

Second: the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. A little over a year ago I saw this strange building going up by the lake and had no idea what it was. Now that it's done, it makes complete sense — the speech carved as lattice into the windows, the door-of-no-return symbolism, and the fact that it's not just a presidential library but a community center with basketball courts, a sledding hill, and a Chicago public library. What moved me most was who showed up: the Obamas, the Clintons, and the Bushes, genuinely respecting each other across the aisle. That, and a Michelle Obama speech that was epic, funny, and authentic.

Third: The Capture (on Peacock in the US). A British thriller that was years ahead of its time on AI, video, and surveillance — back for a third season and more relevant than ever. The whole premise turns on "Correction," where live video gets edited in real time using AI. It's a complicated, genuinely entertaining look at technology we haven't figured out how to live with yet. Holliday Grainger is captivating, and fun fact: season one starred Callum Turner — now Dua Lipa's husband and rumored next James Bond.

What are you watching, reading, or listening to right now? Tell me — your recommendations keep showing up in these episodes.

This week's Voice Notes: three things I can't stop recommending, and one celebrity who lost me.

Brené Brown and Adam Grant's new podcast The Curiosity Shop, the tradwife thriller Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, and season two of The Four Seasons on Netflix — plus why Gwyneth Paltrow disappointed me this week. They looked like four unrelated things. They turned out to be the same conversation: the difference between real intellectual curiosity and the performance of it.

It's been a minute. If you've noticed, the podcast has been sporadic at best for the first part of this year — and I want to explain what's been happening. The short version: I was writing a book. Not the one I told you about last year, but a completely different one that grew out of my Word of the Year workbook and turned into fifty thousand words in about two months. You'll have to wait for the title — that's for another episode — but the cover is designed, the name is locked, and it's coming November 11th. I also get into the plot twist of my word of the year: Amplify didn't mean getting louder. It meant amplifying my ideas internally before I could put them out into the world.

• Amplify didn't mean "post more" — it meant amplifying my ideas internally before I could put them out into the world.

• My Word of the Year workbook spiraled into a complete book — fifty thousand words in about two months.

• I wrote it by using my own methodology on myself: assemble, refine, try.

• Coming Soon! — November 11.

• A word I choose to design my life always surprises me. The disconnect between the dictionary definition and how I live it is the most interesting part.

• 0:00 — The cold open: Amplify did the opposite of what I expected

• 0:40 — It's been a minute: where the podcast went

• 1:30 — Bigger ideas percolating: the mastermind and the "messy middle"

• 3:00 — Debuting the ART framework through the Word of the Year workbook

• 4:30 — The realization: I was writing a completely different book

• 6:00 — 50,000 words, and using my own methodology on myself

• 7:30 — What the book actually is: memoir, self-help, how-to

• 8:45 — The withhold: cover designed, name locked, November 11

• 10:00 — Back to Amplify: amplifying internally before externally

• 12:00 — Why a word, not a resolution — and how it surprises you

• 13:30 — Why I wrote it: the prescription I needed for the transition

• 15:00 — What's next: more episodes, the reveal, save the date