The Saturday List — January 3, 2026
What I'm Watching, Reading, Listening to, and Rediscovering
Happy New Year! If you haven’t given up on your resolutions yet, well, neither have I. (I don’t make them, actually; something I write more about over here: Systems Over Goals; And New Year’s Resolutions.)
And a gentle reminder: Own The Narrative is the name of this here Substack, and we give you The Saturday List each Saturday; last year we only missed a couple and this year our goal is 52 Saturdays. Let’s see how we do…But as always we’d appreciate your signing up.
Here then, a weekly recap of What I’m Watching, Reading, Listening to, and Rediscovering:
Watching: Redesigning Scissors
Since I spend a good chunk of my online time on YouTube — IT’S RESEARCH!!! — I’ll sometimes bump into a gem that the algorithm provides.
Evidence: this nearly 12-minute ad for scissors. It’s not like an ad, it’s not like an infomercial, and it has certainly gotten me to check out Craighill, a Brooklyn design shop that appears to make a bunch of really cool stuff. BRB, buying scissors.
Reading: Data Story, by Nancy Duarte
The back cover tells us that author Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte, Inc., has “created some of the most important presentations in the world since 1988.” (Funny: that’s only a year after PowerPoint was launched.)
Data Story was released in 2019 and I keep coming back to it; but it’s more than just a guide to creating stunning presentations, it’s a guide to thinking through business problems.
Especially now, when it’s really easy to just ask an AI tool to “Create a presentation that engages my audience in [INSERT TOPIC HERE],” Duarte’s explanation of how to navigate the nuance behind telling compelling stories with the right data.
Listening to: ‘Kashmir’ (Which Might Be Led Zeppelin’s Best Song)
Led Zeppelin remains iconic, “Stairway to Heaven” is, perhaps, one of the most-played songs in rock history.
So, here’s s a Controversial Hot Take: “Kashmir” is a better song than “Stairway…”
Off the album Physical Graffiti, Here’s the “digitally remastered” version of “Kashmir” from the band, available on YouTube.
Also, here’s a live performance by the remaining members of the band, from a concert film called “Celebration Day,” which was recorded in 2007 and not released until 2012.
Rediscovering: Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants
If you’ve seen Oz the Mentalist on TV, you are probably left with quite a bit of… “How Did He DO THAT?”
Well, the trail was blazed by previous folks who could play mind tricks and pull off a little sleight of hand in the process. To be honest, Ricky Jay may have been the best I’ve seen at it in my lifetime. (No offense, Oz.)
Cards, 52 in a deck, working in concert with Mr. Jay — real name “Richard Jay Potash,” he died in 2018 at the age of 72 — all mesmerized an audience, in a show that was aired on HBO in…1996. Listening to him wax poetic is enough to entertain, but watching him do card tricks for an hour is absolutely insane fun.
Thanks for reading!
You can also follow my work on my Area 224 website, where I shared…A TON of content in December.