The 80 Percenters
Trying to find the right depth of the rabbit hole
A couple weeks ago I went to see Dead & Company at the Sphere. I went last year, too, and wrote about it, so I won’t rehash it too much here. TL;DR: It’s really fun; you should go. Even if you’ve seen some of the visuals already, they still hit the second time and they definitely hit better than they do on your phone. The music, on the other hand, is showing signs of age. If I’m being completely honest, there’s people playing the catalog of the Grateful Dead—Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Grateful Shred—better than the band that has original members of the Grateful Dead.
But what I found even more interesting was my visceral reaction to the flocks of faithful who descended upon Las Vegas to see the shows. Just about everywhere you go in town, you end up running into someone else who is there to see Dead & Company. And like all niche interests where the line between fan and fanatic can get pretty faint, this can lead to a good deal of nerding out.
Don’t get me wrong. When it comes to any of my niche interests—the Dead, sneakers, jiu jitsu, assorted board sports—I’m down to nerd out. Up to a point. When I sense that a conversation is about to go really deep down the rabbit hole, I reflexively get the ick. It isn’t that I’m out of my depth. Generally, I know enough in these situations to hold my own. But for some reason talking too much about a thing makes that thing feel less cool to me so I start to pull back.
I think it stems from an aversion to anyone making anything their “whole personality.” Whether it’s a Deadhead or the West Village Girl archetype on the cover of the recent New York magazine, there’s got to be more than life than one thing. If, as the saying goes, we contain multitudes, then I’d much rather use a shared interest as a way to learn about the other things that a person is into than spend all my time in a single silo.
There’s a quote from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard that sums it up well:
“I’ve always thought of myself as an 80 percenter. I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent proficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession and degree of specialization that doesn’t appeal to me. Once I reach that 80 percent level I like to go off and do something totally different.”
I, too, like to think of myself as an 80 percenter. Yes, there’s a certain amount of ADHD in that approach. But a B- is still a pretty good grade. It’s also a grade that allows you to keep a healthy perspective.
At the end of the day, it’s not that deep. Niche interests are intended to be fun. The more seriously they’re taken, the less fun they become. It’s a zero sum game, and fun should always emerge victorious.
Lady White Co.
I have started to spread my new working theory that 90% of men under 40 would be 10x better dressed if they only wore Lady White. Many know that this t-shirt is the best on the planet. Anyway, this study is underway but needs 29 more people to make it statistically significant. —Andrew
Shrinking
More and more these days, I find myself looking for shows that make me smile. If it’s half an hour, even better. Shrinking tackles the mental health challenges that many of us face in a smart, sharply funny way. Harrison Ford and Jason Segel make for a great duo, and the show successfully managed to avoid a sophomore slump with its excellent Season 2. —Justin
New music
I turn 31 next week. This is about the time when most people my age completely stop listening to new music, if they haven’t already. Grimes says it’s good for the brain — and she has a great brain. Here are some great albums that came out in the last year.
—Andrew