Eric Thompson

📍Venice, Los Angeles | Founder at Framechange

📝 Editor’s Note

I have a love hate relationship with Sonos products. I have spent hours trying to figure out how to get them to pair. But when Sonos speakers work, the sound quality is great.

This weekend a friend showed me their Sonos Move speaker. I think they finally nailed it with this product. Unlike most Sonos speakers, the Move speaker is battery powered with a docking station. Unlike other Sonos products that are wired or physically installed, you can move it into whatever room or area that you are hanging out in.

It is also bluetooth and wifi compatible, and dust and water resistant. That means it works just as well outside as in your living room.

I highly recommend if you want to upgrade your sound and entertaining game.

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Without further ado….

Why Eric?

Eric and I have a mutual friend in Sether Hanson. They played lacrosse together at Bowdoin. Eric has been in the newsletter space professionally for several years and recently started a new business called Framechange. Given the popularity of Tangle News when Ari and Isaac were profiled, I thought yall would be equally interested in Eric’s Framechange newsletter. Framechange is “a nonpartisan newsletter that helps you understand multiple sides of today's issues and form your viewpoint about them in 5 minutes.”

Follow Eric on IG: eric_sthompson

Self-Description

Entrepreneur, writer, and recovering consultant always looking for the best way to make an impact with my 9-5. I play in a band and love memoirs.

Eric’s Recommendations

Written in his own words…

Food and Drink

I live in LA now, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Austin where I lived for a few years. A few places to check out on your next visit: Justine’s is the best combination of food / vibe in East Austin, just a spectacular place to hang out with friends while eating classy food. Nickel City is my favorite bar in Austin – sort of an elevated dive with incredible music. Patrizi’s is the best pasta in town that happens to come from a gourmet food truck.

Content

The Tetragrammaton podcast with Rick Rubin

Known for his accomplishments as a music producer, Rubin hosts an effortless interview-style format with a wide variety of guests from across industries (entrepreneurs, musicians, journalists, etc.). I find them endlessly fascinating and, as a music lover, especially enjoy his interviews with musicians.

In musician episodes, they often break down the artist’s life story, albums, and songwriting processes while sampling some of the songs that they talk about. His recent episode with Ezra Koenig is a solid gateway.

Well Being

A habit I’ve been getting into recently (and stole from The New York Times) is nightly journaling for 5-10 minutes with a very specific task: write as many things as possible from your day you can think of that you appreciate yourself for. Basically, answer the question “What did I do right today?” Could be anything from something extremely small (e.g., I had a nice interaction with a stranger, I washed the dishes), to bigger things (e.g., I earned the promotion I was working for). The idea is to replace negative thoughts or rumination with more positive thoughts – particularly thoughts that are grounded in fact / reality.

Over time, the habit is meant to promote a stronger baseline of self-love / appreciation that can cascade into other areas of your life. I sometimes find myself “reviewing” the day in my head and self-criticizing on what I could have done better but have found this new habit starting to have a positive effect.

A vice….

I’m a pretty big proponent of broad spectrum (i.e., 0% THC) CBD. It helps me with aches, pains, and recovery after working out / activity, and has a noticeable calming-of-the-mind effect. I don’t really drink, so I’ll occasionally take CBD on a night out to cut the nerves and ease into socializing. My go-to are the gummies from cbdMD.

Watch

I’m a huge 90s action movie fan. If you haven’t seen The Rock (not to be confused with Dwayne Johnson) or Heat, I highly recommend diving into one of them on your next movie night. The Rock stars Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage as an unlikely duo trying to defeat rogue marines…holding hostages…on modern-day Alcatraz. (It’s infinitely quotable and, in my opinion, Michael Bay’s best film.)

Heat is about a high stakes bank heist starring Al Pacino (cop) and Robert De Niro (robber) that arguably changed the crime genre. It oozes cool with all of its starpower and features a groundbreaking shootout sequence that lasts 10 minutes.

Gift

I’ve been gifting these noise-canceling ear muffs for babies ($29 on Amazon) as my go-to baby shower gift. They’re a hit with music-loving parents, who have used them to bring their toddlers along with them to concerts a little earlier than they otherwise would have. They’re also great for planes / other loud places in public, and have one of the highest protection levels (in terms of decibel rating) you can buy for little ones.

Music

Angie McMahon. I’ve been listening to her on repeat recently. She uses a baritone guitar (think Hozier’s bluesy rock sound) and has a relatively deep voice to match it. Incredible songwriting. Some of my favorites are Slow Mover, Letting Go, Serotonin, and Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac cover).

Also, if you’re a Radiohead fan, check out Lianne La Havas’s crescendoing cover of Weird Fishes. And if you’re a Janis Joplin fan, check out Miley Cyrus’s powerful live cover of Maybe.

Plug

I run Framechange, a nonpartisan newsletter that aims to reduce polarization by presenting readers with viewpoints from multiple sides of current issues.

Each weekly email explores a hot topic issue by summarizing prevalent arguments from across the spectrum, along with supporting data and links for you to continue forming your own opinion.

Subscribe for free to be a part of our growing movement!

Want to reach out to Eric? Please reach out via email eric@framechange.com.

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P.S. from Rambull — I took Sam up on her recommendation from last week to watch Wild Wild Space (HBO). I am shocked about how blissfully ignorant I was on space commercialization. Now I have to start worrying about space debris and the lack of oversight on various foreign companies and countries….I recommend this one too.