Swing Kids. I was really into swing music in my youth; my very first website, in fact, was a homage to it. My love of swing music was first inspired by a 1993 film that both Kate and I count among our very favorite movies from our teenage years: Swing Kids. Set in pre-WWII Hamburg, it follows a group of German youth who rebel against Nazi conformity through their passion for forbidden American swing music. While admittedly melodramatic at times, the film’s exploration of friendship and resistance through culture is quite engaging. We recently watched the movie with our kids, and they were really into it. Robert Sean Leonard (of future House fame) and a very young Christian Bale deliver compelling performances that still hold up, the dance scenes are awesome, and the soundtrack remains absolutely killer-diller (it’s not available on online music players; the universe needs to correct this travesty!). Make sure to check out our Cab Calloway hep cat slang dictionary that the characters reference throughout the film. Supermergantroid and swing heil!

The Morgan Housel Podcast. I’ve been enjoying this show on my morning walks lately. Unlike your typical finance show that gets bogged down in market metrics and stock picks, Housel has a knack for extracting timeless principles and showing how they apply both to your money and your everyday life. He communicates complex ideas with the straightforward clarity of someone who’s genuinely interested in helping people understand rather than showing off how much he knows. It’s like having a really smart friend along on your walk who keeps dropping wisdom bombs without making you feel inferior. Perfect brain food to get the day started right. Check out my most recent interview with Housel on the AoM Podcast. 

Same Day Sharpening. My kitchen knives had gotten pretty dull, and I’ve been too swamped lately to sharpen them myself, so I tracked down a mobile sharpening service here in Tulsa run by Jeremiah Tiews. I was immediately drawn to his website’s retro 1950s design. I’m a sucker for mid-century, post-war aesthetics. Jeremiah arrived looking sharp in vintage craftsman garb, shook my hand at the door, and mentioned he was a longtime AoM fan. After working his magic in his van, he sent a short video showing the dramatic before-and-after of my blades, featuring an absurdly catchy 1950s jingle my family still randomly sings around the house. If you’re in Tulsa and need your knives revitalized, book Jeremiah and tell him the Art of Manliness sent you. This strikes me as a stellar business idea for entrepreneurial young men — low overhead, useful skill, needed service.

The 33 Marks of Maturity. Several years back, we published an ebook that crystallizes a core mission of what we do here at AoM. When people ask me what this site is about, I often describe it simply as “a guide to growing up well, aimed at men.” The challenge, of course, is that maturity itself is rarely defined clearly. How do you know what you’re aiming for? What does genuine adulthood look like beyond superficial markers like age or financial independence? Rather than offering some one-dimensional caricature of adulthood, the 33 Marks of Maturity highlights the multi-faceted traits, mindsets, and behaviors that mark a truly mature man. Each quality gets a concise summary, serving both as description and reflection point. Available in the AoM store and on Amazon.

Over on our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Sunday Firesides: Why Seek Ye the Living Among the Dead? and Jennifer Tosti-Kharas on What Makes Work Worth It.

Quote of the Week

Just as our courage is so often a reflex of another’s courage, so our faith is apt to be a faith in someone else’s faith. We draw new life from the heroic example.

—William James

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.