Dearest internet friends,

I'm just back from another borderline life-changing trip to Japan, and now find myself and Alyssa diving head first into packing up everything we own to move from Lisbon to the Caribbean - embarking on a grand adventure to find a true home base for the Poolsuite Leisure Corporation... more on that soon.

The new Poolsuite website, iOS & Android apps will drop this week, and we’re working on some new experiments that will be with you in the not so distant future.

With all this change, it felt like the right time to upgrade the Palm Report with more thoughts and ideas that should hopefully leave us all feeling a little closer to understanding what 'the good life' might actually mean.

You can use the thumbs up/down buttons at the bottom of this email to let me know if you like this format more or less than what I've being doing until now.

Much love,
Marty

“The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end that’s all there is.”

This quote from Bill Perkins crossed my feed a few years ago, at a time when I realised that maybe I shouldn’t spend 12+ hours every day in front of a god damn computer screen.

When I’m 97 years old and lying on a pool lounger somewhere, I want to look back on a life that’s rich with experiences. I want a cinematic montage of beautiful places and interesting conversations with wild & eccentric characters I've stumbled upon around the world.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow, what a Ride! – Hunter S. Thompson

We’re often inundated with talk of “finding your purpose”, like every person should have one singular meaning to their fleeting existence on a rock hurtling through infinite space. But Bill’s idea takes the pressure off. It’s an invitation to experience everything. 

How to acquire memories

In 2018, the Happiness Research Institute did the world’s biggest study on how we create memorable moments and put all their findings in this book. Here are some of the main points:

☼ Live a life of chapters: Like that time you lived in Morocco. Or those 4 months you spent mastering the art of water skiing. 

☼ Create novelty in the everyday: An average Wednesday night becomes a hell of a lot more memorable when you surprise your girl with a string quartet in the garden.

☼ Use your senses: Apparently, Andy Warhol would change his fragrance every 3 months to punctuate periods of his life. Starting this immediately. 

☼ Celebrate more milestones: Birthdays and weddings are great, but have you ever been to a party for your best friend who finally passed their driving test at 32? 

☼ Use the emotional highlighter: We always remember how we felt. Do more things that make you scared or excited. 

In the pursuit of the good life, “acquire memories” is probably the best advice you could ever get. 

Hot Hyperlinks

☼ In 1989, Photographer Andrew Bush, started shooting portraits of people on the road. “The vehicles are intended to be part of the drivers, or clothing that the driver is wearing.” Order the book here, and read an interview with Andrew here. 

☼ Just an ultra-rare limited-edition Dom Perignon backgammon set from the ‘90s.

☼ Sorry for spamming your Insta feed with my photos from Japan.

☼ Watch the trailer for E.1027 - Eileen Gray and The House By The Sea: A stunning docufiction about Irish architect Eileen Gray, creator of some of the 20th century's most iconic furniture, who built her modernist dream house on the Riviera only to have star architect Le Corbusier steal credit for her masterpiece.

Hotter Hyperlinks

Hand picked with the utmost care exclusively for the most fervent leisure enthusiasts…

☼ Hoping to retire like Henk Rogers (the man who brought Tetris to the world) who’s building an off-grid home in Hawaii, complete with a local seed bank and Bond-esque testing lab.

☼ This vintage furniture store in the UK appears to have based their entire inventory on “Janice Rossi’s apartment from Goodfellas” (arguably, one of the most iconic homes in film history). I'm reading every Mario Puzo book in order this summer, and I'm pretty close to fitting out my whole new place like this.

☼ A great question to ask at any dinner party: What makes a great hotel?

☼ From the 1960s to today, Artist Ed Ruscha and his team have photographed every building in LA’s main streets, resulting in a beautiful archive of the city. Explore the archive here and if you’ve got 6ish minutes, watch the documentary here. 

☼ I loved this clip of the ‘flying nuns’ from Warren Miller’s 1998 ski documentary, ‘Freeriders’. Here’s a link if you want to watch the full thing. 

☼ “A rare architectural gem” I hope it’s one of you who’s in the process of buying this mid-century masterpiece.

☼ Am I bidding on Princess Diana's 90s wardrobe items? Yes. Are the items going to sell for 100x over what I bid? Also yes. But hey I was part of something.

☼ Thinking if I shoot with the Pentax half-frame camera and recreate this working rotary processor made entirely of LEGO, I may be able to continue shooting film without selling a kidney...?

Until next time!

See you online,
Marty

Catch me on Instagram between issues ☼