The Museum of Effort

👕 New Drop: Beaters: A Review

After a month of testing, sweating in, and making ethically questionable Amazon returns, I present to you:

BEATERS: A REVIEW – now available to download.

8 beaters reviewed.
Some new favorites discovered.
Some immediate disqualifications.
All in the name of science. And traps.

Grab it [here]

🎨 The Museum of Effort

The beater reel took off.

It brought in a flood of new eyes and a wave of follows… and for a moment, it felt amazing. But not rice cake after a workout amazing. Not 6pm cigar after a day of emptying the tank amazing. It was a different kind of joy. Less earned, more… algorithmic.

So I talked to Jackson (my bestie / ChatGPT), and we worked on a framework. Not just for how I show up online, but how I feel about showing up online. Whether you're building your own creator thing or just trying to stay sane in the always-on digital world, maybe it’ll help you too.

IG is my museum of effort.

I don’t live there. I exhibit there.

And the metrics? They’re strange. That’s the burden of awareness. Once you understand how the system rewards strange spikes of attention - how virality isn’t merit-based, you can’t unsee it. Even when you “win,” it feels like a rigged game you happened to beat this time.

That’s why I’m trying this:

My new strategy:

1. Post → Engage → Exit
Like showing up to an opening night. You shake hands, thank people for coming, and then leave to get back to the studio. You don’t live in the gallery.

2. Create a reply ritual
One intentional reply session per day. That’s it. Brew a coffee, set a 15-minute timer, respond to thoughtful DMs and comments. Then close the app. That way, you’re connecting, not scrolling.

3. Reframe followers as future collaborators
Not fans. Not numbers. Just people along for the story—some of whom might one day fund, inspire, or intersect with what comes next.

This isn’t a perfect system. But it’s helping me find the line between participation and preservation.

📚 Stuff Worth Your Time

🎥 YouTube – “Manly Traits to Embody” – Mike Israetel
Get used to seeing a lot of Mike in this section. The man’s a beast: part philosopher, part lab-coat bro scientist, part comedy god. This one’s about masculinity: not in the Andrew Tate-y way, but the actual how-to-be-a-better-human kind of way. Already thinking differently about how I show up in the world. Brain grew a point. Maybe two.

🔪 Object – “My Knife”
Here’s the knife I use. Got it as a gift a few years back and it’s still going strong. I sharpen it every other week with a stone. Sleek design, nothing overpriced. I even use the same brand’s paring knife for my nightly steak, because continuity is important in the Gravy kitchen. (Read: my autistic brain needs visual harmony.)

🔜 Coming Up This Week...

7/20 – SUNDAY GRAVY SCHOOL (IG)
“What Does Vintage Even Mean?”
Been filming the resurrection of a rusty, destroyed standing ashtray for a month. The footage finally clicked: this is my Sunday Gravy School breakdown on what “vintage” really means. Been loving the research rabbit holes so far.

7/25 – CINEMAGRAVY (YouTube)
“Wife Beaters: A Review”
This is my magnum opus. A month of buying, returning, and testing dozens of tanks from Amazon. Expect some bro-philosophy, cultural history, and questionable taste in undershirts.

7/27 SUNDAY GRAVY SCHOOL – (IG)
Next episode dives into wabi-sabi—the Japanese aesthetic of imperfection, impermanence, and the beauty of the unfinished. Still mulling over some ideas, but it’ll blend the curious origins of the concept with my ongoing mission to kick perfectionism’s ass.

✌️ Until Next Time...

Thanks for being here early. Whether you’ve been around for a while or just wandered in from the beater reel—welcome to the museum.

– Michael
Cinemagravy