Evergreen notes allow you to think about complex ideas by building them up from smaller composable ideas.

My evergreen notes have titles that distill each idea in a succinct and memorable way, that I can use in a sentence. For example:

• A company is a superorganism
• All input is error
• Calmness is a superpower
• Concise explanations accelerate progress
• Cross the chasm
• Everything is a remix
• Writing is telepathy
• You have no obligation to your former self
• etc

You don’t need to agree with the idea for it to become an evergreen note. Evergreen notes can be very short.

I have an evergreen note called Creativity is combinatory uniqueness that is built on top of another evergreen note:

If you believe Everything is a remix, then creativity is defined by the uniqueness and appeal of the combination of elements.

Evergreen notes turn ideas into objects. By turning ideas into objects you can manipulate them, combine them, stack them. You don’t need to hold them all in your head at the same time.

The term evergreen notes was coined by Andy Matuschak and you can find more about this method on his site. You can also listen to my interview on the Metamuse podcast for more thoughts on evergreen notes and how I use them in Obsidian.

This always looked terrible. And the trailer was so bad it became a literal meme. However, this evening I was looking for an easy watch and saw that the reviews are surpassingly high. So I thought I’d give it a go.

Firstly, this is largely a musical. And despite a catchy chorus here and there it’s not especially special. The film is also not really about chocolate and sweets, which I found a bit disappointing. I wanted to see towers of sugar as far as the eye can see. But Wonka as chocolatier could have been removed and it wouldn’t have changed much.

This is directed by Paul King, who did the Paddington’s, and you can tell. They both have a visual charm that I really like. The comedic style is similar too. And it shares a lot of the same actors

However, Wonka ain’t Paddington. Paddington is fun for the whole family. Whereas I’d argue Wonka will be highly enjoyable for the kids, but there’s not enough here for the adults.

The film is rather sweet and watchable. But it just feels weirdly lifeless. I won’t be running back to rewatch it.

48%

(Read this review on Letterboxd)