Almost every week on the Scriptnotes podcast, John and Craig share a One Cool Thing: something they like that they think you’ll like. This page provides an updated listing of all the cool things to date.
Some links go to products on Amazon. For those, we get a small affiliate payment, which helps pay for transcripts and hosting costs.
154: Making Things Better by Making Things Worse
- John The Answer to the Riddle is Me by David Stuart MacLean
- Craig In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories by Delmore Schwartz
153: Selling without selling out
- John The Fermi paradox on Wikipedia, Wait But Why and Praxtime
- Craig David Kwong at TED2014: Two nerdy obsessions meet — and it’s magic
152: The Rocky Shoals (pages 70-90)
- John They Came Together and Mutual Friends are available now on iTunes
- Aline Bandolier hands free crossbody iPhone accessory
- John How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg
- Craig @SavedYouAClick on Twitter
150: Yes, screenwriting is actually writing
- John James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence
- Craig Quackwatch is your guide to quackery, health fraud, and intelligent decisions
- John A Guerilla Filmmaker’s Guide to After Effects
- Craig The New York Times Crossword for iOS
- John Hopscotch, a coding for kids app for iOS
- Craig Black List Live! reading of Stephany Folsom’s 1969: A Space Odyssey, or How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying and Land on the Moon on June 14th, part of the LA Film Fest
- David Voice Dream, a text to speech app for iOS
143: Photoplays and archetypes
- John WorkEZ Executive Laptop Stand
- Craig Sometimes You Die for iOS
141: Uncomfortable Ambiguity, or Nobody Wants Me at their Orgy
- John Under the Skin on Wikipedia
- Craig CarboLite nutrition facts on MyFitnessPal and Yelp on where to find it in Los Angeles
140: Falling back in love with your script
- John Monument Valley is available now for iOS, and soon for Android
- Craig Nomad, makers of Charge Key (and Charge Card)
- John Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground by Matthew Chojnacki
- Craig Fight jet lag with Entrain
- Ben Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction
- John The Way to Go by Kate Ascher
- Craig Lilly Onakuramara on the Pitch Perfect wiki, and a YouTube compilation of some of her best moments)
- John BioLite Woodburning Camp Stove and the BioLite KettlePot
- Craig Lost Treasures of Infocom for iOS
132: The Contract between Writers and Readers
- John Threes! on the App Store
- Craig The XStat syringe by RevMedx
131: Procrastination and Pageorexia
- John The Fog Horn, and Ellen Page’s coming out speech at HRC’s Time to Thrive conference
- Craig Wallace Matthews on Derek Jeter announcing 2014 will be his final season, and Jeter’s career on Baseball-Reference.com
- John One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B. J. Novak
- Craig SuperCook.com tells you recipes to cook with what you have on hand
129: The One with the Guys from Final Draft
- John Ciclavia
- Craig @chuckpalahniuk
- John Organize your brain with WorkFlowy
- Craig Shakespeare for iPhone and iPad
- Carolyn The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
- John Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber, and Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
- Craig Global Entry is worth your time
- John Lego Mindstorms and Crazy Action Contraptions
- Craig her is in theaters now
122: Young Billionaire’s Guide to Hollywood
- John Skitch and Evernote are great together
- Craig The Room Two is available now
121: My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend’s Screenwriter
- John Download the Scriptnotes app now for iOS and Android devices
- Craig Singtrix home karaoke
- Mike The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
120: Let’s talk about coverage
- John Screenflow for Mac, and John’s video and post on why he likes writing in Fountain
- Craig Writers in Treatment
- John Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston
- Craig Scroobius Pip and You Will See Me
- Aline The TreadDesk
118: Time Travel with Richard Kelly
- John Hotel Tonight
- Craig Coin for all your cards
- Richard The Science and Entertainment Exchange
- John Knock to Unlock lets you unlock your Mac by knocking your iPhone
- Craig Register as an organ donor today. And register for the Be The Match bone marrow database, too.
- John Planet Money podcast
- Craig John August
115: Back to Austin with Rian Johnson and Kelly Marcel
- John The Victorinox 40003 Wavy Edge Utility Knife with 4-3/4″ Blade
- Craig Fade In and Writer Duet should collaborate
- Rian Timecrimes
- Kelly Letters of Note
112: Let me give you some advice
- John John’s 2011 blog post on Blue Valentine and adoption
- Craig WinesTilSoldOut
- John Box by Bot & Dolly
- Craig Big Fish’s Ryan Andes, and on Twitter @AndesRyan
109: Scriptnotes Live from New York
- John Bid now for a Big Fish backstage tour with John and Andrew (and support a Los Angeles public school)
- Craig Let us know if you’re in Vienna and willing to meet up with Craig
- Andrew Recette restaurant
108: Are two screens better than one?
- John John and Dan Jinks on KCRW’s The Business
- Craig Writerduet.com lets you collaborate in real-time
106: Two ENTJs walk into a bar (and fix it)
- John One Cool Things from Scriptnotes
- Craig Slow Ass Jolene
105: Adventures in semi-colons
- John Matthew Butterick’s Practical Typography
- Craig Gone Home, from the Fullbright Company
104: Ender’s Game, one-hours and alt-jokes
- John Portlandia
- Craig Microsoft Sculpt ergonomic keyboard
103: Disaster Porn, and Spelling Things Out
- John Use discount code SCRIPT for a deal on select Big Fish on Broadway tickets
- Craig David Kwong’s crossword puzzle magic
102: Hits, misses and hedge funds
- John The Spectacular Now
- Craig Coravin lets you enjoy your wine without ever pulling the cork
100: Scriptnotes, the 100th episode
- John The classic Pilot G2 and the brand new erasable Pilot Frixion
- Aline Makers: Women Who Make America
- Rawson Scriptnotes: A podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters
99: Psychotherapy for screenwriters
- John The Imposter
- Craig Paper Karma helps you control your mailbox
- Dennis The Secret in Their Eyes
98: Long movies, producer credits and price-fixing
- John Velib bike sharing in Paris
- Craig Tesla battery swap is worth watching
- John The Hero’s Journey by Glove and Boots
- Craig Popehat.com and their posts on Prenda Law
95: Notes on the death of the film industry
- John Feedbin: A fast, simple RSS feed reader
- Craig Cicada Mania is dedicated to cicadas
- John Mission Log Podcast’s archive of discovered Star Trek documents is fantastic
- Craig Fitbit One
93: Let’s talk about Nikki Finke
- John Kingdom Rush Frontiers
- Craig f.lux adjusts your displays for the time of day
- John Wikipedia’s list of common misconceptions
- Craig Esha Khare’s twenty-second phone charger (via Ryan Conroy)
89: Writing effective transitions
- John Scandal Revealed episode 221 featuring Matt Byrne, Chad & Dara Creasey are on Mistresses, The Hollywood Reporter Comedy Class of 2013’s writeup on Dana Fox (and John Hamburg), Rawson Thurber’s We’re the Millers, and new dad Sean Smith on IMDb
- Craig The Los Angeles Times on Studios donating film set materials to Habitat for Humanity, and Joe Nienalt and Daniel Vang’s will-read-your-script fundraiser for the American Heart Association
88: Ugly children and cigarettes
- John FilmCraft Screenwriting by Tim Grierson on Amazon
87: Moving On is not Giving Up
- John Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds
- Craig ITER: The way to new energy
- John Internet K-Hole (Warning: NSFW!)
- Craig Slacker Radio
- John Ulysses III for Mac
- Craig That Mitchell and Webb Look BBC Two site and on Hulu
84: First sale and funny on the page
- John Jonas Maxwell’s tips for singing the national anthem
- Craig BioShock Infinite on Amazon.com
- John Lifehacker Australia on using multiple audio inputs and outputs in OSX
- Craig The life-saving Animal Specialty Group
- Derek Chicago City Pass is worthwhile
82: God doesn’t need addresses
- John Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger & Kenneth Cukier
- Craig The Tesla Motors Forum and the very helpful FlasherZ
- John StageWrite for iPad at the Mac App Store
- Craig Give a loan and change a life with Kiva
- John Unfinished Scripts
- Craig Play EyeWire and help map the brain
79: Rigorous, structured daydreaming
- John Waking Mars for iOS
- Craig Homeland on Amazon Instant and Blu-ray
78: The Germans have a word for it
- John AppleTV
77: We’d Like to Make an Offer
- John Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- Craig Easton-Bell Sports unveils pitcher’s helmet
- John Casting director Pat Moran from The Credits
- John Starred changes
- Craig Tesla Model S
71: Unless they pay you, the answer is no
- John Coffeescript
- Craig Poutine on Wikipedia
69: Eggnog and Dreadlock Santa
- John Karateka for iOS, and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
- Craig Seth Rudetsky’s Seth TV and Seth on Wikipedia
66: One-step deals, and how to read a script
- Craig Don’s cancer blog, Let’s Radiate Don
- John Ticket to Ride for iOS
- Craig Brining on Cooking for Engineers
- John Reach Gum Care Soft Woven Mint Floss, the best floss in the world
62: We’re all Disney princesses now
- John Letterpress game for iOS
- Craig Red Cross donations to Hurricane Sandy relief
- John What If? from xkcd
60: The Black List, and a stack of scenes
- John screenwriting.io
- Craig Austin Film Festival
- Aline The Man Repeller blog
59: Plot holes, and the myth of perseveraversity
- John Kindle Paperwhite
- Craig Nogales, Arizona on Wikipedia
58: Writing your very first screenplay
- John Jordan Mechner’s The Last Express for iOS
56: Gorilla City and the Kingdom of Toads
- John Tejava iced tea
54: Eight Reasonable Questions about Screenwriting
- John HealthMap Vaccine Finder
- Craig The Words
53: Action is more than just gunfights and car chases
- John Sleepwalk With Me
- John Trailer for Derek Haas’s The Right Hand, and the book itself
- Craig Gizmodo on the simplex algorithm
51: Dashes, ellipses and underground monsters
- John Jambox
- Craig Big Jambox
- John PRI’s The World in Words podcast
- Craig Jiro Dreams of Sushi
47: What script should you write?
- John Google’s Nexus 7 tablet
- Craig Joyetech 510 and Johnson Creek Smoke Juice
46: Mistakes development executives make
- John Hooktheory for iBooks
- Craig Audio Essentials
45: Setting, perspective and terrible numbers
43: Pen Names and Divine Intervention
- John ScanCafe
- Craig The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls by Jason Turbow
42: Verbs are what’s happening
- John NYC Subway by Embark, the transit app for iOS
- Craig MacBook Pro with Retina Display
- John Key Ring Thing puts all your bar codes on one card
- Craig Joe Nienalt and Daniel Vang’s Will-Read-Your-Script Fundraiser for the American Heart Association
- John Ski Safari
- Craig 1Password
36: Writer’s block and other romantic myths
- John Old Jews Telling Jokes
- Craig iScore
- John Musicnotes version of Jar of Hearts
- Craig Craig’s first computer, the Franklin Ace 1000
