It’s the last episode of 2025 and the wrap for an exceptional Season 1. Join us for a run down of what we watched, a chat around a special time piece… a Tag Heuer… and our song of the year choices.Winter Essentials GuideTragedy as Reset, Book Review Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

On this instalment of the podcast, we had a little bit of fun with some Bond-adjacent topics… We shared some of our favourite moments from Bond films with style and car shout outs. Covered a cool article from GQ and discussed our dream theme music for Bond 26.Winter Essentials GuideThe Berlin Brief Playlist (Apple) + SpotifyGQ - Rules for Modern Gentlemen Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

Simon’s philosophical work Tragedy, The Greeks, and Us is a book form of years of educating students about Greek thought and how it informs western thinking from when the plays were first invented to now.Simon Critchley writes philosophy like it’s a casual act. He somehow finds the way to make the high tower ideas of texts seem relatable to the everyman. I read this book during the summer of 2025 while going through a divorce, running a business, raising sons, and traveling around in Germany with family. It came at a time when I myself felt like I was not only experiencing personal tragedies to my own ideas of where my life was going but it seemed like a daily occurrence if you looked anywhere online as well.I was a philosophy minor in college and often return to thinkers and texts like a lost lover looking for warm arms to hold me. The recommendation that drew me to this book after reading his book on Mysticism was “Pay attention and you can reinvent your life” by The New Yorker. It’s written on the books cover under the title. Seemed too obvious.A far too simple explanation of this book’s premise is that tragedy is “disorientation” that reorients one to life as what it is. Tragedy itself is disorienting and can spin one out of context. You can be forced into finding your way again which is the work after tragedy. Life has a way of going about on its own. No matter how much habit, practice, creation, will, or even discipline, life has a way of reorienting or disorienting you to the realities of what a day presents.Here are some examples of what I wrote in the margins of the book:“Tragedy can be transitory - a new beginning”“Share what you know of the past.”“How can one stay in the traditional ways of thinking when the tragedies that befall them point to a lack of reasoning?”“Hero = Villain - same coin.”“We are all of us a part of this machine and must acknowledge our place for there to be any foundation that could lead to peace.”“Tragedy is a lie revealing the Truth.”Those were only from the first four chapters. The premise of this book is taking the idea of tragedy in literary form and how the Greeks hold a mirror up to us, “in which we see all the dissolution and illusion of our lives but also the terrifying beauty and intensity of existence.”Tragedy can expose the reality of being alive because it shows us that we can be snuffed out, exposed, or even made weak by the realities of living in a world that regularly seems indifferent to our desires.This book came at a time when most of our world seems thrown into division, despondency, and even outright pathological insanity. I regularly hold an optimistic and even defiant hope that we bend towards justice, but even my somewhat stoic, mystical worldview has fallen victim to the nonsensical happenings of the age we exist in.I’ve had to deal with the shortcomings of a worldview that can’t seem to make sense of so much that makes so little sense.Simon takes a course he has taught in universities for years and makes it somewhat approachable to those who are willing to face the tragedies they witness on a day-to-day basis. We all have seen them. From our social media feeds to our personal lives. From the sprawl of nihilism to how democracy seems to mean nothing at all anymore. It’s very easy to think, feel, and even experience that a lot of this seems pointless.However, the book never lets up in its undying turn of possibilities. Even in plays that are as ancient as Plato, Greek thought, and the birth of tragedy as a written or played out medium. Western thought has absolutely let the world down yet, when have humans not come short? This isn’t some review of a book that signals that there is some larger entity that is yet still guiding it all - it’s more of an acknowledgement that somehow life has the ability to find a way. Even when we are in our darkest moments, we can actually look at whatever experience that is befalling us and decide what to do with it.Even if you or I are heartbroken beyond measure, we can still choose to act with grace or understanding or even goodness because the tragedy of the event itself does not have to define us.I don’t know how to recommend this book outside of sharing a journal entry while I was on a beach in Germany because Tragedy, The Greeks, and Us was at the top of my mind while I was there:6/20/25 - “The Beach” I just did a 1 ½ front flip for the first time in over 2 years into a river in Germany. Dillon and his friends vaulted me in the air at a nude-friendly beach in Berlin, Germany. I interviewed Brendon this morning while my siblings went to a memorial for the Holocaust. I’ve seen enough of that devastation. I see it daily in Gaza. The world has been a witness to it for over a year. How does one keep living and making things in the face of so much heartache? How can we all see blown-up kids in between ads on social media? I never imagined I would be here - finishing a book about tragedy at the beach and fully alive while also going through a divorce. Life has a way of surprising us even in the times of great joy and great heartache. Life’s experiences of joy and sorrow are like a pretzel. Never just one thing. I’m smoking a cig while writing - I haven’t done this exactly since my late 20s. We got to go backstage at the Palask, which is a world-renowned theatre where my brother Dillon has been performing for the last two years. This is all a gift. I am happy and melancholy and joyous while carrying the weight of sorrow. Maybe this is the point ultimately. To be alive and aware. To be alive while also fully sad with the realities of what it means to be human in a complex, unjust and inhuman world that puts money above all. Tragedy exposes our humanness, and we all are that at the end of the day.The whole idea of Time2LiveAgain is to put into practice that which needs to happen to be fully alive. We are striving to shine a little brighter, to offer alternatives to the gloom, the nihilism, and the despondency that creeps in. This book helped me do just that and if you have the patience, it will reward you too.-Caton VancePurchase via Amazon : https://amzn.to/4q5kE1j[purchasing via the link above supports our work directly][which is good] - Brendon Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

I rewatched No Time to Die last night. Fell asleep during the opening (tired, not bored) and woke to find my wife actually paying attention. She hates Bond movies. I was surprised to find that she watched this one entirely without me pushing. This is her favorite, which tells me everything about where the franchise needs to go and why the smart play is tweaking themes we’ve recently seen. Paloma. Nomi. Felix and daddy Bond. The N Peal knitwear finally clicked for her. Side : I’m keeping the Rolex Explorer, so the NTTD Seamaster will have to wait. There’s always 2026…Tonight was a celebration. Family came over to pop a Freixenet as I accepted an offer this week. Tech again. But incredible money. And here’s the thing: I’m actually excited about going back. Tonight was Canapés. Bubbles. Age statement port. Great company. Dubai chocolate. General happiness. It reminded me this needs to happen more often. “It really is a good life.”What 2025 Taught MeThe elephant: I’ve been absent here. I like breaks and the space to get perspective. It’s not what algorithms reward, but who’s reading this with that in mind?2025 was experimenting: structured podcasts, different collaboration models, various formats. All to see what lands. Here’s what I know now:I love writing. That’s my why for this project. Primary function. Video can be fun. Collaborating is super fun. But my battery is low for structured content. That’s what I do in the day job after all. I have two young kids who deserve the best me… Short-form video or unstructured long-form. That’s where I live.It should be someone’s job to promote on social, but probably not what should I be doing in the long run, but more on that to come…If you’re looking for me… I’ll be outside, touching grass.Collaboration is KeyCollaborating with Vance and Company has been a major highlight. The guys have been incredible and we’ve ended up with a polished product. We’ll do more, even if it looks different given time zones and daddy duties. Season 1 of the podcast was a win.2 more episodes to drop in 2025.Shedding the FilterChristmas rocks. It’s an opportunity to shed all cool and just be a fun dad and husband. A proud Disney adult, which brings me and the kids closer together. In trying to connect with people, I have filtered what I wasn’t comfortable sharing or selling. And that’s the passion points so I got middling results. I’m doing it differently. I keep distance but stay honest. That’s my voice. I don’t value hot takes or lists of five. I’m Bourdain meets Bond.The likely outcome is I grow this by doing what I know how to do: working within an existing system and building it properly.Hired GunThere’s a massive but muddied difference between being an entrepreneur and an investor. I am the latter. The fact that I long to be the operator is why I’m good at what I do. An executor with vision…thats why I win in the market. No more apologies. I’m a hired gun and a damned good one.The through line is : My wife watching Bond without prompting. Me being excited about tech again, and the compensation that fuels the lifestyle. The realization that I’ve been filtering myself in trying to be something that fits this new digital realm. All of it points to the same truth: stop apologizing for what works.I write. I show up radically honest, for better or worse. Always more better than worse. I grow things my way, and succeed. I fail or get middling results when I do them someone else’s.New Adventures will carry us through December to mid next year. Luxury holidays on the calendar. Mounds of content to edit. Work resumes in mid January. This is good. Old school blogging again.T2LA continues on my terms, starting with Luxe Christmas. Think Personal Blog +I could grow this faster doing some other method…I’m always up for suggestions and pointers, but I have no apologies. Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

On the latest podcast — Brendon and Caton discuss Bond 26 news, actions and practices that fuel the day, new music from Twin Shadow and give some album predictions. Listen to the Berlin brief on Apple Music and SpotifyFollow the show at : The Berlin Brief (Apple) + SpotifyTIME2LIVEAGAIN.COM Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

Today was a good day. Momentum building moments and meetings, the slaying of my Notion task list, and the heroic filing of business receipts. The fastest I’ve ever done the deed, funny how on top of that sort of thing you can be when it’s your money on the line. A few posts got unexpected reshares across social. The most popular? The popping of a bottle of Taittinger. What were we celebrating? Nothing in particular. But the vampire of existential crisis has been in his coffin for the longest time in a long time, and that’s worth raising a glass to.Nightcap : Indian Coca-Cola. The G.O.A.T., right alongside the Mexican one. The coke is an accompanied by a separate glass of Cuérvo. I don’t know my Reposado like that, but the Día de los Muertos bottle art got me. I’m a sucker for Mexican art (especially skulls). Youtube education in the background, L322 generation Range Rovers — of course. It’s 1:30 AM now. Just Mustard’s latest album on the HomePod (c/o Dominic). My kids have a meeting with Santa in the morning, and I’m planning a surprise lunch and maybe a Christmas photo. Life’s calm…weirdly calm.Then YouTube hits me with an ad for more tequila. Then an ad for a no-name knock off hoodie with an Andrew Tate clone. I’m offended at Youtube’s data mined assumption here. The algorithm’s tightening its aim, but missing. It sees a “watch guy,” a “kickboxing bro,” maybe a “high-performance man.” Unlike many of the people who occupy those spaces…I’m not angry.I’m not anti-woman.and I’m not interested in watching a Toyota hill race a Range Rover. The Range wins by default. It’s an icon. Even the Evoque.Aside : This week I wore the most hyped piece in my small collection. Shiny 39 mm Rolex, simple 3-6-9 dial with the numerals in full white gold because it’s better at looking formal. The Explorer. It earned more attention than any “nicer” watch I’ve owned. Icons don’t explain themselves. They just are.That’s the filter I’m applying to everything I create. Cars, content, the whole machinery of ambition within this brand.Does it work because it’s real?Or just because the algorithm says it should?The tequila’s back in its cabinet. The house is quiet. The (classic?) Range Rover shopping feels less like a compulsion now and more like a test: “Can I enjoy an icon with no expectation, no justification. Just pure appreciation?”The Rolex Explorer and the Taittinger reminded me of the answer.Complication does not equal connection. It’s about what doesn’t need explaining.TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN is a reader-supported publication. To stay connected, become a subscriber. Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

On the latest podcast — Brendon and Caton discuss Bond 26 news, diagnose why people are so generally unhappy, how to be effective at finding joy and new music from the podcast. Listen to the Birmingham brief on Apple Music and Spotify Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

BOND 26 | Family Time + Visits | New Wolf AliceListen to the Birmingham brief on Apple Music and Spotify Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

Written + Recorded by Brendon Craft for TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN. June 17, 2025 Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe

On the first conversational episode of the podcast, we hosted Caton Vance for a discussion on fulfilment through art, men’s wellbeing, and identity after parenthood. You can stay up to date on TIME2LIVEAGAIN.COMVANCE AND COMPANY Get full access to TIME 2 LIVE AGAIN at time2liveagain.substack.com/subscribe