#446: AIDAN CULLEN

🍹Arnold Palmers, 🤼 🚘 Car Jiu Jitsu, 🤣 Harmony Korine’s 95' Letterman Interview, and more.

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Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Aidan Cullen to share a taste of his taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Aidan Cullen is a Santa Monica/Venice-born, NYC/LA-based photographer, filmmaker, and creative director. He’s photographed artists like A$AP Rocky, Halsey, Trippie Redd, Drake, and Omar Apollo, shot for publications including L'officiel, Vogue, ID, and 032c, and worked with huge fashion houses such as Gucci and Prada. Aidan is also the co-founder and CCO of NOVA, a new app that launched around the same time as ours that helps connect freelance creatives with clients. It’s a great idea and well executed, I’m excited to see where it goes. Stay on the lookout for his next photo book, titled NOTHING GOOD LASTS FOREVER, coming out later this year. Lucky for us, Aidan’s here to tell us what he’s been into.

Without further ado

Aidan Cullen (instagram)

🍹Arnold Palmers

By far the most superior drink. Especially if we’re looking at a 65% tea to 35% lemonade ratio… I’m constantly on a search for the best AP - I average about 4-6 AP’s per day. Right now I’m doing no sugar for 3 months and AP’s were the hardest thing to put down….by far.

🤼 🚘 Car Jiu Jitsu

Easily the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen on the internet lately. 2 people start in the front seat of a car with seatbelts on. The whistle blows and they wrestle to try and take each other down or put the opponent in a hold. This is like a king of the hill type game we would play as 10 year olds but on steroids…pretty next level that this is a “sport.” I’m here for it though.

🎸Mk.Gee

Mk. Gee is an actual specimen. No one is doing it like him right now. There is musical sauce dripping from his veins infecting his guitar with worldly sounds. His new album is amazing, but honestly all of his music is so good.

🫂 Supporting your creative peers

Essentially... We’re all we got. If your friends makes clothes, buy a piece from the collection that you like, if they drop a photo book, buy one, if they drop an app, download it and give it a thorough test, if they’re musicians, go to their shows (maybe even buy a ticket and some merch) etc - it goes a long way. Don’t be the one homie always asking for free shit - we all do this to an extent but it doesn’t have to be for everything.

🤣 Harmony Korine’s 95 letterman interview

Some would argue that trolling was invented when this interview aired. Very funny interview of a 19 year old Harmony Korine post the movie release of KIDS, trolling Letterman on live TV, just cause he can. Then he did it 5 more times throughout his life…

🗺 Escape Rooms

The perfect activity for groups of 4-8 people. Endless fun and a great way to learn a lot about a new friend or potential love interest. This really puts them to the test. Seeing how someone acts under pressure is very telling…

🎧📚 Listening to biography’s via audiobooks

Lately I’ve been obsessed with listening to biographies or autobiographies of people I look up to. Some that I would recommend for entertainment and learning: Scar Tissue - Anthony kiedis, Acid for the Children - Flea, Steve Jobs by Walter isaacson, Elon musk by Walter isaacson, Poor Charlie’s Almanac - Charles munger, Kitchen Confidential - Anthony bourdain, Green light - Matthew Mcconaughey, Who is Michael Ovitz, Lucky Me - Rich Paul, Shoe dog - Phil Knight, Zero to One - Peter Thiel, A Visible Man - Edward Enninful, The Creative Act - Rick Rubin. There’s a bunch more good ones but here’s a few I’ve listened to recently. It’s always fun to learn from smart people and their journey.

🖼 Investing in art, art books and furniture

As much as I can, I try to invest in cool art books, art and furniture. All these things, if purchased well, are all nice to enjoy, inspire and they make for good investments that can grow in value over time. I plan to open up an art-book library at some point in my life and I’m collecting art and furniture for my current and future home.

⛑️Prioritize your health for 1-2 hours per day

It’s so important…sadly i have a slew of health issues so this is extra important for me - stretch for 15 minutes a day, walk 4-5 miles a day, use a foam roller for a few minutes, maybe take some vitamins, take a yoga or Pilates class…who knows…hard to do this everyday but it is very crucial to try…