Lately I’ve been reconnecting with people I knew before Salt & Flickers exploded into my life. The book debuted on December 9th, 2025 at #1 in Running Books, Poetry, Philosophy and Art Books. Fucking wild. 

People who know a version of me, but maybe not all of the strange roads. Some were scenic, some were most definitely not. And really, I never stopped to sequence and connect. A few years ago, I got a little lost. Maybe more than a little. My mental health and sense of balance, and relationships to the world and myself, had meaning without gravity. I felt it all floating around me and it scared the shit out of me.  Being fully aware of deep disconnection and misalignment while trudging forward as a writer, runner, Dad and dude was draining. 

But as an endurance athlete, the therapy started to stack together like a training plan. Apparently, my brain responds better to metaphors and whims involving cool running shoes and centuries old suffering. That was the inertia I needed. Gravity is nothing without it.

I stepped away from my normal lane as a writer in the film, TV and comedy world and Salt & Flickers was born and it's been a wild ride. 

The book. The podcast. The Substack. The running. The people at all the run clubs, book stores, roadside diners, tattoo shops, airports. Anonymity is oddly medicinal.  

And now, breaking news, I have a screenplay pulled from the book making its way into the world. Its Past Lives meets Before Sunrise meets The Natural, following Rochelle Banks, a marathon phenom who mysteriously disappeared from the global stage connecting with a lost-souled writer on an afternoon in LA. 

The bones came from two other romantic dramedies I started up over the past few years but once I got the right amount of space and signals from the universe that I was creatively on my own with this, the screenplay came into focus. I'm writing from pre-dawn to sunrise, daily and in ways I never have before.  

I'm starting to feel whole again. Like I’m finally gathering the pieces  of my head and heart back into the same room. But do not mistake it for enlightened, it's my version of being less scattered and strewn across the forever roads and boundless skies of LA. 

So today on the pod, runner/artist Scout Zabinski interviewed me. I went in with no idea what the questions would be and where it would go. Just presence with a person I respect and trust. And as I'm writing this, I haven't listened to the edit of the episode. Curious to hear what we said.  

In its most sobering moments, life is trippy.

You can find the book, podcast, Substack and everything else at saltandflickers.com.

And I’ll be in London September 4 and 5 for Like The Wind’s first Run Culture: LIVE at Boiler House. Runners, artists, filmmakers, musicians and rebels from all over running culture come together for panels, films, music and making things together.

If you’re in London, let's connect or go for a run. 

Okay. Scout, ask me something.

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For Dan Faughnder, design is about giving music a visual identity. In digital marketing with Concord Records, he helps artists translate sound into imagery, creating the album artwork, posters, merchandise, and visual worlds that become inseparable from the music. It's a discipline that lives at the intersection of craft, collaboration, and culture which has major Salt and Flickers vibes.

But somewhere along the way, another creative pursuit emerged. What began as a few friends meeting for runs grew into Eagle Rock Run Club, one of Los Angeles' most vibrant community running groups.

I sat down with Dan back in March 2026, right before the LA Marathon. 

Run club politics are a thing. What does that mean? On a low vibrational side, people get chirpy about brand partners and how many Instagram followers you have. On the higher minded side, the conversations turn to examining platform and privilege and how those inform the foundation, vision and role of a run club and run culture at large.

So I’m sitting there with Dan, about to record the episode, with a short list of pointed questions that could go in a few directions, really leaning on how political and purpose driven run clubs have become.  I’m looking at a dude across the table who loves a throwaway joke, shits & gigs, and likes to run with his friends outside. That's the ERRC tag line and they are living it. 

With two mics separating us, I have the realization that not every run club has to save the world. I pushed the list of questions aside and we hit record.  Operating less like a podcast run club writer guy guiding a narrative and more from a place of an abundance mindset it became clear: Dan and Eagle Rock are doing something great for their zip code and that is enough. Their point is simply to make Thursday night the best hour of someone's week. Or knowing your neighbor by name. Or laughing with new friends and forgetting what mile you're on.

If running outside with your friends is your why, this podcast isn’t a place to challenge someone as nice as Dan to apologize for it. But it is a place to talk about how he’s taking care to do it better than anyone else. We're living in a moment where newer, brand-driven run clubs are all trying to copy someone else's blueprint. Bigger. Cooler. More branded. More “community." Dan has his own version of living through that. He’s the single leader of a big club and we talk about how he guides the ship, how his punk ethos meshes with the Swiss shoe brand On Running, how The Speed Project, even with its late-stage Burning Man vibes, still matters. But, we learn that Dan is a big Dave Matthews Band fan so the Burning Man thing tracks. 

Here's Dan. He has a big heart and I was grateful we got to slow down and talk.

For more info on the podcast, our book, book tour and general vibes, check us at saltandflickers.com

Peace and love and John and Yoko,

Howie xo

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Megan Imbres has spent her career at the intersection of culture, storytelling, and consumer behavior. Now the Chief Marketing Officer of Peloton, she oversees one of the most recognizable brands in fitness, helping shape how millions of people connect with movement, motivation, and community. Before Peloton, she held leadership roles at Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and Quibi - building brands during moments when entire industries were being reinvented. 

Her path into marketing wasn't a straight line. Educated in international business and finance, an experience studying abroad in France ultimately redirected her toward a career built around creativity, human connection, and storytelling. Over the years, she helped establish the Netflix Originals brand, led global brand marketing for Amazon Ads, and later oversaw major cultural campaigns at Apple, including the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show and Apple TV's partnership with Major League Soccer. 

What makes Megan's story particularly compelling is that her professional life is matched by an equally ambitious athletic pursuit. A competitive triathlete and passionate cyclist, she has qualified twice for the Ironman World Championships while balancing executive leadership, family life, and a demanding career. Endurance sport isn't a hobby on the side - it's a framework through which she approaches challenge, resilience, and growth. 

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Jonah Peretti has spent the last two decades reshaping the way the internet thinks, feels, and spreads ideas. As the co-founder of HuffPost and the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, he helped architect the modern viral ecosystem -- where emotion is currency, attention is the medium, and culture moves at the speed of a share.

Born in California and trained at MIT, Peretti’s path into media didn’t begin in a newsroom, but in systems thinking: experiments in how ideas propagate, how networks behave, and how digital culture accelerates when feedback loops are tight enough.

He co-founded HuffPost in the early blog era, then launched BuzzFeed as a kind of laboratory for the social web: quizzes, listicles, memes, and later, serious journalism and video -- each format tuned to the logic of platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Under his leadership, BuzzFeed became both a cultural engine and a mirror, reflecting the internet’s appetite for novelty, emotion, and speed.

Outside of media, Peretti is also a nationally ranked masters sprinter, specializing in the 400-meter distance. In this conversation, Howie and Jonah discuss his evolution as a runner and how it serves as both a companion and counterpoint to his digital life.

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Amanda Salazar is the Director of Programming at Vidiots, the beloved Los Angeles film nonprofit and revival cinema that has become a cultural anchor in Eagle Rock. Originally founded as a video store in 1985, Vidiots has evolved into a one-of-a-kind hub for film lovers, blending repertory screenings, new releases, and a 50,000-title physical media archive into a deeply community-driven space. 

In this episode, Amanda and Howie explore what it means to curate not just films, but experiences. From programming 35mm screenings to building inclusive, accessible film culture, Amanda shares how her work is guided by a simple but powerful idea: movies are meant to be shared.

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We're back with a new season!

Season Two of Salt and Flickers begins with a conversation about creation — not just the finished product, but the messy, collaborative process behind it.

In this special three-way episode, Howie sits down with artist and designer Eric Junker and illustrator and storyteller Jason Shelowitz, the two creative partners who helped bring the Salt and Flickers book to life. Together, they unpack how an idea that started as conversations about movement and mindset evolved into a physical object — a book shaped by community, trust, and shared vision.

This episode sets the tone for the new season — a reminder that meaningful work is a long run, not a sprint, and that the strongest ideas come to life when people move together.

You can find the book now at saltandflickers.com

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Emily Timmer is a filmmaker, writer, coach, and endurance athlete whose creative life is deeply shaped by movement. Raised in Washington State and now based in Los Angeles, Emily has spent her life toggling between running and storytelling — using the same principles of patience, repetition, and presence to guide both.

In this episode, Emily opens up about her journey through competitive running, her experience entering rehab for orthorexia, and how learning to run healthily reshaped her relationship to both her body and her work. She shares how writing a short novel during that time reignited her storytelling path, eventually leading her toward filmmaking and an MFA in Directing.

We talk about training for her upcoming 50K, finishing the ninth draft of a feature film centered around an ultramarathon, and how endurance sports continue to inform her creative process. Emily reflects on loss, grief, and the role of somatic connection in healing — including how losing her best friend to cancer has found its way into her current script.

The conversation also explores run club culture, community building, the pressures of brand involvement, and why Emily believes the running boom may be in a fragile bubble. Along the way, she shares what it means to “rest in motion,” why she sees herself as a jazz filmmaker, and how movement helps her stay balanced, embodied, and creatively alive.

This episode is an honest meditation on discipline without punishment, creativity without isolation, and the quiet power of listening to the body — on the page, on the road, and in life.

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Phoebe Robinson is best known as a comedian, writer, actor, producer, and cultural powerhouse — co-host of Two Dope Queens, interviewer of Michelle Obama, bestselling author, and founder of Tiny Reparations Books. But in 2023, after a breakup and on the edge of turning 40, Phoebe decided to try something that had never clicked before: running.

What began as a simple 5K training plan has evolved into marathons, strength cycles, Hyrox races, and a full-blown love affair with movement. In this conversation, Phoebe talks about embracing the discomfort of being a beginner, why running mirrors stand-up comedy, and how honoring your commitments builds confidence far beyond the miles. We explore the mental freedom she finds on the treadmill, the joy of the final finishers in New York, and the discipline, humor, and heart it takes to keep moving when things get hard.

This is a funny, honest, and encouraging look at what happens when you give yourself permission to grow — slowly, imperfectly, and entirely on your own terms.

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Raziq Rauf is the voice behind Running Sucks, a fast-growing newsletter and Instagram account that explores modern run culture with honesty, humor, and curiosity. A former music journalist, Raziq’s storytelling captures what running really feels like for most of us — messy, meditative, and profoundly human.

In this episode, he and Howie dig into the parallels between writing, recovery, and running; how the “just do it” ethos still carries real weight; and why the best thing you can do for others is to take care of yourself first. From his days discovering Coldplay and Muse to posting his slow runs on Strava to help others feel seen, Raziq reminds us that running doesn’t have to be about winning — it’s about showing up, staying curious, and keeping the door open for everyone else to join.

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Matt Wisner has lived the full arc of the sport — from the high-stakes oval of NCAA and professional track to the freer, wider world of creative expression and longer distances. A former Duke and University of Oregon runner turned Oregon Track Club pro, Matt has since pivoted into storytelling, producing Alexi Pappas’s Mentor Buffet podcast and writing about the culture and meaning of running with rare honesty.

Now based in Los Angeles, Matt is exploring the shift from chasing PRs to chasing perspective: why track once felt like running against time itself, how ultras and longer distances open up an entirely new way of experiencing the sport, and what happens when you stop holding on so tightly to metrics. We also talk about writing, coaching, and why running — at its best — is about lightness, freedom, and finding lessons that echo far beyond the course.

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