Extra Evil - It's Alive
Today's Fortune: Another week of peace and tranquility comes.
Newsreel
John Bolton filled his pants.
Senate approval took the fun out of crypto scams.
My military parade had a better turnout.
Eric Adams pivoted to 20/20 Clayton Bigsby.
The Supreme Court skipped Pride.
New PEDs may make your nephew a Katamari ball of muscle.
You Need This
As you can imagine, there was a lot going on this week. Noah's spiral continues soon.
A Photo
Taken when there were three days left. Now that it's out, just pretend I'm from California.
War Journal
Thank you.
You can guess most what this book working out means to me, emotionally. If not, I have a post called “What It Means.” Subtlety is not my dojo’s main technique.
But what about the practical world? The one with buildings, bread, and bills that smarter people study?
Well, I get to keep doing this.
Full-time writing is logistically…questionable. You might smack me if you saw my transaction history. Right through the screen.
With the wave of positivity around the release, I promise something a little humbler than my pie-in-the-sky schemes.
More.
More bent headlines. More deep dives into lunatics. More Confederate children's books, fake ads, real ads you wish were fake, complaints about clearly self-inflicted insomnia, and flickers of comic relief as the world spins off axis.
More books, down the line. This first chapter's funny so far.
Enjoy more.
My plan was simple: text terribly for three decades, and train everyone not to expect quick turnaround during this deluge. It's going swimmingly.
Major minor news: I'm going to play a video game next week.
That sounds like a big nothing, but longtime readers will know that Steam status is a nice proxy for my overall sanity. I haven't touched a controller or glowing keyboard for months, so this room should have padding.
I should catch up with the rest of the world. I also feel tempted to crawl back to X-Com 2, name a squad after assorted friends, and see who makes it. Maybe that's what aging is.
But really, it'll be Yakuza. It's addictive. Not as addictive as my Ahab quest for satirical excellence. But a strong contender.
Normally, you hope someone's better nature comes through.
But our president's worse nature is a flighty, unreliable coward.
With Iran on fire, I really want his worse nature to win out.
A Screenshot
The Present
- Book's out. [How to Dodge a Cannonball]
- I got notably dressed up for this audio NPR interview. [NPR]
- Me on Barnes & Noble podcast. [Poured Over]
- I was invited to write about music and the book. [Largehearted Boy]
- The Times Book Review likes it! [New York Times]
- The five people you meet in art school. [Lithub]
- Channel 4 can always dig. [1900HOTDOG]
- Read my stab at the future. [My Previous Book]
The Past
One more plug for "What it Means."
The Future
More.
Not Brought to You By
(Contest ads start next week. I need sleep.)
I promise I'm not just bullying Lucky Strike because it's fun and funny. This week, I have a topical punchline.
Pharma ads are in the hot seat. Don't call it a "stopped clock" moment, the powers-that-be are just more into leeches. But there is laughter to be had, alongside emotions with German words.
Flipping through old Lucky Strike ads (normal habit), it hit me: some of these feel just like pharma plugs. Like this campaign.
Happy smiling leads, promises of a chemical cure for ennui, way too much text on bottom—all there. A second patient:
Look how non-specifically happy she is! What should I eat, smoke, or inject?
It tracks, doesn't it? You smoke for a specific physical effect, then exaggerated, distorted, and outright lied about by the manufacturer.
Interesting that, as legal handcuffs remain similar, the approaches have drifted so far apart. The pharma copywriters (for as long as those exist) could use a little Tobacco lobby gloss. The ads shouldn't exist, but we can at least make them less embarrassing.
Anyway, beyond my brilliance this campaign is vapor. Nothing. Non-thought.
Creativity: D- | Persuasion: D-| Sanity: F+
One Sentence Reviews
How to Dodge a Cannonball: Divine perfection. (6/5)
Virgin Island: My hate for this channel has lost the scent of irony. (0/5)
Minor Threats: The Alternates Vol. 1: Patton Oswalt doing Doom Patrol is a fun twist to life. (4/5)
Henry Holt & Company: My life raft. (5/5)
A Question
Signing off
Thanks for reading Extra Evil, the newsletter with nice fancy reviews. Share it to humble it. I'm gonna use that preorder graphic one last time, for nostalgia:
