Extra Evil - Answers Seeking Questions
Today's Fortune: Either hold or fold, they chase runners.
Pssst. Comment/Email any questions for the annual Q&A.
Newsreel
You only have free speech if your grandfather was a citizen.
Rogue states acknowledged Palestinian humanity.
Brain drain escalated to a lobotomy.
Leeches cure autism.
They let grandpa into the UN.
Sam Altman needs more money to finish the monorail.
You Need This
New semester curveball. Noah returns soon.
A Photo
War Journal
Year 34! The Dayle heart hasn't kicked in yet. I'm doing the Q&A again, so ask me anything below. Or in a reply. Or cut-and-pasted magazine letters. I haven't seen those in a decade, they'd have novelty value.
If you're new (perhaps unlikely, post-SubStack): each year, around my birthday, I take questions about everything from my theory of art to lunch. And give prolix answers. You've seen my word counts.
I like this stage so far. I hate the headlines and the smell down the street and my origin story and the look some people give me on the train after 8 PM. But I like life, and what I get to do. And the next moves I'm sketching in the sand.
As for the body...who can blame it? Fifteen years of circus tricks, ten years of professional drinking, thirty-four of insomnia? I'm in extra innings, and it still lets me move. Fair deal.
Overheard in the Coffee Temple...
Carpet: Heard from Kenny?
Pillow: I block all of them.
Carpet: Even Kenny?
Pillow: People knowing what you're up to, when you're not together anymore...that's too intimate. I hate that. Hate hate hate it.
Carpet: Yeah, but Kenny?
Pillow: He's in the bottom three people I've slept with.
Carpet: Ouch. That's in the traumatic zone.
Pillow: Above that. He's also in the top three. I haven't slept with that many people.
Carpet: I like Kenny.
Pillow: I don't know. He's perfectly chivalrous. But to everyone, so there's nothing special about it. It's like he's everyone's boyfriend.
Carpet: Mean.
I'm still not quite ready to share them here, but the short form video nonsense has reached the point where I don't feel like I'm shaming my ancestors. As far as I can tell, it's all about finding the corner of the keg party that appeals to you. I never had much to say at those, but the games were fun. If only I had better aim...
Overheard on Planet Coffee:
Double Shot: I saw the shot, up close. A lot of blood spurting out.
Decaf: I saw a peacock in Battery Park.
Double Shot: A peacock?!
Decaf: Yeah. Just struttin.'
Double Shot: This is a crazy country.
Decaf: Never thought I'd see one. A shooting's...you know, whatever. But a peacock!
Double Shot: Dope.
I've caught up with civilization and loaded Baldur's Gate 3. It's throwing heaters every frame. Hopefully my march through it is a smidge faster than Cyberpunk.
Also, the full Hades 2hits Thursday. Peace. I've done a lot with my time, and I'm fine with walking into the digital snow. It's quite the deathloop.
I ducked the alpha (which I bought) because an unfinished story mode is a perfect trap for my brain. Now that there's a way out of narrative limbo, I'm ready to ruin my life.
A Screenshot
The Present
- I put all my mana into this. [How to Dodge a Cannonball]
- I'm on the DoggZzone9000 podcast again! It made me smile. [DoggZzone9000]
- A rare case of smoking being spiritual poison. [1900HOTDOG]
- This happened somewhere. [Exclusive Evil]
- I think couples communicating sounds like this. [Exclusive Evil]
- My action points went ere. [My Previous Book]
The Past
The Future
I've dug up one book designed to annoy me, and received one book designed to annoy all life. The column should be fun.
Dead Sun Theory
From commenter/wandering ronin FancyShark:
"Pitch: Ads going too hard, possibly drifting off message. Like Perseus holding up Medusa's head and it's for L'Oreal."
For me, this evokes two approaches. Convenient.
Campaign A
Campaign B
Which wins?
Not Brought to You By
This round, I eat crow. I'm not reversing an old ruling—death first. But I am going back on a principle.
I've mocked fashion's tendency to skip any concept/claim/thought beyond someone pretty holding the product. Well:
Clearly I'm an idiot. Or aware I may need work to survive the recession, and defend copywriting by craven instinct. Here, writing not only adds nothing, it turns prosaic poster spam into a nuisance. I was wrong, just show the shiny lady with the shiny bottle.
"New York hustles" lines are, to put it kindly, competitive. There's a media theory insight in that symmetry somewhere, but I'm too annoyed to pin it.
Creativity: D- | Persuasion: D- | Sanity: C
One Sentence Reviews
Tuna Packets: I may go mad like an emperor. (Power/5)
Die Spitz - Something to Consume: On tone. (4.5/5)
Igorr - Amen: Mr. Bungle is a people. (3.5/5)
Osamu Dazai - No Longer Human: I have no idea why it took me this long to finish this. (4/5)
Nine Inch Nails - Tron Ares Soundtrack: Almost enough to get me to see it. (3.5/5)
A Question
Signing off
Thank you for reading Extra Evil, the newsletter getting younger. Read it to break the time machine.
