Extra Evil - One Inch Punch

Today’s Fortune: It's all in the hips.

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Newsreel

Live by party fiat, die by party fiat.

Hulk Hogan made his second saddest speech.

You’re on the only screen CrowdStrike spared.

Bangladesh’s protesters have a bit more verve.

Working at Disneyland is as dire as you imagined.

Dogfighting AI’s close to a Stealth remake.

Today's Mood

War Journal

Lately, good days feel like Beatrix punching out of a coffin. Bad days also feel like Beatrix punching out of a coffin. Mediocre days, on the other hand, feel like Beatrix punching out of a coffin. Perspective’s everything. What’s your favorite movie?

The insults are slow at the moment. Boxed in, perhaps.

I’m anti-introspection, so I’m definitely avoiding something. Let’s keep ducking it.

Smart profanity habits follow audience, mood, personal mores, or obscenity laws. Mine aren’t there: I’m on pure autopilot. That’s a little odd. I wonder where the line between creative instinct and cultural conditioning is. Or if there’s a difference.

I’m allowed to curse on every soapbox I have. And I enjoy it. I’ve got half a Warren Ellis thing going (rants, not dating habits). But it doesn’t trickle into half my stuff. My profanity switch is hooked to format.

Cursing feels mandatory on stage, natural during podcasts and trash archaeology, optional on slideshows, and off in weekly musings. In fiction there’s a deluge in dialogue and first-person rants, and an embargo in third-person prose. None of these are rules, or even things I care about in the trenches. But they’re consistent, and journals are for poking your reflection with a stick.

There are plenty of stock answers, like the usual freshman wank about code-switching, but I tend to zone them out. I think I’m still a little attached to persona. That there’s a Blind Monkey and a Prof. Dayle, among other names I ignore like a Green Goblin mask. All with their own style guides.

Ah well. Fuck it.

See how stiff that was here, compared to an ad rant or Nero stubbing his toe? I can’t figure it out. Or see out of the box.

Each breakup is a lesson. I missed this round’s, but there was definitely one there.

My age finally feels right. Awful news—maturing’s all kicking and screaming from here. I’m not down for more learning or growth. Why didn’t I join a podcast cult, and stunt my brain forever? I’m not calling Huberman & Co. empty suits for people too boring to join Scientology. I’m saying a second thing, that I’ll come up with later. After I release my Lobotomy Protocols.

I know, crowded field. But early feedback’s great. Pundits and convention speakers love them. And the Times takes free samples of anything. If the brownshirts win, they’ll be weekly and mandatory. The hall monitors prefer waiting for years divisible by four.

There we go. Back in business.

The Present

I’d cover Armor of God Force for free. [1900HOTDOG]

Meg saved my ego. [Talk Fiction]

I have an easy job to explain. [1900HOTDOG]

The research took infinitely longer than the punchlines. [1900HOTDOG]

Everything Abridged is a better version of all this. [My Book]

The Past

Guess the joke that got clipped from this.

The Future

I held off on a short-term idea to focus on a big picture project. Mistake. If my fingers and psyche allow it, I’m going to force it out next week.

Not Brought to You By

Starz is still fighting the reaper, a struggle that includes subway ads. The campaign, “We’re All Adults Here” has other executions in other formats. Good for them. I care about these mock rejection letters:

They feel so close to something slicker. Like a Hangman clue with one letter missing. And despite knowing all, I’m not sure about the solution. I suspect that it’s deletion—a little less framing, to let your brain close that last gap itself. But I’m biased by clown training.

Creativity: B-
Persuasion: C
Sanity: C+

One Sentence Reviews

Viagra Boys - Street Worms: This might be made for me. (Left Slipper/5)

Viagra Boys - Cave World: It’s made for me. (Right Slipper/5)

Armor of God Force: The most beautiful failure in months. (Divine/5)

Batman Ninja: Chaos undermined by running out of money. (Entropy/5)

The Death of Slim Shady: The soggy breakfast of champions. (Re-Run/5)

Inside Out 2: Not quite for me. (Horses/Courses)

Open Question

Signing off

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