Extra Evil - Wave Pool Piranha

Today’s Fortune: If you make your resolution now, people might take you seriously.

Newsreel

The Oath Keepers graduated to prison gang.

The World Cup hosted this week's US-Iran proxy war.

Bob Chapek was deposed as American pope.

China dusted off the old tanks.

Congress tied rail workers to the tracks.

Rolls Royce tested a hydrogen jet engine. With rims.

Today's Mood

War Journal

I'll unpack that opening image a little: failure's part of the human process. And for those born without emerald mines, usually a stepping stone to the opposite.

Self-help gurus say you can skip failure, as long as you send them eighty dollars. That all your mortal folly is missing is their subscription. It irks me.

Now my subscription? Beautiful. Flawless. A diamond in a dirty world. Embracing it will make you smarter, thinner, and radiation-proof.

My worst creative failure was a script. Specifically, a filler sketch for a dance show. I gave twenty undergrads that had never acted before machine-gun dialogue (think Tina Fey on coke), and expected it to work out.

Nope.

It taught me that context matters. Don't make Michael Jordan play baseball. If you have twenty acrobats, it's probably better to lean towards physical comedy. Or at least away from jokes about Central African politics.

These creator breakdowns are amateur hour. In ten years, I'm showing all of you how it's done. By the end, my best fans will seal my fortress prison themselves.

Hope you're doing alright.

The Present

You're a seven now! Good job.

I hope you brought a pencil The one and only true satire test is here.

Look behind the scenes into my disturbances of the peace.

Master the blade with my 1-900-HOTDOG column.

Funny man write funny book.

The Past

There's a trend I'm less compatible with than you might think.

The Future

This winter, a few burdens ease up. Then I'll be a little more "Blind Monkey" than I've been of late.

I'm jazzed for this month's incoming 1-900-HOTDOG column. And not just because it's, you know, mine.

One Sentence Reviews

Ice Cream Man, Vol. 2: Surprisingly consistent. (3.5/5)

Ice Cream Man, Vol. 3: Surprisingly consistent. (3.5/5)

Andor, Season One: The best result of one company owning the American imagination. (4.5/5)

Open Question

Are you ready?

Signing off

Thanks for reading Extra Evil, the newsletter shedding reality's chains. Share it to become more.

-DD