Not Everything in 2023 Is Awful
Only almost everything
It’s Friday, and I’m tired of thinking about death and blood and war. Here’s some of the stuff I’m using to escape reality these days.
County Highway
This is Walter Kirn’s odd new newspaper/magazine hybrid thing. Description: “A magazine about America in the form of a 19th century newspaper.” It’s got some great writing, including a profile of “UFO whistleblower” David Grusch, and a crazy-long essay by David Samuels about attending a Taylor Swift concert in Seattle. It’ll take me a couple of months to read the whole paper on the john1, at which point there’ll be another issue.
You can find out more at countyhighway.com. None of the content is online, because it’s not content. It’s writing, produced by human beings, with no SEO bullcrap.
I haven’t read any of Kirn’s novels, but he’s always funny on that Gutfeld! show you might have heard about…
The Secret
That’s the title of the new Jack Reacher book, although the titles of those books never matter. They’re all the same, and they’re all great. Lee Child novels are like Taco Bell: a few basic ingredients combined in various ways, fast and tasty and definitely bad for you but who gives a hoot.
Season two of the Reacher show is supposed to premiere by the end of the year. Can’t wait.
Spider-Man 2
It’s a videogame. You get to be Spider-Man. Both of them. It’s fun.
Yep, there are two characters in the current Marvel Universe named Spider-Man. And I like them both, even though one of them is white.
The Spider-Man movies and games have really captured the optimism and hope in the best comics stories, and this one is no exception. I’d rather live in that version of New York than the one we’ve seen in the news lately. Who needs a slavering sludge-monster when you’ve got leftist college students?
Although as these games get more and more technically advanced and photorealistic, as fantasy becomes indistinguishable from reality, I predict mental illness is going to skyrocket. Like, even worse than today. But it’s pretty awesome to web up a gun-toting thug and kick him in the face. You only get to do that about 100 times an hour in this game.
Crack cocaine
You know, this stuff gets a bad rap, but it’s not so bad!2
He’s Not Gonna Take It
This graphic novel3 was written by Dee Snider, and it’s all about his testimony at the PMRC hearings back in the ‘80s.
I don’t think Snider and I agree on much, but we do agree on free speech. His testimony not only humiliated Al Gore’s stupid fascist wife, it was a clarion call for freedom in 1980s America. Also, Twisted Sister was more than just a novelty act, although those videos were hilarious.
Loki, Season 2
It’s fine, I guess? The first episode really knocked me out, but now it’s slipping into the usual Disney doldrums. And I’m sorry, but I just don’t like the female Loki. I’m sure there are loads of female actors who could pull off that role, but there’s just nothing likable about her. Loki is supposed to be a charming rogue, not a perpetually scowling nag.
I suppose that makes me a misogynist. Again.
Those are a few of the things I’m using to get through World War III. How about you, dear reader? Drop a recommendation in the comments. Or don’t, if you want to be like that. It was only a suggestion. No need to be so nasty about it. Sheesh.
I’m terrible at promoting this newsletter, but a big thanks to Glenn Reynolds and Ed Driscoll at Instapundit for sending new subscribers my way. It’s part of Substack’s referral program (which you can read about here). If you get a certain number of people to subscribe to somebody’s Substack, you earn a certain number of months free.
Like, if you invite three new subscribers, you get a month free. For five, you get three months free. Twenty-five, six months. And so on. You’re helping me, and you’re helping yourself. And I think we both know we need a lot of help.
This is the button to do that, I think? Like I said, I’m not a salesman.
TGIF (Tex Galloped Into Frisco), and thanks for reading. As a wise but troubled soul once pleaded: Why can’t we all just get along?
No, not all at once.
Just kidding. I only do meth.
That’s for people too embarrassed to say “comic book.”
Agree with you on a couple of your items: Love the Spider-Man 2 video game so far, I just need some more time to actually get into the game. I've gotten through three episodes of Loki 2 and am still enjoying it a lot more than other Disney Marvel/Star Wars content, so I have hopes that they'll stick the landing by the end (probably not). My subscription to Disney+ runs out in mid-November, thanks to Bob Iger's greed (plus their crappy content).
Another thing I've been doing to get away from the misery and war and bad news is watch old classic sitcoms on some of the other streaming services. I just finished watching most of the old episodes of the Dick Van Dyke show, would recommend most of those episodes (other than the flashback ones, or the ones where they deal with a jealous wife/husband - zzzzz). But there are some classically good episodes there, as long as you're ok with the occasional joke about wife-beating (Rob/Laura had a good relationship, but the show would make other characters joke about 'hitting the wife'). The show does provide an interesting look at what the culture was like in the early '60s before all the hippies took over.
Love me some Walter Kirn. Also, check out Walter and Matt Taibbi's show/podcast 'America This Week'. Comes out on Fridays. They always discuss a short story - which they link to - all the better to read it prior to watching/listening to them. It's funny, insightful, informative. They are terrific together.
Here's their description of it: "America This Week - Welcome to America This Week, with Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn, the national news wrap-up so true, we recommend you stow all sharp objects before reading."
https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-october-27th-2023?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=b7jkn#details