Extra Evil - Observer Effect

Today’s Fortune: They’re watching now. Right now.

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Newsreel

Reporters noticed Shen Yun.

George Santos confessed to stealing the Pink Panther.

LA gentrified homeless camps.

Mpox sold out and infected the mainstream.

The Democrats joined the race.

A non-Boeing plane plummeted.

Today's Mood

War Journal

I’ve lucked into a pair of fancy earbuds, and I can flop around without them sailing into space. Nice. But they stress me out. A portable, pawn shop-friendly product with a giant logo makes me feel like a dodo. Call it brand suicide, but I’d pay for stealth versions of most products. Though my Switch hasn’t even left my bedroom, so I don’t represent the public.

Feel free to kick Joe Rogan while he’s down. That’s basic MMA strategy.

Some arguments still start with “I haven’t seen…”

Lord knows why. Educators do their best, and it’s been a long time since that business with Pandora’s Box. Maybe it’s a global, rhetoric-focused prank, and I’m just the hapless audience. If so, good job. You’ve tricked me into thinking we’re in the long night of myopia. Please stop.

Then again, maybe reality begins and ends with bad faith pulls from short-term memory. I, for one, haven’t seen an electron. Isn’t there enough negativity out there? Let’s drop that idea, and keep the vibes nice.

I haven’t seen a smart version yet.

I’d like to put an open bounty on a quote. I’ve searched for the source and exact wording, and found Extra Nothing.

The gist is “a writer’s published work is their armor.” I *believe* it was 19th century fiction, from a first person narrator. I also think there’s something to it, though I’m biased by my machine-gun approach of late. If it helps, I incorrectly thought it was in “Bartleby, the Scrivener.”

Since Poison Ivy’s our new mascot, I’m trying some of her solo runs. The feedback loop between adaptations and comics is wild. The fingerprints of Batman: The Animated Series and Harley Quinn are hard to miss. Batman and Robin less so, despite Uma Thurman’s best efforts. We’ll always have the House of Blue Leaves, Uma.

The Present

Come for the warning, stay for the insults. [1900HOTDOG]

An airport is its own world. [Expensive Evil]

A lot of these companies are still around. [1900HOTDOG]

Maybe tunneling could work. [Exclusive Evil]

Everything Abridged taught me everything I know. [My Book]

The Past

I must, by clan tradition, hype Only The Good once more. It’s our oldest tradition, other than the poll nonsense.

The Future

Next week’s HotDog gets dark. I’m chipping at two Exclusive Evil themes, and I’ll let word counts shape reality. I’m behind on my long term stuff, which is deeply frustrating.

Not Brought to You By

I wish I rolled my eyes at McDonald's ads. It’d be a lighter, saner world. Spawning “I’m Lovin’ It” should curse six generations of your family. But they know how to work heel. Or at least, a few of their guns-for-hire do.

Every great McDonald’s ad shares one punchline: we own half your soul.

The crosswalk’s turned into their famous nicotine fries. I could add that they surround Malaysia’s first McDonald’s. But context doesn’t really matter. The game’s won.

Kneel before Zod.

Creativity: A-
Persuasion: A-
Sanity: F

One Sentence Reviews

Allen Steele - All-American Alien Boy: A nice return to my roots. (4/5)

Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: Good insight, a touch of recycling. (3.5/5)

Baby Assassins 2: It’s for me. (4.5/5)

Michael Freeman’s Photo School - Composition: Hulk make photo pretty one day. (Purty/5)

Open Question

Signing off

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