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Today’s Fortune: One person at your next dinner will betray you.
Newsreel
NRA reps didn’t sleep much.
Workers protested the phone you’re reading this on.
Arizona Republicans denied the 1828 founding of the Democratic party.
Deforestation spread new bat-born viruses with fresh ideas.
Saudi Arabian players killed it like a journalist.
Mayor Adams faced a rare accusation of nepotism.
Today’s Mood
War Journal
I reread Catch-22 this week. This happens less often than you’d think, given how often I babble about it. Never confuse volume for expertise.
It did feel like something of a recharge, in terms of my personal inspiration. The lunatic vision of the world rings truer to me than the most granular realism possible on the page. I never got how that worked, until my more visually inclined friend taught me to stop recreating reality in photographs, and recreate what I see.
That’s not drunken nonsense, it’s sleep-deprived nonsense. Different subgenre.
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I’m a slow adopter by writer standards, so there’s a little extra sting to Twitter growing fangs and speaking in tongues. I’d just figured out how to enjoy it. Not benefit from it, mind you. That’s beyond my powers. But I was getting my first endorphins.
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Ever taken a thirst trap? It’s a bizarre experience, whether it’s for a partner, personal curation, social attention, vampiric dating app, or boredom with not being blackmailed. A friend talked me into a swimming manga-esque pose for a profile, and it’s never getting uploaded.
I think it lacks the honesty of a good nude. There’s no shame in a nude’s game. A thirst trap means pretending you take ab-centered photos at scenic backdrops all the time. You know, during lunch breaks.
That said, if it moved books, I’d gladly take the 50 Cent marketing approach. Even the bullets.
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The missing link in my tricks: I had to embrace death. Only attachment to this mortal coil keeps your feet on the ground. Every good roundoff or pop is simply an attempt to jump back to heaven.
The Present
What’s satire? What isn’t? That’s not rhetorical.
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The noble Talia Light Rake and Leo Gallagherput a lot into this min-doc about my nonsense.
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Harness your inner shinobi with my 1-900-HOTDOG column.
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Can I just challenge the mayor to a duel? Is there a form?
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Everything Abridged is the light, the heart, the truth.
The Past
There’s a trend I’m less compatible with than you might think.
The Future
If the Babylon Bee hurts your eyes, you’ll like what comes next.
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This book should be done sometime before I die.
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This month’s column feels right.
One Sentence Reviews
Catch-22: My ring’s power battery. (5/5)
Kaguya-Sama (last fourth): Ever had a friend hang around an hour too long? (3/5)
The Flowstyle: The Dark Souls claymore of freestyle. (4/5)
Open Question
What keeps you going?
Signing off
Thanks for reading Extra Evil, the newsletter beyond the spheres. Share it to search the stars.
-DD