Previously on Phil’s Newsletter: We pondered our orbs, I created some new RetroStrange video art.
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Happy fuckin New Year. I have felt pretty drained the last few weeks, and crashed super hard during this one. I could not get myself to put out a newsletter. Since last I posted here I’ve flown to Michigan to do Christmas, and have been vibrating between severe executive dysfunction, being grateful that I am able to hold the people I love, and anxiety about how much longer that might be true. I’ll be here another week or two.
Often in my life the big holidays have been the kind where the difference between a good time and a terrible, hurtful, one sat on a knife’s edge. It feels like this time everyone is just happy to see everyone they can see, even for a moment. That is good energy to keep around.
Christmas was very nice and the food was great and everyone had a wonderful time. Something about the trauma of the last few years has leveled-up my gifting powers. I can’t explain it.
I Was on Nelson Family Radio Hour
Charles and Jess do a show called Nelson Family Radio Hour every Monday at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern. I was on the panel for an episode last week, and will probably be on again before I head back to San Francisco. For some reason David Lynch called in to the show and set fire to a cake? Watch the episode on their Facebook page
Dept of Purchasing: Electro-Voice RE20
I done did it. Me and my brother Chuck (who also runs his own business) had just finished watching the first episode of that The Book of Boba Fett show, when we started talking about end of year purchases. Due to some light bullying before too long we’d both bought some tax deductibles from the top shelf. On my side I am leveling up my audio production and narration/voice over business with one of the gold standards of broadcast mics, the Electro-Voice RE20. Can I afford it? No. Do I care? Also no.
Fun fact: EV used to be headquartered here in Buchanan, MI, where some of my family still lives.
Phil’s Good Links
The good links missed you, baby.
Kotaku goes for a deep dive on PageBoy, a never-released Gameboy Color communications accessory
Fascinated by this Soviet-designed modular computer prototype, SPHINX
Pro wrestler Jimmy Rave passed away. Fanbyte wrote about his legacy
The annual State of CSS Survey results are in for 2021
Want to make an old engineer cringe? Turn your microcontroller into a 555 timer
For my freelancers: A thread on alternative pricing models
Department of Totally Expected But Still Disappointing: The metaverse has a groping problem already
To meet New Vegas Content mandates: A Fallout: New Vegas mod replaces every character with Benny
Phillip Heller is reverse-engineering the Prodigy online service, so we can use it again! Part 1, Part 2
That is all for this week. Existential dread aside I have set up some really cool opportunities and projects for 2022 that I’m very excited about. Here’s to hoping the wind is at our backs. Hail satan.
— Phil Nelson
Wizard Tower Gamma, South of Market, San Francisco, California, United States of America, Earth
12.31.2021