Talking RetroStrange on a podcast, Movie Night Returns, and Nails are useful
Phil's Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 47
Previously on Phil’s Newsletter: I wrote about a week in my life, Jess critiqued more of my Beatles picks, we prepared to launch.
This issue is free, so you can share it with your friends! But you can also pay for this newsletter or my Patreon to get some perks and directly support me. Phil’s Newsletter is brought to you by paid subscribers Jessica Nelson, Jeff Powers, Vikas Reddy, David Demchuk, Ian Scott, Adam Rodnitzky, and Kat Angus. You are each, individually, the best.
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This week has been so normal it’s weird. Got several solid days of good work in, then got the Bad Brain and couldn’t focus to save my life. It’s spooky season, though, so that means I am watching some of my favorite vintage horror movies. Yesterday was the original Halloween, which may actually be perfect, and The Abominable Dr. Phibes, which should be more widely known and loved. I don’t think Vincent Price and John Carpenter ever got to work together and that is a tragedy.
Bryan Danielson (Formerly Daniel Bryan) and Kenny Omega wrestled on AEW Dynamite this week, and it was the biggest non-WWE pro wrestling show in 20 years. Good news all around.
“Making Old Time Radio New Again” (I Was On A Podcast)
Shout out to Linode, the web host I’ve used for over 10 years now, for having me on an episode of their podcast The Craft of Code. I talked about RetroStrange TV, our old time radio channel LOFI SCIFI, and how we scale up when we need it. Probably. I like doing these, but hate listening to myself. Voiceovers? No problem, I’ll re-listen a hundred times in editing until it’s perfect. Earnest interviews? Death-cringe.
Please enjoy the terrible photo of me they used.
Nails Continue To Be Useful
Summer is coming to a close but the breakout star of What’s The Big Deal, Nails Guy, is back. WTBD posted this little sketch they produced over the summer. Who wants a dawg?
Dept. Of Purchasing
In order to get more work done in different places, I got myself a little cheapo folding bluetooth keyboard- and this thing is great. Less than $30, typed almost all of today’s newsletter on it from my spot at lunchtime over the last couple of days. Thanks to Lena on Twitter for the rec.
I also got this absurdly beautiful handmade cutting board, from one of the first people I met when I moved to San Francisco around 10 years ago. Good week for purchases.
RetroStrange Movie Night: Gulliver’s Travels
The NODE in downtown Niles, MI cannot get enough RetroStrange! We’ll be returning to broadcast the classic 1939 animated movie version of Gullivers Travels, produced by Fleischer Studios. This was the second ever feature-length animated film produced by a US company, after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. We’ll have T-Shirts available there for $10, and each one comes with a download code for RetroStrange Mixtape Vol. 1 featuring the Movie Night theme by John Inacay and my own compositions.
Sign up at the Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2975309462741187/
Phil’s Good Links
Get LINKED.
Some back of the envelope math: “more than 97%” of crypto miners will never produce a useable block. Great tech you got there. Real innovative.
This Tweet contains the Shareware version of Doom encoded in images of the Shareware version of Doom
A paper in Nature seems to say that people who are good with language learn code more quickly than people who are good at math. Hat tip to Adam Grant on Twitter
Health insurers in the US are quietly ruining people’s lives with COVID-related medical bills that had been previously waived
Local favorite Brokeass Stuart is doing little walking tours of SF on TikTok, I like ‘em
Reminder: Billionaire philanthropy is fake
New releases of arcade classic Xevious simulate screen burn-in from arcade monitors being left on attract mode over time
Michael March is doing a vlog series on ripping VHS tapes, with the pitfalls and the tips and tricks
Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, has come out after disclosing her 19-year relationship with a woman. You love to see it, folks
That down-home weed: California-Grown Cannabis To Be Judged At Next State Fair
Print this in the sky over every major American city: Research shows that A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you
Other than the above, it’s been a pretty standard week. Damn hot, but otherwise garden variety. Next week we should have another guest post. Adios!
— Phil Nelson
Wizard Tower Gamma, South of Market, San Francisco, California, United States of America, Earth
09.24.2021