Radical Joy

First of all, nothing but love and solidarity to the trans people of Kansas. You are loved.

RADICAL JOY

On Friday night I made a list of things that were bringing me joy: my daughter just turned 8 months and she’s the best, Mario 3, Coke Zero, neighbors, snow melting, new Pokémon, the way a candle smells right after you blow it out, Rilo Kiley, a t-shirt/cardigan combo, grabbing those loose sticky thoughts from out of your brain and writing them down, my wife and I have the best time doing anything together (for example the other night we were dying laughing just addressing cards to our friends), when Anthony Green was in Saosin, and Ms. Rachel. 

Speaking of Saosin with AG. This goes so hard. Damn.

“This song is called I Soul My Soul to the Man Who Fucked Madonna.” Okay!

Quick story involving Saosin: I was driving around with my friends, we were listening to the Translating the Name EP. It was 2005-ish, Anthony was no longer in the band. We were lamenting that we never got the chance to see them live while he was in the band. One of my friends, let’s call her M, said “oh I saw him with them once.” We were stunned. Someone asked how it was. And before I tell you what she said, I need to inform you that M was pretty reserved, not someone who swore a whole lot if at all. So what she said was extremely unexpected.

She said, in a very plain and straightforward tone of voice: “It was amazing. It was like… the biggest pair of tits just right in your face.”

It’s great now that you can find live footage all over YouTube of just about any artist but back in my day you had to go to punkrockvids.com, wait several minutes for it to barely load, and then watch grainy footage that sounded like shit. This is my generation’s walking uphill both ways in the snow to get to school etc.

Anyways. Joy. So Friday I asked my Instagram close friends (the coolest club on the internet) what was bringing them joy. I didn’t expect this, but the answers made me very emotional. Some of them were from my good friends, some from people I don’t know very well. Most were simple. I felt each one deeply. I really love seeing people happy. Shouldn’t that be what we want for everyone? Someone should have something joyful to say when you ask what’s up. That spirit buoys me. Love and joy in these miserable times is a radical action.

As Bad Books said:
“Love isn’t passive, a trick, or a tactic.
It’s radical action, so go let ‘em have it.”

A few of the random joys that were shared with me:
my dog and iced coffee;
it’s 40 degrees and sunny, the end of the new american football song;
a good local diner and warm mornings in Over-The-Rhine;
birds are singing;
the sun being out after raining for a month,
my cat having the zoomies, homemade bread;
when my son sings along to songs;
Circa Survive reunion;
I was cleared to close on my new house Monday;
the forecast - windows open!

The joy helps beat back the overwhelming feeling that we’re fucked. Grab it.

There are so many real, serious, pressing, timely issues in this country and this world that need to be addressed. These are existential threats. And yet the people in charge are not only NOT doing anything to address them, they are actively making them worse. It’s just so frustrating. Things could be so good. It doesn’t have to be this stupid. It finally feels like people are waking up to this.

I wrote the previous paragraph Friday night. I was thinking about how two AI companies were arguing with the government like a bunch of angry war-horny babies about who gets to be The One True Panopticon and have the honor of probably murdering us all in the end. The US broke up with Anthropic but picked OpenAI up on the rebound. Then Saturday morning I woke up and we bombed Iran. Oh and they just used Claude anyway. Claude by Anthropic: the official chatbot of the war in Iran! Gross.

GO AWAY AI YOU STUPID BITCH

The war mongers of the government love AI because it will always back their murderlust. If ordinary people are having psychic breaks from chatbots gassing them up, having that kind of power and influence backing an endless budget for weapons run by ghouls with an endless desire for murder and power and money, of course it’s going to end badly. Not for those people, of course. They’ll get away with it all. This is basically one big button that says MORE COLONIALISM and doesn’t have an off switch.

I mean, look at this shit:

So this weekend, it sounds like Anthropic wouldn’t agree to mass surveillance or use of deadly force, pesky little details! Hegseth wants to do the war crimes but be just so slightly removed by way of having the AI be responsible, so they said see ya later Anthropic. Sam Altman steps in, says some bullshit about how of course the government cares about those things, it’s fine, it’s in our agreement, don’t worry.

I mean, come on man. That’s obviously a lie. That was the reason it didn’t work with Anthropic! There wasn’t a single reason to trust you before but now here’s a big gigantic thing we can all see is a fucking lie. 

Scarlet Street - “THE STORM IS HERE”

Oh and six Polymarket users made about one million each betting on the strikes. The details: fresh accounts, they only bet on strikes, and some bought just hours before the explosions. Someone is making a ton of money on this which means a lot of others are losing. Just blatant wide open corruption. Insider trading on war crimes, and it doesn’t even matter.

Okay but it IS very funny that Kalshi isn’t paying out “Khamenei out of power” bets because…he died. “Fraud betting apps go health insurance mode and find the smallest discrepancy to justify not paying out” is an amazing sentence.

And one more detail that makes me think it’s all a stupid simulation: TMZ of all people overheard a group at a DC restaurant (0.2 miles from the White House) openly and loudly talking about the attack hours before it happened.

Cool country, where it’s okay to be a corrupt pedophile war criminal war profiteer, but if you quote Charlie Kirk accurately or say “guys, this war is bad and illegal” there might be consequences for you.

THE FINAL WISH?

Trump 2 has been the Make-A-Wish presidency as he just sorta does whatever all the time. If they’re finally bombing Iran, which he’s been wanting to do for his whole life, maybe they know his time’s almost up so they let him do the big one?

THE NORMIES ARE PISSED

Friday night I took a few hours away from my favorite thing in the world (a quiet evening at home with my wife and kid) to attend a community defense meeting, making sure I know just what to do if ICE is in my neighborhood. (They were already here at least once, that we know of.) Let me tell you something incredible: the most normie of normies are fucking pissed. Yes I live in a blue city in a blue state, I know. But damn. They don’t know what a QR code is and they understand what Google Drive does, so they’ll need someone to print the presentation out for them, but they are absolutely sick and tired of Trump, Noem, ICE, etc. All of this shit. They are talking about the concentration camps and 287g agreements. It was good energy. I can’t fix everything but I can help in small ways. I’m trying to remind myself of that. It remains to be seen how much this will matter, and I’m trying to hold some space for hope. 

I highly recommend looking for similar groups/meetings in your area if you can.

Kevin Devine - “Fiscal Cliff”

The presenter said something that stuck with me. I want for you what you want for immigrants. I think normal people want everyone to have their needs met, with full dignity and respect. It’d be nice if something so basic was the default. But yes, these lawless, inhumane thugs deserve what they want immigrants. They can’t enact this cruel state violence, end and upend hundreds of thousands of lives, root for mass death and then just go back to their daily lives and say ‘oh well’ when and if MAGA ends. We can’t just forget and move on. This is why we need to punish every single person in the administration as harshly as possible. Tribunals. Nuremberg trials. All of them.

But really, who’s going to save us? Congress has abdicated its duty because they’re subservient to a rotting pumpkin. They won’t criticize his war crimes. Meanwhile on the other side of the aisle we have Democrats saying “hmm we’re actually okay with the war crimes but you know, you really should ask us about it first, Mr. Trump! That’s how it’s supposed to go!” Oh okay, thanks a lot guys. You don’t have a reservation but we’ll still seat you ass losers. Software won’t fully install because you didn’t accept the new terms and conditions ass losers. Fill out this form, get it notarized and send it back to me by inter office mail ass losers.

The dog dunking tweet is a monumental historical text:

DOLLY!

Here’s some good news:

Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital did not share how much Parton donated as part of the naming announcement. But Matt Schaefer, its president and CEO, said her support would ensure “every child who walks through our doors receives the treatment they deserve.”

I’ll never understand why the richest guys are just obsessed with more more more. You have enough. Just fuck off and leave us alone. You don’t need more. You don’t need a compound in Hawaii. You don’t need tax cuts. You don’t need to go to Mars. Just go away! We hate you!

LOCAL WEATHER ON THE 3s (FALSE SPRING)

Yesterday was false spring in Boston. 52 degrees. Went for a walk along the Charles by MIT. Here’s me waving at you.

Okay so at one point we stopped on the sidewalk near the MIT Student Center. In about 30 seconds I overheard two bits of information as people walked by. First, a man said “well you know, the Harvard library does carry my second book!” to which a woman pretended to be interested. Then these two 20ish year old men walked by and one said “my cheeks still hurt!” as he grabbed his ass, and his friend responded “I can help with that” and they both laughed. Perfect out of context thing to hear on a public sidewalk. Maybe he’s a masseuse. Maybe they were working out. Maybe they’re gonna fuck. I hope it’s all three.

Then I ate a ginger molasses cookie from Flour and I swear I tasted heaven.

Rilo Kiley - “Spectacular Views”

OLD SHOW NEW SHOW

I’m rewatching Station Eleven. Incredible television. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The book is great too. I recommend both.

I’ve been watching Strip Law on Netflix. It has Adam Scott, Janelle James, and Stephen Root. It is very internet-poisoned (complimentary). It has a lot of jokes. It is absurd in an old Adult Swim kind of way. I’m halfway through the season and I feel like each episode has been better than the one before it.

I like that the title card says “proudly made by real, non-computer human beings.”

BIG SCREEN LITTLE SCREEN

I fully believe that most things can be done wherever, but some things are meant to be done on a big screen (a computer) like booking a hotel or a flight. This just has been the way I operate and I’m pretty rigid about it. Am I crazy? Maybe it’s an older millennial thing? Well writing these posts has always been a big screen thing for me. Sure I write down lots of notes to use but writing? Gimme that full keyboard. I feel the need, the need for…keys. Well about a week ago I was feeling inspired to write but didn’t want to get out the big screen and decided that Google Docs on my phone is fine, actually and I haven’t stopped writing since.

THE END

Did you read my piece about Kerrin Connolly? I think it turned out nicely. Did you listen to their record yet? It’s really good. It’s my goal to write more interview/profiles like that this year.

thankyouforreadingiloveyou.

What’s something quick you can do to help your community?
What’s bringing YOU joy these days?