Dropping in to confirm I am unfortunately still alive

Hello there cephalopods—what's new with you?

As you may've heard, Europe is enjoying seventh-circle-of-hell levels of heat at the moment, so I thought I'd write to you one last time before we're all turned into barbecued brisket. (I assume Mark Zuckerberg would approve of this happening.)

To get the boring part out of the way first then:

So, I have a few ideas for future projects with my fantastic illustrator Valeia (if you saw Big Oxygen, she was the genius behind the visuals) and if you'd like to help with those, I would be extremely grateful. As always, I can hardly just spring this on you without warning, so maybe let's say a week from now that I'll send out the post to deprive you of your hard-earned currency. If you'd like to opt out in the meantime, that's completely understood—thank you ever so much for sticking around this far. As a mental trailer for how much you're going to be disappointed, I've had a script sitting on my desktop for a few years now about a...planet where metaphors bend reality, and since I've finally found the right music it might be the right time to make it. In a few weeks there should be a new video out about AI and consciousness that I hope you enjoy also. And I'd quite like to finish up a project about a small talking elephant who gets quite seriously depressed for a while. That's the vague plan anyway. Again, if you're not down for any of that or have just forgotten to cancel your Patreon subscription, please feel free to sit this one out.

I will admit to being a bit of a stuck panda of late. I've yelled at the internet so many times about not freaking out during the stuckness periods that you'd think I'd be at least okay at this by now, but it's just so much easier to give advice than actually follow your own. There's a new book in the works that I probably shouldn't volunteer too much about—The Fifth Science was a whole bunch of fun to write because if an era got boring to think about, you could just jump a thousand years ahead and see what happened. I grew quite obsessed last year with the idea of stories jumping in consciousness rather than time, into digital and alien minds, and that seems to have been where the thing led. When there's anything more to show you, of course I will.

Anyway, sitting around a bit bored and stuck does lead to some fun discoveries. On quite a few more nights than I should have, I may've accidentally stayed up until the sun rose playing Satisfactory. As with other game recommendations, this isn't really a recommendation but a warning. It's so well-made it will force you to forget about your earthly existence for 12-hour periods at a time, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. If you like factory building games, Factorio etc, then I would confidently guess Satisfactory is also for you. I take no responsibility for time lost or spouses neglected.

Another one I only discovered recently, the US version of The Office. I've been avoiding it for years, convinced the British version had the only formula that could've worked. Wowza was I wrong. I know I'm late to the party with this one, but the romance between Pam and Jim, Micheal's neuroses, the whole Robert California thing, it's reduced me to tears a bunch of times. There's a weird split between US and British comedy that I'm not the first to notice—the heroes in British comedies aren't heroes at all. They're selfish, bitter, and there's no possibility for sympathy towards them, that's sort of the point. (Peep Show is the greatest comedy ever produced in my humble opinion for this very reason.) US comedy still gives us unlikable heroes, but there's something redeeming there about their character, something to understand about their condition, and in the end we're actually sympathetic. Doesn't that feel more human, really? I think I'm coming around to the thing anyway. I wonder if there's something deeper going on there, if the British just can't accept the idea of likable fools. (Ahh but there's Mr. Bean isn't there. I guess that theory doesn't work at all.)

Ooo, another masterpiece if you're curious. A friend recommended Empire of Pain a few months ago and I quickly became addicted. Which is a little ironic considering it's a deep-dive into how the opioid epidemic got started in the US, particularly Oxycontin. It is a story so evil and anti-human it genuinely inspires awe. (I'd strongly recommend the audiobook, nothing better than losing faith in humanity and being able to tidy the apartment at the same time.)

Ahh. And Oppenheimer, which I'm sure most of you have seen by now. It was beautifully shot, no? I mean it's Nolan and his amazing cinematographer, so of course it was. I will admit the pacing threw me a bit, the political section towards the end was a little tricky to follow emotionally, but maybe I'm just slow with all this. Would be rather curious to hear what you thought anyway.

Anyway, sending hellos and warm wishes. Hope you're not caught in a heatwave and have animals nearby to fuss (mine has just experimentally crawled into a plastic bag and there's no way I'm not attaching photos. She passes her time recently watching a pigeon who visits the balcony for muesli and making that terrifying I want to eat you immediately noise. Murder TV, essentially.) I've spent the last few days replying to messages on here and gmail; a massive apology for being so late with them, that's something I really should take more seriously. If I've left you hanging, I'm ever so sorry, a reply is inbound shortly.

In any case, massive love as always, hope you're doing well,

Ex