MALONEMAIL 2: NEW MOON
(Just kidding, this is going to be so much better than a Twilight sequel.) Hello, fancypantses. It's December now. Does that stress you out? Me too.
Kind of a sparse fortnight over here, but it's because I've been traveling — first to friends in the Bay Area, then down to family in LA for the holiday. Why yes, I have been stockpiling vitamin D. Funny you should ask.
The stuff I've been writing:
I wrote this op-ed thingie for WIRED about how ironically dystopian the marketing schemes created for Hunger Games: Catching Fire were, and how some fans have banded together to culture-jam and spread awareness about the series' real issues.
I talked to a sociologist for WIRED about those status-generating apps and why we love them so much — turns out it's because we're existentially insecure.
For Thanksgiving, the WIRED crew and I compiled a list of fake Twitter accounts we're thankful for AND a list of TV shows to binge-watch while hiding from your in-laws. Still applicable for the December Holidays, so bookmark it.
I interviewed the director of a recent PBS documentary for WIRED about how Abraham Lincoln (not Roosevelt, Coolidge or Obama) was the first "viral president."
Going to just assume that you haven't seen Bob Dylan's new interactive video for "Like A Rolling Stone" (even though you probably have) because it is the best and was the No. 1 story on WIRED.com the day we posted it. Traffic!
The stuff I've been reading:
Charlotte Laws' account of her war against Hunter Moore, the slimeball behind the late revenge-porn site Is Anyone Up.
Charlie Jane Anders' ~*~controversial~*~ essay defending Mockingjay as a better book in the Hunger Games trilogy than Catching Fire.
Mish Way's recent essay about female sexuality over at VICE (note to all: always read Mish's essays about sexuality).
Skinny Friedman's hilarious response to Rolling Stone's brilliantly tone-deaf "50 Things Millenials Have Never Heard Of" clickbait gallery, over at Noisey.
Particularly this depressing, existential retelling of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but basically anything from Mallory Ortberg at the Toast.
Also at the Toast, this interesting piece about Internet linguistics and "I can't even."
And if you're like me, you'll desperately need this ultimate guide to everything you need to know about bitcoins.
Also...
I haven't found any must-follow Tumblrs or Twitter accounts in the past few weeks, but I do very much recommend listening to the latest (and, more generally, every) episode of the Longform podcast, which features an interview with one of my favorite writer-editors, Amy Wallace. Turned out she witnessed and reported on a real execution when she was my age, which, what am I doing wrong, amirite?!
Recent music kick...
Joni Mitchell's Blue (an all-time favorite, especially this time of year), Carole King's Tapestry, and of course (did I mention this before?) Sky Ferreira's Night Time, My Time. Only a matter of time before I start obsessing over Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas, too.
GO FORTH, FRIENDS, AND BE AS STRESS-FREE AND WARM AS POSSIBLE. I'll be checking.
devon s. maloney
wordmonger
P.S. (Parting Shot):
I didn't realize there was such a thing as lumberjack folklore, but there is, and it is mildly terrifying.