This Week's Writing 1/26/24

Kate Manne's Unshrinking, Dr. Strangelove, DeSantis the loser, and more!

Gusgus is ready to enter the weekend backwards and at full floof. As he does, here’s what I wrote this week…

But wait! Before we get to the links, remember that Gusgus is depending on me for food…which means he’s depending on you to support my writing! If you find my work entertaining/valuable, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, either on Substack or at Patreon. And you can tip me at Paypal.

Okay! Links ho!

If you read one thing by me this week, read:

Kate Manne’s Unshrinking shows that fatphobia isn’t getting better over time. (EIH)

Politics

Why Republicans still debase themselves for Trump. (Public Notice)

Ron DeSantis is repulsive, but that’s not why he lost. (EIH)

Cultural Criticism

At 60, Dr. Strangelove’s vision of a fascist, incompetent US still resonates. (CNN)

The haunting brother duets of the Cactus Blossoms. (Chicago Reader)

The Expanse and the limits of post-racial dystopias. (EIH)

Christopher Brookmyre reworks James Bond for middle-aged moms. (EIH)

Poetry

A New York school-ish poem. with hippos. (Oddball)

Nominate

Just to justify
that’s not the dog
I don’t know what it was all spent on
we can’t afford that though
I do not want to capitalize that letter but
algorithms snort like hippos on some beached shore
and they will eat you I think they will
stomach the small blue bowl of you that didn’t
get a chance to love you like
that’s too embarrassing
and I don’t think Princess Leia was his sister in that first movie
the life of superintelligence crawls into a barn
I’ve run out of time so I guess I won’t see that movie
my guts splattered upon the screens of some stupid rope
against the surreal anarchism of some hat
it is irritating because it keeps saying it will change the world
or at least change the beard
for another broader beard
here at the end of the squirrel
that bites and sings
folds across dreams that don’t have glasses
I am not emptying out
I am automatic infested with honking and staples
and the ugly weight of still being something
fester in the bamboo and luxuriate
out the window.