The Magpie #014: Muffin the cat is your boss now
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Magpie, a wire service for the weird compiled from the open tabs of writer Alex de Campi. Here’s what’s going on:
Man, what can I say except:
RIP to David Lynch, whose passing was met with some wonderful writing by Matt Zoller Seitz, Kyle MacLachlan, and about the lady who owns Laura Palmer’s house. Also all of Twin Peaks is streaming for free on PlutoTV right now—gonna introduce my kid to it this weekend.
New evidence of tattoos among early Medieval Nubians—and in Ancient Egypt!
Early contender for browser game of the year?!
Great things are being done in the name of course design. At no point does this coding program mention that your “boss” will be an orange cat named Muffin until you sign up and begin taking the class. (Muffin apparently walks across your keyboard occasionally and borks your code.) Also this OnlyFans model is posting SFW machine learning explainers to PornHub because LinkedIn won’t allow them (heaven forfend there be actual useful content on LinkedIn).
Neat list of anachronyms.
Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO) is coining it on theme music and I love that for him.
The New York Times finally ousted deeply unpopular Opinion section chief Pamela Paul, but she actually died a few years ago as a result of this savage profile.
Eartha Kitt on relationships: “Compromise for what?”
This guy getting so annoyed by the Jan 6 riots that he decides to join an alt-right militia purely for the purposes of spying on them and then sending five years of receipts to ProPublica: wild, brave, a hero
UK folks: read these incredibly off base 2025 post Brexit predictions written in 2016 and laugh sadly at our folly.
The spellbooks of Norway and the efforts to conserve them. (Really, fascinating-read it)
Lovely profile of Neko Case, one of my favorite creators.
I liked Nosferatu as a piece of mainstream entertainment, but Gavia’s not wrong on its fear of the erotic.
Zé Burnay has only about 30 copies of their beautiful Book of Augurs left, you should buy one.
Important anti-enshittification news: how to turn off Microsoft Copilot, how to hamstring Meta from profiting from your data, and keep Zuck the Suck’s fingers out of your browsing history:
Also, lol, Apple quietly gives up on its terrible AI news summaries.
ILLUSTRATORS! Treasure trove of free to use old book illustrations.
FASHION NERDS/REGENCY ROMANCE FANS!!! Giant collection of regency and Napoleonic costume going on sale!
Matthew Ball’s very long presentation on the state of video games in 2025.
Need something good to read? Here’s a list of the 10 best African speculative fiction stories of 2024–and links to read the stories, usually for free.
Academic publishing seems increasingly in crisis. Also, it costs $4,000 to get your paper published? What in the chicken-fried fuck?!?!
Lost Bowie studio recordings rediscovered… but you can’t hear them
What did Hubble see on your birthday? (Uses day and month only, oldies—you’re good.)
Wikipedia page of interest this week: Pelorus Jack, the dolphin that would guide ships through French Pass, a tricky part of the Cook Strait from 1888 onwards. Someone took a pot shot at him in 1904 from the SS Penguin and Jack stopped guiding that ship in particular out of spite. The ship wrecked in the Strait five years later.
Recipe of the week: Kiddo rwad about Pommes Aligot on TikTok (RIP) and demanded I make them, so I did. They rock, and this recipe lies when it says you can’t store them. Reheat any leftovers in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 and guess what, deliciousness redux. (When I have time, I’m going to make a recipe masterlist post, so 1) I can be sure I don’t repeat anything and 2) it’s easy foe you to find things to try. But not now.)
Also recipe-adjacent: the physics of cacio e pepe:
Music: My friend Matthew Perpetua put together a Spotify playlist of new New York music from right now, and I’ve quietly been going through it, below are two faves. I will note this playlist is truly all killer no filler, please check it out, there is SO much good stuff on there.
Also the new Bad Bunny album (of Nuyorican bops) is amazeballs?! I know, half of you are squinting dubiously, I am begging you to trust me, shut up, and listen.
There, now you’ve listened to two songs (DNC and BB) that were released in 2025! 🙌🏼
Until next week, amigos. Keep your fists up and your teeth sharp.
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