The Magpie #016: My Other Car is RFK’s Brain
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:
Happy Year of the Snake, friends. It’s hard to be online right now so I’ve been focusing on non-social media stuff—the Kobo eReader I bought last month has been a godsend, and I’m working on a spec adaptation of a book I love to TV series to engage my brain in the tailoring of creation without the actual lift of having to weave the story from whole cloth too.
I also participated in a new monthly co-writing/online creative session run by one of my favorite critical writers, Angelica Bastien, and it was SO NICE. Six or seven of us shot the shit for a bit, swapped writing tips, and then Angelica started a timer and we worked quietly on our various projects with Zoom on for 45 minutes. I loved it! Meet new people, engage in low-key accountability to focus on my project at a time when it is REALLY INCREDIBLY HARD to focus on anything other than the downfall of Western civilization and the vicious, gleeful erasure of any gender and race beyond cis white men.
If you too are struggling in these times I’d suggest a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly virtual or irl creative sesh with friends where you just exist quietly together. It helps.
Now before we get to my open tabs, for those of you that do create, here are a couple tips that work for me in the way “write 1k words a day” most laughably does not. They may not work for you—there are many paths up the mountain, this may not be yours—but I share them in any case.
If you’re frustrated about not getting creative work done, it can be as easy as getting up early twice a week and doing a 45-minute work session BEFORE internet, social media check, daily crossword, whatever. There are lots of apps you can use that will block web browser and social media access until 10am. Consider them.
If you struggle with editing your work, try printing out and binding a B&W, double-spaced, single-sided copy at your local print shop, then taking it to a local cafe and editing it with a pen. I find I do MUCH more substantive and radical edits on paper than I do scrolling around an electronic copy, and then as you type the paper edits in you get a free second edit pass.
Writing a story synopsis is an art, and you do get better at it with practice. But please bear in mind you are not actually writing a summary of your story—that is not the point. You are writing a sales document to make someone want to read (and thus buy) your story. Write it as if you were telling your drunk bestie about the best movie you’ve ever seen.
i screamed
Did you know the CIA published a handbook on how individual citizens could sabotage fascist regimes during World War II and it’s now been declassified and put on the web where you can read it for free? What an interesting historical artefact to examine.
Also here’s the full film of The Spook Who Sat By The Door, in case you’re looking for things to watch:
Would you like to waste time chucking asteroids at the earth? Of course you would.
Also some of you have apparently not seen the greatest Star Wars fan edit ever made?! This is some seriously perfect editing, and I say that as someone who’s edited music videos professionally:
The internet and technology (and Covid!) are all helping destroy our memory. No shit, Sherlock! Fight back by memorizing a poem so you can be truly insufferable at parties. Or memorize dozens of them, like Lord Wavell, so you can entertain yourself on military campaigns when you don’t have access to books, and then make a book of them when you’re done.
Nobody wants diamonds any more, which means De Beers is sitting on a “diamond mountain” of unsold gems. Heist time! Who’s in?
JO Brammer watched Emilia Perez so you don’t have to.
Good news department: A furry takes over the American Accountability Foundation’s X account, which: bravo, more of this please. Cloudflare considers blocking AI crawlers. One of several lawsuits seeking to block DOGE.
Happy Black History Month dept: Proud Boys lose control of their name to a Black church they vandalized. Not the first time it’s happened, either—here’s the KKK losing the deed to their Alabama office to a 67-year-old Black woman.
USAians: If you or people you know work in a library, cafe, school, or similar, printing out the Immigration Red Cards and keeping them available to give to vulnerable members of your community would be a nice idea! They have clear instructions in several languages what to do in the event of an ICE raid, and may be the difference between arrest/deportation and not. Also here is a good video guide on how to document ICE arrests. These are tangible things you can do to help people and also to feel less powerless.
Fake Feminist Lawsuit News: Justin Baldoni has put his whole suit online for everyone to read, because it’s important for you to know that he is One of the Good Ones. Scarlett Pavlovich has filed suit against Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer, and while this is a stunningly well-written brief it is also incredibly horrific. I directed a music video for Amanda Palmer back in the day (“Leeds United,” about her breakup with a Kaiser Chief) and all I can say is I am delighted she is finally facing consequences for her truly pathological narcissism and lack of concern for others.
New Cronenberg film on the way!!!
Barry the Bear just wants to hide until this is all over. Buddy: you, me, same.
The Augurs Are Bad news: Our universe potentially exists in a fake vacuum and could end catastrophically as it flips into a real vacuum. That is, if that asteroid doesn’t hit Earth first.
My pal Marc Toberoff is fucking DC’s shit up again and I love that for him.
Look I know I post a bunch of dumb stuff but this article by a DeafBlind man on what able-bodied people think is access vs what he wants is stunning and it is the one thing you should read from here this week.
How do we research LBGTQ history when so much written evidence of it is in code, or indeed destroyed for safety? Wonderful essay from the Museum of Rural English Life (MERL, whose social media accounts are delightful) on archives of 19th century rural same-sex love in letters.
Global South civilizations far more sophisticated than Western Europeans assumed shocker.
Swearing during google searches disables its AI answers. Say it with me: fuck yeah!
I know everyone’s starting to talk about Handmaid’s Tale again, but can I suggest Iranian thriller Seed of the Sacred Fig instead?
Pro-Israel FactFinderAI propaganda account examines facts, finds that Palestine should be free, from the river to the sea.
Tough guys and kittens: stray cats wander into a prison yard and magic happens. Pro basketball player Jordan Poole makes being a cat dad cool among jocks.
Cure for sickle cell disease found! Also we’re getting better at destroying cancer cells.
Bookmark this military case study on leadership failures in a 1994 B-52 crash and think about it in respect of why we have so many rules and regulations around commercial pilots, because apparently there is A Certain Kind of Guy who likes to be a pilot and if you go all “lol deregulation, free market, safety checks are for losers” on him, this is what happens.
If you don’t know the Grimes Mississippi houseboat story, it’s a key piece of lore that will have you yelling at your screen. Remember when manic pixie dreamgirls used to be appealing, before Grimes showed us what they’re really like. Lol nah me neither.
2,400-year-old stuffy toy! It’s amazing and I want it. Someone make a modern version.
INTERESTING WIKIPEDIA PAGE OF THE WEEK: The British Rail Flying Saucer.
RECIPE: Super easy one-pot pork and noodle dinner. Some notes: we used medium rice noodles instead of ramen, and since we like veggies we also threw in some broccoli rabe when the pork was mostly done cooking. Also, I’d suggest adding some ginger when you cook the pork—the tinned Ginger People stuff is fine, if you don’t want the hassle of grating root ginger. (Also add the white and light green parts of the spring onions then.) (Ground chicken or turkey would be fine for kosher substitute but in that case DEFINITELY needs the ginger; for vegetarian/vegan you can replace meat with tofu and more veggies no problem.)
MUSIC
I really like electro-pop, and if you were an early subscriber to this newsletter you’ve already heard me go in about Everything Everything’s latest album (start with “The End of the Contender”, also here is a playlist of all previous songs mentioned in this newsletter) so in that vein it’s kind of natural I also really dig Nation of Language’s latest album. A sample:
Also let me introduce you to Mama Kay, a Japanese housewife who at 59 years old decided to finally follow her dreams of becoming a pop star! I love her, and she’s casually just knocking out these absolute fluffy bangers:
So if Mama Kay can do it, you can too! Follow your dream, do the thing, it’s not too late.
Be well, and remember, surviving and flourishing is the best revenge.
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