Memo: Acquire Steelier Knives, Less Resolute Beast

Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac and decided to bother everyone about it

Oct 28, 2021

Oh hello. I didn’t see you come in. Welcome to my den. Here, have a luxurious robe and join me by the fire.

Thanks for reading the newsletter. I mean, thanks for reading at all, it’s good for you, but especially the newsletter.

Please remember that our show exists because of listener donations. If you’ve donated, THANK YOU. If not, it’s easy: go here, pick a level that works for you, then select DEPRESH MODE from the list of shows.

Book!

There are worse things in the world than having to tell people about your book in an effort to get them to buy it. Genocide. That’s worse. Cancer. Lots of worse things, come to think of it.

But it’s just a REALITY. Gotta do it. And I’m pretty lucky, actually, in that I’m very proud of the book I wrote and I think it can really help a lot of people.

I did just find out that THWoD, the book, will be coming out in paperback! Which: yay because more people will read it. But that won’t be happening for another eleven months or so and thus it will be too late for a holiday gift this year.

HOWEVER THOUGH the book is still in print as a hardback book and available right now. If you like the writing in this newsletter or on Depresh Mode, you will enjoy the book because it’s my same fingers typing it all out. It makes a good gift, especially if you enjoy seeing people otherwise unfamiliar with my work get confused by the title.

Okay. So. Good. Yes, self-promotion is a chore but there are things far, far worse out there.

Hey Facebook, when you start getting compared to the tobacco companies?

That ain’t good.

The Verge has a pretty complex look at the pretty complex issues facing Facebook. It’s about Facebook’s own research into the mental health effects of social media, particularly Facebook-owned Instagram

The Wall Street Journal’s reporting included internal slides discussing data that showed Instagram was linked with issues like anxiety, depression, suicidal thought, and body image issues. Facebook immediately went on the defensive, saying that the data was taken out of context, that it was subjective, and that it couldn’t prove anything about Instagram. The company’s efforts to obfuscate the research and smear the whistleblower who leaked it appear to be straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook.

It’s a hard situation when something that people have been exposed to for so long has obvious negative effects on our collective emotional well-being.

Video Games coming up on the show

I’m excited for the world to hear the podcast episode we have coming out on Monday. It’s about video games and I can imagine a lot of people thinking “Oh no, I hate those things” and another huge group of people thinking, “Finally a topic I care about!”

The episode is about this sizable stratum of games made by independent developers that artistically address mental health issues.

We’ll talk to the creator of this game:

But not the creator of this song:

Dave Grohl playing drums again on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a mental health moment

I’m a Gen X guy from Seattle so there are a few songs more or less imprinted on my cerebral cortex. And this one is the most imprinted. Via Kottke, here’s original Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl drumming along to That Song.

From the video description:

It probably wasn’t easy for DG to get to this point where he was willing to share. At the show (and in his book and many interviews) he actually talked about the long path it took to get to not only TALK about Kurt, but to even want to listen to ANY music after his death. Still, a lot of time has passed, which always helps. And in the meantime, Dave has become quite a talented, thoughtful storyteller. I am sure, as difficult as it will always be to him, it probably also now a cathartic experience for him. At least I hope it is.

And I think if you look at Dave’s face in this, you see all that going on. It’s not a party, it’s not even fun, it’s something else.

I’ve always maintained that Grohl’s drumming is what put Nirvana over the top into being as important as they were. So much relentless power that sends Kurt’s vocal and guitar and lyrics pounding through the speakers. I mean, Foo Fighters are great. They’re great. But this felt biblical. Especially compared to the output of other drummers.