Mando, Google, Huxley

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Unasked For Opinion On The Mandalorian  

The Mandalorian is machine-tooled corporate perfection. The individualist cowboy to Andor's collectivist workers' revolt. What I learned: never question tradition, even if that means baptizing yourself on a hell planet--thereby risking the life of your adopted green child and almost getting roasted like a marshmallow by a mech-spider thing. Also, shoot people in the name of peace and quote dogma at supporting characters. 

It looks glorious though: balancing Henson-style puppets with CG that never once goes near the video game aesthetic of the prequels.  

I am now planning to spend the money I'd saved for herbal XTC on a range of Mandalorian merch, particularly those tiny engineer creatures from the first episode. 

Unasked For Podcast Recommendation

The always excellent Philosophize This podcast had an episode on Susan Sontag, in particular her argument that therapy is a means of subjugating our own experience. Or can be: of course, not all therapy is bad therapy. 

Was planning to do a whole cartoon on the subject, but couldn't make it work. I did draw this axe though, for reasons that would have made sense within the context of my non-existent cartoon. 

Unasked For Quote

I realize that quoting Aldous Huxley carries certain associations. The person doing the quoting most likely spends way too much time reading fringe Substack essays and listening to Rogan. 

In all likelihood, that person would very much resemble me. 

Still, even if you work at an adult play-prison like Google and post LinkedIn updates about how grateful you are for the opportunity to pull sixty-hour weeks, surely--surely--part of you thinks Aldous had a point. 

Or maybe not. 

Unasked For Cartoon One

Speaking of work. 

The idea for the above cartoon came from Work, an excellent book by James Suzman. To be clear, Suzman doesn't argue that work is evil--quite the opposite: it's a vital part of who we are as a species.

What he does say is that we work way too much. 

Which strikes me as uncontroversial. 

Unless, of course, you're the person described in that Huxley quote, above. 

Unasked For Cartoon Two

Not sure where this one came from. Most likely: allowing social media to slowly roast me alive like a Mandalorian being barbecued by a mech spider.   

Drive safe. Bye-bye.