The Day After

Issue 04: Red Shadows, Obscure Sorrows and Beer Reviews

1. Do you remember the 1983 TV movie, The Day After? No? Too young? Well, here’s a blurb from Wikipedia: “The film postulates a fictional war between the NATO forces and the Warsaw Pact countries that rapidly escalates into a full-scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union.”

Just like most of the country, I shit bricks watching this horrific show when it first aired on ABC. I was 13 years old. Given the war in Ukraine, and that Putin is a megalomaniacal psychopath, we might be able to watch the 2022 reboot IRL.

2. Comic Book Heaven. If you have 12 minutes in a row of personal time today, I highly recommend this short film about a comic book store. It'll make you smile and break your heart a little.

3. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig is finally a real thing you can hold in your hands and it looks lush. The hard copy was published by Simon & Schuster last November. Been following the YT channel for a few years and it’s good to see people responding to the physical object. My favorite word in this extraordinary reference book is Anemoia: Nostalgia for a time you’ve never known.

4. Louisiana Beer Reviews with Ronald Theriot. Are you tired of all the “social media influencers” wasting space on your daily scroll? Sick of the fake-ass posers and liars? Lookin’ for the real deal? Well, look no further because this is one of the most enjoyable no-bullshit channels on youtube.

And no, the eerie similarities between Theriot and Thoreau did not go unnoticed.

This review for Hamm’s is quintessential Theriot. He drops the beer science while enjoying some canned Valu Time vienna sausages on Saltines with hot sauce. And the wallpaper of comic books, football newspaper clippings and ticket stubs for a back drop completes the natural, uncrafted, you-can’t-fake-this-shit perfect look.

Speaking of perfect, the LBR youtube channel header image is a chef’s kiss.

5. Revisiting the work of Italian master cartoonist, Gipi (Gianni Pacinotti), today trying to absorb some of his super science. Here’s an interview with him as he paints a page from Unastoria in his studio. I watch it at least once a year and come away excited, motivated and a little jealous.

6. Currently Reading: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, 1972.

I wanted to see if it stood the test of time, if it would still read as well as it did when I first devoured it in a single sitting over thirty years ago. Hard to say. Tons of Gonzo Journalism style imitators since then have watered down his bombastic, taboo style of “anything goes” writing. What’s the title of the first Jane’s Addiction record? Nothing’s Shocking?

Simple conclusion: Reading Thompson’s work is still joyous entertainment and a dead-on description of time and place.

To get myself primed for a savage journey to the heart of the American Dream, I read Thompson’s classic article about the Kentucky Derby from The Gonzo Papers Vol 1. The article is extra interesting because it’s the first time he meets his long-time illustrator/collaborator, Ralph Steadman.

7. Hopefully, the Miss Atomic Bomb contest is as close as we’ll ever get to mutually assured destruction. Bummer that it wasn’t an actual beauty pageant held during the height of the Atomic Age. It was a Mad Men style marketing campaign created to celebrate the modernity of Las Vegas. Now that’s some classic USA bullshit right there. Lee Merlin was the final crowned Queen of the Bomb in 1957.

That's it for today– thanks for reading. If you like this newsletter, you can help keep it alive by forwarding it to someone who’d like it, watch my art vids on Youtube, join me on Patreon or follow along on your favorite social media.

Stay Rad,
Harper