Rollins's Review, December 19

On my favorite Substack columns last week

Dec 19, 2022

silver chain link bracelet — Photo by lilartsy on Unsplash

Today is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent. Christmas is next Sunday. Tonight is also the first night of Hanukkah. It seems a good day to consider the story of Joseph in Matthew’s birth narrative of Jesus — since Matthew is known as the most Jewish of the four gospels…

6 months ago · 42 likes · 60 comments · Diana Butler Bass

Some days I don’t do heavy analysis on why I like an article. This is one of those days. Diana Butler Bass of The Cottage wrote something about Joseph, the father of Jesus, and I found it comforting. Diana writes about Christianity, and I enjoy reading her work.

Charles Eisenstein

“Handfuls” Intermission – Self-pity and self-righteousness

I interrupt the serialized essay “Handfuls of /dust and Splinters of Bone” for this special bulletin. Quite a few people have written me in response to it. One genre of response I especially appreciate is diagnosis of my moral, psychological, and spiritual illnesses. These diagnoses save me a lot of money on therapists, so a big thank you to these brill…

6 months ago · 193 likes · 71 comments · Charles Eisenstein

I want to be Charles Eisenstein when I grow up.

The dude is righteous and gentle and so entirely right on. This essay is a treat, and he’s got it absolutely right; seeing the world as divided into good guys and bad guys is a totalization based on victim mentality.

Billionaire Psycho

Storytelling 102: Lessons from Squid Game

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” —Jack LondonThanks for reading Billionaire Psycho! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. “I only write when I’m inspired, so I see to it that I’m inspired every morning at nine o’clock…

6 months ago · 5 likes · 13 comments · Billionaire Psycho

Billionaire Psycho of Billionaire Psycho is doing method, and method is hot. His masterful deconstructions of television and film are entirely worth your time.

Noted

Jim Morrison's Poetry Notes

I am taking next week off to celebrate the holidays, but I will be back in 2023 with more notes and notebooks! First, a big thank you to all of Noted’s subscribers! I’m truly astounded by how many people care about notes. And, a special thank you to those of you who have elected to become paid subscribers! I have donated a portion of those funds to the…

5 months ago · 20 likes · 9 comments · Jillian Hess

Jillian Hess of Noted has a great piece on Jim Morrison up. I find the way people think fascinating, and Morrison’s notes are a window into his thought process.

Shangrilogs

In the land of dogs - #69

The town made it clear from the beginning. The population was not just 180 people, but also 51 dogs. The dogs that sun bathed in the road, the dogs that plowed through the snow, the dogs that chased their own wild history back into the woods. This town belonged to the dogs. And Cooper would soon be one of them…

6 months ago · 50 likes · 36 comments · Kelton Wright

I have no idea how I found Kelton Wright’s Shangrilogs, but I’m so glad I did. This piece is lyrical and lovely.

Poiema

Willem

By the age of 25, Willem had already been a bookseller, an art dealer, a language teacher, and unsuccessfully in love. But more than all the paintings and all the words and all the women, Willem want…

6 months ago · 24 likes · 4 comments · Brandon Meeks

If Brandon Meeks doesn’t get some kind of breakout success very soon, I’ll be surprised. He is so fucking good. This essay, “Willem,” is just jaw-dropping.

Handwaving Freakoutery

Dilemma Actions in Fifth Generation Warfare

I told my friend Jon yesterday that all war is culture war. “Real” war is just when the tools are spears and sticks instead of language and indoctrinations. Today I noticed a Fourth Generation warfar…

6 months ago · 56 likes · 11 comments

BJ Campbell of Handwaving Freakoutery is a heavily armed, evil-minded supervillain who has mastered the art of applying data science in unconventional ways that make hypocrites and people who make confidently incorrect arguments tug at their collars nervously. This one’s on method.

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER

Advice on being managed

dynomight.net/managed When you shift from being managed to also sometimes managing others, you have a predictable shift in perspective and a lot of obvious-in-retrospect insights. In the spirit of “saying obvious things is good” here are a few. Be honest…

6 months ago · 27 likes · 4 comments · dynomight

This is actionable advice from dynomight. When dynomight advises, I listen, and you should too.

The Piedmont Clearinghouse

How to make perfect Chinese fried rice: A proto-recipe

One of the great advantages of the Internet—maybe among the greatest—is how it has allowed the proliferation of food cultures and cooking in ways that were simply not possible before. There’s never been a better time to be a cook (or an eater) in human history, and much of that is because of this thing of ours. But there’s also a ton of really awful stu…

6 months ago · 3 likes · Zack Morris the Elder

This is actionable advice from Zack Morris the Elder. When Zack Morris the Elder cooks dinner, I eat, and you should too.

Share The Wonderland Rules

Housekeeping: There will be no Rollins’s Review up this Friday, nor will there be a Dance Class post on Sunday. Chapter 15 of The God of Death and Second Chances will go up Friday this week, rather than Wednesday. Programming will return to its regular schedule next week, and there will be a second guest post from heterodox economist Charles Karelis next week as well. Enjoy your holiday.

—Jay