JAT #338: We're Back! Award Wins, True Crime, Full Sinks, Pod People + More
We're back! Award Wins, True Crime, Pod People, Non-Violent Protests, Full Sinks, Benches, Crosswords, and a Retail In Memoriam
I (ACCIDENTALLY) TOOK A YEAR OFF
Oh wow. Hi everyone. I’m back. It’s been a year (plus) since my last newsletter! Why? I’m not really sure. But, I’m back and I have a lot to say. For paid subscribers, you’ll be receiving an email in the next week showing how to get a refund for any payments you made over the last year.
So, what have I been up to?
I had my first Sunday puzzle published in the New York Times. I premiered the podcast I’ve been working on at Tribeca. I directed a commercial for Adobe. I launched a fake/real AI podcast network that got a cool write-up in NY Mag. And, I won two Shorty Awards and launched a company. I also started writing and abandoned dozens of newsletters.
How this newsletter might change:
I’ve had a lot of things I want to write about that are more insider — thoughts on media, inside scoops, process, etc. These will be longer, deeper dives and will be available only to paid subscribers.
BUT — these round ups will continue to be free. So, here’s a newsletter for ya. Enjoy!
CONSUMPTION JUNCTION
Three things I’ve seen, read, watched or listen to that stuck with me.
Searching For Allan Rothbart is a fantastic podcast from my friend Barry Rothbart. I’m jealous because he started working on it after I started work on my upcoming podcast and somehow finished it before me. It’s also just really really good. Funny, heartfelt, vulnerable — I wish there were more podcasts like it. It’s True Crime, but funny, and because it’s his own story, it feels personal instead of exploitive. Here’s a trailer, but check out the whole show below. ⤵️
I am obsessed with Vince Gilligan’s new show Pluribus. After Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Gilligan is going back to his roots (he wrote some of the funniest and weirdest X-Files episodes back in the day) with a crazy Apple TV budget. I’ve never seen anything quite like this show. ⤵️
Friend of the newsletter, Joey Clift made an amazing short called Pow! Joey’s work has a lot of overlaps with what I like to do — his 25 Minutes of Silence Podcast is an inspiration — but his work is also totally different in a ton of ways (for one, he’s an enormous Garfield fan). Pow! qualified for the Oscar’s this year and Joey’s doing the indie FYC circuit (watch him play Among Us with Mark Ruffalo here) and check out Pow! below ⤵️
GET TO KNOW YOUR NON-VIOLENT PROTESTS
You probably know what a boycott is. But how about a Buy-In? A Buy-In is like a sit-in, but with a consumerist twist because you’re technically still patronizing a business.
The week before Thanksgiving, NDLON organized a Buy-In at Home Depot to protest their cooperation and support of ICE’s secret police tactics. Dozens of protestors got in line to buy 17¢ ice scrapers. Then, once purchased, they got back in line to return them, then repeated — temporarily stalling other purchases at the store, while driving awareness to the issue.
I like this because it’s disruptive, effective, and non-violent. It also feels like a form of culture jamming, since it’s using the mechanisms of consumerism to critique consumerism. From an LA Times article covering the protests:
They got back in line only minutes later to return the item. The action, known as a buy-in, was part of a larger demonstration at the Home Depot to pressure the company to “scrape ICE out of their stores,” said Erika Andiola, political director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which coordinated the event.
…
The buy-in’s objective was to temporarily stall the store’s operation and show the financial contribution that day laborers make to the company — without staging a boycott, which Andiola said the community does not want.
“Day laborers do want people to come out to shop so they can get work,” Andiola said. “This was the way for us to still impact their business and at the same time, give the message that they need to get ICE out of their stores.”
CREATIVE INSPIRATION
Before I tell you anything about them, please enjoy these aesthetically pleasing kitchen sink images:
You ready for the twist? These are paintings. Acrylic, oil and lacquer on linen by artist Helen Appel. Good LORD, right?! Thanks to Rose Florence’s Substack for making me aware of these.
THIS WEEK IN CHAOTIC GOOD
There’s a stretch of the freeway we take to get from San Diego to Pasadena where you can get in the carpool lane and then get trapped for like 30-40 miles with no ability to exit. Somehow there’s no sign that warns you at the beginning. I’ve always wanted to put up a guerilla sign — like what artist Richard Ankrom did for the 5 freeway back in 2001 (def worth a rabbit hole btw).
That sign — which was made to CalTrans exact specs, and later replaced with an official one — is a great example of chaotic good. For those of you unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons Alignments, here’s the chart:
When a good heart is combined with a rebellious spirit, valuing freedom and individual conscience over strict rules and laws… that’s Chaotic Good. Some examples include: Robin Hood, Mary Poppins, Han Solo, Ms. Frizzle.
Another great example is the San Francisco Bay Area Bench Collective. SFBABC cuts through bureaucracy to build public benches and install them next to bus stops that have no seating.
Technically… Building a public bench without a permit is illegal. It is considered an unauthorized modification of public property or the public right-of-way. That said, as long as SFBABC is giving enough room for ADA compliance, I think this is rad.Read more about it on SFBABC member Elise Joshi’s newsletter:
HOLIDAY GIFT IDEA: CUSTOM CROSSWORDS
Know someone who loves crossword puzzles? Want to give them a CUSTOM crossword for the holidays? Check out Super Puzzle! I’m going to start publishing puzzle packs of my indie puzzles (that were too niche for major publications) as well as offering custom crossword puzzles.
I MADE THIS FOR YOU
To celebrate mark Black Friday I made an “In Memoriam” video of some of the retail brands that have closed, declared bankruptcy, or been acquired by other companies or private equity (so far) in 2025. It’s going viral on Instagram, but since that’s harder to embed on Substack, here’s the YouTube version:
I wrote a (very long) description of how I made this go viral* that will come out in the next newsletter for paid subscribers.
*you can’t actually make anything go viral, but I’ll tell you how I set it up for the best chance
Alrighty, that’s it for this issue. If you enjoyed what you read, please leave a comment and/or share the newsletter using the links below.
Party on,
Jacob