Notices by Mats Holberg 🇺🇦 (holberg@mstdn.social)

Graydon Carter’s memoir made me like him so much I wish I could go back to the ‘90s and read Vanity Fair knowing this. Anyway, this absolute wisdom is the first rule in a short coda of things he learned:

‘Avoid the wall of fame…My rule is this: Don’t put the photo of you and somebody famous in a silver frame and display it for others unless you are absolutely positive that the famous person has the same photo in their home or office.’

I feel like we’re terrifyingly close to right-wing press starting to mainstream the idea that it’s unfortunate but we probably just need to kill certain people.

(Which isn’t like the Nazis AT ALL because they’re not targeting Jews.)

I’m seeing this #yelpreviewsbychildren game and honestly a lot of actual Yelp reviews seem like they were written by children.

The parking wasn’t free wah wah wah the server didn’t read my mind wah wah wah it was more expensive then I expected wah wah wah.

And I’m actually feeling properly drunk—kinda a rarity—and this is the time to shoot your shot haha. Let’s just say I’m a happy drunk.

Something you need to know if you don’t. Philip Bailey of this duet with Phil Collins is Earth Wind & Fire’s falsetto. ‘Fantasy’ is ALL Philip
Bailey.

Jesus couldn’t have cared less about the politics of Judea or Rome, but—yes—please tell me about his extreme interest in American politics.

And, for that matter, his support for a US president who lives and breathes in active defiance of his Sermon on the Mount.

So—in just three months—Trump has erased $11 trillion of value from the stock market, devalued the US dollar, raised the cost of national debt, made us vulnerable to those who hold our treasury bonds, raised prices on consumer goods, unsettled or harmed just about every American business, made stagflation a very real possibility, etc etc.

All of this because—checks notes—he didn’t think the US had adequately beneficial trade deals.

Wharton must be proud!

Getting ready for another protest. Our GOP governor has said we’re just a lot of lazy people getting paid to whine.

But the thing is—whatever the going hourly rate to hire these imagined protesters might be—I can guarantee it’s a lot less than most of us make. Payment for protesting literally isn’t worth our time. That’s how much we value what we’re doing for free.

I'm glad it's on John Roberts' watch -- now the defining moment of his legacy as chief justice -- that the lawlessness he handed Trump is being exercised even against the Supreme Court.

@stux It’s ridiculous here, too, even where parking is generally designed for immense vehicles.

This guy obviously carries that orange cone with him because that truck is way too long for any parking space anywhere.

I never even liked reality TV and all its stupid tropes. That makes all of this seem especially unfair.

I’ve mentioned this before, but my brother-in-law produced reality TV shows in the ‘90s and ‘00s and I recall early on—at dinner one night—when he forbad the family from ever appearing on one. It doesn’t matter what you think you’re giving us to work with, he said, we’ll make it—or what you give us—into what we want.

And that’s how NBC made Trump seem smart to America. Even if, after all their work, I still thought he sounded like an idiot who’d never met a best practice.

@skinnylatte A problem for me—extremely white guy—is that I sometimes can’t even get what a restaurant considers hot. And I totally get that they deal with way too many gringos who go for 10 on the spice scale to look badass, then complain and send it back. But it’s a drag when they override my order and send something with zero heat.

(Question since you later mentioned Thai in LA. Have you been to Sapp Coffee Shop and—if so—what did you think?)

Maybe the dumbest Trump has ever seemed—and, good god, that’s a low bar—is getting upset about retaliatory tariffs.

I think he’s genuinely, idiotically surprised that anyone is punching back when he punches them in the face. And I’m not sure I can even give him credit anymore for animal instinct.

The strongest emotion I felt today took me by surprise -- getting suddenly verklempt while walking behind a mother protesting with her son. Thinking about how wrenching this must all be for parents who want to protect their children and create a world in which they can thrive.

Why on earth would anyone ‘negotiate’ with Trump at this point? Or make substantive changes or investments to suit him?

Mercurial, dishonest, petty, vindictive, ignorant—you can’t trust that he won’t change the rules tomorrow. Or in the next hour. Or in favor of someone who flatters him more obsequiously. He’s not even good at being a mobster.

A screening of THE CONVERSATION—which I think I last saw in a UCLA screening room at least 30 years ago?

Gonna have to really detach myself from thinking how Gene Hackman died.

THE CONVERSATION thoughts

A) I really do love the ‘70s auteur vibe—so I’m very inclined to like it anyway.

B) I’d forgotten just how clever it really is.

C) The themes around surveillance—and the interpretation of data—are beyond relevant. Even if it’s all analogue equipment.

D) Gene Hackman always seems old to me. He seems old to me here and he’s a decade younger than I am now haha.

E) Go back to ‘74 and invest in all that rundown San Francisco real estate. Christ, you could make MILLIONS.

I mean, I dunno, all these Venmo stories are weird to me in a personally anecdotal sense.

A) I figured out about making my Venmo friends/transactions private like 10 years ago.

B) Why are all these high-earning people Venmoing each other? In my circles, we just alternate picking up checks or whatever.

C) Related to B, really. I only use Venmo for, like, sending nieces and nephews some money or paying monthly dues for a social club or whatever.

I'm projecting. But I feel like the demographic.

When it's clear the recipe writer is a front for Big Panko.