listening to the kids banter the living hell out of each other while they play FIFA is perhaps the best way to ring out the year

I did a lot of good work this year, but if I had to choose ONE thing to share out on this last day of 2024, it’s this episode from Rebel Spirit about mascots, why we love them and why they can be hurtful. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

Hey why not see out 2024 by subscribing to my blog-ish newsletter thing. There’s no charge, no premium content, just good times. Sign up here: dansinker.com/follow/

Looking back on 2024 is like peering through a deep fog. Thankfully there were some things this year that cut through the fog for me.

Read “The Stories of 2024” on my site: dansinker.com/posts/202…

This coming Sunday, January 5, join me and a host of other amazing Chicagoans—like Mikki Kendall, Peter Sagal, Monica Eng, Terry Gant, and many more—for the latest 20x2 at the Gman Tavern. It will be so good, grab a ticket. 20x2.org/chicago/

Had a dream about trying to collect payment from a design job that was so vivid and annoying that I had to wake myself up and check that it wasn’t actually a real job I was owed on.

The teen picked up a new game.

RIP Jimmy Carter. A real one.

Thank god electing Trump fixed the price of eggs

Elon battling with far right trolls is the living embodiment of “let them fight”

the american healthcare system is spending two hours on a holiday week trying to get basic information out of your new insurance company, which starts coverage on Jan 1 and there’s a procedure scheduled for Jan 3, and they can’t tell you anything because it’s all happening in a new year.

Boxing day death fog out here

Ah yes, the familiar chime of 3:00 AM can only mean one thing: welcome to Insomnia Club!

To all a good night.

How about a little holiday Insomnia Club, as a treat.

Fists with your toes.

This Christmas Eve I thought I’d share this beautiful and haunting performance by David Pajo of The Pretenders' “2000 Miles,” from this summer’s Steve Albini memorial gathering. I’ve not stopped thinking about it.

Read more & watch on my site: dansinker.com/posts/202…

If you’re traveling this season, it’s a great opportunity to catch up on Rebel Spirit, one of the best things I’ve ever done. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

My beard going gray from pandemic stress really pays off at the grocery store on senior discount day

Watching the only Christmas movie necessary.

Going to attempt to not work for the next few days, definitely not my strong suit.

Today’s the last day I’ll be shipping stickers & patches from my shop until the 26th, so get those last-minute orders in! shop.dansinker.com

So where’s Matt Gaetz' large adult “son” Nestor in all this?

The death penalty is barbaric and this is an inarguably good thing. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/2…

We went Amazon-free this holiday and man one of the things you don’t realize is how much they broke our brains on how long shipping things actually takes.

✊✊ Amazon ✊✊ Starbucks ✊✊ Let’s ✊✊ Go ✊✊

The claw marks on the side of Pep’s head are giving me life.

It’s time once again to call Insomnia Club to order.

Emmet Otter time

I think about the ending of Roger Ebert’s 2004 review of M Night Shyamalan’s The Village on a regular basis. It is a perfect piece of writing. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/t…

Just remembered how last year I was approached by a big fancy podcast company to pitch ideas and they rejected every one before being like “yeah no what we really want is a white guy to talk about tech”

The day after September 11th, we got a threatening voicemail at the Punk Planet office. It propelled us to try and make an issue that could capture the moment.

Read “Here Comes the Argument: Punk Planet, Year Eight” on my site: dansinker.com/posts/202…

Between the Amazon strikes, the CEO assassination, and Elon Musk robber-baroning his way to power, there’s some real late-1800s energy in the air right now.

fuck the oligarchy

Absolutely love that we have a ketamine-fueled shadow president with infinite money puppetmastering the government via tweet. Just love this for us.

Tonight’s meeting of Insomnia Club is brought to you by my dog who demanded to go out at 3am for apparently secret reasons.

There have been TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY EIGHT school shootings THIS YEAR????

No one else in the world lives like this. We should not put up with living like this.

Sometimes I think about what it would be like to actually have time.

Hey, why not remind someone to keep Trying this holiday season? A TRYING sticker & patch set is only $12, ships free in the US, and fits great in a stocking. Order soon! shop.dansinker.com/products/…

On January 5, come join me and a bunch of incredible folks in the 20x2 speaker series. The theme is “Where To” and I’m going to be talking about the Klan, because I’m lots of fun. gmantavern.com/event/20x…

The—checks notes—Woody Guthrie Center is going the exact proper amount of hard.

the mystery drones are 2024’s version of the 2016 clown sightings

This is the actual cover of the Melania Trump book??? They really spared no expense for this one huh

Honestly the humiliation of Manchester City is more than I could have dreamed.

Whatever new flavor of surveillance capitalism has websites emailing me when I’ve only visited them—not bought anything or even put something in a cart—is the absolute worst user-hostile dark pattern I’ve seen in a while.

A real murder fog going on outside rn

Well shit, Insomnia Club is called to order.

Got to hang out with trays and trays of Cooper Black tonight, at the Starshaped Press open house.

It’s been a minute, but it’s never too late for another meeting of Insomnia Club.

Welcome, I’m not glad you’re here.

Watching Peter Theil’s sputtering condemnation or reading the new United Healthcare CEO’s op-ed, it’s ASTOUNDING to me that even they are starting with “look, we know the system is bad and needs fixing.” This feels like a real, actual shift of the overton window on this. It took an assassination.

Now that Facebook, Amazon, OpenAI, and others have donated a million each to the Trump inauguration committee, let’s remember that the last Trump inauguration was a essentially a criminal enterprise with something like 10 different corruption investigations.

I’m in a hotel that costs many hundreds of dollars a night and this is the shower head placement.

Wheels down LA.

It took a murder to get this discussion on Good Morning America

Hey on January 5, I’ll be giving a quick talk at the first 20x2 of the new year with an absolute murderer’s row of Chicago talent. Come join us, 7pm at the Gman, tickets are ON SALE NOW. 20x2.org/chicago/

Here’s the kind of just workaday bullshit of our health system. I’m choosing a new plan from the exchange. The exchange says our medical group in the plan. BCBS says our medical group in the plan. Our medical group does not list this plan anywhere. Do I roll the dice?

Definitely think that there’s nothing more indicitive of the desperation of right now than throwing all your hopes behind a CEO killer.

who fucking snitched???

Kick Bezos in the Balls hoodies, Biscuit Ts, TRYING stickers, Punk Planet throwbacks and lots more.

I outlined everything I’ve got on offer this holiday season here: dansinker.com/posts/202…

Right now you’re probably looking for gifts for others (and maybe yourself), so I thought I’d pull together a list of all the things that I’ve got for sale through my site, my pods, or elsewhere.

Read “Merchandise Keeps Us in Line” at my site: dansinker.com/posts/202…

Welcome back to Insomnia Club, I’m not glad you’re here.

Surprise Friday night merch drop at my little webstore: Throwback Ts!

A couple designs from other lifetimes. Punk Planet! Quaxelrod! $25!

shop.dansinker.com

The outpouring of anger at the health insurance industry is the least surprising thing ever. Every single person has a story—has trauma—from this insane system we live under.

what a fucking wild moment in time to be begrudgingly filling out the ACA exchange application

The NYPD’s budget is $5.4 billion and they can’t find a guy on a bike.

Be safe NorCal pals

Tonight! At the Newberry Library in Chicago, I’m talking punk art & design with Nadine Nakanishi (Sonnenzimmer) and Martin Sorrondeguy (Los Crudos). In-person is full (!!) but it’s livestreamed: reg.learningstream.com/reg/event…

This investigation of cops all over the place reselling tens of thousands of guns on the sly over YEARS in basically full knowledge of the feds who won’t prosecute should perhaps be a bigger story? www.cbsnews.com/news/poli…

the wind right now is completely insane, it’s shaking our house

love my ancient ancestors for creating a body system to survive being eaten by a sabertooth cat just so I can stand in front of a screen shaking for no reason great work everyone

Apparently I’m nominated for Best Beard in Chicago and so ok go vote please I guess bestof.chicagoreader.com/city-life…

Subscribing to The Verge because they are one of the few media organizations that I genuinely really trust because they consistently make good decisions, editorially and otherwise. www.theverge.com/2024/12/3…

my big problem is it’s December third and I’m already sick of the cold

seems that the post-election twitter exodus has achieved enough of a critical mass that breaking news unfolds in real-time again.

Surprising number of folks fell for the Enron joke

just had a moment with a FOIA’d document where months of research, theories, and more than a few fishing expeditions all just came together.

finally impressed the teen.

I’d say “excited to never think about Hunter Biden again soon” but you know we’re going to somehow end up in a Hunter vs Don Jr election some day.

In line at target, a kid is pulling his dad’s leg yelling that I’m santa. Gave him a little eyebrow raise.

All my post-election emotions are now wrapped up in Manchester City never winning another game of football again.

Went to sleep early tonight which just meant that… Insomnia Club is called to order early as well.

I went to write an essay looking back at the the seventh year of Punk Planet, but one of the issues we published that year felt too relevant to RIGHT NOW to keep the essay’s focus on the past.

Read “Become the Media: Punk Planet, Year Seven” on my site: dansinker.com/posts/202…

I went to write an essay looking back at the the seventh year of Punk Planet, but one of the issues we published that year felt too relevant to RIGHT NOW to keep the essay's focus on the past.

Read "Become the Media: Punk Planet, Year Seven" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-11-30-ppy7/

Not really a Black Friday guy, but you can get a TRYING patch & sticker set for the already really low price of $12. Ships free in US with a stamp. shop.dansinker.com/products/…

Welcome to post-holiday Insomnia Club!

The nine-year-old, watching the Macy’s parade horrified: so this is just a bunch of people singing on rolling ads?

Playing Inscription again.

finally have some holiday downtime after an exceptionally busy few days and it turns out listening to really sad music was a terrible idea lol

Sold and shipped a few hundred stickers in 24 hours, feels pretty good.

If you are traveling this week, consider listeing to Rebel Spirit. 10 incredible episodes about how change really happens. Hilarious and maddening and really, really good. I mean I helped make it so I’m biased (but it is). podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

The joy I get from packing and shipping things is so pure and simple.

Hey evening crew, TRYING sticker sheets are brand new at my webstore today. Stick em wherever you need a reminder to keep trying. $6 for a five sticker sheet, ships free. Order lots.

shop.dansinker.com/products/…

By very popular demand, I finally made TRYING stickers. Grab sheet of five, various nice colors, just $6. Ships free in US.

shop.dansinker.com/products/…

Insomnia Club is called to order. Roll call.

Just a reminder that you can make Thanksgiving whatever you want it to be with whoever you want. It’s possible.

my some grave miscalculation this blow-off week is like the busiest fucking thing ever for me

Deprioritizing links in favor of keeping people locked in a platform like some kind of shitty casino with no windows is one of the biggest sins of the major social sites (and even Google search results now). Being able to link directly to information unencumbered is more crucial than ever.

How in the fuck is it nearly the end of November

Was at the library today. They are just the best spaces: free and open to everyone, no questions or judgement. No wonder the fascists hate them.

Here for the abject humiliation of Manchester City.

Anyone have one-page RPGs they really like?

Quietly judging people who refer to it as X.

Maybe not so quietly.

The nine-year-old just brought a lice fact sheet home from school so gonna burn the house down now bye

a whole day of breaking and building and ultimately fixing. at this point wouldn’t mind adding “napping” in.

just an infinite loop of building and breaking today.

It’s genuinely stunning just how much the post-Twitter landscape has changed in the last two weeks. Y’all it was a long, lonely time in the wilderness. So glad to see so many of you again.

still laughing about Matt Gaetz tbh

lol emdash.fan might be the most robust thing I’ve ever built. the last time I touched the file was over five years ago. It just gives you your emdash, no fuss, no problem. Bulletproof.

had an annual appointment I made like six months ago that was supposed to happen just now and it got silently cancelled at some point by the health system and I am excited for all this to get so much worse soon.

it is slush hell across chicago now

I am very good at coding myself into corners.

Well, JD clearly nailed his one job yesterday.

Current status.

Hear ye, hear ye… Insomnia Club is called to order.

Let’s get back to when the message was Republicans were creepy weirdos who wanted to look at your junk before you used the bathroom.

doesn’t get much better than this 1997 guide to customizing your myspace profile. www.lissaexplains.com/myspace/

Goddammit it’s snowing

Renewing an ACA plan that has suddenly leapt up by $300 a month is extra fun when you know that you’ll be lucky if it’s still around this time next year.

Sure let’s go with the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment for the head of the Department of Education. Why not.

“We constrain our imaginations when we subordinate our creations to names owned by fascist tycoons,” Anil bringing the absolute fire in his Substack takedown. www.anildash.com/2024/11/1…

This moment in time has me itching to build.

Thinking about how as a disaffected youth, going to the record store to buy pissed-off records meant taking two trains and walking forever and how many human-level interactions were involved and how, ultimately, that probablty changed me for the better more than the records.

Balatro should probably be regulated as a controlled substance.

Migrating fonts is the biggest pain in the ass of a new computer.

People real quick to declare a winner when really we should be pushing for interoperability between platforms and protocols. Single platform dominance is the wrong thing to wish for.

Went by the Daily Leader newspaper building in tiny Pontiac, Illinois this weekend and was blown away by the history of print mosaic that wrapped the building, starting with cave paintings and ending with a sweet 1970s newspaper tableau.

Welcome, once again, to insomnia club.

Tip for folks just breaking the Twitter habit: the best thing you can do is replace the app’s spot on your phone. Muscle memory is a hell of a thing, work with it not against it.

Currently settling Catan

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it raising money for the Gaza Skate Team. They’ve had a gofundme for a for a while, slowly ticking up. Yesterday we helped swell it by nearly $4,000!!

Thanks to all who donated. And, you still can. dansinker.com/posts/202…

Would be remiss to not mention to my fellow insomniacs that I’ve spent my birthday helping get the Gaza Skate Team to their Gofundme goal and while technically it’s not my birthday you can certainly still give. dansinker.com/posts/202…

*bangs gavel* insomnia club is called to order.

So legit question: what happens to the archives of governmental agencies that get shut down?

Bluesky has all the momentum right now for a lot of reasons but don’t sleep on the fact that it’s the only new platform that actually built DMs, which were always the unsung hero feature of Twitter.

Today is my birthday and the world is shit. I’m not really up for celebrating, but instead would like to tell you about the Gaza Skate Team and make a simple birthday request.

Read “Hope in the Rubble” on my site: dansinker.com/posts/202…

Times like this I look at my Trying patch a lot. You might need one too. $8, ships free in the US.

shop.dansinker.com/products/…

Today is my birthday and the world is shit. I'm not really up for celebrating, but instead would like to tell you about the Gaza Skate Team and make a simple birthday request.

Read "Hope in the Rubble: a birthday request" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-11-14-gaza-skate-team/

Hey Thursday December 5, join me, Nadine Nakanishi (Sonnenzimmer), and Martin Sorrondeguy (Los Crudos) to talk about punk art & design. We are gonna need DIY now more than ever! Newberry Library, Chicago 6pm. Also on zoom! www.newberry.org/calendar/…

OK Matt Gaetz as attorney general might have broken me.

Insomnia Club is once again called to order.

Hope the “they’re both the same” crowd is enjoying this appointee parade of The Worst People You Know.

Need a pep talk? The new ep of Rebel Spirit features talks with Ronan Farrow, Roy Wood Jr., and Jamele Hill about how to push forward when it feels impossible. VERY RELEVANT to right now. Go listen. open.spotify.com/episode/6…

The last two years without Twitter have been rough in terms of being able to build & promote things independently. Now that things are (maybe) starting to come back, consider subscribing to my writing. Free and not on fucking Substack: dansinker.com/follow/

This is the 10th episode of Rebel Spirit, both the end and not the end. But more than that, it’s an episode about perseverence against adversity, about how to carry on when the headwinds are strong. In many ways it is the story of now. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

Starter Packs are one of those innovations that feel so completely obvious now that they’re around. Will be a day-one feature in social software moving forward.

I don’t know why it took so goddamn long but it’s good to see real momentum in the Twitter alternatives this week. Hasn’t felt like this since the original Musk-purchase exodus.

This Airheads in my kid’s Lunchable just got a gig as a NYT columnist.

I’m still pretty numb from the election, but I have been finding a lot of solace in this song by John K Samson.

Read “A Song for Right Now” on my blog: dansinker.com/posts/202…

Hey dudes, get that vasectomy.

I know it’s only a tiny slice of a shit pie, but locking good reporting behind paywalls for the last decade+ has been a fucking disaster

Sat quietly most of the day and researched people who fought the Klan in the 20s and feel more at peace and more ready than I have since everything went south Tuesday night.

Reading old newspapers, trying to find the hook for a possible new project and came across this gem.

I'm still pretty numb from the election, but I have been finding a lot of solace in this song by John K Samson.

Read "A Song for Right Now" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-11-08-fantasy-baseball/

Taylor’s analysis of how the right has built such a powerful, well-funded, multifaceted media ecosystem and how replicating that on the left is structurally impossible (or close to it) is very good. www.usermag.co/p/why-dem…

Four Seasons Total Landscaping Day hits different this year.

non-chronoligical timelines feel like disassociating right now

Grieve. Build. Fight.

Well fuck.

refresh refresh refresh refresh

Here we go.

Officially at Disneyland for the duration of the election. See you on the other side.

I love that the Harris campaign is laser-focused on messaging joy, except for your inbox where they are intent on pummeling you with a never-ending series of bummers.

Absolutely here for the NYT Tech Guild threatening to strike on election day. The needle is in a union. www.nbcnews.com/news/new-…

When you’re absolutely, positively confident on your chances in checks notes North Carolina.

The one person I know that left the country after 2016 is still doing the same tired “both candidates are the same” shuffle.

Insomnia Club roll call

The British TV show Taskmaster is the greatest celebration of creative problem solving ever made.

I’ve been working with it for years now but, direct-to-garmet printing is still completely magical

The best thing about the original Peanuts holiday cartoons is that they’re completely incoherent as narrative and instead are basically tone poems about being sad.

First time since the pandemic hit that the number of kids in the neighborhood can only accurately be described as “swarms.”

Trump happily driving a garbage truck around an empty lot does nothing to dissuade me from my theory that he’s working through his bucket list.

it’s probably wrong to admit this publicly, but I love maintaining my own bespoke CMS.

In Punk Planet’s sixth year, we brought on a new design team and the look of the magazine really got incredible. I’ve assembled a gallery of some of the best spreads from that year.

Read “A Picture Postcard. Punk Planet: Year Six” on my blog. dansinker.com/posts/202…

This is a very good, very long, article about Electrical Audio in the wake of Steve Albini’s death and the wonderful community that is the Chicago music scene. www.inc.com/joshua-hu…

Chicago folks looking for a good, quick guide to the school board elections, the Chicago Reader has a good one (that I helped make). chicagoreader.com/2024-scho…

Chicago folks that like cool shit, more info forthcoming but keep the evening of December 5 open.

In Punk Planet's sixth year, we brought on a design team and the look of the magazine really got incredible. I've assembled a gallery of some of the best spreads from that year.

Read "A Picture Postcard. Punk Planet: Year Six" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-10-30-ppy6/

This week on Rebel Spirit we take Akilah’s case to change her high school mascot straight to the school district and learn that, well, change is hard. open.spotify.com/episode/1…

Today on Rebel Spirit: things fall apart. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

While the old media giants abdicate their duty in deference to power, it’s nice to see new ones step up. The Verge’s Harris endorsement (really, a Trump renouncement) is very very good: www.theverge.com/24282022/…

Over at Says Who, we’ve been selling “Kick Bezos in the Balls” merch for a while, if you’re so inspired. merch.sayswhopodcast.com/collectio…

Dunno what it means for the election but at this point it’s clear that Trump is just bucket-listing. Cosplaying at McDonalds, hanging out with The Undertaker, headlining Madison Square Garden, he’s working through his list.

I am very personally here for this moment in time when a whole bunch of tech billionares decided to very publicly punch themselves in the dick. Long may it last.

TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND SUBSCRIPTIONS CANCELLED HOLY SHIT. www.npr.org/2024/10/2…

Enjoying writing about my favorite media and books and travel and, you know, the threat of white supremacy for the Monday Media Diet today. whyisthisinteresting.substack.com/p/the-mon…

There’s no wider discrepancy between New York and everywhere else than waiting “on line” vs “in line”

Tim Walz bringing “jackwad” back is the thing to boost tbh.

Everyone boosting clips from the MSG rally exactly like they want you to do.

In 2020 I was unsuccessful in selling American Heel, a podcast about Trump and pro wrestling. Because of waves hands in all directions I recently revisited the two rough cuts I made and they’re still relevant. So here, rough edges and all: dansinker.com/posts/202…

Four years ago I was unsuccessful in selling American Heel, a podcast about Trump and pro wrestling. Because of *waves hands in all directions* I recently revisited the two rough cuts I made and they're definitely still relevant. So I'm putting them out, rough edges and all.

Read "From The Vault: American Heel" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-10-27-american-heel/

The billionaire owners of newspapers are pulling endorsements because they want the government contracts for the camps

We desperately need journalism but we do not need the husks of 20th century giants to do it

A lawsuit has been filed against Trump’s transition co-chair Linda McMahon alleging that she and others at WWE looked the other way as ring boys were sexually abused www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2024/…

Dear editors getting their op-eds banned. Just do this.

all every suit in journalism talks about right now is “trust” so it’s definitely fun watching the same suits light that trust on fucking fire.

just publish these op-eds. the whole internet is right there

Have had “I’m So Tired” by Fugazi stuck in my head all morning, despite not actually being tired. But man, what haunting beauty. open.spotify.com/track/6Jg…

Just remembered the time I helped ProPublica reverse-engineer campaign emails. www.propublica.org/article/r…

How about we don’t?

Unreasonably excited that there’s one last season of What We Do in the Shadows

I just listened back to a rough cut of a podcast pilot about Trump and professional wrestling I made four years ago that I couldn’t sell and, while dated, it is as relevant today as it was then. Missed opportunity.

Just over here producing a podcast that’s become a local election issue. Let’s fucking go. www.cincinnati.com/story/new…

Well that should do it.

Just wrote the absolute hell out of something. Put myself through hell to get there. But got there.

Trying to force my dumb monkey brain to make sense of a narrative that I currently can barely hold together.

The Chicago Red Stars, an absolutely perfect team name, has changed to the Chicago Stars???

Someone walked into a meeting and was like “You know I don’t think Chicagoans care about their flag that much, let’s just drop the reference.”

And everyone else said “Great idea!”

Rudy getting everything repo’d. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/…

Any OG Chicago journalism folks that follow me have a current contact for former Trib reporter Robert L Kaiser?

So excited for November 6 when these fuckers stop emailing every five seconds.

On Rebel Spirit this week, Akilah, Elizabeth, and I explore every avenue to find Shaun Alexander, NFL legend and BCHS alum. In the process, we talk with folks about sports, politics, and the fear of speaking up. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

This strategy was much more effective when they cast him as weird instead of dangerous.

“Weird” is a bummer for him and his supporters and those on the fence. “Dangerous” they think “yes, they are afraid of us”

A while back I made a patch that read “Trying” to remind myself that all I can really do is try. I made one for me, and then folks wanted them, and I made more but kept selling out. Now I’ve got plenty in stock and perhaps you need the same reminder. shop.dansinker.com/products/…

Th Undertaker and Kane interviewing Trump is perhaps one thing too many for my poor brain, I’m sorry to say.

Insomnia club is once again called to order.

I get it, I get it, McDonalds and all, but absolutely the most unhinged thing he did this weekend was talk about Arnold Palmer’s dick for ten minutes.

This might actually be the worst form on the internet. No basic data verification. Name, email and phone can be garbage. Address can be anything. No lockout after submit. It’s just… trash? I know this should not be surprising but also it’s sort of surprising. petition.theamericapac.org

This is way way WAY too close to a Says Who Podcast bit for my liking.

Officially at the age where every song at the grocery store is a banger.

It turns out being half on your ass from a vaccine hangover is not the time to troubleshoot complicated website configurations. Huh.

Have reached the full-shit-Saturday part of my Friday night double vaxx.

Watching the Premier League on Saturday mornings with the nine-year-old is pretty much exactly what I’d imagine watching with your out-of-work coal miner uncle from the Midlands who’s been drinking at the local since noon is like. When he yells at the ref I can hear it through the floor.

Trump transition team head Linda McMahon is the first transition co-chair in history to sell a stunner from Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Double vaxxed on a Friday night.

Descript really is a pretty incredible piece of software for working with audio and transcripts. Feels like magic still every time I use it.

This whole Wordpress drama is the most embarrasing shit possible.

Cold early mornings in the fall over everything.

This election day Chicago is electing its first ever school board (which seems WILD, but hey New York just got trash cans). There’s a lot out there and it can be confusing and there’s only a couple weeks left, so I helped the Chicago Reader build a guide to the new districts, the candidates running, and to answer questions you might have. chicagoreader.com/2024-scho…

at that point in setting up a new computer where you think maybe you should just get a new identity and run away from it all.

Sometimes I sit and think about how the Weakerthans are the most underappreciated underground band of the early 2000s and sometimes I just sit.

I hate that I can see this headline and immediately go “Oh, Wyoming? That’s where the $400 Trump shoe shell company is headquartered too.” amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/…

this just slid into Google Docs and it changes everything.

“Label created” is the bane of my existence.

The sun was projecting a nature scene on my bathroom wall this morning.

Trump spending 39 minutes on stage awkwardly swaying to sad songs is basically my and Maureen’s Super Bowl. sayswhopodcast.com/episodes/…

Insomnia club is called to order.

So did Beto just disappear?

finally getting around to streamlining how to post everywhere in this post-twitter hellscape.

I can’t stop watching Cabel Sasser’s talk from the XOXO conference this year.

Read “Appreciate Everything Endlessly” on my blog: dansinker.com/posts/202…

39 minutes of Trump awkwardly swaying to the world’s saddest songs is the funniest thing to happen to his campaign since Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

Today on Rebel Spirit, Akilah and I look at Denver’s South High School, a school that moveed away from the Rebel name thanks to an NFL star’s support. A story of hope & change! Listen on Apple or wherever. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

I can't stop watching Cabel Sasser's talk from the XOXO conference this year.

Read "Appreciate Everything Endlessly" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-10-13-sasser/

In the latest installment of my series reflecting on Punk Planet's legacy, I focus on the magazine's fifth year, when it shifted significantly toward political issues, particularly anti-war coverage, culminating in the "Murder of Iraq" cover story.

Read "Weapons and Motives. Punk Planet: Year Five" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-09-28-ppy5/

Everything is kinda shitty and stressful right now, so I wrote about something that's neither: the remarkable new game UFO 50.

Read "Getting Lost in UFO 50" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-09-25-ufo50/

The thing I love most about doing journalism is you never quite know where you're going to end up once you start digging. That's been especially true with my work on Rebel Spirit, which sits alongside the best reporting I've ever done. Today our second episode is out, and it's all about digging to expose a 70-year-old lie.

Read "Living History" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-09-10-history-lessons/

I wrote about underground art and design, a sacred assembly of men, and the year that changed everything for Punk Planet magazine as part of the fourth entry in my monthly essay series about the 13 year run of Punk Planet.

Read "Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes. Punk Planet: Year Four" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-08-31-ppy4/

The third in my monthly essay series about the 13 year run of Punk Planet. This time around, Year Three and the first cover story we ever ran, about the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 1996, wholly relevant once again.

Read "Alone in a Crowd. Punk Planet: Year Three" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-07-31-ppy3/

In honor of Steve Albini's birthday today, here's an excerpt from an interview with him Punk Planet #26, in which he talks about how he approaches his life. Happy birthday Steve, miss you.

Read "Thank you, Steve Albini" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-07-22-albini/

I'm writing an essay a month marking the 30 year anniversary of Punk Planet. This month, Year Two. If the first year of Punk Planet was about figuring out the function of the magazine, the second year was about the form.

Read "Do What You Want, 'Cos This is the New Art School. Punk Planet: Year Two" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-06-30-ppy2/

For the last year I've been working with Akilah Hughes to make Rebel Spirit, a podcast about her quest to change her high school mascot from the Rebels, named after the confederacy, to the Biscuits, a part of Southern heritage that everyone can get behind. It's been an infuriating, hilarious, and extraordinary journey and one I'm so excited to finally let you into.

Read "Rebel Rebel" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-06-19-rebelsprit/

30 years ago this month the first issue of Punk Planet magazine came out. It's incredible that one issue came out let alone 80 over the following 13 years. It started so small and grew to become my whole life. In honor of the 30 year mark, I'm writing 13 essays, one of each year of the magazine, starting with Year One.

Read "30 Years of Punk Planet: Year One" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-05-31-ppy1/

This week I gave a talk at the 11ty International Symposium on Making the Web Real Good. It was about Question Mark, Ohio and about how the web is still a place of endless possibility. I've adapted the talk into a blog post for you.

Read "Building a Town that Doesn't Exist" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-05-10-doesntexist/

I ended the indictment.fyi newsletter tonight and I feel a little guilty about it, so as penance, maybe, or out of a feeling that if I've taken something out of the world maybe I should also put something back in, here's three things I've been particularly excited about lately. Here's three for flinching.

Read "Three For Flinching" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-04-14-three-for-flinching/

Fresh out of college and in need of a job I landed in the production department of the Chicago Reader. Now, 30 years later, I'm back to help rebuild its legacy on the web.

Read "I'm Back with Scars to Show" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/reader/

I've loved the typeface Cooper Black long before I knew what it was. Big, bold, and forever it's over 100 years old and still makes me so happy every time I see it. I made a simple patch to celebrate Cooper Black, the greatest of typefaces.

Read "Cooper Black, A Love Story & A Patch" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/cooperblack/