#392: 10 Years in America, My First Election & A Quiet Place (for a 99c slice)

+ Coming to America, Waking Up with George Saunders & Morris shows a bit of leg!

I hope you’re having a great 4th July!

I’m buried in pages and coated in ink, beneath an arduous book deadline that is creeping ever closer. But, today is July 4th, and it’ll officially mark 10 years since Sophie and I landed in the United States. We spent last Independence Day on the Jersey Shore— you can read about that here:

A Quiet Slice

There’s something surreal about walking out onto the streets of New York after having just witnessed the city succumb to a brutal alien invasion.

New Yorkers quietly shuffling out began ‘shushing’ the popcorn maker. The sidewalk was filled with the jumpiest of pedestrians, darting eyes over their shoulders at the slightest noise. The third film in the “A Quiet Place” series is easily one of the best. It’s hard to beat a prequel that tells a story that’s been teased for 6 years. It gives a whole new meaning to “Silent Film”.

Before the movie begins, we’re greeted with a slow zoom-in to Manhattan with the titles overlaid: “New York gives off an average of 90 decibels, which is the sound of a constant scream.”

It’s a great movie. A tribute to those rare, tiny New York miracles. And pizza.

Continue reading below:

Put a Half-Opened Bag of Pecans on the Ballot

When I drew this back in early 2020 for The Weekly Humorist I did not anticipate it becoming an evergreen series that could run in the year of our Lord 2024. How did we even get here? 🫣

Before you pounce on me for comparing the President to a half-eaten bag of pecans— for the record, I believe Biden needs to make the decision to step back and let someone else into the ring. LBJ did it in 1968 (albeit, earlier in the race) but it’s not unprecedented. He would need to do it very soon. Maybe on, say… July 4th? 🇺🇸

This will be my first election, voting as an American citizen. What’s that thing people say of comedy being all about timing?

With that said, here are…

15 People and Things I Would Rather Vote for Than Trump...

Illustration for Sam Harris’ conversation with George Saunders

I’ve been doing the illustrations for various projects for Sam’s team for a few years now. You can see more of those on my blog here. This time around I got to illustrate the great author George Saunders for Sam’s latest conversation in the Waking Up app. It’s a great chat— George has a fascinating approach to writing.

From Waking Up:
In ‘Life and Work’, Sam speaks with author George Saunders about his creative process. They discuss George’s involvement with Buddhism, the importance of kindness, psychedelics, writing as a practice, the work of Raymond Carver, the problem of social media, our current political moment, the role of fame in American culture, Wendell Berry, fiction as way of exploring good and evil, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” missed opportunities in ordinary life, what it means to be a more loving person, his article “The Incredible Buddha Boy,” the prison of reputation, Tolstoy, and other topics.

This week’s Sketchbook is a quick warm-up scribble of the great Arnold Roth’s grandson!

While I do love the convenience of an iPad/Wacom/Xenselabs tablet… I can’t ever replicate the joy of using analog tools. I’m launching a new Substack called “Process Junkie” to explore all of the joys of the Process of making art. If you’re interested in that kind of thing, you can sign up here.