August 04, 2021

🥂 What white wine pairs well with chocolate chip cookies? 🍪

ASKING FOR A BLUE-FURRED FRIEND

What a difference a week makes! Last Wednesday we saw July off by "celebrating" water parks (gross) and hepatitis (unfortunate); now August has swept in to save us with National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and National White Wine Day!

Sure, I may prefer to wash my cookies down with a cool glass of oat milk, but I wouldn't turn down a refreshing white sangria in this August heat. I'm willing to bet Cookie Monster wouldn't, either — anyone who eats cookies that sloppily is probably more than a little wine-drunk.

Pretty sure Cookie Monster's brain just went bye-bye.

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Before we get to this week's amusing links let's honor a couple August 4th birthdays!

Famed jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, born this day in 1901! Mr. Armstrong was a foundational figure in jazz that shifted the genre's focus from collective improvisation to solo performance.

44th President of the United States Barack Obama, born this day in 1961! Mr. Obama is known for, among other things, questionable choices in jeans and a decent perimeter game on the hardwood.

• A couple women in the British royal family, apparently. *eye roll*

The United States Coast Guard, founded this day in 1790 as the Revenue-Marine!

Alright, you've waited long enough — let's get to some fun links!

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1. Artist Alicja Kozlowska makes realistic replicas of everyday products out of textiles, and it's VERY impressive!

A Campbell's soup can in two dimensions? Try THREE, Ghost-of-Andy-Warhol! The gauntlet has been thrown!

2. Cat parents will find Sorrow Bacon's comic strips very relatable. Or I do, at least.

Boredwalk co-founder Meredith and I are constantly being negged by our familiar Oliver.

3. Today is also International Cloud Leopard Day, so let's watch one tumble through the jungle in slo-mo!

Humans in cities are all like "parkour this, parkour that." Meanwhile, this sweet dude is like "hold my catnip."

4. Illustrator SpaceGoth makes art that looks more or less how you'd expect art from someone named SpaceGoth to look, and I am here for it!

From a strong feline presence to a perpetually bleak outlook to an obsession with houseplants, SpaceGoth really checks all the boxes.

5. The Oatmeal is always good for a laugh, but this strip explaining why it's so difficult to accept compliments from others really resonated with me.

This explainer can be applied to pretty much any scenario, but I am processing it from the perspective of an artist. On the one hand, artists want validation from their audience (no matter how much artists say they don't care and that they make art for themselves). On the other hand, it makes my skin crawl when people tell me I'm good at...well, anything.

6. BONUS: This is an oldie from 2012, but a goodie nonetheless.

Of COURSE I would never knowingly (and repeatedly) drug a screeching child with chloroform to get them to STFU. Of COURSE not.

But I do understand the impulse.

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OK! Hopefully these little diversions helped to brighten your day! We'll be back here in your inbox on Friday an epic new podcast episode, more fun birthdays & lesser holidays, and a VERY special flash sale that you will DEFINITELY want to take advantage of! Until then...

Peace, love, and wine-dunked cookies,

Matt