sweet ’n’ sour tape #20: LIFE IS A VERB
I feel like this right now:
I had to take it back to the good old “pErSonAL esSaY” format because I can’t believe this is the 20th one. Remember when we quit at 3?
This past March was officially a year since the coronavirus pandemic started. As of writing this, there have been ~134M cases worldwide with 76.2M recovered and 2.9M dead. A lot of those people probably would have had great full lives if it wasn’t for this bullshit, and while we can celebrate that at least it’s not as deadly as other viruses, those people deserve a moment of silence.
While you take a minute to remember them, enjoy this chart depicting the full incestuous web of American consumerism in all its glory. Remember that these people still thrived while the rest of the world was forced to inure themselves to the limbo of this pandemic. Who do you give most of your money to? Let me know.
To balance you out, here is this Japanese bird called a shima enaga, native to Hokkaido.
Do you feel guilty for thriving as much as we did during the pandemic? I guess now that it’s been a year in review it’s something we can talk about. We were definitely privileged enough to not be gravely affected by it for the most part. We stayed broke but emerged unscathed aside from that. In many ways, we became more grounded, mature, and focused.
I think it’s fair to say that you found your purpose, and I reaffirmed mine.
I read some of the tapes that first began to break the mold and the chaos is kind of interesting to me. It really feels like we were going through these supercharged transformations, and we didn’t know how to act lol. I think equilibrium is important, so that those moments remain highlights rather than the norm.
I don’t have a big idea or plan or even topic for this 20th tape. I know that’s kind of disappointing for a milestone like this that we never even saw coming, but believe it or not, I’ve had trouble reflecting and trying to muse about life. For the first time in a loooong time, I feel like I’m coming out of my head, and I’m just…living. You see my dear friend,
I’m fully tapped into being an artist. I feel confident in everything we’re doing, and now I just wanna realize the whole vision. I don’t have any real political diatribes, nor am I really in my bag. It’s probably cause it’s spring- you know us cold-blooded animals don’t wake up until the sun comes out.
Here’s some cool cultural highlights I came across during March:
This should be your next career destination after consulting:
Murakami got into the NFT market with his iconic flowers 🌸🏵️🌼
Oh one last thing, here are some amazing old Japanese album covers:
It’s your turn to redesign the publication next time, I can’t wait to see what you do. Make sure it’s fire cause if it’s ass I’m gonna complain.
I can’t remember the last time I did a short tape, so here you go. All I really gotta say is I feel more confident than ever that me and you are long lost brothers who are going to rule the (entertainment) world. I don’t think the internet needs to know the details of why, but you definitely already should :)
