G A N Z E E R . T O D A Y

8:30 am. Garden kittens have stormed the house and laid claim to my bed, ruffling around playfully between the sheets. I haven't the heart or energy to chase them out. Fresh coffee in hand fails to disperse sleep from my eyes as a I plan the day ahead:

• Finish inking TSG09p24 – 12 more pages to go on the final chapter of THE SOLAR GRID.

• Shave face.

• Look after dad.

Tomorrow I need to finish most of the branding work on PROJECT FUNNYCULT, run a couple errands, including a much-dreaded Ikea run. I'd really hoped to avoid Ikea upon the move to Cairo, which I hoped to avoid upon the move to Cairo, but I don’t have the time or patience to comb through the city’s endless shopping clusters for a couple of basics. A negligible betrayal only if it were my first since being here.

RESTRICTED FREQUENCY #225 goes out around midnight. Its title: Anything But The Art! 😱

#journal #work

• Comics and the Atomic Bomb from 1945-1955: Hank Kennedy for the Comics Journal

• Welcome to the Turbulent Twenties: Jack Goldstone and Peter Turchin for Noema

• Three Felonies a Day — A book by Harvey A. Silvergate

#radar

• “Refugees alone, a tiny proportion of all immigrants to the U.S., produced $124 billion in net tax revenue between 2005 and 2019, Moorehead noted in her piece on Liberian refugees. As of January, the U.S. no longer resettles refugees; as of this fall, refugees living in the U.S. will no longer be eligible for Medicaid.” — Nathaniel Popkin

• “You can’t Instagram your way into belonging; it requires choosing deliberate entanglement over endless optionality, again and again.” — Kai for DENSE DISCOVERY

• “There is happy, and there is polite, and they look very different. Polite has a mechanical quality to it, like carrying out all the right movements to replace batteries in a remote. Happy has a boundless quality: unpredictable, even when it is at a low level.” — Shani Zhang writes 21 Observations From People Watching for SKIN CONTACT

#radar

• “It does no good to complain about the weather.” — Tony Gilroy interviewed by Ross Douthat for the NYT

• “Then they kill all the people.” — Daniel Kokotajlo interviewed by Ross Douthat for the NYT

#radar

Grants, residencies, and open calls for artists:

• Stochastic Labs Residencies – SF Bay Area

• The Awesome Foundation Grant — $1000 micro grants

• Sharjah Art Foundation Residency Program — Sharjah, UAE

• McColl Center Residency — Charlotte, NC

• Princeton Hodder Fellowship — Princeton, NJ

• Princeton Arts Fellowship — Princeton, NJ

• Macdowell Residency — Peterborough, NH

• Edgar Heap of Birds Family Artist Residency — Philadelphia, PA

• Vermont Studio Center Residency — Johnson, VT

• Hayama Artist Residency — Hayama, JP

• Center for Craft Research Fund

#Grants #Radar

• The Sample: Newsletter and directory aimed to help subscribers discover other newsletters. Seeing as my own newsletter, RESTRICTED FREQUENCY, seems to trigger an equal number of unsubscribes as new subscriptions with each new edition sent out (at an almost consistent rate of about 0.43%), it's fair to assume that it has plateaued in its reach. Seeking new ways to get the word out and potentially grow one's audience is probably wise. THE SAMPLE is one of but a few ways I've come across.

• Slavoj Zizek: Intellectuals in the west are fake — Youtube

• “Galactic mind”—Rupert Sheldrake — Youtube

• Sales of artwork made in the last 20 years fell by 43%

#radar

“Write to entertain yourself first. Because if you’re bored, your reader will be bored too. This applies even to client work with specific briefs and notes you may not actually agree with. Find a way to keep yourself interested and engaged and it’ll reflect in the work. Pander or try to write for an imagined audience and it will show.”

From 12 RULES FOR WRITING by Warren Ellis via his ORBITAL OPERATIONS newsletter.

“Write every day, but set a minimum boundary. Graham Greene only wrote 500 words a day. Some people set ten minutes of full focus a day. Putting your body in front of word-making materials for a period of time is the thing, and if that ever seems hard to you, think about Jean-Dominique Bauby, who had to dictate an entire book using only his left eye to signal with. Books are written only by the people who show up to write them, even if it’s only ten minutes a day.”

Also: “Always know when to leave the stage and what to leave behind.”

Many great tips from an expert in the field who's been around long enough to give it to you straight.

#radar

“Sometime around 1957, in a fluorescent-lit lab at the University of Wisconsin, psychologist Harry Harlow carried out a study that would come to haunt the field of behavioral science.”

From RESTRICTED FREQUENCY #224: False Monkey Theory

“The experiment, which would be difficult to receive grant approval for today (for good reason at that), involved separating newborn monkeys from their mothers just hours after birth (evil!). The infants were then placed in solitary confinement with two ersatz 'mothers'—one, a minimalist wireframe fitted with a bottle of milk; the other, soft and wrapped in fabric, but offering no sustenance...”

#RF

Two belated additions to the new studio that are difficult for me to function without: a wall clock and notice board!

Small victories can be so satisfying sometimes.

#journal #studio #cairo

The next RESTRICTED FREQUENCY is scheduled to drop on Sunday. In it, we draw on a chilling monkey experiment from 1957 to illustrate how comfort is often sought after over truth—nationalism, corporate “families,” and expat illusions are all explored within. Plus: a poster giveaway, smoothie recipe, and sharp cultural picks.

An issue not to be missed! If you haven't already, sign up now to make sure it lands in your inbox and makes it in front of your eyeballs.

#RF