TL;DR: I switched out Social Media for direct subscription-based inbox distribution of my work and it has yielded way more than social ever did. (+ it won’t ever be shadow-banned by a buggy algorithm that doesn’t understand satire.)
I’ve never really done any book recommendations. That’s likely due to the fact that I’ve barely had time to finish a book in the past 7 years. But since quitting social media in July, I’ve finished over a dozen books. Weird.
Inspired by Brendan Leonard at SemiRad and his very helpful 2021 Book Recommendation List, I’ve compiled a list of books I enjoyed this year. Many of them I started or skimmed previously but didn’t actually finish until this year. Good for me. I hope you enjoy them.
Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links. That means if you buy books through the links, I will receive a small amount of cash to buy food for Morris. Where possible, I used links to Bookshop or the publisher’s website when possible. If you don’t know how Bookshop works: You can select a local independent bookstore from Bookshop’s list, and when you buy a book, that bookstore gets a small commission from the sale. If you like bookstores, and you would like them to stick around, it’s great.
Also… if you like bookstores, my friend and fellow New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein did an entire book about bookstores. It’s wondrously meta.
My funny friend @ronnychieng asked me if I would design the art for his shows at @radiocitymusichall this year for his “Love To Hate It” tour. I was honored to be asked! 🤯 Here’s some of the process.
I’ll share more in my new Substack called “Process Junkie” which launches this month.
Update: Chicago Theatre also!
I started out drawing and performing on Picture This! back in 2013 during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival when it was still a new show finding its feet. I would race off stage from my own hour-long stand-up show across town to jump in the saddle and draw for a slew of guest comedians who would pass through on their way to the bar - it sort of became the unofficial comic hang of the festival; seeing which big names would show up for a spot.
Fast forward 11 years and Picture This! holds 2 shows every month; one in LA, and one in New York— usually at Union Hall in Brooklyn. The generous folks at Wacom supplied us with new Wacom Mobilestudio Pro tablets to draw on, animating the comic’s set on stage while they interact with the drawing. If you get the chance, I highly recommend coming down for the next show. You can find out more about Picture This here.
Photo credit: Noah Everhart (@enemypixels on Instagram)
Editor’s Note:
I’m publishing this journal entry on the eve of the New Yorker’s 99th Birthday. I didn’t publish it at the time because I hadn’t quite collected my thoughts or feelings about the event. The notes I made on the night are the hasty scribblings and sketches of a madman, but I finally managed to make some sense of them.
I’m sad to say that a large number of the people I was in the room with that night have since been fired by Conde Nast, or have left of their own accord for one reason or another. Many of the magazine’s best and most influential cartoonists died in the ensuing year, including Ed Koren (April), and Sam Gross (May) shortly after we lost Lee Lorenz, Sempe, and George Booth; all giants in their field. I think Emma Allen has had to write more cartoonist obituaries than any Cartoon Editor in the magazine’s history.
The New Yorker itself has gone through a lot of changes since that night, so I’m glad we had the opportunity to get together when we did.
The following is a grammatical mess. Apologies. I don’t have an editor. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the read.
A Journal Entry from a New Jersey road gig at Bananas Comedy Club from 7 years ago
November 2017,
Bananas Comedy Club, New Jersey
As the audience from the 7:00pm filtered out we reconvened at the bar and dissected our sets over whiskey. Much self flagellation and bullshitting ensued before we hurled ourselves on stage to an even drunker crowd for the 9:30pm show.
It was a mess.
Hecklers, a bachelorette party, a sobbing waitress, and a man who thought it would be a good time to pull down his jeans and show his hairy little p-nis to a table full of Christians.
I slunk back to the room and drank myself to sleep. The martini glasses were still sitting outside the door.
Big news! My long-time podcast and writing partner Scott is having a baby. In even bigger news: we’ve ended our 4-year hiatus! After a pandemic and several other small events, I’m excited to share our newest episode is up: It’s the first in the new season of “Is There Something In This?” where we come up with cartoon ideas for the New Yorker and other publications. You can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and take a look at the new episode by clicking the button below:
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 starting a new Substack in 2024 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.
December 23, 2023
Rue de Rivoli, Paris
Thawing out for the afternoon, we’ve decided to order the cheapest thing on the menu and take in the show of the lobby bar in Le Meurice, a hotel bordering the Tuileries.
If there’s a New York equivalent it would be the Plaza Hotel; A hive of opulence. A place to be seen. The kind of iconic establishment the clenched class comes to grudgingly tolerate their relatives over expensive champagne and high tea. Rich fodder for eavesdrawing:
It’s the only time I do it. The style depends on whether I’m at the drawing board or sitting at the Cintiq. I don't meditate much on these; I just start drawing and see what emerges. It’s usually a reflection of my feelings about that year.
In a quaint corner of the wizarding world nestled within an enchanted doghouse, dwells Morris, the Holiday Goblin. This diminutive creature, perpetually forlorn, has an unusual penchant for gnawing on footwear. With the right leather delicacy —usually something with heels— his despondency transforms into elation, making him the happiest of gobblie-wobblies. That is until the shredded remains are discovered by their owner…
I’ll be hosting and also drawing for the hilarious Griffin Newman!
I started out drawing and performing on Picture This! back in 2013 during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival when it was still a new show finding its feet. I would race off stage from my own hour-long stand-up show across town to jump in the saddle and draw for a slew of guest comedians who would pass through on their way to the bar - it sort of became the unofficial comic hang of the festival; seeing which big names would show up for a spot.
Fast forward 10 years and Picture This! holds 2 shows every month; one in LA, and one in New York— usually at Union Hall in Brooklyn. The generous folks at Wacom supplied us with new Wacom Mobilestudio Pro tablets to draw on, animating the comic’s set on stage while they interact with the drawing. If you get the chance, I highly recommend coming down for the next show. You can find out more about Picture This here.
Since 2021, I’ve been lucky enough to work with the team behind the Waking Up app, which, after 10 years of meditation, has accelerated my knowledge and practice way beyond anything I could ever have fathomed at the starting line. You don’t know what you don’t know, I guess. (Then you know it. You know?)
All that is to say, every course on there is helpful. Exploring consciousness, mortality, the human mind and beyond with the best thinkers in their field, all in one place. Waking Up has become the biggest digital repository of immortalized wisdom in the world. A vast, virtual library of thought, conversation, practice and tools. It’s my desert island app, hands down.
Amanda Knox just joined with a fantastic series on resilience. Give it a listen below.
Artwork by Jason Chatfield
I hope what I have to offer here can help you feel less trapped in your own life. You can download the app from the app store and find my series of lectures in the Life section. Or follow this link:https://t.co/qSMKl4zxM4
— Amanda Knox (@amandaknox) November 15, 2023
