Midweek Quick Hits 6/3/26

From Brian

Watch: I had no idea that the cancer rate in Iowa was so disproportionately high compared to the US. This 14 minute mini-doc from More Perfect Union tries to understand why. And while it’s not confirmed, it sure looks like nitrates in the drinking water might have something to do with it. Apparently, the mix of fertilizer and manure being used on the crops— Iowa is, after all, one of the largest ag producing states in the nation— has been seeping into the rivers and the tap water, causing extremely high levels of nitrates, which are known toxins linked to cancer. This 15 minute doc traces the nitrate pollution back to a network of highly influential and moneyed corporations (like Monsanto, which is now Bayer) who have blocked regulations at every turn. And they’re showing how Iowans may finally be at their breaking point and ready to elect an Ag Secretary who is fighting to change the way farming is done in order to bring down the cancer rates. It doesn’t seem like a partisan issue, and though I know it’s tough to be a farmer and I’d never want to pretend I know what’s actually going on on the ground out there, this quick video was very eye-opening and concerning. I just bought a nitrate testing kit online to see what’s going on in my tap water. I really like More Perfect Union’s investigative reports, while they definitely lean a little left, they also produce unbiased stories about things like this one about grocery store price-surging that is truly stunning.

Read: I really try to portray myself as a serious reader on here, always pompously recommending literary fiction with meaningful themes, but screw it, this one is just fun. Very, very fun. Stupid? Yes. Frivolous? Sure. A blast to read? Hell yes. I first started seeing posts about Dungeon Crawler Carl a few months ago and thought nothing of it, that it was some kind of card game, maybe a video game. But it kept popping up in my algorithm, and then I saw people on lit substacks writing about it and realized it was a novel. Well, novel may be a misnomer, it’s what is being called LitRPG, as in Literary Role Playing Game. And if you’ve ever played Dungeons and Dragons or a really immersive video game, that’s what reading this book is like. It’s undeniably fun— there are goblins and monsters and acid-spitting llamas, and the hapless hero has a talking cat for a sidekick. It also has a gamer-style aesthetic to it, with curse-filled quips and fast-paced action sequences that feel like you should be eating popcorn while reading. There’s also a video-game-logic to the narration, where the hero gets to pull up his arsenal of weapons, spells, and achievements in a heads up display in his vision and dis. It’s a perfect guilty pleasure for anyone who is looking for a fun escape. Or maybe that dude in your life who doesn’t read - this one will keep his attention. And, with multiple books in the series, maybe he’ll become an unexpected bookworm! Oh, and the narrator on the audiobook is awesome, if you’re more of an audio person.

FATHER’S DAY GIFT IDEA: Boy have I come a long way since the little yellow tree hanging on the rearview in my high school truck! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve still got a soft spot for that sunbaked vanilla scent— whenever I smell it, I’m immediately whisked into a boundless summer night, cruising with the windows down around the suburban outskirts of Sacramento. Ahhhh, youth. But now I’m a man and I don’t need a silly scent in my car. Or so I thought. After some pretty intense algorithm marketing, I finally pulled the trigger on the Drift Car Freshener and even Emily can attest— it smells really good! Basically a scent-soaked wooden block that’s magnetized to a sunvisor clip, it looks pretty sleek and masculine, and it smells even better. I ordered two different scents: Teak and Amber, and would recommend both. It’s like having a masculine candle burning in my car, with an oak/tobacco/sandalwood aroma. But don’t worry, the smell is pretty subtle, so you don’t feel like you’re getting punched in the face every time you enter the car.

From Em

Go: Hey Portland folks!! Justin Willman is coming to town and you have to go (with or without kids). One of the best joys of parenting is doing shared experiences together when everyone is equally into whatever it is. Enter Justin Willman, our family’s ‘magician’ of choice that somehow isn’t a household name yet. We binged his show, Magic for Humans during lockdown, then did a zoom show with him and then last year when he came to Portland (in advance of his Netflix special which you ALSO need to watch) we took the kids and it was one of the best nights as a family, like ever. Now he’s not a kid magician (don’t bring your toddlers) but for the 8+ crew and obviously grownups he’s just so entertaining and fresh, while having a levity and poignancy about what he does. He’s coming for two nights in Portland when we are out of town and the kids (and Brian and I) are so bummed to miss the new show that we might actually fly to Phoenix to see him. That’s how much I can recommend his live show. He’s coming to many cities across the US - here’s the full tour schedule. Trust me, it’s worth every penny in entertainment and just general bonding with whomever you go with. 10/10 experience.

Listen: I dropped into Lena Dunham’s episode of A Good Hang (Amy Poehler’s podcast) and found it surprisingly good. Even though I lived in New York during the Girls era, neither Brian or I had whatever channel it was on (we couldn’t afford cable, and this was before streaming y’all) so I don’t remember watching it. I now want to listen to her book, Fame Sick, which documents her relationship with fame and how it negatively affected her. But the way that she presented it in the podcast was with a lot of levity and poignancy. She does ‘universal and specific‘ so well. If you were on the fence reading or listening to her memoir, check out the podcast and I think you’ll take the plunge. She’s so incredibly likable.