Your Mid-Week Experiment
Welcome to the always free, reader-supported mid-week edition of The Experiment. If you’d like to support my work, buy my Alamo book, buy some Experiment merch, drop some coins in the PayPal fountain, or become a paid subscriber. But even if you don’t, this bugga free.
Here’s how to properly enjoy this mid-weeker: Get one of the sheet-pan dinners below into the oven, hit play on our playlist, read the articles while the dinner cooks, and then watch the shows while chowing down. There, I just curated an easy weekend night for you. Oh, I’m so excited. Let’s get to it!
I am #TeamEmmaThompson when it comes to calling writing content: “It’s just a rude word for creative people.” (The New York Times)
This is a brilliant takedown of the Heroes of Capitalism genre and a hilarious recasting of Going Infinite as a hilarious and effective satire instead of what Michael Lewis thinks it is, a unpersuasive tragedy. (David Roth)
This recipe for gochujang chicken and roasted vegetables requires only a sharp knife, a sheet pan, and little in the way of culinary skill. (New York Times Cooking)
That recipe worked so well I made this chicken and shrimp deal, though I’d suggest using whatever cajun seasoning you have in the pantry instead of getting all precious like these folks recommend. (Eating Well)
Did you know that the ability to work remotely correlates exactly with the workforce participation of mothers? (Duh! magazine)
Think of your marriage as a startup and not a merger, and you’ll be better off. (Arthur Brooks)
The hottest social media platform among Gen Z is… LinkedIn. Yes, that LinkedIn. (The Cut)
But for real. Apparently LinkedIn is cool now. (Press Gazette)
“[T]he big-platform party is over.” Welcome to the pluriverse. (Insider)
Great reporting from Maurice Chammah here and in this podcast:
A thousand times this—> (Michelle Goldberg)
Related, great analysis on the Gaza-driven schism on the left (Dave Weigel)
Gaza’s attack knocked down the house of cards that was pop intersectionality (Helen Lewis)
Sex Education is back on Netflix with its fourth and final season — which means more new Ezra Forman music.
There is also the show. Some things they have done well they keep doing well, some not. Alistair Petrie is getting an overdue storyline worth his talents, and this season sees the spectrum through a wider aperture.
Bob’s Burgers is good. But “The Amazing Rudy,” the second episode of its 14th season, might be one of the greatest episodes of anything I’ve ever seen. It’s streaming on Hulu. Please go watch it.
If nothing else, Lessons in Chemistry allows you to watch Brie Larson being very smart.
We set up a merch table in the back where you can get T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even tote bags now. Show the world that you’re part of The Experiment.
We’ve also got a tip jar, and I promise to waste every cent you give me on having fun, because writing this newsletter for you is how I have fun.
Buy the book Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick banned from the Bullock Texas History Museum: Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of the American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and myself is out from Penguin Random House.