About one year later, I work here and get to call Ian a colleague. It is, to this day, the smartest, most clear-headed and creative essay on the issues with that particular technological paradigm that I’ve come across-an outstanding piece of analytical writing. Ian’s story put everything into perspective. Don’t take any nonsense from cats.Ī favorite story I’ve read in The Atlantic: I’ll never forget Ian Bogost’s 2022 article “ The Internet Is Just Investment Banking Now.” When it published, I was working at a start-up that operated to some extent in the “web3” space, which I had mixed feelings about. I like to do things slowly, slowly, slowly. But I am not lazy … That’s just how I am. I am also unflappable, languid, stoic, impassive, sluggish, lethargic, placid, calm, mellow, laid-back and, well, slothful! I am relaxed and tranquil, and I like to live in peace. I am lackadaisical, I dawdle and I dillydally. It is true that I am slow, quiet and boring.

And on its own time, to no one in particular-the jaguar’s not even on the page anymore-the sloth eventually offers: A rude jaguar comes up and asks why it’s so lazy. The other animals of the rainforest judge it. In the book, the sloth lives an existence that is truly its own.

Sloth is all about owning who you are and navigating the perceptions of others. One of his favorites is “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the Sloth, by Eric Carle, the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He pronounces it like the end of “Malibu,” or like he’s trying to scare someone on Halloween. He wakes up in the morning pointing to his bookshelf and repeating “Books, books, books,” like an incantation. Something delightful introduced to me by a kid in my life: My 1-year-old is obsessed with books. Everyone knows he was one of the great actors of his era, but if you haven’t seen him slip and fall on the hardwood floor at the start of this movie, well, you don’t really know anything at all. Something I recently rewatched, reread, or otherwise revisited: Along Came Polly, the 2004 rom-com with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston-and, much more important, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

John Mulaney's Baby J takes apart a likable comedian.

Daniel clowes like a velvet glove