Number One With A Bullard

What happens when you remember something but the internet doesn't? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

1. The Mega Man theory of personality In the video game Mega Man, when you beat a boss, you gain their power. Beat the fire boss and you can shoot fire in the next level. That sort of thing. When I was a senior in high school, I was cast as Mark Twain in a school play. To play the part, I read Twain, I read about Twain, and when I drove places, I read the signs and billboards out loud in my attemp...

In late summer last year, young people across the German-speaking world met by the dozens in parks and public squares. At a designated time, they took out small cups of pudding and plastic forks, then used the latter to eat the former. They did it because someone posted to TikTok that it would be a fun thing to do. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or g...

Over the holiday break, I had a piece published in the New York Times Magazine about my snail obsession and how it helped me adjust to life in Switzerland. You can read it here . This post is kind of a cousin or sibling to that one. Let me know if you like this kind of writing, or if you’d rather have the typical hand-wringing analysis of minor records or trends or whatever else it is I do here. F...

So many Christmas songs are sad. That's just right for the season. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

Who taught you what a director does? This is one of those pieces of knowledge that used to come through cultural osmosis—some assembly required. Based on conversations with peers (and the discussion on the latest Blank Check series), I learned about directors the same way a lot of kids who grew up in the ‘90s learned. First there was Tim Burton. Batman was everywhere, and when I saw Edward Scissor...

Are we past the age of must-have Christmas gifts? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

This is the final installment of my notes on the cultural history of the bowling shirt. You don’t need to have read part one or part two , but you might like them. Winning In the twenty-first century, nostalgia piled on top of itself until it collapsed into a heap of meaningless. The swing revival ended on January 31, 1999, when Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played the Super Bowl halftime show, along with...

This is part two of a series of notes on the bowling shirt and the culture around it. Part one is here , but you don’t need to have read it to enjoy this one. There Is No Twenty-Year Cycle I bowled on a computer before I bowled in real life. I spent hours on our Macintosh Performa playing “Alley 19,” a bowling simulator with a ‘50s motif—horn rimmed glasses on bowlers, a neon martini sign above th...

This is going to get weird Let me explain.  When I was sorting through my clothes before moving two years ago, I found an old bowling shirt I used to wear in high school. It was a gift from a friend who got it from her dad. At the time, it was cool—ironic, vintage, unique. I wore it until sometime in college when I saw someone wearing a bowling shirt and one of those visors with fake hair on it . ...

Are you getting too much Content? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

This is the start of an occasional series I’m going to do about craft . I’ll have another installment in a few weeks , after I send a few other newsletters. As with any series I do, you don’t have to read each part. I know that simply subscribing to a newsletter is all the commitment some people can handle.  I never leave home without two pencils. Why pencils? Because they don’t spill ink if they...

The audio edition of the newsletter is back. A fresh episode every two weeks. Become a paid subscriber at any level to get future installments. I first noticed the stone on a Monday. I jog on a route along the edge of the woods. I’ve been advised to run in the woods, but I can’t. I tried it once, during a visit years ago. I felt lost. Not physically lost, but spiritually. Or maybe chronologically....

Think of the last time you went out. Were most people you passed wearing headphones, earbuds, or something similar? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

So many Christmas songs are deeply sad. That's just right for the season. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

I wrote an essay for Together, Alone about how Instagram has been feeding me a lot of clips from Married with Children and Modern Family , which means I’ve seen a lot of Ed O’Neill. It made me think of his time as a collect call spokesman, which made me think of this piece. I decided to rerun it because I’m not yet ready to speculate whether the Internet is demanding a Dutch remake. This is a publ...

1. August 2015, Washington, D.C. We’re in a new apartment in a new city and I go to the local library to find a book that isn’t still in a stack of boxes. On a shelf of novels, I see a title I can’t resist: The Dud Avocado . I’ve never heard of it or the author, Elaine Dundy, but it’s part of the New York Review of Books Classics series, which is always a good sign. On the back cover, I find all t...

Note: Every so often, I write about records that belong to a category called “nonmusic.” This is part of that series. You don’t have to have read the last one to get this one, but if you want to read it, it’s here . John F. Kennedy is our vinyl president. His administration’s nickname comes from a record—Jackie Kennedy once told an interviewer the president listened to the cast album of the musica...

First, some thoughts about tote bags… As an expression of personality and taste, tote bags have ascended to the level of t-shirts. On a city bus, in the park on a sunny day, or in line at the grocery store, you’ll see canvas carryalls that tell you what a person reads, where they shop, what they listen to, and which charities they support. The longtime public radio reporter in me smiles whenever I...

On secondhand clothes and getting lost in the woods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

“Has this happened before?” This question, a digression on old newspapers, and a story about Mark Twain being troubled by nineteenth century influencers. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

Last Friday, jetlagged and surprisingly ahead on a few assignments, I decided to spend the workday cleaning my desk. I meant to do this before I left town. That is, I meant to do it every day for the last six months. When I first set up my desk, I neatly arranged everything—I even organized pencils by their lead numbers. Within a week, my headphone and microphone cables were twisted around themsel...

Connecting the loss of critics with the loss of journalists, and the effects on culture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

Who buys a record to hear a rock star talk? That’s the question at the heart of this week’s audio edition. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe

So many Christmas songs are deeply sad. That's just right for the season. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gabebullard.substack.com/subscribe