We asked Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller to guest edit magnetmagazine.com this week, and he pawned it off on a bunch of his famous friends: other musicians, actors, writers and comedians. Well played, Rhett. But you can’t hide behind a self-titled solo album. Rhett Miller (Shout! Factory), a Beatlesque beauty featuring Jon Brion, is out this week.
Kevin Seccia writes a useful blog called How To Beat Up Anything. He used to box. He does comedy in many forms. His headshot adorns my garage wall. For real. Kind of a looker. Kevin Seccia recommends:
Potential by Ariel Schrag
Likewise is Ariel Schrag‘s most recent autobiographical comic, but start with 2000’s Potential, if you haven’t read it. It’s a hilarious, thoughtful and sometimes mindbogglingly uncomfortable look at the author’s high-school years. She captures that experience perfectly while also coining phrases I’ve stolen for my regular life and delivering the best advice I’ve ever seen for how to put together a solid outfit. Buy it!
Incognito by Ed Brubaker
The word “gritty” is overused. It’s been cheapened, sullied and defanged—turned into a hollow shell of its old self. And now, here I am wanting to use it to describe something actually gritty, and it’s just not getting it done. OK, forget gritty, this Ed Brubaker comic is like getting punched in the face by a sandpaper-covered fist, only halfway through getting hit you realize you kinda like it. A dark (another useless word), noir-ish, supervillain tale that will make you angry at the lesser comic books you’ve been wasting your time on.
Travian.com
Travian is a super-nerdy, “swords and scrolls” game that’s great for geeks who can’t be bothered with interacting in person (D&D) or even pushing buttons rapidly (video games). All buttons here are pushed slowly, spread out over hours during which you should be working. Amass resources, form alliances and thrive socially, all while your real-world equivalents of the same things wither and die. Perfect.
