Collection: Nov. 22nd-29th, 2025
A history of automata, a masterpiece, and John Candy
Defunctland
(YouTube Channel)
Defunctland is Kevin Perjurer’s collection of YouTube video-histories on the lost and forgotten lore of amusement parks from across the world.
It’s a remarkable, obsessive project. He does a fantastic job digging up archival treasures and piecing together a narrative with an eye for curiosity and humor. Did you want 6+ hours of history on just how Walt Disney became obsessed with automata? Did you ever want to know what happened to the ToysRUs in Times Square? Here you go.
The Obscene Bird of Night
(by José Donoso, 1970, Spanish: El obsceno pájaro de la noche)
José Donoso’s gothic tour de force may be what would’ve happened if Faulkner had decided to write a one-two combo of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Satantango, and everything took place in Chile.
Even this description doesn’t do the novel justice. A true ode to grotesquerie and monstrosity, written with love, lust, and horror in equal parts. Recently reissued in English through New Directions with pages that were originally cut from some earlier translations. Immaculate. One of my favorite reads of this year.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
(Directed by John Hughes, 1987)
I had only ever caught bits and pieces of this movie on Comedy Central when I was home sick from school or something. Watched the full thing. I love preaching to the choir. Need I say more?