Butthole Surfers Are BACK and Paul Leary Explains How

We interviewed Paul Leary, guitarist and founding member of the Butthole Surfers, and he walked us through each of their albums, one-by-one. Made up of core members Paul Leary, Gibby Haynes, and King Coffey, the Butthole Surfers are one of the most beloved and extraordinarily weird bands in history. But after some major-label drama in the early 00s, they are finally releasing the original version of their final album as it was intended by the band (After the Astronaut, out June 26).

The History of Sushi

“The history of sushi from ancient times up until the modern era, from its origins as the fermented "narezushi" all the way up to its final evolutions of nigiri-zushi and maki-zushi. We will make stops in the Nara, Heian, Muromachi, Edo and Meiji periods (sorry, Kamakura), and even take some time to discuss sushi's journey out into the world during the 20th century.”

This is super informative and man, do I love me some sushi.

How Liminalism Became the Defining Aesthetic of Our Time

“This crowd-curated digital movement is one of the most pertinent and explicit reactions to our particular slice of dystopian late capitalism.”

“The placelessness of Liminalism — these spaces could notably be anywhere — flattens experience in the same way that digital homogenization obliterates distance. Anonymity, alienation, and anxiety are now the bywords of our age, and Liminalism is the ultimate expression of that trinity.”

…

“In Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures (2014), critical theorist Mark Fisher describes the generational affliction of being “walled off from the lifeworld, so that … inner life — or inner death — overwhelms everything,” where there is “nothing but the inside, but the inside is empty.” It’s an apt summation of Liminalism — the visual accompaniment to neoliberalism, post-industrialization, early apocalypse, whatever you want to call it, as silent and dark as an abandoned shopping mall. “

The Reason Why Older Records Sound Better

“And it wasn't just the gear either—it was the high-stakes environment that no longer exists.” That’s the kicker IMO. You had to be very very present when playing to tape. You only had like 16 minutes a reel I think and everyone wanted to get it right. You could do it again and again, but not as easily as today. So there was just this build up of “Intent” in the playing.

Sam Altman and His Bullshit

“OpenAI is preparing for a potential $1 trillion IPO while projecting losses that stretch into the tens of billions. The question is no longer whether AI is powerful, but whether the economics behind the most important AI company on earth actually work.”

Your Power Tools Got Worse On Purpose

“TTI bought Milwaukee and basically let it run itself. Kept the R&D operation in Brookfield, WI. Kept the engineering team intact. Dumped $206 million into R&D in a single year. More than 4.4% of total sales going straight back into product development, every year.

The results showed up fast. M12 and M18 launched within two years of the acquisition. Then FUEL brushless motors. Then ONE-KEY, the first digital platform for tools and equipment that lets you track inventory, customize torque settings, and lock a tool remotely if it gets stolen. Then PACKOUT modular storage, which turned a plastic box into an ecosystem. Then MX FUEL, pushing cordless into concrete saws and breakers that used to require a gas engine or a generator.”

…

“Stanley Black & Decker took the opposite approach.

The 2010 merger of Stanley Works and Black & Decker created a company that already owned DeWalt. From there they went on an acquisition spree that should have built an empire. Instead it built a bloated holding company drowning in debt and leadership turnover.

They bought so many brands they were competing with themselves on the same store shelves, then starved the weaker ones to feed DeWalt.

The tools division has been a revolving door at the top. After the previous head left, two executives served as acting co-presidents before Chris Nelson was brought in from Carrier Corporation in June 2023. Nelson had zero tool industry background. He'd been running an HVAC division. Before that, McKinsey and Johnson & Johnson.

The CEO who hired him didn't last much longer. Donald Allan Jr. stepped aside in October 2025 after three years in the role, leaving behind a stock price that had dropped roughly 50% from its 2021 peak. Three years, two billion dollars in cost cuts, 7,000 jobs eliminated, and the guy who ordered all of it still couldn't make the numbers work.

The cost-cutting has been relentless. SBD launched a $2 billion "cost reduction and operational simplification" program. Since late 2023, they've cut roughly 7,000 employees globally. Closed plants in South Carolina and Texas. Sold off their aerospace fastener business to Howmet for $1.8 billion in cash. The total workforce dropped from about 48,500 to 43,500 in a single year. Annual filings show $141 million in restructuring charges in 2022 and another $39 million in 2023.”

Yup.

Just a doodle in Karma tweaking on displacement and another band show with a 3 piece version of New Not Normals.

Just trying to avoid the news ya know? I have a cubic fuck ton of portfolio updates to get to at some point, but I have always had such a distaste for the, “look at me, lookat me, LOOKATME” hustle. I dunno, I should get to that eventually. Fairly busy oddly, which we take as a indicator that the AI slop is not actually getting traction like the corpos hoped. Bonus, “FUCK AI” shout out.

"CEO Said A Thing!" Journalism

Boy does this sum up a lot of the problems in the tech world and the web in general…

“There's no better example of this than what I affectionately refer to as "CEO said a thing!" journalism. "CEO said a thing!" journalism involves parroting the claims of a business leader or executive with absolutely no context, correction, or challenge whatsoever, no matter how elaborate the delusion.

…

The grand irony is I'm not even sure most people click on or read this sort of stuff. I don't think it's often even created to be read by anyone. I think it's created as a sort of swaddling fan fiction for MBAs, advertisers, event sponsors and sources, so they can tune out ethical quibbles and feel good about how clever they are.

The result is a sort of alternative reality journalistic simulacrum that kind of looks like journalism, but genuinely isn't interested in any context or truth that upsets the apple cart. It's a sort of journalistic Ken Doll with the genitals sanded off to a smooth hump to avoid offending anyone. “

New Work in the Wild.

Some interior work we did for Trailborn is live now as well. Did some HDR type composites and lots of other comps.