#9: A magazine, a jacket, and an algorithm

Hello well-wishers,

In this week’s email, you’ll find:

A magazine cover, a first for me, that asks some very pivotal questions; an ultimate mash-up of coloured jackets and kitchen appliances, which might only give a chuckle to a few; and a reflection of the endless fight between we humans and our social media algorithms.

Enjoy,
Chris

Like what you see? Consider following me on Instagram (@chrisshorten), or talking a friend into following me on Instagram.

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Caption: N/A

I really hope this magazine exists.

I also really hope that all of these things go through the mind of a flight attendant on any given day.

There’s something unique about the typical teenager magazine. It’s full of aspirations and unrealistic expectations, but it’s also largely full of this sort of advice from, uh, experts. This cartoon wonders if that same thing could be true for magazines for flight attendants.

A little artist’s note: This is my first attempt at a largely text-based, magazine-style cartoon, and I found that once I had the first idea for it, the rest just flowed. For the text, I first typed it out on the screen so that I can get an idea of the spacing. I then turned up the brightness on the text so I could write over it with my own shaky handwriting.

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Caption: "Welcome to the kitchen, Toastie. Bubbles, let's get our new friend here a jacket.”

The secret lives of kitchen appliances.

I debated with myself over whether this should ever leave my iPad, but I somehow couldn’t help myself. It’s silly, and some people definitely won’t get it, but I just love the idea that our appliances all have signature jackets issued to them when they arrive in the kitchen. And if you look at this and think to yourself: ‘What is he talking about?’. Well, that’s okay too.

The idea for this kind of stemmed from seeing a steady stream of adverts for the Grease spinoff on Paramount+: Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. This cartoon then asks, well what if it was with kitchen appliances?

A little artist’s note: Last week I mentioned that kitchens are complicated and hard to draw, and this cartoon continues that feeling. There’s just… so many things to consider, so many lines, so many details. But, in saying that, as I don’t want to include any more detail than I really have to, it’s the challenge of trying to work out what will be enough to convince the reader that what they are looking at is a sodastream, and not a toaster.

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Caption: "I like what the algorithm is suggesting, but I don't want to give it the satisfaction of actually liking it."

Because you liked that, maybe you might like this…

In starting this whole cartoon adventure thing, I’ve found myself on social media far far far more than I would be usually. And, you know, social media is fine, but it’s also like an engine that needs constant feeding and constant attention. This is clear when it comes to suggested posts and people. Because, the suggestions are often pretty accurate and I often I do like what is being fed to me. But, it’s also a challenge in that my cynical brain just doesn’t want to let the algorithm know that it’s right. That it knows me.

I don’t want it to know that it’s actually won.

A little artist’s note: The composition for this one is simple and effective. I played with a few different options for the background, and I tried a few different ideas to add context, but I realised that those aspects would likely just distract from the key idea. Of course, this means that it’s really just two people looking at their smartphones but, maybe, that’s all you need. It is in a nice circle, though, and that’s got to count for something.

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Thanks for reading MiddleSquiggle!

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