Colin McGowan
@csmcgowan.bsky.social
Used to write for lots of places. Now mostly at Flaming Hydra, a co-op newsletter: https://flaminghydra.com/contributor/colin-mcgowan/
DMs are fine // colinsilasmcgowan at gmail
DMs are fine // colinsilasmcgowan at gmail
Every couple of years I'll pick up another book about the Bush era War on Terror and spend the next week yelling HOW DID NO ONE GO TO JAIL?? at random intervals.
November 26, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Every couple of years I'll pick up another book about the Bush era War on Terror and spend the next week yelling HOW DID NO ONE GO TO JAIL?? at random intervals.
The leaf-blower is an obscenity, an instrument forged in the fires of Hell.
November 25, 2025 at 5:12 PM
The leaf-blower is an obscenity, an instrument forged in the fires of Hell.
Contriving a scenario in which I can tell somebody "I'll see you in the funny papers."
November 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Contriving a scenario in which I can tell somebody "I'll see you in the funny papers."
[NFL announcer, their mind like exhausted chewing gum:] You know when you see that military green, over the past fifty years or so, you just think about My Lai, you think about Abu Ghraib, you think about all the great things the military has accomplished as the Niners attempt this 4th and 2 here...
November 25, 2025 at 3:35 AM
[NFL announcer, their mind like exhausted chewing gum:] You know when you see that military green, over the past fifty years or so, you just think about My Lai, you think about Abu Ghraib, you think about all the great things the military has accomplished as the Niners attempt this 4th and 2 here...
Clutching my face in my fists for a prolonged period of time in hopes that, when I emerge, a better world will be possible.
November 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Clutching my face in my fists for a prolonged period of time in hopes that, when I emerge, a better world will be possible.
Once a week is probably the most anyone should talk at length. About once a month for writers. But of course we live in hell so everybody is scraping the bottom of the barrel at all times.
November 24, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Once a week is probably the most anyone should talk at length. About once a month for writers. But of course we live in hell so everybody is scraping the bottom of the barrel at all times.
Among the dozen other problems with this thread, "I set up a small business so that I'm my own boss" is how LinkedIn power users talk.
Archetypal example is “capitalism ground me down so I quit my job and set up a small business so that I’m my own boss”. You didn’t dislike capitalism! You disliked authority!
November 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Among the dozen other problems with this thread, "I set up a small business so that I'm my own boss" is how LinkedIn power users talk.
Hamnet, so that's like a cop show with actual pigs?
November 24, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Hamnet, so that's like a cop show with actual pigs?
Doing what I do best (gloomily wandering the city at night, trying not to stop off at bars).
November 24, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Doing what I do best (gloomily wandering the city at night, trying not to stop off at bars).
I can only assume letting James L. Brooks write and direct in 2025 is a scientific endeavor to create the most out-of-touch film ever made.
November 23, 2025 at 8:48 PM
I can only assume letting James L. Brooks write and direct in 2025 is a scientific endeavor to create the most out-of-touch film ever made.
It's always a good day to roast every goddamn vegetable in the house and figure the rest out later.
November 23, 2025 at 8:14 PM
It's always a good day to roast every goddamn vegetable in the house and figure the rest out later.
I think John Sayles in his prime could have convinced Trump to nationalize most of the Fortune 500.
November 21, 2025 at 11:18 PM
I think John Sayles in his prime could have convinced Trump to nationalize most of the Fortune 500.
Felt like Al Swearengen when he's soliloquizing about how "they always hold you down" so I got good and drunk at the steak and cocktails place down the street. Which is vaguely pathetic, but it beats walking into the lake with stones in your pockets.
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Felt like Al Swearengen when he's soliloquizing about how "they always hold you down" so I got good and drunk at the steak and cocktails place down the street. Which is vaguely pathetic, but it beats walking into the lake with stones in your pockets.
I've long held the theory that we're living through the 60s and 70s but without any of the fun, depravity, and/or weirdness. But I did just see a Release The Epstein Files commercial on Monday Night Football, so maybe we're getting on the right kind of wrong track.
November 18, 2025 at 4:52 AM
I've long held the theory that we're living through the 60s and 70s but without any of the fun, depravity, and/or weirdness. But I did just see a Release The Epstein Files commercial on Monday Night Football, so maybe we're getting on the right kind of wrong track.
Prestige journalism always had lots of catty in-fighting but now that it consists of only a dozen apex social climbers it is exclusively that.
November 18, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Prestige journalism always had lots of catty in-fighting but now that it consists of only a dozen apex social climbers it is exclusively that.
There is not much to recommend Western New York, but every time I watch a cold weather Bills game something deep in my soul yearns to gas 8-10 Labatts and insult a referee's mother.
November 16, 2025 at 6:24 PM
There is not much to recommend Western New York, but every time I watch a cold weather Bills game something deep in my soul yearns to gas 8-10 Labatts and insult a referee's mother.
I've decided to make a bunch of different ragùs to sustain me through the cold weather months. Started with this strangely delicious one. www.epicurious.com/recipes/food...
Charred Vegetable Ragù
This sauce is slightly magical. The texture cloaks pasta much like a traditional meat sauce does, and the flavors are deep and rich, but it's actually vegan!
www.epicurious.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:13 PM
I've decided to make a bunch of different ragùs to sustain me through the cold weather months. Started with this strangely delicious one. www.epicurious.com/recipes/food...
He's just so happy.
November 14, 2025 at 6:52 PM
He's just so happy.
I understand that there are very good statistical arguments for not giving the MVP to the giant-assed catcher who hit 60 dingers, but also: come on.
November 14, 2025 at 5:05 AM
I understand that there are very good statistical arguments for not giving the MVP to the giant-assed catcher who hit 60 dingers, but also: come on.
Hoo, your boy went through it a couple-three times in the dark semi-solitude of the theater during Train Dreams.
November 14, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Hoo, your boy went through it a couple-three times in the dark semi-solitude of the theater during Train Dreams.
Call me a tedious moralist, but I draw the line at "being cool with kid-fucking."
November 12, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Call me a tedious moralist, but I draw the line at "being cool with kid-fucking."
For the morning crowd: I published some new fiction over at Flaming Hydra. flaminghydra.com/the-paramete...
The Parameters
On the bed in the evening, when the air is cool, I read excellent and important books while she watches movies on her iPad. I hate the iPad. The moving images in my peripheral vision distract me from ...
flaminghydra.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:38 PM
For the morning crowd: I published some new fiction over at Flaming Hydra. flaminghydra.com/the-paramete...
It’s a restrained work, I hope, but I have put my whole self into this. flaminghydra.com/the-paramete...
The Parameters
On the bed in the evening, when the air is cool, I read excellent and important books while she watches movies on her iPad. I hate the iPad. The moving images in my peripheral vision distract me from ...
flaminghydra.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:30 AM
It’s a restrained work, I hope, but I have put my whole self into this. flaminghydra.com/the-paramete...
I know I pushed this last week, but really, if you want feel like a human being, read this Saward piece about Caravaggio. It's profound. flaminghydra.com/caravaggio-s...
Caravaggio, Sam Altman, and Me
I was wandering around a humid church in Rome, vibrating on no sleep, and there was a murder going down on the wall. It can feel sometimes in these kind of places like you are hallucinating, the smell...
flaminghydra.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:54 AM
I know I pushed this last week, but really, if you want feel like a human being, read this Saward piece about Caravaggio. It's profound. flaminghydra.com/caravaggio-s...
All I ask for is new dumb assholes in charge of the Democratic Party. I get that they're never going to do anything good, but I just shouldn't have to look at Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin anymore.
November 10, 2025 at 1:07 AM
All I ask for is new dumb assholes in charge of the Democratic Party. I get that they're never going to do anything good, but I just shouldn't have to look at Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin anymore.