Wandering the Neon Abyss: A Dispatch from CES 2026 in Las Vegas
Las Vegas in January is a fever dream wrapped in LED lights and regret, the kind of place where the air hums with the promise of innovation
Phil Harpster
Jan 73 min read
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Turns 50
Fifty years after Cuckoo’s Nest fluttered into American theaters, Salem still carries the echo.
Phil Harpster
Nov 19, 20252 min read
Salem’s Libraries Rise from the Grave: Cookies, Sunday Hours, and the Sweet Smell of Tax-Funded Redemption
Oh, Salem, Oregon—you sweet, soggy corner of the Pacific Northwest, where the rain falls like a perpetual apology and the libraries, bless their underfunded hearts, have been gasping for air like a goldfish flipped out of its bowl. I remember my own library days, back when I was a kid dodging the fluorescent-lit aisles of some forgotten Midwestern branch, pilfering paperbacks that smelled like mildew and other people’s regrets. Libraries were my escape hatch, my free therapy
The Oregon Critter & Travel Company
Nov 3, 20253 min read
