Cartoons inspired by the last fortnight:
Joey Chestnut Can Eat a Lot of Hot Dogs
I don’t know why I know so much about Joey Chestnut but I do. He’s the hot dog eating champion of the world. I don’t recommend watching YouTube footage of hot dog competitions but he can eat 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
I know it’s the worst of everything: gluttony, excess, waste. Plus, you’re eating hot dogs which are mysterious/gross to begin with, but somehow it’s fascinating.
For one, in the competition eating scenario, you don’t eat the hot dog normally. You separate the bun and the dog, dip the bun in water, so you can slurp it down easy. Then you put the hot dog into your mouth like it’s a tree trunk entering a wood chipper, giving a constant, horizontal push until it quickly disappears.
For two, Joey Chestnut is REVERED.
Jamie Loftus wrote a book on hot dogs (called ‘Hot Dogs’) and attended Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition, which is kinda the Olympics for hot dog eaters (excerpt here):
I bump into a guy named Grayson in the hot dog line, a twentysomething whose hair is tied in a bandana, wearing a T-shirt with Chestnut’s image emblazoned across the front. He tells me he’s driven here all the way from Tennessee to see Joseph compete for the second time, and has been watching eating competitions “from the time I was born, probably.”
“I aspire to try it one day,” he tells me. “I admire Joey Chestnut, he’s been a role model to me for years but I know I could never measure up.”
Joey trains for months to be the best. Imagine spending all your time doing something so obscure, so meaningless...
Oop! Gotta go, I’m off to spend four hours drawing a cartoon that only three people will ever see.
I like…
I’m honoured to be launching Emily Spurr’s new book Beatrix & Fred on Wednesday August 30 at The Sun Bookshop (Yarraville, Melbourne). Book here. We ask at the end of every episode of The First Time podcast for people to recommend a debut book and Emily’s last book A Million Things is one of the most recommended. If that’s not commendation enough, it also won / was shortlisted for a million things (ooh, see what I did there) and sold into many, many countries.
On the topic of Emily Spurr, you really ought to follow along with her ‘Books That Still Haunt Me’ series on Insta. Every book she’s posted about that I’ve already read is top tier (We Need to Talk about Kevin, Stasiland and Perfume, The Story of a Murderer). I think it’s going to rival Nina Kenwood’s list in terms of stellar recommendations. (Nina, can you please add to yours?)
Alone Australia (TV). Recapping what happened, who did/didn’t catch a pademelon and how it’s all about the head game is 90% of my current conversation. I can’t recommend it enough. It follows ten survivalists that get dropped into the wild, inhospitable west coast of Tasmania. They can pick 10 items to bring with them and the one that survives the longest, wins.
As ever, thanks for reading,
Katherine x
I updated my list just for you Katherine!!!!!