Call (515) 762-5762 to play Rock Paper Scissors with hot singles in your area

As we close the naughty & nice books on 2023 it’s a decent time to remind you where you are, who I am, and why.

If you’re receiving this you

• met me
• found me
• are my best friend
• were found to be interesting by me, and I risked life, limb, and FTC law to add you directly, with vague consent.
• were given The Gift of Geistlist as a last-minute Christmas gift by an anonymous stranger who write your email address on a postcard and sent me $60, and you now have a rare, yearlong, paid subscription to this free newsletter. Thank you, immensely, for your support.

This is Geistlist: the newsletter for you about things by Jacob Ford, increasingly likely to go straight to your spam folder as I fly too close to the spambot sun with my subject lines. Unsubscribe at the bottom. If you’re new here you can read up on past issues and sync future issues to your Palm Pilot.

¶. Tonight 8pm–∞am: FORT90 Christmas Eve Eve Special

twitch dot televistion slash wondervillenyc
&/or an undisclosed backup location

Our eternal pal Matt is back for his annual screening of all film and TV obscure, strange, illegal, and—tonight only—Christmassy. The channel is two nudity/copyright strikes in, so this could be the one we go out with a bang on.

¶. Tuesday 8pm: The Third Annual Screening of Wizard People, Dear Reader

free, Wonderville, Bushwick, NYC
& assuming we don't get that third strike (see above): also online at twitch dot television slash wondervillenyc

It's the first Harry Potter but one guy (Brad Neely) voices all the characters. It’ll also be a special Boxing Day party as all three of my little sisters will be special guests in attendance along with one (1) husband: Ian.

¶. Every Wednesday in December: Pinc Louds residency

free but tip, 96 Tears, East Village, NYC

Pinc Louds is weird, I see them in the park all the time, and I love them from a distance. Apparently they are running the show every Wednesday in December at 96T. So I guess there's one left, my bad.

¶. The second person to read this: Do not sign up for Alex Tomlinson’s Patreon to get a bird-themed hex sign

He’s out of them.¹

Birds. Design. Art. Type. Code. Postage stamps. Look at this guy!. Happy to call him a friend. Sad he moved to Scranton.

¶. Now: Flaming Hydra Preview

Our website launched! Well, a preview. Real good writing each day in exchange for $3 of your money each month. No free previews. No popup paywalls to get around. Pay money. Get words. Starts late January. We even got a shoutout in Garbage Day that make my heart grow 3ems. Ryan's Garbage Day is one of the three inspirations for this very newsletter.

Longtime Geistlisters may recall we did a Kickstarter featuring myself and my cat Colson, which is why I’m so amped to be part of this project.

If you subscribe to FH and let me know I can probably sneak you into Founding status (which was Kickstarter only). It means all your comments will have a special FOUNDER badge. Don’t tell anyone I gave it to you.

¶. Today: Happy 200th to the poem that invented Santa

A Visit from St. Nicholas (which you know as ’Twas the Night Before Christmas) was first published 200 years ago today, in the December 23, 1823 Troy Sentinal. It was the first time St. Nicholas was depicted as kind rather than vindictive, the first to make him an elf, the first to name his reindeer (and set their number to 8), among the first to try and beat back pagan Saturnalia drunken tomfoolery with bribery: all wildly successfully, if you look around this week.

It was weirdly published anonymously, but we know now it was definitely by Clement Clark Moore, who donated his land to what is now the General Theological Seminary at the Urban Anglican Contextual Benedictine, who last week hosted a party for the 200th anniversary of the poem that invented Santa Claus, right where it was most likely penned.

They made a real cute short film, which publicly debuted today. And I heard about all this (and got invited) thanks to a Grolier Club lecture last week by Pamela McColl, who has singlehandedly has made it her mission to made the nation aware of this poem’s birthday, from Jill Biden to you. The book is real thorough, full of original research, and real beautiful. Consider asking your local library to buy it.

∞. Talk Paper Scissors

I collect phone art, and on Thursday at Wordhack I discovered a hot new entry which officially launched today: Talk Paper Scissors. Call +1 (515) ROCK-ROC and play. Maybe we’ll play each other.

At Workhack I also discovered this incredible searchable archive of 1998–2005 banner ads which you can generate poetry with and which we substituted rhyming karaoke lines with. Thanks to Dustin Freeman for the invite to Wordhack.

⁂. Geistlist Physical Edition

Reply with your postal address if you want something in the mail. I have a few limited-run ”Christmas”² ”Cards”³ for the first 15 or so of you to notice this ¶.

¹ He still has one left I think. Go go go! Tell him I sent you. Don’t tell him a promised you a hex sign tho.

² By the 12-days-of definition: they should get to you by Epiphany, so perfectly on time.

³ More like dead media.