The Big Whoop is Back, Baby!
The crew here at Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place Nights
If you are a regular reader of this website you perhaps noticed that I published blog posts much less frequently than usual as the year wound down. There are two primary reasons for this. My wife has been working very long hours, so I’m working fewer hours and spending more time looking after our two sons.
Secondly, in the past three months I have published no less than three books. First up was The Weird A-Coloring to Al, the “Weird Al” Yankovic-themed coloring book Felipe Sobreiro and myself published in October. It was followed byThe Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition, the hardcover, full-color re-imagining of The Weird A-Coloring to Al, which hit my site in November. I ended the year with the publication of The Joy of Trash, which I had the genius and foresight to release WAY too late for Christmas but just in time for when the whole world went on vacation.
Three books in three months is a lot! There are people who don’t put out three books over the course of their entire careers, let alone in three consecutive months.
I could not be prouder of all three books. Felipe and myself really hit it out of the park with each one. Over the course of my time as an independent publisher I have figured some shit out, like how to make books that look great and read great and are deeply satisfying on every level.
True, I am biased, in that my future, and my family’s future, are dependent on making real money through self-publishing, something that is, needless to say, EXTREMELY difficult but I believe in my product. That helps.
Because I spent so much time putting the finishing touches on The Weird A-Coloring to Al, The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition and The Joy of Trash, I had less time for other things.
My personal hygiene suffered. It’s been long months since I’ve bathed or used deodorant. I went three weeks without eating at the end of October. Most distressingly, I have gone way too many days without blogging.
That feels bad! From its inception, the Big Whoop blog has been a core component of this website. It’s one of its most popular and frequently updated features.
The Big Whoop affords me an opportunity to be more or less a full-time, professional blogger, that most exalted of positions. Being called a blogger is the ultimate sign of respect because no one in our culture is valued more than the majestic, magnificent blogger with the possible exception of self-published authors and Juggalos. As a blogger, self-published author and Juggalo, I am perhaps the most respected man on the planet.
The blogger is the engine that keeps our world turning by sharing vital thoughts concerning the exact nature of sandwiches devoured and Joker memes consumed.
I love The Big Whoop because it keeps this site running but also because it represents an invaluable form of self-expression. I don’t just like writing The Big Whoop. I NEED to write The Big Whoop.
I NEED to have a conversation with y’all about anything and everything separate from features like Control Nathan Rabin 4.0, My World of Flops, The Travolta/Cage Project and all of my other columns.
I need an outlet that’s casual yet intimate, loose yet endlessly provocative, like a blog. I need to communicate with the world through The Big Whoop because my life happens to be pretty solitary and remote at the moment, and also for the previous forty-five years.
I’m a bit of a loner.
Partially due to COVID, partially due to the nature of my personality and partially due to the nature of my work, I don’t interact with many people in person on a day to day basis.
So I treasure the communication that comes with having a blog where I talk to you beautiful people constantly when I am not otherwise occupied.
It feels good to be back. I promise not to let the blog go dormant the way I did at the end of last year.
I’m back, baby!
Let the never-ending conversation resume!
Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al here and The Weird Accordion to Al here
AND of course you can also pledge to this site and help keep the lights on at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace