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      • When I Was Cute
      • Feature Listing
      • Features
      • Essays & Ephemera
      • History!
      • Fiction
      • Interviews
      • Bio
      • Contact
          • When I Was Cute
          • Feature Listing
          • Features
          • Essays & Ephemera
          • History!
          • Fiction
          • Interviews
          • Bio
          • Contact
          • Writer

            Direct your hot tips, job offers, fan mail, hate mail at: rickpaulas@gmail.com

          • My Books

            Buy them or find them if you'd like.

            The Palmer Hotel

            A series of spooky short stories set over a century in a downtown hotel.

            Buy now! $20 (that includes shipping within U.S.)

             

            Venmo: Rick-Paulas

            Paypal: rickpaulas@gmail.com

            CashApp: $RickPaulas

             

            Include your address, please.

            Eastern Span

            A neo-noir set in Oakland circa 2013.

            It's sold out, but you can read it at the Internet Archive, available here.

          • Features

            Some are long, some are not as long.

            Fifty or so years of the Albany Bulb

            Curbed

            “It has been—often all at once—a landfill, an encampment, a community, an art installation, a museum, a music venue, a playhouse, a racetrack, and a dog park”

            What It’s Like to Live in a California Ghost Town​

            CityLab

            To be an off-season caretaker of Bodie, California (winter population: 5), you need a high tolerance for cold, solitude, and two-hour grocery runs.

            The Quasi-Conspiracy That Caused Oakland’s Deadly Ghost Ship Fire

            HuffPost

            The 2016 warehouse fire that killed 36 people was a civic tragedy decades in the making.

            The Mass-Shooting Survivor Network

            The New York Times

            A profile of the constantly expanding club for those who have gone through a uniquely American experience.

            What to Wear to Smash the State

            The New York Times

            Anti-fascist activists believe in dressing for the job they
            want. Right now, many think, that job is punching Nazis.

            Exposure is Bullshit: Who Should Get Paid for Live Storytelling Events?

            Longreads

            The thing margins of the IRL storytelling society.

            Sex Workers vs. The Internet

            Longreads

            Since the dawn of the internet, online platforms have allowed clients to take advantage of sex workers. Now, they’re fighting back.

            'We Value Experience': Can a Secret Society Become a Business?

            Longreads

            Jeff Hull’s Latitude Society explores the possibilities of art, intimacy, experience, and membership.

            Postscript: A Secret Society Shuts Its Doors

            Longreads

            Five days after I published the above piece, the project shut down. Here's what happened.

            Tales from the eBay Crypt

            The Awl

            A tour of the internet’s haunted auction house and examining those who drive these spooky marketplace.

            An Oral History of ASpecialThing.com

            The Kernel

            A deep dive into the virtual online art scene incubator that ended up being hugely inspirational to the world's comedy scene.

            The Bat Doctor Is In

            SB Nation Longform

            A trip to the world of bat doctoring, the dark side of amateur softball.  

            The Cup of Coffee Club

            The Awl

            Catching up with a handful of former MLB players who got to played in only one game before their careers ended.

            Robot Wars

            SB Nation Longform

            An oral history of the birth and death of "BattleBots."

            Is Katy Perry actually JonBenet Ramsey?

            The Kernel

            No.

            Can an Indie ISP Beat Comcast?

            Popular Mechanics

            For nearly two decades, Monkey Brains has slowly built up a an alternative to getting reamed by mega-monopolies that usually control access to the Internet.

            The Graffiti That Will Save Your Life

            Popular Mechanics

            Right in front of your eyes, but going generally unnoticed, is the secret code that tells you what's right under your feet.​​

            Two Days of Alt-Right Whack-A-Mole in the Bay

            Splinter

            Running around to try to find the alt-right in the Bay.

            Sound and Fury: Inside the Low-Tech Ballpark of Beep Baseball

            Popular Mechanics

            How one man used the guts of a 1960s telephone to invent a ball that beeps and gave the visually impaired a way to play America's pastime.​

            3mules.com and the long walk to save the world

            The Kernel

            John Sears, who’s spent years walking California like a roaming preacher with three mules in tow, spreading his unique gospel of environmental conservation. 

            Archivists of Tragedy

            The Kernel

            Excavating the mystery of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple with the husband-and-wife team who spent their lives building the archive.

            The Hunt to Crack the Zodiac's Code

            The Kernel

            Nearly four decades ago, the Zodiac Killer terrorized the Bay Area, taunting newspaper readers with coded clues to his identity. Online code-breakers are still battling his final puzzle.

            A Speedier Death

            SF Weekly

            Two competing ballot measures propose a fix to California's broken, costly death penalty procedure, in two very different ways.

            The Jack the Ripper Content Economy

            The Awl

            How a series of possibly collected murders 128 years ago lead to a never-ending content mill.

            The Revolution Won't Start Until We Talk About Our Salaries

            Vice

            The history of why we don't talk about our salaries, and why it hurts us.

            The Moment When Humans Lose Control of AI

            Vocativ

            What's gonna happen when the Singularity hits.

            From Ghost Town to Havana: Two Teams, Two Countries, One Game

            Longreads

            What a Berkeley filmmaker found when he took a little league team from West Oakland to Cuba.

            Rebuilding After a Wildfire, and Waiting for the Next One​

            VICE

            Residents of Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood, leveled by last month's wildfire, would like things to be just like they used to—skeptics be damned.

            Inside a Homeless Encampment on the Brink of Eviction

            VICE

            Barring another reprieve in court, the Bay Area's relatively uncontroversial Here/There community could be vacant in a matter of days.

            Death in the Air

            Popula

            One woman's crusade against broadcast media consolidation.

            The Future of Capitalism Is San Francisco on Steroids

            Vice

            Something’s about to burst, and it might just be society itself.

            Defender of the homeless remains committed, and angry

            San Francisco Chronicle

            A profile of the Bay Area's Osha Neumann.

            On Nextdoor, the Homeless are the Enemy

            OneZero

            The platform built for neighborhood news often scapegoats the most disadvantaged communities.

          • Essays & Ephemera

            These mostly don't have a unifying theme or concept, which in itself, I suppose, is unifying.

            Weiner Takes All

            The Awl

            A panel discussion with people that have the last name Weiner or Wiener.

            A Simple Game

            SB Nation Longform

            Playing nine holes with the regulars at the Los Feliz Par 3.

            The Artist Is Present And Also A Robot

            The Awl

            The writing algorithms are going to take all our jobs.

            Inside America's Ghost Tour Industry

            The Awl

            A peek inside the industry of ghost tours.

            Ten People Who Observe Their Birthdays on 9/11

            The Awl

            It's kind of awkward, turns out.

            The Mysterious Case of the Craigslist Writing Scam

            The Awl

            I was had. I think?

            The California Cougar Convention and "Carefully Regulated Patriarchal Societies" 

            The Awl

            I went to this, and it was weird and sad.

            The Mysteries of San Francisco's Creepy Jejune Institute

            The Awl

            Somewhat behind-the-scenes of a strange part-public-art installation, part scavenger hunt, part multimedia experiment, part narrative story experience.

            The Perplexing Final Chapter of San Francisco's Jejune Institute

            The Awl

            The experience comes to an end, and not everyone is satisfied.

            A Smell of Wine and Cheap Perfume

            ESPN Page 2

            On Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" becoming a sports arena anthem.

            The Saga of the Grave Hunter

            ESPN Page 2

            A profile of Stew Thornley, who has been to the gravesite of every MLB Hall of Famer. (The dead ones, at least.)

            Quitting Smoking Is Easy When It's Easy

            Outside

            Why Allen Carr's The Easy Way To Quit Smoking book is still effective.

            The Mystery of John Titor: Hoax or Time Traveler?

            Pacific Standard

            A person named "John Titor" started posting on the Internet one day, claiming to be from the future and predicting the end of the world. Then he suddenly disappeared, never to be heard from again.

            The Man Who's Trying to Save the History of American Movies

            Pacific Standard

            Exploding movie theaters, things being dumped into the Pacific, byzantine corporate bureaucracy—all part of Eddie Muller's efforts to preserve the film noir era.

            The Hidden Psychology of Wearing Glasses

            Pacific Standard

            To others, glasses can make you look cool or like a dork, but they can also change your self-perception.

            Our Lady of the Holy Death Is the World's Fastest Growing Religious Movement

            VICE

            On Santa Muerte.

            Life After Doomsday

            VICE

            What happens when the apocalypse doesn't come.

            The Digital Land Mines of Modern Break-Ups

            Pacific Standard

            Selective disposal of digital artifacts is the best way to deal with the aftermath, but you might need your friends and an algorithm to help get you there.

            The Difference Between Jewish and Catholic Guilt

            Pacific Standard

            Which is scarier: an all-powerful deity or your mom?

            Mental Maps and the Neuroscience of Neighborhood Blight

            Pacific Standard

            Getting a better sense of how people visualize their neighborhoods could be the first step toward improving them.

            Why Are So Many Surgeons Assholes?

            Pacific Standard

            And how can we make them nicer?

            The Weird and Fraudulent World of Catholic Relics

            VICE

            Indeed it is, and indeed they are.

            How a Thor-Worshipping Religion Turned Racist

            VICE

            Ladies and gentlemen: Odinism.

            The Art of Choking

            The Morning News

            Some people require the Heimlich Maneuver a bit more than the rest of us. A report on the four times—so far—that the author has relied on the assistance of others.

            Kids Have It Too Easy When It Comes to Porn

            VICE

            Don't they, though?

            Why Women Will Never Beat Men In "Sports"

            VICE

            Because the game is rigged.

            What It Feels Like to Go Viral

            Pacific Standard

            BuzzFeed, YouTube, and (former) Gawker stars all describe a similar psychological rush, but riding the viral wave comes with dangers too.

            Why Sticking a Pair of Eyes on a Sign Actually Changes Behavior

            Atlas Obscura

            Simply a pair of eyes can change how you act.

            The Wayback Machine

            The Morning News

            How nostalgia works and why social media may destroy it altogether, or restore it to its original purpose.

            Hating and Loving Jay Cutler

            The Classical

            Trying to get to the bottom of why the best quarterback in Chicago Bears history is also the most hated.

            The Neuroscience of Ghosts

            Pacific Standard

            People do "feel" spirits, but why?

            The Tent City the Super Bowl Created

            SF Weekly

            A look at the Division Street tent city that was jammed up more than usual due to Super Bowl tourists coming to town.

            Let's Go: Cuba

            The Awl

            Going to Cuba as an American is needlessly complicated, and here is a primer.

            There's Now a Porn Genre About How Broke Millennials Are

            VICE

            A look at the portentous relevance of PropertySex.com

            The Story Of Your First Cigarette

            The Awl

            A compilation of tales of how people found their way to their first cigarettes.

            What We Talk About When We Talk About Firing The Coach

            VICE Sports

            What's going on when fans call for the coach's head.

            What Happens When The Government Thinks You're Dead

            The Awl

            A bureaucratic horror story.

            Life on the Content Farm

            The Daily Dot

            There are lessons to be learned from the dusty webpages of Demand Studios

            Home Games: The Strange Overlapping Borders of Sports Fandom

            VICE Sports

            Navigating the murky geographical borders of sports fandom.

            Leaks, Agendas, and Old-Fashioned Rumors: Inside Baseball's Internet Rumor Economy

            VICE Sports

            Who is really watching those internet trade rumors, and what's the hidden messages they're looking for.

            Running From Nothing: Why False-Alarm Freak-Outs Happen

            New York

            What's going on with crowd stampedes at LAX, JFK, and other public places.

            The Mysterious Siren Behind Mexico City's Junk Collectors

            Atlas Obscura

            The woman's recorded voice has been heard all over South America, and maybe even farther.

            From Fixer Deterrent to Fantasy Lure: The History of the NFL Injury Report

            VICE

            The long road of the most important press release in sports.

            My Parents and the Tipper Sticker

            The Awl

            Interviewing my parents about that time they took away my Nine Inch Nails album.

            Running Riot

            The Baffler

            On the false binary of reactions to violent protest.

            I Was An Extra in David Lynch's Weirdest Movie

            Vice

            That time I was an extra in Lynch's Inland Empire, an under-appreciated classic.

            The Real Reason Why 'Everybody Wants Some' is Better Than 'Dazed and Confused'

            Vice

            Kind of self-explanatory.

            The Revolutionary Hope of "Land of the Dead"

            The Awl

            A socialist reading of the heavily anti-capitalist zombie movie, George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead."

            Unions Are Cool

            Vice

            The struggle for labor activists and organizers is to convince a skeptical public of that fact.

            For the Good of Society — and Traffic! — Delete Your Map App​

            New York

            How the rise of map apps and ride-shares have wrought havoc on city infrastructure.

            Obsessing Over Player Salaries Is Ruining Baseball​

            FREEbyVICE

            'Moneyball' taught fans to root like a boss instead of basking in the thrill of the game.

            All Good Gadgets Go To Waste

            New York's Select/All

            Why the obsolescence of our smart homes will kill us all.

            How neglected archives lead to propaganda

            Columbia Journalism Review

            The importance of broadcast news paying attention to their archives.

            A New Kind of Labor Movement in Silicon Valley

            The Atlantic

            Employees at Google and elsewhere are protesting their bosses’ business decisions. Will that evolve into a more sustained labor movement?

            Sports Stadiums Are a Bad Deal for Cities​

            The Atlantic

            But cities can fight back.

            The Case for Leaving Fare Beaters Alone and Making Transit Free

            Vice

            Chances are everything you think you know about fare evasion is wrong.

          • History!

            Sometimes I write about history. Here's where that's located!

            The Story of Laffing Sal, the World's Most Uncanny Animatronic Doll​

            Atlas Obscura

            Six-feet-tall and pure nightmare, she was once one of America's most popular funhouse amusements.

            Revisiting the Religious Relics of the Web 1.0 Days

            VICE

            A tour of early cyber churches.

            The Steamy History of the Jacuzzi

            Atlas Obscura

            The story of how those bubble jets came to tickle the rumps of millionaires and layfolks alike. 

            The Unintentionally Brilliant Marketing of BlairWitch.com

            The Kernel

            How the creators of the horror movie sensation tricked the early internet world.

            The Power Team Was the Bloody, Evangelical Freakshow That Ruled the 80s​

            VICE

            The story of the beefed-up wrestlers who ripped Bibles and ran through ice for Christ.

            Before Stonewall: The Raucous Trans Riot that History Nearly Forgot

            Broadly

            How one trans woman helped excavate the rebellion that came before the one that everyone remembers.

            Audrey Munson: Death of American Venus

            Broadly

            The story of America's first supermodel, who posed for dozens of statues that still grace New York and San Francisco, and spent the last 64 years of her life in a mental hospital.

          • Fiction

            I've made up stories before, basically, out of nowhere. Here are a few.

            Eastern Span

            A noir novel I wrote set in the housing crisis of Oakland, circa 2013-2014. I self-published it in paperback form, and includes art from Oakland and Bay Area artists. It can be purchased at oaktownnoir.com.

            The Battle of Fort Hollow​, Terraform

            A future splintered section of America celebrates its history with a war reenactment.

            Springing Backwards, Terraform

            In the future, daylight savings time can bring on the apocalypse.

            The Palmer Hotel

            A horror short story anthology I created, edit, and occasionally update. My own story on the website takes place in Room 1916. The first part is titled "Open Windows" and the second part is "The Law of Refraction."

            To Chilling Effect, The Morning News

            Only the truly trained can accurately describe how despair sounds without a noise filter. A sound technician finishes his horror movie script.

            My archive of nonsense, much of it baseball-related, for McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

          • Interviews with Interesting Folks

            I've spoken to all sorts with interesting careers and/or pursuits. Here are a few.

            Dr. Luiz Rocha, deep sea diver.

            He's spent more than 300 hours in the ocean's "Twilight Zone."

            Chris Perkel, editor of the documentary Pearl Jam: Twenty.

            The guy edited the footage that led to Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam documentary.

            Anonymous Social Media Brand Manager

            "The Fingers Behind the Tweets of Your Favorite Brands Brands Brands Brands" over at The Awl.

            Kevin and Sebastian Griffith, Father/son converting Infinite Jest into Lego form

            An interview over at The Awl.

             Tom Voigt, Zodiac Killer expert

            An interview with the man behind zodiackiller.com about people who claim to know who The Zodiac Killer was.

            Jason Woliner, director of Eagleheart and the non-Mr.Show

            The guy behind Eagleheart, the various Brett Gelman-starring Dinner With... shows, and the Mr. Show reboot/reimagining/re-whatever.

            Max Blumenthal, author

            The writer behind such pro-Palestinian reports Goliath and The 51-Day War about what it's like to be demonized by an entire people for VICE.

            Christopher Allman, cult leader

            A dude who started his own cult.

            Frances Larson, author

            An interview with the writer behind Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found for VICE.

            David Weintraub, author

            The astronomer behind the book Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It? for VICE.

            Lawrence Shepherd, prospective Hollywood producer

            An interview with the genius behind the Kickstarter campaign to produce a television sequel of Breaking Bad starring Val Kilmer and Slash, for VICE.

            Barry Ira Geller, the man who wrote the actual script for Argo

            The guy who wrote the fake science movie script that was used in the project that was utilized in the "Argo" project, made popular by the Ben Affleck film of the same name.

            Tom Evans, spokesman for Family Radio Worldwide

            The folks who believed the world was going to end, for VICE.

            Timothy Wyllie, a leader of the 70s L.A. cult "The Process"

            For VICE.

            Rutger Hauer, actor

            One of my first assignments, for Wired, interviewing an actor who's super, super intimidating.

            The Guy Who Danced Onstage With Nirvana 

            His name is Antony Hodgkinson, and he danced on stage during Nirvana's "Live at Reading" show.

            Iain Softley, director

            The man responsible for the iconic film "Hackers," 20 years after its release, for VICE Motherboard.

            Illma Gore, artist

            The artist behind the "viral" portrait of a nude Donald Trump, for Broadly.

            Crematory Operator

            My friend is a crematory operator, so I chatted with him about that for VICE.

            Richard Koci Hernandez

            Instagram's best photographer artist, @koci.

          • Bio

            Rick Paulas has written many things, some serious, plenty not, for plenty of places. They include the New York Times, The Awl, VICE, McSweeney's, Wired, Curbed, New York, Longreads, The Atlantic, and frankly, any place that pays.

            He tweets here and blogs here. He currently lives in Brooklyn, but who knows for how long.

          • Give Me Your Sweet, Sweet Electronic Correspondence

            Shoot me an email why dontcha?

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