I love The Big Lebowski. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to long-time readers of Situation Normal. My newsletter has as many Lebowski references as a bowling alley has pins. Once, I even wrote a story about pretending to be Marty Ackerman, an unseen character from the movie, to fool a tarot card reader who performed at Christina’s birthday.1
My love for The Big Lebowski shouldn’t come as a surprise to readers of my novel, either. Not Safe for Work is a Chandleresque mystery wrapped inside of a stoner comedy. Some people call this genre mashup “slacker noir.” But even before that term was coined, I knew I wanted to tell stories about amateur sleuths who’d rather do anything else—go bowling, drink white Russians while practicing Tai chi, give their apartment manager notes on their dance quintet—than get dragged into this corrupt world.
But my love for The Big Lebowski goes beyond the realm of the arts. I see wisdom in The Dude, and I’m not alone. Since the film’s 1998 release, more than…
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