Simple Tricks & Nonsense

"Good enough" doesn't mean half-assed parenting. It might mean the opposite.

Donald Winnicott — mid-century British pediatrician, psychoanalyst — coined the phrase "the good enough mother." And somewhere between 1949 and now, it got flipped into a hand-wave: eh, I wasn't a great parent, but hey, good enough, the kids turned out fine.

That's close to the opposite of what he meant.

I wrote an essay doing a close reading of what Winnicott actually said — including the part where he defines "good enough" himself, and the part where you can hear his actual voice from his old BBC broadcasts (the recordings survived; the man is genuinely charming on the radio).

It's also about perfectionism, because the same misreading that lets a neglectful parent off the hook is the one that keeps a perfectionist from ever finishing anything. Two sides of the same mistake.

I made a video about it -- Psychotherapist expains PUNCH THE MONKEY

Did Freud REALLY think everything was about sex? Or is that just a caricature we’ve inherited?

In this video, I place Freud in his historical context, look at where his reasoning genuinely holds up, and where it clearly goes too far.

I also analyze “Herr Müller’s Big Day & the Bearded Woman” dream as a way of showing both the strengths and limits of Freud’s symbolic method — how easily it can illuminate meaning, and how easily it can be misused.

Critical, contextual, and unsentimental.

Freud’s 1900 classic is usually remembered for the theory that every dream is wish-fulfillment. But when you dig into his darker examples -- dreams of dead children, grief, guilt, and repetition -- you start to see the shadow of something else.

Two decades later, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), Freud finally named it: the Death Drive. But the seeds were already there in the dreams.

This new video explores how early Freud was already haunted by repetition compulsion and destructive forces that don’t fit neatly under the Pleasure Principle.

In his seminal book, Freud dissects a dream about a patient named Irma. For decades, readers thought it was simply his first big case study in dream analysis. But hidden in the details -- nasal structures, medicinal Coke, medical guilt -- is a buried truth.

Freud had referred a patient, Emma Eckstein, to his closest friend, Dr. Wilhelm Fliess, for nasal surgery. Fliess botched it catastrophically, leaving gauze inside her nasal cavity. She nearly died.

Once you know this, the dream transforms:

Dirty injections become the surgery gone wrong

Nasal imagery points to Fliess’s bizarre theories

Freud’s “defenses” are his unconscious trying to dodge responsibility

The most famous dream in psychoanalysis isn’t just wish-fulfillment — it’s Freud’s unconscious forcing him to confront that his closest collaborator had become dangerous. And he hid that confession in plain sight for over 50 years.

🎥 Watch the full breakdown:

🕶️💀TRANCERS (1984): The Sci-Fi Noir That Accidentally Invented Bullet Time

Just dropped a new video essay breaking down one of the most underrated cult sci-fi gems of the 80s: Trancers (1984). Time travel, psychic zombies, punk Helen Hunt, and a future cop named Jack Deth (yes, really).

Also: it beat The Matrix to bullet time by 15 years.

As a kid, I LOVED this film...but does it hold up???

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🔪 Why Is Horror Funny? 🤔💀 🎥 The Monkey (2025) - Fatalism, Freud, & Trauma Explained 🎥

Horror isn’t always just scary—it can be hilarious. But why do we laugh at horror? 😱😂

Oz Perkins’ The Monkey (2025) is a wild blend of fatalism, trauma, and dark comedy, making us question: what happens when horror stops being terrifying and starts being absurd?

In this breakdown, I explore:

🧠 Fatalism & Learned Helplessness – Do these characters ever really have a choice? 🎭 Freud’s Theory of Humor – Why do we joke about death and fear? 🎬 Incongruity & Benign Violation Theory – What makes horror deaths funny instead of terrifying? 🌀 Trauma & Repetition Compulsion – How does Bill’s childhood shape his obsession?

📺 NEW VIDEO: I Finally Know Why Oz Betrayed Vic! | Attachment Theory Explained 🎭

💡 Why did Oswald Cobblepot betray Vic? Was it just survival instinct, or was something deeper at play? In my latest breakdown, I analyze The Penguin’s attachment style and how disorganized attachment shaped his relationships and choices.

🔎 What’s in the video?

How Oswald’s traumatic childhood led to his erratic, fear-driven relationships.

The push-pull dynamic of disorganized attachment (anxious & avoidant tendencies).

Why Vic’s loyalty wasn’t enough -- and why Oz eliminated him to avoid vulnerability.