Spending a Year in Deep Through
Oof, looks like recommendations weren’t in the cards for 2021. Let’s try again in 2022 and see what we can do how about. [12/28/2021]
Not Recommending Anything for a While
Take a break! It’s been a rough year, no one will miss your frivolous recommendations. Start fresh in 2021 with an clear mind, open heart, and rejuvenated recommending muscles. [12/23/2020]
Taking a Long Walk
It’s nice outside, take a walk! [4/6/2020]
Blow the Man Down
It’s a shame that movie theaters are closed because Blow the Man Down could have easily been this spring’s indie darling. Written and directed by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy, this wickedly fun, slow-burning thriller has it all: sea shantys, thick New England accents, a murder most foul, and a June Squibb leading a crew of women dead set on keeping the streets of their town clean whatever the cost. Only available on Amazon Prime at the moment (grumble, grumble, grumble) so if you’ve been wavering about mooching off your parent’s account, no better time to start that now! [3/26/2020]
Having a Narragansett Tall Boy with Dinner
When Thursday night rolls around and it’s finally time to get your boozing on for the weekend nothing hits better than an ice cold Narragansett. It’s the perfect beer to drink with a big meal, crisp, light, and refreshing with just the right lager flavor and the 16oz cans is exactly the amount of beer I want with my meal. I’m big on Narragansetts, if I’m at a concert or bar and riding the cheap beer wave they’re my go to can and if you just got back from the gym or a weekly game of basketball I cannot recommend enough popping open a can and sprinkling in a pinch of salt before drinking. It’s basically Gatorade. [3/19/2020]
YHLQMDLG
Bad Bunny’s new album has been a tonic for my weary work-from-home soul in these times of COVID-19. It it fun and energetic front to back, perfect for hardcore data entry time and dancing while cooking dinner alike. You don’t need to be conversational in Spanish to know that “Pero Ya No” bangs now and will bang even after we’re allowed back outside again. [3/16/2020]
Mystic Familiar
Not as frantic and daring as his early masterpieces but anyone who’s already a fan or wants a smoother introduction to Dan Deacon will get their money’s worth in his new album. His voice is less modulated and the tracks have more raw emotion than his previous work but it still has the classic Deacon feel of running into a dance party buzz-saw. [2/5/2020]
Seeing Cats a second time
Just as good as the first time. [1/21/2020]
100 gecs
I’m a little late to the game but 100 gecs is the truth, specifically their 2019 album 1000 gecs (naturally). Their euphoric mix of pitch-shifted vocals and electronic noise pop sounds like someone put Skrillex, SOPHIE, and Lil B in a blender and then chucked the blender down a fire escape, but in a good way. “money machine”, “stupid horse”, and “ringtone” are my personal favorite from the album, check ’em out. [1/13/20]
Cauliflower Rice
It’s light, it’s tasty, it’s healthy, what’s not to like. Just get out your food processor and pop in a few sections and you’re off to the races. Or get a box grater and do it by hand. Or if you’re like me and a culinary masochist you can just chop it up with a dull knife. Then a quick sauté in your oil and spices of choice and you’re ready to eat. My favorite cauliflower rice recipe these days is to sauté with olive oil and season with Goya-brand Adobo + Sazonador Total, Chile Powder, and Cayenne Pepper (gives it a wonderful color) then serve under black beans cooked with onions and jalapenos. Yum yum yum, easy and delicious. [1/9/20]
Big, Honkin’ 800+ page Grabdpa-History Biographies
Ron Chernow? Robert Caro? Doris Kearns Goodwin? Bring ’em on! What fun it is to plow through the life and times of those who were smack dab in the middle of major world events. I just started Caro’s 1100 page The Power Broker about Robert Moses and it is a doozy in all the best ways. I thoroughly enjoy the lengthy sections on minor topics such as Moses’s collegiate swimming career at Yale or his eating habits at Oxford and the extended detours to give “brief” biographies of 1900s-era New York figures like Al Smith and Belle Moskowitz. Sure they can be a slog at times but in my humble option they’re well worth the time and effort. [1/6/20]
Seeing the Cats movie
Listen, yes it was 110 minutes of celebrities prancing around in digital fur that makes the cats unsettling and oddly sexy at the same time and the singing and dancing was just as insane…but I thought it was quite a bit of fun. I loved how Idris Elba’s fur was the same color as his complexion so when he shed his fur coat (WHO’S FUR IS THAT IDRIS?!) he looked naked, I loved how Rebel Wilson lead an army of poorly animated mice (with the faces of children!) and cockroaches (with adult faces! And if they stepped out of line she ate them!), I loved how the cats changed sized throughout the film (keeps you on your toes), and most of all I loved Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat song. That song is unstoppable. I wouldn’t call the film ‘good’ per se, but it is what it is and I dug it. [1/2/20]
Keep it Going Louder 