#podcast oliver my most beloved

[nerdygirl84]

Uncaged Oliver Leon Jones is my absolute favorite. I am self immolating as I type this. Goodbye, cruel world.

[mariacallous]

Chopped liver is different to other Jewish foods. There has been plenty written in these virtual pages about it, but I want to look at what makes it unique as a food today. I began thinking about this when I interviewed Jeffrey Yoskowitz of The Gefilteria, for an upcoming episode of my podcast “18 Jewish Foods.” Our discussion of this aspect of chopped liver did not make the final edit, so I want to share it here.

Chopped liver is an organ meat, rather than a muscle, thus placing it in the category of offal, or “variety meats.” This alone is not peculiar. Offal has historically been significant in worldwide Jewish cuisine. Oddly, however, chopped liver is still commonly eaten today while most other organ meats are not. Obviously, this is not universal. Some people still love offal, and eating habits vary by location, as well. But in much of the Western world, organ meats have generally fallen out of favor. People long ago stopped eating calf spleens, lamb brains or turkey testicles, but for some reason they still eat chopped liver! Why?

Liver is not unique. There are a few other types of offal that are also still consumed, even in America. Tongue, for example, remains popular as a cold-cut deli meat for sandwiches. Sweetbreads (which, contrary to many people’s beliefs are not brains, but pancreas or thymus) are less popular than they were a few decades ago, but still can be found in fancy restaurants and at catered affairs. But, neither of these are remotely as popular as chopped liver. Its beloved place in the American Jewish kitchen has even been cemented by a popular idiom. No one says, “What am I, p’tcha?!”

Furthermore, liver stands out; it is called by the organ’s name, rather than by a euphemism like sweetbreads. It’s also the only offal dish that I can think of that people make imitation versions of! I’ve never come across “mock tongue” or “imitation oxtail.”

Interestingly, while offal is common in Mizrachi and North African Jewish cuisines, liver on its own was never very popular for these communities. At best it was part of the stuffing for spleen, tripe, or intestines. So what explains its unique popularity among Ashkenazi Jews?

When I first raised this question of chopped liver’s unique persistence, many people explained it simply by claiming, “because it tastes delicious.” While I can’t dispute this opinion (there is no arguing with taste), it doesn’t hold water for me as an explanation. Taste is subjective. Some people love chopped liver, but many others hate, or are indifferent to it. I’m certain many people passionately proclaimed that lungen (cow lung stew) or miltz (spleen) were delicious, too. So why does liver remain popular while other offal dishes have gone the way of Roman garum?

I can only speculate, but to me the explanation reflects the dish’s origins in Europe, and the American contexts in which it was eaten. For starters, let’s not underestimate the French connection. Pâté de foie gras is recognized as the most likely ancestor of Ashkenazi chopped liver. Jews were very familiar with foie gras; in Alsace (the Ashkenazi heartland), Jews were among the experts in its creation. They fattened geese to create more schmaltz for their cooking, then sold the livers to non-Jews once foie gras had become popular and commanded a high price.

This may also explain liver’s lower popularity among non-Ashkenazi Jews. Schmaltz was the primary cooking fat in the colder parts of Europe, while olive oil was more popular elsewhere. So those Jews who didn’t fatten their poultry to get more schmaltz would find smaller livers in their slaughtered animals. But for the Ashkenazim, not only were their poultry’s livers larger, they were the only organ meat in the birds of any decent size on their own.

Yoskowitz sees the French aspect as even more significant. In America, French cuisine was seen as the ultimate in class. And as he says, “If the American Jews were anything, they were aspirational.” So an Ashkenazi classic that resembled a French delicacy would appeal to American Jews as something they would want to eat, and proudly.

Beyond that, chopped liver’s place in the American delicatessen setting is also significant. Among offal, chopped liver and tongue are the only ones normally served in a sandwich — the main type of deli food. Since the deli became the most iconic of American Jewish eateries, its most popular foods also came to define American-Jewish cuisine. While I have not yet researched this deeply, I think most other offal dishes were more commonly eaten at home, rather than in delis.

This aspect might also explain why of all the Jewish American staples, chopped liver is one of the few that is called by its English name. We commonly eat challah, kishke, gefilte fish, knishes, kugel and cholent. But we don’t order gehakte leber. The deli was where our cuisine became Americanized. Similarly, another popular deli food was “chicken soup with matzah balls,” not goldene yoich mit kneidlach.

Chopped liver’s persistence as an Ashkenazi delicacy can best be explained by its European origins as a by-product of producing schmaltz, combined with certain aspects of American Jewish life (growing affluence, the popularity of the deli, etc.). As Yoskowitz also points out, it was a significant feature of the Jewish holiday table. All of this helped solidify chopped liver’s place in the American Jewish food canon.

[bi-biscuit]

Hi, remember that ask meme I reblogged where I got one ask? I wanna answer more, so I'm just going to answer the ones I want to answer.

1. What’s the first audio drama you ever listened to?

Life With LEO(h)!!

2. What’s a song you associate really strongly with a specific show?

High Tide Rising by Fox with WTNV because it was the weather in episode... 47? I think? And it's my favorite weather.

4. What’s your favourite completed show?

In Strange Woods!!

6. What’s your favourite audio drama ship?

Mark Bryant and Oliver Ritz. From The Bright Sessions. I think about them so much. I have so many feelings about these two. <3 My beloved. <3 Cecil Gershwin Palmer and Carlos Dave Robles the Scientist are a close second.

7. What’s your favourite piece of music from any show?

I have to choose Details because it was my most listened song for the past two years. HOWEVER.

In Strange Woods has to be here too.

10. Recommend a show!

Brimstone Valley Mall and Life With LEO(h)!! Very different shows. Both very good!!

11. What are you currently listening to?

I already answered this because this one I was actually asked. Welcome to Night Vale, Life With LEO(h) and new development, drum rolllll, Ethics Town.

14. Which audio drama world would you most want to live in?

My first impulse was to say WTNV but... Maybe not fkshrke

Gonna go with... The Bright Sessions.

16. What’s a role you heard an actor you know in, but almost didn’t recognise them?

Christopher Trindade as Carpasinus in Brimstone Valley Mall. He voices three characters in that show (Damien, Trent, Carpasinus) and I recognised him doing the other two voices cause I've heard his voice a lot (Detroit Evolution hyperfixation) but I did not realise he voiced Carpasinus until it was said so in the credits. Also took me a bit to realize he voiced Trent but that one I did catch.

22. Which episode of any audio drama do you think you’ve listened to most?

I have to make multiple choices again here.

[aflockofbees]

Tagged by my beloved @ebiemidnightlibrarian, thanks!!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not that I know of. My father will tell you I was tangentially named after a horrible grandmother, but both of us would dispute that connection.

2. When was the last time you cried?

I'm not sure. It's been awhile.

3. Do you have kids?

Absolutely not. I'm not cut out to be a parent.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I'm trying to cut back. I find that I'm a bit too hard to read, and it leads to mixed messages. Not great when you manage people.

5. What sports do you play/have you played?

I am the most uncoordinated creature on earth; sports lead to injuries. I played soccer and baseball as a kid, but never had any real interest.

6. What's the first thing you notice about other people?

Their 'gesture,' or general shape/body language. Years of life drawing will do that to you.

7. What's your eye colour?

Sort of an olive green with a dark grey outline.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

I like happy endings, but they need to be earned. A scary movie with an ambiguously happy ending is the sweet spot.

9. Any special talents?

I can usually pick up just about any art material or craft and do something with it. I never burn popcorn. I'm a decent parallel parker.

10. Where were you born?

Dearborn, Michigan, USA

11. What are your hobbies?

Drawing/Painting my special old men, finding speakeasies, crafting creepy packages and letters to send anonymously to friends, building costumes for Halloween parties/Renaissance Faires/Concerts, and listening to podcasts and audiobooks

12. Do you have any pets?

Three of the most polite cats who ever lived: Solo, Zebes, and Thorin Oakenkitten.

13. How tall are you?

5'4"

14. Favorite subject in school?

Art, obviously, but I also loved history. Especially once I got to college and could take niche special interest classes.

15. Dream job?

When I was a kid I would have said Archaeologist, but I learned that spiders like to live among the sorts of things Archaeologists are looking for. As a teen I would have said Medical Illustrator, but I'd rather draw bones and muscles than cells and processes. The job I have now (Creative Director) is not a 'dream job' by any means, but the people are good and it allows me to live in a way that makes me happy. That said, if I could spend my life creating haunted-looking artifacts for some fabulously wealthy patron who over-pays for everything i make....

[kevinpshanblog]

Big Business 1928

The next Laurel and Hardy film in chronological order on our journey through their body of work is the 1928 silent short Big Business. Considered by many to be their finest silent and perhaps the best silent comedy short ever made. I’m on the fence about that statement. While I find it an enjoyable, funny and well paced short, the standard “tit for tat” or “reciprocal destruction” comedies the boys made are not really my cup of tea. I prefer a plot where you give Stan and Babe a simple task and just sit back and watch how much they can muck it up.

Of note - this is the last of the boys films that relies solely on “reciprocal destruction” as the main plot element… so perhaps even they were getting tired of it.

[carriagelamp]

Weirdly enough, I often find myself reading less in the summer, since I have more time than I do during the rest of the year to do other things. Also artfight has been eating up more than a bit of my free time! But here’s a collection a graphic novels I sat around on the hammock reading, and some novels I finished up...

(Everyone go read All Systems Red, holy crow guys)

A Whale of the Wild

The “sequel” to A Wolf Called Wander, though it doesn’t actually connect to the previous novel except in the stylistic/thematic sense. A Whale of the Wild is very much a standalone novel. And a pretty decent one! Personally, I think I liked Wolf more, but this one was a pleasant, informative read, with just the right amount of crushing dread sprinkled in. It’s about a young orca called Vega who is learning to become a new wayfinder for her pod but who still has a lot to learn, especially in an ocean that is becoming increasingly hostile to orcas and the other sealife that live alongside humans. When a devastating earthquake hits, Vega and her little brother find themselves separated from their family, lost in a now horrifyingly unfamiliar environment, and fighting starvation as the salmon that sustain them become more and more unreliable. It’s a desperate fight for survival as they search for food and their missing family. This book is written for a middle grade level, and does a really good job of putting the current environmental crisis into an animal’s perspective while giving the readers something to hope for.

The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom

Every July I eagerly anticipate the next Adventure Zone graphic novel. This one is for their fourth arc, The Crystal Kingdom, in which Magnus, Taako, and Merle respond to a SOS from a floating laboratory that is gradually being consumed by crystals and which threatens the entire world should it fall into the ocean. Carey Pietsch’s art continues to be absolutely fantastic, so beautifully and hilariously expressive, and this one delivers some great Merle moments, lots of Carey Fangbattle, and, of course, Kravtiz. Kravitz, my beloved…

Anyway, I obviously always recommend these. If you’ve never gotten into The Adventure Zone, I totally recommend either trying these graphic novels — or even better, just go listen to the podcast because it really is both hilarious and creates a shockingly good and heart-wrenching story by the end.

All Systems Red

I’ve seen The Murderbot Diaries on my dash occasionally, and it always looked interesting, but a friend’s recommendation finally compelled me to read the first novella of the series. And holy shit y’all. Absolutely the best book I’ve read this month, it’s amazing. Mind-blowingly good. Also, if you’re like me and want a good audiobook, it’s a nice three-hour listen, very chill!

Anyway, All Systems Red is about a Security Unit, an artificially created being that’s part-organic part-mechanical and all-company-owned-and-controlled. However, self-named “Murderbot” has managed to hack into the system that suppresses its own will, and is now coasting along, doing the least amount of work its job requires not to be noticed, while preferring to spend all its time watching the hours and hours of soap operas it has downloaded into its brain. And it’s a tolerable if somewhat dull life, until the science team that it's currently rented to is attacked and the whole mission goes pear-shaped. Suddenly Murderbot has to scramble to keep its humans alive… while its humans scramble with the realization that their “SecUnit” isn’t actually a mindless robot like they had all believed...

This story is both gripping and hilariously funny. Murderbot has such a unique voice and perspective and it’s an absolute pleasure to follow its story. I reallly need to read the next book...

Asterix and the Banquet

A classic. I was startled when I realized I hadn’t actually read this Asterix story… but hell I’m not gonna complain, it lets me read one of the originals for the first time again! In this Asterix volume, the Indomitable Gauls and the Romans end up arranging a bet — the Romans intend to keep them under siege, trapped in their village, while Asterix is confident that he can easily evade them… and will prove it by going on a tour around all of Gaul, collecting iconic foods from each region in order to return and put on a fine banquet. So we get a fantastic adventure in which Asterix and Obelix run all over the country, pursued the whole way, while making cheerful stops at the various eateries along the way. Also the first book Dogmatix shows up in! All around, a wonderful read, fun like all the best Asterix comics are.

Beauty Pop v4

A less impressive graphic novel. The first Beauty Pop is one of my guilty pleasure manga because… it really is pretty stupid but in the best possible ways. I mean, the whole thing is framed around hairstyling battles, like a shojo sports manga without the sports. It’s bonkers. Unfortunately, the series does not really manage to hold up, and it really begins to feel repetitive and dragging as it continues… as a lot of series like this do. *shrug* Unsurprising but still kinda disappointing I suppose. The building three-way romantic tension is mildly interesting if for no other reason than the main character Does Not Notice and Does Not Care about any of it, which is amusing and refreshing.

FRNCK v5

Now this series only gets better and better as it goes. This is the first book of the second arc, and somehow the danger just seems to be ramping up and up and up. The cavefamily have lost their home… as well as Léonard and Gargouille. Heartbroken, shocked, and angry, Franck is the one who ends up shouldering the blame for their presumed deaths as the others mourn. Things only get worse when Franck finds himself separated from the family, and in the territory of another tribe, this one hostile and cannibalistic...

Haikyuu v5

I continue to read this series because it continues to be charming… though it is beginning to feel, maybe, just a little repetitive. Kind of an inevitability with sports manga. But so far it continues to be good enough to overcome that. I’m not sure what I can say about this series that I haven’t already, so I’ll simply say it continues to be one of the most impressive sports manga I’ve read, and the author does a fantastic job of creating engaging characters, fleshed out teams, and really compelling relationships. I do genuinely adore all the main members of Crows, along with a number of characters from the rival teams as well. And of course it has some kickass volleyball scenes that are just drawn so dramatically they can’t help but take your breath away a little.

M*A*S*H Goes To Maine

Meh. The original book of the series was actually quite good in my opinion. This one… considerably less so. The first part I enjoyed more, since it was about Hawkeye, Trapper, Duke, and Oliver Jones trying to set up the FinestKind Clinic and Fishmarket in Crabapple Cove (which… is just the best premise I could have ever asked for). However, the book spends most of its time describing the quirky lives and times of other people living in the area and I… just… don’t care. It was funny at times but… I just don’t care. I wanted to hear more about the main cast. Also I found this book felt more racist and misogynistic than the first which also put me off :/ Wouldn’t bother if I were you. Go read the first book instead, or better yet just watch the TV show which is an obvious banger.

My Heart’s in the Highlands

I have had this on my “currently reading” list for so long but I’m officially giving up. It’s a really good book in theory but my god I can’t get over the pacing.

It’s about Lady Jane, a woman studying medicine in Edinburgh in 1888, and who suddenly finds herself back in the Highlands in the 13th century. Lost and confused, Jane is now at the mercy Clan Donald’s hospitality while she tries to adjust to this new world and hunts for her broken time machine. Fortunately, this hospitality include a burgeoning friendship with a red-haired warrior woman, Ainslie nic Dòmhnaill, who opens Jane’s eyes to the way the world could be.

Listen. It drives me nuts. This book should be completely up my alley, it has everything I like — IT HAS ALL OF ITS HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES CITED AT THE BACK, LITTLE EXTRA DETAILS ABOUT EVERY CHAPTER. THAT’S MY SHIT RIGHT THERE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LIKE BEING ABLE TO GO OVER HISTORICAL DETAILS?? AND WELL RESEARCHED FOOTNOTES?? And yet it doesn’t. Fucking. Work for me. It has a kickass Scottish warrior lady as a love interest! It has a badass lady doctor! It has fish-out-of-water culture shock! But it also has a completely meandering plot, no sense of building tension, and a romance that just happens out of nowhere and feels completely unearned and uninteresting.

I would genuinely just rather read Outlander again, which I know has its own host of problems, but at least Outlander felt exciting and interesting and tense and funny. The romance built in fits and starts, it was complicated, and kept me interested. That book had me hooked (and has me hooked every time I reread it) whereas this book I’ve been sadly picking at for months like its a plate of overcooked spinach. This felt like an attempt at a queer, historically accurate knockoff which I would normally be super into but which just could not stick the landing.

Moomin on the Riviera

My first time actually reading anything from the Moomin canon. I have zero idea how to feel about it! It certainly is as feral as I’ve heard described! Overall, I think I enjoyed it but it sure made me feel strange emotions I didn’t know existed. I’m not even going to try to describe it. Read it if you want a batshit insane anti-capitalist comic.

Surviving the City

This was good in some areas, less good in others. It had a very interesting indigenous perspective on life in the modern city, the foster system, and The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women issue, which I’ve never seen handled in a book before. Something about the pacing did not completely click with me and I found myself getting easily distracted, but it’s definitely worth the read just to experience it and look at the issues it deals with through the characters’ (and author’s) eyes. It did give me a lot to think about and wrestle with, which is sometimes the best thing a book can give you.

Torchwood: Pack Animals

A really fun read, more so than I had ever expected! If you like Torchwood and want more stories about the team before everything goes to shit, this is perfect for that. It includes the entire cast, an interest mystery to be unravelled, lots of slavering monsters, Rhys being really wonderful and sweet (which I didn’t know I wanted until I read this book), and all the humour I expect from Torchwood. I had to send a lot of quotes to my long-suffering girlfriend who a) does not watch this show but b) needs to tolerate it because I find it too funny to keep to myself. It was good enough to make me go out another book of the series since this was the only one my library carried.

[segenassefa]

9: Why Gatekeeping is Ok (#FufuChallenge Discourse)

African restaurants in the U.S., while not as popular as their foreign counterparts, are not far and few between in states such as a D.C., New York, and Georgia having large African communities. In recent weeks, videos of people trying variations of fufu and stew have popped up seemingly out of nowhere, unknowingly creating a “trend” called the #FufuChallenge. While some of the reactions were positive, many of these videos were quite the opposite, in which individuals with little to no home training had the absolute gall to record themselves treating the food as if it were 50 Shades of Grey – including but not limited to spitting, slapping, tossing, and other things that are considered incredibly disrespectful.

Now, fufu is native to West Africa and made from boiled and pounded cassava. Different countries have their versions of the same food, give or take a few ingredients - banku, eba, ga’at, ugali, mofongo, and cornmeal coucou (fungi, for my VI people). As disclaimer – I am an adventurous eater, and the first time I tried fufu, I was a fan. I don’t think it’s a food that’s hard to enjoy flavour-wise, but I can see how the texture may not be agreeable for everyone. Additionally, being from a culture that eats with their hands, there’s a lot of etiquette that’s instilled in at a young age– the most important being that food is not a toy. However, the recent videos have sparked a debate about Black acceptance between different members of the diaspora.

It is interesting how, during a time of inclusivity and unification within the Black community, it is taking no more than pounded root vegetable for most of you to show your ass. I don’t feel like now is the time to remind Black Americans that some of “common” foods would be considered abhorrent to others – chitlins and pickled pig feet, we’re looking at you. Everyone is losing their mind over pounded cassava, but the idea of eating soggy cornmeal – also known as grits – is a normal phenomenon. We can also bring snack foods into this - hot pickles in a bag, Vienna sausages - but the point of this conversation is not to sit here and bash culinary history, but to make the argument clear that every culture has foods that others would find less than palatable.

In the same breath that we want to come together, fight systemic oppression, and be on some fake Marcus Garvey shit, people are referring to African food as disgusting, garbage, and even “dog food”. But you want to go back to Africa, right? Find your roots?

Have you all lost your damn minds?

Black people exist everywhere, and that inherently means that the techniques and methods of cooking we use are prevalent in a lot of other cultures. If you don’t believe me, take the time to Google Korean fried chicken and the fact that the idea of frying chicken in batter was introduced by Black soldiers stationed abroad in the 1940s and 1950s, or how gumbo and jambalaya are variants of traditional African foods, created using recipes that date back to slavery. So, there’s a chance that there are other foods across various cultures – including Black American meals - that resemble traditional African cuisine. Why don’t you drag those on social media as well?

More likely than not, before the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, this is probably the food that peoples’ ancestors were eating, and by reasonable conclusion, it’d be the food that OUR ancestors were eating. Additionally, there are so many other cultures with foods that can be turned into trend, so why was the Internet’s thought process to bully African people for no reason other than for laughs on social media? No, just traditional African food? Ok, noted.

Like ENNY said, please free my people from clout. PLEASE. I’m begging at this point.

And non-Black people have not escaped scrutiny either – so if you found yourself at a protest this year or have a cheeky little “BLM” in your bio, but you still found the time to degrade African culture on your timeline, I’m going to need you to go ahead and click backspace on your bio for me really quick, because the math is not math-ing. When it comes to other ethnic groups asking for parts of their culture to be respected and kept sacred, everyone wants to be quiet and listen, but when Black – specifically African people - ask for the same respect, people struggle to do so and are left with two options, or what they think are their only options – to, A, dismantle parts of Black culture to be co-opted and renamed to be acceptable to the white gaze or, B, label these things as disgusting and left at the mercy of Twitter think piece writers and Clubhouse podcasters who have nothing better to do than talk about things that they absolutely have no knowledge on.

Lastly, a LOT of foods from other cultures that are popular in the United States are not even authentic to that culture. To stand in front of a Taco Bell, or Panda Express, or Olive Garden and tell anyone that is your idea of eating “ethnic” food is not only a lie, but the curse of nationalism and Western closed-mindedness.

If you think our friends in Mexico are sitting down at their tables each night with a Crunch Wrap Supreme and Nacho Fries, you are highly mistaken, beloved.

But, with no empathy, authentic African culture has been co-opted as a sort of internet trend in which it’s acceptable to bash damn near an entire continent for food that takes immense labour and cultural knowledge to create successfully. And then, the people who posted their negative reviews actually had to sit, order the food, set it up, film themselves eating it, decide they didn’t like it, go back and edit the video – with their disrespect front and centre – and thought they could post it on the internet free of scrutiny. Like, we (as Americans) aren’t even eating traditional foods from other cultures to BEGIN with, so why was now the time to start, and why did you all start with African food?

Answer, and quickly.

There has always been tension within the Black community between Black Americans and the African diaspora, over feelings of perceived superiority and inferiority on both sides, and in all honesty, this is an argument I don’t subscribe to - at the end of the day, systemic racism does not care what flag you have in your bio, or how long you’ve lived in America – you’re Black, plain and simple.

But West Africans were not the first people who hopped on the internet and begged people to try their food, so the unwarranted opinions are more proof that maybe sometimes, it’s ok to gatekeep. And no one is begging for these reactions either or saying that you have to like it – if you’re not a fan, just nize it and maybe just…delete the video? Outside of the topic of respect also, the Internet is forever. So those of who you unabashedly are posting disrespect on the internet, think where this video will be circulating in a year or so.

Lastly, if you think Africans are blowing the response to the “fufu challenge” out of proportion, keep that same energy next time you see white women in box braids, rocking evil eye pendants, doing intricate henna on your timeline, or trying to lecture you about aligning your chakras, since it has now been established that disrespecting peoples’ culture is no more than acceptable social media discourse.

Be blessed!

[massmurdera]

2019 & 2010s Best/Worst

Because I like lists and cataloguing the dumb shit I cared about. As my brother once said after seeing and reviewing NOW YOU SEE ME on a lazy Sunday, ‘Some would say it was a waste of time, others might say it was a colossal waste of time.’     

I’ll admit, it’s a bit over-the-top. Particularly including the Pats, but yeah, in the Tom Brady era that started when I was 14 as a Freshman in high school to 33 years old now and wrapping up soon-ish (?), there’s not a chance in hell I’ll care as intimately about this shit. I grew up with it at just the right time.

2019 MOVIES  TOP TIER 1) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2) Uncut Gems 2nd TIER 3) Knives Out 4) Parasite 5) Little Women 6) Midsommer 3rd TIER 7) John Wick III 8) Ready or Not 9) Marriage Story 10) Joker 11) Irishman 12) Shazam! 13) Us UNDERRATED Ready or Not TOO LONG John Wick III; Irishman SOLID El Camino GOOD BAD 6 Underground OK 21 Bridges; Avengers: Endgame; Dolemite is my Name; Dragged Across Concrete; Fighting With My Family; Hustlers; Knock Down the House; Longshot; the Report; Two Popes MEH Always Be My Maybe; Death of Dick Long; High Flying Bird; Spiderman: Far From Home; Standoff at Sparrow Creek DISAPPOINTING Hobbs & Shaw; Toy Story 4; Triple Frontier SUCK Laundromat; Under the Silver Lake OVERRATED Ad Astra; Booksmart; the Farewell FUNNIEST SCENE Dicaprio flipping out in movie trailer BEST CLIMAX/ENDING Once Upon a Time; Uncut Gems HAVEN’T SEEN 1917; Apollo 11; Beach Bum; Dark Waters; Ford vs Ferrari; Honey Boy; Jojo Rabbit; the Lighthouse; Star Wars 2019 TV  TOP TIER 1) Succession 2) Fleabag 3) Watchmen 2nd TIER 4) When They See Us 5) Barry 6) Unbelievable 7) Chernobyl 8) Sex Education DAMN GOOD Big Mouth; the Boys; Brockmire; Derry Girls; Euphoria; Loudest Voice; Mindhunter; Pen15; Righteous Gemstones; Veep WATCHABLE Atypical; Bosch; Dark; Goliath; Karate Kid; Kominsky Method; Mandalorian; Mr Robot; Mrs Fletcher; Russian Doll; Warrior HIGH/LOW I Think You Should Leave SHIT END FOR ALL-TIME GREAT Game of Thrones HALF-WATCH Living With Yourself; Raising Dion; the Society NOT UP TO STANDARD Stranger Things; GLOW; Killing Eve; True Detective BAD Luther; Shameless; Silicon Valley; SNL SUCK 13 Reasons Why; Big Little Lies; the Witcher FUNNIEST Desus & Mero DOCS 1) Fyre: both  2) Ted Bundy Tapes 3) American Factory 4) Leaving Neverland STAND-UP SPECIALS 1) Burr 2) Chappelle 3) Jeselnik 4) Birbiglia 5) Gulman BEHIND ON SHOWS I DIG Brooklyn 99; Catastrophe; Corporate; Expanse; Good Place; It’s Always Sunny; Letterkenny 2010s TV  DRAMA 1) Breaking Bad 2) Game of Thrones 3) Justified 4) Mad Men 5) Hannibal 6) Banshee ANTHOLOGY/LIMITED SERIES 1) Fargo SII 2) True Detective SI 3) When They See Us 4) People Vs OJ Simpson 5) Chernobyl 6) Show Me a Hero 7) the Night Of 8) Honorable Woman COMEDY 1) Atlanta 2) Fleabag 3) Veep 4) Big Mouth 5) Parks & Rec 6) Rick & Morty 7) Nathan for You 8) Review 9) American Vandal HIT/MISS Black Mirror OVERRATED Boardwalk Empire; House of Cards; Peaky Blinders; Westworld UNDERRATED Banshee; Brockmire; Hannibal FUN HATE-WATCH Newsroom DOWNHILL Homeland; How I Met Your Mother; Legion; Sons of Anarchy HATED Girls; Leftovers; Rectify UNWATCHABLE Twin Peaks BEST ENDINGS Breaking Bad; Justified; Fleabag; Parks & Rec DUMBEST ENDING Dexter; Sons of Anarchy LATE NIGHT Desus & Mero POLITICAL John Oliver 2010s MOVIES 2010 Social Network Animal Kingdom; the Fighter; Four Lions; Inside Job; Jackass 3; MacGruber; Shutter Island; Toy Story 3; True Grit; Winter’s Bone 2011 the Raid Descendents; Drive; Fast Five; the Guard; Mission Impossible 4; Take This Waltz; Warrior 2012 Magic Mike 21 Jump Street; Argo; Cabin in the Woods; Chronicle; Django Unchained; Goon; Looper; Queen of Versailles; Silver Linings Playbook; Skyfall 2013 Wolf of Wall Street Before Midnight; the Conjuring; Gravity; Her; Inside Llewyn Davis; Prisoners; Short-Term 12 2014 John Wick the Drop; Edge of Tomorrow; Gone Girl; the Guest; Lego Movie; Nightcrawler; the Raid 2; Whiplash 2015 Mad Max 7 Days in Hell; Big Short; Brooklyn; Creed; Ex Machina; Fast 7; It Follows; Logan; Magic Mike XXL; the Martian; Me and Earl and the Dying Girl; Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation; Sicario 2016 the Nice Guys Deadpool; Edge of Seventeen; Everybody Wants Some!; Green Room; La La Land; Manchester By the Sea; Moonlight; OJ: Made in America; Popstar; Sing Street; Weiner 2017 Get Out Blade Runner 2049; Coco; Dunkirk; Lady Bird; Logan; Thor Ragnorak; Tour de Pharmacy 2018 Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse BlacKKKlansman; Den of Thieves; Hereditary; If Beale Street Could Talk; Minding the Gap; Sorry to Bother You

THE BEST Mad Max BEST DOC OJ: Made in America FUNNIEST DOC Tickled UNDERRATED DOC Weiner HORROR Hereditary FAVORITE/FUNNIEST PERFORMANCE Ryan Gosling (Nice Guys) DESERVED 5 SEQUELS the Nice Guys SUPERHERO Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse WAR Dunkirk BEST FIGHT SCENES the Raid UNDERRATED any Lonely Island project NICE TRY Dark Knight Rises; Inception; Interstellar; Widows STAND-UP 2010s FAVORITE Bill Burr NEXT BEST Ali Wong; Anthony Jeselnik; Kyle Kinane; Bert Kreischer; Marc Maron; John Mulaney; Patton Oswalt; Rory Scovel; Tom Segura COMEBACK Chappelle DOWNFALL Louis CK DIED BEFORE PRIME Patrice O’Neal, Greg Giraldo UNDERRATED Joe Derosa MUST-SEE LIVE Robert Kelly  PODCASTS 2010s  BEST/FUNNIEST/UNDERRATED Walking the Room RUNNER-UP 600 Dollar Podcast ONE-MAN RANT Bill Burr Monday Morning Podcast SPORTS Pardon My Take RIFFING Bodega Boys HISTORY/COMEDY Dollop HISTORY DEEP DIVE Hardcore History MOVIES Rewatchables HATE-WATCH CRITICISM West Wing Thing POP CULTURE/FILM Frotcast MIXED Revisionist History GOOD/BAD Joe Rogan: GOOD: propping up comic friends; BAD: useful idiot for propping up bad faith fascists who should be put out to pasture INTERNET CURIOSITY Reply All LEFTIST POLITICS Chapo Trap House TRUE CRIME In the Dark ADVICE Don’t Take Bullshit From Fuckers LAME Pod Save America OVERRATED Missing Richard Simmons DIDN’T LIKE S-Town SERIAL Season 3>Season 1 TRUMP Trump, Inc SPORTS SCHAUDENFREUDE Fuck the Chargers OKAY Bill Simmons WTF WITH MARON good when he talks to comics MURDER My Favorite Murder OTHER GOOD ONES Hound Tall; Press Box

2010s MUSIC  FAVORITE anything Brian Fallon ROCK BAND Menzingers SONG Robyn-‘Dancing On My Own’ POP-PUNK BAND Wonder Years LIVE ALBUM Horrible Crowes-‘Elsie’ HEAVY BAND Every Time I Die ELECTRONIC Chvrches SOLO Rihanna COVER ALBUM Dustin Kensrue-‘Thoughts on a Different Blood’ GO-TO AT GYM Story So Far OFF THE INEVITABLE & IRRECOVERABLE DEEP END Kanye KIND OF LIKE THE MUSIC/HATE THE PERSON: LIKE KANYE Taylor Swift, Bieber THOUGHT I’D HATE BUT DOES NOT SUCK Lana Del Rey; Post Malone OTHER FAVES 1975; Arctic Monkeys; Beach Slang; Black Keys; Bon Iver; Carly Rae Jepsen; the National; Thrice MIXED Chance the Rapper; Kendrick Lamar I’ll be honest I spent far more time listening to podcasts nearly all the time and just listened to mostly the same couple of things I liked. 2010s PATRIOTS  2010s BEST GAMES 1) Seahawks Super Bowl 2) Falcons Super Bowl 3) Ravens 2015 Divisional 4) Chiefs 2019 AFCCG UNDERRATED CLASSIC Ravens 2015 Divisional BRADY/GRONK GO DOWN LIKE CHAMPS 1) 2018 Eagles Super Bowl 2) Broncos 2015 AFCCG: Brady’ offensive line was a sieve EITHER WAY Giants Super Bowl: game changed when Brady’s shoulder got fucked up by Tuck FAVORITE PLAYER TB12 MOST FUN/DOMINANT Gronk HEART OF TEAM Edelman BELOVED Wilfork ROCK SOLID 1) Hightower 2) McCourty 3) James White 1st BALLOT HALL OF FAMERS 1) Brady 2) Gronk 3) Revis LATER BALLOT 1) Edelman 2) Scarnecchia 3) Welker 4) Wilfork 5) Slater MAKING AN ARGUMENT Gilmore PATS HALL ONLY 1) McCourty 2) Hightower 3) Mankins 4) White 5) Gostkowski 6) Mayo 7) Chung UNDERRATED/GOOD VALUE 1) Amendola 2) Vollmer 3) Ninkovich 4) Chung 5) Woodhead DESERVED BETTER Welker UNSUNG Slater OVERRATED 1) Solder 2) Brandin Cooks NO-SHOWS Dolphins (Dec ’19); Jets Divisional (Jan ‘11) BEST REGULAR SEASON WINS 1) 2013 Broncos 2) 2017 Steelers 3) 2013 Saints BEST REGULAR SEASON LOSSES 1) 2012 49ers 2) 2016 Seahawks 3) 2014 Packers 4) 2015 Broncos LOL Miami Miracle: saved by winning Super Bowl LEAST TALENTED TEAM 1) 2013 by a mile 2) 2010 3) 2011 4) 2018 BEST TEAM 1) 2014  2) 2016 BEST PLAYS (NON-GRONK) 1) Butler INT Seahawks 2) Edelman TD pass vs Ravens 3) Buttfumble Jets 4) Edelman catch vs Falcons 5) Walk-off TD vs Falcons 6) Dan Connolly kick return 7) Brady TD pass to LaFell 2015 Divisional POUNDED TABLE TO DRAFT 1) Lamar Jackson 2) Kittle 3) AJ Brown 4) Honey Badger 5) Stefon Diggs WANTED BUT OUT OF REACH 1) Aaron Donald 2) Quenton Nelson 3) Derwin James 4) Hopkins 5) TJ Watt 6) Saquon 7) Keenan Allen 8) McCaffrey 9) Gurley WOULD’VE WON IT ALL IF NOT FOR INJURIES 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017. That’s football HEALTHIEST SEASON 2018 ROPE-A-DOPED/GOT BY ON VETERAN GUILE 2018: Belichick’s best coaching FAVORITE PICKS AT THE TIME OF GUYS I WANTED 1) Gronk 2) Hightower/Chandler Jones 3) Shaq Mason MOVES I HATED THAT I WAS WRONG ABOUT 1) Stephon Gilmore 2) trading Jamie Collins MOST IMPROVED Marcus Cannon BEST FIND Kyle Van Noy MOVE I LOVED getting Blount back the 2nd time IF BUTLER WASN’T BENCHED, DO THEY BEAT THE EAGLES? Yes 100%. If only because, if nothing else, he can tackle BUTLER’s INT KILLED THE ‘LEGION OF BOOM’ SEAHAWKS WOULD-BE DYNASTY Yes DRAFT REACH THAT MADE NO SENSE Jordan Richards: Tavon Wilson 2.0 BAD DRAFT MOVES 1) Dominique Easley 2) Cyrus Jones 3) Dobson 4) Mallett DIRTY SECRET Belichick sucks at drafting in 2nd round WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD IF HE STAYED HEALTHY Malcolm Mitchell HATE TO SEE WALK BUT COULDN’T AFFORD 1) Trey Flowers 2) Chandler Jones 3) Jimmy G 4) Talib 5) Akiem Hicks DEFLATEGATE fraud/power trip job by Goodell/owners BRADY OR BELICHICK MORE VALUABLE Brady 100% DISAPPOINTING/GAMBLES 1) Ochocinco 2) Michael Bennett: got him 2 years too late 3) Fanene signing 4) Haynesworth BEST SHORT-TERM 1) Martellus Bennett 2) Chris Long 3) Revis 4) Brian Waters SUSPECT CHARACTERS/EDGY PERSONALITY MACHINES Brandon Spikes; Brandon Browner…SERIAL KILLER Aaron Hernandez PERSONALITY DISORDER DISASTER Antonio Brown: bad signing/unexpected HOW THE FUCK DID WE LOSE TO THAT GUY? Eli Manning/Nick Foles LIFESAVER Scarnecchia MCDANIELS Frustrating—but continuity matters REFS FUCKED OVER Gronk  MISCELANNEOUS 2010s GOOD/ENJOY Bernie Sanders/AOC: people who actually want to get good done that’s long overdue…Lebron James; Stephen Curry; Kawhi; Zion Williamson; Luka Doncic...Lamar Jackson; Pat Mahomes; JJ Watt; Marshawn Lynch…Coach Ed Orgeron...David Ortiz…2011 Bruins…memes…Don Winslow crime novels…David Roth writing on Trump…David Grann non-fiction…’Book of Mormon’ DID NOT ENJOY Kyrie Irving…Deflategate…LeBron on the Heat…Bobby Valentine DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE ‘Between the World and Me’…Elon Musk…Lin Manuel-Miranda/’Hamilton’ INDEFENSIBLY AND INFURIATINGLY BAD THE MORE YOU LOOK AT IT Facebook…Obama Presidency/Democratic Party Leadership EVERYDAY DISASTER Media: CNN; Fox; MSNBC; NY Times Op-Ed…Trump/Republicans: Trump presidency was basically 2010s 9/11 for inevitable disastrous fallout & consequences my generation will never recover from…Grifters Trojan horsing way in shamelessly (Trump administration; Ben Shapiro; Alex Jones; Milo; Jordan Peterson, Tomi Lahren, etc.) and no repercussions...Republican Party basically one goal: to troll libs even with shitty ideas that suck FAVORITES WHO DIED Bourdain; Elmore Leonard; Garry Shandling; Muhammad Ali; Robin Williams; Tom Petty BEST TALENT CUT SHORT Philip Seymour Hoffman SHITTIEST PEOPLE WHO DIED Antonin Scalia; George HW Bush; John McCain; Osama; Steve Jobs; Whitey Bulger I FORGOT THAT SHIT HAPPENED Charlie Sheen loses it JEFFREY EPSTEIN did not kill himself WHAT DEFINES 2010s Amazon/Bezos…Climate Change/Gun Violence inaction…Journalism being taken over by Bane Capital-esque vultures/local places dying...one-sided Class War by the uber-rich…#MeToo…Netflix…Opioids…Outrage/Cancel culture…Police Injustice…Silicon Valley…Social Media…Superhero shit…Your mom

[misterclandestine]

My Favorite Stuff from 2017

It’s been a tough one, but there was a lot of awesome stuff that made it easier. Here are some of my favorites in no particular order.

DAMN by Kendrick Lamar, Album - The World felt different once this was in it. Kenny’s 4th release proved he’s just as thoughtful, agile, and hungry as ever.

everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too by Johnny Sun, Book - You can go through this hybrid graphic novel/picture-book in one sitting, but there’s so much to chew on here that I recommend taking time with this story, which follows Jomny, a misspelling aliebn sent to earth to study human behavior. The brief, direct interactions simply, & hilariously reveal everything beautiful and tragic about what it is to be alive.  

Abstract: The Art of Design, Series - This Netflix series drops you into the lives of 6 masterful creators moving through subcultures of artistry (i.e Footwear Design, Illustration, Stage Design). Each revealing their varying methods, ideas, and joys about creativity. The standout episode follows Christoph Niemann, an illustrator for the New Yorker, and his blue-collar approach to his work.

Game of Thrones: The Spoils of War, TV Series - Though this season was rushed, clumsy and arguably unrecognizable from the compelling and prestigious drama that has unprecedentedly impacted our culture, you won’t find a more gripping hour of television. You know a show is wilding out when you don’t know who the hell to even root for anymore (Get em, Drogo! Wait, not Bronn! Wait, not the incestuous child killer!)

Insecure: Season 2, TV Series - The show you didn’t know you needed. Issa Rae’s hilarious dramedy paints a picture of what it’s like to be young, ambitious, unapologetic, lonely, intelligent, sexy, successful, and losing.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Season 4, TV Series - Oliver’s weekly recap simultaneously manages to be enlightening, funny, depressing, and hopeful. His takedown of Alex Jones was one of the most satisfying things I consumed all year.

Do Not Disturb by Drake, Song - the final track of More Life, a surprise ‘mixtape’, samples ‘Time’ by Snoh Alegra, and is one of his most personal songs to date. Without a chorus, he raps for 3 minutes about not needing romance, fear of irrelevancy, and the quickening passage of time. Gracefully shifting between insecurity and arrogance with dizzying fervor, Aubrey continues to capture the emotional woes of an entire generation.

Get Out, Film - Jordan Peele’s directorial film debut is the rare instant classic, and it’s not because it has one of the most crowd-pleasing endings of all time. The satirical, social commentary cloaked in the guise of a horror comedy, refuses definition, and peels back layers of race, and class previously untouched in cinema.

Melodrama by Lorde, Album - With a kajillion pounds of pressure on her shoulders to follow up one of the best pop debuts of all time, Ella delivers. She croons on top of Jack Antonoff’s unruly production about heartbreak, fame, and the feeble impact of acclaim. As one Twitterer put it “I gain an extra chromosome when the beat drops in ‘Sober II’.

mother!, Film - I can’t say I enjoyed this movie because it was the second most excruciating sit I had at the theater all year (kudos to Justice League), but it left me SHOOK. It’s clearly allegorical, but what makes it masterful is that the way you take this movie in is colored almost entirely by your own personal experiences.

Master of None: Season 2, TV Series - A perfect double-feature to Insecure (give me a shared universe where Dev and Issa are a power couple). Ansari’s relentlessly entertaining series accomplishes what every second season strives for. It tops the first, while redefining and expanding itself. The show is tirelessly committed to the experiences of ‘others’ (a deaf person, a lesbian, a non-believing muslim, service workers in NYC etc.) It’ll leave you crying, laughing, and hungry.

Split, Film - When we’re lucky, films hit ya with “SURPRISE, muthafucka” moments that Jesus himself would not see coming. Shyamalan’s second hit in a row (after a run of all time duds) ends with one 17 years in the making. The iconic villain terrifyingly played with razor-sharp swiftness by the world-class James McAvoy is the icing on the cake.

Isaiah Thomas, Athlete - If not for Russell Westbrook’s record breaking response to Kevin Durant’s betrayal, the “King in the Fourth” takes home the MVP. Watching him play through tears the day after his sister died in a car accident will stay with me forever. His 53 point performance on her birthday a few weeks later starkly reminded me of the unifying, powerful spirit of sport.

Moonlight’s Best Picture Win - I’ll begin by saying that I really liked La La Land. A month after we swore in Don, we got it wrong again… psych! I’ll never forget the roller coaster of emotion that came over me in this moment. Barry Jenkin’s tale told through 3 untraditional acts (titled ‘Little’, ‘Chiron’ & ‘Black’) was gorgeously shot, flawlessly acted, and supremely helmed. It arrived at a time we needed it most and Mahershala Ali FINALLY got his shine.

Coco, Film - We got one shot this year, and we NAILED it. This breathtaking portrait of Mexican culture demands to be seen on the big screen and illuminates the importance of dreams, family, and tradition. No manches!

‘No Man’s Land’ scene in Wonder Woman - There were two times in the theater this year that I felt that sinking drop of a roller coaster in my belly, this was one of them. Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins must be emboldened and protected at all cost.

Woody Harrelson, Actor - The rare movie-star actor quietly had a phenomenal year, further etching the grooves of his name into Hollywood lore. His turns in The Glass Castle, The War for the Planet of the Apes, and Three Billboards in Ebbing Missouri prove he’s STILL at the top of his game. I’m shocked that his heartbreaking portrayal of a drifting, alcoholic yet whimsical and passionate father in The Glass Castle hasn’t gotten more attention.

S - Town, Podcast - The colder you go into this one, the better. All I’ll say is that you’ll step away from this one feeling some type of way about people, the feeble sustainability of the planet, and clocks.

The World Series, Sports - The. Best. Ever. After being devastated by Hurricane Harvey, the Astros grant Houstonians some restoration via their first World Series Championship in a thrilling 7-game series that was literally witnessed by the World.

The Keepers, Documentary Series- This 7 episode series documenting the varying controversies surrounding the Catholic Church left me epiphanized about what it means to remove the seemingly impenetrable powers of institutions. Targeting one single individual, or a group of individuals or an organization won’t get it done. We must take down the viral ideas themselves.

Bladerunner 2049, Film - Aside from being wondrously constructed technically (you won’t see better production design or cinematography - give Deakins his Oscar now dammit), this story about a robot serves up a surprising amount of soul. Denis Villeneuve, solidifying his auteur status, delivers a nostalgic yet entirely unique follow up to the beloved sci fi classic.

‘Throne Room’ scene in The Last Jedi - This was the other time I felt like I was falling in the theater. Despite considerable problems, Rian Johnson showed us stuff we’ve never seen before in the SW universe. It’s the showdown you dream about as a kid.

The Big Sick, film - Kumail Nanjiani’s autobiographical story of how he met his lover is sorta the woke edition of Meet The Parents. Like Dev on MON, Kumail struggles to blaze trails while upholding loyalty to family and falls in love for a white girl along the way. Ray Romano and Holly Hunter turn in a pair of the year’s best performances.

Big Little Lies, Mini Series - I resisted the marketing for this one initially: dissatisfied, rich folk in Monterey. But the re-teaming of Jean-Marc Vallée (Wild, Dallas Buyers Club, Demolition) & Reese Witherspoon seemed promising. Momentum grew with each weekly installment (I overheard people theorizing whodoneit in restaurants), which is refreshing in the Netflix age. The leads are all stellar (believe the hype about Kidman) and Zoe Kravitz proves she should be working more.

Creature Comfort by Arcade Fire, Song - A painful examination of youth that’s equally heartbreaking and melodic.

Homecoming Season 2 - The fictional podcast about the remnants of a government coverup of a failed rehabilitation program for distressed veterans makes some questionable narrative choices in it’s second season and Oscar Isaac is absent throughout most of it (likely due to a loaded schedule). He does “appear” at the end of the second episode ‘CIPHER’, in a brilliant usage of audio storytelling, and it left me in puddles.

Mindhunter, TV Series - We all know Fincher is a technical maestro, but I don’t think he gets enough credit for being a complete storyteller, which he clearly is. The 13-episode made-to-binge Netflix series based off the book by the same name follows Holden Ford, an idealistic FBI profiler, and Bill Tench, played by Holt McCallany subverting every macho character role he’s ever taken on as a highly intelligent, hardened fed, as they attempt to break ground on our understandings of serial murderers. All of Fincher’s trademarks are there with sprinkled elements of Seven, & Zodiac.

Tyler the Creator’s Tiny Desk Concert, Podcast - I enjoyed ‘Flower Boy’, but didn’t find myself returning to it. That all changed after this. In a year of fantastic TDCs (i.e: Thundercat, Chance the Rapper) Tyler’s stands out. With help from a pair of stellar background singers, his array of talents are on full display, namely: composing and orchestrating melody and harmony.

Colin Kaepernick, Athlete - it’s not about the flag or the military don’t @ me.

20th Century Women, Film - Released wide in January, it remains one of the year’s best. Set gorgeously in 1970′s Santa Barbara, Mike Mills’ deeply personal tribute to motherhood, women, & outcasts overflows with heart.

Kamala Harris, (D) CA Senator - She is so bad, can we get started on the 2020 bumper stickers now?

What Now by Sylvan Esso, Album - ‘Hey Mami’ from their 2014 debut popped up on my Pandora one day and I was IN. Amelia Meath’s angelic vocals layered over Nick Sanborn’s unpredictable production is sublime. The “Echo Mountain Sessions” include dope af live recordings of the album’s standout tracks.

Logan, Film - The Wolverine movie we deserve also features a star-making performance from Dafne Keen and an unrecognizable Professor X. With a decade between the last time he inhabited his iconic portrayal of Charles Xavier, Sir Patrick Stewart strides (wheels?) back into the role with award worthy tact.

Fargo Season 3, TV Series - The best season yet and that’s really saying something. David Thewlis is haunting as Varga, the creepiest, most frightening villain in the series’ history and a collection of top-tier thespians rounds out the rest of the cast. There’s also a moment in one of the later episodes similar to the ending of ‘Split’ that’s a real delight.  

Mr. Robot Season 3, TV Series - Showrunner Sam Esmail moves us through this complex dystopia, which has begun to bear resemblance to our reality lately, with complete CTRL. We see Mr. Robot AND Bobby Canavale like never before. That oner episode is pretty cool too, but it’s not even the season’s best.

Other Notables: Patton Oswalt: Annihilation, Girls Trip, The Leftovers Season 3, Glow, Twin Peaks: The Return, Ingrid Goes West, BEAUTIFUL THUGGER GIRLS by Young Thug, Add Violence by NIN, Good Time, Stranger Things: Season 2, Legion, Dunkirk, Crashing, NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES by N.E.R.D, 4:44 by Jay-Z, Dirty John, Wind River, Dear White People

FYI: I still haven’t seen/listened to a lot of stuff, namely all the big award contending films.

[blogwritetheworld]

October Spotlight – Reading People: The Art of Interviews

by Lisa Hiton

Reading is key to becoming an excellent writer. The practice of reading teaches us many skills about writing—sentence structure, inventing vivid images and character development. The attention we pay to reading words can also be given to reading people. It is the writer’s job, after all, to bring people—invented and real—to life on the page. It’s why the reading (or observing) of people is perhaps the writer’s greatest tool. Whether you’re writing a biographical piece about a loved one, an athlete, or a teacher, or inventing someone in a story, the reader needs to find elements of true people in your pages.

There is no better test of one’s ability to read people than by conducting interviews. Interviews require research, preparation, and most importantly, a capacity to listen to your subject. It is in the listening that a great interviewer can begin to open up their subject and allow for spontaneity where a conversation may organically go, if only we prompt our subjects with deft care.

Reading People

There are many keys to conducting successful interviews: researching your subject, staying current on topics you may talk about with your subject, preparing great questions, and so on. What is harder to plan for is the attitude or mood of your subject. Let’s say you’re interviewing an athlete and you want to talk about overcoming a recent injury, but they’re reluctant to discuss their health with you. What might you do? Do you change the subject entirely? Do you ask more follow-up questions? A lot of this will have to do with reading your subject in the moment of the interview.

At the beginning of the interview, for instance, you may find yourself speaking more than your interviewee. As the interview becomes more comfortable for both of you, allow your interviewee to do more of  the talking.The more interviews you conduct, the more comfortable it can be to let the subjects speak for themselves. We can learn these nuances and practice them. Especially by following along with a few masters who have written books about the art of interviews.

The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft by Lawrence Grobel: Lawrence Grobel has conducted interviews with some of the world’s most beloved celebrities. His experience interviewing stars for the likes of Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and others has informed his book The Art of the Interview. This craft book begins by drawing differentiations in interviews for different media outlets. From print, to radio, to television, Grobel draws the landscape of interviewing for beginners. He then delves into the nitty-gritty: researching, planning good questions, dealing with publicists, and dealing with reluctant subjects. The latter chapters of the book cover getting subjects to open up to you, editing your interview, and the overall structure of interviews.

Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change by Frank Sesno: The central skill of interviewing people is asking questions. Frank Sesno’s book, Ask More, is entirely about questions themselves. Sesno’s organized the book by categorizing kinds of questions: diagnostic questions, strategic questions, empathy questions, bridging questions, confrontational questions, creativity questions, mission questions, scientific questions, interview questions, entertaining questions. As an Emmy-award winning journalist for CNN and director of GWU’s school of Media and Public Affairs, Sesno has mastered not only the art of interviewing, but of asking questions—both of his subjects and of the world entire.

The book ends with a question guide. After studying Sesno’s eleven categories of questions, this guide offers us step-by-step instructions toward asking more powerful questions of ourselves and our subjects—be they people or fields of study. Each of these mini-guides goes through different skills and ways to frame each category of questions, as well as including a question-writing prompt.

Mastering the Study of Interviews

A master of interviews and conducting conversations is Oprah Winfrey. We often think of journalism at the forefront of interviewing. And while Oprah was and is a journalist, her approach to understanding people through their own stories has changed the scope of interviews, oral histories, and the rigor of talk shows.

As she said in her commencement address at Harvard University in 2013, Oprah realized she wanted to be a journalist spontaneously, at a young age: “My television career began unexpectedly. I was in a Miss Fire Prevention contest. That was when I was 16 years old in Nashville, Tennessee[...] During the question and answer period the question came, ‘Why, young lady, what would you like to be when you grow up?’ And by the time they got to me all of the good answers were gone. I had seen Barbara Walters on The Today Show earlier, so I responded ‘I would like to be a journalist. I would like to tell other people’s stories in a way that makes a difference in their lives and the world.’ And as those words were coming out of my mouth I went, ‘Whoa, this is pretty good. I would like to make a difference. I would like to be a journalist.’” And so, it’s not just that Oprah realized what she wanted to do, but something essential about the core of it—that engaging with people also meant to engage with their stories. And that by simply coaxing stories out of people, a larger sense of the world could be accessed by the masses.

As a lifetime fangirl of Oprah Winfrey, the most I’ve ever been moved by her was hearing her commencement speech as I graduated from Harvard in 2013. As she talked about success, failure, and changing the world, here was the passage I found most striking:

The single most important lesson I learned in 25 years of talking every single day to people was that there is a common denominator in our human experience. Most of us, I tell you, we don’t want to be divided, what we want--the common denominator that I’ve found in every single interview—is that we want to be validated. We want to be understood. I’ve done over 35,000 interviews in my career. And as soon as that camera shuts off, everyone always turns to me, and inevitably, in their own way, asks this question: (whispers) Was that okay? I heard it from President Bush. I heard it from President Obama. I’ve heard it from heroes and from housewives. I’ve heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyonce in all of her Beyonce-ness. She finishes performing, hands me the microphone, and says, ‘Was that okay?’. Friends and family, enemies, strangers—in every argument, in every encounter, in every exchange, I will tell you, they all want to know one thing: Was that okay? Did you hear me? Do you see me? Did what I say mean anything to you? [...] My hope is that you will go out and try to have more face to face conversations with people you disagree with. That you’ll have the courage to look them in the eye and hear their point of view. To help make sure that the speed and distance and anonymity of our world doesn’t cause us to lose our ability to stand in someone else’s shoes, and recognize all that we share as a people.

No matter who you encounter, no matter how much you may share or disagree, if we keep those vulnerable truths at heart, we can answer those questions by listening with soul and empathy so that we may answer with a truthful yes.

First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey: The Next Generation of Women: Held during the United State of Women Summit in 2016, this conversation between these two inspiring women addresses many issues women continue to face in our modern world. As you watch the interview or read the transcript, here are some prompts that may help you prepare for your own interviews:

How would you describe the arc of this conversation?

Who is responsible for guiding the conversation?

Break the conversation into movements. Title each movement.

Within each movement, who speaks more? What is the role of the listener?

How does each speaker frame their questions? How does this help the listener/reader?

Annotate the questions raised in the conversation. Label each based on the eleven distinctions from Frank Sesno’s Ask More.

Treasure Troves of (and for) Writers

While we’ve gone through a few of our favorite specific interviews, we’d be remiss not to include a short resource of our favorite homes for literary interviews. Here are three places on the web where you can read and hear conversations with some of your favorite literary figures from all over the world.

The Paris Review Interviews Archive: A longstanding tradition—since the 1950’s!—The Paris Review is home to interviews with the world’s most beloved literary figures. Toni Morrison, Kazuo Ishiguro, James Baldwin, Gabriel García Marquez, Elie Wiesel, Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, Harold Pinter, T.S. Eliot, Truman Capote, Vladmir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Jean Rhys, Kurt Vonnegat, Cynthia Ozick, Tom Stoppard, Chinua Achebe, Margaret Atwood, Jeannette Winterson, Ray Bradbury, Lydia Davis, Claudia Rankine, Ha Jin, Orhan Pamuk, Hunter S Thompson. Browse through these interviews and many more on The Paris Review’s archives or check out the publication’s Interview anthologies.

Divedapper: Divedapper is a web project devoted entirely to hosting interviews with voices in contemporary poetry. Interviews are posted every other Monday between founder, Kaveh Akbar, and contemporary poets. The poets featured are at different places in their careers, so you can find poets with excellent debut books as well as more established poets in the archives. Claudia Rankine, Danez Smith, Richie Hofmann, Morgan Parker, Franny Choi, Kazim Ali, Monica Youn, Oliver Bendorf, Solmaz Sharif, Ocean Vuong, Fanny Howe. They’re all there and more are coming each month!

Bookworm: Bookworm is a podcast hosted by Michael Silverblatt that boasts “intellectual, accessible, and provocative literary conversations”. Silverblatt has recorded conversational interviews with the likes of just about every living writer you could imagine: Jacqueline Woodson, George Saunders, Jeanette Winterson, Morgan Parker, Kate Tempest. So when you’re looking to practice listening, Bookworm might just be the next binge-worthy literary podcast for you.

So, dear writers, as you think about who you might interview for this month’s competition, take these lessons in listening and asking great questions with you. May those who ask questions and those who answer them in these resources be a source of inspiration to you as you begin your own adventure in reading these books and the people you’ll soon be questioning.

About Lisa

Lisa Hiton is an editorial associate at Write the World. She writes two series on our blog: The Write Place where she comments on life as a writer, and Reading like a Writer where she recommends books about writing in different genres. She’s also the interviews editor of Cosmonauts Avenue and the poetry editor of the Adroit Journal.

[makingnewenemies]

making of the AL video...

There was a time in my life when I swore I wouldn’t make a music video because they “always made the song worse for me”.  Yeah I changed my mind... 

I’m feeling a nice combo of caffinated and nostalgic so I will write write write until it comes times for me to get on a train to Seattle... 

Making the Always Leaving video was one of the most fun projects I’ve worked on, for obvious reasons. I drove from Portland to Orange County by myself in a

 long lunatic drive where I kept screaming “overcome!” to myself when I’d start to doze off at the wheel.  Crawford flew in and we started filming in our hometown of Newport Beach, CA in the early morning, worked our way through LA, quick stop in Carpenteria and Santa Barbara (kinda regretting skipping Ventura), then pulled off and watched the sunset from a dirt road on the crest of a hill where we spent almost an hour trying to film this flying bat in the purple dusk (never got a good shot of it smh a waste of lots of gb’s). We pulled into SLO after dark and parked downtown on Higuera and stood outside the van drinking some of those pocket shots you can buy at the liquor store. After a couple we walked around the downtown bar scene filming myself standing idly infront of all the dressed up college crowd. Scantily clad party girls surrounded me as I stared blankly into the camera and we told them we were filming a video for Plain White Tees. They loved that. Some dude did a backflip. None of this made the video except a brief moment where I stand in bubble gum alley. We parked the van that night in Los Osos on a little dead end road by the bay water. I recall taking a piss in the trees and thinking about how much I miss SLO and how much of a gem this area is, then tried to fall asleep amongst all the camera cords and charging batteries and Crawford sprawling out on our futon bed as if he’s never shared a bed before. In the morning we tried to get drone footage of Montana De Oro at sunrise but the drone that my brother lent to us would come crashing down after a minute in the air and I wasted a beautiful sunrise cursing technology and nursing my bruised Go Pro. We drove over to Morro Bay and at last I got to surf underneath my beloved Morro Rock and the waves were fun that morning and smelled fishy and of course that Morro Bay ocean smell brought me back to my SLO years where I’d sit on my board staring up the coast at Cayucos contemplating Kerouac and Portland. Big Sur was grand of course but it was a hazy cloudy day and we’ve seen it better. Still the video gave us an excuse to explore some side roads and find views that we’d never seen in Big Sur before. Crawford was instagram messaging with some Big Sur instagram famous dharma yogi rainbow warrior and we thought she’d take us somehwere special but alas she stopped responding and we had to get to Santa Cruz. I saw my old pal Kurkjian and his crew in Santa Cruz, and while our shots of the boardwalk are nice they dont represent Santa Crux to me and I wish we’d gone elsewhere for our establishing show like Steamer’s Lane or that Taco Bell downtown that gets rowdy late night. Well that drive on the 1 from SC to SF is awfully gorgeous and we caught some epic norcal coastal sunset footage just north of Davenport, then met up with my brother Riley for some Chinese food in SF. I remember being so exhausted I began dozing off at the dinner table then we went home and filmed an action skit with Nerf Guns only to wake up to some news of a shooting... dont remember which shooting this was...doesn’t matter... Crawford immediately deleted his snap chats of our shoot out. My brother always brags about how he’d bomb the hills of Outer Sunset on his skateboard all the way to the beach so we decided to try it. We skitched on the back of his room mates truck to the top of a hill and down we went with Crawford filming from the truck bed. To my surprise my brother had become a really great skater and it was me who was speed checking every 20 yards or so. We got the shot, and I told Crawford that we’ll have to find a couple second clip where I actually look cool on the board and not constantly slowing down and looking for traffic. I still can’t believe how my brother would shoot through those SF intersections without taking his eyes off the ocean horizon below. Well we got some coffee at this toast and coconut place called like Trouble or something that my girlfriend and I heard about in a podcast. It was a whatever hyped place but a ton of friends came out to meet us and we had a pretty nice morning chatting and enjoying the Sunset district’s chillness. I was being a bit too casual as I suggested we all walk to the Mollusk surf shop and Crawford grew anxious and cranky because, he was right, we needed to get back on the road. So there’s that classic shot of the asian tourists with the selfie stick on the golden gate bridge and we were off into the big question mark of a landscape that is the Cali Coast north of SF! And jesus oliver christ once you get above Stinson Beach that norcal coast is just about as desolate and beautiful as you can get! We got epic shots of the dilapidated Point Reyes ship yard and cemetary at dusk and that shot of the whale mural through the fence is one of my favs (mostly cause of a specific Dick Diver lyric) and we arrived in Mendocino after dark where we took refuge in this mountainy dive bar that had a huge smelly moose head on the wall and uploaded our footage and charged batteries until the staff kicked us out and we slept in the van and woke up to that spanking gold coastal sun and I pissed in the tall green grass I was so happy. Well it was this last section of the trip that truly felt free and American frontier little boy with no rules exploration euphoria. We stopped in Legget at this roadside bar and grill where the custodian (clearly on meth or some upper) showed us around and told us all about the big country festival they have in the summer and how he brings girls back to his RV (covered in moss and parked in the trees behind the property) and how he has 12 different facebook accounts all with different aliases because you never know who is watching you. Then a few miles down the road we pulled the van off by a river and we jumped in naked and I laid out naked on this log that was sticking up and that warm bark on my back just about let me die right there and I jumped back in the water off this log and the footage of that is really not flattering... and on our way back to the van we came across this huge uprooted tree with a sort of hide out built out of it’s underside with all sorts of feathers and crystals and animal skulls aligned in patters like a Pagan shrine or Wicchan execution ceremony and it was legitiately spooky enough that we didnt stick around to get footage I dont think. Anyone who’s driven the 101 up here knows that Big Foot themed pull off with all the giant wood carvings and all sorts of mystical norcal souveniers. It was here I bought my coon skin cap and ya that was the moment I wished we could never go home and just romp around these mountains and coastline looking for adventure forever. I ate that bag of Famous Amos cookies all the way to Arcata where we met up with our wise philosopher friend and girlfriend for some basketball and bison viewing. She took us to some remote beach and for some reason we were all about to get naked but we decided to trek further up the coast to catch one last sunset shot. We stressed hard about that sunset shot when in reality we had plenty of sunset shots already but we needed that ONE GREAT SHOT to finish out the video. We didnt get anything epic except, cleverly I think, we pulled off to some beach and Crawford got that clever shot of my standing on the rock with my homemade alligator bumper sticker in the foreground and BOOM that was pretty much it. From there we took the north east pointing highway (i forget what number it is?) that goes through Cave Junction (spooky interesting place we should go back and explore) towards Grants Pass. We got that final shot of the Welcome to Oregon sign which we needed to conclude the whole vid and we stopped at a Denny’s for dinner around 2 AM. After that I blasted a bunch of old punk records and raced the 5 hrs back up the 5 to Portland to get Crawford to work ontime at his 6 AM radio gig. I dont remember what I did after that but I am assuming I slept and then went to nanny the kids that I was nannying at the time. The end!

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/thanksgiving-recap-my-fave-black-friday-finds/

Thanksgiving Recap + my fave Black Friday finds

 Hi friends! I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving. Ours was spent surrounded by family and friends, enjoying the best food, and the typical shenanigans: breakfast at madre’s house, lunch/dinner at my uncle’s, and then back to madre’s for pie round part 2 and sales fliers. 

(I’m so thankful for these little turkeys every single day)

I made nana’s famous egg dish to take for breakfast (<— make this for Christmas or any brunches you have coming up!)

MY OTHER RECIPES

and brought this butternut squash creation to my uncle’s. 

I asked Kyle for some tips to spice up regular ol’ carmelized butternut squash, and he suggested adding pomegranate seeds, goat cheese, shaved brussels, and any kind of nuts. I found some pepitas in the pantry that were perfect, and drizzled an apple cider vinegar dressing on top (with maple syrup, a little Dijon, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper). It was so good! 

The girls had the best time playing with all of their cousins, and Liv was stoked because her favorite lab, Ben, was there.

The cutest little Everly salad:

The guys all took off golfing and quite a few of us stayed back to play hide and seek with the kiddos and get first dibs on pie.

It was a full day, and I didn’t get a ton of pictures because my phone was tucked away for most of it. It felt good to unplug a little and truly enjoy the day.

This morning, the girls and I are ready to tackle my other favorite holiday: Black Friday! I compiled our gift ideas this week, so now it’s time to deal hop and cross things off this list. It’s definitely going to be another Amazon Christmas over here. 😉

Here are some of my favorite finds:

– My beloved PHLUR candles are HALF OFF! If you’ve been wanting to try one, this is the chance! They burn beautifully, don’t contain sketchy ingredients, and the fragrance is lovely

– Spanx 20% off everything. I’m obsessed with these leggings and still occasionally wear this post-surgery staple when I wear a snug dress or a white top. 

– Your Hormone Balance is $150 off all test kits and consult packages. I recently had my hormones tested by Candace (she offered to do a test and consult after we chatted on the podcast) and the results were so insightful. I’m writing a whole post about it which should be live next week, but I’m so, so glad I did it. If you’ve been considering testing your hormones, this is a great opportunity. 

– J. Crew 40% off! Love this top, these leopard boots, this pink coat, these statement earrings, and this sweater.

– Shopbop buy more, save more. These Rails plaid shirts are amazing.

– Amazon! I kind of get overwhelmed with Amazon because they have so many deals, but some of my favorite previous purchases are the Euphy, this cordless vacuum, this weighted blanket, and the Instant Pot! <— $59 right now

– Madewell 25% off. The dress I’m wearing in the pic above is on sale here!

– Gap. 50% off everything! I’m loading up on long-sleeved shirts, leggings, and pajamas for the girls.

– Beautycounter is 15% off sitewide + free shipping over $50.

– Apple Watch 3 is $199 at Target

– Old Navy 50% off everything! Also love Old Navy for staples for the nuggets.

– Kate Spade 30% off everything.

– World Market 40% off furniture and so many other departments. I love looking here for unique candy and stocking stuffers.

– Express 50% off everything. I have this festive jumpsuit in red and it’s perfect for the holiday season.

Under Armour:

UA has so many incredible holiday gifts on their site right now! If anything, you need these Athlete Recovery Sleepwear™ Joggers for yourself. They’re my #1 favorite lounge pants. They’re super soft and light, plus the technology can help with recovery from intense workouts.

More gift ideas from Under Armour:

– Their big logo hoodie is super comfortable and comes in a ton of colors

– A rose gold water bottle

– A few of the men in our family are getting this 1/4 zip

– Love this sporty jacket for the girls

– The Charged Bandit 4 running shoes! They have 360 degree reflectivity and supportive cushioning. I’ve been loving these for Orangetheory and runs!

This weekend, you’ll also get 40% Off Tech & Threadborne ¼ Zips, $40 Ripple Footwear, and 40% Off Select Armour Fleece.

Are you Black Friday shopping today? What are your favorite finds??

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo

Gina

Today’s Fit Guide deal: $25 off ANY Fit Guide! If you’re looking for extra motivation heading into the holiday season, treat yourself to a customized workout plan. Check out the details here!

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[latesthollywoodnews]

Gabriel Conte, Audrey Whitby & Guilty Party' Cast DISH On MYSTERIOUS Season 2 Details

Gabriel Conte, Audrey Whitby & Guilty Party' Cast DISH On MYSTERIOUS Season 2 Details

Jeremy Brown - Latest News - My Hollywood News

Gabriel Conte, Audrey Whitby & Guilty Party’ Cast DISH On MYSTERIOUS Season 2 Details, Hollywood News 2018.

Hd Celebrity News 1080p, Hollywood Celebrities Latest Story Emily Blunt, Gabriel Conte, Audrey Whitby & Guilty Party’ Cast DISH On MYSTERIOUS Season 2 Details.

New Hollywood Princess Celebrities Celebrity News 2018 famous Walt Hollywood Studios The Walt Hollywood Studios is an American film studio, one of the four major businesses of The Walt Hollywood Company and the main component of its Studio Entertainment segment. The studio, best known for its multi-faceted film division, which is one of Hollywood’s major film studios, is based at the eponymous Walt Hollywood Studios in Burbank, California.

Who was Roy to Walt Hollywood?

Roy O. Hollywood. Roy Oliver Hollywood (June 24, 1893 – December 20, 1971) was an American businessman, becoming the partner and co-founder, along with his younger brother Walt Hollywood, of Walt Hollywood Productions, since renamed The Walt Hollywood Company.

How do you wake up Sleeping Beauty?

Fascinated by the wheel, she touches the spindle, pricking her finger. As had been foretold by the curse, Aurora is put under a sleeping spell. The good fairies place Aurora on her bed with a red rose in her hand and cause a deep sleep to fall over the entire kingdom until they can find a way to break the curse.

Who runs Hollywood World?

Robert A. Iger is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Hollywood Company. As Chairman and CEO, Mr. Iger is the steward of one of the world’s largest media companies and some of the most respected and beloved brands around the globe.

More Celebrity News ►►

Clevver’s Fiona Zaring caught up with the cast of ‘Guilty Party: History of Lying’ to get all the scoop on Season 2, whether characters will be vlogging throughout the season and details on their ‘Suspect’ podcast!

For More Clevver Visit: There are 2 types of people: those who follow us on Facebook and those who are missing out

Keep up with us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter: Website:

Add us to your circles on Google+: Tweet Me:

Latest Hollywood English Celebrities 2017 New English Films, Gabriel Conte, Audrey Whitby & Guilty Party’ Cast DISH On MYSTERIOUS Season 2 Details.

Walt Hollywood created a short film entitled Alice’s Wonderland, which featured child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. After the bankruptcy in 1923 of his previous firm, Laugh-O-Gram Studios, Hollywood moved to Hollywood to join his brother, Roy O. Hollywood. Film distributor Margaret J. Winkler of M.J. Winkler Productions contacted Hollywood with plans to distribute a whole series of Alice Comedies purchased for $1,500 per reel with Hollywood as a production partner. Walt and Roy Hollywood formed Hollywood Brothers Cartoon Studio that same year. More animated films followed after Alice. In January 1926, with the completion of the Hollywood studio on Hyperion Street, the Hollywood Brothers Studio’s name was changed to the Walt Hollywood Studio. Hollywood Celebrities 2017, Gabriel Conte, Audrey Whitby & Guilty Party’ Cast DISH On MYSTERIOUS Season 2 Details.

https://www.myhollywoodnews.com/gabriel-conte-audrey-whitby-guilty-party-cast-dish-on-mysterious-season-2-details/

#LatestNews

[independentartistbuzz]

INDIE 5-0: 5 QUESTIONS WITH LEN SELIGMAN

Inspired by the poet Rumi, songwriting greats Neil Young and Paul Simon, and the world music fusion of Ry Cooder, Len Seligman’s music radiates joy. When you listen to him, you'll find your spirit lifted to a higher, truer realm--and you may just find yourself dancing. We got to catch up with him in this Indie 5-0 which you will find below.

1. After spending years as a PhD computer researcher, how does it feel to return to music full- time?

It feels amazing. I am grateful for the interesting and rewarding computer science career I had. I published over 60 papers on my team's innovations, got to present at international conferences, and enjoyed camaraderie with great colleagues. But in the last few years, I received increasing recognition for my music, and I gradually lost interest in the day gig. Eventually, I felt called to focus on writing, recording, and performing music. 

2. Your most recent album, "Shine Your Light" is an extremely joyful and upbeat album, where did you find your inspiration for it?

Thanks. I am a mystic at heart and know in my bones that everything is sacred and interconnected. I experience this in Nature (for example at my beloved Gulf of Mexico beaches a half mile from my home) and from great poets (like Rumi and Mary Oliver). Musically, inspiration comes from diverse sources: the Talking Heads, African and Middle Eastern music, and great songwriters like Neil Young and Leonard Cohen. But I'm also a lot more joyful than some of those folks. I'm blessed with a hopeful and upbeat attitude and really believe that Love is the greatest power, despite all evidence to the contrary! 

3. Your music video for "The Ocean Refuses No River" has a lot of vibrant scenes and illustrations, what was the creative process for creating this video?

This is the second video I did with the wonderful LA-based team of Sherry Hursey and Rick Cowling at Turning on the Light Entertainment. For the first video, we storyboarded the whole thing, but for this one, we just shot a couple of takes of me singing the tune in front of a green screen. I then asked them to go crazy with backgrounds and animations that were fun and would support the inclusive message. I loved their first draft and then we tweaked it together until I was delighted with it. Can you tell I really love those guys!

4. You've won a lot of awards for songwriting, what is the typical process you use when sitting down to write a song you feel compelled to write?

Each song is different, but the key thing is always to be open to inspiration. I heard this line I loved from DC-area poet Tomas Myers: "Rumors are tumors that doom the consumer." I got his permission, and it became the title of a song on my last album. I got another title from a Sufi teacher who was a guest on Oprah. I've gotten song ideas from Buddhist teacher Tara Brach's podcasts. Others pop up spontaneously as I'm drumming on my steering wheel in traffic. I'm always capturing ideas in the Notes app on my phone!

The other thing is to do a lot of drafts, get feedback from people I trust (including some of my songwriting heroes/mentors), and keep refining. The cliche is true: "great songs are not written, they are rewritten."

5. Talk about your song and video for "Gone This Fall", was it intimidating to create a song with such  strong message of voting out the "Trump- enabling GOP" as you say?

No, not at all. While most of my songs are not political and there are gigs where I consciously avoid political material, sometimes I can't remain silent. Our country is at a crossroads, with one party trashing the environment, funneling money from ordinary people to the super rich, demonizing immigrants and minorities, and blocking common sense gun safety measures that most Americans support. "Gone This Fall" raises these concerns in a playful way that still makes its point. The video includes some fun animation from husband-and-wife video wizards Christina and Karim Maksoud from my hometown of Sarasota, Florida. I especially love what they did with the line: "History will not be kind to the ones that never grew a spine." I was honored that the video won a $1000 special recognition prize from the "Imagine Then Vote" contest that aims to boost voter registration and turnout through music videos.

Connect with Len via Socials, here:

LenSeligman.com

Facebook.com/LenSeligmanMusic

YouTube.com/MahboodMusic

Soundcloud.com/len-seligman

[bedlamfoundry]

Hardwell On Air 485

Full tracklist & cues: http://1001.tl/ Join The Hardwell On Air Spotify Playlist! → http://spoti.fi/1Eayilh Subscribe to my channel now! → http://bit.ly/HardwellTube Join me on Facebook → http://bit.ly/HardwellFB Subscribe the Hardwell On Air Podcast: http://hwl.dj/HOAPODCAST "Hardwell On Air" will give everyone's weekend that extra boost, by bringing that trendsetting and original Hardwell sound! Next to Hardwell's latest floorfillers, the show gives a platform to new DJ talent with the item " Demo of the Week". Be sure to tune in! For more info check: http://www.djhardwell.com http://www.facebook.com/djhardwell http://www.twitter.com/hardwell http://www.soundcloud.com/hardwell http://www.instagram.com/hardwell Tracklist: - The Him x Sam Feldt - Use Your Love (00:00:24) - Oliver Heldens & Funkin Matt feat. Bright Sparks - Somebody (00:04:08) - HARDWELL EXCLUSIVE: Thomas Gold & Kazden - Rise Up (00:07:56) - HARDWELL EXCLUSIVE: KEVU & Giftback - The Citadel (00:10:15) - ARTY x NK - Too Far Gone (00:14:00) - Benny Benassi feat. Blush & Mutungi - Until The End Of Summer (00:17:30) - Dannic - Pump It Up (00:19:47) - Oomloud & Dead Stare x First Gift - Hi Babi (00:21:03) - REVEALED RADAR #1: Madrex & Shenron - How Low (00:23:50) - REVEALED RADAR #2: Matt Crisis & Asjockers - These Days (00:26:26) - REVEALED RADAR #3: Blackcode & Karl Sylver feat. Omz - Light A Fire (00:30:07) - Arston, Soul Parker - When We Were Young (00:33:33) - Julian Calor - Moving Forward (00:36:35) - NAEMS & BonRen - Outsider (00:39:05) - Tommy Jayden - El Gigante (00:42:09) - REGGIO & VIVID - Interstellar (Club Mix) (00:44:57) - Kevu - Set Me Free (00:48:04) - MOST VOTED TRACK: KAAZE - Arrest Me (00:52:48) - ANG & STVW - Control Your Mind (00:56:13) #BeFree #BeBeautiful #BeYOU #BeLOVE #BedlamFoundry #IAmBedlam #EDM #Hardwell #OnAir #EDM #Dance #Bigroom #Progressive #House #Revealed #Recordings

[lotsofdogs]

Things I’m Loving Friday #231

And just like that, another weekend is here! This week passed by in a blur of appointments, commitments and to-dos and now it’s FRIDAY. Woop!

Thank you all for your sweet words about Sadie on Wednesday’s blog post. She’s handling her little bootie like a champ and we should be able to get it off today.

Here’s hoping her limp is gone soon and that she’ll be cleared for plenty of walks in the beautiful spring sunshine!

Now let’s dive right into our usual Friday shenanigans, shall we? Below you will find a short roundup of a few things that are making me smile this week. As always, I’d love for you guys to join in and tell me about something you’re loving right now in the comments section.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Things I’m Loving Friday

Toddler Haircuts

Chase has his preschool class pictures on Monday so we headed off to Snip-Its to get his haircut yesterday morning. I’m not sure what it is about toddler haircuts but whenever a toddler gets their haircut, I think it’s just the cutest thing. They look so grown up and fancy! Maybe it’s because Chase is often running around like crazy and his hair is usually a disheveled mess, but when I look at his perfectly trimmed and combed hair after a haircut my mama heart melts. I swear he always leaves Snip-Its looking so grown up and at least a full year older.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

The Alice Network was easily one of my favorite reads of the year so far. It hops back and forth between 1915 and 1947 and follows the lives of Eve Gardinier, a bright but unassuming woman recruited to be a spy during World War 1, and Charlie St. Clair, a pregnant college student holding onto hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared from Nazi-occupied France during World War II, might still be alive. The writing is fantastic and the story moves along quickly with plenty of intrigue, as the lives of Charlie and Eve collide and troubled pasts and secrets are revealed. While this novel is historical fiction, The Alice Network was very real and I was fascinated to learn more about the lives of women spies and their incredible bravery during World War I.

Hydro Flask Tumbler + Water Bottle

Now that I’ve discovered cups and water bottles that keep my liquids cold (or hot!) for a long period of time, there’s no turning back. The PR team behind Hydro Flask recently reached out to me about their insulated water bottles and tumblers and since I feel like I cannot go to Burn Boot Camp these day without seeing the Hydro Flask logo on at least four or five different water bottles, I had a feeling I was going to become an instant fan. I have nothing but great things to say about the 22-ounce tumbler (I use this one on an almost-daily basis with the tumbler straw and lid) and the 32-ounce wide-mouth water bottle which is ideal for use on days when I know I’m not going to have the chance to refill my water bottle for several hours. Since I’m on a bit of a coffee hiatus at the moment, I’ve only used the tumbler and water bottle for water, but love the way they both keep my water cold for hours and hours. Plus, I’m a sucker for anything olive, so I’m a little partial to the army green color of my water bottle, too!

High Road Cinnamon Crumble Ice Cream

I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for cinnamon ice cream ever since I discovered the now-retired Ben & Jerry’s flavor Oatmeal Cookie Chunk. (Still bitter about that “retirement,” by the way.) When I saw this High Road Cinnamon Crumble ice cream at Publix over the weekend, I knew I had to give it a try. The base is a creamy cinnamon ice cream laced with a maple brown sugar swirl and pieces of cinnamon streusel. It’s rich and creamy and a cinnamon ice cream lovers dream. They knocked the flavor of this one out of the park and now I am on a mission to try more High Road ice cream flavors. A pregnant woman must have goals, right!?

Coffee and Kettlebells Podcast

On Wednesday morning, I headed off to the Burn Boot Camp headquarters to chat with Burn Boot Camp Co-Founder Morgan Kline on her brand new podcast, Coffee and Kettlebells! We had a lot of fun discussing everything from finding time for fitness, balancing a healthy lifestyle with motherhood and more. If you’d like to check it out, you can see a recording of the Facebook Live video on Burn Boot Camp’s Facebook page! (I’ll also be sure to share a link to the podcast when it’s available to listen to on iTunes, Spotify, etc.) Morgan was such a great podcast host and I swear you’d never know this was her first podcast episode. Thanks so much for having me, Morgan!

Body After Baby: The Reality

Last week I stumbled upon a blog post written by my friend Heather, the author of the blog Just A Colorado Gal. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Heather a few times through the blog world and always found her to be incredibly genuine and open. Her vulnerability and honesty come across perfectly in the way she details her feelings about her body changes during pregnancy and the feelings she’s currently experiencing related to her postpartum body. Her blog post is worth a read, whether you struggle with postpartum body image or just want to read a truthful take on what it’s like for some women who don’t find body changes, pregnancy weight gain and postpartum weight loss to be a total breeze.

I didn’t lose the weight I gained after I gave birth to Chase until he was over nine months old and I remember feeling insecure at times when I’d see other postpartum moms posting pictures of themselves with abs and toned arms so soon after delivery. It wasn’t my reality (nor was it my focus) and sometimes I think social media can make us feel inadequate when we don’t “bounce back” 2.5 seconds after we have a baby even though that’s just not realistic for most women.

Friday Flashbacks

Do Anywhere Workout (I did this workout earlier this week and absolutely love it! To complete the workout, begin by completing 16 repetitions of each exercise before beginning at the top and completing 14 reps, 12 reps, 10 reps … decreasing the reps by two until you reach your final round of 2 reps per exercise.)

Greek Yogurt Whole Wheat Muffins (A healthy toddler-approved recipe)

Question of the Day

What is one thing you are loving this week?

[Read More ...] https://www.pbfingers.com/things-im-loving-friday-231/