Favorites 1.5.15
Rock-and-roll house shows: When your friends take out their instruments and play live music in a living room so that you can rock out and also appreciate how rad and talented they are—that's the good stuff.
Going back to work: Vacationing is good, (you need it to rest/think big picture/fall apart and put yourself back together again, all phoenix like), but for me, creative work and the life surrounding that is better.
Finishing a book: Doesn't have to be a good one. Just putting in the work to read all the words and sentences so that you can close the back cover on ’em—it's enough to get you high on the validation of accomplishment.
WTF by Marc Maron: He's a comedian. He's whip smart. He's fired up. His interview-based podcast called What The Fuck delights me. Fave episodes include: RuPaul, Bob Mould, and Martin Starr.
Favorites 12.18.14
Sitting in nooks: The dog lays under the coffee table. The cat climbs into any empty box on the premises. And I sip coffee in my breakfast nook. Why? Because everyone just wants to feel contained.
Forgetting things that need forgetting: An act of will, yes, but possible.
Coconut flakes: Raw, carved straight from the mother ship. I like how the flavor is subtle, coming in at the end there like the fog moving in off the water.
"New Partner": Bonnie Prince Billy does himself doing Palace Music doing this song. Pow!
Favorites 11.24.14
Waterfalls: Hiking to them, specifically. In the rain, specifically. I don't even wear a rain jacket—just get my clothes wet all the time. It's senseless. Except, it's not. Because you become one with the water at some point. Lightening flashes. Thunder booms. The dogs' ears go back. And then around a corner, there it is: magnificent whitewater pounding forth and turning the dark pool pale green.
Macadamia nuts: The most extravagant of all the nuts. Say you're eating them for their selenium and essential fatty acids. Ignore how much they cost.
The Moth, in person: Sitting in a bar listening to people tell 6-minute true stories in front of a microphone. Laughing if they're funny. Misting up if they're sad. Allowing the entire evening to shame your own fear of public speaking.
Begin Again: I did not hate this rom-com with Kiera Knightly and Mark Ruffalo. And Catherine Keener. And Mos Def. And Ceelo. And guitar music. And a non-typical Hollywood ending. Plus, my old pal Josh Zickert randomly riding a BMX bike past the camera. Hi, Josh!
Favorites 11.3.14
Christoph Waltz: Apropos number 4 on this list—an adept character actor that plays hyper-charistmatic good guy and bone-chilling bad guy within a hair's breadth.
Sauna-ing post gym: Sweating in a hot, cedar-scented room is a nice way to battle gray-day doldrums, seasonal sniffles, stress, and so on. The steady onslaught of heat causes blood flow to flush through your body in a healing manner. It also relaxes the mind and soothes the respiratory system, breaking up phlegm and the like (which is why old-timey doctors always sent their TB patients to the hot-ass, dry-ass desert).
Theo Ginger Dark Chocolate: The crushed-velvet richness of dark-as-night chocolate; the crunch and spicy warmth of candied ginger. New lesson from my corner? Buy the good chocolate—it's just worth it (esp. if you're down for getting all feel-good-organic-fair-tradey) (which I am).
Django Unchained: Did y'all know this is streaming on Netflix right now? Def worth a second watch. Lurid, violent, funny, badass—Quentin T does these things pretty great, I reckon.
Favorites 10.16.14
Planning a faraway trip: Yes, yes, live in the now ... but what about the excitement/discovery of planning—planning a wild foreign adventure, to be specific? (Pic by Bernhard Lang).
Toasted pumpkin-seed oil: I'm pretty meh on pumpkins (most Thanksgiving food, really). But toasted pumpkin seed oil! Nutty, pungent—it's a cappella of flavor. Pour this forest-green elixir on fresh bread and sprinkle some salt. Please. Thanks.
Beginner violin practice in the house across the alley: When you have your window open for maybe the last time of the year, and instead of sirens or birdsong, what you hear on the thin fall air is a 4th grader stumbling through violin scales—this is profoundly comforting.
Friday Night Lights: Not about football. (A little about football). About the human condition. About brotherhood. About adolescent upheaval. About dignity. Also, the filming's gritty, and the music's great. (Disclaimer: I'm talking the TV show—not the movie—which I haven't seen but DEF will so don't spoil).
