January Favors

In alignment with the blog's now annoying premise here 'tis...

Laura Linney - I first saw her in that atrocious Edward Norton debut, and thought she was a truly awful actress. Her awfulness was inspiring. So many things throughout the month have completely reversed that opinion, namely the following bit in support of striking screenwriters. Funny, after seeing the following short, I realize that her reprehensible performance in Primal Fear was probably due to terrible writing.




The post-work ritual - Coming home from work and putting on a red, black or grey cardigan and Vans, a la Fred Rogers. I will usually keep my pants on for at least another hour.




Danskos - Aggressively comfortable with my sexuality I make no bones about the impeccable comfort these clogs host. (Disclaimer: I do not work in the medical or food industry, but I do use hospitals and restaurants).

Steve Malkmus - So the laconic uber wit somethingsomething has fallen out of favor with the favorites due to a littany of underwhelming, sorta obnoxious outings. This had me thinking that Malky would have to get a real job. Somewhere where he would likely get punched more than once for being "clever."

So I know a guy who is friends with a guy who went to school with this guy who now lives in PDX and he hooked me up with some tracks from the forthcoming Real Emotional Trash. Well, drop the mop Malky. Not since Brighten The Corners have I stuck one of his on the autorepeat (God, knows I tried with the awkward, gangly and zit-covered Error Highlight). Despite a few minimal complaints (Yes, auteur we all know you can play guitar and enjoy The Groundhogs) world-class numbers abound, such as Out Of Reaches (<---listen!).

(Note: I have also been prone to sentimentality and nostalgia lately)



St. John's Wort - After a decade or so of abstaining I return to the wort fully willing to give it all I got. To my genuine and giddy surprise (though not to the surprise of multiple EU clinical trial investigators who'll bet their debt-free educations on its efficacy) I'm spending a January NOT scribbling nooses onto my legal pad during conference calls.


Dwell's March 2008 Small Wonders (Houses under 1,000 Square Feet) - Came at just the perfect time to (re)validate my "smaller is smarter" mantra - now that the place will get just that much smaller. "Though the precise numbers vary according to whom you ask, the average American home has doubled in size over the last half century, now hovering near 2,500 square feet. That's almost twice the size of homes in Europe and Japan - and a whopping 26 times larger than the average residence in Africa."

Now... justify that huge crib. I challenge you, unless you have 8 kids and a pet hog.

The word "Lilt" - You feel its meaning. Sounds like it is, or feels. Or feels just like you feels when you hear it. You know what it means. You know what I mean.

Addendum: I have to express my fandom for dictionary.com's new Multilingual dictionary, a relatively new addition. Saves me a lot of time not going to consistently wonky freetranslation.com. Multiple translations of the word "lilt" instantly at le fingertips...

lilt – noun

1.	rhythmic swing or cadence.

2.	a lilting song or tune.

–verb (used without object), verb (used with object)

3.	to sing or play in a light, tripping, or rhythmic manner.

Arabic: أغنِيَه ذات إيقاع Chinese (Simplified): 轻快旋律 Chinese (Traditional): 輕快旋律 Czech: rytmus, švih Danish: melodisk tonefald Dutch: deuntje Estonian: hoogne rütm Finnish: reipas rytmi French: rythme, cadence German: fröhliche Weise Greek: ρυθμικός κυματισμός, δυνατός ρυθμός Hungarian: ritmus, lejtés Icelandic: léttur taktfastur söngur, *lag Indonesian: irama Italian: (ritmo vivace)

Bas Rutten Street Defense - Hell, I'm a convert. Coulda used this in all of those barfights I lost during that time when I fought a lot of barfights. Now it's hard for me to even watch this instructional vid without blocking my face with my arms.

Learn:

• To poke your opponent in the eye with a stool.
• Break an arm
• Bounce a head off a table
• The value of a kick to the groin
• To not take shit from anyone, ever
  

This has to have some future application.

Thanks Michael.



Frozen mixed fruit - In the tupperware at 6am. Take it work. Put it on your desk and by 11am you have a fresh fruit snack. No mess. Seriously dude, no mess. None.


Not caring about professional football - Yeah, don't care. I like it better that way.


Sunday Sauce - I'm a convert from when Sarah worked the tables at Lidia's, now the at-home application brings the noise at a much less abrasive cost and without regenerating all of Sarah's unpleasant food service memories. Some braised pork shoulder, meatballs, some spicy Italian sausage, simmered for hours. A crockpot does the trick nicely. I'm trying to restrain myself from making it every weekend.

The Sunday-night tradition of offering family-style meals was instituted at Lidia's 4 years ago,... One of those is the Sunday Sauce supper, which combines a heaping platter of spicy sausage, fork-tender pork shoulder and savory braised meatballs that are nearly as big as bocce balls. Served with a steaming mound of rigatoni and crispy slices of bruschetta.

The Pitch, September 2004

And to bestow a blessing upon you for a dynamite February, here you are:

thanks to Andy for Whiplash