What I Recomend.

I read through McSweeney's Recommends yesterday and found it pretty entertaining (and sometimes informative). As a tribute to McSweeney's Recommends, here's a little list of my own, starting with I suppose:

- McSweeney's Recommends. A sometimes funny, sometimes informative list of pop/cultural/random things to try and/or see.

- The books in the Ender's Game series. I'm on a sci-fi kick right now, 2.5 books into Ender's story, and I recently found out that there are 4 more books to read in this [award winning] series by Orson Scott Card. Reading serialized books in general can be pretty awesome, because when you finish one book, and you wish that the story hadn't ended, you get to just pick up the next one, and BAM! you're right back in it.
Great light reading.

- Pickled Hearing. Traditional Scandinavian fish snack.

- Having 2 cats. I had my doubts too, but you were right Anna, you were right.

- Chino Latino. Huge portions, great food. Mexican/Asian cuisine seems like a weird combination, and I don't think I could order from both sides of the menu at once, but once that decision is made you can't go wrong. Go for happy hour.

- Lupe Fiasco. His new album Food and Liquor sounds like Big Rap (I'm trying to make a pun, like Big Tobacco, but it's a little weak), but Lupe's music is refreshingly devoid of songs about cars and bitches.

- Cherry Coke. The best soda pop that is found regularly at movie theaters and seldom anywhere else. Undecided as to whether or not the stuff they make with grenadine at restaurants is better, worse, or just completely different.

- Facebook. Ok, most of the people my age don't think that Facebook is very cool. It really hit a year or two after we graduated, it's social function is questionable (am I stalking?), although effective/addictive.... and there's no better way to find out what all of those people you kind of knew in high school are doing.

- The Original Cheezits. Far and away the best cheese flavored cracker. Don't give me any of that White Cheddar crap either.

- The Riverview Theater. I sing their praises all the time. Any budget theaters are good, really, but this one is the best I've been too in terms of atmosphere, concessions, movies, and establishment.

- 89.3 - The Current. I reflect often upon how spoiled I've become never listening to commercials on the radio. MPR's news station 91.1 is my second most listened to station. Yea, Public Radio!

- Netflix. Everybody knows about Netflix already, but for those of you who have it, think about how accustomed to this service you are. The best part is the nearly universal collection - I haven't found a movie yet that they don't have.

- Thom Yorke. I've only listened to his new CD once, and liked it, and the CD artwork is really cool, but mostly I just like his name. Thom Yorke.

- Blogging. It's so self-indulgent, I know. Just a bunch of friends linking to each other's blogsites and posting clever rebuts. But gosh it's fun. And honestly, it's really cool to keep up with what friends are doing around the city, state, country and world! Blogger makes it super easy to start, Wordpress allows for serious customization and website integration.

- Humidifiers. Here's to never waking up in the middle of the night with your mouth and nose all gross and dried up, your tongue feeling like leather and tasting ever worse, and having to go downstairs and drink a gallon of water just so you can breath again.

- Game nights. We need to start one of these this winter. Games to play: Blokus, Scoring Anagrams, Sequence,... Who's in?

- Fictional books about chess. Because you feel real smart when you read them. I've read The Emperor of Ocean Park and The Flanders Panel. Both were good page turners. I want to read The Defense and The Queen's Gambit. Any other suggestions?

- Ambigrams. A graphic that can be read as a word is more than one direction. The link shows some cool examples, and I've been working on some at whatmoves.com as well.

- Wikipedia. What the web was really meant for.

- Jeff Probst. Spent the holidays serving food at a soup kitchen with his girl friend who, incidentally, was a Survivor contestant in 2004. Go Jeff!

- Inkscape.org. Provides an Open Source (free) Vector Graphics Editor.

- Used Book Stores. Every time I go into one I think, "Why don't I do this more often?"

- The Craftsman. Gourmet dining on East Lake Street in Minneapolis. They have 'foragers' that literally hunt out the freshest in-season ingredients so their menu is in constant rotation. A little pricy, but they serve pizzas and burgers that are more affordable.

- The Internet Movie Database. '6 Degrees' has never been easier.

- Business Casual PLUS. I don't have a work situation where there are multiple levels of dress code, but I heard of this and thought it was pretty funny. Mostly I enjoy imagining the language that these employers use to distinguish the levels of dress.

- Calling ahead your order. Because lunch can take too long, sometimes.

-Deep Discount DVD. Similar pricing to Amazon (usually +/- a couple bucks), but no minimum order for free shipping. Really good monthly sales.

Whatmoves.

Wow. I spent nearly the whole weekend updating my Freelance/Portfolio website, www.whatmoves.com. I think this new "blog inspired" site will lead to a lot more creative energy, which I had recently deciced I was lacking a bit. Hopefully the site is better to navigate, and it should certainly be easier to update, with the added bonus of being able to do so anywhere, anytime (as long as I can find an internet connection).

My only fear now is that this site (my first blog!) gets ignored. My art/design channel will be at Whatmoves and my new film channel is Film Club... I guess I'm just feeling a little dispursed.

My intention with these sites is to help clarify and direct my thoughts, so we'll see what happens.

Thanks for the comments.

Just another reason...

As some of you may already know, my wife Anna and I host a Thursday Night Dinner party that has it's roots in our formerly separate celebrations of the popular reality TV show Survivor. I must say that there have been a number of changes since those first dorm room Survivor parties hosted by yours truly, and most of them for the better. What should be understood first, however, is that the gatherings have never been about the show(s). Instead the shows have been about gathering.

One of the major changes (improvements) of the Survivor Parties has been the inclusion of the pre-viewing dinner (hence the current title of these events). What better way is there to watch starving people compete in the wilderness than stuffed on our couch? The meals have varied widely, and we generally try to rotate who's turn it is to supply dinner. We've gathered around everything from frozen pizzas and burgers to steak and even pan seared scallops.

Another major change to our Thursday night line-up was the addition of the quasi/anti-reality TV show, The OC. I'm not sure exactly how this program was added to the mix, but I can tell you why (and why not). Primarily, we needed to extend the evening. An hour for dinner and an hour for social viewing afterwards was not enough. And of all of the shows from Thursday nights that we chose to embrace, we chose The OC. Clearly now, by not choosing say, The Office or Grey's, this should tell you what our Thursday nights are all about. We wouldn't want to all be so captured by the programs that we were watching to not notice each other's company! We want tasteless, trash talkin', totally 'terrible' TV. That's the kind of people we are, and that's the kind of spirit we like to evoke in one another. Call it a release; call it an escape; we call it Thursday Nights. And we love it.

And maybe it's a weakness of our generation that we need an excuse like a televsion show to congregate. But then I liken it to a poker game, a sewing club, or any other routinely occuring rituals of previous generations. Furthermore, it's not that we can't stimulate our own discussions (look at me go!); it's not that we don't have anything better to do (Could it be that we have too much to do?). I think it's that there's a huge difference between seeing your friends when you see them and having a weekly social ritual with them. It becomes important of it's own worth. A TV show, a game night (which we will probably have on Thursdays in our Survivor/OC off season), whatever - having a regularly scheduled evening with friends can be priceless.

So, the real reason behind this post? I didn't intend to make any kind of social statement when I started writing "Just another reason...", but more of an anouncement...

Last night, my friends, we found out that Kevin Sorbo will be playing a character on The OC! The official fansite www.kevinsorbo.net confirms that the legandary TV star will be making his enormous presence felt on 5 of the next episodes this season! HOW LUCKY ARE WE?!


Very.


The OC airs on FOX at 8pm (CN). Let us bask in the gloriousness of Sobro's light.

Film Club

I've started a Film Club, headquartered at filmclubmn.blogspot.com. Each month one of the Club's members will select a film for us all to watch, discuss, and post our thoughts on. We might have a screening as early as the week of the 17th-23rd, this month! So keep checking Film Club's site!

Thanks.