Emchap's Shit from the Internet 02/26/20 🍠
I am in the PNW for the week, which has been an exciting reminder that rain exists and rain jackets really are pretty warm, both of which have been exciting personal discoveries for me, a person whose brain has been rotted by the gentle southern Californian sun.
Last night I wound up watching Pacific Rim, which is a film about robots punching aliens. I predicted literally every single plot point. It was a beautifully executed, stupid film, and I was excited to finally see it after years of the internet trying to convince me that Drift Compatible is a phrase that should end in anything other than uproarious laughter. I genuinely couldn't tell two of the Blonde Handsomes apart. I tried! And yet.
I'm excited to bop around more of Portland proper tonight (I've been mostly in Beaverton, which is a solid Fine and does to its credit have lots of nice murals). I expect to drink some drinks and maybe eat an artisinal doughnut or see a burlesque. (That's what one does here, yes?)
Portland is always a weird place to be, because when I was trying to decide where I wanted to be after New York (other than Away), Portland was briefly on the list as a nice-enough city which was considerably more affordable than New York and less pee-smelling. It has strong ghost ship energy for me.
I hope everyone is in a good place as we round the year out into March. The sun is nearly back, team!
Shit to read
This piece's description of a hot mess (which very completely applies to me, I'm aware) is on point. I've been rewatching 30 Rock lately and it is wild as a cultural artifact. There is... a lot? More? Blackface? Than I remembered.
Google is conning its employees into eating more vegetables and though possible unethical to run weird food experiments on your employees, I did think it was interesting. (One of the answers appears to be "make food from cultures that are good at vegetables", which, yes.)
Truly fuck all of this.
As a big tiddy goth girlfriend I respect Lavery's goals here.
I've decided I like jerky this year? Anyway slim jims are health food now.
I don't necessarily agree with the conclusion (though I do agree with the positively framed version of some of it, in that communities need to be structured to build webs of communication to simulate the band rather than the nuclear family) but I did think it was interesting.
Sometimes people are good.
I enjoyed this takedown as much as I enjoyed many of the essays it's going after. (I do think the inclusion of AHP weakens the argument, as though an affluent-presenting millennial, she lives in Montana.)
Shit to eat
Buy a random assortment of vegetables.
Wash and cut them up, and toss each individual little washed and cut up vegetable type with olive oil and salt and pepper. It's okay if you only have table salt, even if it's not very good. No using pre-ground pepper, though.
Heat them on foil in an oven set at 400 or 450. This is the agreed-upon vegetable roasting temperature.
Leave them for 10 minutes and then check every 5 until your particular vegetable seems done.
Make one of those boxes of instant couscous that used to be such a thing and you haven't eaten for a few years now. They're good!
Spoon out the couscous and the roasted vegetables and some feta if you have it and maybe a fried egg.
It's a pretty good lunch, and basically a grain bowl, almost?
Shit to listen to
I like the song and am both compelled and repulsed by the art.
Shit to buy
I bought very fancy, very soft sweatpants with a work bonus. I'm very excited.