Emchap's Shit from the Internet 4/25/18 🍠
Because of the kind of nerd that I am, I spend a lot of time trying to get at what values power the decisions I make. I made a joke to a friend the other day that, for example, one of my monetary goals is to make enough money that I can periodically intoxicate myself, order an obscene amount of Del Taco to my house, and not have to worry about it. (#Experiencesoverthings, you know.) Periodic indulgence in trash things is a value.
But outside of the joke context, money is super useful to do weird cool shit (which like duh, but it's particularly noticeable in a town where I don't quite have a deep bench of friends yet and so occupy my time by Going Out And Doing Things). Recently I've been spending mine on Atlas Obscura tours. It's been a great way to see cool new weird things in the city, with other humans, in a way that doesn't feel cheesy. This weekend I went to the Heritage Square Museum for an Atlas tour at twilight, and it was completely rad.
The Heritage Square museum in whatever neighborhood is halfway between downtown LA and Pasadena is a big lot in a residential neighborhood where the museum has just been moving old-ass houses for years. It's great! The houses are very old! There's a church with magnificent stained glass! There are two (2) cats who hang out and will let you give them scritches! If you pay to tour it, a woman in Edwardian garb will walk you around as the sun sets and let you go in the houses and look at the various things in them!
There is something fun about the tours I've been on so far in that it is a self-selecting group of folks who are opting into a kind of cheese Group Activity, and who are as a result relatively fun and friendly. It is hard to be scared of spooky old houses with stripped-down murder walls when some nice person is using her maglite to illuminate everything. The group's attitude fit in well with the spirit that would lead someone to a) move a bunch of old-ass houses to a lot and restore them b) turn that into a museum, and it was just fun to be around something pretty fundamentally uncynical. It's a beautiful space and beautiful buildings, and it was once again a reminder of how much I have benefitted from being back somewhere where there are plants and birds and wildlife everywhere (we saw a skunk!).
Usually I try to have a button for these things, but in this case I don't quite. I did a thing! It was cool! I love stained glass!
Shit to read
I Feel Pretty looks terrible, in no small part because I fundamentally dislike many of the things Amy Schumer says in public, and I enjoyed this review of it for exploring what's frustrating about the film.
Most things Leigh Cowart writes are a must-read for me, and this exploration of science and wonder is no exception.
The Dynamic (in all relationships there is an Absolute Nightmare and a Sweaterboy) is truly just Chaos Muppet/Order Muppet with some layers, but I liked this post on it nonetheless. (I am a sweaterboy with beautiful nightmare friends, except for a few collegiate friendships where I am the absolute nightmare; in dating scenarios where I am not the sweaterboy I get dumped after two dates approximately 100% of the time.)
This woman tried to make weed pasta and got very, very high.
Roxane Gay wrote about getting weight loss surgery, and as you might imagine it is phenomenal and raw.
She also did an interview alongside Ashley Ford, to whom she is a mentor (and whose writing I enjoy very much), and it is super wonderful.
Shit to eat
Get a can of tuna in oil. Not in water. Tuna in water is dead to you.
Open it, drain a little of the oil, dump everything into a container.
Add some mustard.
Add some mayo.
Add some smoked paprika and some salt and some pepper.
Stir it up.
Put half of it on a plate alongside some triscuits or the fancy ritz-but-whole-foods.
Add some grapes and half an avocado.
Do you have some babybel cheese? Fuck yeah you do, on it goes.
Take your adult lunchable to the nearest outdoor space, and sit outside, and enjoy your lunch.
Shit to watch
Travelman is a show where Richard Ayoade (from the IT Crowd) goes on trips with famous people. It's very fun. The best episodes, though, are the ones with people he clearly actually already knows (versus like when John Hamm shows up, which is great but weird). In particular I enjoyed this one with Chris O'Dowd (also from the IT Crowd), who calls him "Dickie" the entire time and seems to cause Ayoade to be more comfortable than he generally is on the show.
Shit to buy
These enamel pins are very cute.
If you live near Del Taco, get some.
Someone buy me this completely bananapants dressing gown.