Heavy Rotation
Taylor Swift - Sparks Fly
Some Taylor Swift is wonderful and some puts me to sleep. This falls into the wonderful category. -B
I love Taylor Swift. Me and Gerry saw her in the Memphis airport one time but were too nervous to introduce ourselves...but anyway I would totally go to one of her concerts if I could sit in a "no screaming and wailing" section. - C
Veedeeohs
How Randall Emmett Found Success in Hollywood
Bruce Willis, amongst other hollywood stars of a certain age, is doing 3-5 terrible low budget movies a year. Here's how terrible low budge movies (think $20M budget and shot in 7-10 days only one day of which includes the Bruce Willis) are excreted and sent directly to foreign DVD markets and/or low end streaming services). -B
Food
Confessions of a Chicken Sandwich Hipster
I still need to try the Popeye's chicken sando. But if you have a Super Chick near you it should be known to you that you need to try out the Super Chick near you STAT. -B
How is it possible that, of all people, neither of us have tried the Popeye's chicken sandwich yet?! I'm not sure that any chicken sandwich will ever beat the Hero Donuts one. Who do I call about opening a Hero's here in Memphis? -C
The Hero Donut's "Super Crunch" is balling. I think it would crush either on South Main or maybe in a second tier East Memphis location (near Gibson's maybe?). Apparently here in the 'ham Little Donkey has a new fried chicken sandwich that's lighting up the local gastro-blogs. Next time you visit we'll have to go see a man about a small burro. -B
P.P.S. I tried the Popeye's chicken sandwich at the airport in Atlanta since we wrote the above. It was great. Not life changing but quite nice. -B
Business Time
Could housing be cheaper and better if we stop building so many damn staircases?
A hundred years ago lots of people died in fires. Unlike my parents, who were raised convinced they would die in nuclear armaggedon, I was raised in the early '80's convinced that at any moment my house would catch on fire and I would need to grab as many stuffed animals as possible and jump out the window. And yet really by that time house fires and apartment fires and building fires in general had become a thing that wasn't really a thing. That's not to say that from time to time they don't happen (usually from a Christmas tree or space heater mishap). But when they happen you hear about them because they are so rare.
This progress is due to the NFPA and strict codes and regulations governing all new construction from the design start point through construction. This is a problem, like Polio, that modern America has basically eliminated. But America's particular approach combined with American's general desire to all live next to each other, is causing a set of problems in building design that just don't exist in other parts of the developed world. Should we change that? -B
TravelMASity
The Way of the Zipper
I'm tempting fate here with an NYT link which seem to be the number one recipe for a link that works for me (I don't have a subscription) but people hit a paywall when they click and send us nastygrams. Whatevs.
I've traveled a lot and have cultivated a "Travel Zen" which is bascially refusing to be upset when things inevitably go wrong and you get stuck sitting in an airport or on a plane for hours on end. I call it the way of the zipper which I take from the casual chill required for the zipper merge, which has been scientifically proven to be the correct way to merge, to work correctly. So stop blocking lanes or blocking people from merging in. They are doing it right and you are doing it wrong. CHILL bro and listen to the universe. -B
I appear to have perpetually reached my limit of free NYT content. But oh well, I know what the zipper merge is because, as I loudly and often proclaim to Amanda, I am the best driver I know. For those who are unfamiliar with the way you're supposed to drive, here's a YouTube video that won't ask you to subscribe. -C
China's nine-day traffic jam stretches 100km
A Chinese friend of mine named Leo was stuck in this greatest of traffic jams and spent 3 or 4 days hunkered down in his car. More or less what happened is the Chinese middle class all reached a point where they could afford cars all at the same time which was quite a bit ahead of when the Chinese highway system was ready for the middle class to all have cars. Everyone went super Jack Kerouac all at the same time during a national holiday and the results were spectacular. -B
Virginia officials apologize to stranded I-95 motorists, defend storm prep amid criticism
C'mon America... only 1 day? What's the big deal? No wonder China is kicking our butts on the world stage.... -B
_______ is not real life
What Is ‘Cheugy’? You Know It When You See It
One of my greatest joys in life is using as much slang as possible in the presence of my 13 year old daughter and as many of her friends as possible. Having an embarrassing dad builds character, no cap. -B
I totally agree, but due to my aforementioned lack of free articles I am still unsure what a cheugy is but am working up the confidence to type it into Google in a private browsing window.
OK I did it. I think I am 53% cheugy at least 42% of the time, depending on who is applying that label to me. Makes sense. -C
Places We've Stayed
5 years ago and a few days ago I was in Busan, South Korea. The hotel I stayed at is one of the weirdest I've ever seen, although some of that to be fair was from the typical Korean configuration which is a little unusual from the typical hotel experience in broader Asia. But some wasn't typical, like the two desktop tower computers with monitors in the room so I believe you could not miss a day of playing Starcraft or League or whatever. In the lobby they had a conference room you could rent for meetings which was labeled logically enough the "Business Room". This particular business room came pre-populated with some super cute business friends, which you can see in the attached image. If you would like to see more of or stay at the Airport Hotel Busan you can Start Here -B
Things We Et
French Toast
This is one of the first recipes my mom gave me, and since I just cooked it last week I wrote it up on my blog so I could drop it in this newsletter for y'all.
Things We Seen
Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime
I've noticed recently that a lot of what people talk about when they are making casual conversation is figuring out what shows the other person watches either for the purpose of talking about common consumptions or to discover new content to queue. So periodically in this space we will bring somethings we've enjoyed lately on the off-chance you have need new stuff to chill to.
I've read the first half of this series at least twice. Katie and I really enjoyed the first season which covers the first of the 12 or 14 books in the series. Can't wait for the next season. -B