PicoBlog

Share And It Don't Stop Atmosphere: Sad Clown Bad Dub II (Rhymesayers) The II is to distinguish this (identical? revised? improved? dunno) version from the “bootleg” fans get to buy at shows, said to be a crucial element of the satisfaction it affords (“Body Pillow,” “Hells Playground”) * Rodney Crowell: The Chicago Sessions (New West) Ten love songs so varied and intermittentl… ncG1vNJzZmiqn5eys8DCoamiq6ScrrZ60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnk6S7tMHMnqlmn6WesaZ50p6nrZ2dl7KzeZFpaWw%3D

Here are a few of my favorite comedic videos about the Civil War and Civil War reenacting. Enjoy. First up is a funny take on Ken Burns’s The Civil War series featuring Robert E.T. I absolutely love this video in which Conan O’Brien joins a group of Civil War reenactors. And here he is poking fun at Donald Trump. Key & Peele drop in on a group of Confederate reenactors and manage to undercut the Lost Cause narrative of the war.

Los Angeles architect and long-time SCI-Arc Faculty member Robert Mangurian has passed away. He is survived by his life, teaching, and work partner, Mary-Ann Ray, an older brother David, and a son Tony from his first marriage. This interview with Robert and his early Studioworks collaborator Craig Hodgetts was included in an exhibition catalog I co-edited in 2005. I have added some thoughts about Robert and a short poem for him with some images not included in the original exhibition catalog.

My first newsletter of 2023! A bit late to the party. I was re-watching Ghost in the Shell (1995) to see if it still holds up in 2023 (it does. Once more round the sun!) and fixated on this funny scene that I've seen memed. Enjoy! Here is the relevant gif: These are the fingers of a professor, who has come to collect the body of a very special robot. The professor is typing lines of code into a computer to access certain parts of the captive robot’s thoughts.

Today, together with yesterday, marks a very special Anniversary Double Issue of FES, doubtless a moment to be relished by future collectors of this publication. April 1 2022 saw the birth of First Excited State; I fully expected to top out in the high single-digits in terms of subscribers; to my utter surprise this little plucky blog serves in the low-to-medium triple digits a year later. I deeply appreciate all the comments and encouragement over the past year, and hope to keep finding things that pique my interest and hopefully yours as well from time to time.

What you know about rollin' down in the deep? When your brain goes numb, you can call that mental freeze When these people talk too much, put that shit in slow motion, yeah I feel like an astronaut in the ocean -Masked Wolf, Astronaut in the Ocean I always assumed this song was about sex. That probably says more about me than anything else, but, I’m a dad and I think everything’s a metaphor for something much funnier or interesting then it actually is.

“Do you know why he wants to win? So he has the money to keep losing.” — Maury Chaykin, Owning Mahowny There’s an essential loneliness to a Philip Seymour Hoffman character, a sense that no matter how many people surround him—or, in the case of The Master, treat him as a prophet—that he’s on an island, isolated by the narrowness of his own obsessions. He’s the sound man secretly pining for Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights.

A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

Today, I have a delicious, comforting pasta recipe that is inspired by both Spain and Italy. Silky strands of pasta hugged by a gorgeous Romesco sauce topped with a flavour explosion of crispy pangrattato - buttery, herby breadcrumbs! (Downloadable and printable recipes below) Romesco sauce is a textural red pepper and tomato sauce with a slightly sweet and spicy flavour heightened by a delicious smokiness that comes from charring the vegetables.