PicoBlog

The worst-laid plans of cops and robbers go horribly awry in Your Lucky Day, which lives up to its title if you consider it a tribute to Cormac McCarthy’s line from No Country for Old Men: “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” Angus Cloud, the Euphoria breakout who passed away at 25 over the summer, turns in what should have been a star-making turn as a two-bit drug dealer who hits it big by stealing a lottery ticket worth $156 million but fails to consider an exit strategy from the Miami convenience store where he forcefully obtains it.

The canned bean might be the single greatest product to result from modern food processing. No, it’s not as addictive as a box of goldfish nor as iconic as sliced bread. But unlike so much processed food, it’s also not contributing to the unstoppable decline in our collective physical health. Canned beans are delicious, healthy, varied, and versatile. They invariably form the base of the fastest and most comforting meals I can cook for myself.

Some books, like Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip, Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation, and Carol Shields’s Unless, entrance from the first line. Territory of Light, written by Yuko Tsushima and translated by Geraldine Harcourt, originally published in Japan in 1979, worked the same magic on me: The apartment had windows on all sides. I spent a year there, with my little daughter, on the top floor of an old four-storey office building.

I’m excited to share our next Idea Maze interview, this time with Zach Shefska, the founder and CEO of CarEdge. The CarEdge mission is to bring transparency and efficiency to the automotive industry through a combination of free educational resources, paid products for consumers, and by providing dealers with alternative ways to operate their businesses. This interview is different from our first few episodes because CarEdge is a much earlier stage business, at least in a conventional sense.

Zendaya is a lot of things: A-list actress, star of Dune Part Two, Emmy winner, fashion icon and, of course, Meechee. Either you know exactly what this means, or you have no clue what I’m talking about. If you fall in the latter camp, maybe seeing this helps? If you still have no idea, it means you’re not a very online person, and you should applaud yourself for that. Either way, the beauty of Zendaya is Meechee, which went viral in 2018, is that it epitomizes the trend of animated movies overstuffing their casts with the most random assortment of celebrities imaginable.

One of the more heated esoteric debates among intellectuals is over the topic of ethnonationalism. Most of the Anywhere elites have, since World War II, adopted a contemptuous attitude toward the concept of a nation state dominated by a majority ethnic group. The Anywheres instead prefer to see stronger international institutions, while states adopt multicultural values. The less cosmopolitan Somewheres are uncomfortable with globalization and multiculturalism. It is difficult to dislodge them from loyalty to such anti-elite causes as Donald Trump and Brexit.

I share Coffee Can portfolios periodically on my Scorecard. Here is what performance has been like so far. Earlier I shared my thoughts on Teladoc. One of the things I brushed over was Competition. My viewpoint has been that the Telemedicine market is likely to have multiple winners. A big reason for that is the belief that Patient Demand Aggregation in Healthcare will be difficult to pull off. After thinking about this some more, I am now starting to question this assumption.

A journey through the world of RPGs from the viewpoint of a long-time GM and player. RSS feed: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1812670.rss Where else to find me: https://wheretofind.me/@Reddicediaries Leave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/RDDRPGPodcast A journey through the world of RPGs from the viewpoint of a long-time GM and player. RSS feed: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1812670.rss Where else to find me: https://wheretofind.me/@Reddicediaries Leave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/RDDRPGPodcastncG1vNJzZmiqlZmxqq%2FEnaCaqpmawG%2B%2F1JuqrZmToHuku8xop2iyqZy8rr%2BMcWya

The Balinese Room, opened in 1942, was fabulous. Air conditioning, casino gambling, superb food and drinks, and stellar entertainment, all on a pier that was suspended over the Gulf of Mexico 50 miles from my Houston hometown. If I went, it was for dinner as a kid in the 1960s, as the nighttime entertainment was certainly adults-only. Operated by Sicilian barbers-turned-bootleggers, Sam and Rosario Maceo, the Balinese Room (aka Maceo’s Grotto), booked nothing but top stars: Headliners included Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Duke Ellington, Mel Tormé, Jayne Mansfield and Gene Autry.