uhm, just as an FYI, i don’t think the phrase “calling a spade a spade” is as innocuous as you may believe...

for the longest time, i thought Red Vines were made-up television and movie food because i never saw them anywhere in real life. then i moved to west virginia and learned they were real.

the restaurant review writing i trust the most are articles based on multiple visits. i don’t need to read about every dish on the menu, but a representative sample is always nice. i haven’t lived in Madison, Wi for more than a decade now but i still check in on the reviews done by writers at ISTHMUS for tips on…

everyone who grew up around here (the Ohio Valley) pronounces them “reeee-seeeee cups” not “re-sez”, which was the pronunciation in the civilized part of the world where i grew up (Wisconsin, yo!) AND is also the way it sounds on the television commercials.

I live in Wheeling, WV which has no Indian restaurants. A few years ago, my girlfriend (now wife) wanted to go to one of her favorite restaurants, an Indian place up in Pittsburgh, for her birthday. So, after work, we get in the car with a friend and drive not-quite an hour up there.

that’s okay. we live in THIS timeline, so Kevin J. Anderson will finish them off in a six-volume saga published over the course of 14 months.

i don’t care what anyone says: the 1999 Aliens VS Predator game for PC was a goddamned classic.

just this weekend i noticed they recently started calling it “Soy Sauce-flavor”, if that helps. since no one sells the mushroom kind around here, it’s my go-to selection. never liked the beef or pork flavors, shrimp is okay but usually a little saltier than everything else and the chicken is... fine, i guess. i’ll go…

Zach Handlen is about the only tv reviewer here worth reading anymore. I spend way more time with The Takeout than I do with AVClub anymore and while that’s sad, I guess nothing good lasts forever.

except that i don’t think his premise - if that was it - holds water. how is netflix’s algorithim pumping out derivative stuff preventing HBO or AMC or Donald Glover or anyone else from putting out the kind of fresh, innovative and exciting programming that has created this “golden age of television”? with the…

i’d love to be charitable too but, c’mon: work isn’t supposed to be easy and fun 100% of the time - if it was, they wouldn’t have to pay you to do it. and recapping television shows isn’t exactly breaking rocks or cleaning sump pumps anyway - complaining that there’s too much good content out there to cover doesn’t…

it’s not a podcast and i’ve only read the books but i have to believe the audio versions of Don Winslow’s Cartel trilogy (Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border) would be riveting listening on a long car ride. they can be incredibly gruesome and horrifying at times but those books were each incredibly gripping.

dude, you should run for President.

sorry dude but the Fish and Wildlife Service just tried to remove Great Lakes wolves from the endangered species list specifically so annual hunting would be allowed. there are plenty of assholes out there who would get a kick out of killing a wolf, bear, coyote, mountain lion - you name it.

i’ve had one at a place in Wheeling, WV. it was okay but wasn’t as good as most of the other sandwiches at that place and i haven’t tried it again on subsequent visits. and while it made for a perfectly fine fast-food burger, on a par with Five Guys or Steak’n Shake but not as good as a hipster diner here in town…

probably a dumb question but have you tried seitan? we used to go to a japanese place in Madison, Wi. that had a vegetarian dish with what they called “wheat glutens” - those had a texture very close to that of meat. they tasted nutty, a little sweet and soaked up the brown sauce the dish was drenched in and were one…

just watched the first season on DVDs from the public library (no thanks to the idea of paying for another streaming service, CBS) and have started re-reading zack’s reviews with more than just idea curiosity about whether the show would be worth checking out someday.

stayed up until 6AM the other night finishing off Don Winslow’s THE BORDER. while the closing Congressional hearing is kind of uncharcteristically Hollywood, i can see why Winslow would have wanted that level of catharsis - almost everything that leads up to it (with the exception of a literally juvenile pissing…

there was an issue of The Invisibles back in the 90s with basically this premise: the evil conspiracy got into the crack cocaine game, but with a twist - the drugs they were putting out on the street also allowed douchey white executives to voodoo-hijack the bodies of black people who overdosed on the drug.

man, just bring back the chicken-flavored cheetos, and nation-wide this time.