Daily Positive

I'm too negative so I'm going to post about one positive thing I've experienced every day.

[dailypositive]

Thursday, June 16th, 2016

I’ve talked about The Best Show on here before, but before it was a podcast it was also a radio show that ran for over a decade on broadcast before getting canned. My knowledge of the show in it’s radio years is sadly limited to a couple YouTube clips, but that’s to change soon thanks to this new box set I bought, Scharpling & Wurster: The Best of The Best Show! The 16 CD set is a collection of scripted calls that the duo has performed over the years, and it’s something like 20 hours of material. It also comes with mp3s of the calls on a cool fake tape USB drive, a beautiful hardcover books with essays and interviews, and some other cool junk. If nothing else it is a very handsome looking set.

So far today I’ve only had a chance to listen to three CDs worth of material, but from what I’ve heard so far I can tell I’m already in love. So far my favorites are The Gorch, an interview with the man who supposedly was the inspiration for The Fonz, The Gas Station Dogs, a pathetic, balding, 411 pound man’s attempt at creating the USA’s version of The Beatles, Jimmy Crespo and Mac, where a 13 year old grills Jon Wurster pretending to be the Aerosmith guitarist, and Rock, Rot, and Rule, an interview with a man who has created the definitive argument ender over which bands are good or not.

I’ve been laughing all day listening to these and I am excited to listen to even more of them over the next couple of days. Tonight I’m grilling more food! One is this chicken kebab recipe I found on Bon Appetit. The other is what I consider to be the best bbq sandwich ever but not too many people know about it: the Spiedie! I’m making mine with lamb chunks, but I’ve heard chicken works as well. Please try this sandwich if you’ve never had it before!!!!! It is divine.

[dailypositive]

Wednesday, June 15th, 2016

One of the things about being a trans woman is that you’re often forced to overenunciate your femininity for the sake of your identity. Anything that’s not seen as traditionally feminine becomes ammunition that those against you can use to prove you’re not really trans, or that you’re just a man. G.L.O.S.S., short for Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit, is a trans girl fronted hardcore band from Seattle, Washington. Their music isn’t coded as feminine, it is loud, angry music. And that is so important for people in the queer community to have. G.L.O.S.S.’s new EP, Trans Day of Revenge, is unfortunately very timely right now after Orlando. But what’s important is that it’s not a kind of maudlin, sentimental look at being a modern queer, but instead a ferocious call to action! It is an indictment of the way in which the community turned it’s back on the roots of collective force that the movement began on in search of our own comfort, at the expense of those who don’t have the resources to join us in our flight. It is a hell of a good listen, and the whole thing clocks in at under 10 minutes.

REMEMBER THOSE DEAD AND GONE BUT DON'T LET THE MEDIA SET US UP FOR HARM HRC, SELFISH FUCKS YUPPIE GAYS THREW US UNDER THE BUS 

On the lighter side, I made, like, a bunch of cookies.

They were pretty good.

[dailypositive]

Tuesday, June 14th, 2016

I first heard about A Giant Dog through The Best Show, where Tom’s incessant hyping of the band has now become something of a joke. So based on what I had heard from that, I decided to check out their latest album, Pile. And I’m so glad I did, this album is great!

I always feel weird when I try to write music cause I don’t think I’m very good at. My musical knowledge is journeyman at best, and describing a song is kind of like describing a color. But I do know when I like something, and Pile is so good. It’s kind of like a sophisticated punk, Arcade Fire with dirty instruments and stripped of pretension. Each song works individually, but it also works remarkably well as a cohesive album, with each track building on the other. I don’t know, just listen to it. It’s really good.

[dailypositive]

Monday, June 13th, 2016

So yesterday, in honor of the beginning of E3, I decided to finally pick up a new game for my Nintendo 3DS, which I love but feel like I never get the opportunity to play enough. The Kirby franchise is one of my all time favorites. I spent many hours as a kid playing and replaying Nightmare in Dreamland, Tilt ‘n Tumble, and Super Star Ultra. I had seen that there was a new game out, but when I saw Kirby piloting his own EVA mech I was pretty skeptical.

But I was wrong! And I am very happy that I was wrong!! Kirby: Planet Robobot is probably my favorite entry in the Kirby series in a while. It manages to have it’s mech aesthetic that manages to stay cute, it thus far is the only 3DS game where the 3D actually enhances the gameplay for me, and it is legitimately very fun to jump and explore around! I still have a lot to play, I’ve only finished the 2nd world in story mode but I’m very excited to play more of it and see what this game has left to give.

[dailypositive]

Sunday, June 12th, 2016

This isn't really a day where I want to say some small positive thing that happened to me. The tragedy in Orlando has been on my mind since I woke up today and I have felt sick about it. But just so I don't completely give in to despair, I'll say that reading responses to this from people in the LGBTQ+ community reminds me of the strength that we have as a collective, and the power that our words can have on each other. I love you all.

[dailypositive]

Saturday, June 11th, 2016 It was a quiet, rainy day, so I holed up, read all day, and enjoyed some blueberry iced tea. Simple but effective. Will probably be going out to dinner and drinks tonight. A good day.

[dailypositive]

Friday, June 10th, 2016

Today I had a breakthrough!

So I went to a job interview today in my hometown, which was something I had thought would not be a big deal, honestly. It was just part time work, a thing I applied to on a whim just to pass my time up here in limbo. But at the interview, they told me that they actually wanted me to take on the position full time. I kind of seized up at this idea, but still finished the interview like normal.

All day I was thinking about this reaction. Why was I so revolted at the idea of working full time? Then I realized it wasn’t because of the job, but because of the place. I have been wanting to move out of my hometown for some time now. I came here after graduating in January and have been just kinda hanging around here since. It’s like I’m stuck. I don’t want to be around, but I can’t find the energy or drive to leave.

Well today, faced with the prospect of taking that job and closing myself off even further, I think I found that drive. Next week I’m going to be searching for jobs in New York City like a madwoman, and then the week after I’ll be going down for interviews as well as preliminary apartment hunting. I said to myself that I want to be out of here by July and now it’s time to start applying myself to that standard. And I’m pumped!!!

Tonight I’m going to see The Conjuring 2 so we’ll see how that goes, but yeah!!!

[dailypositive]

Thursday, June 9th, 2016

Late entry! Not a whole lot of “good,” really, just a lot of non-starters. I watched The Conjuring and liked it a lot at first but by the end it really sizzled out for me, plus it doesn’t really lend itself to critical analysis so I don’t got much to say. I tried baking some cookies and they came out awful! I think it’s the recipe’s fault in this case, it asked for toasted flour which was supposed to make it “nutty” but instead just came out grimy. So as far as such things go, not a whole lot of wins.

But it was still a good day. My aunt came to town, so we had dinner together. The salmon was alright, but I tried it with some sriracha. I’ve never paired the two before and actually they complemented each other quite well. Now I’m just watching Frasier with my mom and it’s a pretty good ending to the day, pretty good. Today was one of my grey days where everything just feels flat, but if I can pinpoint just a few good moments then, well, I guess that’s the whole reason I’m doing this.

[dailypositive]

Wednesday, June 8th, 2016

I am a baby and have been giggling about this all day. Of course, it was bought at BJ’s.

[dailypositive]

Tuesday, June 7th, 2016

Today, because I’ve been wanting to listen to this Next Picture Show episode for some time, I finally watched John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13! Carpenter is one of my favorite filmmakers, and definitely an inspiration to me in terms of how he can craft a story. I’ve heard great things about this movie and with the reimplementation of my Netflix DVD plan I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to watch it. And was I right! This movie is amazing!

What I appreciated about this movie was how even though it was such a high concept, the whole affair seemed grounded in it’s own strange way. A contrasting point would be another movie about Los Angeles crime and law enforcement that I recently watched, To Live and Die in LA. Another fantastic movie, but also just so much bigger. It definitely has kinship with New Hollywood (no shock, with William Friedkin at the helm), where everything was dripping with significance and any question reveals a sprawling, complex answer.

Precinct 13, on the other hand, is smaller and more workmanlike, which is pretty natural considering it’s a 70s independent genre movie. Most of the main action is confined to one space, as opposed to Live and Die’s freeway spanning chases. Everyone is just trying to fix an immediate situation, that being the siege on the police station, and our close knit band of survivors have to work together as they get picked off one by one. Not shocking for Carpenter, with just a few tweaks this could have been an effective zombie movie. (The last act of Shaun of the Dead almost certainly is quoting this at points.)

It’s the kind of movie that makes me, an aspiring filmmaker, think “oh yeah, I can do this.” Sure, the scope of it is bigger than anything I could achieve right now, but it just shows how it is possible to make movies like that, that are fun and thrilling and meaningful, without having to have multi-million dollar budgets. What a great movie. All hail Carpenter!

[dailypositive]

Monday, June 6th, 2016

Today I grilled some delicious Yucatan style pork! I got this recipe from Food Wishes, which is currently my favorite food blog and where I mine a lot of my recipes from nowadays. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly: I couldn’t find any annatto powder in the grocery store, so I replaced it with half a teaspoon of turmeric and half a teaspoon of ancho-chili powder. It made it a bit more yellow then his version but came out well all the same. Also, instead of two lemons and limes, I used one jumbo lemon and three limes. But besides that I tried to follow the recipe as best as I could.

My grill skills are, sadly, pretty lacking. It’s one of my weak points in terms of culinary knowledge, mostly because there’s usually not that much of an opportunity for me to practice on my own! It’s easy to make up a sauce or something, but grilling meat has to be, like, a thing. So I was happy for the opportunity to try out some outdoor cooking in a pretty low key way. I’m still not very good at it; I undercooked the meat! When I cut it open it was still pink pink pink! So I had to finish it off in the oven. But nonetheless, the grill gave it a great char, so it was still a success in my book!

I also made an amazing homemade hot sauce! The recipe from the same cookbook that I got the salsa verde from the other day. It was a much more simple recipe, just some puréed tomato and sautéed onion, simméred with a habanéro for héat. It was actually quite delicious, with a special little hidden pocket of spiciness. It goes REALLY well with tortilla chips!

Anyway, I chopped up the pork and made it into meat for tacos! Whenever I make tacos at home it’s always beef, so the pork was a nice change of pace. It was, of course, completely delicious. Seriously, an amazing payoff for what was basically a full day of cooking. Well worth it, and definitely a recipe that I’m adding to my regular repertoire. It would probably be divine just as a tenderloin, honestly.

[dailypositive]

Sunday, July 5th, 2016

Today I watched the excellent Middle of Nowhere, a 2012 film by Ava DuVernay! This has been a movie that has been in my Netflix queue for quite some time now but it wasn’t until today that I actually sat down and watched it. I don’t know why the hesitation. I first heard of DuVernay through Selma, which I thought was superb, and afterwards saw her debut film I Will Follow, which I LOVED! Just one of those things I kept putting off cause it wasn’t particularly sexy, I guess.

But yeah, this movie is really amazing. I get so used to watching big budget blockbusters and delicious cheese that sometimes I really forget about the value of a low key, down to earth movie like this. Nothing that happens is sensational or explosive. Yet the movie is mesmerizing all the same. It has such a particular view of how relationships function and what is important about them, and I really was blown away by the level of absolute craft this movie has, from cinematography to writing.

And of course, acting! Emayatzy Corinealdi, who plays Ruby, is spellbinding. I’m shocked and saddened that I haven’t seen any of her work before! This movie came out 4 years ago, this should have been a star making turn! Sincerely, this may be my favorite performance I’ve seen in a movie in a long time, and it’s not an Acting with a capital A type performance either! Really beautiful film, it’s on Netflix, and you should definitely not wait a year to watch it like I did. (And then afterwards watch I Will Follow cause seriously that’s a classic.)

[dailypositive]

Saturday, June 4th, 2016

Today the best thing that happened was something simple and unexpected. I was driving back from seeing The Lobster, which I enjoyed with reservations, when I decided to swing by Stewarts, a local convenience store up here where I live (I actually used to work at one part time a couple years ago) and got myself ice cream! The flavor was called My Peanut Butter Cup, it was peanut butter ice cream with, of course, peanut butter cups swirled in. It was very good and I was actually eating it in a cone, which I usually don't do anymore. I think I've "grown up" too much and eat it in a bowl because it's less messy or whatever. But it was nice moment to be enjoying my ice cream like I did as a kid while driving along and watching the setting sun.

[dailypositive]

Friday, June 3rd, 2016.

I made salsa verde! Sorry for the weird formatting here, I never really got how to embed pictures while posting from my phone. But anyway, yeah!! I love Mexican sauces so I thought I would try making some on my own for once.

This recipe comes from a book called Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen. It’s supposed to have serrano peppers, but my supermarket was out so I subbed in jalepeños. It wasn’t particularly hot, more tangy, but it was still quite good! It also allowed me to use tomatillos in a recipe for the first time! Here are the ingredients:

-7 husked tomatillos

-1 large fresh jalepeño

-¾ths of an onion, roughly chopped

-2 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped

-1 1/3rd cup low sodium chicken broth

-¼th cup chopped cilantro

-Salt to taste

Delicious! I’m going to put some on fresh grilled swordfish. Mmmhmm!

[dailypositive]

Thursday, June 2nd, 2016

You know that thing where you love something but then just forget about it for like a while and then when you revisit it again it’s a pleasant surprise? Well, that’s me for Adventure Time right now! I loved the show from basically it’s premiere but then there were a string of episodes I wasn’t crazy about so I fell off the wagon for, like, two years. But late last night I started going through from where I left off and lo and behold, I still really love the show!!

I think my favorite of the episodes I watched today was actually a super low-key one called “Jake the Brick”.

Not a whole lot happens from a plot perspective. It’s just Jake observing nature, really, documenting the plight of a rabbit in the middle of a rainstorm. But just the way that it all plays out is so lovely, with John DiMaggio’s narration reaching even the furthest corners of Ooo thanks to a radio broadcast. It’s really well done, and the sort of semi-experimental short stories that only a show like Adventure Time can do. I am very excited to catch up on all that has happened.

Also, there’s a new Steven Universe tonight! I’ve already seen it thanks to France but Stevie U is my favorite show on television so I’m happy with any excuse to watch it again.

[dailypositive]

Wednesday, June 1st, 2016

Happy first of the month! Today I really didn’t do much of anything! I had spent the night at a friend’s house and was up very late livetweeting the 1995 Casper movie (as you do), so the fact that I got up relatively early at eight o’clock should have meant that I was going to get a lot done! But not really, today was just me by myself in my house, reading Game of Thrones comments and listening to my shitty trance music playlist. (Perhaps I was more inspired by The Great Comet of 1812 then I thought.)

But honestly it wasn’t a depressing day off at all, despite the lack of accomplishments. In fact, it was really nice to just have a day off to myself! I’ve been very social and active these last couple of weeks so to really have a chance to compress was probably needed. Tomorrow I got more yardwork but I think that I’m now more ready then ever to go! Tonight, I’m going to order a buffalo chicken pizza and eat it all!!

This picture is titled “The beautiful woman the cook with a pizza” and actually this is my favorite thing I’ve seen today so thank you blog for self-fulfilling your purpose.

[dailypositive]

Tuesday, May 31st, 2016

Today I listened to the soundtrack for the musical Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812! I first heard about this from Hamilton: The Revolution, which I read earlier this week. Phillipa Soo, who plays Eliza in Hamilton, was discovered after originating the role of Natasha Rostova for this play in it’s off-broadway run. After reading that, I was like “an EDM inspired musical adaptation of War and Peace? Uhhhhhhhhhhh sign me up like yesterday.”

That description is a bit misleading though. When I heard EDM I was thinking like straight up trance music. In reality it’s not so house music, instead blending more with indie rock. Think LCD Soundsystem by way of The Decemberists. But even with the altered expectations I still loved it all quite a lot. I’ve never read Tolstoy so I can’t speak for accuracy, but it is wry and self aware without being cloying, funny and rollicking at parts but also more than capable of landing the big emotional moments too. I would really like to see how this would be staged, cause it’s very powerful just as a concept album that the jump to stagecraft would be interesting to see. Maybe that’s my next Broadway destination!