My wife was recently paid off for a drug debt with a Beemer X3 (this is an inside joke). I didn’t like the car at first, but it’s growing on me.
2004 E83
2005 E83
2006 E83
2007 E83 Facelift
2008 E83 Facelift
2009 E83 Facelift
2010 E83 Facelift
2011 F25
2012 F25
2013 F25
2014 F25 Facelift
2016 F25 Facelift
2017 F25 Facelift
2018 G01
2021 G01
2022 G01 Facelift
In Czech and German … 67 minute running … a Holocaust movie so not something you should voluntarily watch… very promising beginning, I’m sure the guy who made Son of Saul (which is great) was inspired by it … but this movie, despite its short length, could have been tightened up considerably … the flashbacks and fantasies became repetitive, the scene with the ridiculous old German men, with their beer steins and sausages, holding them hostage could have been shortened a great deal… in short, the director needed a firm editor but didn’t have one … still, this is not a bad movie, it could have been a very good movie, and possibly a great movie, if I had edited it. It’s worth seeing, no matter what.
Essay by Michael Atkinson (that I haven’t read yet) … OK, I read it, it’s good.
Intelligent, articulate, informed, civilized … shed a tear for what Murka has become.
Apparently this list came out in July, but I just learned about it now. Here are my brief thoughts about their 2020s picks:
the zone of interest -- holocaust as performance art (though I love Glazer)
anatomy of a fall -- awful
oppenheimer -- too long
tar -- awful
everything everywhere all at once -- awful
aftersun -- not terrible, but also not good enough to recommend
past lives -- ain't seen it yet
the worst person in the world -- not terrible, but not recommendable either
Blendin Coffee Club has started a premium monthly coffee subscription called “Pinnacle Coffee Subscription” priced at $40. I instantly signed up for this because I’m lazy and like a curated selection delivered to me without making any effort. I also subscribe to Proud Mary’s Deluxe subscription, priced at $39.
Blendin’s first coffee for its Pinnacle Coffee Subscription is a Geisha from Panama called Hachi Sutera #4.
The “sous-vide” processing of the coffee is described in the little card above.
Lovely beans and aroma… grinds like a Geisha for sure.
Do you even sift, bro?
Fines sifted out, only a perfectly consistent grind remains, 800+ micron grind only (1200 micron max). I now grind 20 grams of coffee which should yield 15 grams of perfect grind after sifting. This coffee ground a little finer in the Comandante C40 at 25 Clix, so I’ll just brew 215 ml instead of 225 ml.
Usual recipe, 15:1 water to coffee … 200 degree Fahrenheit water … bloom pour, second pour, third pour. Beautiful color.
You can instantly tell from the color in the cup that it’s a Geisha. Very clean mouth-feel, a lot of acidity (complex sour) on both sides of the tongue which diminishes quickly, coffee-forward for sure, not a tea-like Geisha. Since I’m not a fan of coffee, I prefer the Geishas that are super tea-like and only have a hint of coffee flavor at the end, the after-taste … those are the best Geishas in my opinion.
This is nice and clean and complex sour, but too coffee-forward for me.
On an end note, I now take the five grams of fines that I’m left with and add them to the top of the wet grinds and brew 300 milliliters worth of water through them to make a second cup of coffee which I put in a thermos.
The five grams of fines and 15 grams of spent wet bed make a perfectly fine 300 ml of coffee for the road.
109 minute running time but feels longer … some dummy on YouTube said this was an “unknown classic” from the 1970s so I watched it, but I can tell you why it’s unknown: it’s terrible. The story is no good, makes no sense, is disjointed, it’s just garbage, like a bad TV show … Walter Matthau just chews gum the entire movie like he’s a cow chewing its cud. (I loved Walter Matthau in The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (1974), which is a good movie.)
Bruce Dern adds some needed energy, but the story is so bad it doesn’t make a difference. Scenes from San Francisco gay bars were interesting … Bruce Dern tells a transvestite, “save my seat, fellow,” which was worth a laugh. America was dead-near rock bottom in 1973 and you can see it in this movie.
Here’s a nutter website that links to all the movie locations in San Francisco.
(When I was young, I read all the Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall books and enjoyed them… they’re good.)
Being a fruit is no crime these days.
$70 … Antique Brass, Deep Carve (single side)
$150 … High Polish Chrome, MultiCut
Sid Mashburn changed my life when he recommended Radio FIP. Radio FIP is the greatest radio station in the world, without a doubt. Commercial-free, news-free, talk-free … great, interesting music curated by talented people … it’s the best. I listen every day from 7:00 until 13:00 New York time.
93 minute running time, so the perfect length … Amy Irving and her cheekbones and 80s hair, channeling Barbara Hershey from Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) … David Pierce, Fraser’s gay little brother, actually name-checks Annie Hall in one scene … New York City looks as diverse and dirty as ever in the late 1980s … there’s a great scene where an old woman breaks into song with “Some Enchanted Evening” (Hammerstein) in a deli and the customers just sort of take it in stride and enjoy it (though Amy herself is deeply affected by it: “Once you have found him, never let him go.”)
This is a very Jewish movie (directed by Joan Micklin Silver, written by Susan Sandler), though Amy Irving was raised Christian Scientist and Peter Riegert comes from a non-observant Jewish family. It’s also clear that Silver loves the city.
There are cute bits, funny bits, some good writing, but ultimately this movie reflects the confused state of feminism by the late 80s… 33-year-old Amy is single and has a job (at a bookstore, of course) and occasional casual sex with a tall, bearded, married man, but she looks longingly at a baby boy at a bris and [spoilers] ultimately accepts the matchmaking arrangement of her Bubbie with a pickle man and his pickle. What are we supposed to make of this?
It’s a deeply traditional, conventional message in the end. It wasn’t terrible, but I can’t recommend it.
Fools give you reasons, wise men never try
