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
Interesting look at a Supermax prison … as awful as you can imagine it. Caged animals go barking mad, and it doesn’t help that they are all psychotic to start. The noise on the cellblock is incredible, the fluorescent lights always on, 23 hours a day alone in the cell … it has to be a fate worse than death. Interviews with some very articulate prisoners whom you are relieved are locked up forever.
The prisoners opened up with Kristi Jacobs… she’s an attractive woman.
(a) Transactions relating to purchase or sale of security
It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of any facility of any national securities exchange, or for any member of a national securities exchange-
(1) For the purpose of creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading in any security registered on a national securities exchange, or a false or misleading appearance with respect to the market for any such security, (A) to effect any transaction in such security which involves no change in the beneficial ownership thereof, or (B) to enter an order or orders for the purchase of such security with the knowledge that an order or orders of substantially the same size, at substantially the same time, and at substantially the same price, for the sale of any such security, has been or will be entered by or for the same or different parties, or (C) to enter any order or orders for the sale of any such security with the knowledge that an order or orders of substantially the same size, at substantially the same time, and at substantially the same price, for the purchase of such security, has been or will be entered by or for the same or different parties.
(2) To effect, alone or with one or more other persons, a series of transactions in any security registered on a national securities exchange creating actual or apparent active trading in such security or raising or depressing the price of such security, for the purpose of inducing the purchase or sale of such security by others.
(3) If a dealer or broker, or other person selling or offering for sale or purchasing or offering to purchase the security, to induce the purchase or sale of any security registered on a national securities exchange by the circulation or dissemination in the ordinary course of business of information to the effect that the price of any such security will or is likely to rise or fall because of market operations of any one or more persons conducted for the purpose of raising or depressing the prices of such security.
(4) If a dealer or broker, or other person selling or offering for sale or purchasing or offering to purchase the security, to make, regarding any security registered on a national securities exchange, for the purpose of inducing the purchase or sale of such security, any statement which was at the time and in the light of the circumstances under which it was made, false or misleading with respect to any material fact, and which he knew or had reasonable ground to believe was so false or misleading.
(5) For a consideration, received directly or indirectly from a dealer or broker, or other person selling or offering for sale or purchasing or offering to purchase the security, to induce the purchase or sale of any security registered on a national securities exchange by the circulation or dissemination of information to the effect that the price of any such security will or is likely to rise or fall because of the market operations of any one or more persons conducted for the purpose of raising or depressing the price of such security.
(6) To effect either alone or with one or more other persons any series of transactions for the purchase and/or sale of any security registered on a national securities exchange for the purpose of pegging, fixing, or stabilizing the price of such security in contravention of such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors.
(b) Transactions relating to puts, calls, straddles, or options
It shall be unlawful for any person to effect, by use of any facility of a national securities exchange, in contravention of such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors-
(1) any transaction in connection with any security whereby any party to such transaction acquires any put, call, straddle, or other option or privilege of buying the security from or selling the security to another without being bound to do so; or
(2) any transaction in connection with any security with relation to which he has, directly or indirectly, any interest in any such put, call, straddle, option, or privilege; or
(3) any transaction in any security for the account of any person who he has reason to believe has, and who actually has, directly or indirectly, any interest in any such put, call, straddle, option, or privilege with relation to such security.
(c) Endorsement or guarantee of puts, calls, straddles, or options
It shall be unlawful for any member of a national securities exchange directly or indirectly to endorse or guarantee the performance of any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege in relation to any security registered on a national securities exchange, in contravention of such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors.
(d) Registered warrant, right, or convertible security not included in "put", "call", "straddle", or "option"
The terms "put", "call", "straddle", "option", or "privilege" as used in this section shall not include any registered warrant, right, or convertible security.
(e) Persons liable; suits at law or in equity
Any person who willfully participates in any act or transaction in violation of subsections (a), (b), or (c) of this section, shall be liable to any person who shall purchase or sell any security at a price which was affected by such act or transaction, and the person so injured may sue in law or in equity in any court of competent jurisdiction to recover the damages sustained as a result of any such act or transaction. In any such suit the court may, in its discretion, require an undertaking for the payment of the costs of such suit, and assess reasonable costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, against either party litigant. Every person who becomes liable to make any payment under this subsection may recover contribution as in cases of contract from any person who, if joined in the original suit, would have been liable to make the same payment. No action shall be maintained to enforce any liability created under this section, unless brought within one year after the discovery of the facts constituting the violation and within three years after such violation.
(f) Subsection (a) not applicable to exempted securities
The provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to an exempted security.
(g) Foreign currencies
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission shall have the authority to regulate the trading of any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency (but not, with respect to any of the foregoing, an option on a contract for future delivery).
(h) Limitations on practices that affect market volatility
It shall be unlawful for any person, by the use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce or of any facility of any national securities exchange, to use or employ any act or practice in connection with the purchase or sale of any equity security in contravention of such rules or regulations as the Commission may adopt, consistent with the public interest, the protection of investors, and the maintenance of fair and orderly markets-
(1) to prescribe means reasonably designed to prevent manipulation of price levels of the equity securities market or a substantial segment thereof; and
(2) to prohibit or constrain, during periods of extraordinary market volatility, any trading practice in connection with the purchase or sale of equity securities that the Commission determines (A) has previously contributed significantly to extraordinary levels of volatility that have threatened the maintenance of fair and orderly markets; and (B) is reasonably certain to engender such levels of volatility if not prohibited or constrained.
In adopting rules under paragraph (2), the Commission shall, consistent with the purposes of this subsection, minimize the impact on the normal operations of the market and a natural person's freedom to buy or sell any equity security.
$66. High Polish Blue, Deep Carve
