Recommendation Riday!!

TGIRR! What do you find yourself always recommending to people?

illustration by absurd.design

I do NOT like sharing my food. I mean I’ll do it if I need to as part of a bite-for-bite exchange only when my back is against the proverbial wall, but babe that’s it. Call it my immigrant roots or me being a selfish shit - both are true!

Now what I really love to share with reckless abandon are hot recs for books and movies and tv and articles and podcasts and whatever else makes my brain go "whoa" or "lol" or "omg no".

And so I am thrilled to announce the 34th Recommendation Riday!

How It Works

(if Recommendation Riday was a tech company)

1. There will be a topic!

2. I'll share some stuff

3. And you'll share some stuff.

4. It will change lives and move mountains.

I'm also on a time crunch to get this out because my editor (a baby named Wilder) says he needs this done before he's awake. It's 648am and to be honest he's already stirring but he isn't CRYING yet and so I've got like, 5, 10 minutes.

In case u missed it...

Before we dive in, lots of stuff happening in the BATECU - Both Are True extended cinematic universe.

We were acquired by The Home Depot but, due to some unforeseen creative differences (they sell hardware and we are a newsletter), the deal fell through last minute. Here’s what else happened in BATECU:

The time I got my head stuck in a balcony - I hold nothing back in this tell all tale about the time I got my head stuck in a balcony. I also stretch a metaphor for all its worth!

Introducing: Messy Ass Spaces - Ok this was literally huge. I shared photos of my messy ass workspace and the internet said “wow yes this is good thanks Alex” which means we’re gonna keep doing it! I’m gonna share other people’s Messy Ass Spaces with you in the coming weeks. Have a messy ass space of your own? Send me photos at messyassspaces@gmail.com.

What’s your favorite word? - A lot of great suggestions but nearly no voting on what the best favorite word. Sad. To remedy said sadness, please participate in the below poll and vote for your favorite word:

if your word is not listed above and you’re upset about it, please contact our support team at helpdesk@thehomedepot.com.

This week’s theme for recommendations!!

What book / movie / podcast / essay / whatever do you find yourself ALWAYS recommending and/or giving as a gift and/or talking about all the time?

Reply in the comments duh.

I’ll go first

In no particular order besides the one I picked:

Article: Why you will marry the wrong person (gift NYT link)

I often find myself talking about love and relationships with people. I think they think that I've got my shit together because I'm married and Lauren is super cool. What they don't know is I haven't seen Lauren in years and just keep writing about her as if we're together because I am a Creative Talent.

Seriously though whenever I'm talking to friends about long term commitment and all the uncertainty therein, I tell them to read this article by Alain De Botton (translates to Alan of Bottoms). He runs The School of Life and is just a smart lil guy when it comes to talking about how there's no such thing as a perfect person - that is a fallacy - you cannot 'get it right' and obsessing over doing so will actually prevent you from being with someone you can love and say "what do you wanna watch tonight?" to until death do you part.

If you dig the article he has a whole book titled "Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person: A pessimist’s guide to marriage, offering insight, practical advice, and consolation” which I feel like he wrote just because the article blew up.

He also wrote “The Course of Love” which is about the whole lifecycle of love (hint: its a lot like the precipitation cycle - lots of crying!!!).

Both bangers. Highly recommend.

---

i wish i was this cool

Book: KLF Chaos, magic and the band who burned a million pounds - This is a biography of a band called The KLF but that really doesn't do it justice. It's really an existential psychedelic analysis of why the dudes in this band, at the height of their fame, decided to delete their records and burn 1 million pounds. Like yea, actually burn it. John Higgs is such an amazing writer and takes you on a journey through ideas from Alan Moore, Robert Anton Wilson, Dr. Who and a whole lot more that all explore the question of 'why does it feel SO WRONG to burn money and what does that say about the unspoken laws that rule us all and what happens when a few idiots try to break those rules." Also the KLF's music slaps.

SHIT my editor the baby Wilder is awake and crying which means I need to pause this and return to it momentarily.

OK I’m back - we had a breakfast meeting of eggs and bananas - a huge hit on both fronts - during which he graciously gave me an extension on this in exchange for me putting on his favorite - Ms. Rachel on YouTube. I think she’s low key spooky but he doesn’t so, whatever. Anything for my art!

---

Movie: A Serious Man

(I thought this was on Netflix for free when I recommended it but it isn’t! You will have to rent it or steal it or get a library card and get it for free on blue-sugar-ray.)

My favorite Coen Bros movie and one of my fav movies ever. Everything about it is so funny and Jewish and sad and tragic and hilarious - its the height of Coen Bros for me - the way the movie starts with the yiddish dibyuk scene to every single second Fred Melamed is on screen in his EGOT winning role as Sy Abelman.

Lines from this scene between him and Michael Stuhlbarg play in my head at random hours of just about all the days!

So at this point Larry’s wife is leaving him for Sy Ableman and he comes over for dinner with some wine.

Sy Ableman:
Do you drink wine? Because this is an incredible bottle. This is not Mogen David. This is a - heh heh - a wine, Larry. A Bordeaux.

Larry Gopnik:
You know, Sy...

Sy Ableman:
Open it. Let it breathe. Ten minutes. Letting it breathe, so important.

Larry Gopnik:
Thanks, Sy, but I'm not...

Sy Ableman:
I insist! No reason for discomfort. I'll be uncomfortable if you don't take it. These are signs and tokens, Larry.

Larry Gopnik:
I'm just-I'm not ungrateful, I'm, I just don't know a lot about wine and, given our respective, you know...

[Sy abruptly hugs him]

Sy Ableman:
S'okay. S'okay. We're gonna be fine.

THESE ARE SIGNS AND TOKENS!

Heh heh.

S’okay. S’okay.

I’m dying just reading it.

Bonus question for those who need it: what’s ur fav coen bros movie and why isn’t it A Serious Man?

Be a friend, Recommend!

K it’s your turn!! Recommend whatever the hell you want and let’s all become friends.

With signs and tokens,

Sasha

---

Both Are True is free to read for all - if you are really loving the work and want to support, now you can by becoming a monthly or yearly subscriber. Free and paid options: both are true!