Forget being serious with this Playpen. Gawd knows we could all use some distractions about now. Share with the group any books, TV shows, movies, music, cooking, etc. that have helped you cope with reality this last month or so.
- Bloviation for the Dawgnation
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“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
I recently read ‘Franklin BBQ – A Meat Smoking Manifesto.’ Good book. More in depth on the how-to rather than just recipes. I have always loved cooking ribs and butt, but started brisket a couple of years back. Franklin is pretty much the authority on how to do brisket right.
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“In Texas, they barbecue beef, which isn’t barbecue at all.“
Lewis Grizzard
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This is the first time I can remember vehemently disagreeing with Grizzard about anything except the sans socks movement.
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He was far from perfect. And if only pork can be bbq, I’d kindly ask what’s better than a barbecued half chicken? Not a lot.
I just like using the line to mess with Texas.
10-9.
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Ole Lewis was wrong about brisket but correct about loafers sans socks!
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or “wee-juns” as he called them in one of his books
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“What is BBQ (Bar-B-Q, Barbecue)”? Would actually be a dam good Playpen I believe
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Barbecue: various meats that are cooked low and slow using the smoke method (smoked meat) on indirect heat that imparts the characteristic pink smoke ring to the meat. Barbecue is not a gathering of people where people meet to eat grilled meats or actual barbecue (see: cookout). Good barbecue never requires the sickly sweet sauce people in Kansas City use to drown their smoked meats in, though it is acceptable to use a vinegar or mustard based sauce on a pulled smoked pork or smoked chicken sandwich.
Cookout: an event where people meet to eat traditional grilled foods like hamburgers, hotdogs, or chicken. You can serve barbecued meats at a cookout, but this does not make the cookout “a barbecue.” There is no such thing as “a barbecue” (see: Barbecue).
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Texas has a lot of peculiarities with food, like refusing to acknowledge other versions of chili (like with tomatoes and beans or chili verde made with pork and tomatillos which is effing amazing) as actual chili, but they got the beef barbecue right.
I love all kinds of barbecue. Beef, pork, chicken, turkey, even seafood. Everything tastes better cooked low and slow with smoke.
Just don’t slather it in sweet sauce like they do in Kansas City or put the Godawful mayonnaise sauce on it like the dumbass Bammers do, and we’re okay.
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Mayonnaise sauce is Satan’s spooge. Pork with chili verde is the antidote for that poison
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I can honestly say I have made award-winning chili. I entered my chili verde into a chili cook off and destroyed the competition.
It sometimes pays to be different. Now, I like Texas-style chili, which is basically just chili colorado, but yeah, chili verde with some fresh oaxaxa cheese crumbles and home made tortillas is about as good as it gets!
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The only oaxacan product I’m familiar with I read about in High Times years ago. I am a recent convert to chili verde burritos with Mexican quesadilla cheese and varied condiments. No mayonnaise.
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LOL. If anyone were to put mayonnaise on a burrito, that would be weird indeed.
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oxaca is famous for all its different kinds of Mole Sauces.
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If you want to take your carnivorous urges to the next level, Michael Ruhlman’s book “Charcouterie” is a must read.
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The Last Kingdom.
Forensic Files, all six million of them.
The Wire (like the zone blitz to Quincy Carter, it’s not new, but it was new to me).
Rewatching old classics like Tombstone, Predator, Space Balls, Heat, Dumb and Dumber, and many more with my kids.
And finally, yous guys. I think my posting went up logarithmically when I had an excuse not to be at the office all day. Productivity plummeted accordingly.
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And, duh, The Last Dance.
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I lost interest about half way through.
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The Wire is great, tho the theme in Season 5 is lame.
As for Forensic Files, always a solid. I slightly prefer “The First 48” and catch an episode every night.
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I have watched The Wire twice. Thinking about a third time. One of the best ever.
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Box Wine is pretty good and very economical. 🙂
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Agreed. Do a blind taste test with whatever bottle you buy and a glass of Black Box and I bet most wouldn’t have any big preference one way or another. We’ve been buying it by the case of 6 boxes at a time from our liquor store to cut down on trips so we get another 10% off. That’s roughly $100 for the equivalent of 24 bottles of wine. Giddy up.
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We went to a party where everyone brought a 2 bottles of the same wine. One bottle was part of the prize for winning and one bottle was part of a blind taste test. The criteria was under $20 and red from the US.
My wife brought nice wine, but I brought Trader Joe’s 2 Buck Chuck Merlot that had been sitting in our hot garage for years. 2 Buck Chuck came in middle of the pack…
btw, don’t do this. A decent number of people were really mad. They felt like I was being a jerk and showing that they had no taste for wine.
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You know, 10 years ago 2-buck-Chuck was okay, but something changed in the last few years. Now it does taste like trash wine.
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That’s “Ripple or Strawberry Hill” pricing good find.
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No lie, I’ve gotten into watching Ultimate Frisbee. Never even knew there was a professional league (Ultimate Disc League) but they’ve been airing reruns of it I think on Fox Sports on Sundays. It’s actually pretty entertaining, the guys are good. And they have some interesting rules. One is the “fair play” rule where if the ref makes a bad call, the player/team that benefitted from the call can actually overrule the ref. And you’d be surprised how often it is invoked.
The first day I was watching it, my wife walked in, looked at the TV, looked at me, and said “You REALLY miss sports don’t you?” Ha. It at least scratches the itch a little bit.
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Yellowstone
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I wouldn’t rank it as great, but I watched the two seasons of Homecoming on Amazon, and it had enough intrigue and twists, as well as a David Lynch-ian type of weirdness, to keep me distracted for several days. Solid.
Even more weird, I just started Upload, a sci-fi series about altered-reality pseudo-heavens. Enough dark humor and wit to keep me going so far, although sci-fi is typically not my thing. We’ll see.
I welcome the distractions, although I was curious to see the glib response du jour from the usual suspects who were just a couple of weeks ago pinning COVID-19 failures to Democratic-control cities and states. As a father familiar in the ways of immature argumentation, my money would be on a variation of “Well they started it!”
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Bud Light Lime.. The Nectar of the Gods..:)
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Got a new neighbor close enough for the children to walk over but far enough that I can’t see or hear ’em. They’re intelligent, well mannered and interested in fishing, shooting and wildlife in general. UGA fans with the oldest headed there in the fall. We’ve been having a lot of fun without getting in each others way.
Great neighbors.
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I’ve started Starting Strength which is a manual for barbell training and have been rereading Pacific Crucible on the start of the war with Japan. If you read the 1619 Project or White Fragility, I’d recommend Albion’s Seed and Antifragile as good antidotes.
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Thanks for the tip about Pacific Crucible. I’ve been reading about the WW1 and WW2 but it’s all been focused on Europe. I’ve been wondering about Japan and what made them feel the need to take such a risk.
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They thought us a soft people. They believed in their superiority as a master race of the earth (seriously, most Americans have no idea how inherently racist many Asian cultures are). They saw our ban on providing them with war materiel as a de facto, justified cause for war. And they believed they could cripple us forever in the Pacific by attacking Pearl Harbor and taking out our Pacific Fleet.
They might have succeeded if our carriers were in dock as they should’ve been. With our carriers out to see, the ability to project our naval might along vast swaths of ocean remained and we were able to fight stalling actions until ships could get through the Panama Canal and our War Machine got up to speed back home.
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China appears to be the new Japan with their expansionist tendencies. For you guys that enjoy reading about wars I recommend The Next War – some interesting scenarios.
I’m currently reading In Flanders Fields – not a bad read.
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Appears, shit. They are. It’s just a matter of time, unless the people are able to win over the military. Hong Kong is a test bed. It’s why the capitulation of so many people who could make a difference there, all the lying hypocrites in the NBA led by LeBron, Kerr, and Pop, for example, who profit off the misery of Chinese peasants, is so disappointing.
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Theres a fix for it, but America is interested
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I thought the same thing but not Japan. Germany because they are exposed on many many fronts.
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If you want inspiration read “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” by James D. Hornfischer. The Battle of Samar may be the “greatest victory in US Naval History”. A totally outgunned Taffy3 goes up against the largest battleship in the world and it’s cruisers and destroyers. The Captain of the Johnston was a full blooded Cherokee named Evans who was a Naval Academy Grad (try that in the 30’s) who told his crew if they ever got chance they were going for it. They did. When the survivors were floating on cargo nets a Japanese ship approached them and the Americans were sure they were going to be slaughtered. The Japanese sailors stood on the rail and saluted the survivors for their bravery. . . and threw them yams!
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Thanks for the spoiler…:-)
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“Indomitable courage and brilliant professional skill”. Evans gallantry and leadership saved a lot of Grunts lives that day. Truly inspiring.
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And the pilots with no ammo firing pistols and throwing coke bottles at the Yamato. Of course the reason the battle was relatively unknown at the time is that Halsey took the bait and took TF 34 north in pursuit of Ozawa leaving Taffy 3 unprotected.
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illini84 I disagree with u on most issues I think but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service and bravery. For fighting in a war with that nobody could have won. I believe u and your fellow soldiers were betrayed by the military industrial complex. Thanks again SIR
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not sure if it was you, but pretty sure I first learned about Albion’s Seed at this blog years ago. I read and find myself recommending it all the time.
Was fascinated to learn that my own family history matches his scholarship quite well. First English born American came as a prisoner to Maryland in 1696 from Devon – part of the Cavalier wave.
Have you read Fischer’s “Bound Away”? Thinking of starting on that.
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Good tip on PC. I started the audiobook yesterday and it’s very cool. One thing I found Ironic was that Hearst’s media was fear mongering Japan before WW1. Some things never change, I guess.
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I’ve been running about 15 miles a week, which is the most I’ve ever run in my life. Feeling much better and keeping the weight off.
Otherwise, watching several different series (sci fi, comic book, documentaries, etc). Also reading a biography on Churchill, clocking in at 1000 pages so it will take me a while.
Working from home’s not that bad. I like the commute.
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Keep running. Add a little when you can, and keep the pace mellow. Eventually get your eyes on something epic and train for it. I’d suggest something like rim2rim2rim in the Grand Canyon. Yes it’s 50 miles, but it’s really jog down, walk up, jog down, walk very slowly up. It’ll kick your ass but in the best way possible.
another guy that started with a few miles a week and then added.
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Thanks. I seem to keep adding even though I’m not planning on it. Went out last night and was surprised to see I covered 6 miles. Who knows where this ends up?
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Don’t listen to Doug….he’s loco 😜
All kidding aside it’s good advice. Set your sights on something that scares the hell out of you and prepare for it. Crossing the finish line (whatever form that may take) is a sense of accomplishment that is hard to match.
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The Wrong Missy on Netflix. Stumbled on that last night…funny stuff.
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David Spade bugs me but I’ve been tempted to give that a try.
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Wouldnt reccomend myself
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I’ve finally started working on things like salad dressings, marinades, sauces, and rubs. It’s amazing how much better that stuff is homemade than anything you can find in the store. And really easy. The key is having a solid pantry of spices, herbs and vinegars. The spices come a lot cheaper in bulk from the coop, and herbs are growing out on the deck.
I also bought a fire pit and ordered $150 worth of do-it-yourself firewood. Which is about 25 oak tree trunks, 15 feet in length, averting 18” diameter.
Sawing, moving, and splitting all that is a nice workout every morning. And a great way to take out frustration.
A evening fire on the deck with a bourbon is a great way to relax.
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I have finally perfected my rib rub. I never buy ready made rubs as I figure I can do better, and I do, but I’ve never been totally happy until recently. The final spice was staring me in the face the entire time and I didn’t realize it, but it made a huge difference.
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It just occurred to me I hope I haven’t screwed this perfectly civil and warm-hearted thread up. The word “Hitler” in a comments section is like the word “bomb” on a plane. No one cares about the context. All that matters is you said “bomb” on a plane, and now you’re on the no-fly list.
I am placing myself in timeout until after lunch when my blood-sugar stabilizes and I am better at words.
(Nuke a gay whale for Jesus.)
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Care to share your recipe? Most rubs are too salty. I like Rendezvous rub because it’s not too salty
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Well, first thing I can tell you, and hopefully you already know, never use table salt. In any cooking. Ever. That’s usually why things taste “too” salty. Iodized salt is garbage. Use kosher salt or sea salt.
So my first piece of advice is cut the amount of salt you use in half. That would help.
I’m also not a big fan of using sugar, either white or brown, in rubs because sugar burns. So I’m not into “sweet” rubs. I like spicy rubs, but more, I want a rub that will compliment the pork or the chicken in such a way as to make everything better without overpowering.
With chicken I favor a garam masala, which is an Indian blend of spices that is used in curries. So allspice, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorn, cumin that you lightly toast in a stainless steal pan and then grind together, and then I like to add turmeric, sea salt, and cayenne for that something extra.
For ribs, I don’t usually go through all that trouble with the toasting and the grinding, though I will say, grinding cinnamon sticks and grating whole nutmeg does make a difference if you do take the time. I usually just pull a bunch of stuff off the shelf and combine them in different weights. Chili powder. Smoked paprika (this is a must, if you’re using regular paprika, that’s why the rub is not as good as it could be). Sea salt. Fresh ground pepper. Ground mustard. Ground cumin. Ground nutmeg. Ground cinnamon. Ground cayenne pepper. Garlic powder. Onion powder. It’s the nutmeg and cinnamon that adds the extra “something” to the flavor of the ribs that really makes them pop. Most people add brown sugar, but again, I don’t. So I like to replace the sweetness with the flavor of the nutmeg and cinnamon. I think it’s superior.
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This made me think – I wonder whatever happened to ChiliDawg who used to comment here? Didn’t he own a spice company?
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Wasn’t he one of the ones who was even more ornery and name-calling-y than some others?
If he’s the guy I’m thinking of, I’m thinking the Senator made a business decision.
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Gracias Amigo!!!!
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And remember, the goal is to compliment, not overpower, especially pork which is so delicious that really, a little olive oil, sea salt, and pepper is just as good as any rub.
Play around with the amounts of different spices. The nutmeg and cinnamon shouldn’t be so powerful that people can tell what it is. You want people to say instead, “Wow… what is that I’m tasting?”
It’s like with chili. I love Cincinnati chili, but most places that serve it use too much cinnamon in the recipe. So when I make my run of the mill ordinary chili with ground beef, tomatoes, and beans, I add just enough cinnamon where people are pleasantly surprised by the extra something they taste, but can’t ever quite place it.
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A buddy of mine uses lemon juice in his chili. Won People’s Choice at the Stone Mountain Chili Cookoff with his recipe.
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I’m leery of citrus given the tomatoes I use in a normal chili usually provide enough acidity, but that could be interesting.
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Silly man! There is no perfect rib rub! I do concur that most rubs are wayyy too salty and smoked paprika is the bomb, but ….
I use a pellet smoker so I can get away with a sweeter rub as I don’t have to worry about it burning. All three kids and their significant others were up for fathers day so I loaded up the Traeger with babybacks and my favorite, the sparerib. The grill will hold a ton so I used a couple of different rubs and the OO salt and pepper treatment. Low and slow till the ribs hit 190 and to try to replicate the best ribs I’ve ever had I tried something a little different: I took one of the racks of spareribs, cut them into individual portions as soon as they came off, and tossed them chicken wing style in a mix of two parts Williamson brothers BBQ sauce to one part white vinegar. I Let them rest for 10 minutes or so. Saucy ribs aren’t everyone’s thing I know, but damn they were good.
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I don’t use salt at all in my rubs.
I use kosher salt directly to the meat a few hours (boneless chicken breasts) to the night before (beef, ribs, butt, whole poultry, etc). 1/2 tsp kosher per pound for boneless meats (like a tri-tip or some large steaks), a 1/4 tsp per pound for something with a lot of bone (like ribs), and somewhere in between for stuff like whole chickens.
Dry brining in the fridge does more for flavor than you can imagine.
So the salt less rubs go on immediately prior to cooking, and the meat is perfectly seasoned every time no matter how much rub you use.
Got that tip from AmazingRibs.com. Meathead Goldwyn, out of Memphis.
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Starting watching Big Mouth on Netflix. It is a cartoon but very much not for kids. Had some flashbacks to my formative years watching it. Quite funny.
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If you like Big Mouth, which I loved the first season but kinda didn’t like the second season, you NEED to watch F is for Family.
It is, by far, the funniest show on Netflix, and along with What We Do In The Shadows, the funniest show on “television,” period. This fourth season was the best season. I binged it in an entire day. Amazing!
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Blackberry Smoke ‘Live from Capricorn Sound Studios’
Caamp ‘By & By’
American Aquarium ‘Lamentations’, ‘Things Change’
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I’ve actually been enjoying going on YouTube and finding old, complete concert footage. Watched a show the Clash did in New Jersey in 1980 one night and then a Nirvana show from 1991.
Another thing I’ve started and enjoyed was “Upload” on Amazon Prime. Near future setting where people can go to “heaven” by having their memories uploaded there. And, of course, it’s for rich people only. Interesting premise — looking forward to finishing it.
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Yeah, there are some amazing shows there. I like the Tanglewood shows from the early 70’s (Chicago, The Who, Santana). There’s also a Kinks show from Paris in the mid 60’s (20+ minutes tops) that just oozes punk power.
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I’ve watched Community and Kim’s Convenience on Netflix, Corner Gas on IMDB, and Letterkenny on Hulu.
Also, Blazing Saddles is a great way to harken back to a time when everyone wasn’t offended by everything.
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Been rewatching Community too – the first 3 seasons especially make me laugh
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Blazing Saddles. My favorite movie of all time. Back when shit was funny simply because it was funny to laugh at the absurdity of ourselves. Leave your badge at home, take the chip off your shoulder and pay your dime at the toll booth.
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Tolkien. I’ve lost myself in Tolkien.
I recently watched The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions on three consecutive nights. I am now reading The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s History of the First Age. I think why I love this book is because it reads more like historical non-fiction as opposed to fiction. I’ll then read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Unfinished Tales.
Before now, I’ve kinda watched a little bit of everything. I binged Justified, King of the Hill, Family Ties, Archer, White Collar, Seinfeld, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Of the new stuff that came out, Star Trek: Picard was pretty dang big for me. I loved it; the daring of it. There were a few things I didn’t like, like how all the ships in the finale, all 200 of them, were the same ship. That was stupid. When DS9 had these gigantic space battles during the Dominion War with hundreds of ships of every type, that was really a letdown. Other than that, the show was amazing.
The second season of What We Do In The Shadows has also been a tincture in these dark times. Hilarious, irreverent, but also sweet and horrifying and gory and gothic and gross. Standout episodes were when Laszlo left and became “Jackie Daytona, Human Bartender” and when energy vampire Colin Robinson got a promotion. If y’all haven’t seen WWDITS and have Hulu, add it to your watchlist and watch right away. So funny.
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WWDITS is hilarious. This season was even better than the last one. The two episodes you mentioned were standouts for us as well.
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Shit… forgot F is for Family. Y’all need to watch this show on Netflix if you never have. It’s Bill Burr mining his life growing up in the 1970’s working class neighborhood and schools, and it’s so true to life as to be scary. Even though it’s about 10 years before my time, a lot of growing up in the 1980’s was similar.
Also, I’ve been wearing out my record collection. Which isn’t great, you know, because I want it to last, but I have so much good stuff to listen to, why not?
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I think it’s the third episode of WWDiTS, and I won’t spoil it, but the Vampires are having a confrontation with the Werewolves?
“Toby no!!!”
That is without question one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
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I love that episode! Have you finished the first and second seasons, or are you still in the first season? Because it gets so much better, especially if you’ve seen the movie on which it’s based.
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I’ve only seen a couple of episodes. Thing is, my hearing is shot. (Pun intended) so unless I have my hearing aids connected to the television I can’t make out at all what the characters are saying. I’ve been saving WWDITS for a rainy Sunday binge watch session since that episode.
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”Shot”. Lol. Closed Caption is the only way I can understand a damn thing on TV even turned up to ear splitting levels.
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I think the show is much better than the movie. I watched the movie last year and it was good, but drug at times. I think the story/premise fits a 30 minute format much better.
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Agree, 100% even if it seems I did like the movie more than you did. It is a better format for television.
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Oh, and I got a subscription to DC Universe so I could watch Harley Quinn which is also profanely funny and so dang gory, but in a funny way.
What I didn’t realize is that I could go back and read all the comics I loved as a kid.
So I’ve been reading the 1990-2004 Green Lantern run, where Hal goes crazy after Cyborg Superman destroys Coast City, destroys the Corps, becomes “Parallax,” and Kyle Rayner becomes the only GL. I’ve been reading the mid-90’s runs on Robin and Nightwing written by Chuck Dixon. The brilliant mid-90’s relaunch of the JLA written by Grant Morrison. Identity Crisis. Geoff Johns’s Green Lantern Rebirth and Teen Titans. The Sinestro Corps Wars. Infinite Crisis. Blackest Night. All the stuff before DC completely ruined their entire brand with The New 52.
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A British friend of mine recommended the BBC Radio’s Lord of the Rings for a long car trip last year, and I have to admit it was great. I’ve actually re listened to it hanging out around the house. Even my teenage daughters think it’s interesting….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_(1981_radio_series)
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Thanks, I’ll give it a try!
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It is excellent. There are thirteen episodes that are faithful to the books and the cast has names that you will recognize from other Brit productions. It is addictive.
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We binge watched Better Call Saul, Ozark, Mindhunter, and now working through Dexter. Occasionally rewatch some complete Braves games and Bulldog games, but still not the same. I’m attempting to develop a taste for Corona Seltzer as it is keto compatible, but nothing beats good old blue mountains and the pool. Speaking of, I’m a first time pool owner so the daily battle against chemical composition, phosphates, greens, etc., is enough to keep me both entertained and maddeningly frustrated to pass the time and distract me.
Also did yoga, which, no fooling, helps with strength and calm at the same time. I’ve been a gym rat and workout guy my whole life, but kids and injuries sidelined me until I started doing yoga with Beachbody. Definitely helps to get the old kinks out.
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My wife talked me into going to her hot yoga class. I swear I sweated out beer I drank in high school.
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You need to watch BIKRAM on netflix. Hilarious. Creepy. Hilariously creepy
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Minhunter is serious and for real. I really liked the turn in season 2 when they realized their forensic psychology may not work at all, but the FBI was all in because money. As a preteen/teen of the eighties that was there in Atlanta through the Atlanta child murders I’ve never felt like things were fully explained.
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Mindhunter was slow to start and hit a crescendo with the Wayne Williams story arc. Then it crashed and halted. I keep reading that they are in a holding pattern but had planned for five seasons. I’m amazed at the actors portraying the serial killers. Spot. On.
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Due to zero family activities I’ve made 5 fishing trips (2 with kids) to the Gulf , 3 of which were overnight tuna trips to the floating oil rigs. Previously I never overnighted it caught tuna while fishing. Watching the sun go down and come up over the ocean is great. Out there there’s no media, no protests, no social media BS. Tuna don’t protest or post per BS even when they get massacred. I never get tired of watching flying fish, they are amazing.
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That’s not my jam, but it sounds amazing!
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You sleep on the boat or the oil rig? I’m sure boat, but, I dunno. I’ve wanted to go out on the gulf but have not the money.
We’re making our on sushi and freshest tuna is huge.
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I don’t think you can get on the rigs. I’ve got a buddy who is a diver/welder and it’s pretty high security out there. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48906294291_f875ffc20f_b.jpg
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That’s what I’d assume, but the comment made it sound just a touch like it was a thing. Like if you knew someone.
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Night fishing is a pretty big deal there. The night Deep Well Horizon went up there were fishing boats nearby who tried to help and the authorities told them to get the hell out of there. When I went tuna fishing in Maui we left at about 10pm and steamed out to the “FAD’s” and hit them at sunup. The seas were moderate but 4 of the 6 of us never fished, they puked and slept for 14 hours. The captain said he wanted to go between the Big Island and Maui but took one look at the group and said “hell no”!
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Transderm Scopolamine is a miracle drug for motion sickness. When I was a kid I would throw up from the moment I stepped onto a deep sea fishing boat to the moment I stepped off. Since Tranderm Scop came out, I just slap a patch behind my ear the night before going fishing and haven’t had a problem since.
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The pictures of me landing the 130lb Yellowfin clearly show the patch behind my ear. I still puked but I didn’t quit fishing! https://live.staticflickr.com/7108/7639069160_ce37212221_b.jpg
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Nice fish
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The replica is on my wall! In the islands the fish belongs to the boat so they got $1200 for her and I was offered a drink, and I don’t drink! One of the best days of my life either way.
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Did you go out of Destin or Alabama? I did a rig trip out of Venice, LA in September. I only caught one 60 lb yellowfin but it was insane going on the charter with 4. 350 merc’s.
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As someone that spent their early years fishing the gulf I can tell it’s nothing like it was. Trigger fish were trash fish – schools of amber jack were avoided. The gill nets out from the Keys and over fishing killed the gulf.
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Yep, redfish too right? They are all restricted in a big way now.
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I’m generally a homebody/introvert, so I feel like the quarantine hasn’t really impacted my social life (such as it is). Other than a few weeks at the start of this whole thing, I’ve been going to work Monday through Friday and resuming my well-worn spot on the sofa each day.
I’m currently playing through The Last of Us Part II on PS4. I believe I mentioned in a previous playpen that some of the plot details had leaked before its release, and there was some backlash in the gaming community as a result. I’m probably not even halfway through it yet, but so far I haven’t seen what all of the fuss was about.
If I’m not playing video games, I’m trying to entertain my daughter while The West Wing or The Great British Baking Show plays as background noise.
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I started another play through of Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag.
Because who doesn’t want to be a pirate?
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That’s probably my favorite of the Assassin’s Creed series. Although those games have gotten pretty repetitive, I’ll probably pick up Valhalla when it comes out. Because who doesn’t want to be a Viking assassin?
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Yeah, being able to sail the Caribbean and fight ship battles definitely set that game apart. Rogue is similar in that way, in which you control Kenway’s son who became a Templar.
I was not a fan of the changes they made to the fight mechanics in Origins. However, Live had an insane sale for Odyssey so I bought that, and I will play it when I finish Black Flag. It’s gonna be a pain to get used to those new fight mechanics, but I’ve been told it’s a great game worth playing. So I will.
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I platinum’d odyssey
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Odyssey is definitely worth playing for fans of the franchise, especially if you enjoy the ship battles.
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I’ve played this off and on, but I struggle with worlds that are too open. I like the freedom, but ultimately I want to know/feel like I’m making progress through the game. I played for probably a couple of weeks thinking I was getting shit done only to finally get to the introduction. LOL
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If you like a sandbox, but don’t want it to be infinite, I recommend Dragon Age Inquisition. It’s a big ass game, especially with the DLC which I recommend getting (just by the GOTY Edition), but it is still finite.
You can play for 200 hours, but you can’t keep playing forever and ever and get nothing accomplished, like with the last couple of Elder Scrolls games.
DA:I is still one of my favorite games ever.
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Damn! I might dust off the PS3 for Fallout: New Vegas. Thanks, Gentlemen 🤦♂️
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Highly recommend the Witcher series from CD Red Projekt. My HS classmate from Savannah is the EP of the series and a DGD to boot.
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My wife gave me The Last Of Us 2 for Father’s Day. I think I’m going to replay the first one before starting this one. I snagged the complete Nathan Drake off of the Playstation store when they were giving it away (even though I already had most of them). Currently finishing up UC2. It’s hard prying the Playstation away from my wife or daughter, though.
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Also, every World War Two Documentary. If I could go back in time, I could be an adviser to Eisenhower. Although, frankly, Hitler would need my services more. Holding up at Dunkirk and going in at Stalingrad and that’s pretty much all she wrote. I shouldn’t have to say this, but in case I decide to run for my local school board someday, I am not saying I would like to go back in time to help Hitler win the war. I am very anti-Hitler. What I am fascinated by, however, is how relatively few events and engagements that war boiled down to.
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Three things:
(1) 2-3 hour hikes several times a week with our 60 lb Golden Doodle. She is so full of joy, watching her run, jump and swim keeps me smiling. If you have the time to train one and take care of it, get yourself a dog. We do not deserve these creatures.
(2) Peloton – I swear, these classes and programs are specifically designed to trigger your endorphins. I am addicted.
(3) Daily 20 minute meditation – I’m sure this will draw a few guffaws here, but if you give it time, it really does work. There is a reason they call it a “practice.”
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(1) Damn right. After my Dad dog-napped Perle D.Cowdog my wife decided we needed another dog. Over my vociferous protests she procured a little female Boykin that I have absolutely fallen in love with.
(2) I cant run anymore thanks to some jacked up knees so I bought a used Peloton. I’m addicted, too.
(3) Depends on what you’re meditating about.
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I built a 3 gun course on my property and have had a great time with a few friends. Serious stress relief. Also got back to lifting and eating right. Down about 20lbs since March.
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Sounds fun.
Been in the gym some myself, still don’t eat right but life needs to be worth living. Congratulations on the wt. loss and more power to you.
Going to the family farm with my boys once a month and shooting targets and skeet has been very enjoyable, mostly just having my two boys there with their cell phones put away.
Had my youngest connect the PS3 so I could play NCAA football 2013 when I really miss football.
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In the event that you’re interested in the thoughts of a life-long conservative public-servant, commentator and Fox News contributor, this might be a good read for you:
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My father’s day present! Hasnt gotten here yet, tho.
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I did the Marvel Universe movies in a chronological order I saw listed in an article on the line. One a night for however long. Thor 2 SUCKED! Also, I rewatched Band of Brothers up to DDay then ran Curahee. Binged MAS*H.
Also, currently listening to Hardcore History “Supernova in the East” series
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The wife got to end of Netflix, and almost to the end of Hulu, so she got a subscription to Acorn which is all British shows. One of the shows that I have become a fan of is Blood in the Wire, with Robson Green who plays a forensic psychologist helping the police solve serial killings. You can get it on Prime without the editing you might see on a PBS version.
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Robson Greene is good in Grantchester too.
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If you like the British stuff, check out Line of Duty on Amazon Prime. Best police drama I’ve seen in years. Totally binge-worthy.
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We will definitely check it out. I’m not that much of an anglophile, but the Brits have history of doing this sort of thing really well from Agatha Christie (and probably some before her) on up to the present. And they have an assortment of really actors. Want to get your mind blown with a low key but amazing performance (and writing as well) fine The Escape Artist with David Tennant
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I’ll definitely check that out. David Tennent is a favorite.
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I have some quirky tastes so these may not be for everyone. I have read Beastie Boys Book and am currently reading, Born A Crime which is the Trevor Noah (Daily Show) story about him growing up in South Africa in a mixed race family when it was illegal.
I have watched The Last Dance, Tiger King as well as the Lance Armstrong and McGuire/Sammy Sosa documentaries. If you can deal with subtitles the movie, “Parasite” is a crazy wild watch.
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Parasite was amazing. The subtitles didn’t bother me and actually were preferred to dubbing.
I have the Lance Armstrong 30for30 recorded but haven’t watched it yet. Did watch the Bruce Lee one, it was pretty good. We decided to watch Ipman 4 because of it (and it was pretty good).
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I saw ‘1917’ in the theater and was blown away. Bought it for Father’s Day, re-watched again and was not disappointed. By far, the best movie I have seen in a few years and probably my favorite War movie ever. Re-read ‘Lonesome Dove’ and forgot how amazing it was. Always watching re-interpretations of Shakespeare’s work. Yeah, it might sound snobby, but the themes still ring true today and I love a good rage-filled rant against the cosmos.
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Dang I need to see that!
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Yellowstone seems like a hot item now. But every episode is packed with so many new drama events it wears you out watching it.
And Kevin Costner sure has changed from Ray Kinsella.
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I think its terrible.
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Robert A. Johnson books. ‘Transformation’ is the latest I am reading. Gives me a peek into the inner working’s of the ol’ noggin. Very insightful stuff.
My wife and I made it through one episode of Tiger King before the kids came back home from the grandparents. A better title for it should of simply been ‘Florida’
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The Southern Victory saga written by Harry Turtledove. It’s an alternate history series from 1862 to 1945.
Do not take this as a political post. I just like history and thought the series was interesting as a whole.
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Turtledove is an incredible writer. That whole series started with someone returning a document that the dispatch rider lost. To take that tiny, seemingly innocuous event and change the course of the world is pretty amazing.
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Just for the sack of participating in the sharing….hopefully not too boring.
I’ve decided I want to learn Spanish. I’m taking an online class. We have Latino truck drivers that frequent our facility. They are very nice but the conversation is a mix of Spanish with English words thrown in. I want to surprise them with some Spanish sentences the next time I see them. Hopefully more than “I like apples”.
I was able to discern from one of them that he used to be a manager/supervisor of sorts in Mexico but here in the South his lack of English hinders his ability to get the upper-level jobs. I’m hoping I can help eventually.
I watched Apollo 13 for the twelve-tenth time.
My bride of 35years has gotten on a kick of trying new meals. She cooked a pot roast with peppers that was very good. I think she called it a Mississippi roast or something. So, I guess Mississippi has contributed something after all.
For Father’s Day, I grilled steak and shrimp kabobs. Yes I did the cooking but I never get tired of serving my girls. Both of my Dawg daughters are home and they always dote on me. I’m in heaven. My oldest is about to move to Nashville; I’m not sure how I’m going to handle being seven hours away.
They bought me some air pods for Father’s Day which have really come in handy while at the gym. I can move about without limitations. Technology is nice when it works because I’m not the savviest.
I refer to my ‘smart phone’ as a ‘smart-ass phone’. You have to turn it on, scan your thumb print, scan your retina and punch in a 36 number code just to make a call but you can toss it on the bed and it will automatically make a three way call to random people in Japan.
For the most part I’m coping fairly well with the COVID changes but I am ready for some level of normalcy. It’s possible my drinking has increased but I’m not sure. It will be a big adjustment if there is no CFB. I guess I’ll have more time to learn Spanish.
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Mississippi POT Roast is very addicting.
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My wife and I binge watched the first season of “True Detective” and I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. (I did point out that an adroit commenter here labeled MM a “Prancing Tart” which still cracks me up every time I think about it. Her not so much.) Anyone seen the second and third seasons, and are they worth watching?
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I’d say s1 TD is one of my top things of all time ever. S2 is not good. S3 is mostly ok.
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Two is awful, Vince Vaughn sucks and to too bad that Lera Lynn did the music for such a bomb. Three is better, Mahershala Ali is a cop and Nam LRP who is experiencing cognitive decline and he and his buddy work on a case over a number of years. They do a pretty good job with the aging process and the story is good.
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If you haven’t watched them already, I’d recommend Mindhunter and Manhunt: Unabomber on Netflix. Although I think I read somewhere that Mindhunter is on hiatus, with no return date in sight, since the end of season 2.
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Unabomber is great, the creation of forensic linguistics. Which is fun to say
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Bosch
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A number of Wire vets in Bosch.
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Very solid true crime. Supposedly mirrors books pretty well.
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Yea, my friend has read them all and said that she could not envision Titus Welliver as Bosch. . . and now he is.
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Some of the narrative is directly from the books – a really well done series that stays true to the books.
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I’ve watched all of Travels by Narrowboat on Amazon Prime.
My wife and kids think I’m nuts for watching it, call it incredibly boring. And they’re right. It is very slow watching a man putter up and down British canals in a two-stroke diesel barge. But that’s the point. It’s wonderfully relaxing and allows me to just decompress completely. Plus he makes some wicked staples of British cuisine that I grew up with (yes, go ahead and laugh at the oxymoron). Full disclosure, my family is from Blighty, and maybe that’s why I enjoy it so.
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Currently reading “Prince Rupert – The Last Cavalier”. I know, nerd alert.
The Stuart reign is the backdrop for Colonial America and sets the table for our revolution in 1776. That said, I knew nothing about it & found that there aren’t many movies or pop history books that easily summarize that era (while the Tudors are forever being depicted).
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Golf! Just got back from shooting 90, that wouldve been an 83, except for 7 shots.
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I shoot in the 70’s….any hotter and I don’t play.
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I watch a ridiculous number of shows and movies. So much so that I run out.
Liked Castle Rock as a interesting almost fan driven Steven Spielberg mash up. On hulu. I’m a massive The Expanse fan, But it seems most commenters here are not scifi oriented.
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I know I’ve probably said this before in other places here, but people, if you missed out on FRINGE in the late-2000’s-early-2010’s, you need to watch it. You need to binge it. It is perhaps my favorite television show ever, and it’s up against some stiff competition there (Battlestar Galactica, Justified, Seinfeld, Frasier, and some others).
Imagine a show that starts out as somewhat of an X-Files clone, with a case of the week, but slowly over the course the first season you start to see a, ahem, pattern emerge.
And then, in the first season finale, all becomes clear and it sets in motion the highly-arc’d final four seasons that takes you through the gamut of emotions as these wonderful characters you care about are thrown about by fate and science and all the amazing sci-fi, horror, and drama tropes you know and love, while adding a healthy dose of comedy.
FRINGE is amazing. Well-acted. Well-written. Amazing.
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Fringe is outstanding. My wife and I tried it a couple years ago and ended up binge watching the whole series over the next couple months.John Noble is a great actor.
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He really is. If stupid shit like Emmys or Oscars actually mean anything or what they are supposed to do (reward the best acting, shows, movies, whatever) of the year, then John Noble definitely should’ve gotten a best-supporting Emmy for FRINGE’s second season based on the episode White Tulip.
But those entities almost always ignore sci-fi / horror genres, no matter how good they are, so fuck them.
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John noble was very good
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Guess we disagree on fringe. Lol
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I’ve dusted off the PS3, changed the difficulty to “tournament” (most difficult) on Tiger Woods 12 (the first one with the Masters,) and been trying to win the Masters. So far I’ve won a few tourneys and a PGA Championship, lost the British Open with a bogey on 18 when a par would have won it, and generally had my ass kicked by the greens at ANGC. Those greens are seriously hard. If that’s how they are in real life, and I’m led to believe they are, then I don’t know how anyone shoots in the 60’s there with any regularity.
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Margin of Victory is another good read.
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This will go way outside the numbers here, but I loved 12 Monkeys. Its mix of sci fi, some horror, some fantasy, and some supernatural really appeals to me. It’s a rare moment when a show may have been canceled, and was given a chance to finish, and I did not believe think it pull off closure but they completely did. Tying up half a dozen threads, through multiple seasons, in a time travel universe was remarkable.
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I could to this all day. There are some great British shows I forgot to mention:
Peaky Blinders
Broadchurch
The English Game (a lot of themes that will feel relevant to the times)
Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch
Let me reiterate, Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch
Why are you still here reading my stupid post, instead of watching Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch?
I’m not going to call it the best show on TV, ever. It’s just a very well-done, off-beat take on the legend set in modern times. There is a former Hobbit involved as John Watson. If you are an anglophile, and you like your heroes to be some combination of brilliant, on the spectrum, and a committed if remorseful drug addict, have I got the show for you. My favorite rendition of Moriarty, FWIW.
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Well, I’m here because I’ve already watched all the “Sherlock” episodes. I wish Cumberbatch would make some more, but I guess he’s done.
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If that is your favorite rendition of Moriarty, you should watch the 2nd season of Fleabag on Amazon Prime. You will get a kick out of the “Hot Priest.”
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The Amazon algorithm recommended the show “Chuck” (from 2007-2012) even though I had not watched anything remotely similar on that platform. I gave the first episode a try and I was totally surprised by how much I really liked the show. It is a genre crossing action comedy with solid storylines, good actors, and timely music. I am only slightly ashamed to say I hid in Chuck Bartowski’s Burbank Buy More for the two craziest weeks of 2020.
Watching Deadwood now which by contrast is very grim (and could not be made the same way today) but is interesting in its own way.
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I recently read “There Was a Time: James Brown, The Chitlin’ Circuit, and Me” by Alan Leeds and “My Helmet for a Pillow” by Robert Leckie. I cannot recommend either book enough.
I have kept myself otherwise occupied by running 30 miles a week and going through a twelve-pack of 16-ounce Scofflaw Basement IPAS every week. I figure that those two offset one another and the one serves as a reward for the other.
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The first half of “The Pacific” was based on Leckie’s book.
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I really liked that series. I have read Sledge’s book too and maybe another 40-50 WWII books. What I like about Leckie is that he is so honest.
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Have you read Sledge’s other book, China Marine? They sent the 1st Mar Div to China for a YEAR after the war was over. It was really hairy for those guys, they were in the middle of a really tenuous situation and, fortunately, the balloon didn’t go up. Sledge’s story is one of my favorites. When the Pacific was on HBO had a blog and I communicated with a guy who was in his biology classes. Here is a link to interviews Studs Terkel did with him while writing “The Good War”.
https://studsterkel.matrix.msu.edu/gwar.php
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Thanks. What a great way to honor a great man.
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My old man was on and old WW1 tin can that was converted to an APD and they worked with the Raiders and UDT teams quite a bit. He went to his grave with a great admiration for the Marines.
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199 Vaginas: The Ultimate Photo Collection
by Keyser B. Soze
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Its 89F and 76% humidity here. Also known as it sucks. Don’t think I’ll ever understand folks coming here for summer vacation.
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I’ll tell you why. It’s just as hot or hotter here and more humid without that ocean breeze. Oh yeah, the ocean. Bigger, more varied fish, swimming,diving and great restaurants. Not to mention wearing my UGA gear so the gator trash can just suck it. Have to collect my rent from the FU alumni because we own their ass and live rent free in their head. Florida is a nice place to visit but there are many reasons I live in the hills.
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The tv series “Rectify “. Rectify is an American television drama series exploring the life of a man after he is released from prison after nearly 20 years on death row following a wrongful conviction. It was created by Ray McKinnon, who went to Valdosta State. Starts slow but it is pure genius. As good as Shakespeare. Each season is better than the last. Better than The Wire.
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Gone to Pensacola Fla. for the week. Check out some good short track racing. At 5 flags speedway and soak up some rays on the beach.
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Just bought a used Lang smoker. I’ve been wanting a new one, but very pricey. A recent divorce put this one in my lap. Made in Nahunta, Georgia and very good grill. Corch mentioned rubs, I make one out of Dr. Barbeque’s book with a few changes (little more kick). It also has good rub for sweet baby back ribs. That is a good book for rubs, injections, sauce, and recipes for left over BBQ, brisket,etc.
Been walking a lot and listening to podcasts. My son finally got me to put aside my flip phone. Most Notorious about infamous crimes/murders and Disgraceland about the lives of musicians.
Been watching Yellowstone. Its not the best, but its hard to get anything near a cowboy movie these days.
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I make gin so that is always helpful. Also make my own tonics so that is a bonus.
Been perfecting my smoking & grilling abilities using basic methods – like inexpensive picnic grills and a bullet smoker with hardwood charcoal.
Also making tasty quick meals using whatever ingredients I have on hand instead of going to the store every day.
I got 15 pounds of rye flour (for the gin) but have held off on baking but it’s about to happen soon.
As far as the entertainment goes, I have avoided sports reruns (save for a few plays of UGA football) since sports shutdown. I am happy that EPL is returning and I have tuned into a Bundesliga game.
I have rewatched most of Parks and Rec and lots of the gangster movie canon (Godfather, Goodfellas, Brasco, Casino, etc).
I love the Brit panel shows – The Last Leg, WILTY, 8 out of 10 Cats, 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI. Fortunately, The Last Leg did a short at home season and QI has had some new stuff both on YouTube. I also have watched and/or rewatched some of the Brit comedies and dramas on the various streaming channels (Derry Girls, Peaky Blinders, Broadchurch, Fleabag, The Crown etc.) It led me to start watching the Great British Baking Show which is dangerous because it makes you hungry especially after a gin libation or two.
Just recently finished all 3 installments of Quiz on AMC. It’s about a cheating scandal from the early 2000’s on the British edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. As someone who has been intimately involved in the US show back in the late ’90’s – I think they cheated big time.
Slainte/Cheers!
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Is this Osborn Cox? I’m a Good Samaritan. We have your shit.
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GUNSMOKE! and always WFMU.
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