Week 22, 2018 – Every once in a while, a shortlist of 5 things that caught my interest lately, with a few notes.

1. Best movie I’ve seen lately

Making Fun: The Story of Funko. I came across this cool documentary on Netflix and pretty enjoyed it. I think everybody on the planet knows about the Funko brand and their POP bobbleheads. Although I wouldn’t consider myself a collector, I still have several of them in my house just because they’re irresistible.

2. Most interesting read

As a kid, Ray Barbee was probably my biggest influence in skateboarding. When the documentary Ban This! came out back in 1989 I remember every single skater on the planet was stunned at Barbee’s segment. He was literally dancing on his skateboard, his style was so smooth it seemed effortless. Today Barbee is an accomplished musician and photographer, and of course still skates. I’ve missed this 2016 cool interview by Chris Nieratko, check it out if you haven’t already. Truly inspirational.

3. What I’ve been listening to

Simply Mortified album from BS 2000 has been playing a lot on my stereo this week. BS 2000 was a quite poorly known side project between Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz from the Beastie Boys and Amery “AWOL” Smith from the Suicidal Tendencies. It’s a sort of punkish, fun, and weird electro-pop or something. I remember reading serious reviews (positive and negative) about this release back then (BS 2000 formed in 1997, while this record is from 2000) but I’ve always believed press and reviewers simply didn’t get it. Nobody beats BS 2000.

4. A great recipe

I don’t eat meat. But I love chili. In my continuous research for the perfect meat-free chili recipe I found out my personal recipe is pretty close to Jamie Oliver’s one, you can find it here. Mine is a bit different: I don’t use coriander and cumin (I just don’t like them) but use cinnamon and nutmeg. And I use white wine instead of water to loosen the sauce and to give a great taste. A tip: I normally crush half of the beans with a fork to thicken the chilly. Instead of beans I sometimes buy a couple of meat-free burgers (like Boca Burgers or similar) and simply crush them with a fork and cook. Try it out and enjoy.

5. Best Purchase lately

I know this has been out for a while, but I finally purchased one: a plectrum punch. Get rid of those useless old credit and/or discount cards and turn them into guitar plectrums. Plectrums might not be the best ones to play with but YES I must admit it’s very fulfilling.
Mine is a Pickmaster, I heard the Pick Punch is a good one, too.