A Guide to Partying Through Autocracy?

I came upon this incredible clip of the great Gilberto Gil in 1972, 8 years after the military coup, while the dictatorship was certainly still censoring and suppressing dissenters. I guess this was around the time Caetano Veloso returned after living in exile in London. What a wonderful song. It gave me a brief moment of hope for what we have coming here. Then I remembered that during the last Trump term we just got more T Swift, style/genre mashups, riffs learned off of YouTube, etc. I guess that’s what happens when all culture disappears from the creative landscape. Maybe we’ll get some powerful music around 2033?

Flatbush Movie History

This neo-Tudor house on the corner of Ditmas Ave and Rugby Street was once owned by the world’s first movie star Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks, with whom she started United Artists (along with Charlie Chaplain). Flatbush was the first “Hollywood” in the US, so I assume they wanted to be central to the biz. Vitagraph Studios was on Avenue M near E. 14th/15th Streets. Founded in 1897, it’s a condo now, known as “The Vitagraph”.

Dragon vs Cock

As you’ve struggled through the seemingly annual sriracha shortages, you’ve probably found yourself buying a sauce that ends up being significantly inferior to the beloved Huy Fong Foods version, if not downright revolting. I am happy to report that the bottle with the dragon, from Underwood Ranches, is excellent. Underwood is literally the company that made the chilis that Huy Fong used until the legal battles (that caused the shortages). They countersued Huy Fong and was awarded $23million in compensation, so now they have enough money to make a SUPERIOR sriracha, which unsurprisingly tastes like the old version of Huy Fong’s sauce. Side by side, the dragon sauce is more blood red, hotter, a bit better, and gone. I’ve only seen it in Wegman’s.

Theremin Workshop at WFMU

Went to a fun theremin workshop at WFMU’s Monty Hall in Jersey City with the lovely Dorit Chrysler. I’ve had a fascination with this instrument since I first heard of it in the late 80s — but it always seemed so mysterious and I never had the slightly clue how to navigate playing one. The class opened with Ms. Chrysler playing a piece of her music, which was really moving. After a short talk, she invited folks up to fumble around the 6 thereminis that they had around the stage (each with a pair of earbuds attached) a few times. One interesting point Dorit made was that both trained musicians and non-trained everybodies would be in the same boat playing the theremin for the first time. The one question I had was in relation to Chysler saying she was a “lefty,” so the tone arm of the theremin was on left. This confused me because I couldn’t really comprehend which side of the instrument (the volume or the tone) would be considered the “main” side (e.g., like the frets of a guitar). She confessed that it really hard to say and that you “really need both hands equally”. It was just a matter of what feels right. There were about 60 people in attendance but they said they’ll be doing smaller workshops (one person per theremin) throughout the year 2025.

Kebabs of Flatbush: Turkey vs Palestine vs Afghanistan

The Flatbush neighborhoods of Ditmas Park and Midwood are a bit of a food wasteland compared to the rest of NYC. The highest quality restaurant is a pizza and whiskey place, the incredible Wheated — but you’re not going to find that much else. But there is one exception: middle eastern food. Here’s a quick list of the best options I’ve tried to date:

The unfortunately named Istanblue Kebab House on Avenue J a few doors down from the legendary but now fallen-from-grace DiFara Pizza (RIP Dom!) is a surprisingly great Turkish option. The lahmacun is just absolutely phenomenal but you really cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. The lamb chops, adana kebabs and the like are all grilled to perfection. The times I’ve gone with my girlfriend and/or others they always bring out free extra stuff (e.g., puffy lavaş bread, Turkish tea, desserts). There are numerous locations across Brooklyn but I cannot speak about the others.

Lahmacun from Instanblue

Ayat is a Palestinian restaurant with a number of locations across the region and an understandably activist bent (the seafood section of their menu is titled “From the River to the Sea” !!). The best options here are the Palestinian dishes like Lamb Ouzi Royale (a bit like a lamb biryani), Zahr Ma Laban (cauliflower/lamb stew) and Mansaf. As great as it is, I feel like they’ve had some staffing issues because the quality varies from visit to visit.

A range of goodies from Ayat

Dunya Kebab might be my favorite of the three, at least currently. I’ve kept it pretty simple here as my first order here, the basic chicken breast kebab with qabeli-topped rice was is cooked so perfectly each time, I don’t want to stray. The mantu dumplings are also exceptional. I’ll eventually branch out and try more stuff.

Mantu (beef filled dumplings) from Dunya

This shouldn’t be a surprise but all three use a bit too much sodium in their cooking. I always find myself guzzling water all night after eating at any of the three. So I can’t partake TOO often but they are all great. 

Mattress Wars: Saatva vs. Keetsa

I guess this is the kind of hard hitting content I’ll be including on my site from time to time. Reviews of ridiculously and fancily named mattress companies. I’ll make it quick.

I hadn’t bought a mattress in 14 years and needed one pretty badly. A dear friend was happy with her Saatva mattress, although told me about some complications, so I decided to give it a try. They consistently lied to me about when it was arriving, insisting it would arrive on X date, and then X date and then a third date about a month after purchase. When it finally arrived it was like a gag-mattress. 3.5×1″ short of a king. Wider on top. You could see the slats and the floor beneath it. It didn’t fit on the Article frame, which I also had to return because the screws didn’t tighten and was making horrible noises every time I moved. I cancelled the Saatva and, in their defense, they have pretty good customer service. Smart kids who all live in NYC, I think. They gave me a refund before they even picked it up. For the record the mattress felt “just ok” but it was not super comfy. Also, buddhist mattress my ass.

Keetsa on the other hand was very pleasant to deal with. Their philosophy is to be less pushy than most mattress sales people because people hate that and it works. They delivered the mattress the next day. It was an actual king size bed and quite comfy. Slightly too firm (all of their mattresses are very firm) but not in a debilitating way. I think I’m gonna really like and it. A high quality product. I used to be militantly anti-memory foam but a foam/spring hybrid is not the worst idea ever. Keetsa for the win.

Some Good Context About Greenland

Since many of us are still very WTF with all the Greenland talk, here’s a helpful video about its geopolitical history from a conservative Danish guy, who sounds quite sensible. It’s interesting that conservatives up there are not completely insane or racist.

If Trump offers Greenlanders a million bux each, about $59billion total, they might go for it. On the other hand, they rely on Denmark for quite a lot . Who knows. America already has a base there and can do anything they want. I guess we’ll find out what’s going on soon enough.

Thanks to Lise in Espergæerde for the link.