Good morning, fam!
Don’t worry - this isn’t another week of me gushing over fall.
Like every millennial with shiny object syndrome, I’ve moved on from pumpkin spice to bigger and better things…like peppermint mocha! (It will all make sense, I promise.)
That’s right - ya boy’s already looking forward to that time of year where it’s not socially frowned upon to walk around with peppermint schnapps in your coffee.
As I finish off the rest of this schnapps, how about you set yourself down, take a seat, and ease your mind with this week’s recs.
Find that Lite Brite, snag another bowl of Trix, and let’s get into it!
Here’s what I have for you this morning:
Remember when I mentioned Klara and the Sun a few weeks ago? Well, I finished it and all I can say is that there’s a Black Mirror-esque twist that will stick with you long after you put this book down. Read it so I can finally gush about it with someone else!
For my new lunch break show while working from home, I started season two of Hacks and it’s just as snarky and funny as the first. It’s like an Odd Couple for the 21st century if Oscar and Felix were two female comedians, one a legendary Vegas vet and the other a young comedy writer, only this time around, they’re stuck on a tourbus together.
What do you get when you cast Zac Efron, Miles Teller, and Michael B. Jordan as three twentysomething best bros navigating the dating world in New York? That Awkward Moment is a predictable rom com from 2014 with questionable writing that acts as the warm blanket we all need. We watched it during our weekly movie night and all three of us stayed awake, which is like Siskel and Ebert giving it two thumbs up!1
Before we hunkered down for the movie, we hit up Blue Duck in Maplewood for drinks and dinner. I opted for their Duck Glazed Manhattan (an amazing take on the classic but with duck fat washed bonded rye whiskey) and their DLT (great, but I would probably opt for their signature Duck Fried Rice next time).
What, you thought we forgot dessert? I took home an apple pie macaron, a pumpkin gooey butter cake (it’s a St. Louis thing), a Fruity Pebbles cookie sando, and a chocolate espresso cookie. Don’t worry - I split all of it with my wife :)
As you can guess, we may have had a tiny tummy ache after all that food. Luckily, my friend Bob busted out the Amaro Nonino and we had ourselves a little digestif as as nightcap. It’s smooth, floral, and it did in fact make my tum tum feel better.
While doing my best to grocery shop like an adult (i.e. picking up veggies) at Schnucks, I stumbled across Dizzy Peppermint Mocha Cold Brew and couldn’t help but take the bait. Considering there’s no sugar (or really anything else in it), it tastes like drinking cold brew while someone burps peppermint in your face. In other words, it’s holiday cheer in a glass.2
Welp, it’s official: 5th grade me’s dreams are coming true and he’s pooping his pants with excitement after hearing Goldeneye 007 is FINALLY being remastered for Nintendo Switch and Xbox. Get ready for some “slappers only” goodness! Oh, and that’s not all. Pokémon Stadium, Mario Party, Pilotwings 64, 1080° Snowboarding, and Excitebike 64 are also coming to Nintendo Switch Online.
In case you didn’t know, Design Twitter is ready to riot after Adobe announced they would be acquiring Figma for…$20 billion?!? I may have even made a spicy meme for Twitter that got me a little slap on the wrist at work.
Are you working on a new creative project? Maybe you should try thinking like a scientist.
You made it to the end! As a bonus, I’ll leave you with this.
Cheers,
Billy
Remember them?
Weirdly enough, I can’t find it anywhere online…