HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ JOHN from SIXES
#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?
Oh man, this is tough. I really have to resist the urge to live in decades past as I too often do with my music selection, because I want to recommend something fresh and current, and for that I have to go with the album Cemetary Luau by my fellow San Diegan, Jacob Turnbloom.
I've been a big fan of him and his band Mrs. Magician for years. We actually went to the same high school. I think we even competed against each other in the school battle of the bands my freshman year. Anyway, in particular, I think you should listen to the single "Ride the Past Waves of the Future". It's the perfect showcase of his talent for combining elements of multiple genres into a cohesive whole - the opening surfy garage rock guitar riff, the ethereal synth pop sounds, that dusty punk-inspired bass tone, his moody baritone vocals.
Plus, there is an excellent music video for it by indie filmmaker Derrick Acosta that just drips with hypnotic occult vibes that perfectly complement the song. Check it out!
#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?
If you haven't watched Duncan Trussell and Pendleton Ward's The Midnight Gospel on Netflix, you need to line it up in the queue! I wasn't very familiar with Duncan Trussell before, but I am a huge fan of Adventure Time, so all I needed to know was that Pendleton Ward had a hand in creating it, and it immediately drew me in. It blew me away.
I started watching it shortly after the covid lockdowns took effect, which just happened to coincide with the sudden passing of my uncle whom I was very close with. So I was in an especially dark place mentally and emotionally at the time, even by our warped pandemic standards. Each episode of this show is like a meditation on life, death, pain, the nature of existence, all of it, so besides being entertaining and humorous it was like therapy for me. The way in which it deals with these heavy subjects is so sweet and touching, it consistently reached me on a deeply personal level. I believe it offers something very useful, beyond its entertainment value, for anyone going through a tough time right now.
#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE LOCAL BOOK STORE (OK, MAYBE THE LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?
I know there's nothing more cliche than a white American dude who loves him some Kurt Vonnegut, but I don't care. Mosey on over to the V's and snatch down a copy of The Sirens of Titan if they have one. I feel like this is a really underrated novel that gets lost among his more celebrated work.
I had a copy of this book given to me years and years ago by a close friend but kept putting off reading it. Once I picked it up I was kicking myself for waiting so long. I think it has become my favorite Vonnegut novel. The second book he had published, to me it marks the emergence of his signature heartbreaking wit and time-and-space-bending narrative technique. I will never ever forget the bittersweet emotion that filled me when I first read Salo the Tralfamadorian say, "If I could weep like an Earthling, I would."
#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?
I thought about this long and hard, and what would really send me into a deep state of depression and anxiety is if the United States online National Security Archives disappeared from the internet. There is a lot - A! LOT! - that is wrong with our supposedly free society, but it is pretty remarkable that we have this enormous archival resource that lets anyone dig into declassified historical records of what our federal government and law enforcement agencies have been doing behind closed doors. Having access to this kind of information is something we really take for granted. I think most people don't even know how easily they can access these records!
This probably isn't the fun answer to this kind of question you were hoping for, but if these online archives were to suddenly disappear, it would be real serious down in the dumps times. There are a few different websites where you can access this information, including the official NSA government website, but I particularly like the online archive available through the library at George Washington University.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITTING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
Honestly, if everyone could just start using their blinkers when they're driving, that'd be great. It takes almost no effort. It's a flick of your wrist to communicate to your fellow motorists and pedestrians what you intend to do with the one ton of steel you're steering around. It's not hard!
