It Ain't Easy
Number one fan of the show (and occasional co-host) Ryan Slie tells us the DDC Factor Floor “Surplus Green with Hazard Yellow” Field Notes is an all-time favorite. Ted’s currently using a DDC Factory Floor “Green Mind Green” notebook. And Adam is plowing through a Kraft Plus Moss edition, filling most of it with a story inspired by…
The Famous Magician is Cesar Aira’s most recent book to be published in English. In it, a novelist meets a man who promises him the ability to bend all the rules of physics if he abandons all of literature. We love Aira. This book is part of the Storybook series from New Directions which aims to provide “the pleasure of reading a great book from cover to cover in an afternoon.”
Girls are players, too
BBC DJs are fixated on “Players” from Coy Lerai. I learned from the deej that it samples Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s work from 1982. A fresh voice over an old school track, it’s a departure from trap’s prescription-meds-fueled dystopia. Coy singing “‘cuz girls is playas too” should have closed out the Grammys messy 15-minute nostalgia fest celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. (Editor’s note: Ted knows next to nothing about hip-hop.) - Ted
The name avocado was invented by California farmers in 1915. The fruit's previous names were alligator pear or ahuacate (the aztec word for testicle).
On the podcast, Adam texts a song to Ted and it creates a cultural tidal wave.