PicoBlog

Hi there Big Readers! Summer is upon us, which means it’s time to dive into one of the most epic and thrilling stories in literature. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, was first published in the 1840s in French, with the first English versions appearing shortly thereafter. It quickly entranced readers worldwide and has remained among the bestselling books ever. This newsletter has all the info you need to get started, including reasons to read this classic novel, details about subscribing, which translation to get, and a week-by-week reading schedule.

Hello, everyone! I’m so excited to let you all know I was recently a guest on the podcast They Call Us Bruce. My episode was called, appropriately enough, “They Call Us K-Culture.” Hosts Phil Yu (aka Angry Asian Man) and Jeff Yang (aka Original Spin) and I discussed a myriad of topics about Korean culture, including some of my favorite K-dramas of the year (hellllooooo “Moving,” “My Dearest,” “The Glory” and “Divorce Attorney Shin”), BTS’ relevance in pop culture, the tragic death of Lee Sun-kyun and watching bootlegged K-drama rentals with our parents back in the days of yore.

TLDR: WATCH THE VIDEO (click above) It’s party time! 🥳 In this teardown, we’ll ask: “Why are all the cool kids creating their events on Partiful instead of Eventbrite or Paperless Post?” 3 things you’ll learn from watching this: How Partiful’s UX/UI makes it look easier How Partiful gives you clout as a host Why Partiful (probably) gets better event attendance Don’t miss the party: come back for an all-new teardown next week 🎉

I've been loving tasty and fun 30 minute dinners, and this bulgogi beef rice bowl is one you and your fam will all love. It's got all the familiar sweet and savory components of beef bulgogi, but you don't have to run and find specific thinly shaved beef that might end up being too chewy. We use ground beef for a simple, no frills, no 6 hour marinade protein, and toss it with a super yummy, gochujang-sesame-scallion sauce.

Here’s the thing. Most whole fish will cook perfectly in 30 minutes. I’m talking anything between 800 grams and up to 1.2 or 1.3 kg. There’s something about cooking fish on the bone that just cuts you the slack. It takes a certain amount of time for the heat to get through to the bone, while in the meantime, the skin is protecting the flesh from over-cooking. Okay, so it’s marginally less time for a plate-sized 500 g fish, when you can start checking for doneness at 20 minutes.

“It has become virtually a seasonal affair: the weather changes, and there is a new Madonna controversy,” began Forrest Sawyer in the episode of ABC’s Nightline that aired on December 3, 1990. “This one is a video that MTV, the popular cable music video channel, refused to air. Instantly, a storm of questions arose. Is this a kind of censorship? Has Madonna finally gone too far?” If you caught my second last newsletter instalment, you know some of the background for this story already: by the fall of 1990, Madonna was finished with her Blond Ambition World Tour as well as Dick Tracy (1990) co-star Warren Beatty, with whom she’d rebounded from none other than David Fincher.

August 1, 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the North American debut of Kirby. Throughout the month, I’ll be covering Kirby’s games, creating rankings, and thinking about the past and future of the series. Previous entries in this series can be found through this link. Is Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble a spin-off? That probably depends on who you ask, or what source you read. The Game Boy Color title surely seemed like a spin-off back in 2000 when it released in Japan, and in 2001 in North America.

I haven’t shared a pasta dish with you in *months*. To be fair, no pasta dish I made recently felt like it was worth sharing, until I made this one. It all started with two fennel bulbs that were hanging out in the back of my fridge for a couple of weeks and were starting to look a little rough. While I would usually shave them thin, give them an ice bath and toss them in a salad, this time I decided to cook them down them and use them as a base for a pasta sauce.

This week is a CYOA (aka Choose Your Own Adventure) meal. Because the components of this recipe can become lettuce wraps, a bowl, a salad, or, ya know, deconstructed, absolutely-not-touching piles of individual ingredients if you’re feeding picky monster children. Basically, we’re gonna have rice, the most addictively salty, savory kimchi pork stir fry situation, lettuce leaves, and a bunch of toppings, and you’re gonna do whatever the heck you want with them.