So excited. Booknerd powers activate! @neilhimself #OceanLane #likeliterally
(Source: cineraria, via wilwheaton)
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Letter From the Editor ~ June 3
http://synthesisweekly.com/presenting/
My fellow Chico-Americans, put your hands together for the new all-lady Synthesis production team. Yes, that’s right; in an exciting and unprecedented turn of events, Bill Fishkin has compiled an all-woman dream team. After a short and super pain-free search, we found a new entertainment editor right under our noses—literally she was under our noses—sitting at Dain’s desk, being his girlfriend. Come to find out, she’s also a talented and clever writer, she’s cheeky and charming; “she” is Amy Olson. We think Amy is going to bring a broader scope of diversity to the Arts & Entertainment pie, so feel free to welcome her by sending in all your ideas for entertainment coverage! *Cue Laverne & Shirley theme song*
Another thing I wanted to mention—it’s about your vegetables. If you’re not getting the weekly CSA from GRUB, you’re kinda blowing it. It’s a weekly horn-of-plenty and such a great deal. As I was walking in the sunshine down the dirt path, past the trampoline to pick up my box of badass vegetables, I was thinking, “this is such a great service, we’re so lucky.” And a lady walking past me plucked that thought right out of my head and said out loud to nobody in particular (well to me, I was there), “this is so great…$20 bucks a week, it’s just the best, we’re so lucky!” I thumbs-upped her sentiment and collected my bushels.
I’m not sure what your excuses are for not joining this CSA but I’ve tried to imagine what they could be: “It’s too expensive.” No it’s not, shut up! $20 per week and you get veggies to feed a family of six, plus there are always freebie extras to take home. I have a family of four and we have so many leftovers. “There’s too much, I can’t eat all those vegetables, what do I do with them all?” Get a juicer or a blender. “But isn’t that hippie talk?” No! Juicing is awesome and an excellent way to use up the last of that bok choy/kale/parsley. Also, you can freeze those juices to make healthy, delicious popsicles. My friend just made a bok-choy/honeydew melon-juice popsicle and she is a genius, so there you go. “All the leafy greens seem to wilt and go bad really fast.” I cracked that code for you, baby: clean your veggies when you get them home, store them in a ziploc with a damp paper towel, and voila, you’re out of excuses. Plus, you can bring your kids to the GRUB farm to jump on the trampoline while you pick up your produce. What a great thing for kids—doing trampoline tricks right next to a big, beautiful, abundant farm. I think that’s an excellent farm-to-fun association and childhood memory.
This week we’ve pulled off an amazing feat of local photography, gathering photographers from all over Chico to compile a 24-hour project about life in Chico. Thank you Kathy, for herding cats to make it happen, and thank you so much to our amazing photographers for working on this project with us. We’ve also got a Wayne “The Train” Hancock interview by Jeremy Gerrard, so feast your eyes and don’t forget to harass Amy with all your new ideas at editorial@synthesis.net!
Like Literally: Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook does not suck.
I reviewed her cookbook and then I watched Iron Man and now we’re best friends. http://synthesisweekly.com/peckish-paltrow/
I could eat this for days
You won’t be stressing this summer if you’re sipping on this tasty glass of general badassery. The antioxidant loaded in theses blackberries will make sure free radicals aren’t fucking up your day. And the bourbon? YOU EARNED THAT SHIT.
BLACKBERRY BOURBON FIZZ
5 blackberries
5 ice cubes
1 shot of bourbon
¾ cup cold ginger ale (none of that high fructose corn syrup, aspartame nonsense either. Get good shit that has fucking ginger root as an ingredient)
¼ cup cold club soda (optional)
Put the blackberries in the bottom of a tall glass and mash them around with a spoon. Keep some big chunks because it looks cool. Add the ice and then the bourbon, ginger ale, and club soda. I like adding club soda because it keeps it tasting refreshing as fuck but you can save some cash and just add more ginger ale. Garnish with fresh basil if you are trying to impress somebody.
Serves 1 but invite a fucking friend, no need to drink alone
We made this for our friend Dara over at Cosmo.com
The Coolio Conspiracy
Maybe Coolio was scared to be downtown at night because of all the homeless people? Maybe he forgot to bring his own plastic bags? Maybe he developed allergies when he got to Chico, even though he never had allergies before? Contrails? Doug LaMalfa?
I know there’s been much ado about the owner of Abercrombie and Fitch criticizing ugly people while many here consider him to be ugly. I could go on about whether this is or isn’t hypocritical on either front and about the subjective meaning of beauty and all that but I want to address something I feel is more important and that’s the comparison of the man in question to an orc.
Most of the memes resulting from this controversy have shown Gothmog alongside their C.E.O., and I want to talk about why that’s wrong.
Gothmog served in Sauron’s army during the War of the Ring, as the lieutenant of Minas Morgul, second-in-command to the Witch-king of Angmar, lord of the nine Nazgûl. He took command of the forces of Morgul during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields after the Witch-king was slain by Éowyn. That makes him a veteran and I don’t care what side he fought for, the point is he fought for what he believed in and did so with exceptional nobility. It was he who called for Grond to break down the gates of Minas Tirith, it was he who was nearly crushed when the white city launched chunks of massive stone on his location, moving only at the final moment to survive. All with a tumor on his head the size of a grapefruit. And tumblr has made him the standard of ugliness.
I don’t give a damn about Abercrombie guy, but to reduce one of if not the greatest of orcs to an ugly joke just to mock the guy in unfair and ignorant.
okay wow so you’re not even going to mention the fact that Gothmog gets his name from the LORD OF THE BALROGS, the Dread Oppressor who captured Hurin and took him to Angband as well as marshalling the Hosts for the Storming of Gondolin?!
The original Gothmog was slain by Ecthelion of the Fountain and to ignore his legacy and this orc’s namesake only serves to trample the history of balrogs, many of whom had their names appropriated in this manner by orcs and goblins with no connection to or appreciation of their culture, and we don’t even mention them when we cite war heroes whose names come from even more capable soldiers than they. And that’s just wrong. Gothmog lead balrogs, Orc-hosts, and dragons during his rule as High Captain in the campaigns of the Second Battle. Don’t gloss over his accomplishments in favor of an orc perpetrating the appropriation of a superior culture.
Also, the Abercrombie and Fitch guy looks a lot more like Azog the Defiler.
Using power tools at the Fab Lab opening! #ideafablab
