Quarantine Tabs

Anyone who knows me is probably aware that I keep an ungodly number of tabs open on my phone at any given time. I am constantly having to close tabs, so that I can open new ones, and stay under the five hundred tab limit. I’m not sure as to why I have this problem, other than that I am a data and information hoarder. My idea of a good time is reading Wikipedia articles or scrounging the internet for stories, pictures, music, whatever, that fulfills some need I have to learn. The internet is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to information. You have all of the world’s knowledge at your fingertips, but at the same time, you have all of the world’s knowledge at your fingertips, which can become quite overwhelming and overstimulating.

Therefore, I have decided to start collecting my tabs on this website, so that I can finally close out some tabs, and have a record of what I thought was interesting at this moment in time. Quarantine has been a time of many tabs for me.

Originally, I was going to make this first post all about music, but once I started writing it, I realized I’m going to have to stretch my music posts out. So, my first Quarantine Tabs post will be dedicated solely to a group that seems to inspire (depending on who you ask) as much love as hate: The Grateful Dead.

The Grateful Dead didn’t do much for me growing up, but somehow in my mid to late thirties I started to really enjoy their music. Surprisingly, this seems to be a common occurrence. I am by no means an expert on the band, but I have grown to love them. The live bootlegs of The Dead are the thing of legend, and thanks to the internet (specifically archive.org) there is a wealth of recordings available. One of the things I love most about this band is that their first record is a sort of garage rock type of record. This is exemplified by the song “Cream Puff War,” and this live version is pretty killer.

Grateful Dead Live at Fillmore Auditorium on 1966-11-19


Link: https://archive.org/details/gd1966-11-19.fm.9730.shnf/ksan66-68d1t06.shn

I think that’s just an awesome version of “Cream Puff War,” a song that wasn’t ever played again after the 60s. I found this random website where the author writes specifically about “Cream Puff War,” and his feelings towards The Grateful Dead, which are almost identical to mine: https://medialoper.com/certain-songs-539-the-grateful-dead-cream-puff-war/

Here’s some more sets that I have dug up:

Grateful Dead Live at The Matrix on 1966-12-01



Link: https://archive.org/details/gd66-12-01.sbd.ladner.8575.sbeok.shnf/gd66-12-01d1t10.shn

(Note: The Velvet Underground’s Matrix Tapes are also pretty amazing. Probably my favorite Velvet Underground live record)

Grateful Dead Live at Fillmore West on 1969-06-07


This is an entertaining and Dead set. Janis Joplin sings on “Turn on Your Lovelight.” Quality isn’t that great though.
Link: https://archive.org/details/gd69-06-07.sbd.kaplan.9074.sbeok.shnf/gd69-06-07d1t01.shn

Grateful Dead Live at Honolulu Civic Auditorium on 1970-01-23



I really like this “Dire Wolf” for whatever reason. Good set.

Link: https://archive.org/details/gd70-01-23.sbd.fixed.connor.18153.sbeok.shnf/gd70-01-23d1t07.shn

But wait, there's more:

Here’s a frighteningly informative website that ranks live performances of The Grateful Dead: http://headyversion.com/song/62/grateful-dead/cream-puff-war/

Jesse Jarnow knows just about everything about the Dead: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10078-the-grateful-dead-a-guide-to-their-essential-live-songs/

Nostalgia inducing article on Aquarium Drunkard about Dead bootlegs: https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2019/08/13/boots-in-transit-an-appreciation-of-the-dead-on-cassette/
I collected bootlegs on cassette like crazy in the 90s, but it was mainly grunge and punk stuff. This article reminds me of how fun that used to be.

If you’ve ever been curious about the Grateful Dead’s dancing bears and steal your face logos, here’s an article: https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/music/2017/12/01/the-story-behind-the-grateful-dead-s-2-most-iconic-symbols-in-honor-of-5daysofthedead/

It's also worth reading about Lenny Hart, Mickey's dad, who stole some of the band's profits, disappeared, and caused Mickey to leave the band: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Hart He inspired the song "He's Gone": http://artsites.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/gone.html Which in turn inspired people to call the call the skull the "steal your face" skull/logo, due to the skull being used as the cover of the Steal Your Face album: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steal_Your_Face Also, here's an old news clipping from when Lenny was captured: https://www.dead.net/archives/1971/clippings/press-lenny-hart-arrested

Owsley "Bear" Stanley deserves his own post, and I may post more about him later, but for now I recommend reading his Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_Stanley

He was a fascinating character to say the least. His “Wall of Sound” speaker setup is something that I wish I could’ve seen in real life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead)

That's enough for now. I'll try to post more in the coming days.

Where You At?

Long story short, I got busy, and OK Cool fell by the wayside. I'm moving to Suzhou, China in July (which is another story), and I will be updating the blog with all sorts of stuff sooner than later. Really, I will.

Montreal, Canada

"The Violence of Living"

"BY ALL OUTWARD APPEARANCES OUR LIFE IS A SPARK of light between one eternal darkness and another. Nor is the interval between these two nights an unclouded day, for the more we are able to feel pleasure, the more we are vulnerable to pain—and, whether in background or foreground, the pain is always with us. We have been accustomed to make this existence worthwhile by the belief that there is more than the outward appearance—that we live for a future beyond this life here. For the outward appearance does not seem to make sense. If living is to end in pain, incompleteness, and nothingness, it seems a cruel and futile experience for beings who are born to reason, hope, create, and love. Man, as a being of sense, wants his life to make sense, and he has found it hard to believe that it does so unless there is more than what he sees—unless there is an eternal order and an eternal life behind the uncertain and momentary experience of life-and-death.

I may not, perhaps, be forgiven for introducing sober matters with a frivolous notion, but the problem of making sense out of the seeming chaos of experience reminds me of my childish desire to send someone a parcel of water in the mail. The recipient unties the string, releasing the deluge in his lap. But the game would never work, since it is irritatingly impossible to wrap and tie a pound of water in a paper package. There are kinds of paper which won't disintegrate when wet, but the trouble is to get the water itself into any manageable shape, and to tie the string without bursting the bundle.

The more one studies attempted solutions to problems in politics and economics, in art, philosophy, and religion, the more one has the impression of extremely gifted people wearing out their ingenuity at the impossible and futile task of trying to get the water of life into neat and permanent packages.

There are many reasons why this should be particularly evident to a person living today. We know so much about history, about all the packages which have been tied and which have duly come apart. We know so much detail about the problems of life that they resist easy simplification, and seem more complex and shapeless than ever. Furthermore, science and industry have so increased both the tempo and the violence of living that our packages seem to come apart faster and faster every day.

There is, then, the feeling that we live in a time of unusual insecurity. In the past hundred years so many long-established traditions have broken down—traditions of family and social life, of government, of the economic order, and of religious belief. As the years go by, there seem to be fewer and fewer rocks to which we can hold, fewer things which we can regard as absolutely right and true, and fixed for all time.

To some this is a welcome release from the restraints of moral, social, and spiritual dogma. To others it is a dangerous and terrifying breach with reason and sanity, tending to plunge human life into hopeless chaos. To most, perhaps, the immediate sense of release has given a brief exhilaration, to be followed by the deepest anxiety. For if all is relative, if life is a torrent without form or goal in whose flood absolutely nothing save change itself can last, it seems to be something in which there is 'no future' and thus no hope.

Human beings appear to be happy just so long as they have a future to which they can look forward—whether it be a 'good time' tomorrow or an everlasting life beyond the grave. For various reasons, more and more people find it hard to believe in the latter. On the other hand, the former has the disadvantage that when this 'good time' arrives, it is difficult to enjoy it to the full without some promise of more to come. If happiness always depends on something expected in the future, we are chasing a will-o'-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future, and ourselves, vanish into the abyss of death."

-Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity

2 Years

Today marks two years of daily OK cool.

 

OK cool? I think so.

Off the Side of the Road in Argentina

Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes) was easily one of my favorite movies of 2014. Leigh and I watched it probably five times before heading down to Argentina in the summer of 2016. One of the best (and funniest) parts of the movie was filmed off the highway between Cafayete and Salta. Leigh found this out by reading an interview with the director, and somehow while we were road-tripping in the area we were able to find the bridge and river that were featured prominently. It was pure luck because we couldn't find directions anywhere on the internet. The location was off a closed road next to the main two-lane highway, and once we found it there was no doubt that it was the actual filming location. I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but they are certain remnants from the film still visible. 

The following pictures won't make any sense to anyone who hasn't seen the film, so if you haven't seen it go see it.

During a trip in 2015 to New Zealand, we found the house featured in Peter Jackson's Dead Alive. I'll post those pictures soon as well.

52 Weeks of Cooking: Week Thirteen - Breads

The theme for week thirteen was breads, which didn't necessarily excite me. I have baked bread plenty of times, but it's hard for me to beat anything that comes from the farmer's market. Recently, Leigh and I have become obsessed with the jalapeño cheddar bagels at Kavarna Coffee in Oakhurst, so I decided to make something with jalapeños and cheddar. The next logical step was some kind of pig in a blanket. 

For the Jalapeño and Cheddar bread, I made the standard boule recipe in the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook (recipe here), and added in jalapeños and cheddar. The chorizo I picked up from the farmer's market. For the mustard, I used this recipe, except I used Orpheus' Lyric Saison instead of a Pale Ale--mainly because that is what I had at my house.

The bread turned out excellent, but it wasn't right for a pig-in-a-blanket. I really think you need some kind of softer bread. The real star of the show was the mustard. It's so easy to make and so wonderful.

52 Weeks of Cooking: Week Twelve - Mac and Cheese

This is the kind of dish that my brother calls "bro food," and he doesn't mean it in a nice way. I wasn't too inspired for the theme of mac and cheese, because, honestly, mac and cheese is already perfect and doesn't need to be messed with. That being said, strangely enough, this blue cheese mac and cheese was better the second day.

The hot wings were cooked with Kenji Lopez-Alt's oven method. The hot wing sauce was made with sriracha, butter, and a little apple cider vinegar. The blue cheese mac and cheese was made by making a roux, adding milk, and adding blue cheese. Mix it together witch some pasta, and sprinkle it with blue cheese crumbles. All in all pretty good. The blue cheese mac and cheese is intense, and is tastes better when combined with the hot wings.

52 Weeks of Cooking: Week Eleven - Malaysian

Cooking or eating Malaysian food is something that I have virtually no experience with. This is really a shame, and there aren't many Malaysian restaurants around town, which is actually very surprising. I went through a lot of different recipes on the internet, watched a lot of videos, and finally decided on a fish head curry. It seemed interesting and challenging enough, and I would get the experience to cook with a fish head, which is something I have wanted to do for a while.

I don't have a straight forward recipe for this dish, because I added extra veggies (bok choy and bell pepper). It is basically a mix of Lucky Peach's Malaysian Fish Head Curry recipe and this video of a Singaporean Fish Head Curry, which is essentially the same thing. Overall, it turned out pretty good, and it wasn't hard to make whatsoever--just a lot of ingredients. I'll probably skip the giant fish head next time and just use grouper fillets if I want something similar in the future.

52 Weeks of Cooking: Week Ten - Braised

For week ten's theme braised, I decided to do either braised artichokes or celery. I went with the artichokes, and it was really an excellent choice. I followed Mark Bittman's super easy recipe, except I used Hondashi broth instead of chicken stock. No reason for this other than that is what I had at my house. This recipe was so tasty I ended up making it a few times in the same week. I highly recommend this simple recipe.

52 Weeks of Cooking: Week Nine - From a Can

The theme for week nine of the 52 Weeks of Cooking Challenge was "From a Can." I’m a huge sardine and canned fish fan, but I decided to stretch the idea of what can be made from a can. Burritos seemed like a logical choice. I really wanted to make sure that every ingredient for this week’s challenge was from a can, and I succeeded.

All of this was pretty simple once I got started. I used canned refried beans and canned queso blanco for the burrito’s filling. I used canned jalapeños and a variety of canned salsas for toppings. For the tortilla, I used canned pizza dough. 

At first I used my tortilla press to press out the dough, but that didn’t work, so I just rolled out the pizza dough. 

Then I baked the burritos for about 20 minutes. In the end, it was not bad. Definitely more like an empanada, chimichanga, or a frozen-style burrito than a classic burrito though.