Friday, March 3, 2023
No more February. Good riddance, if you ask me. I'm ready for spring, with all that implies (new episodes of Succession). But we still have some time to kill before we hear a bunch of very talented actors cussing at each other so let's learn about that time they tried to convince us to drink beef juice.
Item 1: a link
Diana Hubbell at Atlas Obscura writes about an ill-advised marketing campaign for Campbell’s Soup. I mean, Campbell’s Canned Beef Drink. The idea of swapping out the liquor in your cocktail and replacing it with canned soup is not, to me, appealing. But 1950s America was a very odd place. And apparently 2020s America is a very odd place again.
At least they had the good sense not to propose a clam chowder margarita.
Item 2: a list
Italian salumi, ranked
- Speck
- Prosciutto
- Mortadella (no pistachio)
- Coppa
- Pancetta
- Soppressata
- ‘Nduja
- Bresaola
- Bologna
- Guanciale
- Proscuitto cotto
- Lardo
- Mortadella (pistachio)
Item 3: a media recommendation
As I round the home stretch on book 3, the time has come to recommend the late Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror & the Light. This epic trilogy tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, a nobody who rose to become the right hand man to King Henry VIII - a guy with a bit of a reputation for wife-having. Cromwell is surrounded by pompous, self-entitled half-wits, and loyally serves one. Think of him as the most talented engineer remaining at Twitter, except(?) he really can't stand the Pope.
These books are amazingly dense and absorbing, and also at times quite funny. I recommend them.
Item 4: word of the week
Descant
Item 5: a photograph
See ya!
Thanks for reading - see you next week.
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