Love a Daniel Warren Johnson comic. Last year a highlight was Absolute Batman, but this past weekend I stumbled into these older videos he did with Proko. The first is him digging through his travel art supplies and explaining how he uses them. I bet you can’t avoid buying something new after watching it. I couldn’t.
The second is a walk through of how he draws perspective environment scenes with some of those same tools. Of course he references Kim Jung Gi during it, how could he not.
This year has been a ripper. Lots of new artist and plenty of releases from artist I already loved. In no particular order here ten of my favorites. Bonus: scroll to the bottom for the whole Rap Shit 2025 playlist, it’s a good batch this year.
Ovrkast. – Small Talk
Young Nudy – Iced Tea
Freddie Gibbs – Nobody Like You
Westside Gunn, Doechii – EGYPT (Remix)
LaRussell – AM I MUSTY?
Larry June, 2 Chainz & The Alchemist – Bad Choices
Latto – Blick Sum
Aminé – Arc de Triomphe
Clipse – So Be It
JID – Sk8
Did I do a Cookin Soul post on the old blog? Who knows? It is however that time of year where I put on the mixtapes and remind others how dang good they are.
Brand new for 2025…
Old favorites…
I love that the gymkhana series, made popular by Ken Block, has continued with Travis Pastrana. This years video features a sick car and jaw dropping stunts. That is every year, but they keep pushing the creative and death defying boundaries. Almost more interesting is the behind the scenes for the build out of this years car, based on the Subaru BRAT (Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter).
The interesting nugget about the “chicken tax” seats in the bed was right up my alley.
The Chicken Tax is a 25 percent tariff on light trucks (and originally on potato starch, dextrin, and brandy) imposed in 1964 by the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson in response to tariffs placed by France and West Germany on importation of U.S. chicken.
From 1978 to 1987, the Subaru BRAT carried two rear-facing seats (with seatbelts and carpeting) in its rear bed to secure classification as a “passenger vehicle” and not as a light truck.
How am I just hearing about Rome Streetz in 2025? He’s been on for a minute and collaborating with an all star roster of MCs. Not till I saw his 2025 album Trainspotting pop up in some year end list did I get acquainted. He is in good company with the likes of Griselda, Boldy James, and and smoothly sails over Conductors beats. Give it a listen.
We are getting creative as 2025 and the ABC challenge come to a close. Creative as in we are into “there isn’t a restaurant for that letter” territory.
Bending the rules in acknowledgement that there are no letter “Y” restaurants lets us sneak in big hitters. Nearly everyone we shared the challenge with asked if we had a letter “L” and if we didn’t Lost Letter should be it. It completely lived up to the hype. Fancy dining, fancy food, and all of it delicious. This for sure feels like a special event restaurant, but we went on random Wednesday for the challenge and it was great.
Yikes, this is the first restaurant in over twenty that we didn’t actually like. The review rule of thumb failed us. You could probably chalk this up to a chain of events. We’d never been to hot pot, the waitress asked us, and then explained so quiet and fast that we had to watch a quick video on our phones to figure things on our own. We eventually ate some good food, but I am generally not a fan of restaurants where I am in in charge of making me a great meal. Fondue, salad bars, Mongolian BBQ, and now Hot Pot are off the list.
Crystal and I have been married for 20 years. We dated for 5 years before that, and became friends 5 years before that. 30 years of hanging out. For the past 15 years or since kids, we’ve been on one trip with just the two of us for longer than a weekend away. We did a ten year road trip and Covid shot a fifteen year anniversary trip in the foot.
This year we set out to take that long overdue trip. Just the two of us. Spain was the spot and Barcelona and Madrid were the specific destinations. Today they get added to the “travel log” page:
Visit the Barcelona Travel Log
I got a new 3d printer this Fall. A full post is in the works on that, but for now, this wild thing where the build plate moves not the nozzle(s) and it is cooled with dry ice. Cooling and nozzle speed/accuracy are the limiting factors in how fast a consumer FDM printer can print an object.
Best Games of the 2020’s is back with the ninth game in 2025. Sadly, the fifth entry in a racing franchise, that I hope gets a sixth, is off the list.
Arc Raiders(2025) goes on at #22
This game garnered positive and very loud buzz every time it had a public playtest. My radar is generally not tuned into this genre, but it was hard to ignore. Extraction shooters were the rage or are the rage? Escape from Tarkov seemed to be the best in class, but it felt too harsh for my delicate and old gaming sensibilities.
Arc Raiders has sanded off those edges a bit. Starting as a PVE^ game and then eventually adding in PVP^^, when per the developers just PVE lacked some punch and staying power. That origin is apparent the moment you load into your first game. The maps look fantastic, lived in, and a hidden back story in every room. The combat feels great, reminds me a bit of Last of Us.
You’ll likely encounter a robot or “arc” first and they will push you, maybe even kill you. They are tough and in groups they can quickly end your round. Eventually you will get better gear and better strategies for tangling with them and maybe even bored. In step the players. The opportunity to tussle with strangers is a endless thread to pull on. Do you have a friendly chat and pair up? Is their salutation a grenade at your feet? Can you deescalate a situation? How long can you trust your fellow man when there is shiny loot on the line?
It is a gem of a game, facets on top of facets. Entertaining and unpredictable. I want to be playing it right now. Just one more solo run to stock up or jumping on with friends to see what trouble we can get into.
Forza Horizon 5 (2021) is an excellent racing game, but it was too similar to Horizon 4 which grabbed a hold of me and kept me racing for a solid 2 months in 2018. On top of that the progression was poorly balanced. If they give you all the things in the first 3 hours, what is there to play for? Said my broken brain.
^PVE: Player vs. Environment or take on AI enemies
^^PVP: Player vs. Player or take on other people
We’ve doubled down on the ABC challenge. Last week we hit our 18th and 19th spots and we have reservations this week for the 20th. Holiday time off work is right around the corner too, it just might be possible.
This Egyptian restaurant in the fan had some great food that reminded me of the meals my Dad makes. The Tagine Beef with Potato that I had could have come right out of his kitchen. The cocktails from the bar were a little flat, but maybe get a beer or whine and enjoy your dish all the same.
BBQ in a tiny house turned restaurant feels like how BBQ should be served. We stopped in for lunch and had solid pulled pork and brisket. The sides (hush puppies and sweet potatoes) were good too. It was beyond cramped though, so maybe go on a nice day and sit outside at the picnic tables? Pop the hatch on an SUV and hang your legs out the trunk?
180 Lunches 