The Blog

I might be in the minority thinking James Austin Johnson was just a great Trump impression walking down the street on twitter, before being cast on SNL in 2021. If you only skim the surface of SNL highlights on Sundays you might still think that. But I’ve seen him pop up in enough things in recent years that I was for sure catching his new special. I don’t know that I’ve seen a special cut together like this before. Jokes from sets all over, quick bits, silly songs, and mockumentary skits with comedian friends. Spend the whole hour with it, you deserve a laugh.

I was not familiar with AZ Chike’s work until his feature on Kendrick’s peekaboo in 2024. Then the single Look Like My Mama w/ Tyler the Creator (above) came out ahead of his new album, and I really paid attention. An LA rapper with a gravelly growl, dipping in and out of something more soulful. This is the kind of album that rewards a full listen from end to end. It also gets the car bumping with the windows down. That is down to the incredible new wave west coast production from Pharrell, Hit-Boy, and more.

We’ve been rolling on the 26 in 26 challenge but the posts here have not. Today’s the day we catch up on new to us restaurants, now 22 spots in. Well, not everything, just a quick write up for anything we gave a 4.5 or 5.

Conejo - 4.5

Traditional Mexican with modern takes. We enjoyed everything, but the Bistec Huasteco was particularly good.

Burtons Grill & Bar - 4

Athens Tavern - 4

Bookbinder’s Seafood & Steakhouse - 4.5

Classic fancy steak spot and a crowd that resembles that. Nothing holds a candle to Bern’s, but this is a great substitute in Richmond. Crystal had her first paper plane here and I’ve made an embarrassing amount of them at home for us since.

Lafayette Tavern - 5

The hype and waitlisted reservations are well earned. Our second five this year after Adarra. Cozy atmosphere, great food, and we discovered the Brown Derby cocktail.

Brave Captain - 5

Dive bar vibes with killer food. PBRs, crab cake deviled eggs, and one of the best fried fish sandwiches I’ve ever had. Good enough that I took my Dad and brother back for our birthday lunch months later.

Brazen - 4

Slack Tide Fish Co. - 5

We had the full spread here and loved every course. Cocktails, oysters, small plates, entrees, coffee, and dessert. The location is great too, we need to go back to sample the other offerings.

Lillian - 5

Owned by the same group as Lost Letter and The Brooklyn, this may be our favorite of the trio. Pull up to the bar for lovely cocktails while you watch most of the food you order get prepared. Mark this as the place Crystal tried and discovered she liked oysters and ceviche.

Grisette - 5

Everyone we told about the ABC challenge and Alewife asked, “Oh, did you try Grisette too?” It’s right across the street. We hadn’t. Now we have, and they were right. We went for my birthday a few weeks back with the boys. Our youngest had the steak frites and declared it the best steak he has ever had.

Best Games is back after a summer hiatus. Dipping back to 2019 to unseat an open world game of a very similar theme.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019) goes on at 10.

When this game came out just a short 7 years ago, the reputation it carried instantly scared me off. FromSoftware’s hardest game yet! Git gud or go home. Younger and naiver me hadn’t played Elden Ring or Lies of P yet. Hadn’t tasted defeat 30 times from a boss and signed up for more before bed.

Well here we are in 2026 and I’m ready for 2019’s game of the year. And oh how right they all were. Sekiro is a masterpiece of the genre. It is a souls like, but it masters the parry and block mechanic like no other I’ve played. When you hit your stride on a boss, attune to their attacks, and nail the execution, it is more rhythm game than boss rush. Parry, parry, parry, jump, parry, dodge, and finally attack!

Graphics wise it launched in 2019 when the PS4 was the best console going. But it runs and looks great on my 2025 PC. Most of the credit for that goes to it’s art, design, and theme though. It nails the look and feel of a ninja in feudal Japan with a giant dose of demon madness FromSoft puts in every game. Its the secret ingrediant, a centipede inside the headless monkey.

Ghost of Tsushima (2020) wishes it was Sekiro. That’s a little mean and a little true. Feudal Japan ninja in a way too big open world, where you can compose haikus to collect cosmetic headbands as a distraction from persuing your revenge.

3 months of custom built treehouse mini edited down into a 53 minute video. I’ve followed Gameyy Builds for a while, but never seen him take on something at this scale. And Adventure Time too, easily the show I enjoyed watching the most as my kids were younger. There may be a rewatch in my future. Bonus, he used original art (below) from Max Degtyarev as reference for most of the build.

After El-P left Rawkus, started Def Jux, and before he released Fantastic Damage I was spinning The Cold Vein and having my eyes opened to another facet of hip-hop with Aesop’s Labor Days. This week was it’s 25 year anniversary and spent it exploring the album all over again. Between it Blockhead’s Music By Cavelight 3 years later, they might be up there with the albums I’ve listened to most.

It is already back and this new series is already great. Isy Suttie is the only contestant that is an unknown to me, but that probably says more about how much my feed has become UK panel shows.

“Tom Hardy the rapper” is a headline that induces a bit of acid reflux at first glance. I know him as a late 40’s British actor who has a decade and change worth of films I’ve mostly enjoyed. But has he merely adopted the dark or was he was born in it? Turns out he has been rapping since he was a teenager, but then the acting took off?

I was still going to skip it, but caught a long drive up and back to DC last weekend and gave it a spin. I don’t know how much he is actually contributing to what I enjoyed, but the Czarface production, rapping, and all of the features left me questioning my initial reaction. It is good and fun and worth a try. Its actually pretty good and leads down a whole Czarface rabbit hole I am less familiar with.