Categories: Etc.

The Weekend Reset: Sitcoms, Whiskey, and Books

It’s Friday. Looking for something to switch up your weekend, or to give you an excuse to relax a little? That’s what the Weekend Reset is for. Each week we’ll pull together five things to get your weekend started. Could be something to read or watch, something to eat or listen to, or even something to do. Enjoy the weekend fellas.

 

WATCH: WandaVision

This has to be the strangest Marvel property yet, and I absolutely positively love it. Taken at face value, WandaVision bears ZERO resemblance to anything Marvel’s ever done before. Instead, the show is structured like a classic TV sitcom, and by classic, I mean, classic: the first two episodes are in black-and-white with a laugh track, and the jokes and storytelling clearly echo shows like I Love Lucy and Betwitched. But what’s so delightful is that — after the second episode — the show’s format evolves: suddenly, it’s in color, the costumes are super ’70s, and we’re in a proto-version of the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Promotional materials have indicated that WandaVision will evolve through all of the classic phases of TV sitcom, which I’m really excited to watch. Of course, in the backdrop, there’s something sinister going on, a bigger mystery: how did Wanda and Vision — who seem to have had their memories wiped — get trapped in a sitcom universe? Who put them there? And how can they escape? Streams on Disney + with new episodes dropping every Friday.

 

DRINK: An Old Fashioned

With snow falling on much of the country, with winter at it’s peak, there’s something deeply comforting about a simple, familiar, warming whiskey cocktail. There’s little I can say here about the Old Fashioned that isn’t contained in the drink’s name. A staple in the ’60s that owes its recent resurgence, in large part, to Mad Men’s Don Draper, it’s a drink as simple as they come: Whiskey. Sugar. Bitters. Stir with ice. Pour into glass. Garnish with a cherry, a bit of orange peel, or both. I love the Serious Eats recipe for its simplicity — there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when the basics work. My two suggestions: 1) if you don’t have a sugar cube or superfine sugar, you can run a bit of regular sugar through a blender (I used my Nutribullet) to grind it into a fine power that dissolves more easily into the cocktail; and 2) don’t skip the step where you stir with ice, which both chills the drink down AND dilutes it slightly, which is necessary to achieve the right flavor balance. (Photo by Paige Ledford on Unsplash)

 

READ: A River Runs Through It

Norman Maclean’s classic semiautobiographical novella, A River Runs Through It, is perhaps my favorite piece of outdoors writing — a lean, gorgeously wrought and haunting meditation on fly-fishing, brotherhood, art, and loss. (The other stories Maclean includes in this collection are wonderful, too.) This is a perfect book for a cold wintery evening when you’re curled up by the fireplace, dreaming of spring. And of course, if you like the book — Robert Redford’s film adaptation is also a fantastic watch.

 

LISTEN: Sibelius’s Second Symphony

I’ve never recommended classical music in this space before, but I love this symphony so damn much and I think many of you will love it too. Classical music can sometimes feel unapproachable, but Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 is anything but: full of gorgeous, swelling, epic string melodies and massive brass fanfares, this is a symphony that is both stirring and triumphant. If you love epic movie soundtracks, you’ll love this.

 

ORGANIZE: Your bookshelves

One of the simplest and most cost-effective ways of sprucing up a room is to take things you already have and use them as decor — and a great place to start is with your books. There are a lot of different approaches to books-as-decor, but I’m a big fan of simple color coding. It’s amazing how much more life you can breathe into a bookshelf by organizing your books by color. (I tend to get super nerdy about it — once I’ve sorted my books into color piles, I put them back on my shelves in ROY-G-BIV rainbow order.) Want a more old-school look? Take off the dustcovers on your hardbacks. Or looking for something more minimalist? Turn the books around so their spines are facing in, and the pages are facing out. Throw those organized books on a shelf behind your computer, and suddenly, you’ve got a smart-looking Zoom background that you won’t magically disappear into every time you move your arm. (Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash)

About the author: Michael Robin is an LA-based television writer. When he’s not working away on his latest pilot script, you can find him scuba diving, hosting Shabbat dinners, or goofing off with his goldendoodle, Biggie Lebowski.

Michael R

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