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.
SEE: Belfast
Kenneth Branagh is known for acting in and directing sweeping, grand, Shakespearean epics, most famously Henry V and Hamlet. But Belfast is an entirely different sort of film from Branagh. A filmic memoir of sorts, Belfast is a coming of age tale set in Northern Ireland in the 1960s and a poignant exploration of Branagh’s own childhood during the Irish “troubles” of the late ’60s/early ’70s. There’s already huge Oscar buzz behind this one. In theaters only, starting today.
MAKE: Rag¹ Bolognese
A slow-simmered Bolognese is one of Italy’s most famous and most delicious pasta dishes. And while there are amazing versions that can take many hours to make (looking at you, Marcella Hazan), Kenji’s version here is simple, relatively fast, and very, very tasty. Pancetta, ground meat (here a combination of beef, lamb, and pork, but any one or two of those three will work), some vegetables, broth, milk, and wine combine to make a pasta sauce that’s out of this world. Trust me, you’ll be clamoring for seconds.
PLAY: Shin Megami Tensi V
For those of you with a hankering to dig into a big, meaty JRPG: look no further. The Shin Megami Tensi series is the big brother of the stylish, fantastic Persona series, and for years has been known for its complex combat systems in which you recruit demons to fight on your behalf. SMT V has already earned major plaudits for its dark art style and its strategic and brutally challenging gameplay. This is one that’ll keep you busy for a solid 50-80 hours or more. Out today on Switch.
READ: The Metaverse is Bullsh*t
Our robot overlords seem to think that the Metaverse is the future of the internet. Sure, the Metaverse concept sounded cool when originally conceived in classic cyberpunk novels by Neal Stephenson and William Gibson. But what Zuck and other so-called tech “visionaries” miss is the fact that IN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE METAVERSY BOOKS the world is a dystopian hellhole and the metaverse is a drug that’s our only means of escape from the horror. In this fantastic article, Wes Fenlon breaks down why the whole Metaverse concept is doomed to fail… and I completely agree. Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash
LISTEN: KID A MNESIA
In 2000, Radiohead blew the rock world wide open by releasing Kid A, an album of bleeps and loops and electronica that sounded like virtually nothing else on the market. The following year, they follow it up with Amnesiac, an album that traded synths for pianos. Now, twenty years later, Radiohead have rereleased these two seminal albums together in a new version that also includes a full third disc of alternate versions, cutting room floor snippets, & unreleased songs. It’s a remarkable listen, one that recontextualizes some of the most daring music Radiohead ever made. Streaming now on Spotify.
About the author: Michael Robin is an LA-based television writer and tutoring company co-Founder. 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.