PicoBlog

In my early 30’s, I lived alone and had dinner parties one to three times a week, depending on how many unwanted pork shoulders or unfrosted cake layers I could snag from the leftovers shelf at work. I wanted to be surrounded at all times with food or people, and preferably both.  During the most humid nights of July through September, I’d tell my people— who had just fared the atmospheric intensity of an underground commute back to Brooklyn, sticky and thick— that CSS was on deck and they’d arrive knowing that a Cold Summer Soup was sitting in the freezer.

The other day nephilim was trending on twitter. I clicked and saw why. Bonkers police response, grainy footage, and conspiracy theories about nephilim, aliens, or project bluebeam. I brought my friend Dr. Brian on to talk about it. This is a wild episode! ncG1vNJzZmiaop6ur7fNmqepZqOqr7TAwJyiZ5ufonyxe8hmrpqrXam8rbCMp5ypoJmhtq55wKmnnpmimrFutc1mpKKZnZ4%3D

Hi all — It was exactly three years to the very day since I had moved out of Chicago when I returned to the Windy City for the Mohan Matchmaking convention in early April. This convention, which had garnered a ton of viral attention on Instagram, was created by 32-year-old entrepreneur Anip Patel, whose stage name is “Mohan” for his comedy and popular social media accounts. More than 9,600 South Asian American singles applied to attend, of which Anip and his team chose 1,000, mostly based age, gender and location, so there would be a mix of people.

Earlier this month, I brought my daughter to Nicki Minaj's Denver concert at Ball Arena, part of her Pink Friday 2 World Tour that will continue through July. A few months ago, my daughter begged me to buy tickets. I was hesitant at first—the tickets weren’t cheap, and I also stand firmly on Megan Thee Stallion’s side when it comes to her ongoing beef with Nicki Minaj. (If you are not taking sides on pop-cultural beefs, are you really living?

Last week, was the 65th anniversary of Buddy Holly’s death. I want to talk a bit about the tragedy of dying young this week. But before I get to that, I want to remind everybody that each month we do a mailbag edition of this newsletter where I answer reader questions. The next mailbag is coming up in a few weeks. Click the button below to ask that nagging musical question.

Free me from the tyranny of Netflix trying to shove The Big Short down my throat!! New chats in the Substack app about Love Is Blind After the Altar, The Ultimatum, and RHONY.I fall into a severe melancholy every Labor Day weekend — even if summer is … ncG1vNJzZmigpaPBpr7HmqmroaNjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89ooGavn6Oxpr6MsJ%2BarF2kuarCyJpksKGcmbJutdJmq6GhnqC2r7M%3D

I worked as a porn journalist for XCritic. I also was a CMO of a now-defunct webcam startup. Trust me, I've seen shit behind the scenes that made me a lifelong supporter of BIPOC rights on set. For example, did you know that certain major porn sites actually alter what gets to the front page to reduce the number of black actors who make it to the front p… ncG1vNJzZmino6i2orrAZ6qumqOprqS3jZympmegZLZuw86rop6cXZbAbq2Mqaarpl2fvLa%2BzZqjoqukYrOwvoyxmquhpJ6wboKScW6abGGarnR%2B

Dear TCL Readers, And now for something a little different. Chanukah (That’s how I spell it unless I’m among Yiddishists, and then it’s khanike — more on that later) has been something of a bummer because of recent events, but also a holiday that I’ve decided to take more seriously than in the past. Turns out lighting candles for eight nights actually has some personal spiritual significance! But mostly it’s spurred me to seek out joyful experiences and some degree of irreverence.

Ten years ago I asked my dermatologist about Botox. It may be ironic, but it seemed like the natural next step. “You could do your elevens,” she said, plainly. “My elevens?” I asked. “The two lines between your eyebrows. They make you look stern.” “Do they?” I asked, scowling into the mirror as she pressed a gloved finger into them. “That’s what they say,” she said, whisking away a glass slide with a few millimeters of my flesh lying on it.