Daybreak Review

In my 20s, my friends and I were smitten with a DIY party game called Fishbowl in which every person writes down words, phrases, quotes, movie titles – anything, really – and puts those words or phrases into a big bowl. Players then take turns trying to get their teammates to guess the word or phrase in a serious of ridiculous rounds. In 2015, an upstart game publisher, Palm Court, brought a game called Monikers to Kickstarter that got rid of the DIY nature of Fishbowl and formalized the game with cards and loose rules. I backed the project immediately and have been following Palm Court, now CMYK, ever since.

Brian Wilson Presents Smile

In Which I Review an 18-Year-Old Album

I’ve told this story countless times across the internet, but it’s worth telling it one last time here. For nearly 18 years, my favorite album has been constant.

The year was 2004 and I was back home from college for a week-long break. Early in the week, a friend and I were driving around town when he put on a CD that changed my life. The songs were poppy and intricate, with lyrics that spoke to me in a way that I’ve rarely experienced. That day, I was planning on going to Best Buy to purchase Linkin Park’s Meteora. But instead, after only hearing a few songs, I was convinced to buy this instead.

The Beatles: Get Back

I am not a fan of The Beatles.

The year is 2000. I am 16 years old and The Beatles have just released 1, a compilation of all of their number one singles. My mother listens to this CD incessantly, but never really makes it past the year 1965. As a result, the songs that stay in my head are “Can’t Buy My Love,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and more from this era of The Beatles. All bops for sure, but not exactly “cool” to a 16-year-old whose most recent CD purchase was probably The Marshall Mathers LP. I move forward with my life, only ever associating The Beatles with these songs.