03-10-2022
Faith No More
Angel Dust

I bought a used CD copy of Faith No More's Angel Dust tonight and I couldn't be more pleased. Something about this dumb-ass funk metal is just what the doctor ordered right now. It's a I didn't know that I needed this in my life situation.

I've been listening to more metal in recent years than I used to, and aside from Moon Tooth, I think I didn't realize how deathly humorless most of it is. Or if not humorless—I guess Eternal Champion has some amount of tongue in their cheek—than at least single-minded. It's all so focused on being heavy. Brutal. Uncompromising. And other adjectives. But this Faith No More album (I can't speak for their other albums at the moment)... it's fun! It goes in odd directions, it bounces and dances. They're not afraid to slap a bass or toss some keyboards into the mix. And Mike Patton—well, he can be a bit much. But he's doing things! I mean, it's barely even metal. I don't know what it is! Yeah it's palm muted E's on distorted guitars and full throat howling at times, but at other times it's Prince. Or Alice In Chains, or Randy Newman.

No idea how deep I'll go into Faith No More. Or if I'll even come back to this album a week from now. But seriously, as of this moment, this is everything I want to hear out of a band. And honestly it makes me wish more modern day metal bands would reach for Faith No More as a reference point. The entire genre would be better off for it.

05-26-2022
Chun Yang — Queens
Toffee cheese foam cocoa latte

Best toffee cheese foam cocoa latte I've ever had.

05-22-2022
PARTEA — Queens
Taiwanese pork chop sandwich

This place Partea (formerly Play Date, I don't know if the rebranding is a step up or down), is right in the heart of Flushing, and is basically an arcade that only contains claw machine games. I'm sure if you're into that thing it's probably pretty fun. But up front, they also serve bubble tea, and an assortment of fried chickeny things, and fries, and maybe some simple dumplings. I never thought much of this place walking by it, until one day they were advertising this new Taiwanese pork chop sandwich. Now, I'm sucker for a fried pork loin sandwich, which basically are impossible to find here, and I did once have a Tawainese pork chop (also in Flushing), and thought it was delicious. So yes, I was immediately interested. A few weeks later I was finally in the right place at the right time, so here we go!

You might notice above that I posted a picture of the advertisement, rather than the actual sandwich. This is because the actual sandwich I was served looked perfect. Exactly like the professional photo. It was remarkable really. And it tasted nearly as ideal. Subtle, not some extreme taste explosion, but just a really nicely marinated and seasoned pork, some five-spice flavor vibes, fried just about perfectly, topped with some cole slaw and that was it. Honestly, it was good enough that a restaurant could basically use it as the cornerstone product of the entire menu. Like "Omg you have to go to this new Taiwanese pork chop sandwich place!" The fact that it was just a new menu item at this place that sells boba tea and hosts claw machine parties is pretty wild.