No Longer A Problem With Apu

So last week I went to an event for The Simpsons writer Mike Reiss to promote his new book, Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons. And during the Q&A, someone understandably brought up The Problem With Apu by Hari Kondabolu.

A few responses have been made by the show, one from Hank Azaria and one, seemingly, from the show itself in a episode that aired earlier this year (a response that people really hated). So when broached about the subject, Reiss had a bit more to say. 

Apparently a couple years ago in 2016, season 27 to be exact, The Simpsons did Apu’s last episode. It was called Much Apu About Something. The summary of the episode is that Apu’s nephew, Jay (voiced by a Utkarsh Ambudkar), takes over the Kwik-E-Mart when it’s destroyed and changes it into a Quick & Fresh. He modernizes it and when Apu protests, Jay insults Apu for being a stereotype. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club said about the episode, "About Apu’s nephew Jamshed (or Jay, as he prefers) turning the Kwik-E-Mart into a health food store, might reference a beloved episode about Apu’s dignity in the face of Springfield’s hairtrigger xenophobia, but it’s equally a referendum on the character of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon himself.” 

But the real thing that stood out from the event I went to was when Reiss stated that apparently this was the last time Apu has appeared in a speaking scene since that episode. They (the writers and Hank Azaria) decided it was time to retire the character, in a matter of speaking. Why this went unacknowledged until now is unclear to me, but the main point here is that they literally saw that it was terrible that this racist impression by a white actor had gone on for way too long, and rectified it. Reiss writes about it in detail in his book and ends the chapter with, "We'd hate to lose a beloved character from the show. But times change, and maybe after three decades, time has run out for Apu."

There are only two things that I’m angry about right now.

1. The fact that I didn’t realize this issue was already resolved on the show since I pride myself on being a huge fan. (Living in a cable-free home is the culprit here, but as always I'll keep buying the seasons as they come out.)

2. The fact that Hari Kondabolu has gained any kind of notoriety because of The Problem With Apu, since this was no longer an issue even before he filmed this documentary.

I really don't think Lisa’s MEH response above was supposed to be taken as a serious response to this documentary (and can I say real quick that I hate referring to this as a documentary since it's 49 minutes, I can't explain why that bothers me, I'm sorry). I think it was meant to infer that, 'If you knew anything about this show, you’ll know that we already handled this problem.' Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I interpret it now.

And not to completely hate on Hari Kondabolu, but I should’ve realized something was wrong with this guy when he aligned himself with that sad little group of “everything-after-season-ten-sucks” losers who literally haven’t seen decades of a great, great show. And look, I get it, it makes sense to me that this man would successfully stir up this shit since it's emblematic of this age we’re in right now where dragging something great to get your two minutes is a totally justifiable move, since it works. It just makes me mad.

I wouldn't be in such a huff about this if HK didn't end it the way he did, challenging what the writers "were going to do about this issue" when the issue was already dealt with. 

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The Best of June

It's insane that June is over. It's even more insane that I'm keeping my promise and doing another one of my monthly wrap-up posts. So many things to talk about. Let's begin.

• Do you remember how I said the HBO show Barry was good but not that good? Well, I finished the first season and the season finale made me realize that it's a good show. So there.

• On the first of the month, I went to the Noguchi Museum in Queens for the first time. Tip: the admission is free if you go on the first of the month. And I actually liked it! Something really calming about the whole place.

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At the Noguchi Museum

• Nathan, Baby Dog and I went to Atlantic City for a few days since Nathan was doing shows at the Borgata. Great hotel. Even better pool. We saw a free screening of Ocean's Eight (MEH), walked along the boardwalk, and took BD to the beach for the first time. I know that maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was because she loved it. Also, my best friend Harmeet made this great collage.

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Baby Dog in Atlantic City

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Hahahah

• My Dad turned 95 so we threw a big party that was great. I made a few desserts (Fresh Strawberry Cake, Chocolate Banana Cream Pie, and Peanut Butter Nutella Cheesecake Bars), but I think the clear winner were the cheesecake bars (although the longer the pie stayed in the fridge, the better it got).

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• I read an article awhile ago about how Chrissy Teigen uses Aquaphor on her elbows to keep them soft, so I tried it out and she's 1000% right. I used to use the Life brand Vitamin E cream found in most Shoppers Drug Marts, but Aquaphor is eons better (although it does get on everything when you use it and doesn't really absorb as good as other creams may). But still. I've only been using it for a few weeks and I'll never go back. Elbs are crazy soft right now.

• I can't believe I haven't already told you how much I've been in love with Larabars lately. Actually, only one flavour 'cause the rest suuuuuuhuck. The Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip one is the only one worth a damn, and I only know this because I've tasted 90% of their flavours.

• This insane basil vinaigrette is something that I've been putting on everything lately (spinach, chicken, carrots), I can't believe I'm only now learning of its existence.

• Many people have hounded me to watch The Good Place, so I did, and okay - I get it. It's a good show. I watched the first season, but I didn't think it was anything crazy special at all. I mean, I'm happy for the people who love it, but maybe leave me alone, I think I'm good!

• I finally tried hot pilates and it was... no different from regular pilates. Why do people try to make it sound so much more intimidating? Do people even do that or was I just building it up in my head? Either way, it's so doable for anyone so if you're in any way intrigued, then try it out.

• While I was at my parent's house, my brother Gary introduced me to jackbox.tv - which is essentially a digital board game that you can play with people in the same room as long as you have a TV and everyone has their own phone. And the games are actually fun (like Drawful and Fibbage). They're also sort of perfect if you're looking for something to do with friends/family when you're having people over.

• Tim Hortons now has poutine. HOW DID IT TAKE THIS LONG FOR THIS TO HAPPEN is the real question here. My verdict? They should call it a wedge poutine. I know, I'm being a pain, but I'm not wrong. Calling something a regular poutine is saying that regular French fries are being used in said poutine. So when wedge potatoes are used instead? You need to declare that shit. I'm being nit-picky here clearly because this is important. That being said, this wedge poutine was fantastic. Which shocks me. Tim Hortons has been putting out some shady products over the past few years, so for them to use real curds and a crazy decent gravy? Whoa.

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Tim Hortons poutine

• Won't You Be My Neighbor? came out and I saw it and cried right alongside every other person in that theatre. And here's the thing: I really think everyone should see this movie alone. I'm a big champion on people going to the movies alone, always have been. I just feel like you can really enjoy a movie without the element of having to deal with another person. Does that sound dumb? I feel like it's important to experience things like that alone since it allows your thoughts and reactions to be completely uninterrupted by someone else. Anyway, the movie was great, so many parts were perfect and I recommended absolutely everyone to see it.

• I saw Hereditary twice, not because I'm some kind of maniac, but because I went the first time with some friends and then saw it again because Nathan hadn't seen it and that was our date night for the month. I thought it was a pretty good movie! I don't get why so many people hated it.

• I went to Wonderland and it was great, as always.

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Funnel cake

• I re-watched the summer classic Now & Then that's inspired an upcoming post about summer television episodes that always make me happy to re-watch, so watch out for that.

• Baby Dog has had a pretty decent month in that she's gone to two dog cafes, Boris & Horton in the east village and Chateau Le Woof in Astoria. I think I preferred the one in the east village mostly because there are small laptop-friendly tables in the dog area, and the general setup was a little more welcoming to dogs and owners.

• This white bean rosemary soup is the best soup I've had in ages. I ground up some dried rosemary instead of using fresh and it was still insanely good. Have to remember to keep this one in the recipe rotation.

• Ate at Campagnolo in Toronto with some friends and everything was reeeeally good.

• I finished reading The Duplass Brothers book and had some thoughts over here.

• Whether you're a Lindy West fan or not (you should be), this is probably one of the best short pieces I've read in such a long time.

• I feel like I've been in a fried chicken mood these past few months and I just ate a great fried chicken sandwich at The Penrose on the upper east side. Remember how I was complaining about how bad The Spotted Pig one was? Yeah, I was right. THIS is how it's supposed to taste.

• I also stopped by Two Little Red Hens, which is a short stroll from The Penrose, since I've been hearing about that place for years. I sampled a few small things, but the standout winner? The cupcakes. And hear me right. I'm not a cupcake person. I make fun of cupcake people. I don't believe in buying cupcakes because they're so incredibly easy to make and they taste the exact same as ones you can buy at any overpriced "cupcake shop." But these were different. These were somehow both airy and luxurious. No idea how they did it. I only had the mini Boston cream pie cupcake, so maybe it's only that specific flavour that tasted like God himself came down and whipped that batter. I'll have to go back, try others, and then really let you know.

• I finally ate at Bocca since I really wanted to see that parmesan wheel and it was good. Nothing crazy to write home about, but good!

• I made my yearly visit to The Met, and let me tell you. Some changes have been made. First of all, they have "updated" their admission policy. It's only New York State residents now who are allowed to pay their "suggested admission" - everyone else, ie. tourists, must pay $25/per person. And while I could rant about this for days and how stupid it is, I will not. The Met can definitely fuck right off, though, for the record. The only good new thing that they've implemented is this.

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I initially went to see this year's rooftop exhibit, but the rain forced me to change my plans and settle for the Heavenly Bodies exhibit indoors. Here are some highlights.

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Hated how high up these were, I can't see details way up there!

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Dior

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• In larger news, I've cancelled my Ipsy membership. There was one main reason and it’s best described by my friend Julia’s Instagram story that you can view over here.

Whoa! Look at all that stuff! Excited to see what July will bring...

(If you have any interest in last month’s roundup, it can be found here: May 2018.)

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Like Brothers By Mark Duplass & Jay Duplass - A Review

I've been excited for this book to come out for at least a year. Mainly because Safety Not Guaranteed is in my top five of movies, and also because I continuously insist that everyone in my life see Baghead every October (it's not a Halloween movie, but it's perfect for that time of year). These brothers are so talented and really funny (when they were on The Mindy Project especially), so there's every reason in the world that this book should be great. And it was!

But the weird thing is, I can't list out my favourite parts for you, like I always do. There weren't specific lines or stories or paragraphs that I thought I needed to include here. Forgive me for sounding aloof, but it was moreso the vibe of the book that I really enjoyed. It was unlike anything I've read before in that it focussed on two things solely.

1. It's basically a how-to guide if you're an aspiring filmmaker and you're trying to learn more about that business, with advice for pretty much every situation you'd be in if you're trying to get started.

2. It explored the relationship and bond of their brotherhood. And I mean bond. These men have such a specific relationship that seems insanely intrinsic to their writing process and well, their living process. Is living process even a term? It isn't, but in their case that's the only way to describe it. These brothers are tight. The way they write and talk their closeness and the positive and negative effects of that are all complexly described in these chapters. 

There was however one thing that I had to look up when they wrote about it - this apparently great scene from The Karate Kid II that comes out of nowhere in an otherwise terrible movie. They talk about how they watched this scene and everything changed, and they realized that one scene can absolutely change a movie and how they were both blown away by it. Anyway, after that description I obviously looked it up and whoa. Dead right. Here it is below. 

All in all, really great book. If you're at all interested in making movies or if you're just fans of The Duplass Brothers in general, then you'll definitely get something out of reading this one.

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Maybe I say this a lot, but this is definitely one of the best covers of all time.

“I can lament for hours with female friends about bodies and insecurities and the ways we’ve been socialized to make ourselves small and what bullshit it is that our value increases the smaller we get, as though we would be priceless if we didn’t exist at all.”

— Lindy West

Summer List

There are a million reasons that summer is the worst season (the heat, the stink of people, the unwelcome desire to constantly fill your time with fun things), but let's not focus on the negative. I like to think of summer as pre-fall. You know how the time leading up to Christmas is always more exciting than Christmas Day itself? That's how I like to treat summer. So while I wait for autumn, here are the things that will fill my time until September.

1. Go to the beach at least five times.

2. See the new rooftop exhibition at The Met.

3. Spend the day doing stuff in Harlem.

4. Make at least three new recipes from Chrissy Teigen's first cookbook, Cravings.

5. Try the frozen Irish coffee at Passage.

6. Visit Chateau Le Woof with Baby Dog in Astoria.

7. See the Scarborough Bluffs since I never have before.

8. See Tew Falls in Hamilton.

9. Go away, anywhere, for a few days with Nathan for our anniversary.

10. Try SLT finally.

As always, I encourage you to make a list of your own since, well, you're not that busy.

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Spring List Revisited

This is how I feel when spring is over.

How is it already over?! It always feels like the shortest season. Did I make the most of it? LET'S SEE. Here's what I actually did off of my spring list.

1. Jog outdoors - Okay, look. I really wanted to do this one but it didn't get done. One day.

2. Go to a baseball game - Nope! Hopefully this'll still happen. I'm thinking September, probably.

3. Plan a spring break vacation - Did it! I went to Las Vegas with Jenn and then did a tiny trip to Atlantic City with Nathan. Come to think of it, I didn't even do a Vegas post, I'll try to get on that.

best day

A post shared by Liz Heather (@lizheather) on Apr 18, 2018 at 6:03pm PDT

family vacation 🌊🐾

A post shared by Liz Heather (@lizheather) on Jun 5, 2018 at 12:21pm PDT

4. Bake a decadent spring cake - Oh yes. I attempted this Fresh Strawberry Cake and it actually came out pretty well for my Dad's birthday party.

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Laminating labels is a sickness & I'm sorry

5. See A Quiet Place - Saw it! I liked it for the most part even though some scenes were frustrating (why didn't they just give birth to that baby by the waterfall?!), but it was a fun time. And thankfully we went to see it for free because of the magic that is Gofobo (that I mentioned in a post last month).

6. Spring clean each room in the house - I really intended on doing this one, but we didn't get around to it. Maybe I'd care more about this one if we weren't just renting? In any case, that's the lie I'll tell myself. I mean, I do mop maybe once a year, that's something.

7. Take Baby Dog to Boris & Horton - Oh yeah! Totally went. Great place! The coffee was good and new dogs came in every so often and BD actually kind of seemed to like it, if nervously so.

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8. Help plant something - Damnit, I really wanted to do this one and forgot.

9. Buy a new swimsuit - I tried on so many and found nothing I liked. But this one is kind of a personal win because I'm trying to only purchase clothing that I love these days, so I'm taking a half point for really trying. 

10. Take a bike ride - Again, totally forgot. Whoops.

So the final total is 4.5/10, which I'm very comfortable with. Maybe only because I feel like I did so many new things in May that I'm okay with this terrible score. 

Onto the most dreaded season!

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So this great tweet:

My boyfriend made me a music box that plays our favorite song by Coldplay. IM CRYING 😢😢😢💛 pic.twitter.com/k2NzU0xUkR

— Wendy Orozco (@orozcow_) December 26, 2017

lead me to this great song:

The Best of May

So this is the first post in what I hope to be a new series of posts that I’m going to try to do. (Have I said that before? About other things? Oh god, maybe I have. I have a tendency to start something enthusiastically and then immediately forget about it and sometimes even forget it ever even existed?) I will really try to not let that happen here.

ANYWAY, what I’d like to do here is talk about the new things I’ve done this month. In the old days, I’d devote whole posts to individual things that I’ve loved or hated, but honestly, some times a few sentences could suffice. So here are some of the things that I’ve encountered in the month of May.

• I dry cleaned my winter coat and packed it away for the season. Do you do this when winter's over? You should. 

• I really don’t go to the movies a lot anymore and I miss not going. I used to go constantly when I was younger, but the real fun of that was because I was going with my brother Robbie. There were a solid fews years in the early 00’s where we’d see everything that was playing in any given theatre. Just for the sake of seeing a movie. I mean, we had a lot of free time then so it just made sense. I go so rarely now that I really need to want to see a movie to get me into a theatre now. Thus, seeing RBG was an active decision, and a great one at that. I knew nothing of the woman before seeing it, and the trailer made it look great, so of course it was. If you’re a fan of women at all, you should see it.

• I ate the banana bread with espresso mascarpone at Two Hands in Soho. And whoa. Here it is.

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Banana Bread with Espresso Mascarpone from Two Hands

• I ate the fried chicken at Blue Ribbon Chicken. I know so little about good fried chicken, but this was pretty incredible. Maybe a smidge more expensive than I thought it should be, but a kid’s meal was a decently priced & sized pre-meal.

• I attempted to read Jenny Lawson’s Let's Pretend This Never Happened and I really didn't care for it. I lasted about ten pages then gave up. I’m probably being too harsh here, but I found her tone… irritating. Also, not to boast or anything, but I’m a tiny bit proud of being able to put a book down and inwardly say, “No, thanks.”

• I tried Farsali's Jelly Beam Highlighter. I'd never heard of the brand, but they have a tiny section at Sephora that has, like, three items. No idea why. Especially because the highlighter itself is pretty incredible. I bought it solely because of the fact that it was a “jelly” (meaning that it jiggles) highlighter because I’m simple and that sounded fun. I think it looks especially amazing on collarbones.

• Nathan and I ate at Rosemary’s in the west village on my monthly Nathan-must-date-me night. He got the roast chicken and I got a kale and celery caesar salad. His chicken was insanely good and my salad just reminded me why celery should never be a main ingredient. It’s not its fault, it doesn’t know any better, but humans should know enough to understand that chomping on celery in any form sucks. Restaurant was beautiful and if I ordered better, I’d have more glowing things to say. My fault.

• I went for dinner at L’Artusi with a friend and had probably one of the top five best meals I've ever had in this city. We did wait awhile for a table, but we didn't have a reservation and it was a Saturday night so duh. We ordered one of the specials as an appetizer (the steak tartare) which was incredible then followed it with the insane garganelli with mushroom ragu that I will remember for the rest of my life. They also sent out a kale ravioli that was mind-blowing. And I'm not typically inclined to call kale-ANYthing "mind-blowing," so understand me clearly here. These pastas will change you. I can't wait to take more people here. The service was incredible. I really can't say enough good things about this place. Go nowhere else for pasta.

• I finally went to the Birch Coffee near my house and I'll keep this brief. A small iced coffee shouldn't cost $4 in 2018. A coffee shop should have a bathroom. A coffee shop that is "wifi free" shouldn't boast about that fact. Any business that is "cashless" is obnoxious and nobody likes you. The coffee tasted all right. That is all.

• I got the banana-chocolate pudding at Magnolia Bakery. Remember how much I already love the original banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery? Yeah, this one is better. It just is. Of course it is. Adding chocolate to something that was already perfect just makes sense. Give the people what they want.

• Tried some of the burger and the chicken sandwich at The Spotted Pig and MEH. I mean, yeah, they were good, but they’re ungodly expensive for what’s being put on your plate. And those skinny little fries that are piled up like a mountaintop? Deceiving. They tasted like air! They look like they're gonna be amazing, but you're left with a feeling of emptiness inside. Emptiness and hunger. A fry should taste like a fry. Basic physics here, guys. The main reason we went was because it was after midnight and for some reason their kitchen stays open late (possibly only to swindle you with $26 burgers when nothing else in the area is an option?)

• Got an advance screening pass to the movie Gotti. I went. I lasted 25 minutes and then left. Good god, DID IT BLOW. But of course it did. Why didn’t I know that going in? Well, I kinda did but it was free. Wow, was it terrible, though. Comes out next month on the 15th. Don't go.

• Last month I heard about Gofobo, which is a site that arranges free movie screenings near you and emails you to see if you want to go, it's amazing. I heard about it right before Nathan and I saw A Quiet Place last month (for free), so I just stayed on their mailing list. Unfortunately they also sent me my Gotti tickets, but I won't hold that against them since I'm the idiot who said, "Gotti? Sure, that seems fun!"

• Tried the Ginger Scallion Noodles (with pickled shiitakes, cucumber, nori) at Momofuku Noodle Bar. I’ve been here only once before, years ago, and I really just was in a noodle mood so I came again. It wasn’t terrible, but again, I think I ordered bad. I really wanted the Chilled Spicy Noodles (with sichuan sausage, Thai basil, cashews) but I was dissuaded by my waiter because he said it was overly spicy and then made a face. But then I got a look at it when someone else ordered it and knew I should’ve gotten it because it looked amazing, so I’ll get it next time and then tell you if it’s too spicy. Also, the Soju Slushie that is Spicy Lychee flavored was crazy good. Although that makes sense to me because when I went here years ago, their Singapore Sling slushie was also pretty memorable. 

• I went in looking for the s'mores pie slice that I've wanted to try for ages, but instead found the salted caramel brownie from Dean & DeLuca. And wow. Just wow.

• I finished watching Ugly Delicious on Netflix. I really can’t remember why I put this off for so long, considering how much I like well-shot food shows. For the most part, I thought it was all right, I wrote down a few food recommendations from it (like Lucali in Brooklyn). There were a few parts that made me not really like David Chang, though. They were such small parts, but I don’t know, they stayed with me. Like how during this one segment where he’s doing pizza deliveries alongside a real Dominoes delivery person, they’re going to a bunch of houses and then at the end David goes, “Are we done? Yeah, I’m not doing another fucking delivery.” I don't know, I'm probably reading too much into it, but I just hated the way he said that right infront of the grown man delivery guy. It was rude and belittling and I really didn't like it. As I said, I'm probably reading too much into it, but it bothered me. Other than that souring part, it was an all right series to watch. There were lame parts sprinkled here and there. I feel like I progressively liked it less as each episode went on and I don’t really know why. You know what the problem is? I think he just thinks he’s really cool and funny and doesn’t have a real sense of self and if he were a little more humble or warm as a person, it could’ve helped the overall tone of the series. 

• I also started watching Bill Hader's Barry on HBO because my brother Gary told me to. I'm only three episodes in and it's pretty good I guess? I mean, it is. I just haven't decided if I'll watch on or not.

• Nathan and I have started watching The Twilight Zone (on Netflix) and it's one of the best shows I've seen in such a long time. Obviously not every episode is a great one, but the ones that are? Watch out. We've seen about 40 episodes or so already and there have been at least 20 really great ones, and we're only a quarter of the way through the series. Love watching these at night before bed. This was the final quote from a recent episode we watched that I just loved, "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices - to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own - for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to The Twilight Zone." I mean, that's pretty good, yeah?! Love Rod Serling's voice so much, too. Such a great show. I wish I'd seen it when I was a kid.

Writing all of this down makes it seem like I have a great life, when in reality... oh my god I do. Excited for June!

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Song of the Summer

I may be a year late on this, but I’m just grateful that I’m not, like, five years late on how great this song is. SONG OF MY SUMMER, most likely. Apologies in advance to my upstairs neighbors for how many times this will be on repeat.