PicoBlog

Gamache's decision to appoint Robert Lemeiux to homicide? I don't think that Gamache ever does anything for an obvious or straightforward reason. Can't say anything more because... spoilers, LOL. By the ending, do you mean finding out that Crie was CC's murderer? Or the paper bag from Billy Williams that Reine-Marie gives Armand? The first, I knew because of seeing Three Pines before I read this book (I actually only realized I'd missed the early books because of the series).

This is not a hard column to write. In fact, I wrote it twice already! But last night’s debate performance by Joe Biden is the end of his campaign. It’s over. Done. No sane person can possibly believe that this man is capable of being president now, let alone for another four years. No sane person can vote for him. And watching him barely capable of finishing a sentence, staring vacantly into the middle distance, unable to deliver a single coherent message even when handed an ideal question, incapable of any serious rebuttals to Trump’s increasingly deranged lies … well, the first thing I felt was intense sadness.

After seven years on the grounds of Buffalo RiverWorks and the adjacent Buffalo RiverFest Park, the annual Music is Art festival is moving back to the Elmwood Village region.  The 2024 Music is Art Festival will take place on some 17 stages spread across the grounds of both the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and Buffalo State University on Saturday, September 21.  The Festival, which debuted in Allentown in 2002,  made its home on the grounds of the AKG and neighboring Delaware Park for several years, beginning in 2007.

Quesadillas sin queso en Tepoztlán, 2019. I still remember how terrible I was at making quesadillas as a child, often burning them to a charr with half-melted slices of thick white cheese. I didn’t understand the science yet. It was the first thing I learned to cook for myself, making one is crucial knowledge in any Mexican kitchen––cook or not. Quesadillas feed us. They are at once a complete meal and an antojito––versatile, adaptable, and made quickly.

A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

Trend 1. The gaming market has recovered and will continue its growth.Newzoo notes that the gaming market reached $184 billion in 2023. By 2026, the company expects a cumulative annual growth rate of 1.3%, reaching $205.4 billion. Trend 2. Companies will take fewer risks in 2024.64% of representatives in the gaming industry agree with Newzoo's forecast. Trend 3. Growth in subscribers to subscription services will slow down.82% of surveyed gaming industry employees agree with this trend.

Sources tell me that former Chesa Boudin staffer Ryan Khojasteh will hold a press conference at 12:15 p.m. tomorrow, Jan. 26, at the Department of Elections to announce a run for San Francisco District Attorney. If the name sounds familiar, Khojasteh penned a whiny San Francisco Chronicleopinion piece titled “Brooke Jenkins just fired me and 14 others. I have no idea how the D.A.’s office will run without us.” In it the former public defender wrote, “I was on vacation and on my way to a wedding the day Jenkins and two representatives from human resources called me on my personal cell phone to fire me.

By Erica C. Barnett Former senior deputy mayor Monisha Harrell was pulled over in Greenwood on Sunday by a police officer, Jay Mackey, who told her he was checking for stolen vehicles in the area, Harrell said. Mackey told Harrell he pulled her over because he couldn't read her license plate under a clear plastic cover that Harrell says has been on the car since 2016. "I asked him why they were trying to read my license plate—what makes me, in my 2016 [Subaru] Outback, a target?

“If sarcasm is the lowest form of wit,” asks Dr. Willis Stone of London, “what is the highest?” Alright, I purloined this question from this week’s Notes and Queries letterbag in The Guardian. Forgive me, it was so sweet and so cold! Plus, it’s the 100th issue of this newsletter, so I feel like I’ve earned it. Like when you do 15 minutes on the elliptical and reward yourself with a wheelbarrow of cheeseburgers.