This is not a fluffy collection of happy go lucky recommendations. I would not suggest some of these to those who are prone to the sads. These are things I enjoy, you may not. I mean, it is only four topics deep so just let a duck quack if you catch my drift.

Movie: The Sunset Limited

For those who love theatre or just great acting performances, this Cormac McCarthy written juggernaut is as introspective as it is thick. Samuel Jackson is the Preacher who has just saved the life of a suicidal Professor (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and as the characters names go, so does this unflinching gem. If you are in the mood for theological think piece on the status of existence and secular morality, then peel back your brain and dip it into this juicy sauce. You can find it on Crave and can sign up for a month for free.

Runner up: HBO’s The Newsroom (3 seasons). What can I say, I love me some journalistic nostalgia porn.

Book: World War Z

This is a bit of a cheat because I’m going to suggest the audiobook version. This currently topical (save for the animated dead) collection is an immersive ear worm. I wouldn’t call it background noise because the subject matter is so enthralling, but you can totally do some menial chores or rebuild your seawater desalinator while listening to Max Brooks’ (Mel’s kid) post zombie war first-person geographical history. Ok, yes, the stories are great and the style of the book is very original but I’m can hear you asking, “Trent, why should I listen to a great series of anthropologically fictitious yarns when I could just read the book?” Good point faceless individual. I will answer your question with a question, can you make your brain words sound like F. Murray Abraham, Alan Alda, Mark Hamill, Denise Crosby, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Kal Penn, Becky Ann Baker, Simon Pegg, Jürgen Prochnow, Rob Reiner, Henry Rollins, Jeri Ryan, Martin Scorsese, Paul Sorvino, and John Turturro (amongst many others)? If yes, do you do birthday parties? If no, get your hands on the audio book.

Runner up: K is for Knifeball (gotta have a parent relevant portion somewhere in this post right?).

Meal: Spaghetti and meat sauce. Serves 4.

Meatballs are all the rage, I know ok? Get off my face about it. But my favourite comfort meal is as simple as falling off a very angry horse made out of fire.

Ingredients: 1 pound of meat (turkey/beef/chicken/veggie alternative). 1 can of tomato sauce. 1 can tomato paste. 4 cloves of garlic. 1 bell pepper. 2 stalks of celery. 1 small onion. 1 teaspoon salt. 1 teaspoon pepper. 2 tablespoons brown sugar. 4 servings worth of spaghetti (or seashell pasta if you are going to get fucking fancy).

Directions: Throw the meat and the diced garlic and diced onion into a pan and brown it all up. Then, throw the rest of the shit in there and smoosh it all together letting it simmer while you are cooking your pasta. Serve it with a side salad of your choice or eat it by itself like a barbarian (my fave). Put it into your face cave. Chew. Repeat.

Runner up: Mix two types of cereal together and pretend nobody has ever done it before. Talk openly about how astonishingly brilliant you are.

Mantra: The universe is indifferent so make the best of now because you are the only person who can do it for you.

Runner up: You are where you should be.