Hivemind Times Issue #40

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

What’s up fellow reader of this glorious piece of writing.  We’re in mourning this week as the Cavs simply ran out of steam.  It was a great season and they’ve given us something to hope and pray for next year but until then it’s fuck Indiana. 

This week we’re full of all kinds of stuff: we got music to make you move in playlist and album form, a random sports announcement, classic video game nostalgia, and recipes is back!

The content engine continues to chug along as always, both on the main and unlimited so be sure to check back in as there’s all kinds of bangers dropping this month.  And as usual, have yourself a nice lil Friday will ya?

Enjoy this week and be kind to y’all.

- Riley & Graydon

WEEKLY PLAYLIST

Got into the Lil Wayne bag.  Ain’t nothing wrong with diving into WEEEZY F BABY every once in a while.

ALBUM RECS

Ben Gibbard’s electric sleeping giant of an album, a sweet quirky synth change from his main Death Cab For Cutie projects.  Although released in 2003, this album stands the test of time, man.  You’ve probably heard a few tracks in film/tv/commercials already anyway.  

For some reason this album makes me think of walking through Ikea, but in a good way - whatever that means.

SPORTS

The GOAT on NBC

Who could see this one coming?  Michael Jordan is joining the broadcast team at NBC for the NBA season next year.  We get to hear from the GOAT on the game he dominated for so many years.  

It’s uncertain how much and how often he’ll be involved in the broadcasts but if you watched The Last Dance then you got a flavor for MJ’s trash talking during the games and behind the scenes.  The question is, how much of that will spill over into his commentary.  I hope all of it.  

The style of play in the league has changed so dramatically in recent seasons, with the go-to shot now being the three, regardless of who the team is.  Maybe MJ got tired of watching guys chuck the ball on every possession and wants to voice his gripe on national TV.  

I guess he could just start a TikTok account and do that too?

VIDEO GAMES

A classic everyone should check out

A couple years ago I travelled to Tokyo on an aimless pursuit of finding ramen.  I stumbled into a store called Super Potato and immediately became blown away.  To give you perspective, imagine walking into GameStop and they have every single game and console that ever existed, either in mint or close to mint condition.  I was blown away. 

Immediately the lightbulb went off.  Earthbound has been my favourite game since I can remember and they always meant to release a North American sequel on the N64 but that project stalled until it was cancelled.  However, the Earthbound series started in Japan under the Japanese name Mother, with the first game being released on the Super Famicom (Japanese Super Nintendo).  

So I began my hunt for the Japanese version of Mother.  Yeah yeah, you can find the game now Switch Online, GBA with Mother 1+2, and a bunch of roms all over the internet.  And although I’ll never own a Super Famicom, I wanted the original cartridge, one of those collectible things just to have.  

If you’re an Earthbound fan you’ll appreciate this.  If you’ve never played the game, I highly recommend checking it out, the story is a lot of fun, quirky, and definitely before it’s time.

RECIPES

BIRRIA TACOS

Birria tacos, the upper echelon of melted Mexican goodness.

This one is so damn easy and so damn good.  You’re basically making a consumé and then throwing beef into it and letting it all soften up into pull apart magic.

What you need:

For the consommé…

4 Dried Guajillo Chile Peppers deseeded and stems removed

4 Dried Ancho Chile Peppers

1 medium White Onion peeled and quartered

2 large Roma Tomatoes, chopped

6 cloves Garlic

1 teaspoon Cracked Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander

1 tablespoon Mexican Oregano, dried

½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika

1 tsp Kosher Salt

3 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

2 bay leaves

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 1/2 cups Beef Broth

And then these things:

3 lbs Boneless Chuck Roast, cut into large chunks about 3-inch pieces

Kosher Salt & Pepper (for seasoning)

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Basically you brown your beef in the pot you’re going to cook it, then you add all the ingredients on top, let that shit simmer for like 4-6 hours (highly recommend just throwing it into a slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8) and then you’ve got your beef and consommé good to go.

For the tacos themselves, you take beef, cheese, fold the taco up and fry it on both sides to get the cheese all melty.  I like to add some onions and cilantro in there and WHOOOSH, dip that shit in the consommé.

So damn good.

MERCH