It’s my favorite way to spend an evening. Sitting around—with my husband, with friends, with family—and just hanging out. Telling stories. Talking sh*t. Add some music and cocktails (say, this French 75) and you’ve got a perfect night. OK, actually, a perfect night would also involve cake, but now I’m getting carried away.
Below, my coworker Alia shares an article, and technically also a book, about why the simple act of hanging out is so important—and a dying art. As a parent of teenagers, I can attest to the younger generation’s resistance, verging on inability, to just sit around. In person. Sans screens.
We also share our favorite soundtracks for sitting around and a couple shows and a book for other ways to pass the time.
Our favorite music for sitting around
Are people still down to hang out? In Sheila Liming’s book Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time, she argues that “We’re all losing the ability to engage in what I view as the pinnacle of human interaction: sitting around with friends and talking shit,” something she’s observed in adults, her children, and her college-age students.
The article “The case for hanging out” was penned by Dan Kois, who read the book and agreed with Liming—and then took her advice to take risks and create opportunities to hang out by going to Liming’s town and spending the day hanging out with her. As both Liming and Kois write, people, especially young people, tend to overly schedule and plan. They hesitate to ask one another to just hang out—perhaps as a result of smartphones, social media, and the pandemic. But Kois’s experience hanging out with Liming will likely remind people to just reach out, hang out, and tell some stories. It’s a worthy way to spend your time with others.
Alia Samhat
partner
Go to Alia’s pick
When I first saw the trailer for the TV show The Parent Test, I assumed it was just another judgmental reality show. But I was wrong. The show focuses on 12 different families, each with their own parenting style: helicopter parents, free range, traditional, new age, and everything in between. Each family was given challenges to work through with their children using their specific parenting style. The other families reacted with their thoughts or their own experiences and made an effort to learn from each other—without a hint of judgment. In the end, one parenting style was deemed the “winner.” The show offered an opportunity for me, a parent of three young children, to reflect on my own parenting style—and it forced me to reconsider the stereotypes I had of other styles.
Go to Becky’s pick
Becky O’Brien project manager
Caty Mick project manager
“Lady Columbo.” That’s how I’ve been affectionally referring to Rian Johnson’s television series Poker Face on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock. This murder-of-the-week “howcatchem” mystery show stars Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a mullet-topped, cigarillo-smoking casino waitress who has a preternatural ability to call out people’s BS by watching the “tells” in their voice and facial expressions. Like Peter Falk in the wonderful Columbo series (also streaming on Peacock), the real fun of the show isn’t figuring out whodunit but watching the protagonist use their unassuming attitude and sharp observation skills to catch culprits in their lies.
The show is filled with A-list guest stars and the plots are well crafted. And it is uniquely colored and composed, which feels like an homage to television shot on film. It’s as easy and fun as a murder mystery show can get.
Just one more thing: if you saw Glass Onion and wondered why Benoit Blanc’s bathtub Skype included Lyonne among famous TV detectives, the mystery is solved.
Go to Caty’s pick
As someone who loves to cook, I thought I knew it all—mis en place, tasting as you go, how to properly cut an onion, the works. The book Mastering Spice showed me I was wrong. Lior Lev Sercarz and Genevieve Ko’s guide to spiceful cookery is chock full of recipes. It is somehow simultaneously detailed and easy to follow, simple to execute and a whirlwind dash around the kitchen—and I guarantee it will expand the frontiers of your spice knowledge. Their recipes combine the energy of a line cook, the coziness of home cooking, and the knowledge of a master spice-ologist for a fun, engaging, satisfying cooking experience. And best of all, it’s all food you’ll actually eat.
Go to Claire’s pick
Claire Holland editor
David:
Ambient 1: Music for Airports by Brian Eno
Clair:
Spotify’s Dinner Party Mix
Annie M:
Handpicked with Norah Jones: Songs about what it’s like to be human
Jen B:
WXRT Chicago’s 80’s station
Karen:
Anything by Madeleine Peyroux
Juan:
Metaphorical Music by Nujabes
Joe:
Coming Home by Leon Bridges or anything by Caamp
Rebekah:
This Empty Northern Hemisphere by Gregory Alan Isakov
Ross:
Anything by
Dionne Warwick
Tiana:
Playlists by Putumayo
Tracy:
“Summer Madness” by Kool & The Gang