Olive and Mabel Update

 Back in May, we shared some dog videos from UK announcer Andrew Cotter. Marshaling all of his announcing prowess to the task of gently mocking his dogs, Cotter has developed a loyal following, gotten a book deal, and reminded us all just how much we love our dogs--no matter how much grass they eat. 

Here's a few more of his videos that have come out in the ensuing weeks. Enjoy! 

"Some kind of" in Star Trek

We love Star Trek around here. Kirk, Spock, Picard, Riker, Data, Sisko, Dax, Worf. We love them all. Over the years, Star Trek has come to rely on a steady stable of tropes--the Holodeck goes crazy, Data takes over the Enterprise, Worf can't open doors, and the list goes on and on. 

The intrepid YouTuber Ryan's Edits, who splices bloopers into real Star Trek scenes, has created a video detailing the biggest Star Trek trope of all--describing something as "some kind of." Enjoy! 

New Orleans Restaurant Industry Updates

The restaurant industry is at the heart of New Orleans and Louisiana. The old joke about New Orleans was that it had a thousand restaurants and only one menu--so devoted were locals and local chefs to the same creole and cajun staples that are nearly cliches--red beans and rice, jambalaya, gumbo, and shrimp étouffée. 

In recent years, the New Orleans restaurant industry has seen a steady diversification of its restaurants. Alon Shaya at Shaya and then Saba offers some of the best Israeli food in the country. Nina Compton's Compere Lapin is true New Orleans fusion cooking, mixing the flavors of the Caribbean with old New Orleans favorites. Vietnamese cuisine has long been a prominent feature of the New Orleans culinary landscape. A banh mi is just a stone's throw away from a po'boy. 

Since the pandemic, however, the New Orleans restaurant industry is struggling to survive. We thought we'd highlight some recent articles about the goings on in the NOLA restaurant industry. 

The New Yorker had a recent piece about Compere Lapin's Nina Compton and her efforts to reopen amidst the pandemic. The article also explores Compton's rise in the context of the growing emphasis on BIPOC-owned restaurants and restauranteurs. 

Ian McNulty at the Advocate wrote an obituary for chef Leon West. West, a longtime staple of the New Orleans food scene, never had a restaurant of his own, but was tremendously influential amongst the BIPOC food community in the Crescent City. 

Eater New Orleans has been keeping track of the restaurant openings and closings due to the pandemic. The site also has a guide to helping out restaurants in need. 

Saints 2020: One Last Run?

 

The New Orleans Saints begin their 2020 season Sunday September 13 in the Superdome against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (that sounds weird doesn't it?). After last year’s division title and loss in the Wild Card round to the Vikings, expectations in the Big Easy are high. As quarterback Drew Brees enters his age-41(!) season, it’s now or never for the Saints to bring home another Super Bowl title. 

The leading projection systems are in line with fan expectations. ESPN’s Football Power Index projects New Orleans to go 10-6 with a 82.4% chance to make the playoffs. The Saints have the third-highest odds to win the Super Bowl (12.9%) behind the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens.  Football Outsides gives the Saints the best chance of winning Super Bowl LIV at 15.4%. 

Rather than do a traditional preview, let’s look at the big questions confronting the Saints this season. The answers will determine whether New Orleans will have a socially distanced parade (is that a thing?) or finally close the chapter on the Brees era with another season of disappointment.

Can Brees remain Brees for one more year? 

At age 40, Brees continues to set records. He led the NFL in completion percentage last year--74.3% just a tenth of a percentage short of his career and NFL record of 74.4% set in 2018. His passing yardage was down significantly, from 3,992 to 2,979. He threw only 27 TDs compared to 32 in 2018. Yet Brees threw 4 interceptions. The Saints still have plenty of offensive talent in Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara. At this point, there's little reason to bet against Brees continuing to be his old self. 

The question facing the Saints is is this the beginning of the end? The aging curve for 41 year old quarterbacks isn’t pretty. Remember what happened to Peyton Manning in Denver or Brett Favre in Minnesota? But even a diminished Brees is still better than most other quarterbacks in the NFL. In other words, who knows how Brees will play against the ageless Brady and the Bucs, but the Saints' Super Bowl hopes ride on #9. 

How Good is the Defense? 

After years of languishing at the bottom of the league in team defense thanks to a series on inept coordinators and bad drafting, the Saints defense has gotten good again. In 2019, they finished 11th in Football Outsiders DVOA after finishing 11th in 2018. The unspoken rule of the Saints in the Brees era is that the team goes as far as the defense. With even a league average defense, the Saints are Super Bowl contenders as long as Brees is under center and Sean Payton is calling the plays. 

Over the last few years, New Orleans has invested significant draft capital on defense including first round picks on Sheldon Rankins, Marshon Lattimore, and Marcus Davenport and second round picks on Marcus Williams and Vonn Bell. 

Defensive performance, however, varies significantly from season to season. Last season the Saints finishing 17^th in Football Outsiders’ Adjusted Games Lost. But injury luck also doesn’t hold over from season to season. The Saints defense may look good on paper, but if Lattimore or star pass-rusher Cameron Jordan miss time, then it will be difficult for the Saints to replicate their defensive success from past years. 

Can the Saints keep winning close games? 

In 2019, New Orleans went 6-1 in games decided by seven points or less. Performance in one score games varies from year to year because it depends on just a handful of plays to break one way or another. 

Against Houston in Week 1, Will Lutz hit a 58 yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the game to win the game for the Saints 30-28. Against Dallas in Week 4, the Saints got only 4 field goals against the Cowboys. A touchdown on either side would have determined the game. This season, those plays might not go the Saints way.  

Last season, the Saints went 13-3, but lost in the Wild Card round to the Vikings. In order to reach that point, a lot had to go right for New Orleans—a good defense, health, and luck mostly—and New Orleans will need those to happen again to give Drew Brees, Sean Payton, and the people of the Crescent City their second Super Bowl title.  

Some Pandemic TV Recommendations

We all need things to watch and now there are a myriad of streaming services to cater to our every entertainment need. Come on in Netflix! You, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are old friends, so let's welcome some new guys to the group. HBO Max! Disney+! Whatever Quibi is ???? With all that in mind, let's go through some recommendations to keep you sane in this increasingly crazy world. 

What We Do in the Shadows (Hulu): Based on the 2014 mockumentary of the same name, What We Do in the Shadows follows the story of three vampires: Nandor the Relentless, a former Ottoman soldier and married vampires Laszlo and Nadja through their mundane existence in Staten Island. Originally sent to the New World to enslave humanity, the three vampires just can't be bothered. The brilliance of this FX show is that it undermines vampire tropes at every turn. Laszlo, Nadja, and Nandor are petty and stupid with petty and stupid grudges to match. Laszlo refuses to give up a hat that is clearly cursed. Their roommate and reluctant vampire friend Craig Robinson is an energy vampire, draining the energy out of humans by being boring or frustrating, perfectly suited for corporate America. Despite the length of their stay in America, Laszlo, Nadja, and Nandor remain utterly unable to interact with humans or understand how to enslave humanity. Mostly they just want to drink blood and turn themselves into bats. 

Lovecraft Country (HBO Max): This imaginative take on the writings of noted sci-fi/horror writer H.P. Lovecraft is engrossing fan fiction (in the best possible way). With an impeccable cast and production values, showrunner Misha Green has spun Lovecraft's blatant bigotry and racism into a story of black America in the 1950s where the monsters are supernatural and all too real--vigilante posses of white men, racist sheriffs, and the general awfulness of racist whites. Throw in some Lovecraftian monsters, family drama, and a mysterious silver Bentley that seems impervious to the laws of physics and you've got an intriguing and enthralling show. 

 

Schitt's Creek (Netflix): Created by comedy legend Eugene Levy (every Christopher Guest mockumentary) and his son Daniel, the show follows the fabulously wealthy Rose family after their falling victim to a Bernie Madoff-type fraudster. Forced to live in the town of Schitt's Creek, which family patriarch Johnny had purchased as a gag years before, the family shares two rooms in a rundown motel. Along the way, they deal with wife Moira's inability to adjust to small town life, son David's neuroses and inability to give up control over anything, and daughter Alexis's hilariously fraught past running from warlords and gambling for her friends' lives. Schitt's Creek thrives on the interaction between the family and their loving, if demented dynamic. Fellow mockumentary regular Catharine O'Hara shines as Moira and Annie Murphy is wonderfully chipper as the aspiring Alexis.