What I’m Reading: I read this piece by a guy currently in Philly who was a member of Robert E Lee’s fraternity. Interesting piece. There is certainly a cult of personality around Lee in Virginia. I was taught all that nonsense: what a gentleman he was, all these absurd fables about how kind he was to blacks and sweet to the ladies.

What I’m Listening To: Been playing around with playlists on Spotify. Created this one for quizzo this week: All Philly performers.

What I’m Eating: A couple of weeks ago, some folks from Small Oven came by the quiz at Dock Street. TBH, I didn’t even know the place existed before that. But it’s a shared space with Porco’s and I was there at lunch so I tried the Spicy Porker. Nice space, very good sandwich. Great addition to the Washington Ave corridor.

Where I’m Drinking: Went with the fam to The Post last weekend. It seems to be more of a college hangout, but I got to say, it was an awesome place to take my kid. They’ve got Pop a Shot, they’ve got Skeeball, they’ve got air hockey. And really good Happy Hour specials. (It’s also the place we interviewed John Bolaris a few months ago. If you haven’t heard that one, you have to. Him talking about what happened in Miami is incredible.)

Where I’m Taking in the View: Don’t have to go far for this one. Finally made it up to Cira Green. Beautiful. Already talking to them about possibly doing some events there this spring.

Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to join me on twitter and be sure to listen to Philly’s best podcast, the Philly Blunt. For more great places to eat, drink, and visit in the area, check out previous Friday Fives here.

COOL AS HELL THING WE DID THIS WEEK:

Took my kid to iFly in King of Prussia. Awesome! Just unreal seeing your kid flying.

WHAT I’M READING: This article on “shit-life syndrome” and how the Dems are completely oblivious to it. Desperate people want answers to their problems, they could give a shit about Russia or the Ukraine or any of the things that twitter obsesses over on any given day. The Dems (other than Bernie) continue to base their campaign on assuaging the hurt feelings of middle class coastal whites while ignoring people who need help.

Shit-life syndrome is not another fictitious illness conjured up by the psychiatric-pharmaceutical industrial complex to sell psychotropic drugs. It is a reality created by corporatist rulers and their lackey politicians—pretending to care about their minimum-wage-slave constituents, who are trying to survive on 99¢ boxed macaroni and cheese prepared in carcinogenic water, courtesy of DuPont or some other such low-life leviathan.

The thing that the article gets wrong is that Bernie fans gave up on him because he backed Clinton in 2016. That’s absurd. Nobody but the most radical leftists dropped off the Bernie train because he did that.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO: Some of the hottest rappers out right now (not including pop mumble bullshit) are from, of all places, Buffalo. Griselda is a group and a record company that was signed by Eminem’s Shady records. As Stereogum says: This music is firmly and proudly out of step with right-now rap music. Reminds me quite a bit of 90s era Wu Tang, and this video was directed by another 90s legend, Hype Williams. NSFW. I also really dig this song they did with the legendary DJ Premier.

WHERE I’M EATING:

Two places: Loco Pez recently opened in my hood at 20th and Bainbridge. Good food, good drink, and love the interior. They also have a great happy hour deal: half off nachos, and they’ve got damn good nachos…even better, that happy hour extends to the weekend, as they have a 1 to 3 pm happy hour on weekends. Also, Banh Mi Cali on the corner or 9th and Arch. No frills, no thrills, just a damn good banh mi.

COOL QUIZ I HOSTED THIS WEEK:

Did one for the Phillies front office in the Diamond Club at CBP. Pretty sweet. If you dig the Friday Five, be sure to follow me on twitter. Thanks!

Best Way to See Christmas Lights: Did the Founding Footsteps Christmas Lights show this past Sunday, and oh man was it great. A BYO trip through Philly with live Christmas music, it’s a great way to look at the city in a whole different way. There’s a fun Christmas pop-up bar to start off. Then it’s all aboard, and you head to South Smedley Street to see the lights there. Off to the Miracle on 13th Street, past the City Hall lights, and over to the Art Museum, where you get to check out the enormous tree. Just a really fun tour, and the guy who runs it, Tim, is an awesome dude. This isn’t some big corporate monolith going through the motions. This is a Philly owned and operated business sharing their love of the city, and it comes through in the tour. Highly recommend. You can get tickets here.

Where I’m grabbing pizza: Is it my favorite pizza in town? No. Is it always service with a smile? No. But there’s still something special about Lorenzo’s. The comically large slices, the number of people there with bloodshot eyes, the communal sense of everyone eating around the same counter. When I first moved here, I was a regular…I was dead broke, and $2 was a good price for a meal. The price has gone all the way up to $4.50 over the past 18 years, but it’s still a good deal.

Underrated Christmas Lights: The old Lit Brothers building on Market street has one of the most underrated light shows in town.

What I’m Listening To: Slow Burn, a podcast by Slate. They did a great one about Watergate a couple of years ago. They came back this year with a solid one on Biggie and Tupac.

What Local Legend I Got to Hang Out This Week: The Geator with the Heater, the Boss With the Hot Sauce. Jerry Blavat sat down with the Philly Blunt on Thursday night (if you don’t know who he is, you should read this excellent 2008 Philly Mag piece on him). Oh man, it was so much fun. His stories about Chuck Berry, Sammy Davis, and Angelo Bruno were incredible. Episode drops next week. In the meantime, be sure to listen to our interview with DJ Rich Medina.

What I’m enjoying: Maploco. Stumbled across this website this week. It lets you post every state you’ve ever visited. My rules for visiting: must have had a meal there and either shopped or seen a cultural attraction. Zooming through at 65 MPH doesn’t count (I’ve driven through Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, but have never “visited”.) I’ve been lucky enough to take two cross country trips in my life (humblebrag), which certainly helped knock a lot of states off the list. Of states I’ve enjoyed visiting the most, I think I’d have to say Colorado, California, and Maine. Well besides Hawaii, which is pretty much 50x better than any other state in the country.

What I’m watching: Like everyone else on earth, I’m watching the Irishman. I enjoyed it. The epilogue didn’t need to be 50 minutes, but otherwise I thought it was very good. If you’re like most people and don’t have 3.5 hours to sit down and watch a movie, I found the above breakdown quite useful. I’ve also thought Pacino was a bit overrated, but I have to say that I really enjoyed him as Hoffa. I thought Sheeran should have been played by someone younger than DeNiro but it didn’t bother me too much. And I thought Scorcese was great. This is when he’s at his best, telling a slow, sprawling story. The details were a ton of fun. You could look at the screen and tell by the fashion, furniture, etc. what year it was. That was really a highlight of the film. If you enjoyed the movie, you should ABSOLUTELY listen to our interview with George Anastasia.

What I’m reading: Read a couple of awesome long reads this week. This GQ article about conditions atop Mount Everest is absolutely nuts. Basically anybody with a few bucks can climb to the top, no questions asked. Meanwhile, this NJ.com article about a 1990 high school football game that devastated a coach and the star QB is absolutely terrific…and involves the Eagles offensive coordinator. The video above is also by NJ.com and accompanies the piece.

What I’m Listening to: The Dropout, a podcast about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, is absolutely riveting. I watched a documentary about this, and it was actually kind of boring. But this podcast by ABC News is terrific. Just amazing what a huge scam she was running, and how many people got duped because they wanted to believe in it. In the words of Public Enemy, Don’t Believe the Hype, and it was all hype. An insane amount of it. But no product.

Random Thing I Really Like: The “upcoming shows” bulletin board at Franky Bradley’s. Just walked by it on my way to the store the other day, and really enjoyed looking at it. A well done, colorful and sexy collage.

See ya next week. In the meantime, follow me on twitter.