TV
Generally speaking, you’d be better served smashing your head through your television screen than allowing it to display anything that airs on MTV. That said, I recently stumbled upon Catfish: The TV Show, an hour-long reality program named after, and featuring the star of, the hit documentary of the same name. Here, we have a guy who travels around the country investigating online-only relationships. One of the more bizarre episodes finds a sassy blonde college student who thinks she’s in love with a chiseled male model, only to arrive at “his” house to find that the person she’d been emailing, texting and Facebooking with is actually a 16-year-old girl. It’s an amazingly creepy look at how online anonymity can lead down some dark paths.
BOOK
Sure, it’s the dead of winter and the idea of river rafting is still months away, but you can dream of summer adventures in the pages of Anything Worth Doing, winner of a 2012 National Outdoor Book Award. Written by Idaho’s own Jo Deurbrouck, the true story follows the whitewater exploits of Clancy Reece and Jon Barker, a thrill-seeking duo who, among other achievements, once paddled the Salmon River all the way to the Snake and Columbia rivers before eventually hitting the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps more engaging than their adventures is the lives of these two true Northwesterners.
BEER
Noticed anything different about the microbrew section of your favorite beer aisle? You’re seeing some cans, aren’t you? With lower shipping costs, better beer preservation and a more environmentally friendly result, Canned Beer is all over the place and it’s only going to become more omnipresent as time goes on. There’s something about sipping an outlandishly hoppy IPA like Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo or 21st Amendment Brewery’s Brew Free or Die out of an almost too-cold-to-hold container. It will take some time for everyone to realize that the bottle doesn’t make the beer, but in the meantime, pop a top and enjoy.
