Plus sheetcake strains, dessert delivery, and a homework assignment.
AUGUST 12TH, 2023
Attention, New Yorkers! Angel Therapy Flower has officially landed in our fine city, exclusively at Gotham this week and rolling out to other dispensaries soon. If you’re yet not familiar with Angel Therapy, you might have heard of founder Marta Mae’s other projects—including Dieux (which I’m almost positive I’ve written about here before) and cannabis newsletter Nice Paper (currently on hiatus) before that. Marta has exacting taste and a singular, often celestial-inspired aesthetic, both of which come through in Angel Therapy’s packaging and quality. (She doesn’t call it “heaven-sent cannabis flower” for nothing!) There are three strains, each available in 3.5 gram pouches and clocking in around the 20% THC mark: Berry Sheetcake, a hybrid recommended for gentle euphoria and relaxation; Pizza Date, another hybrid earmarked for cozy couch pizza dinners; and Joyride Indica Cloud, which promises to take you on a “cruise in your mind through a vibrant garden.” I’ll be smoking some of the latter as soon as I finish writing this. -VvP
This past weekend I had the pleasure of stopping by Maggazino, a museum of Italian art just off Route 9 on the way to Cold Spring, NY. Their current exhibition, Arte Povera, features postwar and contemporary pieces by artists like Giovanni Anselmo and Mario Merz, all housed within a series of beautifully designed and interconnected galleries. And while such a space can often feel stuffy, small charming touches (like the free jar of their homemade jam or pickles visitors receive upon purchasing a ticket) made it surprisingly informal and familiar. Plus, saving the best for last, after viewing the art you can walk up the hill to visit their stable of Sardinian donkeys—they welcomed baby Dolce just last year—which was arguably my favorite part of the entire visit. They have a busy end of summer in store, with two outdoor Italian film screenings on the horizon, and the opening of the newest gallery on their campus on September 14th, so make a stop by! -PR
Some months ago, for obvious reasons, I was looking for a replacement for my Twitter addiction. I’ve tried all the clones and upstarts, but none has come close to filling that bird-shaped hole in my heart (and probably brain, from being on the app too much). I soon came to realize what I actually needed was not another device for doomscrolling and making myself miserable, but something to help me unwind and take my mind off literally everything going on in the world. Enter Hearts+. I hadn’t played the card game Hearts in, I don’t know, probably 20 years before randomly deciding to play a hand on my phone, but I haven’t looked back since. It’s one of those games that’s easy to be decent at, but takes a lot of skill to be really great (when playing against other humans). There’s significantly more strategy to Hearts than I was led to believe as a kid, with fakeouts, temporary alliances, sacrifices, and good ol’ backstabbing. The [Hearts+ app] is the best of them and I think the only one where you can play against other people in real time. Plus there’s only, like, seven lines of dialogue you can use to communicate with (“Nice one!” and “Ouch,” for example), so the potential for rancor is kept to a minimum and, unlike Twitter, nobody is sending me death threats because I don’t own a Tesla. I’m serious when I say drop me a line if you end up using the app and I’ll share my username (no, I’m not weedguy420). -DW
While our Windy City readers may already be familiar with Eli’s Cheesecake—a Chicago staple bakery that’s been producing the tastiest cheesecake in town for three generations—they’re now shipping nationwide. If you, like me, are currently trying to avoid turning on your oven at all costs, dessert delivery sounds heavenly. Flavors like Cherry Vanilla Bean, Blueberry Swirl, and Passionfruit Curd (a collab created with chef Natasha Pickowicz, whom you may remember as the creator of our kiwi oro blanco Delights) are all refreshing alternatives to grabbing something from Milk Bar or that viral WFM cake. -PR
I walked into a Barbie opening weekend screening a cynic, and left the theater completely delighted—and more surprisingly, actually moved by the sea of (predominantly) girls and gays of all ages dressed to the occasion in hot pink—by what has to be my favorite commercial I’ve ever seen. While corny at moments, it’s genuinely entertaining, at times very clever, a testament to the force of American marketing, and even better if you’re stoned. I’d recommend popping a sativa edible around 30 minutes before showtime, and like Oppeheimer, buying a ticket to see it on the “biggest fucking screen possible.” If you’re in a particularly silly mood, get a front row seat. -PR
To pick up what Paloma has put down, once you’ve seen Barbie, your follow up assignment is to read this essay by Leslie Jamison in the New Yorker on the existential conflict of women’s real-life experiences with Barbie, and then email me your thoughts. -VvP