Algorithm-Free Reco List, No. 28

New year, new nubbins to evangelize!

Hello!

Here’s some stuff I can’t shut up about.

If you have stuff you can’t shut up about, please tell me about it (or reach out about doing a guest edition)!

For 2026, I’d love to find more people who do not consider themselves writers to contribute. If this is you, let’s talk! This container is flexible! (This also applies if you are a writer.)

Me making small talk about “what I did on my winter vacation”

The Celebrity Traitors UK

If you are a fan of The Traitors US, particularly the chaotic desperation of reality stars being reality stars, you will not find that here. The Celebrity Traitors (the name’s confusing, I know, but regular The Traitors UK is 100% normies) is a polite endeavor. I was originally convinced to tune in by Fran Hoepfner’s recommendation, and can confirm that these British comedians are largely awful at gameplay. They do not engage in nemesis-building. They are unwilling or unable to whip votes. They have collective amnesia at every roundtable. AND YET. The cutie charisma is unmatched and you are guaranteed to walk away with at least one new crush.

“It’s the best job ever. Don’t do it.” by Hannah Sellers

Loved this interview with Alex Ry by Hannah Sellers in Catdroool’s Corner about leaving a design career to become a USPS mail carrier. This is also my endorsement for Alex’s journals. I am currently using one of them as an illustrated pastry log.

Ditching Spotify

After a bit of research, mostly thanks to this analysis from Brian Merchant and a poll of my friends, I went with Qobuz. Bad name, but otherwise does what I need it to. High horse or not, it does indeed feel great to be taking actions that are more aligned with my values.

“This life gives you nothing” by Blackbird Spyplane

This essay from Blackbird Spyplane is about reading Proust for an hour each morning as a way to “remind myself that I’m an adult and my attention is my own.” It made me think a lot about how much I love independent study and personal reading projects. I’ve just started several of my own and will be reporting back once they’re cooking.

Catalog Choice

I love physical media, but I cannot stand getting catalogs I never signed up for in the first place. I’ve been using Catalog Choice to unsubscribe, and so far, so good.

“All Culture is Fast Casual Now” by Isle McElroy

This is technically the subtitle of Isle McElroy’s “2025 Grift Guide” (yes, grift, not gift!). But I can’t stop thinking about it, particularly this bit:

“We are living through the Chipotleification of the American Mind. The movie is just good enough to fall asleep to on a plane; it stars actors scooped out of room temperature tubs. The novel is filling but flavorless, dressed in a long squeeze of ambiguous lyricism, its ideas and characters tossed together glumly in a large metal bowl. Every viral essay reminds you of an essay you read at another magazine. Each new thing is a little bit different from everything else but bad in the same way, a new expression of elevated slop with no intention of making you feel or think anything new…[I]f you live off fast-casual books and criticism and movies and music, soon it will be all we have—and all that we know how to consume.”

Whoever is leaving critters in my neighborhood’s free little libraries

Yesterday I was having a shit morning, went on a walk, saw this little charmer, and felt instantly better.

Making a LESS/MORE list for 2026

Did this today with Chelsea Bieker via The Fountain! A caveat: I’m a sucker for resolution culture because I love rules. However, I think this would feel a lot less intense for those who decidedly do not. (It’s exactly what it sounds like—a bunch of stuff you want less of, a bunch of stuff you want more of, and bonus: a small, tangible action you’ll take today toward one of them.)

This chocolate chip cookies recipe

Perfect for anyone who has not baked anything in a long time but wants to dabble in a low stakes, low effort situation. You do not need a mixer! You do not need to wait for butter to soften! Make them exactly as big as the recipe tells you (GIANT)!

This newsletter brought to you by:

• Me spending the last 36 hours doing a deep dive on Cat Burns. If you know where all those Traitors looks are from, particularly the grey cardigan, please report back.

• Having an full temper tantrum about a week straight of rain in LA and being cured by a combination of Bodies Bodies Bodies (grateful to be old!) and eating in-person at Casa Bianca Pizza Pie.

• A Trader Joe’s Chocolate Baton.