Talenti gelato containers
Talenti ice cream—I beg your pardon, gelato e sorbetto—is good. It’s not the greatest pint out there (Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream lives up to its name when not being recalled for listeria), but for the price, Talenti is hard to beat. Its sorbets especially, like the pure, concentrated Roman Raspberry, are where it’s at. But Talenti’s joys don’t end once the last teaspoon of Mediterranean Mint has been scraped from the container. In my apartment (and many friends’ apartments), the Talenti containers themselves live a second life storing beans, grains, dried herbs, and spare change. With their screw-top lids, they’ve become my go-to for vinaigrette making (i.e., shaking) and transporting. The containers’ plastic makes for a lighter load than glass jars, which is especially nice if you carry your work lunch on public transportation, and they don’t leak oily dressing like Tupperware can. What’s more, Talenti has noted on its FAQ page that the containers are BPA-free (though not microwave- or dishwasher-safe) and ready to be used “for all your container needs!”—as though I’m not the first to repurpose them. [Laura Adamczyk]
Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso
Most of my favorite Batman stories are more concerned with his impact on the people around him than they are about criminals getting beaten up, and Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso’s Dark Night: A True Batman Story is literally all about that—but with a nonfiction twist. As indicated by the title, Dark Night is an autobiographical tale about Dini’s life, with everything revolving around a physically and mentally traumatic beating he got one night while getting mugged. At the time, Dini was a writer for Batman: The Animated Series (he’s the co-creator of Harley Quinn and the guy behind “Almost Got ’Im,” possibly my favorite Batman story ever), and he had an unsurprisingly difficult time going back to writing a cartoon about a guy who always swoops down and saves the day when all he could do in real life was close his eyes and hope he didn’t get killed. The big hook of Dark Night, though, is that Dini frequently visualizes Batman and his villains coming to life and speaking to him, giving (usually awful) advice or criticizing him for his flaws—like one particular scene where Poison Ivy prods Dini about a time he cut himself after being stood up by a date. It’s pretty harrowing stuff, but Risso’s art—which shifts between cartoony softness and Frank Miller-esque darkness—makes it feel almost like any other Batman comic. It’s just that this one is true. [Sam Barsanti]
Who? Weekly
I have become a devotee of Who? Weekly, a highly entertaining podcast about celebrities, specifically the ones whose ubiquitous presence confounds. Hosts Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger have built their own language for talking about famous people, bisecting the tabloid landscape into Whos and Thems. Whos are often questionably notable; Thems have earned their recognition. For example, Rita Ora is a Who—in fact, the podcast deems her the “Who Queen” and checks in on her activities regularly—and Jennifer Lawrence is a Them. But that’s overly simplistic, given that Weber and Finger have written about their philosophy at length. Despite its name, Who? actually arrives twice a week: In one episode, Weber and Finger choose the talking points, and in the other, “Who’s There,” they take Who-related questions and/or comments from fans. I’ve never been one to go all Sleepless In Seattle, but I understand why people call in to Who? Weekly. The more I listen, the more I start to crave what Finger and Weber will say about these randos. Recently, they’ve discussed Colleen Ballinger, Lisa D’Amato, and Lukas Graham. Who? Yes. Exactly. The brilliance of the show lies in Weber and Finger’s savvy media analysis, while also indulging in their own obsessions and being flat out funny. Good form, Bella Thorne. [Esther Zuckerman]