Recommended!

[rabid_fox]

I like sharing. Wouldn't it be nice to have a thread where we could share the things we like? Well, if this takes off, we can have that thread. I say that each post should recommend one thing so as you can give a full explanation of it. Could be anything. A type of food, a film you've seen, a song you like, a band you like, a course you've taken, anything at all. The thing is, if you do try something out, give the person who posted it originally some feedback. Not "Oh, I already know that" feedback but "I tried it out/downloaded it/did it and it was great/ok/awful". I've seen this topic really have mass success in other places, cause it can have real life impact.

I'm going to start with tuna napolatina. It's a really simple meal to make. You can pick up the sauce mix in most grocery stores. If you like creamy pasta dishes, this is for you. Takes about half an hour to brew up and it's just glorious with a sprinkle of cheese. If you live in UK you know where to look in Tescos and all the instructions for cooking are on the packet.

Tuna napolatina. For the win.

[bill]

I recommend Primanti Brothers Sandwiches in Pittsburgh, PA, if you want to die early of heart failure.

[thegayhare]

I recommend Primanti Brothers Sandwiches in Pittsburgh, PA, if you want to die early of heart failure.

I saw that place featured on the food network

[Janus Whitefurr]

If anyone comes to Australia I'll treat you to some of the frigging awesome local pies from the shop. I have never had a better pie~ and for food, they are indeed great.

Off the topic of food, I will cheerfully recommend the viewing my latest anime acquisition and love: Heat Guy J

[RJ]

If anyone comes to Australia I'll treat you to some of the frigging awesome local pies from the shop. I have never had a better pie~ and for food, they are indeed great.

Ridgey Didge makes the best meat pies and sausage rolls, IMO. I don't even eat meat pies usually, but they make awesome ones.

[Tapewolf]

Since this seems to have turned into 'Pie shops of the world', let me just nominate Green's of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK.  Truly among the best meat-and-potato pies in existence.

http://www.southlakes-uk.co.uk/chip/greenspies.jpg

People go there from miles around and the queue on a Saturday literally stretches down the street.

[Faerie Alex]

How 'bout a museum.

If you're in the NY, NY metro area, I recommend the Cradle of Aviation Museum (if you're into that sort of thing). Map. It focuses a bit more on Long Island aviation (Grumman & Republic, among others). Notable exhibits include a surviving lunar module and a replica clean room where it was built. The particularly cool thing about the museum is that many of the people who give tours/explain the exhibits used to work at Grumman. Additionally, the museum includes an Imax theater. Access to it from local roads is a bit more difficult than from the Meadowbrook Parkway, due to the odd one-way road structure, though its a bit better now that they have roadsigns for it. Near Roosevelt Field (former airport, now a shopping mall) and Long Island Children's' Museum. The Firefighters' Museum is in the annex building (separate admission for the Firefighters' Museum, annex is included with main admission). Somewhat confusing is that the atrium is labeled "Reckson Center," the Imax dome behind it is labeled for the museum itself. Open Tuesday-Sunday.

[Ryudo Lee]

How 'bout a state in the US?

I live in Louisiana, this most people know.  We've been making a ton of progress since Katrina, and even though there are still some straggelers out there, we're pretty much back on track.  But I digress.  It's very difficult to pin down any one thing that you must eat or do when you get down here.  There's certainly a lot to choose from.  But the one thing, aside from gumbo, that you must eat on is one of our roast beef poboys (you people up north call 'em submarine sandwiches, or hero sandwiches).  Depending on where you go to get the sandwich they can be from either a foot to a foot and a half long, and the gravy will just drip down your arms.  That's good eatin'.  And if you go out into the country, the food only gets better and better (try the boudin, it's awesome).  We've gotten the street cars back up and running in New Orleans, going up and down Canal Street and St. Charles Ave so you've definitely got to see that.  And then you've got the French Quarter which, as any tourist should know, you need to bar crawl in at least once.  And then there are the ghost tours, the city tours by horse-n-buggy, the Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium of the Americas, and of course, the steamboats.  But all of the attractions are not just in the Crescent City.  There are a bunch of old plantation homes still standing that you can go and visit.  In fact, my grandparents live across the street from Arlington Plantation.  My home state is a great place to explore, see the sights, and even gain a few pounds.

[Fuyudenki]

If you're from Colorado, may I recommend visiting Louisiana in the winter or early Spring.  You'll get a second summer that year, and I dread what it's like in the actual summer.

Also, if you're going to go, I highly recommend volunteering to help with disaster relief, if you're not too God-phobic.  There's a church outside of New Orleans which shelters relief volunteers, and they've got massive storehouses of food(seriously.  If you're hungry, you're encouraged to just pop into the kitchen and grab a snack!), and lots of friendly people.  The only cost when I went about 2 years ago was waking up early and heading into town every day to gut houses for a few hours.  There are some horror stories about that, but all in good fun, and totally worth it!

[Zina]

I don't see why'd you go anywhere during the winter if you live in Colorado.
But I tend to like my winters to actually BE winters. And summer in Colorado is a pain to begin with.

[bill]

I was ticked off at the warm winter this year. And then we had an incredibly cold start to spring. The weather was fucked up this year.

[Ryudo Lee]

Winters down here are quite mild compared to most places up north.  At times it gets downright warm during the winter months, such as being in the high 70's during december.

[bill]

It got into the 70s for one day in winter here this year. Which caused a local newspaper in my area to go "OMG PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING". Yes, a one-day anomaly in a small area is proof of global warming (not that I'm ridiculing the global-warming movement as a whole, as there is some compelling evidence promoting it). Gotta love local journalism.



Speaking of journalism, I recommend The Economist.

[Blazehawk]

I just found this band today and I am in love with them.  If you like power metal, check out Firewind: http://www.myspace.com/firewind They have all their stuff available on iTunes also, if you prefer that.   

[bill]

Heard great things about this show.
Should I buy?

[Brunhidden]

I recommend Jiffy muffin mix. it costs about fifty cents or so, and fifteen minutes, one egg, and a splash of milk later you have five or six wonderful muffins...the act of driving to a bakery would consume more time and the price is less then the gas to get you there.

i do not recommend ma-se-ca corn tortilla mix, i somehow glued a rolling pin to my cupboard with this stuff and the only tortilla i successfully made tasted like a cats patoot.

The cat came back, the very next day.
Yes the cat came back, we thought he was a gonner.
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away.
Just wouldn't stay away...

[Ryudo Lee]

i do not recommend ma-se-ca corn tortilla mix, i somehow glued a rolling pin to my cupboard with this stuff and the only tortilla i successfully made tasted like a cats patoot.

I'm going to regret asking this, but how do you know what a cat's patoot tastes like?

[rabid_fox]

I recommend the song "Send away the Tigers" by The Manic Street Preachers. It's got such a wonderful hook to the chorus, riffs up the ying yang and the vocals are delectable. Check it out.

[superluser]

I'm going to regret asking this, but how do you know what a cat's patoot tastes like?

He eats hot dogs.

[Brunhidden]

I'm going to regret asking this, but how do you know what a cat's patoot tastes like?

He eats hot dogs.

i have a cat that sits on my hot dogs oddly enough, and occasionally she sits on my sandwiches too. she also eats cardboard boxes and sits on my shoulder like a parrot. I find it mildly disturbing that every female cat i meet finds me sexually attractive....describing how they display this would be TMI.

anyways...

I recommend morning spark powdered drink mix. its a smooth orange drink with 200% your daily value of vitamin C....with a load of caffeine. i suggest adding a cup of sugar to it, it has that artificial sweetener aftertaste.

My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a- bitch

[Eibborn]

I'm going to have to recommend the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Album 'Beethoven's Last Night.' It's really touching, and I wonder what I would do if I were given the choice that Beethoven has.
If you like musicals, it has a similar feeling (to me, at least) to that of Les Mis.

Actually, I recommend you go see Les Miserables in theatres, if at all possible.

[Valynth]

I'm unsure of how far these guys have spread, but if you ever come to Alabama, you should vist The Golden Corral, it's an excellent place to eat and you can eat all you want for about $10.  They've got a huge selection of good food including steak, onion rings, potato wedges/fries(they're about the same thing), pizza, velvet cake, chocolate cake, fudge, and soft ice cream!  They had more, but these were the only things I managed to stuff in my gullet.  They also had a salad bar, a sugar free area(for diabetics and wieght-losers), several fish dishes(including salmon!), and a soup bar.

Word of warning though, these guys are INSANELY busy.  If you haven't mastered the DDR art of dodging(and why haven't you?), it will be a short wait to get to the bars where the food is served (of course you could treat it more like a game of frogger if you wish, but I constantly found myself relying on my dodging).  Oh, and there is ALWAYS a line just to get in, because thats just how freakin' good it is!

[Boog]

William Gibson writes
Great science fiction novels
You should read a few

And yeah, I heard good things about Les Miserables.

[Blazehawk]

Okay, another awesome power metal band to recommend.  If you like metal that is more melodic in nature, give Sonata Arctica a try. They have a new album coming out which is pretty good, but I like their older stuff more, like Winterheart's Guild and Reckoning Night.  And yes, they have a Myspace too. http://www.myspace.com/sonataarctica

[Janus Whitefurr]

William Gibson writes
Great science fiction novels
You should read a few

Anyone who hasn't read Neuromancer needs to be shot. One day, I'll find the continuation of that story. One day.

Similar related novel suggestion: Tad Williams' "Otherland" quadrilogy.

Okay, another awesome power metal band to recommend.  If you like metal that is more melodic in nature, give Sonata Arctica a try. They have a new album coming out which is pretty good, but I like their older stuff more, like Winterheart's Guild and Reckoning Night.  And yes, they have a Myspace too. http://www.myspace.com/sonataarctica

And here I thought I was the only person who knew of Sonata Arctica. ~o/ Full moon is on the sky and heee's not a maaan anymooore /o~

[bill]

I'm going to recommend Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia" album to anyone within shouting distance. This album has grown on me to a point that I simply can't stop listening to it. It's a combo of all three sounds that PT's known for; trippy semi-psychedelic soundscapes (.3, Gravity Eyelids, Lips of Ashes), some beautiful alt-rock (Blackest Eyes, Trains, Prodigal, Heartattack in a Lay-By), and some awesome prog-metal songs (Wedding Nails, Strip the Soul). This is the only PT album that successfully incorporates those three "faces" of PT seamlessly, and it's an amazing listen, though it didn't grab me on my first few tries. Get it.

[Boog]

William Gibson writes
Great science fiction novels
You should read a few

Anyone who hasn't read Neuromancer needs to be shot. One day, I'll find the continuation of that story. One day.

Count Zero, by (surprise!) William Gibson. Have fun.

[Janus Whitefurr]

William Gibson writes
Great science fiction novels
You should read a few

Anyone who hasn't read Neuromancer needs to be shot. One day, I'll find the continuation of that story. One day.

Count Zero, by (surprise!) William Gibson. Have fun.

I know the -books-, I just can't -find- them. At least in local bookstores.

Band suggestion to any and all: Muse.

~o/ And our time is ruuuuuuuunning out.. /o~

[superluser]

I know the -books-, I just can't -find- them. At least in local bookstores.

Have you checked used bookstores?  Advanced Book Exchange (abebooks.com) is your friend.  You can use it to find what bookstores have it in your area.

Edit: wwwaitaminnit.

I recommend used used book stores.  And Advanced Book Exchange.

[Knight]

I'm from Texas, and if you've never been to Texas, here are the cities I recommend you visit:

Austin
El Paso