Welcome, readers, to the first happy list of 2026! It’s already shaping up to be another year where easy joy goes thin on the ground, so celebrating the little things feels more important than ever. Here’s what’s making your friendly neighborhood Lit Hub staff smile this Friday.

In New York City, it’s festival season—for the artiest art monsters of your acquaintance, anyway. I, Brittany Allen, have been enjoying several brand new plays and works for performance via the Exponential Festival and the Under the Radar Festival, two concurrent theatre explosions that celebrate weird work.

The (scrappy) former has been hosting experimental performance in New York since 2016. Where the (chic) latter has brought a globally minded, Biennalish sensibility to our shores since 2003. Between the two, one can get the sense that downtown theatre is alive and well. So if you’re also starting the year with some My Dinner with Andre energy, do take note.

Favorites fest picks so far include Mami, a surrealist silent movement piece from the Greek Albanian director, Mario Banushi (UTR). I also dug playwright Jay Stull’s mighty meta, excellently acted spec-dystopia, my utopias (Expo). If you hurry, you can still catch tickets to the latter!

James Folta is also kicking off the year as a culture vulture. Last week, our staff writer got to see a handful of short films that have been made the Oscar cut.

James says Beyond Silence was “devastating and incredibly well acted.” And The Quinta’s Ghost, an animated horror about Goya’s Black Paintings, was also a trip. But the stand-outs in a solid evening were two literary offerings.

The “very, very funny” Jane Austen’s Period Drama made high art of a pun. And The Singers, based on a Turgenev short, “was a beautiful and funny film about emotion and art” with extraordinary production values.

We’re well reminded to remember the little guys.

Drew Broussard leapt into 2026 on a tide of creativity. After an institutional  residency fell through (“Never trust being in the first cohort somewhere!”), our podcasts editor arranged a solo writing retreat in rural Vermont.

Drew wrote for four days. Well: he “read and took baths and watched TV and slept AND wrote a bunch, over four days,” which is even better for well-filling. Follow his example and you too may be able to face down The Horrors.

Though good art work is spiritual maintenance, Molly Odintz reminds us this week to maintain our earthly vessels. Her nice thing was a colonoscopy. Because “preventative health care is great.”

The procedure is apparently nowhere near as scary as certain films have hyped it up to be. And now, knock wood, our Crimereads managing editor will live for 150 years.

Wishing you a weekend of good health, good art, and good living. Catch joy where you can!

The post » Here’s what’s making us happy this week. appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Last month, Ryan Gerding, a marketing executive in Kansas City, Missouri, showed up early for dinner with his wife at Martin City Brewery, a local watering hole. They shared meatball sliders, pretzel bites and chicken wings along with a 2-for-1 beer coupon and a cocktail. 

The total bill was $51.31 versus the $75 they have typically spent on dinner, Gerding told The Post.

Diners are flocking to Happy Hours and ordering appetizers to save money on going out. MArtin City Brewing Company

“It’s a fun thing that we are able to do more of because we are taking advantage of the lower prices during happy hour and because apps don’t cost as much as entrees,” Gerding told The Post.

“When we are at the bars – and sometimes it’s as early as 4 p.m. – we are surprised to see the places packed,” Gerding added.

Appetizer sales across the US this year surged 20% through August – blowing past typical growth in the low-to-mid-single digits, according to Buyer’s Edge, a technology platform that tracks food purchasing by chain restaurants. Sales of entrees were flat versus past growth averaging around 3%.

$15 platters like this sampler-Ultimate Trio-at Applebee’s are replacing entree orders. AppleBee’s

“At first we thought the 20% was a mistake, because historically we have never seen that kind of a hike in an industry that grows moderately,” said Jim Pazzanese, executive vice president of global strategic procurement for Buyer’s Edge. 

The firm’s platform – whose clients include Red Robin, Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Hurricane Grill & Wings and Ponderosa Steakhouse – tracks more than $74 billion in annual food service spending at 200,000 restaurant locations. 

Entree sales are falling as meat prices have soared this year, according to Buyer’s Edge. Meanwhile, demand has soared for mozzarella sticks, pickle chips, egg rolls, cheese curds, jalapeno poppers and cheese bites. 

In August, Applebee’s Grill + Bar launched a $15 appetizer called Ultimate Trio with a national TV campaign at the start of the NFL season. Customers can pick three items from a list that includes Boneless Wings, Chicken Wonton Tacos, Brew Pub Pretzels and Waffle Fries.

Ed Doherty operates more than 100 Applebee’s Grill + Bar eateries. Doherty Enterprises

“We have purposefully introduced products that are appetizers and can be eaten as an entree,” said Ed Doherty, CEO of Doherty Enterprises, which operates more than 100 Applebee’s franchises. “Right now it’s critical to have prices on your menu for the guest who needs the value meal.”

The savings for customers is “significant,” Doherty added, because a steak is $26, a pasta dish is $22 and a salad is $18 at Applebee’s restaurants in New York City. As for restaurant owners, there’s a silver lining, he said.

“It’s building more traffic,” Doherty told The Post. “The health in a restaurant business is transactions. I’d rather have the volume because there is the opportunity to upsell them.”

Even swanky steakhouses are responding to the penny-pinching crowd. Willie Degel, who owns the Uncle Jack’s Steakhouses in Manhattan and Bayside Queens, said about 15% of customers are ordering appetizers instead of a main course and sharing entrees.

Willie Degel owns two Uncle Jack’s Steakhouses in NYC. Curtis Ross/Starpix/Shutterstock

Degel, who was the host of Food Network’s “Restaurant Stakeout” reality series, said demand for burgers and sandwiches has surged this year alongside beef prices. Accordingly, its menu has expanded to five options.

For example, the Big Jack Burger and Black Truffle Burger sell for $29 to $39, respectively, including fries. That’s versus steaks that include a $95 rib chop and a $165 porterhouse for two. 

“We sell a lot more burgers and steak sandwiches without a doubt,” Degel told The Post. “It’s driving traffic.”

The post Diners flocking to happy hour, ordering appetizers and skimping on entrees as affordability hits US restaurants nationwide appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Spooky season is upon us again. (At least if you’re in the Northeast corridor.) So this week, Lit Hubbers enjoyed autumnal fare. I’m talking leaf-peeping, and freaky Fridays. We’ve got reflection and hibernation on the brain. Whether that means hunkering down with old friends, or making new ones.

Drew Broussard is tending the horror hearth. He’s been rewatching some late 90s/early 00s gems to high joy returns. Here’s a suggested syllabus, from our connoisseur. Your adult Halloween party is welcome.

“Bedazzled, an absolute romp! Event Horizon, truly spooky! Practical Magic, still a delight! Sleepy Hollow, possibly the last truly-great Tim Burton movie!”

These hits, Drew feels, circle a lack in today’s film culture. Our podcasts editor craves more movies that are “well-built and not trying to be anything other than what they are.”

Jonny Diamond recently returned from “the annual family trip to Montreal,” where the gang was “blessed with perfect fall weather, of the kind that drives the entire city out into the streets and to the parks.” Last week was Canadian Thanksgiving, so the mood was gratitude.

Says our editor: “There is nothing so good as drinking a (proper imperial) pint of beer in the sunshine as your two-year-old runs around the same park you used to ramble in 30 years earlier.” Bliss!

Oliver Scialdone also went roadtripping. This week took our Community Editor upstate, to a wedding with friends. Apparently IRL friendship > Online Alternatives. Says Oliver: “Everything’s always so busy, and it’s rare that we all just get to like…hang out? Talk to each other? It felt like a little reunion.” A sweet time was had by all.

On the flip side? If you can’t gather all your far-flung friends, Oliver’s got an indoor recommendation. He’d like to shout out “the first installment of this point and click adventure series.” The Telwynium: Book One is modeled after several 90s PC games. We’re told it’s a “fun way to spend about an hour and half.”

I, Brittany Allen, have been enjoying homages. We lost D’Angelo and Diane Keaton this week—and though these are obviously not “nice things,” some truly elegant tributes have refreshed my fandom. Harmony Holiday’s elegy/essay for D’Angelo is a stunning piece of writing. And I dug Hilton Als’ remembrance of DK’s unique ambivalence in The New Yorker. Both praisenotes really circle what was unique about these artists. What holes in the culture they seemed to fill.

For my own tribute, I plan to imitate Jonny and track down an Imperial to pour out. But speaking (again) of our editor: I’ve also been buzzing through this week off a previous JD recommendation.

Though I hate to recycle a nice thing, Cameron Winter’s solo record, “Heavy Metal,” has been playing on a loop in our house. This debut from a precocious Brooklynite—also known as the frontman of Geese—feels like a bunch of late greats (Leonard Cohen, Dave Berman) got together with some hep alien spawn. I’m here to cosign the fact that the record is weird, melancholy and quietly epic.

Fall, in any case, is a terrific time for tuning up the hi-fi. It’s lovely to sit with the old gods, and inspiring to dance to the new.

Wishing you a weekend of coziness, quietude, and little reunions.

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post » Here’s what’s making us happy this week. appeared first on Our Story Insight.

This week, we’re regressing. We’re taking our brains and our palates back in time, to arguably better days. We’re longing for the old internet, and certain familiar characters. Some of us are tripping the light fantastic to bygone epochs entirely.

McKayla Coyle has been enjoying new Netflix fare—My Melody and Kuromi. A stop motion series populated with Sanrio characters and set between pastry shops, this one is apparently “stupid cute and beautifully animated.” A perfect weekend treat.

Drew Broussard is eager to keep his title as Resident Web Game Recommender. He sailed through the week on the grace of Clues By Sam, the “kind of infuriating logic puzzle” he grew up devouring. Descending clues start simple, then draw you down a rabbit-hole. I bungled the tutorial with some overenthusiastic guessing, but some of us on staff are worried this is going to ruin our lives.

I, Brittany Allen, also went spelunking in the better corners of the old internet. Divergency is an hour long, home-brewed indie TV experience, available on YouTube and cooked in the brains of (admitted pals) K & M. Interstitial episodes zone in on one cultural product and close read it—with an amalgam of sketches, original music, interactive zines, video essays, re-enactments, and earnest commentary. My favorite ep so far is about Garden State and its radiant cringe factor. But the latest, a rabbit-hole dive into Citizen Kane, was just released this week.

This hard-to-describe episodic reminds me of VH1’s signature comment-docs, like the I Love the…[Insert Decade] series. Our hosts are arch and fun and silly, and provided a great creative jolt this week.

James Folta recommends another bespoke artistic experience. Specifically, a visual treat, for New Yorkers or those able to travel. The Beauford Delaney Show at the Drawing Center ends in a month, but ought to make your unmissable list. The Black American modernist was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, and this (free!) retrospective covers his work across many mediums.

Delaney knew everyone. So the gossip factor in his paintings is a big draw. Says James, “the section of letters and ballpoint sketches he did at jazz clubs are a wild tour through his rolodex.”

Olivia Rutigliano had the best pizza of her life at Pizzeria Florian in East Aurora, NY, a dreamy suburb of Buffalo. She cannot overstate the case. “The crust was razor-thin and crispy and did not bend under the weight of the tremendous portion of tomato sauce, stracciatella, honey, and Calabrian chili crisp that sat on top. The sound when you bit into it was a loud CRONCH and the taste was unreal.”

Again, the praise is no hyperbole. From Olivia: “Pizzeria Florian, I will die for you.”

Oliver Scialdone is also in the food hype business this week, after dining with a best friend at the much-hyped Thai Diner. “I’ve been there before, but each time I go, I get a little angry about the fact that the TikTok restaurant influencers were right about something.”

And Emily Temple also ate well. Her “local cheesemongers” recently opened a “cheese-based restaurant” where last night she enjoyed an aged cheddar and Comté mac and cheese alongside a pink cocktail. You know, “like a grown-up.” What is being grown if not eating as you dreamed you would at 12?

Wishing you a weekend of Peter Panning-it, where possible. May all your graphics be kitschily glitchy, may your palettes and palates marvel at bold flavors.

The post Here’s what’s making us happy this week. appeared first on Our Story Insight.

June 6, 2025, 11:03am

You’re in luck, readers. We have a lot to love this Friday.

The theme this week is “Forever Young.” We at Lit Hub are getting our kicks in the rearview mirror, reminiscing on everything from our first chaotic friend groups to our first absurd recitals. We’re playing make-believe and suspending disbelief, in full defiance of the mortal coil. The aesthetic may or may not be Nokiacore, or Y2K Futurism.

James Folta has been getting joy from an amazingly detailed indie research project—the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute’s [CARI] Index of Aesthetics.

CARI represents a collective of researchers and designers who classify consumer aesthetics. The index includes hyper-detailed mood boards for late to mid-century categories like “Corporate Hippie,” “Indie Sleaze,” and “Blob World.” James says it’s an excellent resource/rabbit-hole. “It’s like looking up character actors you know from somewhere but for visual styles.”

Elsewhere on the visual style front, I, Brittany Allen, been catching joy from a very old aesthetic: “Soft Colonial Wanderlust.” I’ve been on a quest to find a low-impact craft to treat my escalating case of Second Screen Syndrome, and recently incorporated the art of decoupage into my treatment plan. The maestro John Derian has a lot of warm how-to videos for beginners. And I’m happy to report that it is, in fact, very soothing to make pretty, useless things with your own hands!

Jessie Gaynor went to a children’s dance recital and experienced a Lynchian (“both funereal and heavily medicated”) tap dance routine. “Anyway, it was inspired. Highly recommend watching kids’ artistic pursuits whenever you can.”

Speaking of both children’s pastimes and what the CARI index might call “McBling,” Molly Odintz watched the movie D.E.B.S. for the first time, and says “it was like Charlie’s Angels, Clueless, and But I’m a Cheerleader all combined into one glorious parade of camp.” This action comedy about a group of paramilitary teen spies chasing a super-criminal is an undersung cult classic. Lucky for us, it’s now streaming (for a price). And New Yorkers can catch an IRL showing later this summer, from Rooftop Cinema Club.

McKayla Coyle recommends a new sitcom with classic aspirations: Hulu’s Adults. The show, which follows a motley twentysomething friend group trying to make it through the urban jungle, has a familiar, Friends-y premise. But McKayla hastens to correct the generic impression. “My brother called it New Girl meets Broad City. And I’d add that there’s a little bit of The Other Two surreality to it. Very fun!”

Drew Broussard attended the world premiere of the new Make-Believe Association podcast. This new show is an immersive-audio version of Hamlet that puts you inside the poor prince’s head. Though I’d have guessed this might be a bummer place to post up, Drew assures us, “It’s a very cool take on the play, I learned so much, and it sounds SO COOL.”

If poor Yorick’s also capturing your mood, Oliver Scialdone‘s got a new RPG for you. Blueberry Wine positions a player as a “a cursed soul navigating a land strangled by the legacies of witch hunts and dark magics.” Groups should expect fun and spooky times.

And for pure summer fun and breezy nostalgia, Calvin Kasulke has a very special treat. Joyce Van’s “Midday at the Oasis,” an Easy AM 66 radio project, is some glorious, high-concept nostalgia-nonsense. (Non-stalgia?) I challenge you not to crack a smile while listening to this.

Wishing you a weekend of uncanny viewing experiences, giddy reflection, and playing pretend.

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post Here’s what’s making us happy this week. ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.

May 23, 2025, 3:22pm

Happy spring, fellow travelers. This week we’re back to basics with the good stuff. Physical books supplied by physical people are bringing us lots of joy. And when the pages don’t compel, we’re moving our bodies around.

In the wake of #AIBooksellerGate, our own Drew Broussard put out a live bookseller’s call for recommendation requests. This BlueSky post now has up to 400 responses (and counting)—and our hero plans to answer at least half of these with bespoke suggestions.

These range so far from contemporary page-turners like Julia Armfield’s Private Rites to César Aira’s “‘flight forward” B-sides. “Just nice to see people genuinely responding to human curation,” says the architect.

James Folta is also enjoying real interactions with homo sapiens this week. He rolls into the weekend recommending a cumbia dance class taken at a friend’s wedding, as well as a beloved Austin bookstore. James spent a nice few hours “poking around and having a coffee” at the iconic First Light Books, a neighborhood hub.

I, Brittany Allen, spent some time loading up in another indie bookstore across the pond: Livraria Snob, of Lisbon. This wonderfully fusty stop, with its apt-but-in-on-it name, sent me plane-ward with a fat stack of Pessoa novels and a renewed appreciation for the flâneuse. (Because Pessoa, sure, but also because it was a real hike to find this store, in the winding hills of an old city.)

Now I’m rolling into the weekend pondering what’s so very literary about walking down unfamiliar streets. And like Drew’s followers, I seek recommendations. If you have a favorite flâneur novel, please advise below.

If we’re not perambulating, happily aimless, we’re digging up old joy. Molly Odintz belatedly discovered this SNL weekend update sketch, in which Bowen Yang plays Truman Capote commenting on Women’s History Day. I was glad to revisit this one, too. It’s exactly the kind of niche content that only one, specific, mad human could pull off.

Wishing you all a weekend of long walks, deep laughs, and surprising reading.

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post Here’s what’s making us happy this week. ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.

May 16, 2025, 2:40pm

Though we in the Western Hemisphere have slightly more than a month till summer starts, most of us at Lit Hub are getting a spiritual jump on the season.

McKayla Coyle is calibrating their summer playlist. Emily Firetog is finding the thunderstorm channel relaxing. Because, in addition to making good mental prep for summer storms, turns out hours and hours of uninterrupted rain is “a great working from home/editing companion.” Especially for those with Gothic sympathies.

In the spirit of summer adventures, James Folta is getting his jollies from the art of picking plane reads. (“I’m going out of town for a wedding this weekend to celebrate love and see how much I currently enjoy dancing, and I’d forgotten how much I love curating a lil’ stack of vacation books.”) Real ones will remember that my fellow blogger has a time-tested strategy when it comes to carry-on companions. As does Kaitlin Phillips, who recently made a case for beach reads < plane reads, in her witty newsletter, “Gift Guide.”

James is currently in the throes of difficult decision-making, torn between a bunch of short novels, galleys, and a few new Library of America collections—including a 60s crime novel compendium and a compilation tape of Dawn Powell’s early years.

As I’m told he is still taking suggestions, I can recommend the reissue of a short, new Powell book coming out this June from Belt Publishing. She Walks in Beauty is a pre-war coming-of-age novel, set in a small-town boarding house in Ohio. It’s a character chamber piece featuring Powell’s characteristic wickedness. (And FYI, if this Olympic-level satirist isn’t already on your radar, you should really check out her work.)

Some of us are getting hyped for an extra-literary summer. Drew Broussard has joined a new digital writing group. The gang’s first meet-up involved a two-hour joint writing session, which proved “marvelously productive” for your friendly neighborhood podcasts editor.

And I, Brittany Allen, write to you from Portugal this week(!), where I’m spending my evenings doing a cultural-exchange program with several amazing Portugese writers. Among many other things, this trip is rekindling a real thirst to get back into my language learning practice.

With all respect to Duolingo, the people’s language app, I’ve been enjoying Babbel for its emphasis on practical conversation and learning by ear. A year long subscription feels well worth it so far. Now my head’s buzzing with dreams of crash-coursing all the romance languages before the leaves turn. But o que será será.

Wishing you a weekend of soothing sonics, friendly new faces, and work on exclusively soul-filling projects.

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post Here’s what’s making us happy this week. ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.

May 2, 2025, 12:43pm

This week, the Lit Hub staff is brought to you by the grace of giggles and games.

James Folta is digging this “extra-bitter” riff on the Americano. The Enzo is a low-abv springtime spritz named for the Ferrari founder, and it’s apparently perfect for a fire escape near you. If you’re not about the alcohol, a non-alcoholic amari and soda with a twist of orange does just as well.

Speaking of sweets. This week, Dan Sheehan was grateful for Kinder Penguís, a chocolate treat with a creamy center. Though unfortunately “they don’t sell these bad boys in America,” you can go through some hoops to get them delivered. And when in Ireland, “make sure to eat at least one a day.”

Music has also been medicinal. Emily Temple is ready to return—spiritually—to 2004. She’s looking forward to the Rilo Kiley reunion tour.

And this week Molly Odintz enjoyed the 50th anniversary celebration of Antone’s, a blues show featuring “a murderers’ row of blues all-stars and torchbearers.” If the PBS/Austin City Limits livestream is anything to go by, blues musicians really do get better with age. (“And sometimes raunchier,” according to Molly.)

Some of us stayed indoors, preferring to burrow inward. Oliver Scialdone returned to a beloved, single player strategy game—Slay the Spire.

Drew Broussard recommends the Glass Cannon Network, because he’s loving “being a nerd these days.” This network of shows features smart, witty friends playing some of your favorite RPG games. It’s also a great place to build para-social relationships. Drew recommends “the exceptional X-Files-esque horror show called Get in the Trunk, and a great historical cosmic horror show called Time for Chaos.”

My household is also giving nerd these days. My partner and I’ve started a weekday eve project where we re-watch episodes of Documentary Now (Bill Hader and Fred Armisen’s hyper-niche, mock-documentary IFC parody show) in double feature bills with the inspiring source material. (So: Tuesday is D.A. Pennebaker’s Company and John Mulaney and Seth Meyer’s Co-Op, Wednesday is The War Room and The Bunker, etc.)

I’m finding it to be a tonally exciting exercise. Chasing a self-serious Herzog joint that interrogates spiritual rot with a goofy skit starring Alexander Skarsgård in this wig slakes a certain thirst for the absurd alongside the earnest.

And speaking of that heady brew. Folta’s also giggling this week about the dubious kerning on the late pope’s tomb. (The late Francis has been laid to rest under a less impressive than usual “people’s stone.”) We all do well to remember that you can’t take it with you. If ‘it’ is your good taste, beyond the grave.

Wishing you all a weekend of bitter beverages, funny games, and good, old music.

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post Here are the things that are making us happy this week. ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.

April 11, 2025, 2:34pm

Here on the Eastern seaboard, we’re waiting out the April showers. But it turns out there’s plenty to be grateful for, despite the gloom. This week the Lit Hub staff are shouting out nostalgic reads, making things with our hands, and group dinners.

Oliver Scialdone has been blasting down memory lane, care of some Buffy the Vampire Slayer novelizations. A cornerstone of many a 90s kid bedroom, these fictional looks at the Buffyverse include Go Ask Malice, an expansion on Faith’s backstory.

James Folta, our resident punk, is excited about this new song from Turnstile, “which features lots of synths, washed out vocals, and some heavy but approachable riffs.” James thinks this tune is perfect for the April gloom, and the video is easy on the eyes, too. (James: “The beach and jet ski portions remind me a bit of Micheal Mann’s Manhunter.”)

Julia Hass is enthusiastic about big communal dining experiences—ideally at a table that resembles a trough. A jaunt to the beloved MáLà Project in New York’s East Village yielded some excellent neo-Sichuanese cuisine.

Jonny Diamond experienced his “own personal episode of Yellowstone” this week. Our leader/resident homesteader spent some time putting up 800 feet of fence in an early spring rain with his son, with an eye to a frolicsome summer free from poison ivy.

Drew Broussard is touting Little Treats this Friday. Specifically, a certain miso-tahini cookie found at Kingston’s terrific bar/bookstore, Rough Draft. Here is that cookie, in all its glory.

If this also made your mouth water but you find yourself far from Kingston, this Toasted Table recipe might do the trick.

And I am grateful that Hacks is back, which is another way of saying that I got through this week on a tide of pure love for Jean Smart. (Hannah Einbinder is also wonderful on this show, but the woman giving me life goes by Debra Vance.) In this spirit, I revisited this 2021 New Yorker profile of Smart, by the always-excellent Rachel Syme.

And inspired by Julia, here’s some more in person joy. This week my writers group had a meeting after a few weeks off fracture, and quite by accident everyone showed up wearing identical black turtlenecks. It was very auspicious. And of course we all got to feel like serious, beat bohemian artists as we dug into some raw new pages, which proved motivating.

Wishing you and yours all the Little Treats this weekend. And/or, may you live your own personal episode of [insert favorite show here].

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post Here’s everything that’s making us happy this week. ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.