The Saturday List — March 14, 2026
What I'm Watching, Reading, Listening to, and Rediscovering
Hello again! It’s time for the 19th consecutive edition of The Saturday List — 29th overall; we started last July and plan to keep going — and it’s a quick synopsis of What I’m Watching, Reading, Listening go, and Rediscovering. Let’s begin (after a word from our Subscribe button):
Watching: Two Interviews on The Vandy Program
Allow me to toot my own horn here: I sat down with two of my friends for my podcast — which is called The Vandy Program and is available on YouTube and you should totally subscribe over there — and both were great and thought-provoking discussions.
First up, David Eckstein. He’s a PR professional living and working in Los Angeles, and his perspective on agencies and how they’re doing a disservice to staff and clients by not focusing on mentorship is notable. It’s one of the “PR Truisms” he has posted about on LinkedIn and he and I discussed those during the interview.
That was Tuesday…Wednesday, I hopped on a call with Jennifer Brown, who has a website and X account that are both named “Redhead Ranting.”
Our chat was more about bringing back the old ways: not homesteading and growing your own food, but opening the door for others and making sure you always use your blinker. And putting the phone down!
She makes it her mission to stay positive, and it was a fun discussion about just that. (And then the wifi died and it was just me…so I brought the hour-long interview to a close.)
Reading: Visual Capitalist’s Top 25 Visualizations of 2025
Behold the humble infographic: from its beginnings as a PowerPoint slide on steroids to today’s need to compete for eyeballs in the attention economy, they’ve gotten better and better over the years.
Visual Capitalist has an economics spin to its one-pagers, and these are really good.
That’s #20, and did you know that California by itself is the 4th largest economy in the world? It’s true. (Just ask Gavin Newsom.)
Here’s a link to the entire list and you might find a little inspiration here.
Listening to: Three Outstanding Rap Songs (That May Be Older Than You)
Here we go — this is like the complete opposite of just about every “Listening to” I’ve included since this newsletter started in July; all of the others have trended in the direction of Alternative, Indie, or Classic Rock — as the list provides you with a public service: three outstanding rap songs, at least according to me.
First, Eric B. & Rakim. Eric B. is the guy with the beats. Rakim is the rapper. (Ofra Haza is the singer sampled in the video version below; her “Im Nin’alu” is still a bop. Her musical history is a fun rabbit hole, but…well, back to the rap below.) “Paid In Full” is the title track off of the duo’s 1987 release.
Next, something from Geto Boys. I still maintain that this is The Greatest Rap Song Ever. NSFW. RIP Bushwick Bill (one of the three members of the group; the other two were Willie D. and Scarface).
Song peaked at #23 on the Hot 100 in 1991. That’s the regular chart, not the Rap or R&B chart. Heavy rotation on MTV. We Stan. Here’s “Mind Playing Tricks on Me.”
Aww, man…this is giving me ALL THE FEELS today. First the late great Bushwick Bill, now we’ve got our third in the troika: A Tribe Called Quest, whose “Award Tour” is guaranteed to pack the dance floor.
A Tribe Called Quest brought their A-Game each and every time; this particular song was released in 1993. Phife Dawg founded the group with childhood buddy Q-Tip in 1985 (!!!). Phife Dawg died in 2016 and this song features Trugoy the Dove from De La Soul, who passed away in 2023.
Again, ALL THE FEELS.
Here’s “Award Tour.” Please dance.
Rediscovering: Inglourious Basterds
Okay, I know: Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino’s opus. I don’t care, and I’m about to do the meme:
My unpopular opinion that would put me in the above situation: Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino’s best work.
Sure, Pulp Fiction is great. But Inglourious Basterds followed it 15 years later (2009) and was beyond brilliant; part of its brilliance was in its alternative history “Let’s Kill Hitler” catharsis.
The rest of the brilliance was probably its casting; for instance, Aldo Raine is one of Brad Pitt’s best roles. The film introduced us to Christoph Waltz — who would win two Best Supporting Actor Oscars, one for this movie and another for Django Unchained (2012) — whose Hans Landa character remains etched in my brain.
With each rewatch it gets better. So it’s time to watch it again.
Bonus: Here’s Charlie Rose interviewing Waltz about his role in the movie.
Find the movie on Netflix, among other places.
And we’ll see you next week!