Hi everyone, Keeping it short and sweet for this last post of 2023, with the long-promised recipe for a tangerine pound cake that’s bound to make the last few days of your year extra-sweet. This recipe is adapted from the Franny’s cookbook Franny's: Simple, Seasonal, Italian, which was co-authored by Melissa Clark, which is how you know it’s quality stuff. I bought this book ten years ago when it first came out, when the charming pizza and pasta spot (and birthplace of the kale salad as we know it) was still open in my old neighborhood of Prospect Heights in Brooklyn.

The Siren hasn’t been around as much as she should, so here are a few words and a handful of images dedicated to someone she very much admires: Irene Maud Lentz, credited as "Irene" during her career as one of Hollywood's great costume designers. She was born this day, December 8, in 1901, in Montana. (Irene once told her friend Doris Day that she had been in love with fellow Montanan Gary Cooper for many years, but any lasting relationship was not to be.

Some quick thoughts on Green Day’s new album, “Saviors,” before we get into the song-by-song analysis. This is the most complete record they’ve put out since 2009’s “21st Century Breakdown,” surpassing 2016’s Revolution Radio. A lot of the themes are the same (a critical look at society, government, politics, social media, drug use) but there are very few low moments or throwaway songs. I could have cut three songs off RevRad and not missed them.

Let’s get the smirking and snickering about the title of Guy Ritchie’s new movie, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, out of the way, so we can set that aside and move on. Okay, we good? Whatever the reasoning was for that odd title decision, it’s still far better than (this is a real movie title), Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, which is very likely to end up on my Terrible 15 list if I write one this year.

Hi there! Happy National Pizza Day! I was alerted last week that National Pizza Day was February 9th. Why that day? Hard to say, but shouldn’t we celebrate and honor the spirit of pizza every day of the year? The way the hot, warm disc brings together friends and family. How the molten, gloopy cheese incite conversations, passion and silent, bloated, introspection. I ate pizza for seven days straight leading up to this.