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While it might be cliché, I can’t deny the fact that I’m the living embodiment of those “hilarious”
Don’t Talk to Me Until I’ve Had My Coffee! mugs. Especially since the pandemic, my body has determined the most convenient time to decide I don’t need to sleep is the same time I’m under increased stress due to world events and household insanity (the longest portion of any day is the time I spend with my kids between when they wake me up and when I’ve finally managed to make coffee).
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Photo: Studio A Soho (Shutterstock)
Beth (Lifehacker’s senior health editor) is the only person who can use the word “calorie” without sending me into a rage, and her health advice is always straight-forward, accurate, and completely devoid of shaming, blaming, or moralizing. This post (and others like it) are so important the focus is always on helping you feel better and get stronger, not punishing you for the “crime” of enjoying food, or chipping away at your body to make it more “acceptable” by capitalistic beauty standards. I’m a fan, is what I’m saying. Claire Lower, senior food editor
The TV Episodes That Helped Us Escape 2020
Photo: Regina Erofeeva (Shutterstock)
In a year when the outside world became a literal threat, television provided more of an escape or, perhaps, an essential outlet for emotional release than ever before.
Even as everything from church services to first dates moved online, we still couldn’t escape our screens, because binging one more episode of
Schitt’s Creek was all that was keeping us from doomscrolling through social media, and exploring the dark future of
Raised by Wolves meant we could ignore the one unfolding across our thresholds.
These are the singular episodes of television that helped us ignore the off-kilter reality of life amid a pandemic for a few more precious moments.
Photo: Shutterstock
America’s jigsaw puzzle consumption has increased wildly in the era of physical distancing. People stuck indoors with nothing to do have turned to tiny, brightly colored, irregularly shaped slices of cardboard to provide them with a sense of control over a chaotic world. For evidence, look to the ongoing Kickstarter for the (admittedly very cool sounding) Magic Puzzles from the Magic Puzzle Company, which has raised an astonishing $2.5
million and counting (full disclosure: I’m a three-puzzle backer).
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Retailers can’t keep puzzles in stock, and manufacturers can’t keep up with increased orders; according to NPR, leading puzzle publisher Ravensburger saw sales spike by 370% year-over-year in the last two weeks of March. A cursory exploration of the adorably quaint websites of various puzzle-makers the world over reveals that pretty much all of them are reporting shipping delays due to increased pandemic-induced demand. Hell, Ravensburger i
Add Our Favorite Tracks to Your Holiday Playlist
Photo: Kiryl Lis (Shutterstock)
Holiday spirit seems so much greater when good tunes are involved. I, for one, start playing holiday music as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey has gotten cold. We all have our go-to holiday songs, so I spoke with the team at Lifehacker to find out what they are listening to as we race toward Christmas day.
(By all means, click through the slideshow to read our comments, but you can also check out our picks on Spotify.)
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Joel Cunningham, managing editor
Taylor Swift’s two surprise 2020 albums make for excellent low-key cozy-up-to-the-fireplace (or virtual Yule Log) listening, but none captures the melancholy ache of the holidays quite like “’tis the damn season,” co-written with The National’s Aaron Dessner. It follows the narrator on a visit home, where she mulls reconnecting with an old flame, because why not? There’s something paradoxically lonely about retur