Entertainment

By Zulay Regalado, 26, reporting from Miami, on the moving novel—and future movie—Me Before You

I’ll admit that I’m not the most emotional person when it comes to books and movies. While my friends watched The Notebook through streams of uncontrollable sobs, I was busy giggling at Ryan Gosling’s overly romantic professions of love (disclaimer: Team Gosling forever).

Thanks to my recent discovery of the 2012 tear-jerker novel Me Before You, by British author Jojo Moyes, that’s all changed. I mean, it was hard not to feel for Louisa Clark, the story’s main character. She’s a young working-class woman who knows nothing about life beyond the tiny village in England where she grew up. Suddenly jobless and desperate for work, she accepts a job as caretaker to wheelchair-bound millionaire Will Traynor, whose life took a tragic turn (and him a sour outlook) after a road accident.

While Louisa’s ordinary lifestyle is worlds away from Will’s, which is loaded with glamour and travel, she refuses to walk on eggshells around him. She also makes it her mission to put an end to his sadness. But she soon learns that Will has a different solution in mind, and the race is on to make him see that life is still worth fighting for.

It’s a touching story of two people who couldn’t have less in common but who somehow come together and learn from each other—and in ways not expected or cliché. Of course, the book is not made entirely of tears. There are plenty of happy moments and laughs, and my only real lingering sadness is seeing it go. But it lives on! I then discovered there’s a sequel and a film adaptation in the works. Needless to say, my tear ducts will be quite active for the foreseeable future. Perhaps they will even overtake my The Notebook-style grins in the movie theater.

This is a favorite for fall 2015 in a RED Hearts series of seasonal recipes – things you can cook or bake, usually healthy things, always easy things – for the people you heart! Served up by Erika Kwee, 25, “the baker, photographer and typo-maker” behind vegetarian food blog The Pancake Princess.

Hands down one of my favorite things about fall is holing up in the kitchen with a cozy recipe to tackle: a giant pot of chili or homemade pasta or a spice-scented loaf of pumpkin bread. Squash something is a seasonal must, and this year my favorite snack in the category is these puffy, cakey pumpkin cookies.

These are no ordinary cookies: They’re made up from a base of hearty chickpea flour (healthy and easily found in international grocery stores) and without eggs, thanks to my new ingredient crush aquafaba. It’s a miracle egg-replacing ingredient that’s also known as the brine that surrounds canned chickpeas! (You can learn more about the fascinating properties of aquafaba.)

I highly recommend picking up these couple of new ingredients to try these cookies out. They’re hearty and lightly sweet, special for fall. Plus, with chickpea flour in your arsenal, you’ll be prepared to make a whole bunch of other delicious things—chickpea fries, pizza, gingersnaps. Happy magical concoctions, happy magical autumn to you.

Healthy Chickpea Pumpkin Cookies

Yield: about 8 small cookies

½ cup chickpea flour
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
dash of ground cloves and nutmeg
¼ teaspoon each: fine sea salt, baking soda, baking powder (gluten-free, if desired)
1.5 tablespoons coconut oil, soft but ideally not liquid
3 tablespoons brown sugar
¾ tablespoon aquafaba (reserved from a can of chickpeas or white beans)
3 tablespoons pumpkin puree
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (flour through baking powder). In a separate bowl, stir together the coconut and brown sugar until smooth. Add the aquafaba, pumpkin and vanilla, then mix until thoroughly combined. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Use a medium cookie scoop to portion dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.(Don’t taste the raw dough—chickpea flour tastes unpleasant when uncooked!). Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until set around the edges. Best enjoyed fresh.

By Jordyn Turney, 25, reporting from Boise, Idaho, on the TV and music that goes with October

These are the days when fall feels real. School is no longer just back-to-school, leaves are changing, and the Starbucks everything pumpkin menu is in full effect. Fortunately there’s plenty of great television and music out there for the move indoors.

For your October entertainment, here are a few favorite ways to best spend any upcoming chilly, gloomy days:

Girl Meets World - Season one just hit Netflix, and I devoured it in a matter of days. The sequel to Boy Meets World boasts a reunion of old cast members (Cory and Topanga... and Shawn!), along with the new gang (Cory's daughter, her best friend, and of course the requisite love interest) and similarly family-centric storylines. This is an old-school teen sitcom revamped, and it's absolutely a success. The show is especially delightful for the already-fans of Boy Meets World, but it’s so well written and acted that any new viewer is apt to fall seamlessly into the world of the Matthews family. I can't recommend it enough.

Seventeen, by Alessia Cara - OK, so Alessia Cara’s whole EP is pretty great. But I'm especially loving this soulful, angsty, pop masterpiece about dreams, regrets, and teenagedom—not the easiest thing to capture in a song or anywhere else. Impressive is the word that comes to mind.

1989, by Ryan Adams - In case you somehow missed it—maybe you don't follow T Swift on every social media outlet like I do?—there's now a complete and total remix of her 1989. It’s a gift, this song-by-song cover album by Ryan Adams. He manages to showcase Swift's moving songwriting in a way that (sorry!) danceable pop beats just can't do. Somehow Adams makes songs like “Welcome to New York” and “Blank Space” register as heartaching anthems, 1989 the kind of soundtrack to perfectly suit this season 2015.

Make Your Rap Star Debut

09-24-15
By Zulay Regalado, 26, reporting from Miami on her rapper's delight

I can now say that I have added world-renowned rapper to my resume.

OK, maybe at the moment it’s only office-renowned. But I recently discovered my inner rapper while trying to come up with a memorable way to deliver a message with my team at Clicc Media Inc. Instead of writing a traditional blog post, we wanted something catchy and entertaining. This led us to think, Why not a rap song? It’s a modern form of poetry after all, so you can let your artistic side run wild.

Whether to craft a message at work—or just to crack up a friend—making your own one-of-a-kind rap video can be quick and easy. (Also know that a beautiful singing voice is not required; you can talk your way through this one.) Besides, you’re the director, too. Keep at it till you have a take you’re ready to share.

Here are five simple steps for the starter rapper:

Come up with a story and purpose. All the best rap songs tell a story, or at least have a clear purpose. Start out by knowing how your story begins and ends. I once created a birthday rap song for a friend because, really, who doesn’t love a birthday rap song? (This is also a special just-for-you gift idea that they’ll definitely remember!)

Find a catchy beat. I chose an old-school hip hop song as inspiration. Not sure how to select a beat? Start by taking your favorite song, rap or not, and mixing it up with lyrics of your own.

Write to the music, write in real-time. Listen to the beat as you write. This will help you maintain rhythm—and also inevitably lead to ideas. Write them down as they come to you. If you can’t use a particular detail in the line at hand, it’s likely you can work it in somewhere later.

Bust a rhyme (or don’t). Although the lyrics of most rap songs rhyme, there’s no rule that they have to. First, try saying what you want to say without the rhyming element, which might be enough. From there—if you find you’re the kind/ like I’m/ who needs to rhyme/ all the time—you can always use a tool like Rhyme Zone to help.

Memorize! Learn it, own it, practice it before you turn your awesome song into an awesome video. You can even show off your new talent by putting on a show for friends. (Bonus points if you can bring someone else in and they challenge you to a rap battle.)

Please, take inspiration—or at least laugh, lessen your beginner’s intimidation—from my debut effort here. Promise to remember you all when my future album goes platinum.

Peace Out,
MC-Clicc

By Zoe Mendelson, 25, reporting from Mexico City, on the magical music of Zubin Hensler

Zubin Hensler is an all around lovely human being and musician who is—full disclosure—totally my BFF. But I promise I’m writing this because the music he makes also happens to be amazing.

Here’s the obligatory list of bragging rights until you’re ready to just take my word for it: Zubin’s previous projects include The Westerlies, an experimental jazz band that recently joined Radiolab on stage at Cast Party and gleaned rave reviews on NPR’s Fresh Air and WYNC’s Soundcheck. He has played and recorded with My Brightest Diamond, Julliard Dance, Bill Frisell, Daniel Rossen and Son Lux. He is currently producing for Vieux Farka Toure and Julia Easterlin, who he headlined Celebrate Brooklyn with this summer. I’d say he’s worked with just about every great band currently making music in Brooklyn.

But now, for the first time, Zubin is releasing his own stuff: a solo project called Twigtwig, an EP called Normal Feelings. The music is influenced by as varied a musical background as you’d expect from his past collaborations—jazz, North African, hip hop, electronic. You can hear it all in there.

And it’s constructed from sounds and instruments Zubin found around his house: cardboard boxes, coins dropping, branches snapping, egg beaters, water flowing, chairs creaking, ice cracking. Door chimes, wind chimes, gongs, vocal samples. From there, using the computer in his bedroom, Zubin managed to wrangle all of these sources into something singular. What makes it so cohesive is the feeling it gives you.

The first time Zubin played this for me I involuntarily started crying and couldn’t stop. It’s not sad music, but it gave me this overwhelming and totally recognizable, and well, normal feeling. It’s the one where you’re really clear about something that’s sad, and even though you’re sad about it, you know that your clarity will carry you through and that everything will be OK, more than OK. Think solemn trumpet over triumphant beats and delicate bells of glory. This music is salty-sweet addictive like kettle corn but way more nutritious.

As his lucky BFF, I’ve had a pre-release of the new EP for a few months (and have been playing it on repeat, for everyone I know). Mammas and aunts and cousins and friends and everyone has been begging me to send them this music. I keep smiling smugly and saying, “It’s not out yet, I can’t,” like a little brat. But now I’m making up for that by spreading the word. Listen, and download for free!

This is the second suggestion for hot summer 2015 in a RED Hearts series of seasonal recipes – things you can cook or bake, usually healthy things, always easy things – for the people you heart! Served up by Erika Kwee, 24, “the baker, photographer and typo-maker” behind vegetarian food blog The Pancake Princess.

On a recent trip home, I spent an afternoon with my family making a huge batch of potstickers. It’s a tradition we bust out on occasion. Typically we eat these filled with shrimp, pork or turkey, alongside a steaming pot of rice and a few ramekins of soy sauce.

But this time I’d traveled with my brand-new spiralizer. Armed with the magical tool for transforming vegetables into noodles of sorts, I couldn’t help but eye the zucchinis lying out on the counter as I whipped up the simple house favorite dipping sauce.

The match was meant to be. I ended up with a really fresh and satisfying take on our normal dumpling feast: salty, tangy zucchini noodles that provide both flavor and a nutritional boost. (It’s up to you whether or not you choose to refer to them as zoodles.)

Though the original dipping sauce recipe calls for soy sauce, liquid aminos give the same satisfying salty flavor with a fraction of the sodium. You can substitute them for a tablespoon or more of soy sauce to taste, thinning the rest of the sauce with water as needed.

And if you don’t have a spiralizer, don’t worry. You can also make zucchini—or any kind of vegetable—noodles with a box grater.

Asian Dipping Sauce Zucchini Noodles

Sauce:
3 tablespoons liquid aminos
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
½ tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 small scallion, minced (optional)
red pepper flakes (optional)

Noodles:
2-3 medium zucchinis, spiralized
Whisk all sauce ingredients together, then toss with zucchini noodles. Serve alongside potstickers!

By Carey Dunne, 25, reporting from Brooklyn, NY, on the new (free) record from her rain-or-shine favorite band.

Wilco is one of the few bands I was obsessed with as a 15-year-old that I'm still obsessed with now. And I expect to never outgrow them, not even when I'm a dad rock-listening old lady and newer, daddier dad rock has come and gone.

The last time I saw them live was in a downpour in June, at New Orleans Jazz Fest, standing in disgusting-smelling mud. Most people in the crowd were pot-bellied 40-plus men with bucket hats, tie-dyed T-shirts, and cargo shorts—guys I would've thought I had nothing in common with if it weren't for our mutual love of this band. It was the least cool music festival you can imagine.

But Wilco is one of those bands that transcends the tyranny of cool, which makes their live shows so much better than those that feel like look-at-me scenester fashion shows. When they took the stage, droll frontman Jeff Tweedy pointed out that the weather "could be worse."

As they played "Jesus, Etc.," an aging hippie tripping out and wildly flailing his arms and legs around splattered mud in my face. But…it could be worse. Soon, lightning started striking the fairgrounds and the amps were fritzing out. Their set ended early. Everyone booed.

But Wilco had played most of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and a good part of A Ghost Is Born, so it was still among the better shows I'd ever seen. Also, this was my second Wilco show in a serious downpour (two summers ago, Ommegang Brewery, I wore a trash bag poncho). That too was one of the better shows I’ve ever seen.

Point is, I think this works as a cheesy metaphor for my general feelings about this band: Listening to Wilco makes me not mind if the weather sucks or hippie or hipster is sending mud in my direction. Their music is that good.

So I was excited when they released their first new album in four years, Star Wars, a couple of weeks ago—as a surprise and a free download. The first track, "EKG," made me think my headphones were broken when I first listened to it, but turns out it's just that twitchy and weird of a song (in a good way).

Confession: I realize I have no idea how to write about music. There are only so many adjectives that can describe sound, and none of them ever seem to do justice to the nuances of feeling a song. All I know how to say is, "This is really good, go listen to it."

For an articulate analysis of "Star Wars," go read the smartypants Pitchfork review. (It describes one song as "skronking"—see, you have to make up words in order to write about music effectively.) Or you can skip the reviews and just go listen to the record itself. It’s the perfect addition to your summer soundtrack, under sunny skies or in case of extreme downpour.

By RED editor Amy Goldwasser, reporting from NYC on Amy, the movie of a true talent lost

Amy, the new documentary about Amy Winehouse, is the kind of movie you feel bad about recommending. Or at least I do. Because it’s pretty much guaranteed to break your heart. I’ll put it this way: During the end credits I thought I was crying a lot till I found my husband sobbing on my shoulder. He stayed like that till pretty much everyone else had left the theater.

So be prepared to actively miss Amy Winehouse once this unshakable, haunting movie makes you feel as if you know her. And then you lose her.

That’s the thing. You see her being so talented (that part we already knew), so smart, so funny, so strong, so much of a real person, someone so capable of getting her act together over and over again—that’s the revelation—that throughout the film, you keep experiencing relief. Oh, phew, she’s OK now. Then you remind yourself that this is a true story and you know how it ends.

Amy was a total jazz nerd. She wrote her own songs because she saw the limits of everything else out there—and besides, why wouldn’t you? She wasn’t afraid to tell it like it is in interviews, to make sure her music not only moved you but made you think or cracked you up. She had real friends, loyal and loving, who, at least for a while, could ground her in the middle of the surreal nightmare of her sudden stardom. She didn’t take herself too seriously.

Imagine this in a celebrity. It seems she was an extraordinary talent—who truly did not want the fame. It’s like she was missing the layer of narcissism that seems to be the key, a protective layer, to surviving a life surrounded by people who say nothing but yes to you, by paparazzi mobs who won’t let you walk down the street, by comedians who consider you fare game as a public figure and are free to cruelly mock your very personal struggles.

Amy not only made me admire her even more, but it made me think a little bit differently, more responsibly, more kindly, about what we assume and project—about what the world does—to celebrities. See this movie. Go home and listen to your favorite Amy Winehouse song and realize how deeply original and wise and enduring and unmistakably hers it is. And forgive me for making you cry on someone’s shoulder.

By Zoe Mendelson, 25, reporting from Mexico City on a healthy, smart new way to shop for beauty products

If you’re not into putting potentially harmful things in your body, you might be interested in #TruthBeauty. I know, I know. Beauty products don’t go in your body, they go on your body. But skin is an organ (our largest organ, in fact), and the beauty products we tend to use are completely unregulated by the FDA, even though everyone well knows they actually do end up in your body.

In a sense—as far as absorbing the ingredients within—you might as well be eating your shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, younameit. And a lot of those ingredients are just arbitrary chemicals we don’t need. Shampoo and toothpaste both contain foaming agents. The mineral oils and petroleum-based products found in many (if not most) moisturizers actually dry out your skin. Thing is, many of these stupid ingredients—to use the proper scientific term—are so ubiquitous they’re hard to avoid without buying super-expensive products.

That’s where #TruthBeauty steps in, a Kickstarter-funded online store that launches this month. On their blog, BeautyLiesTruth, the team of Harvard Business school student Jessica Assaf and Sleigh Bells singer Alexis Krauss expose widespread, totally effed habits and environmental practices, give recipes for natural products you can make at home, and review what’s out there.

Now the artist and activist have curated a collection of natural, nontoxic products—that they themselves swear by—and are selling them for under suggested retail value. This is their commitment to making healthful products, made by ecologically and socially sustainable companies, accessible.

But it’s really not just a store they’re launching; it’s a movement. It’s a movement to turn women into proactive, educated consumers. And to stop us from damaging our bodies without realizing it. And to take back the beauty industry from the men who own and run it. This is an ingenious, easy way to get great products at great prices from small, responsible companies. No lies, just #TruthBeauty.

This is the first hot summer 2015 suggestion in a RED Hearts series of seasonal recipes – things you can cook or bake, usually healthy things, always easy things – for the people you heart! Served up by Erika Kwee, 24, “the baker, photographer and typo-maker” behind vegetarian food blog The Pancake Princess.

There aren’t many things better than a cold popsicle on a steamy summer day—unless said popsicle is far from your hand, say, a sweltering six miles away tucked inside a grocery freezer.

Lucky for those who find themselves frozen treat-on-a-stick-less this summer, my brilliant friend created a superfast hack for three-ingredient fruity popsicle bowls. She served them as a perfect light dessert after an indulgent dinner of lobster mac ‘n cheese. But I immediately put them into my afternoon snack rotation (and my summer is better for it). Yours will be too.

The bowls are this easy: Add ½-1 cup frozen mixed fruit (grapes and cherries are especially good) to a bowl. Pour in a splash of almond milk (or milk of your choice), only enough to barely submerge the fruit. Wait a minute or three for the milk to firm up into a slushy, icy consistency around the fruit. Then top with a drizzle of maple cream (highly recommended!) or honey.

Enjoy right away…and you may never seek your summer desert on a stick again.

By Jordyn Turney, 25, reporting from Boise, Idaho, on a hilarious, heartfelt, must-listen podcast

My latest obsession is a podcast called Gilmore Guys, which is exactly what it sounds like: two guys watching, discussing and reviewing every episode of the early 00s WB show Gilmore Girls. Your obsessive hosts are Kevin, a longtime Gilly (you know, a fan of Gilmore), and Demi, a newcomer to the beloved town of Stars Hollow. They’re consistently original, insightful and entertaining, making Gilmore Guys must-listen podcasting…if that’s a thing.

The show is hilarious, heartfelt—and at times absolutely ridiculous—as Kevin and Demi analyze everything from GG fashion to Rory’s boyfriends (say yes to the Jess?) to the awesomeness that is Emily, the reigning queen of Gilmore.

Along with their eye for detail, their great taste in guest hosts and their many (many) inside jokes, maybe the greatest thing about Kevin and Demi is that these two twentysomething guys sincerely love the show they’ve taken on. It’s clear in the way they rant about Lorelai’s selfishness, Paris’s vulnerability, and Rory’s entitlement. This is a podcast so engaging that I’ve found myself, at times, yelling at Kevin and Demi, joining in on their debates and laughing maniacally. I can’t listen to it in public anymore.

In fact, even writing this review is proving difficult, as my full immersion makes it harder and harder to talk about the show without inserting the hosts’ inside jokes that risk alienating new fans. So you’re just going to have to trust me when I say that Gilmore Guys manages the seemingly impossible: It’s hilarious, adorable, smart, sincere and snarky all at once. Go listen.

By Jordyn Turney, 25, reporting from Boise, Idaho, on the wait-no-more books of the season

Summer is here! To me the season always means bonus reading time, loaded with new releases and an ever-growing number of books I must have.

It’s like they’re perishable; it’s that immediate.

Here are three right at the top of my list:

Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer – A cute YA novel about best friends accidentally time traveling back to their 15th summer in order to fix their friendship? Yes, please. The premise of this book has many of my favorite elements: the way we interact with the people who matter most to us, time travel and summers. I’m just hoping they come together as wonderfully as it sounds like they might. June 2.

Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout – I’ll be honest with you: Nearly every book I read about that’s billed as romance strikes me as painfully cliché. It’s hard to find a fresh new twist on the classic girl-meets-boy. But introducing boarding schools and K-pop? That’s promising. With the collection of K-pop songs on my iPod and my total Rooftop Prince obsession, I except I’ll be wooed by this adorable-sounding debut novel. June 9.

Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway – I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book forever. Stories of bittersweet relationships (friends, family, couples) are always welcome, and this novel about childhood friends torn apart then reunited fits the bill perfectly. June 23.

By Zulay Regalado, 26, reporting from Miami on an inspiring new book about the power of the pen (pal)

I Will Always Write Back is a beautiful, sometimes tragic, moving and inspiring new book, the true story of a friendship across continents that turned into something greater than expected.

In 1997, when Caitlin Alifrenka chose Zimbabwe for her school’s pen pal program, she couldn’t even locate the country on a map. Of course, a typical 12-year-old girl living in suburban Pennsylvania has things on her mind other than southern Africa—such as choosing the right outfit for school and decoding her complicated friendships.

A bright 14-year-old boy named Martin Ganda received Catilin’s letters in a completely different world from hers. Martin was living in one of Zimbabwe’s most impoverished slums and aspiring to one day obtain a scholarship to college—something his mother too truly pointed out as his “only hope” to getting ahead in life. His limited circumstances of course made it difficult for him to relate to Caitlin’s middle-class American girl lifestyle, all roller skating and teenage angst. Despite this difference though, Martin was excited to get to know the girl who became equally intrigued by his faraway culture. Zimbabwe’s crippling economic state and Martin’s lack of resources often threatened his chances of continuing his correspondence with Caitlin.

However, Martin vowed to never let these obstacles get in the way of exchanging letters with the person who was slowly and unknowingly changing his life.

Caitlin and Martin’s bond was at times difficult for those around them to understand—myself included, as a reader. But in a way that’s the power of their connection; it kind of excludes others, and we all know how rare it is when you find that with another person.

I’m not going to tell you how it ends—or where. They could be anywhere. That’s ultimately the powerful message woven into the pages of this intricately-narrated story: Despite the fact we all live in different worlds, there’s so much to be gained if you just allow yourself the chance to learn about someone else’s, and invite them into yours.

I Will Always Write Back is now available for purchase in stores and on Amazon.

By Lisa Chau, 26, reporting from Pompano Beach, FL, on an organizational system that really works

I am obsessed with making lists. I make all sorts of them, from daily to-do’s to my top five spirit animals (sloth, penguin, cat, otter, and sea cucumber, in case you’re wondering).But lists can get out of hand pretty quickly. I used to be scattered. Post-its were everywhere and my super important thoughts were held on crumbled scraps of napkin in my purse. I’ve sifted through all the “Top 100 To-Do List Apps” and basically have tried out every organizational approach ever created. But I couldn’t customize the way I wanted, and the sheer number of choices was overwhelming.

Then I discovered the Bullet Journal, which is hands-down the best way to keep track of all your daily endeavors, all in one place. I’m not kidding, I’ve told everyone and their mothers about it. Greatest thing about Bullet? All you need is a pen and a notebook. It’s analog and it’s not selling you anything—beyond a supersmart system for you to make your own.

Here are the basics: You begin by indexing topics at the beginning of your journal, much like a table of contents in a book. Then you add as you go. These can be anything your little heart desires—exotic foods to try, karate moves to learn, or just a classic monthly calendar.

Bullet Journal offers clear, simple icons to represent certain types of entries: checkboxes for tasks, bullets for thoughts and ideas, and circles for events. At the end of each month, you just consolidate the things you haven’t completed and carry them over to the next month. If even this level of organizational order makes you want to rebel, know that it’s up to you from there. You may like grid paper or ruled. You can create your own icons. You can use pencils or colored pens. You can draw otters.

I’m strictly a black Sharpie and large-squared Moleskine notebook kind of girl. I like to keep track of general things, like how much I exercise or when I got sick. I also like documenting events that are fun to read later, like, “Lost my stun gun at the beach” or “Got 12 mosquito bites on my foot.”

Regardless of how you decide to set up your Bullet Journal, as long as you follow the basic strategy—dump and consolidate—you’ll always have a record of what you’ve done in the past and the awesome things you’re going to do in the future.

By Eliza Appleton, 24, reporting from NYC on how this year's college basketball turned her pro-sports heart

I am a professional sports guru. The kind of girl who makes a guy’s jaw drop when we’re watching the Patriots in the same room. The kind of girl who can beat almost anyone in Red Sox trivia, who can name all the Bruins players, who recognizes athletes (who are usually seen under the disguise of hats and helmets) in commercials and on the streets.

I wake up every morning to a Monday Night Football theme song alarm. I haven’t missed a Patriots game in eight seasons. I get far more ESPN alerts on my phone than text messages or Instagram likes. People even called me EA Sports in college, like the video game company, because yes, my initials are EA (and no, I don’t play video games), but mostly because I love the NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB more than most people love their children. I live for them.

I grew up in Cambridge, MA, with a baseball-loving father—and a mother who pretended to like baseball until she married him. Whomever I marry will never have to deal with that.

Perhaps I’ve been spoiled as a Boston sports fan. OK, definitely. Our teams were and are so good that I’ve never needed to turn anywhere else.

This may also be why I generally hate college sports. Why on earth would I watch a bunch of amateurs—most of whom won’t make the pros—when I can watch sophisticated playmakers dunk, hit home runs, score touchdowns and goals?

And then this spring it happened. I was roped into making a March Madness bracket for the first time in my life. I don’t know college basketball or any of the players unless they’re featured so much on ESPN that a name might sound familar. But alas, I rolled the dice, elicited one of my finance-bro coworkers to check it over, and I submitted a bracket to an 88-person pool.

Cue crazy, competitive EA Sports. I was determined to beat the guy who’d convinced me to join the league. It was war. All of a sudden, with something at stake, I couldn’t stop watching. Somehow, I looked at the clock one Sunday and realized I’d been mesmerized by 11 hours straight of the NCAA tournament.

I screamed for players I didn’t recognize, schools I’d never heard of, states I’d never been to. I was addicted to my bracket. I wanted to win.

Unfortunately, my newbie enthusiasm didn’t do much for my team-picking. Going into the final four, I am in 39th out of 88 people. I’ll still watch the Final Four games and the championship matchup because I want to finish as high as I can in my bracket, even though I’m far out of the race. Plus, I’ve gotten pretty attached to Kentucky, as they haven’t lost a game all season.

But really, all I can think about is how next year, I’m going to read about the tournament non-stop, do my research, and kick my coworker’s ass. There’s nothing more gratifying than defying expectations and crushing the competition. The comeback kid. The upset of the tournament. That’ll be me next year.

In the meantime, I’ve already got my David Ortiz Red Sox shirt on. Four days till opening day.