📺Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij, 🎹The Jezabels, 🍹Theginisin.com AND MORE..
March 22, 2026
Welcome to the PI.FYI Spotlight, a column where we interview some of our favorite users.
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Todays spotlight is a special one. This guest is probably our most requested spotlight guest ever.. @LUCIUS. OG PI user & fire recommender. Not only is Lucius entertain us with enlightening recommendations, but he also packs amazing lunches. Let's see what he has to say...
"I grew up in Thailand and have loud opinions about unimportant things. My wage work is videography and photography. Creative writing is my personal work. I’m forbidden from mansplaining to my friends anymore, so I must subject the internet instead. You’re welcome, PI.FYI."
“What does “taste” mean to you?”
Having taste means you’ve eaten a lot. And widely. You know what you like and don’t like. More importantly, you’ve eaten so much that you know whether a thing is intrinsically good or not, regardless of your personal like or dislike of it. Taste is experience. Taste is curiosity.
“How do you choose an experience that’s worthy of recommendation (in your eyes)? Is it a recurring moment of joy, or based on a gut feeling?”
I pay attention to what’s occupying my mind. It may be a brief moment of satisfaction, or a long bout of rumination. And I don’t overthink it. I rec them as they strike. Because they impact me, there are others who will also be impacted the same way.
“Which PI.FYI user should we feature next”
@SHADOWBENI, any time I see a rec of his, I know it’s time to lock in. @SHOMIMOOR because we definitely fw them. @CAPYBOPPY for nepotism reasons. @SOFE, that towering forehead sparks joy. We should probably get @NATMAT in here for Hot Dog Week. And I’m always ready to hear more from @CILANTRO and @SILLYGIRLTYPEBEAT beat. @WHALEBUTT should pull up too.
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My favorite creative duo. They co-wrote a movie that is very important to me: Sound of My Voice. Zal directed, Brit starred. It was part of the DSLR indie film wave. And they showed me other people were telling stories with themes I wanted to tell stories about. They gave me permission to be an artist. They went on to create The OA for Netflix, which developed an intense cult following, and A Murder at the End of the World for Hulu. If their names are on the tin, I’m cracking it open. Watch their Criterion Closet. Fun fact: Zal is the older brother of Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend.
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I’ve recommended this band ad nauseam, but since I have the mic, I’m going to rec them one more time. I didn’t listen to music before them. I read books, watched movies, played video games. I was intrigued by visuals. Listening to music felt like a waste of time. But I was watching a video one day, and their song, A Little Piece, began to play. When the video ended, I realized I hadn’t seen a single thing because I was listening~intensely~for the first time in my life.
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My friends express surprise when I call myself a square. What I mean by it is I have personal values I’m not going to budge on. I think it’s good to choose how you want to live your life and not be swayed from that path. Consistency is integral to integrity.
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This might sound contradictory to my square recommendation, but life is contradictory. It’s vital to be open-minded. Try things you may not like, and be open to trying them again. Because you might just like it the next time. I used to not like sushi. I have never been a big seafood guy. But I felt I was missing something. So I would give sushi a shot when opportunities arose. And a few years ago, it finally clicked. Love me some unagi nigiri. Be curious.
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Y’all. It’s so fucking easy. Thai cuisine is not complicated, the ingredients are cheap, and it’s healthy. Give it a go. Pick any video from Pailin’s Kitchen. This Thai Julia Childs will have your belly full of curry and stir fry in no time.
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This is a blog dedicated to reviewing gins and tonic waters. It’s been running nearly two decades. The hyper specificity and dedication exemplify what I love most about the internet. An inspiration. If you want to craft the perfect gin & tonic at home, visit this site.