The Buzzcut Best (2025)

Picking favorites from a year’s worth of eating, reading, sleeping, and more

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Buzzcut is a newsletter of close-cropped commentary on travel, style, history, and nature by writer and strategist Zander Abranowicz. Find the best of 2024 here, and read our previous endorsements of libraries, rainwear, the Star of David, electric bikes, Rachel Carson’s first novel, and more.

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Uncompensated Endorsement

A paean to what moves me

The Buzzcut Best (2025)

Reading

• The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Herschel (1951)

• True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen by Lance Richardson (2025)

• Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore (2011)

Eating

• Ox tongue at Andrew Edmunds (London, England)

• Snapper at Jewel of the South (New Orleans, LA)

• Linguini with pesto and mussels at La Cantina (San Fruttuoso, Italy)

Drinking

• Iribancha Houjicha from Ryuouen (Kyoto, Japan)

• 50-50 Rose Martini at Café Carmellini (New York, NY)

• Jewel Sazerac at Jewel of the South (New Orleans, LA)

Shopping

• Transport Jacket from Barbour x Todd Snyder (New York, NY)

• Friulane Velvet Slippers from Heart to Heart (Florence, Italy)

• Modello Quattro UT4-GMT Toolwatch from Unimatic (Milan, Italy)

Podcasting

• Sapir Conversations

• Music for a While (The New Criterion)

• Ask Haviv Anything

Watching

• Bergman Island (film) by Mia Hansen-Løve (2021)

• Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (series) by Peter Kosminsky (2024)

• Oh, Canada (film) by Paul Schrader (2024)

Listening

• Journey in Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane (1971)

• Explorations by Bill Evans (1961)

• Brahms: 10 Intermezzi for Piano by Glenn Gould (1961)

Sleeping

• The Monastery of Great Lavra (Mount Athos, Greece)

• Hotel Peter and Paul (New Orleans, LA)

• Ad Astra (Florence, Italy)

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Something You Should Know

A sharp fact for your cocktail party quiver

“A groundbreaking study has found that adults can recall more detailed childhood memories after briefly perceiving themselves with a childlike version of their own face. Using a virtual ‘enfacement illusion,’ participants saw a live, altered image of their face resembling how they looked as children, creating a temporary sense of embodying their younger selves.” (Source)