All Tomorrow's Parties

The Josh Wells Weekly, Episode 229

Jan 05, 2024

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New year. Same Jinx.

Random Thought

I’m not good at recapping the years. All across social media the past week or so, I’ve seen a lot of friends recapping their 2023’s. And I’m always impressed by how they’re able to recap 12 months in such a concise fashion. I’m almost a little envious. I feel like I get lost in the moment sometimes and I tend to forget a lot of what I did or what I accomplished. I think a lot of that is me just trying to take things day by day. I don’t really see things in large chunks like that. I know people like to talk about 5 year plans and all that but most of the time I’m just trying to enjoy the day and make it to tomorrow and try not to fuck up things too badly that tomorrow is gonna suck.

I know some people say you should live like there is no tomorrow and maybe that concept was more alluring to a younger Josh. But I’ve struggled through too many days of my life with hangovers and poor amounts of sleep to really follow that mantra anymore. I sorta live like there absolutely will be a tomorrow. And I want tomorrow to be cool. I want today to be cool too but there’s always a part of me that’s thinking what do I have to do today to ensure that tomorrow doesn’t suck. And if the next day doesn’t suck, it’s a big win. But also, I gotta keep that momentum going because there’s always another tomorrow after that that I also don’t want to suck.

Maybe I’m not a big picture person and New Year’s is for the more big picture types. And that’s cool. Maybe their concept of today and tomorrow is just a lot bigger than mine. Maybe one day I will be a bigger picture person. Who knows? But for now all I really wanna think about is the rest of today and tomorrow and if we’re talking about New Year’s Day next year, maybe don’t ask me about it till December 31st, 2024.

*This week’s newsletter title, ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties,’ is a Velvet Underground song.

Movies I Watched Recently

Kid Cannabis

(Prime)

This movie is based on a true story and I meant to do a Google dive and see how much of it is true and how much of it is embellished. Partly because some wild shit goes down but also that’s usually how I am with most movies that are based on a true story. However, I just never got around to it so it is what it is and the moment has passed but I can at least feel safe in assuming when they did the, ‘where are they now,’ parts at the end that those parts are true. And that’s good enough for me.

So this high school dropout Nate starts a huge pot business by smuggling it from Canada. It starts off slow but when momentum builds, it builds quickly. He assembles a pretty big team of people his age to assist in the smuggling and selling of the pot. He makes a ton of money. The power starts to go to his head. Things sorta start to unravel from there.

There’s a rival pot dealer he didn’t count on who isn’t happy about his sudden success. Nate’s team’s has also gotten too big and he’s starting to use people he doesn’t fully trust and one of them makes a big fuck up that is detrimental to the whole operation.

A big thing this movie succeeded in is convincing me that despite the fast money and glamour of it all, I have no interest in trying to be a get-rich-quick drug dealer. There was never a point where I thought, “I want that.” At Nate’s highest highs, in my head I was still telling myself, “eh, not worth all the hassle.”

Fun movie overall.

Not me. I don’t want to be a kingpin. Too high profile and stressful for my liking.

200 Cigarettes

(on a DVD)

Hey, shout out to my friend Gina for lending me this movie in time to watch it around New Year’s Day. I know I watched this movie when it first came out but I don’t remember a thing about it so it was pretty much like watching a new movie.

I enjoyed this movie very much. It’s really cool. It’s about a bunch of different people going to the same New Year’s party in 1981 and you get a slice of everyone’s drama and life and get to see how they all interconnect with each other and even Elvis Costello.

I don’t like Christmas movies and I’m not a fan of watching them just because it’s Christmas time. But I do believe I want to make watching, ‘200 Cigarettes,’ a new yearly tradition this time of year. I think I’d really enjoy that.

This movie is star studded with cool people: the Affleck Bros (Ben and Casey), Christina Ricci, Courtney Love, Paul Rudd, Kate Hudson, Janeane Garofalo, Martha Plimpton, Elvis Costello, and Dave Chappelle (I’m sure I’m missing other names here, but you get the point).

I thought it was kinda funny that while everyone else was watching the new Chappelle special on Netflix, I was watching Chappelle be a lady-loving, soulful advice giving cab driver in 1981.

Anyways, great movie.

200 Cigarettes > All Christmas movies.

Two fun things that stuck out for me about this movie:

A lot of cool dialogue. I feel like movie dialogue was cooler in the 90’s and this was like a final punch thrown for the decade since it came out in 1999.

No cell phones. A lot of the drama in this movie wouldn’t have even existed if everyone had cell phones. And for some reason that was really fun to me, seeing young-ish people get into hijinks that probably wouldn’t even exist now.

TV show I’m currently watching

Nothing to report but what do you want? I did watch two whole movies.

Album of the Week

Night Owls / The Dollyrots

This week I was looking for something that rocks and was easy to consume and with the Dollyrots, I got just that. The Dollyrots are a fun time. It’s a very polished kind of punk with a ton of pop sensibility. It’s sweet bubblegum rock music in capsules that rarely go over 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I usually like my punk a little more ragged and beat up but then again, ragged punk rock music needs something to be compared against to look ragged in the first place. The Dollyrots accomplish that. They reside on the sugary side of the punk rock spectrum without feeling inauthentic or like it’s just some kind of cash grab. These songs have heart. And there’s nothing more important to me in music than that.

Oh also, they throw in an unexpected but fun cover of Billy Bragg’s, ‘A New England,’ at the end. Very cool.

Night Owls" CD + Digi – The Dollyrots Merch Store

This album cover is bright, fun, and busy much like their music.

Book I’m Currently Reading

Dead Inside / Chandler Morrison

This isn’t even that long of a book. I should’ve crushed it by now. But I haven’t. I read a little more though and it’s okay I guess. The security guard who likes to have sex with dead bodies who doesn’t have emotions for real people is starting to catch feelings for the doctor who eats babies. The doctor who eats babies seems to wish she didn’t do what she did and would like to be some kind of ‘normal.’ The security guard is more like, “fuck normal,” and seems more comfortable with his dark habit.

This book is dark and depraved at times. There’s parts I’ve read that would make it hard for me to recommend this book to other people without at least some kind of trigger warning. But maybe that kinda talk is recommendation enough for some people. We’ll see where it goes from here. Hoping to have this book licked in the next few days.

Dead Inside (Unrated) - Morrison, Chandler: 9781530765102 - AbeBooks

I’m not even sure if I’m reading the unrated version but if there is an unrated version, I kinda can’t imagine what’s being held back at this point.

Random sports thought of the week

I really hope Lamar Jackson gets the MVP award in the NFL this season. He’s the best QB in the NFL and I don’t even think anyone else has been close this season to being as good as he has. He’s definitely the most important piece of the Ravens’ offense. But beyond all that, he’s so much fun to watch. I’ve always thought that about Jackson, great at the position and fun to watch. What a great combo.

The Ravens are also probably the best team in the NFL. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go all the way and win the Super Bowl. I know we still have a ways to go but they’d be my betting favorite right now. But even if something falters along the way, the Ravens are the best team in the regular season and Lamar Jackson is leading the charge.

Lamar Jackson Is A Brilliant QB — Just Not For Vikings In 2023

Give this man his trophy.

Random pro wrestling thought of the week

All hail the new AEW World Champion, Samoa Joe.

I’ve been calling this one since Joe relinquished his ROH TV Championship to go pursue the top title. Joe is an all time great. And he’s adapted his style and aged well and still poses as one of the biggest threats one-on-one against anyone in the ring. It’s time to give this man his roses. I’m so happy Joe is the World Champion and can make a legitimate claim to being the best in the world. And he poses as a legitimate champion. He beat MJF clean. There were no shenanigans despite the speculation of the big Devil reveal.

I’m hoping we get to see Joe go on a decent run of title defenses as champ. The AEW roster is full of great contenders and matchups. This feels like a great opportunity to breathe some fresh life into the top of the AEW card. I’m very excited to see where we go from here.

Samoa Joe Captures The AEW World Championship

A lot of fans give AEW shit for bad booking decisions but goddamn, look at that. AEW nailed this one. Samoa Joe is the guy. It just feels right.

Top 5 Things I Won’t Quit In 2024

1- exercise/running

2- comedy

3- the newsletter

4- wearing hoodies and band tees

5- drinking

Weekly Quote

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.”

-Neil Gaiman

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