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Felt obligated to take a selfie when I found myself outside of the Judy Blume rest stop on the Garden State Parkway. New Jersey names its rest stops after Jersey legends and I hope maybe one day Judy Blume sees this and thinks, “oh that’s Josh Wells. His newsletter is very good.”
Random Thought
I don’t really wanna write about Courtney Love because if I write about Courtney Love now, on the heels of her talking some very light shit about Taylor Swift, I’m concerned that people will think I’m trying to take part in some war of the generations and I really don’t wanna be that old head.
It bothers me a whole bunch when I hear people of my generation talk about new music in a condescending fashion. It usually starts off with something like:
“I’m open minded and into new stuff BUT….”
and the “BUT,” is where they lose me. Then it’ll be something like, “I can’t understand a damn word these mumble rappers are saying,” or, “what are these emo kids whining about?” and what they don’t realize is they sound just like their parents did when they were young but they think it’s okay because they prefaced it with trying to inform you how open minded they are even though they followed it up immediately with an example of how not open minded they are.
And sometimes I like new music and sometimes I don’t and sometimes I don’t like new music because it does feel out of touch for me and that’s okay. Maybe 44 year old’s aren’t supposed to identify with the struggle of today’s youth. It’s a circle of life thing really. Young people are supposed to make music (and any other form of art) that older generations won’t understand and sometimes even create art to purposely agitate older people and that’s cool with me because really that’s some punk rock shit.
And I don’t like Taylor Swift’s music but I definitely think it’s punk on some level to go back and re-record all your own albums so that you can own it and keep the profits out of your previous label’s pockets. And I’d never say her music sucks. I just don’t get it and why should I? I am far outside the target demographic.
Courtney Love is bold and outspoken. She won’t sit down or shut up. She speaks her mind and doesn’t seem to care what anyone else thinks about it and that’s a beautiful way to live. When someone lives like that though, eventually they’re gonna attack something you like. It’s inevitable. If Courtney Love hasn’t talked shit about a thing you enjoy, are you even living? It’s a small price to pay for all the other times you do agree with something she says, like Harvey Weinstein is trash or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke.
Also, the first two Hole albums are masterpieces.
Also, Courtney didn’t kill Kurt.
One of the greatest philosophers of our time delivering a profound statement.
Movie I Watched Recently
The Short History Of The Long Road
(Prime)
This movie hits heavy with the emotions. Nola and her dad (Clint) live a bit of a renegade lifestyle. They’re off the grid living in a van, traveling back and forth across the country. Big spoiler but I don’t know how to get into it without mentioning anything else, Clint dies and Nola is suddenly 17 and on her own which you can imagine is quite the struggle since she has no bearings or experience with the grid.
But thanks to her upbringing, Nola is pretty self determined and crafty enough to give it a go. It’s oddly sad and uplifting at the same time. There’s a lot of moving parts like a mom who walked out on Clint and Nola’s lives when Nola was just a baby so she never really met her mom. There’s a mechanic Nola befriends played by Danny Trejo who gets to act like a real human being with emotions as opposed to just another one of his badass roles he usually gets.
There’s a line in this movie where Clint talks about how most people are afraid to live like them and I tend to agree. While I find something romantic and idealized about the concept of hopping off the grid and being more free from the constraints of society, I also see the constant struggle and sudden loss of all things convenient as the kinda shit I just don’t wanna deal with.
TV shows I’m currently watching
Atlanta
(Hulu)
I only watched one episode this week and it was the sudden return of a Black Mirror-ish episode that is completely disconnected from the rest of the story and characters. It felt more bizarre than any of the episodes in Season 3 if only because I know this series is about 3 episodes from being completely finished so a part of me was hoping for more resolution of the overall story. But I got what I got and it was still very entertaining.
It’s a mockumentary of sorts. They present the episode in documentary form of an event that didn’t really happen. A Black employee at Disney is accidentally voted in as the new CEO of Disney. Before that, he was just a dude in the animation dept who just happened to have a very similar name to someone else that was in the running for the job.
Once he’s elected, he decides he wants to use his new found power to make the Blackest movie ever, which turns out to be the Goofy Movie. From there, they create a whole fake history of his love for Goofy and how Goofy is Black and how his vision was ultimately compromised in the final edition.
This was a real fun sidetrack in the Atlanta series but here’s hoping things get back on track and we start to get some resolution and loose end tying in the next few episodes.
This was the second time these Goofy hats make an appearance in this series. The previous time was when Paper Boi was in Amsterdam and got too high and ended up passing out in the streets with one of these Goofy hats on. What does it mean??? I don’t know. My guess is it they’re just fucking with us.
Album of the Week
Zinger / Dog Date
I know I wrote earlier that sometimes I don’t like new music from younger generations but also sometimes I do and this would be an example of one of the times that I do.
This album comes at you fast. I listened to it twice and I’m still not sure what to make of it but I know I like it. It’s like a blur of distortion running by you real fast. It sorta takes ingredients from punk and grunge and somehow combines them. It’s like some kinda garage rock speedball that will never let you get too low as to crash and burn and feel bummed out. This band feels like they could go in an artsy noise rock direction if they wanted to but they mostly don’t. They keep it very in the bounds of punk in terms of chord structure, speed, and song length and I’m very thankful for that. I don’t wanna hate on artsy noise bands, but get to the point. Dog Date gets to the point.
I don’t know how to explain it but I just really love this album cover. It’s simple and silly and cool.
Book I’m Currently Reading
Honky Tonk Samurai / Joe R. Lansdale
So, semi-cool backstory on this book. As an employee of a well known book retail chain, I buy almost all of my books exclusively from said retail chain because of my employee discount. However, I was at an open mic at the Williams Center in Rutherford, NJ and for whatever reason, in this theater there’s a second hand book/record shop. I decided to go in and have a look around and I kinda forgot how much fun it was just to look around with no particular title in mind. I stumbled across this book and decided to give it a shot and it only cost me $4 which is even cheaper than my employee discount.
I’m off to a slow start on this book. It’s got a whole noir vibe. It’s about private investigators which I feel like is a very noir thing to do. I don’t love the main character that the story is narrated through (Hap) but he’s okay and he does possess a certain hardheadedness that seems to be necessary for the lead role in any noir story.
He also has a partner, Leonard who is a gay Black man with an addiction to cookies and Dr. Pepper. They both work for Hap’s wife, Brett, who happens to be the new owner of the firm they work for.
So Leonard beats the shit out of some dude because he saw him kicking a dog. Hap then took the dog as his own. Unbeknownst to them, someone filmed them and that person is now blackmailing them into working a cold case about her missing granddaughter that the police gave up on long ago.
The specifics are fun and a lot of the banter is wacky and entertaining but there’s something about the narration that I haven’t totally bought in on yet. But y’know, more to come…
So far there’s been no honky tonks or samurais.
Random sports thought of the week
Sports is an analogy for life. That’s why there’s a sports analogy for any situation. This week in basketball, I witnessed the birth of a new era while also witnessing the death of another.
The new era would be the WNBA draft and of course Caitlin Clark going first overall. I don’t think I need to explain the hype anymore. If you don’t know, you obviously aren’t into sports and you probably should’ve skipped over this section and already be in the middle of the pro wrestling section.
But then there was the death of an era that’s never easy to watch. That era is the era of the dominance of the Golden State Warriors. Their big three are getting older and the rest of the Western Conference has caught up. They were the 10th seed and had to play the Sacramento Kings (the 9th seed) in a play-in game. Sacramento blew them out which was hard to watch but also good for the Kings (light that beam).
A jarring stat to me was that Sacramento and Golden State both had more wins than last season but found themselves in lower positions for the playoffs. The Western Conference has not only caught up, but may be starting to pass them by.
The Golden State Warriors have had it good for so long. And I’m sure watching Steph Curry will remain very enjoyable. But it’s hard to imagine that this franchise makes any serious noise over the remainder of the careers of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and to a lesser degree, Klay Thompson (I say to a lesser degree because chances are he won’t even be a Warrior next season).
It’s been a really fun ride. And when it was new, it was super exciting to watch. In many ways, I think that’s why I’m so caught up in the Caitlin Clark hype. I don’t wanna say that in both situations it came out of nowhere. My guess is better basketball minds than myself saw it coming, but for me, they both hit the mainstream like a loud, pleasant, surprise.
In the end, Steph and these Warriors will be able to say they had an impression on the game that changed it forever. A lot remains to be seen of course for Clark, but she’s already put a dent into the history of women’s basketball that will be hard to ignore. As one game changing era comes to an end, the cycle of nature dictates there must be rebirth and a new game changing era must take its place.
Watching the Warriors dominate (except for those Durant seasons) was the most fun I’ve had watching basketball since I was a kid.
Random pro wrestling thought of the week
I wanna start this off by stating that I am a huge Jon Moxley fan. He’s one of my current favorites in the game and it’s very cool to see him still accomplishing new things like winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. What makes it super cool is that I’m under the impression that NJPW really means a lot to Mox and he holds that title in high regard so while this is a cool accomplishment for Mox, I also think if they’re gonna mess around and give it to AEW full-timers they couldn’t have a chosen a better dude.
But also, I was very surprised by this development. When I first heard Mox was facing Naito at a NJPW PPV in Chicago, I figured this would just be padding for Naito’s championship resume and main eventing a NJPW PPV card would just be one more cool thing Mox got to do in his career.
I was also watching Dynamite this week and couldn’t help but think how loaded this roster is with former IWGP champions. Ospreay, White, and of course Okada. In modern terms, I associate that title with Okada more than anyone else. I don’t think I could’ve ever predicted a scenario a few years ago where Mox would be the IWGP champion on US television while Okada would be holding a midcard title on that same promotion.
And I’m not trying to throw shade on Okada holding the Continental Title. I mean, he’s not even 3 months into his AEW run and he already holds a belt. He’s definitely not underachieving. But there was a part of me when I saw Okada come to the ring on Dynamite that thought there’s gotta be a part of him that looks at Mox opening the show with the IWGP Heavyweight belt and thinks, “yo, that’s MY title.”
Anyways, I just think it’s cool that the IWGP title is now in the mix at AEW. NJPW seems to be in a very fluid stage at the moment. This last PPV featured big names from outside of NJPW, most with WWE recognition. I think it can only benefit promotions outside of WWE to work together more. It’s a surefire way to compete against the big, bad global conglomerate in a way that they can’t (well, sorta. WWE has thrown out a wildcard or two with different promotions since HHH took over).
I’d love to see an era or a movement for more cross promotion outside the walls of WWE. And if there was one person you’d put at the helm or on the poster that represents the wrestling world outside of WWE more than anyone else, it’s Jon Moxley.
Also, in terms of a Shield narrative, which I feel is impossible to ignore seeing as all three members are top stars in the current wrestling landscape, I think there’s some added bonus cool to Mox winning this title on the heels of Seth and Roman losing theirs. It’s like pro wrestling can’t go without one of these three being the top of some promotion because it’s still their era.
Top 5 NJ Celebrities Who Should Get a NJ Rest Stop Named After Them
1- Kevin Smith
2- Redman
3- Glenn Danzig
4- Bam Bam Bigelow
5- The Bouncing Souls
Weekly Quote
“Don’t be bitter and mean cause you don’t fit it. It’s a GIFT. Look at you, you’ve got your individuality, you don’t have the herd instinct, you can read Nietzsche and understand it. Only dumb people are happy.”
-Courtney Love
I’m pretty sure I’ve used this quote before in the newsletter but whatever, it’s dope so let’s use it again.
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