MORE SNOW.

The Josh Wells Weekly, Episode 340

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Telling jokes at Hell Yea! Comedy last Friday. It was a fun one. Hope to see you at the next one, Fri, March 20th. We’ll be celebrating Erin’s birthday.

Random Thought

MORE SNOW. That’s what we got earlier this week. This area of the country got walloped by a blizzard leaving about two feet of snow on the ground. It was such a crazy amount for one storm and when you consider the timing, the whole thing felt pretty disrespectful. We were just starting to see the ground outside after that last storm from a couple weeks back. We were finally digging and melting ourselves out from under that mess and just when things seemed a little too nice for February, we found ourselves under an even stronger attack. If this had been a war, I would’ve considered waving the white flag.

And in many ways, I have. I haven’t done much this week. I’ve worked from home. Haven’t moved my car. Haven’t gone out anywhere. The girlfriend came over yesterday, otherwise besides my job and the convenience store around the corner, I’ve made no real connection with the world outside.

Unless you can count those awkward glances me and my neighbors gave each other as we dug our cars out. It was never said out loud, but it was implied repeatedly through non-verbal gestures that screamed, “Will you look at all of this?? What are we supposed to do with it all??”

I have plans to do something social later tonight and that will be the first time I get in my car and go somewhere and hang out with friends and I’m sure it’ll do me a whole lot of good. I can’t stay holed up in my apartment forever although a part of me would like to, at least till maybe mid-April.

If I could, I would hibernate. Or maybe I’d move somewhere warm for two months every year just to dodge the worst of winter. Neither of those are realistic options. If I would’ve written this on Monday, I would’ve told you that the sky was falling. That’s what it felt and looked like. I’ve had a few days since to let my body go through the motions of post-storm anxiety and I think I’m starting to come out on the other end and am no longer on the precipice of a freakout. I’m not overjoyed about snow. I’m not at peace with it. You’ll never hear me saying how pretty snow is because I know what it becomes once it hangs around and mixes with dirt and trash. But I’m ready to keep it moving and get on with it.

The next few weeks will be life plus snow everywhere. It’ll add an extra layer of challenge to everything but sooner or later, it’ll go away. There will be conversations in the summer where we’ll remind each other and say things like, “remember those crazy snowstorms we got this past winter? Glad that’s over.”

This is a manmade mountain that the town and county I live in have created with all the snow they’ve been plowing/bulldozing off some of our local main roads. It’s even more intense in person. I gotta give it up to the town of North Bergen. The local DPW puts a lot of effort and hard work into doing their best to keep North Bergen livable. It’d be a way crazier snow-covered Hellscape without them.

Movies I watched this week

Fall

(Netflix)

Two best friends set out to climb a decommissioned radio tower that is on ‘no trespassing’ grounds. This comes a year after a tragic accident they were both involved in a year earlier when climbing a mountain. Since that accident, one of them gave up climbing (and sorta gave up in general) and the other one went crazy and traveled the world looking for adrenaline rushes. They get together to climb this tower and it’s very well done. I had sweaty palms for much of the movie. Heights irk me sometimes and most of this movie takes place high up. It’s a very cool, unique, and sometimes heavy movie experience.

I look at this picture and think, “I’m good, I’ll just wait at the bottom.” Actually, if they had a third boring friend who would’ve waited at the bottom, things would’ve played out a lot differently. Just goes to show you that boring friends can play an important role in life. Don’t underappreciate them.

Bunny

(Netflix)

This movie was super cool. I’m a big fan. I’d probably file this under cool guy cinema but also, it’s a bit of a hangout flick, since it focuses on a circle of friends and mostly stays in one location (an apartment complex in NYC. Most of it takes place in 3-4 apartments and out front).

Bunny is a hustler who does sex things for money. They don’t get too into his career, but that’s an important cornerstone of the plot. He also rents one of his rooms out as an Airbnb which is rented out by an Orthodox Jew who has to follow some pretty strict rules in an environment that seems to be very laxed on rules.

Bunny gets into a pretty ugly issue at work that ends up with a guy following him home and bad things happen, and Bunny and his friends find themselves in a bind to cover some things up that went wrong. Also worth noting, it’s Bunny’s birthday. There’s a colorful cast of characters. Bunny’s friends and neighbors are all a little bent and weird and sometimes crazy.

At times this movie is fun and chaotic. Other times, it’s surprisingly sincere. It all makes for a really entertaining watch.

I was hesitant to use this picture because I wanted something that features the entire cast better. But it’s a bit of an indie flick and there’s not a whole lot of good promo pics on the internet. Bunny is the main dude and he’s an entertaining character but it’s the ensemble cast that makes this movie buzz.

TV show I watched this week: Mr. Robot

We just started Season 3 and I’m at a place right now where I don’t trust any of these characters. I can’t even trust Elliot (to be fair, Elliot is super untrustworthy. Remember the prison swerve?) I’m just waiting for everyone to screw everyone else over to save themselves.

F-society are still dealing with the fallout from the hack that changed everything. There’s a stage 2 to F-society’s plan, but no one seems to know what it is exactly. Elliot created Stage 2 but doesn’t seem to be a fan of it. Will Stage 2 happen? Will Elliot get in Elliot’s way? Will the Chinese gov’t get involved somehow? Who’s gonna die next? I think the only thing I know for certain is that someone else is gonna die sooner or later. There’s no way everyone that’s alive now will still be standing when it’s all over.

Also, crazy Fight Club vibes. F-society is starting to feel more and more like Project Mayhem and Elliot is both Tyler Durden who wants to go all the way with it and the Narrator who thinks things have gone too far.

More to come…

Did Mr. Robot make Christian Slater cool again? Or was Christian Slater always cool? Or am I just letting my Gen-X show and Slater hasn’t been cool since the 90s and Mr. Robot didn’t make him cool at all?

Album I listened to this week: Triple Sabotage / Toys That Kill

Toys That Kill is one of those punk bands that’s been around for a while, but I’ve never really listened to. But I saw they had a new album out, so I gave it a shot. It’s a very cool album. It’s got a cool punk/garage vibe going on. It’s a little rough and dirty like good punk should be but just the right amount where they don’t lose sense of writing catchy and fun songs. I dug it. If I was tasked to start a punk band and put out an album, I think I’d want it to sound something like this.

Very simple and fun album cover.

Book I’m currently reading: Punk Rock (An Oral History) / John Robb

I finished this up this week and now I am an expert on all things British punk rock. Okay, maybe not an expert but this book gives a very good overview of the early punk years in the United Kingdom. It’s overall a very fun read. I’d definitely consider it a bit of a read for diehards only. You gotta have some passion for the subject matter at hand. This book is kinda long, but it moves along pretty smoothly.

This book makes a strong case for how there’ll never be anything like that first wave of punk and I’m sure that’s true. A few of the quotes thrown around in this book hint that some people think punk died in the early 80s or it’s just never been the same since then. But reading this book and then tuning into the news, it’s hard not to think that punk can and should be as relevant as ever.

Random Sports Thought

I definitely caught that Alysa Liu fever that’s been going around. It’s her backstory that locked me in. It’s completely viral now and I’m sure I can’t add anything new to what’s already been said, but basically, she quit figure skating at 16 after competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics. She pretty much said, “fuck this, I wanna live my life for me now” (I’m paraphrasing but that’s the vibe). She went out and did her thing and a couple of years later, she came back to figure skating but on her own terms.

And that’s what’s so badass about her. She said no one was gonna starve her or tell her what to eat. She demanded to collaborate and have her voice and ideas heard for her performances. She was gonna wear what she wanted, use the songs she wanted to use, pierce the front of her gums (or whatever you call that piercing), and represent big time for the Bay Area. Most importantly, she was gonna have fun. She grabbed control and made a real stand for herself as an individual which seems to go against a lot of figure skating’s norms.

I don’t even like figure skating. And after fracturing my elbow last year in an ice-skating incident, I cringe a little whenever I see clips of a hockey game or I’m watching a movie and there’s an ice-skating scene. I became averse to it all. But then Alysa Liu came along and suddenly, I’m watching her routines on YouTube and I’m just as stoked about it as I am when I watch skateboarding clips on Instagram (best thing on social media).

I think more than anything though, it’s what she stood for. Take control. Own your life and your space. Put in the work but also have fun. Don’t let anyone take the joy away from you.

That’s a badass legacy.

If I was anywhere near 20-years-old, I’d have already gone out and gotten my gums pierced. That shit is cool.

Random Pro Wrestling Thought

I know I wrote about AJ Styles two weeks ago (I think that was two weeks ago) but WWE really killed it with his retirement segment on Raw in Atlanta this past Monday. Sure, the rest of that episode was average at best, but the final retirement segment was great. They let AJ say the things he wanted to say in the ring. He shouted out his wife (his biggest flex) and his kids who were ringside (most of them, one was home with the flu). And then after, the locker room came out and stood on the ramp and showed their appreciation.

And then the big surprise came when Taker showed up and made his way down to the ring on a motorcycle. For just a second, I thought maybe WWE was gonna go bonkers and give us Taker vs Styles at Mania (I’ve heard ticket sales could use the help). But they didn’t go that route. Instead, Taker was the one to let him know that he’ll be entering the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

AJ Styles being put into the Hall of Fame immediately after his retirement is a no brainer to me. Styles will go down as one of the all-time greats and one of the best of his generation. He also seems to be well liked by everyone that works at WWE, which is probably not an easy task to pull off. There are all these clips of talent calling him "Uncle Allen” behind the scenes. It’s very endearing.

And that’s what’s great about rooting for AJ Styles. Not only is he a great wrestler, but you get the feeling he’s a good dude as well. Im usually whatever about the HOF ceremony but I will definitely be trying to tune in for AJ’s induction.

AJ Styles is retiring at a point when he can still deliver high quality matches in the ring. I’m a big fan of the “leave them wanting more” legacy. Go out while you’re still great. Don’t ever let them see your skills fade with age.

My Top 5 Favorite Olympians

1- Kurt Angle

2- Alysa Liu

3 - The 1992 Lithuania men’s basketball team (that was the year of the US Dream Team who dominated everyone, but Lithuania had heart AND those cool tie-dye uniforms that the Grateful Dead made for them.)

4- Tonya Harding

5- Raygun

How sick is this Lithuania basketball shirt???

Weekly Quote

“That’s what I’m fucking talking about!”

-Alysa Liu

Thanks for reading!

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