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Jinx says hello.
Random Thought
Did you guys see the story about the lead singer of the band, Brass Against, Sophia Urista, peeing on a fan? Am I the only one who’s first reaction to that story was like, “I guess the pandemic is over.” I mean, imagine how far we’ve come. I remember a time not even that long ago where I thought live music would never happen again. Now I’ve been to a bunch of concerts and we’ve gotten so over our fear of exchanging germs, that a fan was super willing and stoked to let someone else pee on them.
I’m not endorsing the act of peeing on someone. But it’s a weird goalpost in my brain. I can’t imagine a story like this happening at any time last year and maybe never post-pandemic but here we are and the only reactions I’ve heard to it is how gross it is but I haven’t really heard anyone say anything about how that’s bad form during a pandemic. We’re winning the war against Covid and Urista proved it by peeing on a fan.
I will not be posting a picture this week to go along with the ‘Random Thought’ section. You’re welcome.
(We here at the Josh Wells Weekly don’t truly think the pandemic is over. This is just an observation on how we perceive it and how it affects [or doesn’t affect] our actions.)
Movie I Watched Recently
The Bad Batch
(Netflix)
This dystopian Mad Max-like story follows Arlen who’s considered “bad batch” and is left in an arid, desert land that is completely lawless by the powers that be. In her adventure, she runs into cannibals because of course there’s cannibals, a semi-civilized town called Comfort, and makes friends and enemies along the way.
Arlen finds Comfort and you’d think that would be a relief but she doesn’t seem to like it even though the world outside of Comfort has definitely taken its toll on her. The town of Comfort is ran by a dude played by Keanu Reeves who seems to have everyone’s best interests in mind but he might also be a creep who impregnates several women at once.
The cast is dynamic. Suki Waterhouse shines as Arlen, but this movie also features Keanu Reeves, Jim Carey, and Jason Momoa… all three of whom have their shirts off at one point or another, if you’re into that sorta thing.
I found it very enjoyable. It’s dark and a bit of a mindfuck at times. There’s deep moments of hopelessness but also hope at different moments which sorta keeps the whole thing in balance.
Had to post 2 pictures here because you need to see Jim Carey who is not in the promo pic.
TV show I’m currently watching
In the Dark
(Netflix)
I finished it. It’s over and I think it’s over for good. That’s just my assumption anyways. The ending felt final but it also sorta did a Sopranos thing that opens it up to many possibilities if your imagination is wild enough. I already have a fan fiction idea in my head of how they could continue and get another season out of it and while I think that won’t happen, I also wouldn’t be completely surprised either.
First and foremost, fuck Josh to the very end. Hate that guy. He never has a redeeming moment. He was a complete brat about everything the whole time. Even if you could justify his actions and behavior, the way he carried himself was super annoying. You suck, dude. I hope you stay sad forever.
There’s a great showdown towards the end between pretty much the two main characters (Murph and I don’t wanna say who else so as not to be a spoiler). All I’ll say is words were being said to Murphy that needed to be said and were long overdue and she was still having a hard time hearing some hard truths about herself, but since the season was coming to a close, it felt necessary and essential for her to be confronted so bluntly about her own shortcomings that have put the people she cares about in danger.
Not to say Murhpy is completely wrong. She’s validated in some of her craziness in the end although I’m not sure if the payoff was worth it. I’m not sure what the overall lesson is here. Not to snoop too deep into things even if you really care about it? I don’t know. I guess at some point Murphy could’ve stopped a lot of what happened and she never did and the whole thing just snowballed and became unstoppable.
I sincerely got into this show in the beginning because Murphy was advertised as some fuck up who’s also blind. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This show turned out to be nothing I expected it to be and maybe that’s why I found myself continuedly enthralled and captivated.
Overall, well done. Can someone else watch it now and then let’s talk about that ending?
One of my favorite moments in the whole series, right here.
Album of the Week
CRAWLER / IDLES
If you’ve been following the Josh Wells Weekly for a while (or even the past few weeks) you already know I’m a big IDLES fan. Some weeks I have no idea what album I’m gonna listen to. I just google new releases and pick something. But I had this album marked for the past few weeks now. Very stoked.
Anyways, what can I say? Another great album. I will say this about IDLES… to me they are a heavyweight champion caliber rock and roll band. And in the beginning, they came out brash, young, and hard hitting. All knock out blows all the time. You just never stood a chance. On this here album, it feels like a heavyweight contender who is changing up their game as they age. IDLES aren’t hitting you with a barrage of haymakers on this one. It’s a lot of jabbing, a lot of dancing around, a lot of style and grace. IDLES are gonna dazzle their opponents and take them to the end of 12 rounds where maybe they’ll knock out their exhausted opponent or just leave it up to the judges who will be forced to recognize the obvious, just one more stellar performance from a top tier band that won’t stop being great.
There’s still a few haymakers though. IDLES will probably never stop turning ugly into beautiful and for that, I will probably never stop tuning in.
Book I’m Currently Reading
White Line Fever: The Autobiography / Lemmy Kilmister, Janiss Garz
Finished this book this week. Overall, very good. Towards the end when Lemmy starts to wrap it up, you start to get a feel for Lemmy the philosopher. He has an almost brutish Zen about him. He seems very at peace with who he is and what his legacy is, even if everyone else still refers to Motorhead as that, ‘Ace of Spades,’ band. He wrote this when he was 57 I believe so he still had a bunch more years in him after this book was completed which makes me happy. Dude was creating music and touring till the very end.
He does complain a lot but I felt validated when he admitted as much near the end. You read some autobios and the author puts a shine on everything or sees the world or at least their part in it through rose colored glasses. You do not get that with Lemmy. His honesty is brutal. He’s mostly unapologetic even when he is being a complete asshole. He’s also aware that he is capable of being a complete asshole which shouldn’t be nice, but sorta is.
Lemmy’s story is a true rock and roll story. He was there for the beginning of it all and influential to a ton of musicians that came after him. He made a lot of noise and left behind a huge legacy, one big enough that in most rock circles, you don’t even need to mention his last name. He’s like the Madonna of heavy metal.
Random sports thought of the week
I went to the Jets/Bills game this past Sunday and it wasn’t really much of a game at all. When we arrived to the stadium, I couldn’t help but notice that there were a lot of Bills fans in attendance. And that number would seem larger as the game went on. It didn’t take long for the Bills to build a strong lead and Jets fans were all too eager to leave early. For most of the game, the Bills fans seemed louder but by the end of the game, it was their stadium.
Not that I care. I don’t really root for anybody and sports has been so much more fun to watch ever since I decided to stop being a fan of one team (TL;DR backstory, used to be a hardcore Jets fan but the org doesn’t care enough about its fans to do anything good so I broke up with them). Now I just go for the experience and I’m not all stressed out or emotionally attached. It’s all just a show to me. Blow out, no blowout, I’m gonna be entertained. And half the fun is probably people watching. Football fans can be a wacky bunch, especially once you get enough overpriced beers in them.
I gotta give it up to the stadium announcer and DJ. As the Jets were getting crushed, the announcer kept trying to build enthusiasm for each first down the Jets got (there weren’t a lot of them) and the DJ kept playing upbeat music, sometimes dance music, while the Jets were on the field looking hopeless. There’s an odd dichotomy and a sorta beautiful detachment watching fans dance as their team digs deeper into a losing effort.
Crank that shit, DJ!
Random pro wrestling thought of the week
AEW Full Gear has come and gone and it was a mostly great PPV. A little long but they only have 4 PPV’s a year I think, so I get the need to get a lot of the roster on the card to represent the fullness of the overall product. But ideally, my favorite PPV style maybe of all time were NXT Takeovers with their 5-6 tight matches, all bangers, all given enough space to breath.
Not that these matches weren’t given enough space to breath, they were, and that’s part of why it went so long. I could do without most of the tag matches on this card (except for the actual tag title match itself which feels necessary on a PPV). Sure, there’s a lot of fun spots, but it mostly feels unimportant and nonsensical.
However, let me tell you about four matches that I absolutely loved:
CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston:
Very unique match. Stuck out from all the others. Very brutal at times. This is the match CM Punk absolutely needed. It felt serious and hopefully might start putting an end to his whole, “I’m just happy to be here,” routine. Both dudes brought it.
Bryan Danielson vs. Miro
Absolutely delivered. Both men shined and I honestly wasn’t sure who was gonna win till the very end. I know Danielson is a big deal and my pick for best wrestler on the planet, but Miro would’ve been a believable victor as well given his size and intensity. If I had to guess, Moxley probably would’ve been in this match instead of Miro if he wasn’t away from wrestling at the moment and who knows what could’ve been but I guess that’s something to look forward to down the line.
MJF vs. Darby Allin
This match needed to deliver and it did. It opened the night and was a very hard act to follow. Given the influx of big name free agents recently, it felt imperative that two young dudes who are Day 1 AEW guys and considered the future needed to shine and show they can perform with all the new shiny names. This could almost be match of the night for me. I think the main event wins that distinction by a hair, or by a title change. If Omega/Hangman had no title and no build up, this would’ve been it.
Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Adam Page
I thought it was awesome that MJF/Darby and this match bookended the PPV. It felt like this was for the fans who’ve been paying attention since the get go. I think most fans have been rooting for this moment for Hangman ever since that first PPV when he won that battle royal for the right to face off for the championship. He’d eventually lose to Jericho but in that moment it felt like, at least to me, Hangman will be back, this is just the beginning of his story.
He’s had a story intertwined with Omega that spans a few years now. They’ve tagged and held belts together. They’ve fought and Hangman came up short. But this was his moment. It was time. The culmination of a few years of storytelling has brought us here and what a great moment it was. What a great match by both men.
Cowboy shit.
Weekly Top 5 List: Top 5 Music Autobio’s I’ve Read in the Past Few Years
1- Beastie Boys Book
2- The Dirt / Motley Crue
3- The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories / NOFX
4- Life / Keith Richards
5- Punk Rock Blitzkrieg / Marky Ramone
Weekly Quote
“If you're a person, then you have a personality. You can't change it, so let it out and watch the world applaud!”
-Sophia Urista
(this is a quote from 2017 and not in defense of her peeing on stage. She apologized about that.)
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