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Telling jokes and pointing at things in front of a dartboard at the Wild Rover in Guttenberg, NJ. We’re there every Sunday night at 8:30pm having a good time!
Random Thought
I know I’m not as sad as I used to be because there’s a bunch of sad songs that come up on my Spotify shuffle and they don’t make me sad like they used to. Well, I shouldn’t say the songs make me sad. It’s just that there’s a bunch of songs out there that convey a level of sadness that matched whatever my own level of sadness was when I first heard those songs.
I have a fairly long list of sad songs I’m a fan of from a lifetime of being sad. It’s not that I’ve been sad my entire life, it’s just that I’ve had bouts of sadness here and there throughout it all. And I can usually gauge my current sadness by how I react to these songs.
Because when I’m sad, it’s like these songs are hugging me and letting me know I’m not alone and that sadness is universal even if the circumstances are specific and different for everyone. When I’m sad, these songs will play and I’ll stop and give it a second of thought like, “I really needed this song right now.” Or maybe I’ll turn the volume up a notch or two. Or if I’m really in a bind, I’ll stop what I’m doing and give the song my complete attention.
Now, whenever these sad songs play, my reaction is something like well, this isn’t hitting like it used to but I still recognize this song’s greatness and the love I had for this song when I first stumbled across it so I’ll let it play. In some extreme cases, I’ll hear a sad song I know and love and be in a good enough mood to skip it entirely. Those are the moments when I’m really feeling myself.
I’m forever grateful for sad songs. I know I’ll be sad again because that’s life and these songs will be there for me in an otherwise cold world that feels like it just keeps cruelly moving along when I need a moment to stop and work my sad shit out. Sad songs won’t cure sadness but there’s something beautiful about how they acknowledge our sadness and for a few minutes make it feel okay to be sad.
Be sad. Feel your feelings. Play a sad song (or several sad songs). My hope for anyone and everyone is that you just don’t stay sad for too long and you find yourself flying high and hitting skip soon enough.
Movie I Watched Recently
I Like Movies
(Prime)
This was a decent movie about a 17-year-old kid (Lawrence) who is about to graduate high school and has big dreams of going to NYU for film school. He’s socially inept and a bit of a narcissist and although his post-high school vision is strong, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’ll be enough to carry him through.
There’s a lot this movie has going for it with me. A know-it-all teenager who’s a film buff and thinks all his wildest dreams are gonna come true sorta reminds me of myself in some manner. I don’t think I was ever that much of a know-it-all or film buff, but this movie portrays the realization when some of your visions for your future will certainly be compromised and the pain that comes with all of that.
It’s set in the early 2000s so there’s no cell phones in the movie (or at least, I don’t recall seeing any. I know there were cell phones in the early 2000s, but I don’t think they were anywhere near as prevalent as they are now). Lawrence gets a job at a video rental store which is where a big chunk of the movie takes place which adds an enjoyable layer of nostalgia.
Lawrence is hard to like though, and they don’t really offer you a lot in the other characters so it’s hard to find someone to root for. He’s mean to his mom a bunch. There is a very sad thing that happened in his family that makes it very understandable why Lawrence would be a mess, but still, it’s hard to like a character who yells at his mom when the mom is just trying her best to deal with the same sad situation he’s dealing with.
He’s also a dick to his best friend (Matt) and that’s all part of a subplot that goes along with the rest of his movie. He’s also a dick to his boss (Tabitha) who actually seems like a pretty cool boss. It’s no dream job or dream, life, but everyone around Lawrence is trying their best and Lawrence is ungrateful for all of it.
Without spoiling too much, this movie avoids a cliché happy ending. I don’t wanna give away too many specifics, but the ending felt about as appropriate of an ending a movie like this can get. I’m just glad they didn’t do that thing where Lawrence becomes a better person in a montage towards the end and then gets everything he wants.
I’m not saying it’s gonna be, but this could be the last movie ever about the staff at a video rental store. Sure, there could be more in the future but what if there isn’t? Eventually, someone somewhere will make the last movie ever about working at a video rental store.
TV show I’m currently watching
Jeopardy!
No new binge. Just Jeopardy! Nothing exciting to report here.
Album of the Week
Sogolo / Witch
This is a wild album by a wild band. Witch is a psychedelic rock band from Zambia. The name ‘Witch’ is an acronym for ‘We Intend to Cause Havoc.’ What’s not to love about that name?
Most of the album is in local Zambian language although there are two songs that are in English. The sound ranges from psychedelic rock to something I can only describe as psychedelic tribal music. The beats and drums are strong. There are many vocalists. The guitars are wild and out there when they need to be.
I’d say overall this was a far-out album. But far-out in all the best ways. It’s certainly not boring. The strong beats act as a backbone that never lets this album get too out of line or spacey. It’s psychedelic but with purpose and drive. It’s even a bit dance-y at times.
I read up on the band a bit. They got their start in the 70s. They sorta disappeared till vinyl nerds found their stuff and caused a bit of a resurgence that led them to getting back together. Pretty rad story.
A far-out album cover for a far-out album.
Book I’m Currently Reading
Drugs Are Nice / Lisa Crystal Carver
I’m a lot deeper into this book now and so far, it’s been a wild story. Lisa takes us on a real journey. She starts an avant-garde band/music project. She eventually marries this dude and gets herself into a confusing marital situation that is open but also abusive at times. Also, her husband kinda steers her musical output in his direction and they start collaborating (Lisa ditches her one-time best friend Rachel who was in a band with her before this). She moves back and forth to France and then back to New Hampshire. There’s drugs and sex and a lot of living life to the limits and beyond.
When Lisa settles back down into New Hampshire life, she starts a zine called Rollerderby. And actually, I’ve just gotten to this part of the book, so she just started it but it’s kinda inspirational to a dude with a newsletter. It’s fun to read what her wild ideas were and how much joy she got out of putting them in print.
Fun, wild read so far. More to come…
That’s Rachel and Lisa, the original lineup of the experimental band, Suckdog. ‘Drugs Are Nice’ is a Suckdog song and where Lisa got the title of the book from.
Random sports thought of the week
The Oklahoma City Thunder did the thing I was pretty certain they were gonna do for the past few months, and that’s win the NBA Championship. Congratulations to them and that concludes what is probably my favorite time of the sports year, the NBA playoffs.
I enjoyed watching the Oklahoma City Thunder a bunch. They are a young team that plays skilled and fast lead by a young superstar, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is sure to be providing us with many more years of exciting basketball. I do think this team can remain dominant for years to come but a lot of these young guys are on rookie contracts and finding the money to pay them all when contracts are up and new ones need to get made could be tricky.
I thought it was a little odd that Kevin Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets on the same day as Game 7. Prior to this season, Durant was the biggest thing that ever happened to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Seeing him get traded once more to try and chase glory felt like a real passing of the torch moment generationally for the NBA. The team he abandoned early in his career finally figured it out while Durant struggles to figure out how to end his career.
Semi-bold prediction: this year’s finals and playoffs are the beginning of something new and different. I don’t think the major stars of the old guard will win any more championships after this. I’m talking about LeBron, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant. The next generation has fully arrived.
And finally, how can I sum things up without writing about the tragic injury of Tyrese Haliburton. Personally, for me, the Pacers will stand out as one of the big themes of this year’s playoffs. Going into the playoffs, I didn’t dig too deep into this team, and I definitely didn’t have them pegged for Finals contenders. They blew away expectations and were entertaining the entire way. The Pacers were amazing underdogs and a lot of fun to watch, especially Haliburton. When he was on, it was magic. He delivered so much late-game heroics in these playoffs, it’s stunning to think about.
Haliburton tore his right Achilles in the final game of the season. It’s like he almost made it all the way but ended up paying the ultimate sacrifice. A lot of back and forth will be made on whether he should’ve played and everyone has a right to their opinion I suppose but at the end of the day, it was on him and he chose to play and I respect that so much. It’s all about that championship. The finish line was in sight. How could he not chance it?
Here’s hoping he heals fast and maybe even faster than the prognosticators estimate (I heard he could miss all of next season. Insert sad face here).
The trophy, the team, and the amazing fans of Oklahoma City.
Random pro wrestling thought of the week
John Cena delivered a “pipe bomb” of his own on last week’s Smackdown against CM Punk. It felt slightly overdue for me. Since CM Punk’s return, I was waiting for someone to really go in on Punk in a promo. Seth’s been okay and said some scathing things but there was never a promo that I felt would be memorable and he never seemed to get the best of Punk. Drew did some really good promo work against CM Punk that was almost surprising but then again maybe not, maybe all Drew needed was a chance.
But Cena’s promo was different. It felt like for the first time in CM Punk’s latest WWE run, someone got the best of Punk on the mic. I’d go as far as to say that CM Punk is probably the best promo/mic guy in pro wrestling right now (except for maybe Paul Heyman who is not a wrestler, so we’ll just curb that convo for another day) and I feel like WWE talent has had a hard time going toe-to-toe with him on the mic.
And even with this Cena feud, for a few weeks there it felt like Cena was just gonna stand there with a grimace while Punk talked and just be all “whatever” about it and it was annoying me because here’s John Cena, perhaps the only dude with the clout and the promo skills to put Punk in his place.
And then he let it out. He called Punk a bullshitter and Mr. TKO. He broke the fourth wall and waved hello to former WWE talents by their non-WWE names. And as he kept talking, it seemed the crowd got more into it. By the time it was over, people were cheering. Maybe Cena’s promo was that good that it changed some minds?
It won’t go down as the best promo ever, but it might be my favorite John Cena promo ever. It’s probably the best promo of the year. It’s easily the best promo against Punk in this current CM Punk/WWE run. It may be one of the best promos against CM Punk ever (although I’ll always love the Eddie Kingston stuff in AEW).
It’s also the moment for me personally where I’m fully all in on Cena as a heel now. It took some time to get there. At first, I felt sorta bad. Here’s a dude who’s gonna go down as one of the greatest to do it. He spent so much time on top as a babyface hero… Mr. Make-A-Wish. The heel turn felt a little wrong to me at first. But as time’s gone by, I’ve slowly gotten more into it. But this promo right here, this was the moment where I was like, “I’m into this.” And maybe I’m crazy, but I think I might not be alone. I’m starting to think there’s a chance Cena can get over as an asshole heel who speaks his mind and tells it like it is.
Matt Cardona said “hey” back. That’s a fun thing about working the indies, you can just come out and do these sorta things right away. No responses yet from Claudio or Nic Nemeth.
Top 5 Sad Songs
1- Sleep Walk / Santo and Johnny
2- Hurt / NIN or Johnny Cash (let’s call it a tie)
3- Where Did You Sleep Last Night / The Nirvana Unplugged Version
4- Sunrise, Sunset / Bright Eyes
5- 9/10 / Jeff Rosenstock
Weekly Quote
“Anything well done has the feeling of death to me, of being finished. I don't want to "master" anything. I want to spy, and sneak, and capture things just as they are… record all that comes before and after the song—jokes and fights and private moments.”
-Lisa Crystal Carver
Thanks for reading!
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If you haven’t seen it yet, please go to YouTube and give my 40th birthday comedy set a spin, and while you’re at it, a like, a comment, or a share would be appreciated and goes a long way as well. If you’re feeling really crazy, hit subscribe… no pressure.
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