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Moscow Mules with my Mom on Mother’s Day. She’d never had one before.
Random Thought
Recently, someone died in the comedy world (local New Jersey comedy, no one you’d know from Netflix or anything like that) who was kinda a dick to me on many occasions. He wasn’t only a dick to me, but he was a dick to a lot of other comedians I consider friends. I could get into what I thought his motives were for not liking us but he’s no longer here and that’d all be speculation.
All I do know is that he was a complete dick and it’s the first time in a while I’ve heard of someone I knew personally dying and not feeling anything about it. I don’t feel sad but I’m not happy either. I’m completely neutral. My life won’t change much with or without this guy. I’ll probably never have to worry about the awkwardness of running into him in a comedy space ever again, but in the past few years, I didn’t see him around a whole lot anyway.
It mostly got me to thinking about death and legacy and what you want people to say or remember about you. I do think most of us are guilty of seeing people through rose colored glasses as soon as they’re no longer with us, but deep down we know who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. I don’t wanna be a dick about someone dying because that’d make me no better than the characteristics I didn’t like in that person. Instead, I’m trying to use it as a reminder in my own life to not be a dick.
Death is weird and for all I know it can happen tomorrow or even today before I have a chance to send this out. How fucked up would that be? Writing a thing about death only to be thwarted by death itself from ever publishing it? When you or I or anyone else expires for good, people are gonna remember what they’re gonna remember and if you were a dick to someone, I can guarantee they’re gonna remember that. So while I’m alive, I’m hoping I can instill in me a higher motivation to be decent and cool. I don’t wanna be remembered as a dick and for a certain person in the comedy world, it’s too late. There’s no more room for redemption.
Death sure is adorable.
Movie I Watched Recently
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(an actual movie theater for only the 2nd time since the whole pandemic thing)
This movie was the Mother’s Day selection for my Mom and I. I’m really glad I saw this in a movie theater because it has some really intense parts that are magnified by the experience of watching it on a big screen. There’s one scene that is so suddenly silent, it was aggressive.
I don’t recall ever watching a movie quite like this before. It almost defies genre. I’m not sure what to call it. It’s intense and exciting, thoughtful and philosophical. It’s got plenty of kung-fu and fun fight scenes. There’s alternate realities and nihilism and an overall flirtation with the meaning of life or lives.
My main takeaway was that in the grand scheme of things, nothing matters but that shouldn’t bum you out. Being alive is rad and even when it’s a struggle, there’s love and joy in the places you overlook. Maybe I was looking into it too deeply. But I felt like there was definitely a theme of how you should love life in the face of everything that makes that idea seem illogical… because it is sorta illogical… but also, loving things is rad and that’s reason enough.
I can’t imagine how insane this movie was to make…. all the filming, the editing…. these actors all playing their roles to a tee. It’s so good. It’s a real treat as long as you’re in for some mind bending.
I could’ve done without the reality where everyone has hot dog fingers though.
TV show I’m currently watching
Jeopardy!
The mighty Mattea Roach has fallen. 23 year old Canadian, Mattea Roach’s 23 game win streak came to an end last Friday. Bummer way to start the weekend (I still had a good weekend though). But overall, an impressive run. She’s in the Top 5 all time list for longest streak and largest amount won. She’s the youngest on that list and her streak feels like a warning shot for the next generation and wave of Jeopardy! greats.
I feel like Jeopardy! is at its best when there’s a champ on a hot streak but I say that having been spoiled this season that so far includes 3 names on those top 5 lists. That’s intense for such a short amount of time. Where do we go from here? I almost have to force myself to lower my expectations. It’s like every time someone wins now, I expect them to somehow bust out 10 wins in a row as if winning at Jeopardy! were that easy.
The Tournament of Champions is gonna be dope this year. I already have a dream scenario in my head where Mattea, Matt Amodio, and Amy Schneider somehow end up on the same episode. I don’t even know if I’d wanna try and make a prediction. I’d just wanna sit back and enjoy it for what it is.
MATTEA!!!
Album of the Week
Cypress Hill / Back in Black
So like, nothing exciting here. It’s a Cypress Hill album. It sounds like Cypress Hill. Nothing’s changed. Like much of their other albums, you can have this on during a cypher or a backyard hang and it’d fit the vibe. Cypress Hill does this weird thing where I feel like their chill and hyped at the same time. It’s almost completely balanced. It’s never too much but it’s never dull or boring. They’re still rapping about marijuana. And since they’ve been around for so long, they now also have the license to rap about that. OG type stuff. I’m just glad Cypress Hill is still out there doing Cypress Hill things. I wouldn’t call myself a super fan, but the world’s always felt a little cooler for having Cypress Hill in it.
The true sign of a group that’s been around for a long time is releasing a Black album.
Book I’m Currently Reading
Wuthering Heights / Emily Bronte
I’m not exactly burning through this book but I’m making some progress. I don’t love this book. It’s mostly okay. It’s getting to a point though where I don’t like any of the characters. The major players are all despicable in their own ways and the only character who I find redeemable is Nelly the servant and narrator and she’s kinda boring.
I thought I was gonna like Heathcliff but he turned out to be a dick. He married the sister (Isabella) of the husband (Edgar) of the woman (Catherine) he truly loves and it seems like he only did it to make Isabella suffer so that in turn Edgar suffers and in some way, he’s getting revenge since he didn’t marry Catherine (the true object of his affection). It’s fucked up, man.
Anyways, that’s about where I’m at. Heathcliff is trying to somehow arrange a meet up with Catherine and who knows what kinda drama that’s gonna start. But this book was written in 1847 so I’m sure this kinda drama was good fun back then. Heck, it’d probably make for hot gossip in 2022.
The cooler Heathcliff for sure.
Random sports thought of the week
Sometimes I get this thought in my head that maybe I’ll get really good at sports betting and start turning some real profit on it. Of course, that never happens. I mostly make $5-$10 bets, just about break even, and never find myself getting any better at picking winning bets. It’s about this time of the year that this brainstorm goes to rest for a couple of months. Soon there’ll be no more NBA or NHL and I’m not gonna start placing bets on baseball. I just don’t even know where to begin. So if I have any illusions or improbable pipedreams about becoming some big time professional gambler, they’ll probably have to wait till week 1 of the NFL season. See ya in September, silly dream.
Kenny gets it.
Random pro wrestling thought of the week
WWE had a PPV this past Sunday (Backlash) and for some reason it felt really under the radar. However, I just so happened to be home on Sunday evening so I gave it a watch and it wasn’t bad. Cody vs. Seth was a banger. AJ vs. Edge was decent. Charlotte vs. Rousey was good enough and the 6 man main event was fun. I think I can handle consuming WWE PPV’s without watching the weekly episodes of Raw and SD. In fact you’re probably better off. 5 hours a week of TV programming is a lot and it allows them too much space for filler and bad segments. The PPV’s though, there’s no time to waste. There’s not a lot of silly segments… mostly it’s all about the matches. And WWE’s greatest strength may be the video packages they put together to preview each match that explains all the important details of the story leading up to it. They’re so good at it, it’s almost like they don’t want you to watch the weekly episodes either.
I think the Cody Rhodes stuff has been excellent so far but I also think a case could be made that Seth Rollins is currently the best wrestler/sports entertainer in WWE at this moment. He’s been hot the past few months and putting on some phenomenal matches and delivering great promos.
Top 5 Black Albums
1- Back to Black / Amy Winehouse
2- Back in Black / AC/DC
3- The Black Album / Metallica
4- The Black Album / Jay-Z
5- The Black Album / Weezer
Weekly Quote
“People will clap to be nice. They will not laugh to be nice.”
-Kenny Rogers
Don’t I know it, Kenny. Don’t I know it.
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