We're all the screaming man on the street

The Josh Wells Weekly, Episode 304

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We did it, we took it to the streets. Despite not the best weather, the turnout for No Kings Day was epic. Umbrellas as far as the eye can see.

Random Thought

The other day I saw a dude yelling on the streets at no one in particular. He was losing his mind and people were just walking by him not paying any sort of attention. A part of me thought that maybe he was crazy for yelling his head off but then again, this world is insane. Why aren’t there more of us yelling our heads off? The more thought I gave it, the more miraculous I thought it was that more of us aren’t losing it on this level. Is he crazy or are we crazy for just accepting it and walking by silently?

The other day I took part in those ‘No Kings Day’ protests. It was cool and empowering in a way to be surrounded by thousands of people who also see what’s going on around us and wanna call, “BULLSHIT.” While walking the streets of NYC, yelling our heads off, anything seemed possible. Maybe we could force the positive changes we want to see so badly.

I got home from the protests and saw footage of all the other protests across the country (and some in other countries). I thought it was amazing. It really felt like a moment. Then I saw a stat somewhere that there were millions protesting and it was estimated that 3-4% of America’s population took part in it.

Hearing that 3-4% stat kinda threw me back. Earlier that day, there were so many of us. It felt something like or near invincible. But as soon as it was over, we all had to go to our mutual homes and be 4% of the population again. That means for every gathering of 20 people (or so), we average out to being the only person in that gathering who gives enough of a fuck to scream about it in the streets. If I started shouting the same chants I chanted at that protest, 19 people would look at me and think I’ve lost it.

And then I realized that in a way, we’re all the screaming man on the street. We’re all willing to lose it for something. It’s just that not everyone else wants to lose it for the same reasons so we’ll always feel outnumbered. We all get a turn and when it’s over, we forget we ever played that part and get all weird whenever it’s someone else’s turn. It’s like we’re all fine with the yelling but only if we’re the one that’s doing it.

One of my favorite signs at the ‘No Kings Day’ protest:

Movie I Watched Recently

Barbarian

(Netflix)

This movie was pretty scary but also captivating in a dark sorta way. So, there’s this Airbnb in a bad neighborhood in Detroit. The Airbnb itself is the only occupied house in what seems to be a neighborhood filled with abandoned houses and buildings falling apart. Why anyone would choose to stay here is beyond me. Why anyone would choose to stay here, discover secret doors in the basement, and continue to search beyond those doors is complete insanity to me and took a bit of suspending my disbelief. But hey, if they didn’t go exploring, there’d be no story to tell.

There’s an excellent swerve/misdirection at one point in this movie. There’s one character I felt really bad for and wanted her to survive. There’s another character who was presented as such a douchebag that I was pretty okay with it if he ended up being murdered.

The backstory for what’s in the basement and the why and the how is also morbidly intriguing. I’m not a fan of the causation behind it, but it does add a decent layer of fucked up darkness to the overall story.

If I go exploring the basement of an Airbnb and I come across this room, I’M OUT. All the way out. Can’t be convinced otherwise and anyone else who saw this room and kept exploring sorta deserves what they get.

TV show I’m currently watching

Jeopardy!

I haven’t latched on to a new TV show to binge yet, so I’ve mostly just been watching basketball, wrestling, and Jeopardy. And while there’s mostly nothing too exciting to report about Jeopardy, last night’s episode did have a bizarre ending.

The winner, Bevin Blaber, finished with $600. That means the other contestants who lost walked away with more money than her (2nd place- $3000, 3rd place $2000). It happens, but not a lot. It was very weird to see. What made it even weirder is that the other two contestants sorta knew the answer to Final Jeopardy but one of them left off a word (it was a 2-word answer) and the other spelled it wrong. Possibly one of the oddest endings I’ve ever seen.

And while Bevin will have a chance to add to her amount and most likely eclipse the amount of money the other two contestants were awarded, there’s still the slight chance she could come in 3rd place on today’s episode giving her a total of $2600 over two days which means the 2nd place contestants on both episodes will have made $400 more than she did.

Bevin also danced a lot. Not gonna lie, it was kinda festive and fun for Jeopardy, but it was consistent, like her body never took a break, she was constantly moving and bopping.

Album of the Week

Junior / Rodeo Boys

So, I learned about Rodeo Boys in my favorite way to learn about a new band. They opened for another band I went to go see live and I ended up enjoying their stuff (I even bought a shirt). They were endearing from the jump when they came out and said their name and that they’re from Lansing, Michigan with pride. They also mentioned that it was their first time ever in New Jersey and that they might’ve had a few shots of tequila before taking the stage. They then proceeded to provide us with a display of high-level alternative rock music.

“High-level alternative rock music” is also how I’d describe this album. Except for maybe one song (one good, slow song), this album keeps up a continual pace of enjoyable rock music. It’s fuzzy and distorted and feels like it could’ve been made in the 90s or yesterday. Sometimes there’s some intricate guitar soloing going on but never too much. The vocals are solid but never too angry or pushed. I wouldn’t dare call it mellow. It just rocks on a good level that isn’t obnoxious. There’s never a point where I feel the urge to mosh and/or cover my ears. It’s a collection of solid tunes that I just wanna vibe out to.

This is a weird and fun album cover although maybe the 2-headed cow isn’t having that much fun.

Book I’m Currently Reading

Drugs Are Nice / Lisa Crystal Carver

Sure, it’s a shocking book title that may have helped grab my attention. But I think by the time it’s all over, it’ll make sense how it fits in with the story and that this whole thing isn’t really some big pro-do drugs thing.

It’s a memoir about growing up punk or at least punk adjacent. I’m not very deep into the book yet but the beginning has already been kinda wild. Lisa goes on these adventures on her own and on one of them, she meets GG Allin, which sorta lights a fire in her to start a band.

She tries to book GG Allin on a local show and it backfires but leads to her band’s big debut and that leads to a whole bunch of other stuff that gets her deeper into a punk rock/alternative lifestyle.

I’m definitely into it so far, just lacking time. Can’t wait to dig further into this book. More to come…

I haven’t done the research but I’m assuming this is a picture of the author on the cover.

Random sports thought of the week

Last night was Game 6 of the NBA Finals and with their backs against the wall and facing elimination, the Pacers delivered an amazing performance that had me thinking for the first time in this series, maybe they could be the better team. If they’re not the better team outright, they were the better team last night for certain.

And going in, it didn’t look good. I didn’t have a good feeling about it for the Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton is suffering some kind of calf injury, and he was questionable leading up to it and it just felt like if he couldn’t play or if he could play but not well then this could be a cakewalk for the Thunder to close this out on the road.

But Halliburton played pretty well for someone with a busted calf. And I think maybe the energy of the home crowd and knowing it was do-or-die lifted this team, and they played their most dominant game of the series.

Game 7s rule and it feels more like a classic if the series goes the full distance. So, here we are. I still think the Thunder will win at home in Game 7. But the Pacers dominant performance suddenly gave me something to think about when it comes to that prediction. I’m suddenly not as confident as I would’ve been if the Pacers maybe only beat the Thunder last night in a reasonable fashion, not in an all-out-bonkers, you-shouldn’t-have-even-shown-up-for-this fashion.

Also, although I’ve been predicting the Thunder to win the Finals for months, the Pacers have grown on me. Watching their run has defined the NBA playoffs for me this season. Before the playoffs, I wasn’t very locked in on this team. Now, I can’t get enough. They’re a lot of fun to watch. They play really good and balanced team basketball. They’re deep. They’re well coached. Their home fans are amazing. There’s a lot to like. I wouldn’t be mad at the Pacers if they were able to pull off the upset (they’re still the underdogs here) and spoil my prediction.

This dude T.J. McConnell is having an amazing Finals coming off the bench. If the Pacers do win this thing, is he the MVP?

Random pro wrestling thought of the week

Bummer about Liv Morgan’s injury on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. She separated her shoulder and could be out for 3-4 months. It seemed like they had some cool stuff lined up for her like a storyline with Nikki Bella (They weren’t very deep into it yet, but I already enjoyed Morgan’s promo against Bella a couple weeks back).

The thing with Liv is that I had just started coming around to her. They kept booking her against other wrestlers that I’m a bigger fan of (Rhea and Iyo for example) and it was sorta masking the enjoyable parts of her character to me.

But once they put her into a thing with Nikki Bella, I was like, oh shit, Liv Morgan is cool. I really hope she comes out on top in this one. All I ever really needed is for WWE to book her against someone I’m not that crazy about, and I was able to start seeing all the positives.

Then I started thinking about her NXT days and how far she’s come since then. She hit the main roster as part of the Riott Squad which at the time seemed like a vehicle to help get Ruby Riott over. Fast forward a few years and Liv ended up being the breakout star from that group, a grouping that didn’t make sense to me at the time but in hindsight, worked out very well for her.

She’s also from Elmwood Park, NJ which is a 25-minute drive from me (early in her career she’d wear shirts that said “201,” which is my area code). I try to take pride in Jersey when I can so, in a way, rooting for Liv is like rooting for Jersey. That probably makes it a more bitter pill to swallow that SummerSlam is going to be at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey this year (minutes away from Elmwood Park) and she almost certainly won’t be cleared for competition by then. That would’ve been a really cool moment for her to be on that card in front of that large of a home crowd.

Wrestling is crazy. These athletes put it all on the line for us and sometimes bad things happen. I hate to see it no matter who it is but with Liv, I was just starting to come around and enjoy her stuff.

But she’ll be back, and she’s got so many years left on her career. Plus, sometimes that time away from injury helps to get the crowd even more into you so that you’re even more popular when you return (absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that).

A before and after. This is a ten year difference. Who knows what another ten years will bring Liv Morgan? She just keeps getting better (although I wouldn’t be mad at a retro run with that “Jersey 201” shirt).

Top 5 Bands whose name ends with the word ‘Boys’

1- Beastie Boys

2- Beach Boys

3- Dead Boys

4- Geto Boys

5- Rodeo Boys

Weekly Quote

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