Itās been over a month since the latest High Five. I thought Iād dust off the format, mostly to check-in with you guys.
This is the only real time I speak directly to you, without the guise of a movie or similar. The High Five tends to be a bit more personal, or at least more illustrative of what I get up to on the regular. According to Aristotle, we are what we repeatedly do. I am a writer because I write. But, also, Iām apparently a pop culture junkie.
The time away from the High Five has been restorative. I didnāt realize how much stress I felt every week until the yoke was removed. Stress isnāt quite the right word. We talk about fun stuff here. But in a real way it was a burden. Finding five unique things every week to share and write on semi-eloquently was often trying. I canāt tell you how many Fridays I sat racking my brain, thinking, āI only need 2 more things.ā It always worked out in the end. Thatās the magic of writing.
But as I said when I decided to take a break, I knew the hours I put into the High Five could instead be deposited into efforts that would yield greater fruit over a longer period. Evergreen posts. My long-running effort to release a book of essays. Fiction, even. As I get ever older, Iām more aware of the passage of time and how easily it is frittered away on things that donāt move the needle.
The giant caveat to all this is the High Five is a fan favorite. You guys love it. I hate to disappoint people, especially those who like reading my work. Writing without a readership is a very lonely thing. So Iāve decided to seek a middle ground, and do a High Five semi-regularly, perhaps monthly. Itāll be the usual list of 5 things, and also a more general update.
The interesting thing about taking time away from this column is that I also almost totally unplugged from the content treadmill. One isnāt necessarily related to the other, but I canāt help but think that absent the pressure to find five things, I was able to just sort of follow my whims wherever theyād lead me. I spent less time watching TV than I have in a long time. I read a lot. I gamed. Saw several movies. But most excitinglyāfor meāI started writing fiction again. Itās been something Iāve wanted to get back to for years, but I always found a way to put it off. Often through productive procrastination, like the High Five.
As fun as it is to write about movies and TVāas necessary as it is for me to write about those thingsāthere is a purity to writing that can only be tapped when youāre inventing new possibilities. It requires a deeper and fuller creativity. And itās so joyously fun! I try to only write about things I actually like, but at the end of day, Iām commenting on someone elseās art. Itās past time to make some of my own.
My absolute favorite thing from the past month is something I canāt share. Not that I donāt want to! Itās literally all I want to talk about. But itās not the time. Itāll be November before I can share what Iāve been working on. Itās fictional, but channeled through my pop culture sensibilities. Itās a collaboration. Itās hilarious. More to come.
Onto the High Five.
How do I even kick this thing off? I honestly donāt remember. Letās try this:
5 Things I Loved In The Last Month
1. Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs
I know what youāre probably thinking.
I checked this out from the library last month. I fully expected it to be an academic text on Egyptian history. But what a pleasant surprise! The author (Barbara Mertz) writes with wit and good humor. She editorializes frequently, which energizes what could easily be a dry subject. Iāve read a ton of history books and this is by far the most entertaining one.
The subject matter is also highly interesting, at least to me. Not just the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, but how those beliefs created monuments that were ancient even at the time of Christ. Can you imagine growing up surrounded by ruins thousands of years old? Itās like a D&D campaign brought to life.
2. Helldivers 2
Iāve already written at length about this game. Apart from reading and writing, in the last month I spent the most time with Helldivers 2. Iām looking forward to spreading democracy again this weekend.
3. Wednesday: Season 2
I loved season 1 and have been impatiently waiting for more Wednesday ever since. I was more than a little concerned that too much time had passed between seasons. Not that the magic would be lost, but that the showāwhich stars adolescents, or actors who present there asāwould feel somehow incongruent with actors who are now 3 years older. Not quite Steve Buscemi āhow do you do, fellow kids.ā But a possible tremor in the Force.
How would the show address the time gap? Would it, even, or would it pretend only a season had passed, and our heroes were only a year older? It ended up being the latter. I think. They donāt exactly show a calendar.
Despite my slight reservations, S2 has been a total delight. Itās the same, but also better. The show has pivoted in directions I didnāt expect, and resolved plot lines in ways I never anticipated. Itās surprising, is what Iām saying, in the best possible way. Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) is just as bleakly droll as ever, but even within those seemingly narrow confines, the show continually finds ways to humanize her.
Ohāand Steve Buscemi is in season 2. Not as an adult masquerading as a high schooler, alas.
4. Punisher: Season 2
Even though Jon Bernthal is a perennial my-guy, I never got around to watching the second season of Punisher when it was on Netflix. Looking back, I canāt exactly say why. Bernthalās rendition was the second-best thing from the Netflix wing of Marvel Comics (the first being Charlie Cox / Daredevil). I think after slogging through so much of the Netflix shows, I was just burnt out.
But then Disney+ released a new season of Daredevil, and in order to watch that, I first needed to finish Punisher. So here we are.
S2 is a different vibe, and not necessarily in a good way. Bernthal remains incredible as Frank Castle, and I like the addition of a teenage girl as his ward / costar. Allows us to see a different side of the character. Iām less thrilled about anything to do with Billy Russo (Ben Barnes). Just no.
Frankās war buddy Curtis (Jason R. Moore) is easily my favorite character this season. Heās the voice of reason and often the only human onscreen. But he wins my vote on the strength of one incredible line: āHow long do you think it's gonna take them to figure out who Frank Castle's one-legged black friend is?ā
Chefās kiss.
5. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by Fantastic Four.
Going in, I wasnāt sold on the retro-futuristic look and feel. And I fracking hated the theme song, where an opera bellows, āFantastic Fooooouurrrrr.ā As though we might confuse this move with the other movie that has a giant guy made out of rocks. Fortunately, those elements faded to the background, or perhaps other stuff came to the fore, because the movie is far better than the trailers would leave you to believe.
Thereās a clear and obvious level-up in terms of cinematic competence. I liked Thunderbolts more, but Fantastic Four feels like it was hand-crafted. Does that make any sense? It feels like a quality film. It was my third-favorite superhero film this year (out of 4), so itās not the best. But solidly enjoyable.
Couple of quick things I just thought of, because Iām me.
We learn The Thing can grow hair and has to shave. Whatās he got going on downstairs? Is it a shrub situation?
Relatedāwas the Thingās penis rockified in its resting state or at attention? Or was it fused to his body, Ken doll style?
Thereās an obvious joke to be made about Mister Fantasticās ability to stretch. Iād rather zag: do you think Sue Storm busts out her invisibility in bed? Or are they a vanilla, no powers in bed couple? I actually think it might be the latter.