The Friday High Five

Stuff I'm into, for March 3, 2023

Warner Bros

Every Friday I share 5 things I am digging at the moment.

This week’s High Five comes from the 1998 film Lethal Weapon 4. And, truth be told, it’s not a pure high five. It’s a high five handshake hybrid. Sometimes in your excited exuberance, you go in for a high five and something unexpected happens. One of you puts a little extra English on it. You go with it, improvising, one thing flowing into the next. And then you abruptly stop by some silent agreement, before it gets weird. It’s hard to explain exactly what’s happening in the moment. But if you’ve been in this sort of situation, you know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, Lethal Weapon 4. These movies were huge in the 80s and 90s but they’ve basically been forgotten by time. I think that’s probably in response to Mel Gibson being a raging racist asshole. Which is too bad, because I remember the films being really great (I haven’t revisited them either). I wonder if they hold up?

The one scene I can clearly remember is the toilet bomb from Lethal Weapon 2. Terror and hilarity, all in one scene.

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In this edition:

• The Mandalorian: Season 3 🤓

• Tim Urban’s TED Talk 🎤

• Shrinking 😆

• My Electric Snowblower 🌨️

• Point Break 🌊

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The Mandalorian: Season 3

If you know me at all, you knew this was coming.

Mando is back, baby!

I’m not going to spoil it for people who aren’t on Star Wars like flies on bantha poodoo, like yours truly. But I will just say two spoiler-free things.

1. It’s clear they are setting up this season as a fun, galaxy-spanning adventure romp, and I’m all-in. Among its many faults, The Book of Boba Fett was way too self-serious.

2. I somehow forgot just how freaking cute Baby Yoda is. I mean, I know. He literally keeps me company everyday. But his antics in the first episode are even more adorable than anything we’ve seen before. Somehow he becomes cuter the naughtier he behaves?

In case you didn’t believe me.

Tim Urban’s TED Talk

I mentioned in my post about All the Fanfare that I was pitching it as ‘the Wait But Why of Pop Culture,’ which sounds cool if you know what Wait But Why is. Chances are, some of you don’t.

Tim Urban is the writer of Wait But Why. I recently rewatched his TED talk on procrastination because a) I’ve been reviewing his stuff to see how he does it; and b) I was procrastinating. But it occurred to me that the video might be a good thing to drop in the newsletter since it’s entertaining, informative, and related. It’s a short watch, only 14 minutes.

My Electric Snowblower

We’ve gotten pounded with snow here in Michigan the past few weeks. As I write this, I’m waiting for another snowstorm to arrive, which promises another 6 or so inches of frozen delight.

Despite the fact that we have a long and wide driveway, we mostly shovel at my house. It’s good exercise. We have an electric snowblower—as in, the kind you plug into an outlet—that we break out in case of emergency.

We’ve had a lot of emergencies of late.

We didn’t use the snowblower at all last year, and maybe only once the year prior. I’ve gotten it out 3 times in the past 2 weeks, and will probably have it out again tonight.

Unlike most things that make this list, I don’t love my snowblower. But right now, I’m very happy to have it.

Shrinking

Apple TV

I’ve been a fan of Harrison Ford all my life. He’s only gotten gruffer and more cantankerous with age. The last thing I’d ever expect is him to be funny. Especially since he’s seemed to settle comfortably into the vaguely-grumpy old man phase of life.

But I am laughing my ass off watching him in Shrinking, a new series from Apple TV. The show is about psychiatrists and how they are just as messed up as the rest of us. Jason Segel is the main character, but Ford steals every scene he’s in. His performance is gently derisive and sometimes snarky, but it’s all understated, and buoyed by some brilliant body language. I’m also a fan of the general vibe the show is going for, even if I strongly suspect it’s going to make me cry at some point.

And, in an recent trend I fully support, each episode is only 30-40 minutes.

Point Break

This space is typically reserved for stuff I’ve published recently, but I am spending all my discretionary time catching gnarly waves, brah, for the inaugural story on allthefanfare.com.

I mentioned some of the fun observations I’ve already made in a recent post about the ineptitude of the FBI. Here’s another freebie: there’s a nighttime surfing scene about 1/3 of the way in. Johnny is still learning to surf but goes along anyway. And then he starts wondering aloud why he’s there. “Can’t see shit out here. I’m going to die.”

Bodhi straight drops some Jedi wisdom on him. “Feel what the wave is doing, then accept its energy… You don’t need to see.”

It reminded me strongly of a certain scene from Star Wars.

Lucasfilm

I guess that makes Bodhi Obi-Wan? I don’t hate the comparison.

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What are you into at the moment? Leave a comment and let me know!

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