The Friday High Five
On Potato Chips, Clones, and Justified 2.0
Every Friday I share 5 things that brought me joy this week. Also, high fives are inherently cool, and I think we can all agree Friday is the bestest day. Hence the Friday High Five. 🙏🏻5 Things I Enjoyed This Week:
Barbie
Annual Family BBQ
They Cloned Tyrone
Golf
Justified: City Primeval
Barbie
I’ve already delivered my thoughts on Barbie via the magic of email technology, but in case you missed it:
The Barbie Movie is the Wildest, Weirdest Blockbuster I Have Ever Seen
Light spoilers for the movie. It should be said upfront that I am not what you’d call this movie’s core demographic. Though I was a child when toy companies first realized they could use cartoons as long-form advertising, and this film is sort of a weird celebration of that time. The closest I ever came to playing with Barbies was wh…
Annual Family BBQ
We call it the yearly BBQ even though we stopped grilling several years ago. That’s how my family operates. Name’s stick. Case in point: We call our favorite chips ‘Made Rites’ even though the bag clearly says ‘Better Made’. They used to be called Made Rite, and that’s how we still refer to them. (I don’t believe you can get these outside of Michigan or Michigan-adjacent states, so at least 90% of you have no idea what I’m talking about.)
Anyway—the barbecue that wasn’t.
Every year, my brother and I bring our families back home for the weekend. I don’t quite remember when the tradition started, but I have a picture somewhere of me holding my giggling 9 month-old daughter in the air, so at least 16 years. It’s one of those things that seems like it’ll last forever.
A couple of years ago, I was laying on the couch, drowsy from staying up too late and then getting up too early for golf. My daughter and nieces were playing on the floor, and it dawned on me that I was observing a fleeting moment, that soon enough they wouldn’t be playing with dolls anymore. And then I had the sobering realization that the entire weekend was like that. That at some point, there wouldn’t be a family BBQ.
Life has a way of feeling infinite when you are in it, and depressingly short in retrospect.
There’s nothing that can be done but to enjoy it while it lasts. So I did.
They Cloned Tyrone
This one was a delightful surprise.
They Cloned Tyrone is a sci-fi send-up of something like The Island, but set in the hood. The protagonists are a drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute. Per the title, the characters realize something weird is going on. And then shenanigans ensue. It’s like a funnier version of Tales from the Hood.
John Boyega is practically unrecognizable—it actually took me a minute to realize it was Boyega. Per usual, he kills it. Dude is so talented. One day I’ll write an epic treatise about how badly he was misused on the Star Wars films.
Anyway. Jamie Foxx’s Slick Charles is the real scene-stealer. Just look at him! He’s fabulous and he knows it.
Golf
I used to play golf semi-regularly, like once a month. Then life happened and I just sorta stopped playing. I still love it. Finding the time is the challenge, which honestly is just code for it not being a priority. Push come to shove, I’d probably rather spend that time writing.
These days, I play three rounds every year: Once during the BBQ weekend, and the Friday and Saturday of our Fantasy Football draft. I also typically hit the driving range at least once. Anything above that is gravy.
Therefore, I’m not exactly what you’d call a consistent golfer. I can hit the ball fine, but I’ll top it a few times during an 18-hole round. I have no feel around the green; my short game is scattershot at best. And don’t get me started on putting.
For all that, I shot a 58/51 last weekend. Anything under 50 is a good round for me. All-in-all, I was pretty happy with the outcome.
Justified: City Primeval
Life conspired to keep me away from Raylan Givens last week, and thus, I missed watching the two-part premiere live-ish (not to bust your brain on a Friday but is anything really live in the world of streaming?). And life has continued to be busy this week. But! I finally watched the first episode and I loved it.
It’s obviously not the same as Justified. It doesn’t have that great song playing over the intro. There’s no Boyd Crowder. Or anyone from Harlan. In fact, Raylan’s is the only familiar face. Unless you want to count the hat? It’s basically a character in itself so I’m gonna say it counts.
Raylan is a little older and a lot grayer. He’s a more mellow version of the guy we knew before. Then again, I’m only one episode in. Plenty of time for him to revert to form.
It’s really hard not to compare the series to Justified, but that’s something Admiral Ackbar would advise against.1 It helps that City Primeval takes place in an entirely different city with all-new players. My only disappointment to this point: The show purports to be set in Detroit, but apart from some sweeping cityscapes, was shot entirely in Chicago.
What are you into at the moment? Leave a comment and let me know!
If you enjoyed this, please like it and share it with someone. It’s the best way to show your appreciation and it would mean a lot to me. :)
Ackbar was the fishy-looking dude from Return of the Jedi. His big moment was shouting, “it’s a trap!”
Listening: The Carriers' "Now Is The Time For Loving Me, Yourself, and Everyone Else"
Watching: Justified 2.0 & loving it.
Reading: My inbox & feeling like Sisyphus.
Also: I think "Made Rites" are also a kind of sandwich you can get in Illinois. Maybe Iowa too? I dunno. One of my coworkers talks about them.
As usual here's me being the first to comment on the Fri Hi 5 😁
Love Boyega!! He doesn't get nearly the cred and respect he deserves both as an actor and his activism work. He was great in the underrated The Circle and in The Woman King.
The family BBQ section was very poignant. Why ya gotta keep stirring up those memories for me Eric! My version is that whenever my fam gets together for one of our legendary parties, us cousins still call each other "teenagers" because that's how the Titas always referred to us.
When I was back in LA for my cuzzo's son's graduation party last month, we were all having a laugh about it. "We're like squealing 'Teenager' at each other and we're like f*ing 50yo" 😆