My Favorite Things This Week #20

The Friday High 5: On Nerd Holidays, Opinionated Blowhards, and the Silliness of Macho Posturing

20th Century Fox

Every Friday I share 5 things I enjoyed 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. 🙏🏻

Today’s High Five comes from the 1991 film Point Break, which I have already talked about a lot in this newsletter. But I’m not the kind of guest who arrives empty-handed, so here’s a fresh bit of interesting for your consumption.

This snippet is from part two of my magnum opus, coming soon to allthefanfare.com. Be the first to read the finished piece by subscribing—it’s free!

You remember that scene near the end of Point Break, where Bodhi tells Utah, "adios, amigo," and jumps backwards out of the plane? The camera follows his descent for something like 10 seconds, presumably because the cameraman is going, "holy shit, Patrick Swayze just jumped backwards out of an airplane." There were no tricks involved—Swayze really did that. The problem was he wouldn't stop doing it. In an ironic nod to life mirroring art, Swayze got hooked on the rush. The studio eventually intervened and demanded he stop. Instead he snuck off with the Ex-Presidents and continued jumping.

Have a great weekend!

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5 Things I Enjoyed This Week:

• Writing about Point Break

• May the 4th at Fanfare

• 33 1/3 on Use Your Own Illusion I and II

• Dungeons & Dragons Shenanigans

• Moneyball

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Writing about Point Break

I haven’t talked about this project in a few weeks. Partly because I didn’t have anything to say about it, other than: I’m still working on it. And also partly out of embarrassment, because I’m still working on it.

Part two has been a huge undertaking. I decided to combine the sections I’d written on Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze into one story. That entailed a lot of sanding down rough edges to make the transition seamless. And it also suggested topics and themes to further explore in the piece. The result: an article with a 20-minute read time that explores the actors at the time of filming, as well as the characters they play. And there’s a longish section on the beach football scene, which is basically a microcosm of the entire film.

There’s not much sizzle in that description. Let’s sexy it up a bit. It also includes a dissection of Paula Abdul’s Rush Rush music video, a brief detour exploring my 4th grade romance (I promise it ties back to Point Break), the possible origin of the ‘going commando’ movement¹, and a partial ranking of sports scenes in non-sports movies. Among other things!

I was hoping to publish it this week, but it’s not quite right yet. The intro needs a bit of work. And I’m struggling to find a title for the article. But the writing is all done, and most of the words are pretty good!

Here’s part one if you missed it: Malibu Surfer-Thieves and James Cameron: The Origin of Point Break’s Ex-Presidents

May the 4th at Fanfare

Yesterday was Star Wars day! A lot of friends and mutuals posted about their plans or shared pics of their nerdy drip. I didn’t have any plans. I wasn’t even wearing a Star Wars shirt! (It was Batman.)

As an unofficial Star Wars ambassador, I felt like I was letting everyone down for some weird reason. Also FOMO kicks like a juiced donkey. But as Matthew Freeman at Ahch-To Baby so eloquently said:

I don’t have some formal, regular ritual laid out every May 4th, because, I don’t know, every day is Star Wars Day for me.

100% this.

I planned to publish a story for the occasion but it did not come to fruition. I drastically underestimated the size and scope of the undertaking, which is another way of saying: Business as usual. I’ve been doing this a long time but somehow every time is like the first time. You bring whatever tools and knowledge you’ve accumulated, but you are still stranded in the wilderness with no clear idea how to get home. I’m seasoned enough not to panic. Sometimes wandering in circles or trying to eat something inedible is part of the process.

I did publish a bunch of banging stories by other writers at Fanfare for Star Wars Day though!

33 1/3 on Use Your Own Illusion I and II

As I was publicly weighing options for All the Fanfare, my friend Sheila Moeschen mentioned 33 1/3, which is a book series that deep dives into classic music albums. That's pretty much my deal, except for movies! I was going to buy the book on Paul's Boutique, but then I saw that there was one on Guns N’ Roses’ infamous double release, and that was that.

I’ve been enjoying the book, and it’s given me ideas for my own thing. But also I kinda despise the writer? I know tone is notoriously hard to convey in text, but this guy is just dripping with scorn and disdain for the subject matter. It doesn’t help that I need a thesaurus to read him. I get it—I like dropping uncommon words into stuff too. It’s kind of a writer flex. But at some point, you have to consider the reader.

He treats it like an academic thesis but he’s writing about drugs and blow jobs. I don’t think I’m the problem here.

Dungeons & Dragons Shenanigans

Still buzzing from my friend Shawn’s epic birthday bash last weekend. We played a level-0 funnel, wherein each player starts with 4 mere peasants, and by the end of the adventure, you hopefully have at least one character remaining, who then becomes an actual level 1 adventurer. (Technically this is all part of the Dungeon Crawl Classics system, but I use D&D for shorthand.)

My characters:

• a dock worker I christened Tony Mostaccioli. I determined he lived in a landlocked town and thus, was a chronically unemployed dock worker. He was killed by a giant crab. I invested a lot in Tony, and I’m still not over his death.

• a hulking wizard’s apprentice I named Olaf. I didn’t spend much time figuring out his deal—in these games, you tend to favor one or two characters and ignore the others, until death and dismemberment demand a new strategy—and thus wasn’t too put-out when he was killed by the same crab.

• an elf named Haldir. He began play with one pound of herbs. I decided he was carrying around a massive brick of weed. Much fun ensued. Haldir ended up a disembodied head in a jar. Not dead, but not quite alive, either.

• a woodsman I named Timmy ‘Timber’ Longwood. My sole survivor, but sort of a blank slate since I put all my attention into Tony and Haldir. Anyway, he has a ton of great loot now, so hopefully we play again sometime.

I thought birthday parties ended when you became an adult, but I’m happy to report that they don’t have to.

Moneyball

I was in a weird mood this week. Life has been busy, and it has been putting the squeeze on. All work and no play makes Eric a sad boy.

I threw on Moneyball one day and left it on in the background while I was doing some work that only required part of my attention. I don’t quite know why I’ve latched onto this movie, but it has become something of a comfort watch. I think part of it is the simple joy of watching Brad Pitt chew scenery (or maybe just chew in general). And I vibe with the perpetual underdog story. Plus, it’s a riveting movie about spreadsheets! Who knew?

My absolute favorite scene (clip below) is the first one with the scouts, where they are talking cliched nonsense like “the ball explodes off the bat” and “he’s got good face.” The ‘ugly girlfriend’ corollary is hilarious, as is the counter-argument: “this is the kind of guy that walks into a room, his dick has already been there for two minutes.”

It’s all a lot of macho bullshit and posturing that belies a universal truth: Most guys have no freaking idea what they’re doing. It’s all just bravado and improv.

allison picurro Any chance Moneyball might get the Boy Movies treatment?

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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. :)

1. Since you read till the end, here’s my best guess for where ‘going commando’ came from: Swayze was named People magazine's 'Sexiest Man Alive' in 1991. He was coming off of Ghost, which set women's panties on fire all across the country; I'm convinced the double whammy of Dirty Dancing and Ghost unintentionally kickstarted the 'going commando' movement.