My Favorite Things This Week #20
The Friday High 5: On Nerd Holidays, Opinionated Blowhards, and the Silliness of Macho Posturing
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. đđ»
Todayâs High Five comes from the 1991 film Point Break, which I have already talked about a lot in this newsletter. But Iâm not the kind of guest who arrives empty-handed, so hereâs 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 subscribingâitâs 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 involvedâSwayze 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!
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
Writing about Point Break
I havenât talked about this project in a few weeks. Partly because I didnât have anything to say about it, other than: Iâm still working on it. And also partly out of embarrassment, because Iâm still working on it.
Part two has been a huge undertaking. I decided to combine the sections Iâd 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 thereâs a longish section on the beach football scene, which is basically a microcosm of the entire film.
Thereâs not much sizzle in that description. Letâs sexy it up a bit. It also includes a dissection of Paula Abdulâs 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 âgoing commandoâ movement1, and a partial ranking of sports scenes in non-sports movies. Among other things!
I was hoping to publish it this week, but itâs not quite right yet. The intro needs a bit of work. And Iâm struggling to find a title for the article. But the writing is all done, and most of the words are pretty good!
Hereâs part one if you missed it: Malibu Surfer-Thieves and James Cameron: The Origin of Point Breakâs 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 didnât have any plans. I wasnât 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
so eloquently said:I donât have some formal, regular ritual laid out every May 4th, because, I donât 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. Iâve been doing this a long time but somehow every time is like the first time. You bring whatever tools and knowledge youâve accumulated, but you are still stranded in the wilderness with no clear idea how to get home. Iâm 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
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 Nâ Rosesâ infamous double release, and that was that.Iâve been enjoying the book, and itâs 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 doesnât help that I need a thesaurus to read him. I get itâI like dropping uncommon words into stuff too. Itâs kind of a writer flex. But at some point, you have to consider the reader.
He treats it like an academic thesis but heâs writing about drugs and blow jobs. I donât think Iâm the problem here.
Dungeons & Dragons Shenanigans
Still buzzing from my friend Shawnâs 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 Iâm still not over his death.
a hulking wizardâs apprentice I named Olaf. I didnât spend much time figuring out his dealâin these games, you tend to favor one or two characters and ignore the others, until death and dismemberment demand a new strategyâand thus wasnât 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 âTimberâ 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 Iâm happy to report that they donât 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 donât quite know why Iâve 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, itâs 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 âthe ball explodes off the batâ and âheâs got good face.â The âugly girlfriendâ corollary is hilarious, as is the counter-argument: âthis is the kind of guy that walks into a room, his dick has already been there for two minutes.â
Itâs all a lot of macho bullshit and posturing that belies a universal truth: Most guys have no freaking idea what theyâre doing. Itâs all just bravado and improv.
Any chance Moneyball might get the treatment?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. Itâs the best way to show your appreciation and it would mean a lot to me. :)
Since you read till the end, hereâs my best guess for where âgoing commandoâ 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.
Now...as part of the great swathe of unemployed (thanks to a recent redundancy), I've been manically binge-watching! Chugged through the complete seasons of DAVE (Lil' Dicky is epic and reminds me of Hogan Torah but with more talent). And almost completed season 3 of Barry with Bill Gader...absolutely incredible, though Hader seemingly has only two faces...Intense or Manically Happy.
Writing can be both lonely and exasperating. Life happens, and itâs okay to slow down. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Wiz, are my current go-to comfort watches. Although, Sisu is another worthy addition to the rotation. Last week, I saw it in Dolby and it was unbelievable.