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. šš»
This weekās High Five is brought to you by Super Mario Bros. No, not the record-breaking animated film currently in theaters. Iām talking about the 1993 train wreck.
Itās sort of weird. I know I saw this movie sometime after it came out, but I have zero recollection of it. None. They say the brain blocks childhood memories that are too traumatic, which is the only logical explanation.
Funny coincidenceāthe movie is a short topic in the Console Wars book I recently finished. The initial script was penned by an Oscar-winning screenwriter. Dustin Hoffman was interested in playing Mario, and Tom Hanks was in consideration for Luigi. But too much meddling from too many cooks ruined whatever promise the project started with.
Anywayāhave a great weekend! High five!
5 Things I Enjoyed This Week:
Console Wars: The Movie š„
Medium Publication Stuff š¢
The Big Door Prize šļø
The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women š¤£
Agree to Disagree š
(Notably missing is The Mandalorian, which just wrapped its third season. Unfortunately, I am currently in a season of life known as āreally freaking busy.ā I donāt know when Iāll actually get a chance to watch the finale. The weekendānormally a welcome respite from insanityāis not looking good. Iām accepting all thoughts & prayers.)
Console Wars: The Movie
I mentioned last week that I was enjoying Console Wars, a book about the Sega vs Nintendo battle of the 90s. I finished the book and a really strange thing happened.
I got depressed.
I eventually realized I was grieving. Which is super weird! The events from the book are 30 years gone, and they involve enormous companies battling over billions of dollars. The book does a good job humanizing the people at the center of the story, and my reaction was partly due to that. Thereās also the whole āI know how this story endsā angle, which hangs over the book like the sword of Damocles. Mostly I think after spending a week marinating in 90s nostalgia, I had a visceral reaction to leaving that place and time.
While googling on the fate of the people featured in the book, I discovered that Console Wars had been turned into a documentary currently streaming on Paramount Plus. So I watched it. Itās an abridged version of the story, getting the highlights but missing the detail. I strangely drew comfort from seeing these people Iād read about, and was finally able to let them go.
Also: the documentary is quite good.
Medium Publication Stuff
As some of you know, I run a publication called Fanfare on Mediumās network. We average about 2 million yearly page views, despite only publishing 3-4 stories a day.
Last month Medium asked Fanfare to participate in their Boost beta program. Boost helps stories get broader distribution on Medium. Itās early days but results have been pretty positive, though I personally think the program should be called Juice. Hereās a link if you are curious about Fanfareās approach to Boosting.
Alsoāand more exciting to this dorkāMedium asked me to curate a handful of Star Wars stories for May the 4th. Not 100% sure what that will look like, but I think the stories will have their moment in the sun on Mediumās home page. Like Phil Collins, I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life. Oh lord. More info.
The Big Door Prize
The best thing about Apple TV is they are willing to experiment and get weird. Often in 30-minute runtimes, which I appreciate. I donāt know if The Big Door Prize is a comedy, a mystery, a drama, or some combination of all three. But it is interesting.
The show is about a mysterious machine that shows up in small town and reveals peopleās true potential. For instance, the store ownerās best-self is as a magician. And the machine seems to be right!
People start changing their lives according to what the machine tells them. After three episodes, Iām not yet sure if the show has something to say about destiny vs agency, if itās a satire, or if some mysterious company is just screwing with people for lols. But Iām enjoying the ride.
The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women
Iām going to be totally honest with youāmy original motive for starting Fanfare on Medium was completely selfish. It was all about me! I wanted people to ooh and aah over my brilliant-yet-nuanced Star Wars takes. But then a funny thing happenedāall these wonderful writers found their way to Fanfare. Their legitimately brilliant work granted a level of prestige to my rickety stage, to the extent that Medium now looks at me as some kind of āexpertā or something. Jokeās clearly on them!
is one of those brilliant writers. The first thing she published at Fanfare was a story about Cyndi Lauper, feminism, the 80s, and MTV. It remains one of my favorite stories weāve published at Fanfare.I somehow slept on the fact that Sheilaās also a published author. I picked up her book posthaste and have been enjoying it immensely! Itās more of everything that was in the Cyndi Lauper story: deeply insightful, passionately feminist, and just so damn charming.
Agree to Disagree
I discovered this fun YouTube series a while ago, but for the longest time I didnāt know what it was called. I thought of it as āthat show with the glasses of water,ā for reasons that are obvious if youāve seen the show. Recently, I discovered itās actually called Agree to Disagree. Who knew?!
Since Iāve watched a few of these before, YouTube helpfully suggested a new video in the series. Pratt vs Day is not the best episodeāIād have to give that to Chris Evans vs Taika Waititiābut it is just so pleasant. And, as someone roughly the same age as these guys, watch them talk about favorite videogames was a treat.
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. Itās the best way to show your appreciation and it would mean a lot to me. :)
Eric--as usual you have managed to make me blush & feel VERY Wayneās World not worthy!!! So happy weāre connected & I truly love all you do to support our great tribe of writers & thinkers. But ummm GIVE US THE POINT BREAK GOODS!!!!! I mean, whatever, I donāt care, you are.....;)
Watching: Succession & (rewatching) Cold Case.
Listening: Die Spitz' "Hair of the Dog," song and Illiterate Light's "Sunburned" record.
Dazzled by: Substack's Notes