TLC Week: What is The Learning Channel Teaching us Today?

Finishing off my week long talk of all things TLC Network, I want to look back at what this network used to be, and what it has now become. I have spent all week talking about my love, and one dislike, of the "90 Day Fiance" "franchise". There are some misses, but more often than not, for me, hits. Big time hits.

When I was a kid, and a teen, and even an early adult, TLC used to be a channel that actually tried to teach people things. TLC stood for The Learning Channel. They would have TV shows that would be akin to a history lesson I would have gotten in high school. They did scientific shows. They had TV shows that were primarily shown in classes in school. They really leaned into being a channel for people to learn about things that they may not have known much, if anything, about. They tried to teach the viewer something, and more often than not, they achieved that goal.

That has all changed now.

This is not to say that I haven't "learned" anything recently. It is just the stuff I've learned is pointless, and how easy it has become to be on TV. TLC now shows pretty much nothing but scripted reality shows. There is a major range from what type of scripted reality shows they have now as well. I, or more likely my wife, will turn TLC on and we could watch anything from "4 Weddings" to "My 600 Pound Life". Both shows are trash reality TV, but do they really teach me anything of importance? No way.

What I have learned from the latest incarnation of The Learning Channel? I do know that when you put 4 brides in a room together, make them attend each others wedding and then let them judge one another, they will be absolutely ruthless. I also have learned that there are people out there that are much more addicted to food than I am, and they let it get to a point where they cannot even get out of bed, or bathe themselves. And they usually blame everyone but themselves. I don't mean to be rude or aggressive, but you can stop eating trash food. People do it everyday. I find myself never feeling sorry for the person that has gotten to 600 pounds or higher. I'm sorry, that is just how I feel. Drifting even further from these shows, TLC has gone as far to put a show on recently, within the past couple of years at least, called "Sex Sent Me to the ER". This show is absolutely fake, ridiculous and insane, yet very watchable. It is like watching a fun bad movie. The reenactments on "Sex Sent Me to the ER" are nuts. Sometimes they have the real doctor playing themselves, or they have actors playing them. They always have actors playing the people who end up in the ER, and they are ALWAYS much better looking than the real person, who is interviewed about their incident during the show. Besides getting much better looking people to play the patients, I have learned that some people will do some dumbass stuff while being intimate. The worst I ever saw was some idiot put his member in a grill on a campsite. I don't know how real that was, but the reenactment was hilarious and insane. I was floored.

To wrap this whole week up, TLC has very much changed what they set out to do from the start. I think they wanted to be an educational channel, and they tried, but it didn't work. So they pivoted to reality TV, a la what MTV and VH1 have done, and they are succeeding now. The shows may be much worse than what they tried to do at the start, but damn are they enjoyable. I will close it all out like I started the week. TLC is the trash reality network right now, and they are crushing it. We will see how long it lasts, but right now, I love it. My hat is off to TLC. Keep doing what you are doing while you can, because this won't last forever. Ride that wave TLC. And thanks for the never ending, trashy entertainment.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Years ago Ty learned how to make a fire from TLC. Today TLC teaches him how to make a fire…in the bedroom.

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TLC Week: "90 Day Fiance: Pillow Talk" is a Welcome Addition to the 90 Day Family

TLC has another one of the most useless, yet supremely entertaining shows currently on TV right now. That show is called "90 Day Fiance: Pillow Talk". Did you all think I was done with the "90 Day" off shoots? Think again.

"Pillow Talk" is essentially a re airing of the newest episode, but this time they have other couples from other "90 Day" shows come on and talk about what they are seeing while they lounge in their home, or the home of a relative. I absolutely love this. I was on the fence when my wife said we should check it out because I didn't want to watch the same show over again. But, it is so much more than that. It reminds me of when VH1 used to show "I Love The Insert Decade Here" shows, or something like "Pop Up Video". It just enhances what I've just seen only an hour ago.

For this first season of "Pillow Talk", they assembled some great past stars from whatever "90 Day" they were on. We get people like Tarik and Dean, who are hilarious. David and Annie, I can't believe I'm saying this, are wonderful, and I find myself agreeing with what David says most of the time. Darcey and her twin sister Stacey are on it, and they are feisty and fun and funny. They even brought Darcey's two daughters on one time, and that somehow worked.

The best couple on "Pillow Talk", by a thousand miles, is Lexi and Loren. They are the most fun, by far the funniest, they have the best reactions and interactions and they are so god damn adorable together. They crack me up, especially how low key Lexi is, and how amped up Loren gets. It works out almost too perfectly.

Anyway, the things that the couples, or relatives see, and to see their reactions, is totally worth your time. I have said a lot this week that my wife and I judge the people on these "90 Day" shows, and that is exactly what "Pillow Talk" does, except the people involved lived through it. They were on TV. They had their engagements and weddings and life after all that broadcast to the public. They know better than any of us what these people are going through. So, to see them react to this most recent season of "Happily Ever After?" is tremendous. The amount of jaws dropping is amazing. The guttural yells that have come from some people are hilarious. Dean is such a humongous fan of Chantel's, that any time she and Pedro get into a fight, he immediately takes her side, and takes it with a vengeance. He is great. As I said, David and Annie's reactions are golden. David actually seems to have gotten his act together, or he just likes to judge people, and Annie always makes some delicious food and gives her 2 cents, which is very informative. Loren has made some of the best faces during all the Colt, Larissa and Deb stuff. She is clearly aghast at what she is seeing, as we all are. Lexi will just sit there and eat food, but even he has sat up in their bed and dropped his jaw. Those moments are priceless. I love how Darcey is all about people breaking up, or getting their money. She has no bones about who she is, and she is proud to show that on "Pillow Talk". I think what I enjoy most about the show, outside of the fact that I get to see what these people snack on, is that it is a neat little wrap up. It is a nice after dinner show to watch and get full reactions to the insanity that was the episode of "Happily Ever After?".

I cannot help it, I really enjoy the hell out of this show. I was actually bummed when they didn't have a new "Pillow Talk" last week for the "Tell All". That would have ruled. To see the way the cast from "Pillow Tal" would have reacted to the Pedro and Chantel stuff, especially Dean, would have kicked ass. Maybe next time they will. But for now, as odd as this show sounds, I highly recommend, for fans of the "90 Day" universe, to check out "Pillow Talk". It is well worth your time.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What does Ty Snack on when he is in bed watching “90 Day Fiance”? A big heaping bowl of chili of course.

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TLC Week: The Terrible Ideas, and Intriguing Couples of "90 Day Fiance: The Other Way"

Today I want to talk about another off shoot "90 Day Fiance" show. This one is called "90 Day...The Other Way". In this iteration people from America are going to live with their soon to be spouses in their home country.

This show rules. The Americans, for the most part, are the prototypical "stupid" Americans. They make us look like morons. But, that is what makes it so great. Also, the people leaving America, I feel zero sympathy for. Look, I despise this country right now, we are an absolute train wreck and we live in a waking nightmare, but that doesn't mean I am going to move, although Canada would be kind of dope. But, the people on this show are leaving to be with someone that they have online dated for, mostly, less than one year. Some of these people have only met face to face once, or some have only talked on Skype, but they are ready to uproot their entire life, and leave their extended family, to go live somewhere they have only ever been on vacation.

For example, there is this girl Devean from Salt Lake City, and she is ready to move to South Korea to be with her fiance Jihoon. Now, these 2 have met, and even been intimate. She is in fact pregnant with his child. This is part of why she wants to move there to be with him. She does have another young child who she is planning on bringing with her when she moves. I do need to say, I really like this Jihoon guy. He seems to be genuinely in love with Devean, and he wants to provide and his parents are cool as hell. What strikes me as odd though is all the things Devean is oblivious to with this move. There is one scene where she is talking to her folks, and she says, "wait, there is no ranch in Korea". It is hilarious. She is also leaving behind the people who help her with child care. Jihoon's parents came for a visit, and when her toddler was acting up, she just sent her over to her folks house. She just said she now realizes she won't be able to do that when she moves to South Korea. It is clear to me that she is impulsive, and she is very young. I do hope things work out for her and Jihoon because they do seem to be in love for real, but man is she just so very, very young. Also, I'm sure they have ranch, or something similar, in South Korea.

There is this other couple where the guy is moving to a small village in, I think, Brazil to be with his girlfriend. The girlfriend has openly told him that she doesn't want to get married or have kids, and that he should be the sole provider because that is what she expects. The guy, on the other hand, is a mama's boy, and he has done nothing but complain since he got to her hometown. He has griped about the car they own, the apartment they live in, their cooking supplies and the fact that they don't have a good internet connection. It took him about 2 days of living there before he started to complain about every little thing. He is such a whiner. Also, he has been there before, so he should have known what to expect. But, when he was there before, he was on a vacation high. He was staying in nice resorts that had everything he was used to having at home. Now that he has moved there, he is in way, way over his head. Also, I don't think this girl likes this guy clearly as much as he thinks.

There is one lady that is moving to Qatar to be with a guy that she married after she knew him for only 9 days, but she has reservations already. She also is leaving behind her best friend, but even worse, her only son. Their goodbye was absolutely heart breaking. She was his only family, that we the viewer know of, and she just left him. And now that she is in Qatar, she is complaining that her young husband is great in every way, except in the bedroom. She even brings stuff to enhance their bed room experience. He, of course, feels offended, but she could care less. She also has zero money left, and cannot get a job or make any kind of money until her Visa is secured. She clearly went to live there with no plan whatsoever. She is also in her early 50's, so you'd think she knows better.

Then we have a 60 year old grandma who is moving to India to be with her 30 year old fiance, who's parents do not approve of this union, and want him to live at home. These 2 are a total mess. She left behind all her grown children, and grand children, on a whim. She also quit her job and blew all her savings. And when she got to India, her boyfriend did not pick her up for a few hours. The boyfriend has not told his parents that he is living with his girlfriend, his friends think he is nuts, he quit his job and moved to Mumbai so he could be away from his family to be with her and they are now running out of money. I will say, he loves her, and she loves him. But, what I failed to mention until now, this whole relationship started as a catfish, and turned into what it is now. Next week he is actually going to tell his parents about her, and I cannot wait to see what happens.

Finally we have a couple that started out on "Before the 90 Days", and has been around forever. I'm speaking of Paul and Karine. Karine is young and wants a better life. Her parents are great, and she just wants to be taken care of. Paul is a god damn mess of a human being. He carries around a lock of his mother's hair. He is terrified of bugs and dirty water, and he goes to extreme measures to avoid all of this in the Amazon. He has a vast criminal record. He has no money. He cannot keep a job. He packs military grade boxes with junk to go and visit Karine. He has used the term "poop water" on several occasions. He has been accused of terrorism. He is a complete and total mess. He has asked Karine to take several pregnancy and STD tests, even though she has been nothing but faithful to this disaster of a person. He is the type of guy that, for sure, voted for this current administration, and will do so again in 2020 when he inevitably gets deported back to America. Paul is a dip shit and an idiot. I feel zero sympathy for him because he is so dumb and ignorant.

Even though I am dumping on these people, this show is extremely enjoyable. It is so much fun to judge and make fun of these people. There is another couple, where a very intelligent and level headed woman has moved to South Africa to be with her gambling addict fiancé, but honestly, they seem pretty normal and happy. They are the only "good" couple on the show. I am actively rooting for them. But, I highly recommend this show for TLC fans and fans of the "90 Day" ouvre. It is fun, a little different and trashy reality TV at its best. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ty cannot imagine moving to another country for someone he just met. He had a hard time moving two towns over to be with a girl he had known for years.

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TLC Week: "The Family Chantal" is a Rare Trashy Miss for the Network

Continuing with my week long quest to write about TLC reality shows, last night they premiered "The Family Chantel", a "90 Day Fiance" spinoff show. I have to admit, I was excited to watch. I tried to play it all cool with my wife, like I wasn't stoked to watch the show, but I was. And after seeing the "Tell All", and how they interacted all season long on "Happily Ever After?", I assumed this was going to be one of the wildest, dumbest and most bizarre things on TV. Even the commercials made it seem this way.

Unfortunately, it wasn't wild at all. Actually, it was kind of boring, and seemed pointless. "The Family Chantel" kind of feels like TLC decided to take a shot, since they are owning trashy reality TV right now, but this was a total misfire. By the halfway point of the premier, I was already looking at stuff to buy on Amazon on my phone. I have been making a conscious effort to stay off my phone while watching shows because I want to really focus on what I am seeing. But, "The Family Chantel" was far too boring, and it just couldn't keep my attention. The same thing can be said for my wife. She was laying on our love seat watching, and she would get up to brush her teeth during the show, she got up to take her vitamins, she just kept getting up and down, and to me, that is a sign that she too is bored.

We both said, near the end, that the show was not what we were hoping, and expecting. Instead of drama and stupidity, it was literally watching a married couple struggle due to family issues. It was, at times, kind of sad. I felt bad for Chantel and Pedro because their families hate one another, and that has to be really hard when you are married. Now, these families go to the extreme, suggesting divorce, bringing tasers to their daughter's home, taking twerking classes, deflecting their problems onto siblings, pretty much cliché reality TV stuff. But, even that cliché stuff was boring. The whole taser scene should have been great, but it wasn't. The fact that Chantel's mom brought a taser, then threatened to use it, should have been great. But, it fell flat.

I think part of the problem is Chantel's mom is expecting to become a famous TV personality. The reality though, she is a horrible actress, and this "character" she is portraying on the show is very dull. She is the prototypical overbearing mom, but I have seen better on shows like "Flavor of Love" or "The Real World". She is not that good. Pedro's sister is the same. She is the villain, but again, she is predictable and not a good actress and played out. I've seen her do all the stuff on "The Family Chantel" that she does on "Happily Ever After?". It is lame. Chantel's brother River seems like he doesn't want to be there. And the same for her sister Winter, who is the only good thing about this show. She is the only real person on it. Even when the episode ended, and they showed the coming up this season stuff, nothing really grabbed me. This is where the show is supposed to get the viewer back, make them want to watch more, but it was more of the same.

Look, I know that the two families don't like each other, I know that Chantel's family does not like visiting the Dominican Republic, I know that Pedro and Chantel fight all the time, I know that Lydia, Pedro's mom, blames Chantel's family for her son's attitude. I have seen it all already on "Happily Ever After?" and "Before the 90 Days".

I commend TLC for going for it, but this just doesn't work. We took the show off our DVR after the premiere was over, and said the only way we'd watch it again is on a lazy Sunday if TLC is running a marathon, and nothing else is on. This was an unexpected dud, and it bums me out that it wasn't as wild and ridiculous as I hoped. Oh well, at least I still have all the other iterations, of which I will touch on this week, of "90 Day Fiance". But, "The Family Chantel", for fans of this, is a miss in my opinion.

Ty

TLC Week: The Awesomeness of "90 Day Fiance" and the Fallout of the "Tell All"

This week I'm going to talk specifically about shows on the TLC network. I have no bones about the amount of shows I watch on this network. I have also talked about some shows they put on that look disgusting. I have pleaded to anyone that will listen to me how they definitely need to change the name of the channel because the only thing I have "learned" from the learning channel is that anyone, and I mean anyone, can be on a reality show.

That leads me to what I want to touch on today. I love the show, and all its iterations, "90 Day Fiance". TLC has also learned that this is their biggest cash cow, and they have started to show the show in 2 and 3 hour blocks, and they even have 2 different versions on Sunday and Monday. TLC knows that this is their "hit" show, and they are milking it, as they should.

Last night was the "Tell All" for the most recent season of "90 Day Fiance: Happily ever After?", love the question mark in the title by the way, and it was mesmerizing. I know that this is vapid and stupid and content for the sake of content, but I was very intrigued by what I watched with my wife last night. I need to say too, the last hour of the 2 hour show was the "Tell All". The first hour was dedicated to one of the worst, which means they were one of the most fun to watch, couples on this recent season.

The couple in question are Colt and Larissa. Colt is clearly in love, like for real, with his mom, and Larissa has been in the US for 7 months and has been arrested for domestic assault 3 times. It is a real train wreck, and I literally cannot look away. I loathe these 2 people, but they make for great reality television. All the stuff that went on, from the trail, to Colt's mom telling him how awful his ex wife is, to Larissa living with a new friend, getting a new boyfriend and being asked to stay home for the trial because of ICE, it was all tremendous TV. It is like a drug that I know the effects will wear off soon, but right now, I am hooked. The Colt and Larissa special was wonderful and disturbing and weird and everything I hoped for. My wife and I judged everyone, and isn't that what reality TV nowadays is all about? It was great.

Then the "Tell All" came on, and let me tell you, it was something else. The yelling and fighting and stupidity and lying and ignorance was at an all time high. Some of the couples, mainly Pao and Russ and Andrei and Elizabeth, fans of the show will know who I am talking about, didn't really have to be there. But, the stuff between Jay and Ashley was great. Jay is a 20 year old from Jamaica that has cheated on his wife Ashley 2 times that we know of. He is a scumbag, but she is an idiot. She took this dude back twice after he did this stuff, and I am supposed to feel sorry for her? Get the hell out of here. Colt was there by himself, because he will be alone forever, and he just berated and yelled at everyone. He is a sad, sad, sad man. Larissa didn't even want to be in the same room as him, so she didn't go to the "Tell All", opting to call in via Skype. Nicole was really unnecessary last night, but I feel like something big is going to happen between her and Azan next week.

The cream of the crop that was this train wreck was Pedro and Chantel. It has been widely shown that the 2 families do not get along. They despise each other so much, TLC is doing a spinoff show about that which premieres tonight. Don't worry, my review will be up tomorrow. But the way these 2 interact with one another is toxic. It is really, really bad. Pedro always "jokes" about leaving Chantel, and Chantel is so god damn condescending. It is wild. When Chantel's parents came on, that was when it went from a 10 to an 11. Pedro kept leaving the stage, and then coming back to yell at her mom and dad. The mom and dad are as condescending as Chantel is towards Pedro. It was crazy lit, the way they yelled over one another and fought last night. My wife and I both watched, first in laughter, then in horror and then in sadness for how messed up they all are.

This 2 hour block was a total homerun last night. I say again, I know I shouldn't watch this stuff, but I am hooked, and I don't feel that bad about it. Reality TV is supposed to be like this, and TLC has really found a groove with the whole "90 Day" stuff. My dad hat is off to them.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Was he describing an episode of “The Jerry Springer Show”? That is what the head editor thinks Ty was describing.

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You Can Love America and Think the President is a Dangerous Idiot

Today I am going to do something a little different.

I have been talking a lot about basketball, movies and music lately, but I want to do something a bit more timely, and political. I know that I have said that I don't like to talk politics. It makes me angry, I get all red faced and I tend to rant. But, the most recent remarks from that moron that sits in the White House right now have really made me disgusted, angered and scared for the future of this country. It has also made me take a hard look at the young voters, and people my age that may not have voted in the last election, or voted for the buffoon in office because they "didn't like" Hilary Clinton. And, before I get into the meat of my piece, you all know how liberal I am, and I consider myself a firm Democrat. Keep that in mind as you read.

The thing I want to talk about today, which was given to me by my father as we went out for our weekly cup of coffee, was how much the parties, and voting, has changed since I was eligible to vote way, way back in 2000. In 2000 I was about to become a senior in high school, and Bill Clinton was sitting in office. I lived in a household that has 2 liberal parents, and all my brothers were liberal Democrats as well. I knew, or heard, that Bill Clinton had done a fine job, save for the Monica Lewinsky stuff. He helped the country get into the green. We were doing okay. There were no wars. The economy seemed fine. Everyone seemed happy, or at least okay. I'm sure some parents of friends of mine didn't like Clinton because of the Lewinsky stuff but, as far s a nation, they really had nothing to complain about.

When I became 18, and legally able to vote, I did not know any better. I did know that I did not like George W Bush. He seemed ill fitted to take office. He was a silver spoon kid that didn't really have to work hard for much of anything. Everything was handed to him. I did like Al Gore. I mean, he was boring, very milquetoast and I think he assumed he was just next in line to president. I also didn't really know what he stood for. I was going to vote for him simply because he was the Democratic nominee, and I was, and still am, a Democrat. But then I read, and really got into, the third party candidate, Ralph Nader. This was simply based on the fact that he wanted to legalize marijuana, I am not a pot smoker by the way, and that he LOVED the NBA. He went as far as to write a letter to then commissioner David Stern about the injustice that the Kings faced in that ridiculous game 7 that the Lakers won, where they shot a million free throws. This swayed me. This made me think twice about who I wanted to vote for. And, like an idiot, I voted for Nader. I didn't realize at the time that voting for a third party candidate was essentially throwing your vote in the trash. I still regret it to this day. But, I figured all was good when Gore won the popular vote by over 500,000 votes.

This was my first time realizing that the popular vote didn't matter in the presidential election, it was all about the archaic electoral college. Bush somehow won this, and for the next 8 years, I grew more and more angry, and more and more liberal. I did not agree with anything Bush stood for. I am violently anti war. He started a war with Iraq because he felt like his daddy wanted him to. I do not think the rich should get richer and the poor should get poorer. All he cared about was his rich friends and rich donors. He was a horrendous public speaker, and his speeches that were broadcast embarrassed me to no end. He lost trillions of dollars while in office, basically erasing all the good Clinton had done. He famously fumbled the handling of September 11th. Everyone remembers the "Mission Accomplished" sign, right? His eight years in office, for me, were horrific, embarrassing and very, very rocky. It was near a nightmare.

Then in 2008 we had Barack Obama win the Democratic nomination. I was absolutely stoked by this. He was the first African American to win the nomination. He was eloquent. He was sharp looking. He gave me a feeling of comfort and enthusiasm Bush never gave me. I ran to the polls to vote for him. I could not have been more ecstatic. I was so ready for him to become president, and he crushed his way into the White House. After his first year, things started to get back to normal again. We started pulling troops out of an unnecessary war. We were making money as a country again. His people got Bin Laden. When he spoke, I stopped what I was doing so I could listen. He took a terrible situation from Bush and made it so much better. Sure, people have their problems with him, but the country was good. We were good as a nation. No one seemed to worried about war, debt or any other thing that could go wrong. We were in safe hands. I was even more stoked when he won reelection in 2012, but that seemed like a foregone conclusion. He exceeded every expectation, and became, in my opinion, the greatest president ever. He is also cool as hell, and in this day, that is important. Obama would show up to basketball games, he listened to hip hop, he was happily married with 2 great kids and a dog, he had a court out in at the White House, he would do podcasts. He understood the young generation of voters, and spoke to them. He is, without a doubt, the best representation of a Democrat that I have ever seen. I show pictures of him to my kids and sing his praises. I want them to know what a real president looks and acts like. I was in heaven for the 8 years he was in office.

Then November of 2016 came around.

Look, I was sure that Hilary Clinton was going to be president. So much so that I showed her to my kids and said "there is the first female president" about a month before the vote. She crushed in all the debates. She is a real politician. She is a genius. She knows how to handle herself, and she isn't a complete goon and doofus. Then something very weird happened on election night. She wasn't crushing the way I expected. She was killing it in the popular vote, but for some reason, that damn electoral college thing kept popping up against her. I was playing basketball that night, and I kept checking my phone and saying, "no, no, no, this cannot be happening". And then it was announced that the dickhead that lives in the White House now, was going to win. I was stunned, dismayed and terrified all at once. I went on for days afterward telling myself to wake up from this nightmare. Either I'm still asleep, or what is happening right now is real life. I wish I were asleep, but every time I pinch myself, or tell myself to wake up, I feel it and I am awake. These past three years have been nothing short of an absolute train wreck. I wake up everyday to something new that makes me even more terrified. I simply cannot believe what I am seeing, hearing and reading. It just gets worse and worse and worse.

It all really came to a head a few days ago when that dipshit was holding yet another rally, and his mouth breathing supporters started to chant "send her back" about Representative Ilhan Omar. Representative Omar is from Minnesota. She migrated to this country legally in 2000. She is more American than any person that was at that Klan rally the other night, Yet, when he is asked about it, he says he told them to stop. No he didn't. When other Republicans are asked about it, they skirt the question. When reporters at Fox News are asked about it, they make up excuses.

This is frightening. This is not the Republican party anymore. Sure, I very much disagreed with Bush, but he never put human beings in cages. He never put babies in cages. He never slept with multiple prostitutes. His wife wasn't a prisoner who only cares about money. His kids weren't all over the TV spewing racist rhetoric. His kids weren't involved in Ponzi schemes. He didn't, at least publicly, say racist homophobic and xenophobic things. He never said to "grab them by the pussy" when talking about ladies. And you better believe that Barack Obama never did any of this stuff. He was, and still is, all class.

Since the jackass that is currently in office has been there, not a day goes by that I am not afraid, embarrassed and want to shy away from being an American. We, as Americans, have become a joke and looked upon as idiots because of the current "government". I don't think this is what the Republican party had in mind when they nominated this idiot. But, they will not say a bad word about him, and even worse, they are now defending him. History books will remember everyone involved with this as horrible, horrible monsters. My kids will read about this in history books, and it will look to them like Nazi Germany looks to me.

What scares me most is my generation, and the generation younger than us. My generation has a few groups. You have the super liberals like myself, the "Bernie Bros" and angry people that will not admit they are racist, even though they clearly are if they support this current regime. The problem there is, the angry people go out and vote. Super liberals do too, but it is the "Bernie Bros" that decided to sit out the last election, and are now thinking about doing the same in 2020. Please, if you don't want to be afraid for the next 4 years, do not sit out the next election. Your vote matters. The generation younger than me is filled with rich white kids that think what has been going on for three years is funny, and that it won't affect them. Believe me, it will, and it will hurt bad. You will not always have mom and dad's money. You will have to work for something one day, and then, when you may be in a bind, this won't be as funny as it is to you now. When you can't find work, and the bills pile up, you may get desperate. And you know who won't be there for you, the current "government".

The current state of American politics sickens me and makes me sad. Also, if you can look at what is going on right now, and think it is okay, even if you are family, do not speak to me about anything political or racial. You are clearly a closeted racist, and you have no heart. This country has become a shell of itself since I was able to vote back in 2000. In 2020 we can change that and get back to where we were from 2008 to 2016, when Obama made me as proud as I have ever been to be an American. Now lets go out and make our voices heard, and show these bullies that we don't work for them, they work for us, and we want change.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Maybe Chris Paul is Just an OK Player Now

The fallout from this whole Russell Westbrook trade has been the sudden, and not so surprising, downfall of Chris Paul.

I have talked about Paul on this site and on the pod before. I think he is a great player. He is gritty, grimy, plays defense, can score and can run a team. He is everything you could want from a point guard. But, he is also the dirtiest player since John Stockton, he is whiny, he burns bridges incredibly fast, and leaves them scorched and he has never won anything of importance. He has only been to one conference finals, of which he missed the last 2 games of due to injury. Other than that, he has flamed out in round one or 2, and he has had bad, bad close out games. He is great, but to me, he is unimportant. He is a super star, but he is not on the level of guys that never won a ring like Charles Barkley, Stockton or Karl Malone, Russell Westbrook or James Harden. And he can't even sniff players like Magic, Jordan, Steph, Allen Iverson or Clyde Drexler. Those guys, at the very least, made the Finals, some won in epic fashion, and played their best when it mattered most.

But the news I read today, that the Thunder cannot find a trade partner for Paul, did take me back a bit. The Thunder are clearly in reload mode, and they have about a thousand draft picks that go all the way through 2026. I really feel like all they wanted for Paul was picks, or young guys they could cut, or try to help build around Shai Gilgeous Alexander. But, apparently the teams that Paul wanted to go to, and the teams the Thunder engaged with, said thanks but no thanks.

I feel like this speaks volumes to his personality, and his tendency to come up short in big games. I know that the Heat were the first team mentioned, but I don't think he and Jimmy Butler could coexist, and the Thunder already have a ton of their picks. The Clippers were another team mentioned, but again, the Thunder have all of their picks for the next 5 years, and they gave Pat Beverly a much deserved raise, and he is clearly the point guard they want to ride with. Other possible teams that may have been on the market, or a preferred destination, either have a point guard already, or play position less basketball.

So where does this leave Chris Paul now? I think it would be foolish for the Thunder to keep him. They, as I said, are clearly in rebuild and they have a great young point guard in Gilgeous Alexander. I feel like Paul would either be poison to him, or he would take away much needed minutes from him. Either way, it is not good for the Thunder. And the fact that any other contender just said no speaks volumes.

Chris Paul, like I said, is a great player. He is probably a top 250 player of all time. But, I feel like he is overrated a ton, he has never done anything of importance other than fight with teammates, shrinks in the big games and should be looked as a top 50 point guard, not top 10. He isn't that great, and this end of his career is showing his true colors. He forced his way out of New Orleans, then LA and now Houston. Yet no one else seems to want him. Not even the team that traded for him. Maybe Chris Paul is just an okay NBA player, not an all time great.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Bad Basketball Bloggers and their Bad Russell Westbrook Takes

I written a good amount about Russell Westbrook recently. After the Paul George trade I talked about how, if he wanted out of OKC, they should let him go. Then, I wrote about the stunning trade to Houston the following Monday, and how much I disagreed with it, and how I do not think it will work out. I still do not think it will work, both Westbrook and Harden are so ball dominant, but I am sick and tired of the slander that is always thrown Westbrook's way.

This all comes about because I was listening to "The Mismatch" on The Ringer Podcast today. This is one of my favorite pods because I enjoy Chris Vernon. He is fun, has a good time, is right around my age and I usually agree with his takes. But, it is getting harder and harder for me to continue to listen to because of the other host, Kevin O'Connor. O'Connor is the prototypical "blog boy" for the modern NBA. All he cares about is analytics and drafting based on projected talent. He said on the show that I listened to today that Brandon Clarke slipped in the draft because he was "old". Clarke is 22 years old. That whole draft for projection thing is so stupid, and so is tanking, but that seems to be, when it comes to the draft, all that O'Connor cares about. And he did go on to say that he thought that Clarke was the steal of the draft, but I cannot get over him calling Clarke old. That is asinine.

When they got off the Summer League stuff, Vernon transitioned into the Westbrook trade. Vernon is a big time believer in Westbrook just like I am. He defends Westbrook and gives him all the accolades he has earned. But, whenever O'Connor talked about him, all he would say is "he is the worst elite point guard", and "he has easily fixable mistakes, if he would just put in the time to fix them".

First of all, I have never seen Kevin O'Connor play basketball. But, if I had to guess, the dude is a scrub. You can watch, and write and read all you want about the game, it does not make you a player. So, for a blogger to call out Westbrook's game, get the hell out of here. Westbrook is so much better than any single player that is on his beloved Boston Celtics team. I feel like he would kill to have a player as good as Westbrook in Boston right now. But, what makes his takes even worse, his takes that put him on a Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd level, is how hard he goes to bat for Harden. James Harden is an elite, elite scorer. He is one of the best. No doubt about that. But, if you want to talk about easy to fix mistakes, Harden is a horrendous defender, he is a ball stopper and he is usually out of shape. Just because he scores 40 points on 30 shots, that doesn't make him the best player in the league. But the way O'Connor talks about him, you'd think he was the greatest ever. And what was so hilarious to me today, Vernon pulled up their playoff stats, because O'Connor inevitably went there with Westbrook, and they are nearly identical between the 2 guys. They both have nearly the same shooting percentage. They both have similar assists numbers. Westbrook is a far superior rebounder. And, they both have went exactly the same distance in the playoffs. They have both reached the Finals, when they were on OKC. Since Harden was traded, each have been to a conference finals. Last year, Houston lasted one more round than OKC. But if you only heard O'Connor talk, you would assume that Harden has been to the Finals multiple times, and was a champion and MVP.

Here is the truth on James Harden, and Vernon also brought this up, Harden is a known choker. He choked away a series to the Kawhi less Spurs, in Houston. He choked away game 7 of the West Finals last year, leading the charge in the 27 straight missed three point attempts. And this past season, after KD went down, Harden and Paul both choked away their best chance at a Finals appearance. So, don't give me the whole, all of OKC's problems are because of the way Westbrook plays Kevin O'Connor. And, he was insistent on Westbrook changing the way he plays to fit in with Harden. I wonder if he remembers that Harden was the sixth man on that OKC team that went to the Finals, and his job was to be the third option behind KD and Westbrook. I know things have changed since then, but I do not want to hear O'Connor talk about how "bad" of a player Westbrook is when O'Connor couldn't carry my jock on a basketball court.

This dude is just here to make shitty takes on a website that is the sports equivalent of Buzzfeed. The dude is a good writer, but I'm going to start referring to Kevin O'Connor as the "worst basketball blogger that gets paid to do it". That seems fair since he is always shit talking Russell Westbrook. His takes are god awful, and it makes it hard for me to listen to him and not yell at my phone. I feel for him for what he is going through with his dad, I too have a parent that had cancer, she is fine and clear now, and that sucks. But that cannot excuse his horrendous takes on professional basketball players.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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The Bottle Cap Challenge is Stupid

Yesterday I was crabby about a new sandwich, and today I am crabby about something else that simply doesn't make sense to me.

Recently, when I've been on Facebook, which is terrible and okay all at once somehow, my feed has been inundated with something called "The Bottle Cap Challenge". Now, for those of you that may not know, the bottle cap challenge consists of people doing difficult stuff to spin open a bottle cap, be it a water bottle, a bottle of soda or a beer. The videos show random people throwing things at the bottle to open it, whipping stuff at it to open it, hitting objects into it to open it, and I even saw a person use their belly to open one today.

Now, I do want to say, I do not think I could do this if I tried really hard. It does look tough. My biggest gripe with it though, is simply why? Why is this so cool? Why has it gone viral? Why are people trying to one up one another on this challenge? Why is this a thing? I don't really understand the reason this blew up so much, and why so many people are doing.

The first time I saw a video like this was with the actor Jason Statham. He did a karate kick on what looked like a Nalgene water bottle and the cap spun open. I saw it, said that it looked interesting, and then I completely forgot about it within 5 minutes. But, as I said at the top, since then my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are filled with people doing this, and the hashtag #waterbottlechallenge. It seems like such a dumb thing to become so popular. But no, social media will not let this thing die. In fact, they are pushing it. I saw a grandma open a hot sauce bottle with a towel. I have seen baseball players do it with a bat. As I said, I saw a guy open it with his belly. I have seen people open these bottles a million different ways, and every time I think, why.

And before you say, "why don't you just remove it from your page", "or why are you so upset by this", I have answers for both of those comments. As far as removing it from my homepage, then I would have nothing on there. I can't escape it, no matter how hard I try. If I remove one news company, be it The New York Times or Uproxx or Buzzfeed or ESPN, I would have no news of any kind on my feed. These are the places I read most of my news on the internet, and lately, they are obsessed with this thing.

Why am I so upset you ask? Because this takes as much talent as playing poker. This is a pure luck thing. I can almost guarantee that the people who are posting these videos had to do many, many more than one take. I'd like to see them do it one time. That would be impressive. But, we will never know if they did it in one take because there is only one video. It is also upsetting to me because this is not a talent or a skill that should garner this much attention. I'm mad at myself that I am talking about it, but I have let it really annoy me. This is simply boring and uncool. I do not care that you can make a cap spin off a bottle. I sure as hell do not want to see it in slow motion one thousand times a week. I just think we, as a society, have become so obsessed with becoming famous that people will do anything, including this bottle cap challenge, to get their fifteen minutes. At least with the ALS ice challenge, that was for a good cause. This bottle cap one is for no one or any charity. It is just plain stupid and pointless.

This is just my opinion on yet another fad that I hope will soon disappear.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Want to impress Ty? Why don’t you guys open the bottle like a goddamn normal person. Not being a show off idiot is what impresses Ty.

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KFC has Gone Too Far With the Cheetos Chicken Sandwich

Today I am going to go cranky old man for a minute. I have done this before, and sometimes I see something that just makes me think, "what in the hell is wrong with the younger generation"? The thing I want to be cranky about today is a new sandwich that I saw a commercial for last night from KFC.

Apparently KFC thinks that we as a people are too lazy now that we cannot even put our own Cheetos on a sandwich. I saw this dumb commercial, where a bunch of teens are skateboarding at a skate park, and they all go nuts over this new sandwich that Chester Cheetah brings them. Oh, he is dressed up as Colonel Sanders by the way. Anyway, the new sandwich has a fried chicken breast, hot sauce and Cheetos on it.

First off, that sounds gross even to me, and I like some trashy food. I've been known to put chips on a PB&J, I've been known to put Doritos on a turkey sandwich. I have added weird and wild stuff to burgers, hot dogs and even steak. But, for KFC to put Cheetos on a spicy fried chicken sandwich, I mean, come the hell on. What is happening over there. I have a good amount of friends that like weird food too, and even they think this sounds, and looks, disgusting. I for one don't like KFC. The last time I had it was when I got my wisdom teeth pulled 18 years ago, and I didn't even eat the chicken. I had their mashed potatoes, which were runny and gross, and their mac and cheese, which had hardened. Since then, I avoided KFC.

I seem to remember them doing other dumb stuff like this as well. They did that whole "meal in a bowl thing". Patton Oswalt does a great bit about it on one of his records that I highly recommend. Essentially, it was a bowl of potatoes, gravy, corn, fried chicken, and whatever else you wanted to stuff in your face. That looked foul. I had some friends that tried it, and they confirmed how gross I thought it was. They did the "double down" sandwich. You all remember this one, right? This was the sandwich that replaced a bun with 2 pieces of fried, or grilled, chicken. I remember starting Atkins around this time, and even that seemed too far out for me to try.

And now they have this abomination.

The only person I have heard say they want to try the sandwich, and said it looks good to them, is my 7 year old son. If he had his way, he would eat bacon cheeseburgers every night. After seeing the commercial last night I asked my wife what she thought, and she said it looked disgusting. I then saw on the internet today 2 different publications that tried it, and they had very different results.

And there in lies my biggest problem with a place like KFC. They may be the only fast food place that isn't consistent. I can get a double cheeseburger at any McDonalds in the world, and it will taste the same. Same thing with a Whopper. Same with most of Taco Bell's menu. But KFC has trouble even getting their fried chicken to taste similar in the same area. This is an awful idea from a not so good fast food place. I do not think this thing will last. I also think that KFC is trying too hard to be like Taco Bell. It seems every week that Taco Bell has something new, or they bring back an old favorite. But, for Taco Bell fans, it works because their food all has, for the most part, the same key ingredients. This new sandwich from KFC legitimately feels like they threw some darts at a wall, picked that stuff, threw it on a bun and said people will eat because we tell them to eat it.

Well, I will not be eating this sandwich. I hope no one in my family eats it either. It looks terrible, and I'm sure it will taste even worse. What a horrible idea.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What about Taco Bell’s crazy items? Read Ty talk about the incredible Naked Chicken Chalupa.

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Russell Westbrook Should Have Waited for a Better Team

Yesterday I wrote a whole thing about why I thought Russell Westbrook deserves to play where he wants next season, and I even gave a list of teams that I thought fit his style of play. Well, he got traded, but it was to none of the teams I picked, or to any team that most thought was even a contender. I was at my rec league basketball game when I got the news that Russ was headed to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul, 2 first round picks and 2 pick swaps.

This is insane. I thought it was a joke. I did not think it was true. I could not believe that the Thunder added 2 more first round picks, and by all accounts, they are going to offload Chris Paul as soon as they can, probably for more picks, or tradable assets. The Thunder, once again, got a great deal for a super star. And yes, Russ is a bona fide super star.

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of what I dislike about this trade, I want to touch on CP3. Man has he fallen off a cliff this past season, and offseason. He was once a darling of the league. He was the diminutive point guard that could run an offense, shoot and play great defense. He was the building block for the "Lob City" Clippers. He was the man while in New Orleans. He was even considered a great get when he signed with the Rockets 2 years ago. Now he is an added on trade, who is soon to be offloaded for picks. Age always wins, and we are currently seeing a Hall of Fame player age, and age badly, right before our eyes. He may end up on a solid team, but at what capacity? Is he a starter anymore? Is he a legit defender anymore? Will he really help a contender in the modern NBA? I'd say no, no and no. He would be best fitted playing in Miami alongside Jimmy Butler, or just retiring and get into coaching. How the mighty have fallen.

Now, why I dislike this trade so very much for everyone involved. I understand that Russ and Harden both wanted this. I know they are still good friends. I know that Westbrook is a younger and much more explosive version of Chris Paul. But, this back court is going to be rough to watch. Westbrook has been the guy in OKC ever since KD left. Even when they acquired Paul George, he deferred to Russ. In Houston, that is James Harden's team. That much was made wildly clear after they offloaded CP3 last night. Also, both guys need the ball in their hands to be most effective, and Harden, as he has done since he has been in Houston, likes to pound the ball for 20 seconds and shoot a three or try to draw a foul. How will that work with Russ? It won't. Russ, as much as I adore him, is not a good outside shooter, and with Harden pounding out the clock, he won't have time to get t the rim like he can if he is running the offense. Also, he and Harden are going to make guys like PJ Tucker and Eric Gordon just sit there and wait to try and get a rebound, or shoot a three. That is definitely not Tucker's game, and while Gordon is a solid three point shooter, just asking him to sit and wait would bother any player. Clint Capela should have fun with these guys, but now he is simply a pick and roll player on offense. Nothing more, nothing less. All they will want him to do is come up and screen for either Russ or Harden, and roll if he has it, or get ready to crash the glass. That may be what he is best at doing, but this will totally stunt his growth as a player.

Then there is Mike D'Antoni's offense, of which he has tailored to a player of Harden's skill. Now he is going to have to find a way to get Westbrook into the flow of the game. That will be asking a lot of a guy that has averaged a triple double the last three seasons. Also, they will have to get him to take a step back if they want to be as good as they can be.

On defense, the Rockets backcourt is going to be one of the worst in the NBA. We all know Harden's problems on defense. It has been well documented. Well, Russ isn't much better. Sure, he will grab a steal here or there, and get a few chase down blocks a season. But, more times than not, he takes plays off and relies on the help. Teams with a good to great back court could match them evenly. For all that is wrong with his game now, at least CP3 was a threat on defense. Russ, who is a much, much, much better player than CP3, has never played defense like him.

Finally, we have Daryl Morey. The star chaser. The guy that wants big names no matter how mismatched they are with his current roster. He tried this with Carmelo last year. That was a disaster. He tried this with CP3, and while they had a shot to beat Golden State, they didn't, twice, and haven't sniffed the Finals under his direction. And now he is bringing in Russ.

I dislike this pairing so very much. This is the cliché of "there is only one basketball" come to life. No matter how much these 2 like each other off the court, they are going to have to learn to share the ball if they want to be a contender. Neither has shown they can do that since they took over their respective teams. The Rockets will still be a good playoff team. But, I am not as on board as some other people are with Russ and Harden teaming up. I think it is going to be a super clash, and it will not end well for someone, or possibly both guys and the coaching staff. We will see. At least this has made this offseason even more crazy. I'm down for that anytime. But, I am not a fan of this trade. Not one bit.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Now We are Waiting on Russell Westbrook's New Team

On Monday I talked about Kawhi's decision, and my opinion of the current state of the NBA. I talked a bit about the Clippers not only getting Kawhi, but also getting Paul George. I mentioned that I had heard rumors that the Thunder were now exploring trades for Russell Westbrook. Today I want to talk about my feelings on that, and which team, or teams, I think would be a good fit for him.

First off, my thoughts on the idea of trading Russ away from OKC. I think the time has come for both parties to move on. Russ has done all he can do for that team and that city. He ran the show when it was him, KD and Harden. When Harden left, he changed his game to play with KD. Some people don't agree with this, they are wrong. KD is an iso guy, and the fact that Russ was so important to watch while on defense, he made it easier for KD to get his. Then KD left, and all Russ did was lead a terrible cast of players, with a new coach, to the playoffs, won the MVP and averaged a triple double. Again, idiots will say he was a stat hunter and only cared about himself. I say, he absolutely had to do this in order for that particular Thunder team to win.

Then they acquired Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. That did not work out, but they still made the playoffs, and Russ and PG seemed to like one another. They liked one another so much, Russ convinced PG to sign a deal with OKC that offseason. Last season, one of Russ' worst, as far as stats go, the Thunder made the playoffs again, Russ averaged a triple double for the third straight year, and helped PG become an MVP candidate, before he got hurt. But, they lost in the first round again, and it was all blamed on Westbrook.

Then the Kawhi stuff happened. I mean, what else, sans winning a title, can Russ do for the Thunder? He has really given them his all, has played through injury, willed this team back to the playoffs constantly, kept them afloat when KD left and is a blast to watch play. So, I think, if he wants one final chance to be on a competitive team, he has earned that right.

This leads me to which teams I think would be good fits for him. One, I would love, LOVE, to see him go to Phoenix. Sure, they aren't a title contender, but to replace Ricky Rubio with Russ, and put him next to Devin Booker, and an athletic big like Deandre Ayton, that would push them to a possible playoff team, even in the West. He would sell tickets there as well. Also, Phoenix could take on the last 2 years of his contract because they have so much young talent that is clogging spots for other players. They could make this deal happen, and I wish they would.

I like the fit with Chicago. He could go there, be a stop gap for Coby White, who I think is going to be really good, and help a team with Zach Lavine, Lauri Markenan and Wendell Carter definitely get into the playoffs in the East. The Bulls also have guys with easy contracts to trade, and they have picks.

Detroit was odd for me at first, but I think sending him there for Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard, plus picks, would make the Pistons fun. Russ and Blake Griffin, along with Andre Drummond could be a devastating pick and roll combo. And put him next to Derrick Rose, while not a great shooting back court, it would be explosive. I also think he would love to play for Dwayne Casey.

Then, my final team, the Miami Heat. I know the Thunder already have some of their picks, and trading Russ there would possibly take the picks out of the lottery, but they could get a good return of players, that they can turn into picks, and teaming Russ with Jimmy Butler could be a match made in heaven. Those 2 are cut from the same cloth, they will rip your will out of you, they would look cool as hell in those Miami vice jerseys, and Erik Spolestra has already shown he can coach mega stars to titles. Jimmy Butler and Russ may not be the duo you need to win a title, but in the East, who knows. I would love to see them playing against the Celtics or 76ers or Bucks. They would throw the hell down. This is what I hope, and want, to happen for Russ. I think it is almost too perfect.

Anyway, whatever what happens to Russ, I hope he gets a chance to compete, and that people stop blaming him for everything that has happened in OKC. It is not his fault. He has stayed tried and true to that team, and he can now do what he wants. He has earned that. I am fully team Russ.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Ty Listens More Closely To "Let's Rock"

So, last Friday I wrote an instant reaction to the new Black Keys album, "Lets Rock". On first listen, I enjoyed it, and said I needed more time before I could get a really solid feel for the album. Well, I have listened to the entire record over a dozen times now, and I have some thoughts.

First off, a lot of people, a lot of writers and music people love the record. Pitchfork gave it a phenomenal review. Rolling Stone loved it. Paste was on board. Someone said that the record is "garage rock at its finest". I agree with all of these people, except, I do not think it is as groundbreaking, or as exceptional as others. Again, I love love love the album. I cannot state enough. I wouldn't have listened to it as many times as I have, and continue to go back to it, if I didn't enjoy the record. But, I think an album like "Turn Blue" is a better overall record. "Lets Rock", for me, doesn't even sniff "Thickfreakness", which I think is the greatest garage rock record. I like "Rubber Soul" and "Attack and Release" more. For me "Lets Rock" is right up there with "El Camino" or "The Big Come Up". Again, love both of those records, but they wouldn't be the first ones I pick to listen to. I do think "Lets Rock" is better than "Brothers" and "Magic Potion" though.

"Lets Rock" is beautiful in its simplicity. That is what I like most about this album. The songs are no more than 3 to 3 and a half minutes, they are straight forward rock, Auerbach uses his signature distortion, Carney is hammering away at his awkward drum kit, and the record flows. It is an easy and fun listen. I have learned all the words to all the songs already. I love the opening track "Shine A Little Light". It has the classic Black Keys feel, but the instruments give it a newer, cleaner sound that I find nice. I usually prefer the dirty and distorted Black Keys, but "Shine A Little Light" grabs me. I absolutely love "Walk Across the Water". I love how it starts off like it is going to be a heavy rock song, and then totally changes into a love song when Auerbach starts the lyrics. I've grown to adore when the Black Keys do love, or ballad, type songs. They make it sound dingy, but then you listen to the words, and it totally blows me away. It is one of their prettiest songs ever. I can't wait to hear it live in September. "Get Yourself Together" is a classic Black Keys song. It's distorted, it is fast, it is grimy and it rules. "Eagle Birds" is like that too. I don't know much about cars, but when Auerbach starts to talk about twin engines and whatnot, I'm on board. I like the guitar riff in the song too. I like "Breaking Down" because it has that sitar sounding guitar flange to it. It is a nice flowing song too. "Under the Gun" is as true a rock and roll song as you can get in 2019. It is heavy and well played by the band. I like "Go" a bunch too. The video for that song rules. And the closer "Fire Walk With Me" is a perfect way to end this particular record. Its jumpy, quick and precise. See, I named the good majority of the record, and what I like about it.

My only problem is, there are a few songs that just seem like filler. I'm not nuts about "Lo/HI", but that could be because I have heard it a million times already. It was the song chosen for March Madness. "Sit Around and Miss You" is too country for me. "Tell Me Lies" is fine, but I don't like that it follows such a great song, and a sweet song, like "Walk Across the Water". And "Every Little Thing" is fine, but forgettable. I love this record. If I had to rate it out of ten, now that I have listened to it more than enough to give my full opinion on it, I'd give it a 7.5. It is good, I will love it when I hear the songs live and The Black Keys can really do no wrong in my opinion. I'm just a little more tepid than other music writers.

I need to say this one more time, "Lets Rock" is dynamite. Buy it, stream it, do whatever you have to do to hear it because The Black Keys are real writers and musicians, and that is rare nowadays. They rule.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was going to give “Let’s Rock” 43 thumbs up, but he did not want to insult his favorite band.

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Ty Watches "Yesterday"

Yesterday was finally able to go out and see one of my most anticipated movies of 2019, "Yesterday". I talked about it on the pod, I wrote about the trailer, I love Danny Boyle as a director, I am a big time Beatles fan, as I said on the pod, I think they are the greatest band ever, and I really, really wanted to take my dad to see it. I bought tickets for us, and we went, and this movie more than lived up to my personal expectations.

I saw the tepid response from critics, and that is exactly why I don't let critics dictate which movies I go see. I knew that I wanted to see this movie, and I was pretty sure that I would find myself enjoying it. I was right. "Yesterday" is one of the better "feel good" movies I have watched. After watching it I was happy, in a good mood and I wanted to listen to nothing but the Beatles, and the soundtrack, to the movie.

For starters, Himesh Patel, who was the main character Jack, was outstanding. I have never seen him in anything before this, but he absolutely blew me away. For him to show the angst, guilt, confusion and illusion of fame the way he did was tremendous. I mean, imagine waking up in a world, one in which you are a struggling musician, and finding out that no one but you knows who The Beatles are. How would you deal with that scenario? I know that I for one would have trouble remembering all the lyrics. But, to see Patel decide to claim them as his own, then become famous overnight, then have to deal with everything that comes with fame, it was a great job on his part.

Also, the thing the critics seemed to have the most problems with, I enjoyed the love story. Sure, I will always take more Beatles songs over pretty much anything, but this is a big Hollywood movie, and love stories are the name of the game. And Patel's love interest, Ellie, was very well represented by Lily James. James has been in a good amount of some of my favorite recent movies, most notably "Baby Driver", and she is nailing it. In "Yesterday" she is Jack's manager, driver and producer, but she is also in love with him, and has been since they were kids. She is vulnerable and wants him to love her back, and she does such a good job. Joel Fry, as Rocky, was hilarious and fun the whole time. He was the true comic relief. Jack's parents were great and believable. Ed Sheerhan, as kind of a stylized, arrogant version of himself, was great. Kate McKinnon was evil and villainous and hilarious. The cast was just tremendous.

What I think I loved most about this movie was how they showed the current generation reacting to hearing Beatles music for the first time. When Jack gets released from the hospital and he plays "Yesterday" on an acoustic guitar, his friends are blown away. They have never heard anything like it before. They are crying at how beautiful it is. When Ellie hears Jack play songs like "I Saw Her Standing There", or "All You Need is Love" or "And I Love Her", you can she her love for Jack grow and grow, and she wants him so badly to love her like the lyrics in the songs do. When Sheerhan, in a great scene, challenges Jack to a "song off", and Jack comes back and plays "The Long and Winding Road", he is so moved he calls Jack Mozart, and himself Salieri. It is remarkable. When McKinnon gets a hold of him, she decides that, since she claims he doesn't have the right "image" yet, that they are going to release his genius to the world one song at a time until they get his look right. To see his likes and retweets and the amount of followers go up and up and up, it is truly how we consume music nowadays. When he decides, the day before his album is to be released, to play a concert on the top of a hotel, his version of "Help" is not only a great, sped up version of the song, it holds so much more meaning because of how much he is struggling with what he is doing. When, in a great one scene moment, Lamorne Morris, who plays the head of A and R at the music company, goes on his spiel about getting the buzz out on social media, and finding the right album title and getting Jack's look just right, and the pictures that surround him and all the yes men and women around the table, it is too perfect.

"Yesterday" is a wonder of a movie. I loved every single second of what I watched. I cannot wait to see it 4, 5, 6 more times. I will buy it when it comes out on Blu Ray. I have already been telling my wife how great it is, and how much I can't wait to show it to her. This movie is the perfect movie for Beatles fans. But, I also think it is a great movie for anyone that loves music, and for people my age, and also my father's age. To all the parents that played Beatles music for their now grown up kids, go out and see this movie together. I think seeing it with my dad made it that much more enjoyable. I cannot recommend this movie enough. Please go see it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is unaware that adding Beatles music to a movie will automatically make it good. Check out “Across the Universe” to see how adding the Beatles can not save the most terrible of films.

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Done Waiting on Kawhi

So, last Friday I wrote about how I, like pretty much everyone else, was awaiting Kawhi's free agency decision. Well, he made it at 4 am the next morning, and he made it loudly. I was absolutely stunned, not by the fact that he joined the Clippers, but that Paul George was a part of this all along, and that Kawhi pretty much knew where he wanted to go from the start.

This is a monumental move by an enormous free agent, and the NBA finally, mercifully, has parity again. There is a big number of teams I could see competing for the title in this upcoming season now. The Clippers are the prohibitive favorites in mine, and pretty much everyone else's eyes. They have 2 of the best 2 way players in the game, Patrick Beverly is the perfect point guard for this team, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell make for one hell of a duo coming off the bench and Mo Harkless was a solid trade pickup. They did mortgage their future, but they got Kawhi and Paul George. That is a move I would make 10 out of 10 times. The other LA team was left to scramble, much to my delight. I have loved hearing columnists say that "they are making out okay" with the signings of Boogie Cousins and Avery Bradley and Danny Green. Oh, they also brought back Rajon Rondo and JaVale McGee. Hilarious. They do have LeBron and AD though, and that is enough for me the make them a playoff team, but they are now the second team in LA. The Clippers have the better, more well rounded and younger dynamic duo. They also have a far superior head coach.

Also, these journalists trying to say the Lakers did fine, stop. They waited for Kawhi and he shunned them. They blew it, just like the Knicks did with KD. I love that Kawhi chose the Clippers because this means Rich Paul doesn't have as much pull as he thinks he does, and it proves how stupid Rob Pelinka is.

The Thunder are going to be an absolute mess next year, and for awhile. I hope for his sake they trade Russ. He deserves to go somewhere that wants him, and won't trade away super star players all the time. I would love to see him go to Miami, but time will tell. I will say, the Thunder made out like bandits in the trade. They got SEVEN future draft picks, 5 first rounders and Shai Gilgeous Alexander and Danilo Gallinari. Gilgeous Alexander is a guy they can rebuild around, and Gallinari is a great trade asset. But, they are going to be bad for awhile, especially if they trade Russ.

Back to the other contenders besides the Lakers and Clippers. In the West, we cannot just push aside teams like the Trailblazers, Nuggets, Rockets and Warriors. The Trailblazers did some weird stuff this offseason, but they still have Dame and CJ McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic should be back at some point this year. The Nuggets have everyone back from a team that earned the 2 seed last season. The Rockets, even though they are totally dysfunctional, are still one of the better small ball teams in the league, and they can shoot the lights out. The Warriors have Steph, managed to somehow trade for D'Angelo Russell, get Klay back at some point, still have Draymond and they resigned Kevon Looney. While they won't be as dominant, they are still a playoff team. I can't forget the Jazz. Man did they did so much better this offseason. They are going to be real, real good. The Kings are up and coming too. New Orleans is going to be my favorite League Pass team. The West is going to be so much fun to watch this year.

The East is, in my opinion, Philly's to lose. They are so big, will eat teams up in defense and on the boards and will score just enough to win 55 or so games. They need to stay healthy, but if they do, they are legit. Milwaukee has the reigning MVP, they brought almost everyone back and they were the one seed last year. Giannis will only get better, and the shooting around him is key. The loss of Malcolm Brogdon will hurt more than they think, but they will still be good to great. Miami, especially if they acquire Westbrook, will be solid. They already have Jimmy Butler too. And they play hard and rough and solid defense. They want to take your will away, and I think they have the guys to do it. Boston should be thrilled that they don't have to deal with Kyrie anymore, and Kemba is a good replacement. They also have solid young guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But, Brad Stevens loyalty to Gordon Hayward is a concern, and losing Al Horford is going to sting. The Pacers got some solid pickups in Brogdon and Jeremy Lamb, and when Victor Oladipo gets back, they will be a top 4 seed. The Nets will be a playoff team again this year with the addition of Kyrie. But, next year, even if he is only 70 to 80 percent of his former self, the Nets will be the Clippers biggest threat out East.

I cannot wait to watch the regular season again. This time it will actually count. A game in the middle of the year that features Orlando and Milwaukee, or the Clippers and Nuggets will be fun, and important. This offseason has been wild, and when Kawhi made his choice it was epic. It makes the NBA so much more fun. I can't wait.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Waiting on Kawhi

As we approach the weekend we still have no decision from Kawhi Leonard as to where he will be playing basketball next year.

It is starting to get a bit frustrating for me. I'm obsessed with basketball, especially the NBA, and this free agency period has been absolutely wild, with Kawhi being the lone exception. Pretty much every other big name free agent has signed, or will officially sign tomorrow. KD and Kyrie are on the Nets. Jimmy Butler is going to Miami. Al Horford is going to Philly. Philly re upped Tobias Harris. Kemba Walker is a Celtic. Utah got Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdonavic. Indiana signed Jeremy Lamb and traded for Malcolm Brogdon. I mean, I'm sure I'm missing someone, but for the most part, the big names, and small names, are off the market. Danny Green and Boogie are still out there, but Kawhi is the biggest of the free agents, and he is taking his sweet time. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be as annoyed as I am. I mean, this is his choice, his decision, and he can do whatever in the hell he wants. He can go anywhere he chooses.

In my lifetime every other big time free agent made their choice fairly quick. LeBron signed with Miami, Cleveland the second time and with the Lakers last year before the Fourth. KD announced on the Fourth that he was leaving OKC for Golden State. When Dwayne Wade left Miami for Chicago, it was done before free agency started. Boogie signed with the Warriors before the Fourth last year. The big guys usually do not take this long to make up their minds.

It actually makes me wonder why he is taking so long. Is it because he is so much different than your average star athlete today? Does he not care about the limelight enough that he really wants to think this thing out? Has he really not made up his mind yet? Has he already made up his mind, and he is just toying with the NBA? Has Adam Silver made a call telling him he really needs to consider the Lakers to make them relevant again? Does Uncle Dennis want him to play somewhere he doesn't want to play next year? Is he going to sign with a surprise team?

I do think all of these are legitimate questions, and with a guy like Kawhi, I don't know that they will ever be truly answered. I think he is taking so long because he is a different dude. I like to believe that he is truly split between the Lakers and Raptors. Hell, I would even go as far to say that the Clippers still have an outside shot. I think he is legit writing a pros and cons list for each team, and pouring over it every night. I think he likes the idea of the Clippers because they are essentially the West's version of the Raptors. Also, it is his home and if he could bring a first title there, like he did for the Raptors, think of the legacy. But, the Clippers, to some, not me because they are currently more relevant, are the second LA team, behind the Lakers.

I think he is considering the Lakers because, again, it is home. But also, it is history and legacy and the ability to play with LeBron and AD. He doesn't seem like the "super team" type guy, but who in the hell knows with him. Maybe he has always wanted to play with LeBron, and AD is just icing on the cake. But, if he does go there, he is third in line behind LeBron and AD. Everyone will talk about him third. Also, it would seem so out of character. I've looked at him as the dynasty killer. The guy that avoids the "super team". He is the guy that wants to beat the best, not join them. And he has done that twice.

And then there is Toronto. Many said he didn't want to play there, that he wouldn't even show up after being traded there. Well, not only did he show up, he won them a title. He hit the crucial buzzer beater against the 76ers. He locked down Giannis in the East Finals. And he put that team on his back and dethroned the Warriors. Pretty much everyone returns from that team, they get OG Anounoby back, Masai Ujiri is staying and he is "the man" on that team. Also, a star player from a title team has never left the year after winning it all. Kawhi could, and would, be the one to change that, but I don't understand why he would. He has it made there, the team is good and he makes them the favorite. But, Toronto is not home, and he already won them a title. He may be looking for the next challenge for him in his career. I simply don't know.

I fear he is going to sign with the Lakers, but I hope he does a one and one deal with the Raptors, and tries to win back to back titles. If he stays in Toronto, they are the favorites. If he goes to the Clippers, they will be one of the favorites. And if he chooses the Lakers, they will be the Vegas favorite, but they will have to scrounge up the rest of that lineup. I'll be anxiously awaiting his decision, but I'm done checking #NBAtwitter and Bleacher Report obsessively. Kawhi is taking his time, so I am not going to wait with bated breath. He could choose today, or it could be another week. We shall see, and wait.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Where are the Great 4th of July Television Episodes?

Happy 4th of July everyone.

That is actually what leads me into what I want to touch on very, very briefly today. The 4th of July is a pretty big holiday. Or, at least, I imagine it is for most. For me as a kid the Fourth meant that I got to eat Dairy Queen and watch fireworks on the hood of my folks car. Pretty simple, yet very fun as a kid. As I got older, the fourth wasn't too important. Then I met my wife, and her family loves the Fourth. They have a big cookout, a barbeque and we shoot off fireworks. It has been that way for 13 plus years now.

I recently noticed that most of the TV shows I watch don't do an episode focused on the Fourth. I know that "Saved By the Bell" had one episode where they played games while working at the beach one summer, and it ended with fireworks, thus leading us to believe it was July 4th. And RD pointed out to me that the episode of "The Simpsons" where they go to Flanders beach house takes place on the Fourth. So, there are 2 examples of shows I do watch that may have a Fourth themed episode.

When thinking about this topic, I searched my brain for other shows I watch that do good holiday themed episodes, and none really came to mind. "The Office", the American version, even when it was bad, they did a good Christmas/Hanukkah themed episode. They also did solid Halloween episodes. But, no real Fourth of July ones. "30 Rock" crushes their Christmas episodes. I think they make some of the best in fact. But, not only do I not recall seeing a Fourth ep, I don't know that I have seen a Halloween or Thanksgiving one. "Parks and Rec", who you'd assume would have a great Fourth of July episode, or episodes, never touches on the holiday. They do excellent Halloween ones. The one with Greg Pitkitis, or when Gerry has a "fart attack", those are classics. But not even when Anne moves to Michigan and Leslie throws a mega party with all the holidays crammed into one, do we see a Fourth of July themed area. It just strikes me as weird is all.

I'm sure there are some shows out there that do celebrate this holiday, I just haven't seen them, or they were forgettable. It is strange is all I am trying to say. The Fourth of July seems to be a major holiday, and the shows I watch that cover major holidays, have never really dipped their toes into the Fourth. Please let me know if I am wrong, or just missed something because I'd like to see how an "Office" or "Parks and Rec" handles the day.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Make your 4th of July resolution to be the person on your block who grills the best hotdog. We have a guide for that.

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Season Three of "Baskets" Lets Martha Take Center Stage

I feel like I am one of a small bunch of people that watch the highly underrated show "Baskets". In fact, I wrote about how incredible Louis Anderson is as Zach Galifanikis' mom on the show. You read that right. The show just had its third season premiere about 3 weeks ago. I was excited for this season because last season ended on a big cliff hanger, and I wanted to see where they took every character's story from there. I was also pumped because a show like this was getting another opportunity to grow. I feel like FX is one of the few networks that will let a show grow. They will give it time to really suss out stories and characters.

This season, so far, has been doing just that, and today, I want to focus on another actor on the show that I think is doing a wonderful job. In previous seasons, Martha, played by Martha Kelly, has kind of been Chip's, one of the twins Galifinakis plays, sidekick. She is his ride everywhere. She will drop whatever she is doing to help him, and his family out. She has a full time job at Costco, in their main department. She helps take care of her mom. She is a main character on the show, and this season they are really letting her show some growth and change. In the first 2 seasons Martha was kind of a pushover. As I said, she would kind of stop whatever she was doing to help out the Basket family. At the start of this season we come to find out that she is seeing a self help coach, and this coach seems to be really teaching her how to be strong and forthright and honest. She is letting Chip know that she cannot boss him around. She is doing more things for herself. She is definitely standing up for herself. It is great.

In the most recent episode there is a self help retreat the she and Chip were invited to, and this episode has let Kelly do some of her best work. Martha is very monotone, and usually upbeat no matter what the circumstance. She pretty much always sees the bright side. Well, in the second episode, she is the pessimist when it comes to Chip looking for a new home. She continually lets him know that he can't afford the places he really wants, and even pulls him, physically, out of one of the condos he is considering. Well, in the next episode, we see Chip has bought the condo. I then remember that Martha brought him to one of the seminars, and the teacher took an immediate liking to him, and encouraged him to ask his mom, Anderson, for a loan. He got it, and the class loved it. Well, everyone except Martha. Now, in the last episode, we see Chip ask her to borrow her car, and even though he takes it, this is the first time we really see her fight him on it. She really needs her car, but Ship is selfish. Then, when she sees that they are both at this seminar, she gets pissed. She even tells him that the self help thing is her thing, and he is infringing on her time. She tells the teacher as much. When the teacher tells her that she is going to take Chip on a walk, you can see Martha get even more angry. Then, when they are preparing dinner later, after Martha has had one too many drinks, the real truth comes out. Chip claims to be a vegan, which Martha knows is untrue, and she lets him know it. She tells him, in only the way that an actor like Kelly can, and it is awesome. She calls him on his bullshit, but it is very monotone, and if I didn't know her like I do, I'd think she was being sincere. She was not. She is drunk and mad. So mad that she even calls Peter Cetera, who is at this retreat, that he is a "pussy", "because the potatoes aren't that hot". It is a real great performance from an actor that really deserved her chance to shine on this show. She totally knocks it out of the park, and my love for her character only grew after seeing this. It shows that she has a lot more inside of her than just being Chip's chauffeur, and the Basket family helper.

"Baskets" is a great show with a really solid cast. Louie Anderson was a surprise, Galifinakis is always good in what he does, and now Martha Kelly is fast becoming one of my favorite comic actors. She is excellent on this show. I highly recommend people check this show out so you can see great performances like Kelly's on a weekly basis. What a gem.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He used to chauffeur the head editor around. They have many incredible stories about it on one of our first podcasts.

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Better Late than Never on the Incredible "Us"

My wife and I finally had the chance to sit down at watch the movie "Us" this past weekend. Ever since we saw "Get Out", we wanted to see what Jordan Peele would do next. What he did with "Get Out", given his comedy background, was outstanding and unexpected for me. I know it shouldn't have been, given his love for horror movies, but I was still very pleasantly surprised by how awesome "Get Out" was.

So, I waited, as did my wife, with anticipation to his follow up. When I first saw the poster for "Us", I was intrigued. It was simply a pair of scissors and a couple of outlines and the same person. Then the trailers started to come. I watched 2 of them, just to get the premise. When the movie was in theaters, we couldn't find a weekend that worked out, or even a weekday. It is harder and harder to get out of the house the older my kids get, unless it involves one of their activities. So, as I said, we had an open weekend night, we put the kids to bed a little early and rented the movie off our TV.

Now, I need to say, there will be some spoilers, but this movie has been out for some time now, and if you wanted to see it, you already have I assume. But, if you have not yet, I suggest watching it before you read my review. Okay, got that out of the way.

"Us" is amazing. I loved every single second of this movie. While it had funny parts in it, just like "Get Out", "Us" is much more of a straight forward horror movie. Now, that is not to say that it has the jump scares like your cliché horror movie. I would describe the movie more as a psychological thriller, which I enjoy. This movie still has me thinking about it today, and we watched it this past Saturday. That is the sign of a great movie, as I have said many times. From the very opening scene, to the end, I was on pins and needles. I was clutching my wife's hand so hard that she had to pull it away for a moment. She said she was sweating from fear the whole time. The horror of the movie got to us for sure.

"Us" takes place in California, and it is, in my opinion, meeting the worst part of yourself. The family in the movie each has their own doppelganger who is the evil version of themselves. When they arrive on the doorstep of the home of the main family, that was when shit got wild. Winston Duke plays the dad, Gabe. He is great. He thinks he is the leader of the family. He thinks he is the tough guy. He is not. He is only fooling himself. And when he meets his evil twin, The Tethered they're called, you can see his insecurities. Shahadi Wright Joseph plays Zora, the teenage daughter addicted to her phone. Her evil Tethered is faster and way more ruthless than Zora will ever be. Zora is the butt kicker in the family. She is the one that acts and doesn't think. Her Tethered is even more intense. Evan Alex plays Jason, the son and magician of the family. His Tethered is a pyromaniac that happens to have the ability to move fast and do the tricks Jason cannot do. And when the Tethered Jason takes off his mask, Jason wears a Chewbacca mask throughout, it was horrifying. And then there is Adelaide, played excellently by Lupita Nyong’o. She is scared and overly protective of her children. Her Tethered, Red, is insane, and has a plan to take over the US.

When the movie starts, we see a young Adelaide at a carnival, and she wanders off to a hall of mirrors. In here is where she first meets her Tethered. That whole introductory scene is intense and scary as hell. We then see Adelaide after the incident, and she is in a therapist's office with her folks because she isn't talking due to trauma. We come to find out that she has grown up, married and had the 2 kids I mentioned. They return to the same spot every year with their friends, played by Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker, who are hilarious and clearly have animosity towards each other. But, things keep happening to Adelaide that are starting to freak her out. She is starting to remember her childhood trauma. She tells Gabe that she wants to leave one night, and that is when the Tethered family shows up at their doorstep. We come to find out that Red, Adelaide's doppelganger, has a plan for all the Tethered to take over the US, like I said. She has all her minions doing her work. See, everyone in this universe has a doppelganger of their own that happens to be a murderous psychopath. Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss each have one that gets them. Same with their daughters. The random people on the boardwalk have doppelgangers. There is a scene where a newscaster is reporting the story, and he gets slashed by his own doppelganger. It is creepy as hell. While this is going on, the main family is picking off their doppelgangers one by one. You come to realize that they are carbon copies of you, so what you do, they do. Duke gets his by bashing his head on boat motor, knocking him unconscious and sending him in the water to drown. Zora's doppelganger is in a race all night to get Zora, and eventually, she gets ramped off a car and struck by a tree. Jason sees his doppelganger hanging out by a big car fire, and makes him walk backwards into the fire, causing him to self immolate. As he is doing this though, he gets kidnapped by Red.

This is where shit gets crazy. We come to find out that Red has this plan for all the Tethered to join hands across the US like "Hands Across America". She has had this plan since she was a child. She wants all the people she has been with to experience a real life, just like Adelaide and her family. The fight scene after Red explains all this to Adelaide is amazing and scored beautifully. It is a ballet, something they reference a lot. Adelaide does eventually get Red in the end, and we think everything is okay. We think everything is going back to normal.

Here comes the major spoiler people.

What we come to realize, what Adelaide realizes as she is driving off with her family in an ambulance, is that she is not who she thinks she is. Adelaide is actually the Tethered. She is the one that Red saw in the hall of mirrors. Red was abducted by Adelaide when they were children. Adelaide assumed the role of her because she likes, and wants, chaos. There are little clues throughout the whole movie, but none make sense until after you have already watched the whole thing. I was absolutely stunned by this twist. When Adelaide realizes who she really is, she looks at Jason who is sitting up front with her, and they both smile, as if to say, they know who each other is. It was such a frightening way to end such a well crafted horror movie. It was stunning.

I loved "Us". Jordan Peele most definitely stayed away from the dreaded sophomore slump. He knocked it out of the park. Now I cannot wait to see what he does next, even more so than I did after seeing "Get Out". "Us" is wonderful, and I highly recommend watching it if you have a spare couple hours. You will not regret it, and you will think about it over and over again. What a great movie.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His double is just like Ty except that the double is a huge Ohio State fan. That is true horror.

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So Far NBA Free Agency has Been Predictably Insane

NBA free agency started yesterday at around 5pm Saint Louis time, and it has been wild ever since. Yes, today has been a little less hectic, but yesterday was just a flurry of player movement, and big time contracts being handed out. I couldn't go a few minutes without my phone or watch buzzing with another player signing with a new team, or getting the max from their current team. It was nuts.

It all really started well before 5pm, as free agency always does now. But, right at 5:01, we got the big news that KD ad Kyrie Irving were both signing max spots with the Brooklyn Nets. This took me by surprise. I predicted on our pod 2 weeks ago that Kyrie would go to Brooklyn, but I thought KD was going to stay in Golden State. I even went as far to say that if KD were to leave, it would be for the Knicks. I was wrong. KD did go to New York, but he went to Brooklyn. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this a bit. I know that he wants to play with Kyrie, and the Nets are signing his good buddy Deandre Jordan, but still, the Nets? I wonder how much of this has to do with Jay-Z, how much it has to do with not being on the Knicks because James Dolan is a train wreck of an owner, more on him in a few, or how much it has to do with the years, and money, the Nets offered him? I think, given the report, it has to do mostly with Dolan being a humongous dip shit, and not offering him the max because he is apparently afraid of the risk in KD's injury. That is so god damn stupid. If you have a chance to get KD, you get him. Yes, he will not be playing this year at all, and it may take another 6-8 months after that for him to fully be back. But still, KD at 70-80 percent is still one of the top players in the NBA. The Nets, even though I am not a Kyrie fan at all, did get a whole lot better yesterday. But, be patient Nets fans, the payoff won't come for another year and a half, basically until KD is near full recovery. My hat goes off to the Nets though. They are relevant again.

This does mean they had to let go of D'Angelo Russell, who the Golden State Warriors somehow managed to get in a sign and trade. Just when you think the Warriors might have a bit of a down year, at least for them, they go out and find a way to get Russell, and today they maxed out Klay, who will miss most of this year too. But, the fact that they were able to get a player of Russell's caliber in a sign and trade proves how much this team wants to stay relevant. I know they had to offload Andre Iguodala to do this, but, as much as I respect Iggy, he is pretty much done. This was a tremendous, and highly unexpected move on day one of free agency. And Russell has gotten so much better since Magic traded him a few years back to the Nets. He is going to fit in just fine with Steph and Draymond and Klay, when he comes back.

The Heat, while it isn't a done deal yet, went out and got their star, hopefully, in Jimmy Butler. I like this move for both teams. Butler will be "the guy" in Miami, Erik Spoelstra has coached, at a very, very high level, the best of the best, Pat Riley is a great front office guy and there is no sales tax in Miami. Jimmy Butler, if he wasn't going to stay in Philly, made the second best choice in joining the Heat. They just need to get it done.

Butler's old team, the 76ers, gave Tobias Harris a huge deal, but I think he was the better of the 2 guys they traded for on that team. He is a better shooter, and a solid defender. He struggled a bit in the playoffs, but I think he will bounce back. They also resigned Mike Scott, an underrated signing if you ask me, and they got Al Horford to somehow sign there. I don't like that they gave him 4 years. But, with Horford, Embiid and Simmons, that is going to be a monster front court, especially on defense. I mean, good luck getting to the hoop on those guys.

They did lose JJ Redick to the Pelicans, and let me tell you, the Pelicans are crushing this offseason. They got Zion. They got a boat load in return for AD. They are about to sign Derrick Favors. I mean, this is about as fast, and as good, a rebuild as I have ever seen after a team trades a franchise player. I questioned RD saying they could push for the playoffs in the pod I already mentioned, but after yesterday, it wouldn't shock me to see them hang around all year in the standings. They are going to be a boat load of fun to watch as well.

The Bucks gave Khris Middleton the max, as expected, and earned. They also got Brook Lopez and George Hill back. They went out and nabbed Robin Lopez as well. They are, pretty much, running it back. And why not when they won 60 games last year and made the conference finals. But, they did trade Malcom Brogdon. I don't think this is as huge a loss as some do, but it will still hurt. They need to find another shooter.

Brogdon got traded to the Pacers, and the Pacers are going for it. They traded for Brogdon and signed Jeremy Lamb. They could still be in the mix for some trades as well, but I loved their moves so far. They get Oladipo back, they now have a solid scorer in Brogdon, Lamb can be a knock down shooter, and Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner is a very good, very young front court.

The Celtics lost out on Kyrie and Horford, and settled for Kemba Walker. I love Kemba Walker. I've loved him since he was at UCONN. But I fear that the Celtics will try and turn him into Isaish Thomas 2.0. That should not be his place in the NBA. I wished MJ would have paid up to keep him there because Walker was the only reason to even watch the Hornets. Now I have to watch him lose shots to guys like Gordon Hayward, that is a bummer. But, I don't blame him for taking that contract. That was some big money.

Orlando re upped Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross. They also went out and got Al Farouq Aminu. These moves are fine, but it doesn't really move the needle as far as them being a higher seed in the playoffs next year.

Portland has made some trades, but most importantly, they gave Dame his much deserved max extension. That alone will keep them in contention.

Remember when I said I'd talk more about James Dolan? Well, here it is. He didn't offer KD the max, which is stupid. He took a shoot first guard at number three in this draft. He didn't even try to sign Kemba. He completely whiffed on Kyrie. He traded Kristaps Porzingis last year. And his solution you ask? To give guys like Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson and Julius Randle two and three year deals. I mean, what the hell. I do like Julius Randle, just not as a first or second option, which he will be with the Knicks. Bobby Portis is more known for punching out a teammate in Chicago, and I think Taj Gibson is older than me. And, along with drafting RJ Barrett, who you all know I am not high on, they took Ignas Brazdeikes in the second round, and I watched him all last year at Michigan and think, this guy is not ready for the NBA. The Knicks are a joke, and that is sad. James Dolan is awful, and he needs to sell the team.

There was a bunch of other movement yesterday, and a little more so far today. But, the biggest name, after KD, is still left, and that is Kawhi Leonard. I don't have a single clue as to what he will do, and I am getting a bit frustrated at all the reports saying the Lakers are the front runners to sign him now. I have looked at Kawhi as his own entity. As a guy that wants to be "the guy" on his team. The guy that ends dynasties, doesn't join them. I was personally hoping he'd stay in Toronto, and he very well might, or go to the Clippers, and try and make them a better draw than the Lakers in the same building, and that can still happen too. But, if he sings with the Lakers, I will have a whole blog about how much of a bigger cop out that would be than when KD joined the 73 win Warriors. That would be completely out of character for him, and I don't know how well he would adjust to being the third guy on the Lakers. Also, he would be being coached by LeBron. Sure, Frank Vogel and Jason Kidd are "figureheads" there, but after last season, and this offseason, it is very clear who runs that team now. It is LeBron and Rich Paul. I don't see Kawhi taking too well to that environment. But, if he wants to be in LA, and he chooses the Lakers, so be it. It would be a punk move, but who am I to tell a guy to turn down that much money to go play in his home city. It would only make my hatred for the Lakers that much more intense. But, after all the big stars that signed yesterday, Kawhi is the biggest name left, and he will dictate the course of action in the league next year. Wherever he goes, or if he stays in Toronto, that team will be the favorite because he is there. We just have to wait and see.

I love NBA free agency, and yesterday felt like my birthday. It was a joy to see all the movement and big contracts being signed left and right. I cannot wait to watch the NBA this coming season. It is truly becoming the best sport in the world.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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