Ty Watches "The Northman"

My wife is out of town for work and when she leaves I tend to watch movies that she is not interested in when we do date night. I've seen some solid and not so solid movies during these work trips. I've also seen "Titane", and I'm still confused by it. Last night I watched "The Northman".

I've wanted to see this for quite some time. My dad is really into viking culture lately, the preview looked badass, I like Alexander Skarsgard and I have enjoyed every Robert Eggers directed movie I have seen, especially "The Lighthouse". I had high hopes going into this movie.

“The Northman” did not disappoint. Sure it was a bit too long and some stuff could have been cut out, but for the most part, this movie was very, very well made. I am not as into the viking stuff as my dad, but I do like the stories I have been told. I am also kind of enamored with their lifestyle back in the early 1000's. It is all intriguing to me. This movie, from what I've read and watched, has to be one of the more accurate portrayals of life back then. It was brutal. It looked old. It looked archaic. Eggers and the writers did not sugarcoat the awfulness that some vikings lived with. There was pillaging and murdering and assaults happening left and right. I appreciate the fact that they put it out there bare bones. I do not like when other movie makers glorify and deify these people. They were not the best. There is one battle scene in particular, right in the first 45 minutes, that is one of the best and most brutal things I have ever watched. This group of vikings pillages a town during the day. At one point a person throws a spear at Skarsgard's character, he catches it and throws it back, impaling someone else in the process. After that, Skarsgard proceeds to murder three or four people, and when he gets to the last person, he bites into their neck, as if he is a dog feeding on his prey. That was another thing. There are so many dog references in this movie. From start to finish, dogs are involved and it is gruesome. But I liked what I was seeing.

I liked how they made this movie. I was fully in on Skarsgard. I'm relatively new to him. My wife watched "True Blood", but I did not. And I loved when he was on the most recent season of "Atlanta". But this was a juicy leading role for him and he nailed it. He was magnetic. He put in a ton of work on his body and it showed. He played his character to perfection. He was the only viking I rooted for, but there were times when he was just as bad as the rest. As for the rest of the cast, they were up to the task. Anya Taylor Joy was great. She looked and acted like a viking queen. She was a total badass as well. I loved her in this. Ethan Hawke was dope. He is having a bit of a renaissance. Nicole Kidman was ruthless and evil and totally nailed it. Claes Bang was a bad, bad dude, but I kind of sided with him a little bit in the end. Willem Dafoe was as creepy as ever and it was so fitting for this movie. Bjork had a bit part and it was exactly what she thrives at doing, being weird and using her cool voice. It was just a perfect cast in a very good movie.

I mentioned that one fight scene at the top, but this movie was filled with some of the best, and most real, fight scenes I've watched in a movie. There was one where they were playing some kind of old game, and when Skarsgard goes to protect a child, oh my was that nuts. There was another one where he takes on multiple fighters and beats them, until he is contained and proceeds to get repeatedly punched in the face. When he was tied up it was the most real looking torture thing I have seen since "Zero Dark Thirty". When he gets Taylor Joy to feed the guards hallucinogenic mushrooms, and what happens next, it was wild. My favorite was when Skarsgard returned to the site of his capture and freed the people at night time. That was rad. And brutal. And gory. And kind of sad. But it was so well done. And the final battle scene, no spoilers, was totally worth the anticipation and build up. It ended on a perfect crescendo. I sat on my couch and just kind of stewed in what I had just watched. I really thought about it all. And I came away thinking this was one of the better movies I have watched in some time. It is beautiful to look at, well acted and directed, very well written and super interesting.

I definitely recommend the movie under the caveat that it is slow in certain parts and that the movie is very heavy with viking and Icelandic language. But Skarsgard, Taylor Joy and those battle scenes are totally worth it in the end. "The Northman" lived up to my personal hype.

Ty

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

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Thoughts on the Latest KD Drama

Okay I guess I will talk about Kevin Durant.

I am not shocked by him asking out, and maybe that is part of the problem for me as a basketball fan. This was almost inevitable to me after seeing the Warriors win the title this season. And now I do not think the chips he won with them are moot. He was great for them. He won the MVP twice in the finals for a reason. He was an added weapon that made that iteration of the Warriors unbeatable, until they all got hurt except Steph.

I'm not a hater of KD's at all. That being said, the way he handles himself via social media or on TV is kind of wack. He is sensitive, and that is fine. I'm sensitive too. And I'm sure if millions of people lashed out at me on Twitter and what not I'd lose it from time to time. He loses it all the time. It is like he is on social media whenever he is not on a basketball court. I've been called out here and there, but I avoid it because I'm not glued to my phone. I think KD is glued to his. It has to be hard for him to go out and live a normal life because of his fame so I guess the phone and tv are his only real outlets. So I would imagine seeing all the people saying that this is Steph's first real ring or that they did it the hard way or that they don't need a stacked team that might have gotten to KD. And that is fine. If it makes him angry, that is totally normal.

KD is an incredible basketball player. Guys his size shouldn't be able to do what he does on a nightly basis. He is an all time great. But the Nets were swept in round one. Kyrie Irving is a nut job. James Harden looks like the smartest guy in the room now for wanting out. Steve Nash is not a very good coach. The supporting parts in Brooklyn just aren't championship quality. But I will say, this was all that KD and Kyrie wanted. They decided to go to the Nets together. They wanted Nash as the head coach. They wanted Deandre Jordan to play over Jarrett Allen. They were more than willing to let Caris Levert go. They urged the front office to sign guys like Blake Griffin. This was their design. This was their hand picked team. They chose and the front office gave them their every want. Then COVID happened. The Nets were going to be average in KD's first year since he wasn't going to play. Then he came back and was great again. And so was Kyrie. And they got Harden. All looked perfect. But then Kyrie wouldn't get vaxxed because he is a moron. That meant he couldn't play any home games. He was non-existent. Harden asked out because he knew he couldn't handle the load anymore. KD got hurt again. It was all just a mess.

This was a team that I picked to win the title this year, and I thought they would do it with ease. Instead they got swept pretty easily by Boston, another team that is built from within for the most part. And then KD had to watch the Warriors win it all. He saw them play Dallas in the West Finals, a team built within. He watched Boston beat Milwaukee in round 2. Milwaukee, minus Jrue Holiday, is a draft and process team. Boston beat Miami in the East Finals, and Jimmy Butler was a free agent signing, but that whole team is a culture. KD had to see all this and be extremely frustrated that his plan didn't work. He is uber talented, but when the guys you sign up to play with don't play, you get swept in round one. And now he wants out.

I don't know where he is going to end up, or if he gets traded at all. He signed a four year deal with no player option. He is in year two of the deal. Whatever team trades for him is on the books for three years at a big, big number. And I get the allure of trading for a guy like KD, I just don't know if it will be worth mortgaging the future of your team. The teams he wants to go to, like Miami, will not give up what Brooklyn will/should want. KD said he would go there only if Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were still on the team. What does that leave Brooklyn with? Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and filler? No thank you. Philly is on his list. Who are they going to give up that will make Brooklyn stoked? They are not getting Joel Embiid or Harden. So that leaves parts like Matisse Thybulle, who isn't fully vaccinated, Tobias Harris who is past his prime and Tyrese Maxey. I like Maxey, but I do not know that he is ready to be the number one dude on a playoff team. Phoenix has been mentioned. I do like getting Deandre Ayton, Mikaail Bridges, Jae Crowder and picks, but why would Phoenix do that? Who does that leave them with? KD, Chris Paul and Devin Booker are a great Big 3, but the rest of that roster would be decimated.

I do want what is best for KD because I do really like him as a basketball player. He is amazing. He is an absolute joy to watch play the most beautiful game. But I just do not know what team is going to facilitate exactly what he wants and get a fair return. It just doesn't seem possible, especially after seeing what the Timberwolves gave up for Rudy Gobert, and KD is a far, far better player. Time will tell, but this is a messed up situation and the resolution seems way further off than us normal fans can even fathom. This is going to take some time and may not be solved until the season has started. We will see. 

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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Thoughts on the New Big 10

The college football landscape is changing yet again. I figured after Texas and Oklahoma decided to join the SEC last season that this was going to quiet down a bit. Quite the opposite has happened. I was checking out the sports news, mainly to see where NBA free agents were signing, and saw that the Big Ten was going to vote later in the day on adding USC and UCLA to the conference.

This news shocked me. I was, for real, stunned. I am an old school fan when it comes to college football. I like the conferences. I like how they align with bowl games. The conferences, for the most part, make geographical sense. Even when Missouri joined the SEC, or when Maryland and Rutgers joined the Big 10, that made some kind of sense. Those teams have pull in the South and Midwest and East. It also made recruiting sense. Hell, even Oklahoma and Texas make sense on paper in the SEC. Most of their fans have southern roots, or still live in the South. But USC and UCLA joining the Big 10 is just wild. It makes no sense. It is so far out of the way from the rest of the Big 10 teams. The time zones don't work. The recruiting is totally different. The game times are completely different. The style of play is not the same. It just doesn't make sense to me at all.

This is the way college football is going. There is, eventually, going to be two, maybe three mega conferences, and it will probably happen before 2030. It is what is going to happen. There is no sense in me being surprised by this news anymore. The fact that the conference I watch the most, with my favorite sports team of all time, is going to stay relevant should make me happy. The Big 10 is more than secure with USC and UCLA joining. I cannot think that Notre Dame, Washington and Oregon are going to be far behind joining. I can see Arizona and Arizona State leaving for the SEC soon.

This is the death knell for the Pac 12. They are all but done as a conference come 2024. They have one full season left, and that is going to be that. The money is just too much for these schools to pass up. That is the main reason this is all happening. The Pac 12 is a big deal, but they are the lowest of the power five conferences. Their games are on too late, no one really watches them after the primetime night game, usually featuring a Big 10 or SEC matchup and the Pac 12 network is the bottom of the barrell. The amount of money, some people are saying upwards of 100 million a season, that USC and UCLA are going to make in 2024 is too good. It is too much of a lure. It is too hard to pass up. The matchups are also way, way better and more TV friendly. USC-Michigan is going to become an instant rivalry. As will the university of Ohio State-USC. Penn State-Washington is a dope old school matchup. Michigan-Washington was a great Rose Bowl matchup. Wisconsin-UCLA is going to be modern 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Oregon-the university of Ohio State has given us great out of conference games, now imagine that in conference. This benefits the Big 10, and helps the teams at the top get an even better hold on the CFP. Michigan, Michigan State, the university of Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Purdue will all benefit from the addition of USC and UCLA, with Washington and Oregon soon to follow. But those former Pac 12 schools will benefit even more. They get better matchups, better competition, better game time slots, better TV times and millions upon millions of more dollars coming into their programs.

The old fan in me despises this. But the fan I am now, more logical and older, understands why this is happening. This is the new world of college sports. We all have to get used to it. 

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "The World's Greatest Mixtape"

Last night I watched the 30 for 30 documentary "The World's Greatest Mixtape". This is a short movie about the sensation that was the And 1 Mixtape tour.

The And 1 Mixtape tour came around at the perfect time for me as a basketball fan. In my late teens I had become kind of disillusioned with basketball. I still played but barely watched. The early 2000's were not great as far as the NBA goes. There were great players, but I just wasn't into it at all. But then one day, while scrolling some channels, I happened upon the "And 1 Mixtape" on ESPN. I was instantly in love. This was the coolest. This was the most balletic basketball I had ever seen, and the trash talk was absolutely amazing. I was all in right away. I watched the 30 minute episodes every single day they were on. I followed the players. I bought And 1 clothes. I tried to do the stuff these guys did. I talked about it all with my friends that watched. It was the best. So I was primed for this documentary.

Tis doc was solid. I thought it was a good representation of the time. I loved how they told the story. It was fascinating to hear the backstory of how it started. I loved seeing the older players talk about how they came to be an And 1 athlete. I thought it was so cool how they got the music for the mixtapes. I liked hearing these guys find out that they were on the tapes and then finding a way to get paid. I loved hearing about Rafer Alston, the first real streetball legend. Then to see all the guys I watched regularly, to hear some of their stories, to hear about their time on the And 1 tour, it blew me away. It was so cool. I thought that whole part of the show was perfectly done. I also loved seeing NBA players talk about the And 1 players and mixtapes. It was cool to get their input. I liked hearing someone like Kemba Walker, a former all star, talk about the influence And 1 had on him. It was also dope to see guys like Iman Shumpert and Lou Williams talk about And 1. They may not be stars, but they were guys that stuck around in the league for a long time, did some nice things and even win a ring.

My absolute favorite part with the NBA guys was hearing them fervently state that And 1 players could not make it in the league. There is a reason that only one, Alston, stuck around. There is a famous And 1 guy, Hot Sauce, and the NBA guys clowned him in this doc. Shumpert said that he came into some tryouts as "Hot Sauce", and left being called "Ketchup". That line killed me. And it is so true. While the And 1 guys are incredible basketball players, and do things I can only dream of doing with a basketball, they are not NBA talents. They just do not have that in them. But they sure did try. And I respect that they found a way to get paid to play basketball the way they loved to play the game. That takes a whole lot to do.

I think my only criticism with this movie is that it is far too short. It is only about 45 minutes long. I could watch two hours of this easily. I want to know every single thing about this league, from formation to dissolution. I want the fully in depth story of everything And 1. That would be dope. But this movie will do for now. Maybe they will make more volumes a la the And 1 mixtapes. One can only hope. But for those of you that watched this back in the early 2000's, check out this movie. It is a great trip down memory lane.

Ty

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

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Thoughts on the 2022 NBA Draft

I know it has been almost a week since the draft, but with the country taking a tremendous step backward, and seeing two very good movies, today is the day I am going to talk about my NBA draft thoughts. It may seem out of date, but I have had a very good amount of time to sit and think about the draft. I'm not just going off the cuff. This isn't a rapid reaction. This isn't a grade the day following. And I have thought about this draft a good amount. I use the draft to forget about the horribleness that is our country right now.

With all that being said, the Pistons came out as big time winners from draft night. They got the guy they wanted at five in Jaden Ivey. He fits like a glove with this squad. He can be inserted at the two, next to Cade Cunnigham, from day one. He is a good slashing guard, will fix his shot and can play defense. He is also happy to be there. He was crying tears of joy. It was the best fit of the night. They also traded for the rights to Jalen Duren. He is an extremely athletic center. He will eventually stretch the court. He is a rebound machine. He can block shots. I love his addition to this young core. They got a stash project in Gabriele Procida. They can bring him along super slow and he is the prototype 6-7 wing forward combo the NBA covets right now. They also just traded for Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel. Those guys may not stay, but if they do, that is two extra vets to help out this young team. The Pistons are going to be a fun team to watch next season, and then they should, if they can coexist, become a playoff threat in the next two to three years. They nailed draft night.

I also love what the Houston Rockets did. They got Jabari Smith Jr at three. He was the consensus number one guy on everyone else's mock drafts, but he "fell" into the Rockets lap at three. They can play him right away at the five. He can shoot, defend, rebound and create shots. He and Jalen Green make for a great young duo. They also have Kevin Porter Jr and Alpernun Sengun. This is a young team loaded with potential and talent. They also got TyTy Washington in the late first to be a backup point guard, which is perfect for him to learn. They also got Tari Eason from LSU in the late teens. He is big and switchy and has a bit more experience coming in. Houston is building a team with so much talent, it just has to find a way to come together and coalesce. They have a few years ahead of them before they are true competitors, but they are going to be fun as hell to watch.

Another draft I liked was the Spurs. They got some good pieces. They got Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley in the late first round. These guys were considered lottery talent and they fell into the Spurs lap. They will get the best out of those two guys. They also had a lottery pick and took Jeremy Sochan at nine. I love this pick. He is such a Spurs guy. He is going to be one of the better players in this draft, and going to San Antonio is like a dream destination for NBA players. The Spurs made sure their "rebuild" won't take as long as other teams.

Finally, for a team I liked, the Magic got the best overall guy at number one. Paolo Banchero is a 20 ppg guy from day one. He is so gifted offensively. And adding him to a roster with Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs is wonderful. They went out and took the best guy on the board. They also got potential in round two with Caleb Houstan. The kid can shoot, he just needs to grow up a bit. He is also barely 19. He is a young dude.

There were only a few teams that puzzled me. First off, the Knicks did some wild stuff during the draft. They traded picks for future picks. They cleared cap space. I get that they want a big name free agent, but Jalen Brunson, as much as I like him as a player, is not the "big name" guy they want to reel in. They have also traded away good vets to clear more space. Maybe that will work next season, but for this year, I don't know. I like when the Knicks are good because it is good for the NBA. But draft night was a real head scratcher.

And then we have the Kings. I mean, this just seems like this is what they do. They had two picks. They took Keegan Murray at four. He is an okay enough shooter, but I think he is what he will be. He is also a bigger guard now on a team filled with guards. This pick does absolutely nothing to move the needle for me. The Kings are just kind of stuck in the mud. They also had a decent pick in round two with Jaden Hardy, but then they traded him to Dallas. I don't even know what they got in return. It was baffling. Hardy could have helped the Kings but now he will help the Mavs. The Kings are going to Kings things on draft night I guess. I will say,

I am excited to watch these kids play next season. I watched a good amount of them play in college or in the G League and I am stoked to see how they adjust to the pros. The NBA has the best draft night coverage and this year was no different. Now we just need to get to the season.

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 Watches "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent"

The other movie I wanted to discuss this week was the date night pick coming from yours truly. It was on me and it was easy because "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" is now on VOD and available to stream. I was close to seeing this movie in the theaters, that is how much I wanted to watch it. My wife was also completely on board, so that made it even easier.

This movie did not disappoint. It was so funny, so well made, so well acted and surprisingly touching. I enjoyed every single second of this movie. For the people that may not know, this movie is a meta version of Nicolas Cage. Nicolas Cage plays a version of himself named Nic Cage. He is a struggling actor, cannot stick with his family and decides to quit. Before he fully gives up his agent, played by Neil Patrick Harris, convinces him to go to Majorca, Spain and appear at a party for a million dollars. Cage reluctantly agrees. But when he gets there he realizes that the person who invited him to the party is part of a massive drug cartel. Cage also is found out by two CIA agents and he has to help them take down the cartel. From this point on the movie just gets better and better. And it stays funny and continues to be touching.

Speaking of the actors. Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish play the CIA agents. They are great. Barinholtz cannot deal with his nonsense and Haddish knows how to make him work, she just hates doing it. They do a wonderful job. Cage's ex wife and daughter are great additions. They make the story work more than it actually should. But this movie is truly all about Cage and Pedro Pascal, the super fan. Cage does a great job making fun of himself in this movie. The jokes about him working too much, being too self serious, going nuts at the drop of the hat, all of it works to perfection. They also have a CGI younger version of him that the current Cage talks to and that is great. My favorite part of the young Cage is when he kisses the old Cage and yells, "NIC CAGE IS GOOD AT SMOOCHING!". It is a wonderful joke that totally lands. It is great. Nicolas Cage seems more than up to the task in this role. I am so glad that he took it, ran with it and nailed it. He was tremendous. It shows that, given the right material, Cage can act very well. And Pedro Pascal, he is simply the best. He is funny. He is touching. He is derpy and goofy. He is fully in on the joke and he goes for it as hard as Cage does. The whole story line of him and Cage writing a movie together about their lives is perfect. Pascal is also great at playing this derpy, naive guy. He has too much money and does not know how to use it properly, so he just buys whatever he wants whenever he wants. But he is also touching and nice and you root for him. I was openly hoping he wasn't going to be the bad guy. I wanted there to be a twist where he was actually a good guy. Pascal was phenomenal in this movie. And he and Cage have tremendous chemistry. This movie works because the two of them work so well together. I loved it. Their friendship was the absolute best thing in this movie. Their adventures together were funny and moving. The two of them watching "Paddington 2" was gold.

I adore this movie. I was telling my dad about it all morning over coffee. Watch this movie please. It is so worth it.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "RRR"

Last week I watched two movies that I really want to tell you all about this week.

The first is "RRR". I had heard things from people that I listen to on podcasts about this movie. Then spoke glowingly of it. Then I went and read some reviews, and this movie was getting super gassed up by the critics. Then I saw the description of it on Netflix and I was in. The only thing that made me hesitate was the run time, three hours and five minutes. That is a very, very, very long movie. But I broke it up over three different viewings over two different days. Both were in a row so I wouldn't lose too much from the story. But none of that matters.

This movie is amazing. All three hours and five minutes are more than worth it. I loved every second of "RRR". The long and short synopsis of the movie is, it is about two Indian revolutionaries in the 1920's overthrowing the British Imperialists. And it rules. I have become kind of weary with all the superhero stuff and all the retread stuff. There are way more "Doctor Strange 2" movies than there are "Everything Everywhere All at Once". The movie landscape has become kind of dull. But then a movie like "RRR" comes along and I get all excited again. The version I watched was in Hindi with English subtitles and then some people spoke English. All of that did not matter. Sure it helped to follow the story, but what makes this movie so incredible was the action sequences, which seem to go on forever and I still want more. These action sequences are some of the most incredible scenes I have ever watched in a movie. The director shoots them perfectly. Slow motion is used better here than in any other movie I have ever seen. The fighting looks and feels real. The CGI animals are so well made and so believable. They make the two main guys act and feel like superheros, but they are also just regular dudes. I have never seen a Bollywood movie before, but I understand dancing is a big deal, and the dance numbers in this movie were amazing. I was never really bored watching "RRR". There were some slower moments that they maybe could have cut out of the movie, cut it down to two hours forty minutes maybe. But all of that would be followed by another incredible action scene that would immediately pull you right back in. I also really enjoyed the flashback scenes. Not only did they tell the full story, but they had some of the coolest training and fight scenes I have seen in a movie in quite some time. Oh, and the music was cheesy and weird and glorious. Everytime they broke into song, and the lyrics would appear on the subtitles, I would laugh and smile and find myself bouncing my foot up and down. I was all in.

I was also glad that, outside the few people and reviews I heard, I knew very little going in. I didn't know until it started that it was over three hours. I had no idea it was going to be superhero-esque. I was oblivious to the dance scenes. I did not know the story whatsoever. But after watching it, I want to tell everyone I know to watch this movie. "RRR" is so worth your time. It is so good. It is what I want Hollywood to make, but they don't have the guts. This is one of the coolest and most unique movies I have seen in quite some time.

Obviously I recommend "RRR". Please watch it so we can all talk about it. This is one of the coolest movies that has ever been made.

Ty

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

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This Sucks

The Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade this morning. I'm at a loss. I wanted to write about the draft so much today, but yet again America decided to kick me in the ass with this horrific news.

We are living in some futuristic dystopic world right now and it is awful. We will now have states telling women what they can and cannot do with their bodies. This is sickening. This is backwards. We are supposed to be living in the 21st century. Everyone is created equal. Everyone should have fair rights. Everyone should be able to do whatever they choose to do with the body they have. Now we are going to have white men telling women they cannot get abortions and it sickens me to my core. White men like Ron Desantis will be trying to jail women in Florida if they seek an abortion. The state I live in, with our horrific governor, will do the same. All the red states, and there are far too many of them, their governors are licking their chops just waiting to enforce rules to stop people from getting safe and legal abortions.

We are going in the wrong direction as a country. We are not the best and brightest. We sure as hell are not the land of the free. This is wrong on so many levels. The Supreme Court members that passed this should be absolutely ashamed and disgusted with themselves. This is not a win by any means. This is a problem. This is exactly why I stopped believing in any religion when I was a young teenager. This is not a religious thing anymore. Anyone that says it's about religion is way, way off base. There is no god anywhere that would have you believe that they would want old white men telling women what to do with their bodies.

This is all about power and getting more votes. That is all these monsters care about anymore. They will say whatever they need to say to their mouth breathing supporters so they will go out and vote for them. They could care less what a woman wants to do with her body. They want that baby to be born come hell or high water. I want to quote my dad here because he is 100 percent right. He told me months ago that these politicians and Supreme Court members are not pro life, they are pro birth. They could care less about that child after it is born as long as it is born.

This is a disaster. This is going to cause a massive amount of new problems in our country. There is going to be uproar and fights. People are not going to take this lying down. I know I'm sure as hell not going to sit here and let this happen. This is nonsense. This is scary. This is, as I stated earlier, dystopian. This is not a world that I want to live in. This is horrifying. This does not make America a better place. It makes it much, much worse.

And for these politicians who think they are going to eradicate abortion, you are wrong. Women will find a way. It will not be safe and could be harmful, but if a pregnant person wants, or needs an abortion, they will find a way. They will get it done. It happened before Roe vs Wade. And now in a post Roe vs Wade world, it will happen again.

I'm so sick of waking up to a living nightmare everyday in this country. When this news broke this morning I was on a walk with my wife and I told her we should seriously consider leaving. And I wasn't joking. I went so far as to ask if her company has locations in other countries. America is so backward. We don't have free health care. School is expensive. Racism is rampant. Mass shootings happen seemingly everyday. And now the Supreme Court has overturned Roe vs Wade. I tremble at the thought of what is next.

I am having a hard time dealing with this. This is awful, horrible news. And it comes at a bad time in this country's history. I truly do not like the state or country I live in. It is becoming a police state. It is becoming scary and bad and unlawful. I'm terrified for my kids future. I want to leave but don't think I can. I'm at a loss. This one hurts. This one is bad. I simply do not know what to do except fight. I will continue the fight. We can be better. We just need to show it.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty's 2022 NBA Draft Preview

The NBA draft happens this evening. I used to get super pumped up for this when I was a kid. I don't watch anymore, but my son is as hype as I used to get. I love that he is this involved with basketball now. Anyway, I am going to do my annual draft preview. I'll give you five guys I like and a few sentences why, five I'm not so high on and a few sentences why, and finish it off with a sleeper or two that I'm high on.

This draft is pretty solid. The top three picks, maybe even four, are pretty set, but I have one of those guys in my dudes I'm not so high on. But this draft is deep and there looks to be some solid rotation players that will be picked tonight. Here we go.

As for the guys I like, first off, I adore Jaden Ivey. He is going to be very good. He is fast and can get to the rim. His shot is not great yet, but that could come with time, just look at Kawhi Leonard. Ivey also plays defense. He is as ready to go from day one as any prospect in this draft. I think that, even if the Kings draft him, he is going to have a very, very good career.

I also really like consensus number 1 pick Jabari Smith. He is 6'10 first off. He has a calm demeanor. I watched him play a few times this year and he was always the best player on the floor. He can shoot. He is a great rebounder. He has all the skill set you want in a modern big. And he is very young. He is only going to get bigger. Smith is a top tier prospect.

Speaking of top tier prospects, I love Paolo Banchero as an NBA player. He is also 6'10. He is as good, maybe even better, at cutting to the rim than Ivey is. He is a bully going to the rim. He is bigger than a good chunk of NBA players now. He may loaf off on defense from time to time, but he is also only 19. He will get better at that. I also like his attitude. He is not cocky, he is confident. I usually do not like Duke guys, but Banchero is different. He has been ready to play in the NBA for a few years now. College was just another year to grow and learn. I truly think he will end up being the best player in this draft.

I'm pretty high on Ochai Agbaji. I've always been a fan of guys that stay in school longer to get better. He was also the best player on the team that won it all. Even when he wasn't shooting well he was old enough to do other things to help his team win. He can shoot. He can play defense. He is ready to go. He will be a late lottery pick which means he will end up on a team fighting for the playoffs, which will only help him more. This kid is good and will be a very good bench player in the NBA.

My final prospect I like is Johnny Davis. I watched this kid a ton this year since he played in the Big Ten and he is legit. He can score from anywhere. He has confidence for days. Without him Wisconsin would have been a below .500 team. He took over games at times. He made me so mad because he always seemed to make big shots against teams I was rooting for. He is an offensive machine already. I could see him, depending on which team drafts him, scoring 16-17 points a night in his rookie year. Johnny Davis is an elite level scorer. He is a very, very poor man's Devin Booker right now who will only get better.

Now to the prospects I'm not crazy about.

First off, and most importantly, I have Chet Holmgren here. I have been hearing about this kid since his senior year in high school. I heard all of the KD comparisons. I heard people say he could be like Giannis. I even heard Anthony Davis stuff. But when I watched him this past season at Gonzaga I was left unimpressed. He wasn't even the best player on that team. Drew Timme and Andrew Nembhard were better. There were times where Holmgren looked lost. He fouled a lot. He can block shots because he is so tall, but he had to track the block more than actually make it. He was not an impressive scorer. Going to Gonzaga let him play against lesser college level competition. And when he played the best of the best he disappeared. He is too skinny and will need, at the very least, two years to put on real weight. He is going to get destroyed in the paint by most centers in the NBA. He needs to bulk up and he needs time. I don't know that he'll get either.

I'm not crazy about Keegan Murray. This is another guy I watched a lot, Big Ten team, and he did not leave me feeling like Johnny Davis did. Murray would not do stuff for long stretches. There were games where he'd get numbers, but they felt hollow. His release is slow. He is not a great defender. He flops a lot. He is a lot like Jimmer Fredette, but doesn't shoot threes at the clip Fredette did in college. Keegan Murray is going to be a high pick, but I do not think he has the goods to be a starter or early bench guy. He feels like a deep bench player at best.

I do not know what to make of Shaedon Sharpe. This kid is high on all the "experts" lists, but I have never seen him play basketball before. Darius Garland at least played a few games at Wake. Michael Porter Jr got some run at Mizzou. The G League guys are playing against former pros every day. Sharpe has not played a real game in over a year. I simply do not know what type of player he will be, and I am not going to lose my mind over some high school highlights from two years ago. I would not take a risk on a player like Sharpe in the lottery. I do not know what I am getting at all. I would not want to wager the future of my team on a kid that hasn't played a real game since he was 17 years old. There is too much unknown about Shaedon Sharpe.

I am flabbergasted that Chritian Braun is being mocked in the late first round. This kid is a late second rounder at best. He doesn't shoot the three like a Duncan Robinson or Buddy Hield. He can't get to the rim with ease like other guards can in the NBA. He isn't much of a defensive guy. He has energy, but so did Matthew Dellavedova. I just don't see him being more than a deep bench guy at best. I saw him mocked to the Warriors at 28, and people said they could stash him in the G League for a few years, akin to what they did with Jordan Poole, but Poole was a proven scorer in college. I don't think the same can be said for Braun. I just do not see first round talent in this kid.

Finally, as much as I like his name, TyTy Washington has a long road ahead of him before he is a real NBA player. He was oft injured at Kentucky. He would get hit lightly on drives to the basket and went down like a heap. He isn't a sharp shooter. His defense is average. He is short for his position in the NBA. He has a ton of work. Of the five kids I mentioned in this group I will be rooting for Washington the most, but he has a ton of work to do. I have noticed that he is slipping down draft boards as of late too. Maybe these teams are seeing what I saw all season. Washington is a major work in progress.

To end this draft preview I want to point out two "sleepers" in this draft. My first is Bryce McGowens, yet another Big Ten player I saw a ton of this past season. Nebraska was a nightmare to watch, with the exception of McGowens. This kid is a pure scorer. He may be one of the better offensive players in the entire draft. He is going to be an absolute microwave off the bench. I think a player like McGowens has way more in common with someone like Jordan Poole than a player like Christian Braun does. McGowens is going to need to gain weight and learn to take and use contact. But when he does he is going to be a nightmare to guard in the NBA. He is going to be a top bench player in about three or four years, when he is only 21 or 22 years old. McGowens is an elite scorer, and whatever team takes him in round 2 is going to be thrilled.

Finally I'd like to point out David Roddy from Colorado State. He is big. He can score. He can shoot. He is a good rebounder. He is an okay enough defender. He was the all around leader of a team that won 25 plus games last year and earned a 6 seed in the NCAA tournament. I saw him in the tourney and he nearly torched Michigan. This kid is good. He is a big body who can out muscle guys and pull 4's and 5's out of the post due to the threat of his shot. I feel like he may go undrafted, or be picked very late, but he will end up having a PJ Tucker type career with a little more scoring. Roddy is a good ball player.

Alright there is my 2022 NBA draft preview. Hopefully there will be crazy trades and the kids I am not so high on prove me wrong. And I know my son is stoked to watch. Should be a good time.

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.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Plays "Beatstar"

Recently I was in the market for a new game on my phone. I play Scrabble, NBA Jam, Candy Crush and Wordscapes. I like these games, but sometimes I want to try something new. So I went on the app store and did some searching. I like to go for the free games, but I am not opposed to paying if the game is good. I tried a few things out. I tried Dingbats. That's a word puzzle game and I like those because they keep me sharp. But there were too many ads. I tried a few baseball games and found them rather boring or way too hard. I tried mobile Madden and NBA 2k. They were too clunky, they had too many ads and I own these games on the Xbox and Switch. I don't need them on my phone. But then I came across a game called Beatstar.

I love music as you all know. I also like to hear new music or music I am new to. I also like games that keep me interested after one or two tries. And I used to play the absolute hell out of Guitar Hero. The reason I mention Guitar Hero is, Beatstar is a game where you have to tap squares on your phone to the beat of the song. As the screen scrolls you get more and more squares that go faster and faster as the song progresses, just like Guitar Hero. And just like Guitar Hero, Beatstar plays a snippet of the song. Each song is about 2-3 minutes long. You get a few verses and you get the chorus once or maybe twice. It is so much fun. They also have boxes that you can open by using gems or watching ads. This is one time I don't mind a 30 second ad because each time you do it adds cards to a box and when the box is full that means a new song. I have had this game for a few weeks now and I have 66 songs, with hundreds more to go. My wife is playing it too, and she has upwards of 70 plus songs. She is much better at the game than I am. But it is all good. I love the game.

I really enjoy most of the music that they play. I have a Bob Marley song. There are Gorillaz tracks, songs from The White Stripes and one hit wonders like Wiz Khalifa and Vanessa Carlton. The game also has songs dating back to the 70's. Their catalog is thick and that makes the game even more fun. I think about this game when I am not playing it. I'm still in that honeymoon phase, and it has been a few weeks. I am not even close to being bored with it yet. I also like to go back and try songs over and over again to get 5 stars. The songs range from easy to extreme, and the extreme songs are tough. "Gangam Style" is one of the extreme songs I have, and yesterday was the first day I finished it. It was tough. They have a Dizzee Rascal song that I cannot beat. They also have the song "Sandstorm" by Darude, you will know it instantly once you hear it, and I can barely get past the intro stage. But this game has made me go back and replay songs by bands I am not even close to being a fan of. I have played multiple Fall Out Boy songs. I fully enjoy the Soulja Boy stuff they have. I have played Papa Roach's one hit more often than I'd like to admit. I played "Skater Boi" twice yesterday. But again, they have stuff I genuinely enjoy. I mentioned the Gorillaz and Bob Marley. They have Outkast. I discovered Tessa Violet playing this game. I have an Erykah Badu song. Bassment Jaxx is there. Khalid has a very fun song.

This game is rad. I enjoy the hell out of it. My wife got it after me and now my kids ask to play it when they hear us turn it on. I highly recommend this game, especially for the people who used to play Guitar Hero as much as I did back in the day. Do yourself a favor and download Beatstar. You will not be disappointed.

Ty

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

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My First Adventure with New Food at Balkan Treat Box

Today for lunch my dad and I hit a spot that we have been talking about for almost a year now. Let’s discuss.

Every Tuesday I go have coffee with my dad. This started when COVID started. We decided we were going to try and taste all the coffee that Saint Louis has to offer. I usually pick it up, and lately we go together and bring it back to his house and drink it there. There is a place we go to quite a bit now called The Annex in Webster here in Saint Louis. It is a cool little shop that has great coffee and a cool grocery shop is attached. Right across the street is a restaurant called Balkan Treat Box. It wins awards every year here in the STL. They are constantly mentioned as a must try spot. I do not know why we have never gone, but we rectified that this afternoon. I couldn't meet up with my dad in the morning like we normally do, my son had an orthodontist appointment. So I told him that I would come by after that and that would put me at his house around 10:30am or 11. He said great. He then called me back and told me we should go to Balkan Treat Box. I was immediately on board.

When I was in the waiting room at the doctor I looked over the menu to get a feel for what I may want to try. I am not very versed in Balkan food. I did some research via google and it said that Balkan food "has traits of European and Western Asia cuisines". I was still kind of at a loss. But I am alway more than willing to try new foods. There isn't much I dislike. During my research I found some good looking dishes. They have a limited menu, one of my favorite things about a restaurant, and when they are sold out, they are out. So we decided to get there right around opening time and wait. When looking at the menu I saw names of dishes I could not pronounce. Stuff like Cevapi, Pide, Doner, Lahmacun, Pleskavica, Balik Ekmek, Patlidzan and Sopska. But, what I also appreciated about this place was they told you to order by number. Each dish has a number next to it and all you have to do is specify if you want it veggie, vegan or with meat. My dad ordered the number 5, Pleskavica, and I ordered the number 4, Lahmacun. For the other dumb Americans such as myself, my dad got a humongous burger and I got a spicy wrap with beef.

Boy oh boy was this food amazing. I did not have any of my dad's, although he gave me half of it to eat later. My dad's burger was humongous. It was one of the biggest burgers I had ever seen. And he said he loved it. He said the patty was thin and the bread, which is like a mix between pita and naan, made the burger. It also had this gooey looking cheese and looked like it was properly spiced. My wrap was incredible. It had the same bread, there was parsley, lemon, onion, sumac, BTB sauce, which was dynamite and a side of cabbage salad. The beef was tender and delicious. The parsley was chopped and placed on top of the sandwich adding a freshness to it. The lemon came through in each bite and it was the burst of citrus I love in any sandwich. I don't know what sumac tastes like, but however much they put in this wrap worked. And that BTB sauce, I mentioned how great it was. It is like a spicy mayo that isn't overkill. They put just the right amount on the sandwich. And that side cabbage salad was refreshing and great.

I love this spot. I kept taking bites of my sandwich and exclaiming how tasty it was. I can still kind of taste the seasoning as I write this. I told my dad that this is a place I want to go back to and try the whole menu. And it is not overly expensive given current spending tends. Lunch for us was 30 bucks. I do not consider that too much. In fact most of the mains on the menu are 13-15 dollars a pop. That is a good deal in my mind. I am so glad we finally found a proper time to check out Balkan Treat Box. The hype is real. The food is great. The prices are fair. And I will most definitely be going back time and time again. This spot is very, very good. Go check it out if you live in Saint Louis. It is worth the wait.

Ty

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

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An Ode to the Taco Bell Chicken Soft Taco

I have been pretty critical on the site and podcast about Taco Bell. I think their food all tastes the same. It all comes out of a flavor gun. I wish I could remember what comedian said a joke along those lines, the food gun, but whoever it was had it spot on. Most of the food still does taste the same to me too.

My wife and son love to go there. I usually do not get anything, but the past two times I have gone there I have indulged. And the stuff I get, for the most part, has no real distance from the other food save for a sauce here or the addition of sour cream there. The crunchwrap supreme is a concoction of every food gun they have, and it tastes like goo. The burritos are all the same. I honestly cannot tell the difference. The Doritos tacos all are similar and they do not put enough dust on them. I haven't tried the rehashed Mexican pizza yet, but if I had to go out on a limb, I bet it tastes just like it did in 2001 when I ate them all the time. But there is one food that I have had the past two times that I keep thinking about. I keep going back and reminiscing on how good it was. I truly enjoyed the flavor. I found it different from what I have had there before.

That Taco Bell food item is the simple chicken soft taco. There is no real difference in ingredients, save for the chicken. The tortilla is flour. There is shredded cheddar, I assume that is the cheese they use. And there is shredded lettuce. It is all the same. But going for the chicken over the "beef" makes all the difference in the world. I honestly do not know what they season it with, but it has real flavor. It kind of punches you in the face after eating all the other food they have to offer. It is juicy and has fake grill lines in it. It has that rotisserie feel to it. It mixes those two worlds to near perfection. The spice mix is great. It tastes like a great protein for a taco. And it is plentiful in the tortilla. I swear they put as much chicken in the taco as they do with beef. There might be more chicken in the taco than there is in their burritos and other foodstuffs. Whatever they are doing, it works. I remember being a kid and when my folks would get Taco Bell, on the very rare occasion, getting the chicken soft tacos was a nice surprise treat. Now that I am an adult and can go there when I want, I think I will only, and always, get the chicken soft taco. I think what I like most about it is the simplicity too. It doesn't need to have a shell with chip dust on it. It doesn't need nacho cheese or sour cream. There is no need to add any sauce to it, but the fire sauce amps the taste up great. The great thing about the chicken soft taco is the ease.

I am still going to be tough on Taco Bell. I still give my wife and kids a hard time when asking for Taco Bell. I would still rather go to almost any other fast food place. But at least I now know that, on the rare occasion that I will be buying food from Taco Bell, I will be buying multiple chicken soft tacos. They are truly a taste sensation.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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The Warriors Won the NBA Title and That Does Not Suck

Just like last season, this season I felt the urge to tune into game six of the NBA Finals last night. It had a feeling of something special. Something big was going to happen either way. The Celtics were going to push this to a winner take all game seven Sunday night, or the Warriors were going to wrap it up and become the newest dynasty.

Well, the Warriors wrapped it up. The game wasn't all that close either. This was not like last season when Giannis put up 51 points and all but willed the Bucks to the title. The Celtics got out to a torrid 14-2 start, but then the Warriors responded with a 21-0 run in the second, led by 15 at the half and the closest the Celtics would get the game in the second half was 8 points. This was a wrap with about ten minutes left in the game. The Warriors were going to get their ring. They had squeezed the will out of the Celtics. They suffocated them defensively and, even though it was not pretty, the Warriors did enough to get a 13 point win.

Steph was great. That needs to be said. He scored 32 on the DPOY Marcus Smart. He made six threes. He had seven boards and seven assists. He shot over 50 percent from the field. He more than earned the series MVP. But he had help. Draymond played a vintage game. He had 12 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals. He was everywhere. He hit jumpers. Klay's shot was off, but the threat more than intimidated the Celtics into throwing a few guys his way. Kevon Looney grabbed boards and did the dirty work. Jordan Poole had 15 crucial points. Andrew Wiggins scored and completely shut down Jayson Tatum. Gary Payton II was a menace and spread the floor on the break. The guys who needed to show up did. They showed out. But make no mistake, this was all Steph. This was LeBron like. This was Jordan like. He knew he had to be great and he was for five of the six games. Hell, he was great in game five, he just missed some shots. Without this Steph, the Warriors would be a lottery team. He was majestic. He shined brightest when he needed to the most.

It also needs to be said that the Celtics had an absolute melt down. I have zero problem eating crow after writing last week that it was inevitable that they were going to win. They could not hold onto the ball. They turned it over far too much. Marcus Smart was exposed. He may be hurt, but he could not stop Steph if he were 100 percent. Al Horford had one good game and then was put on an island trying to guard the Warriors guards one on one. Jayson Tatum disappeared in the second half of games five and six. This should be a good lesson for him, but he did not play well in this series. I give Wiggins a ton of credit for that too. Jaylen Brown was good, but he became a ball stopper late in these games. Derrick White completely fell off. Robert Williams was never fully healthy. As much as it irked me at the time, Draymond was right after game one. He knew the Celtics could not duplicate that game three more times. And they didn't.

I was also so sick and tired of the griping from the Celtics, but the Warriors did the best thing. When the Celtics would complain to the refs, they would run and they usually scored. It was perfect. I have never been happier to see a team I do not root for win. I am not a Warriors fan, but I loathe the Celtics. So to see this Warriors team win in Boston, that was a thing of beauty.

It is amazing that the Warriors did this two years after they won only fifteen games. They did it a year after they were knocked out of the play in. They won three years after KD left for Brooklyn. They rebuilt this team on the fly. And they did it around the greatest shooter to ever step on an NBA court. This team is tailor made for Steph. All the cutting and screening to get open shots has worked to perfection. That is why they went out and got a Juan Toscano Anderson and Beilijica and Otto Porter Jr and drafted Poole late in the first. They got guys that fit the system with Steph and Klay and Draymond. They play beautiful basketball. To me they are the 21st century version of the Spurs. The Spurs were always good, would win titles, would constantly be in the playoffs and would rebound immediately after a bad year or two. That is what this iteration of the Warriors did. They are the 2000's Spurs, the 90's Bulls, the 80's Pistons and Celtics and Lakers. They are a legit dynasty. They have more than earned that. They have four titles in ten years. They have been to six finals in ten years. This is their least talented team and they still won it all. What a team. I may not be a fan, but I respect the hell out of them. I was happy for them. I was stoked to see Steph's emotions after the game. They earned everything they achieved this year.

My hats off to the Warriors. Congrats on a much deserved title.

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 Original "Jurassic Park" is a Masterpiece

My wife and I have been going back and watching the entirety of the "Jurassic Park" series. She is a big fan and I adore the first few movies. She also really wants to see the new movie, me not so much, so this is her passion project before she sees it.

I have zero interest in the new "Jurassic Park " universe. I have seen the first two new movies and I did care for them. I do not think Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have any chemistry, I find it nuts that they can "train" Velociraptors, there's far too much product placement and the movies are way, way too long. I remember seeing the first new one in the theaters with a big group of my wife's family, and my mother in law and I were the only ones that did not like it. At all. We were shocked that the other people we were with enjoyed it. It is not, in my opinion, a good movie. Then my wife and I saw the second one at home on a date night and I fell asleep. I usually never fall asleep at movies, but this one put me out. So I am not stoked to see the new movie. I am stoked to go back and watch the first three originals. I remember the second and third movies being not so good, but they were fun. We have recently watched the original and that is what I want to talk about today.

I had not seen this movie in about a decade. I went back a few times in the early 2010's, watched it tons when I was a kid and saw it on opening night in the theaters as a 10 year old. I did not know what to expect on this recent rewatch, but let me tell you, this movie holds the hell up. The original "Jurassic Park" is a true masterpiece for me. I felt like a kid again watching the movie. It transformed me back to that little kid seeing it in the theater for the first time. I got excited when I saw the brachiosaurus. Seeing the triceratops was amazing, even though it was sick. The baby raptors were cute, albeit they should have never been breeding them. The grown up raptors were as relentless and ruthless as I remembered. The dilophosaurus has the best kill in the whole movie. And that T-Rex, oh man did it look amazing. Think about it for a minute. The original movie came out in 1993 and the CGI looks really good. There are moments when you can see how elementary it is, but in all seriousness, this movie looks amazing given the date it came out.

To add to the greatness, the story is still incredible and prevalent. The stuff they talk about, how they address science, the talk about creating species, it all works. It is also prescient. It makes sense today.

Also the actors, man did they show the hell up. Sam Neill is a treasure. He is masterful. Laura Dern crushes. She is a beast and she deals with some crazy stuff. The kids are not too cloying or cliche. Jeff Goldblum is at his Jeff Goldbluminess, if that is a word. The guy who runs Jurassic Park, I cannot think of his name nor do I want to look it up, is incredible. Sam Jackson and Newman from "Seinfeld" are phenomenal. Even the little side characters, like the lawyer and worker at the park, play their parts perfectly. I am stunned at how much I loved this movie, but I should not have been. It was one of my favorites as a kid. But for some reason I was a little hesitant to rewatch. I think I did not want it to be ruined. But I liked it maybe more than when I was 10. I appreciate it more. I find the adults, namely Neill and Dern, to be the ones I side with now. Seeing the dinos on screen still gave me goosebumps. It still chilled and scared me when it was supposed to. Seeing the water rumble gave me wonderful memories.

"Jurassic Park" may be one of the few flawless movies ever made. I cannot find a problem with it at all. Go rewatch it, especially if you loved it as a kid like I did. My wife told me that it is her favorite movie of all time. She said that after we finished. This movie is incredible and totally holds up.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.  

Better Late Than Never on "The Sparks Brothers"

I am an Edgar Wright fan. I have seen most of his movies and I enjoyed pretty much all of them. I like the way he directs, I like the people, for the most part, he works with and I enjoy his comedic stylings. He also has good writers on board. So when I saw he was doing a documentary I was kind of intrigued. He usually does original stuff. Or when he does an already existing IP, "Scott Pilgrim vs the World", it is a homerun. But a documentary seemed like an odd choice. So I did not watch "The Sparks Brothers" until yesterday. Let’s discuss.

I'm not fully sure why I avoided it. I wouldn't even say avoided necessarily, I just never got around to watching. I also had no idea who Sparks was, so I didn't think I wanted to invest the time. But I have gone through a ton of movies lately, and this was next on the list. The main reason I watched was for Edgar Wright, but man did I fall in love with the Sparks brothers while watching the movie.

The long and short of the movie is a story about one of the most influential bands in the business that have been doing new and interesting and original and intriguing things for over 50 years. I believe the movie said their first full album came out in 1969 and they released a record in 2019 with Franz Ferdinand and in 2021 as Sparks. They are still plugging along. That is incredible. Think about how long that is. That is some Rolling Stones type longevity. I think what I gained most out of watching the movie was how cool and unique Sparks the band is/are. They were doing things way, way ahead of the time. They made a synthesizer record in the 70's. They made cool and fun pop music in the late 60's and early 70's. When punk ruled they went the total opposite way and made almost an easy listening record. When 80's synth music came along they did rock. When they took almost seven years off making records, they came back in the mid 90's, during grunge, that was a pop masterpiece according to the talking heads in the movie. It seems like they have never bent or changed their style just to please the masses. They do what they like to do, and for their fans it works. That is what they want. That is what the fans crave. Everytime they came out with a new record it seemed like the fans would eat it up. They have also gained new fans when they did that record with Franz Ferdinand. That was a brilliant move on their part. I think what I respect the most is how hard these two brothers have, and continue, to work. They seemingly never stop. One brother, Ron, is a musical genius. He writes most of the songs and he is a tremendous keyboard player. He is also one of the most unique musicians I have ever laid eyes on. He reminds me so very much of David Byrne, except approachable and nice. The other brother, Russ, was the quintessential pretty boy front man. But his voice was so different. He is truly one of a kind. And he is not a dick as well. Every interview, every time he was on screen, hearing other people talk about him, he was as nice as they get in the music industry. I loved that. I love that they have this cult fame status, and they are a bit pretentious, but they don't come off as pretentious. They are weird and goofy, but they seem like a good time. I would love to meet these dudes and just pick their brains. And they seem more than willing to do stuff like that.

I was also amazed at the amount of people they had talking about them in this movie. We had people like Todd Rundgren, Jason Schwatzman, band members of Duran Duran and Erasure, DJ Lance Rock, former band members of theirs, Scott Aukerman, Jane Weidlin and so many more. And all of them were just singing their praises. It was fascinating. I did listen to some of their music today, and while I dug some of it, it just isn't my cup of tea. But it is also amazing. It is also incredible to hear their influence. It is also amazing to hear them making music so far ahead of its time. I respect the hell out of Sparks. They are amazing and I wish I had heard of them a long time ago. And even though I will probably only listen to them sparingly from here on out, I am glad that I now know about them. I am stoked to see all these very good musicians and actors and people in the music business give them their just due.

I definitely recommend this movie for all music lovers out there. It is a definite must see.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "The Boys" Season Three Premiere

For date night last week I had the choice. I had a good amount of movies I had in mind, but I kept finding myself going back to watching "The Boys". I have been trying to watch the third season for a few weeks now. But my wife has been working late with return to office stuff, my daughter and son have been playing a ton of baseball and softball games, with practices included, I have been playing late night softball and we are all exhausted when we get home. We just want to relax and watch mindless tv while we wind down before bed. But it was my turn to pick, and when I finally decided on watching "The Boys", my wife was stoked. She exclaimed "FINALLY!!!" and told me, "Great call!". She was excited, which made me excited.

We picked up this show during the start of the pandemic. RD told me that I should watch it. I was hesitant at first. I did not know how I felt about yet another superhero thing to watch. It just felt like too much. But at the start of the pandemic, what else could we really do but watch tv and go for walks and runs. So we decided to start after RD goaded me for what seemed like the millionth time. I'm glad he was persistent. I instantly fell in love with this show. It is gory and violent. It is sexual and crazy. It is full of swear words and every other bad thing you could think of. It is an anti hero show, and I'm all on board for that. I like when a genre is skewed in a much darker territory. I'm a big fan of bending genres. It also helps that the show is very well written, incredibly shot, had on point direction and every actor is down for whatever crazy stuff the show runners and writers throw at them. I understand that it is based on a graphic novel, but to actually see it on a tv screen, it is like "Sin City", except better and more violent. "The Boys" is willing to go there and push even further than you thought it could. I mean, the first scene with Hughie and his girlfriend is still with me. Homelander, more on him later, is a weirdo freak, especially for milk. I love the darkness within all the heroes. The Boys, the people who go after the superheroes, have all their own stuff to deal with. It is a truly terrific and original show. I love it. So watching the season 3 premiere was a long time coming and I knew I was going to love it.

We watched the first two episodes, and they did not disappoint. I don't want to spoil too much, but some spoilers may come out. Sorry. First off, I love the way they are dealing with Storm Front's death. It is too perfect. Homelander is going to do some real damage this season. He is off the hinges. The way the second episode ended has me terrified for what he is capable of doing. Hughie is realizing his life may not be as perfect as he thought it was at the end of season two. Starlight is climbing the ranks and she is scared of what may come. Hughie's boss has a terrible secret. Giancarlo Esposito, who may be the best one of the show, is a perfect human villain in this world. Mother' Milk is getting dragged back into this world he is trying to leave. The Deep has had some of the funniest moments so far. His movie looks hilarious. Frenchie and Kumiko meet a terrifying supe named Termite in the first episode, and that whole scene is nuts. And Butcher has a whole lot of shit to deal with, and he has taken some compound v that gives him superpowers for 24 hours. Add on the fact that we have Jensen Ackles character, Soldier Boy, coming, and this season is going to be a doozy. I cannot wait to watch more.

This is the first show I have seen this year, where they filmed it during this pandemic, that doesn't feel like it was filmed with all these useful restrictions. "The Boys" is in a class all its own. The show is incredible and original and one of the best things on any streaming device anywhere. Go watch this show. It is a gory work of art. And so far season three has ruled. Now I need to watch more.

Ty

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

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An Ode to Tuna and Soy Sauce

I am a big fan of tuna fish. I enjoy having it as a sandwich, eating it on a salad and, my favorite, eating it out of the can. It has to be in water though. I'm not fully opposed to tuna in oil, but water tastes so much better to me. I prefer it that way.

I'm not the biggest fan of mayo, but I will eat it in tuna salad. I usually only put a tablespoon worth of mayo too. That is more than enough. And I usually plus it up a bit. I like to add chipotle juice if it is available. I will sometimes replace the mayo with some fancy mustard I have in the house. I am a big mustard fan so I usually have a few bottles in the fridge. I am a big fan of the dill mustard my mom recently gave me added to tuna.

I like to add crunch to my tuna. Sometimes it is celery or relish, other times I have used almonds. It is all good. Recently I had it with hard boiled eggs, and that was dynamite. I have seen some people putting avocado in there, and since I have just discovered avocado toast, I'm sure I would love it, I just haven't tried it yet.

What I have tried recently, what I really like, which I also found on a cooking website, was adding soy sauce to tuna salad. The recipe I first read called for mayo, salt, pepper and soy sauce. It is truly that simple. So I tried it. But before I did, I read a little more about why this was a "new" thing. What I found most commonly referenced in every article I read was adding soy to sushi, which I love. I do it all the time and my favorite sushi is a spicy tuna roll. A spicy tuna roll with some soy and wasabi is the best. I will, and have, eaten multiple spicy tuna rolls by myself. That is far too much sushi, but it is damn delicious. After seeing that as the most commonly referred to thing with soy in tuna salad, I was ready to give it a go. I did the simple recipe I mentioned above and my goodness did it open up a whole new world of flavors. The soy kept the tuna salad, and I am not a fan of this word, moist. Not that mayo doesn't do that, but it is more gloopy. The addition of soy sauce makes it taste fresher. It makes me feel a bit more sushi like. The recipe also mentions just a pinch of salt because soy sauce obviously has salt in it. It is like the perfect balance of salt when you add the soy sauce to tuna salad. If you like salt you can add more. But I did the pinch of salt with a few tablespoons of soy sauce and it was wonderful. It was all the salt I could want. The soy, for me, also brings out a better flavor in tuna salad. I said before, it feels akin to sushi. It makes the tuna taste better to me. It heightens the other stuff that you put in tuna salad. Soy sauce just makes it better, for me. Lately I have even tried some extra stuff with the soy sauce in tuna salad. I haven't crossed the mustard and soy river, and don't know that I ever will. But I have added the crunch and it rules. I have used chipotle tabasco, and the spice makes it so much better if I am looking for a little heat. Using relish and soy is surprisingly tasty. I have been, quite frankly, astonished at how much I have enjoyed tuna salad mixed with mayo and soy. It is so, so, so good.

I do not know if 'I will go back to just straight up mayo as the dressing for my tuna salad. I will use just mustard and no soy, but if mayo is in the picture, soy will for sure be added. I know it may sound weird, but try it. I think you will fall in love with it just like I did. Soy sauce in tuna salad is a game changer. Trust me.

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Hustle"

I finished "Hustle" last night. I have been wanting to watch this movie since I first heard about it. I am a sucker for movies like these. It is a genre I am quite fond of.

“Hustle” is about a down on his luck basketball scout that finds a diamond in the rough. It tugs at my heartstrings. Growing up I used to watch movies like "Blue Chips", "The Air Up There" and "Cool Runnings" constantly. I couldn't get enough of the whole underdog scenario. As I get older I still watch a very high number of sports movies. I used to devour "The Program". That is a terrible movie, but it is about college football and Michigan wins their game in it. "He Got Game" is still one of my all time favorites. I adore the original "Space Jam". I love a movie like "Major League". I will even get down with some of the sports movies people consider not so great. So "Hustle" is my type of movie. Add on the fact that Adam Sandler is the star and LeBron James is producing. That is icing on the cake. I was in before I even watched one second.

Fortunately, for me, the movie is very well made. Sandler is excellent. This is further proof that Sandler can do more than comedy. He has a few funny lines here and there, but this is way more of a drama, and he nails it. It is akin to "Uncut Gems", except he isn't so slimy, or "Punch Drunk Love", except he isn't a pushover in this. Sandler is in his pocket and doing great, great things here. I was so happy to see him acting so well. I could say the same for a number of the other actors. Robert Duvall brings an air of gravitas to his very small role. Queen Latifah is simply wonderful as Sandler's wife. Kenny Smith, in what I believe is his first fiction role, is magnetic and believable as a super agent. There are tons of NBA players playing themselves, and that is perfect for a movie like this. Ben Foster is a total scumbag and he pulls it off. Heidi Gardner is stretching her "SNL" legs and she does a formidable job. Jaleel White is in this and I did not see Urkel once in him. But, outside of Sandler there were two other standout roles. First off Anthony Edwards plays a young brash soon to be first round pick named Kermit in this movie. He is awesome. He was, quite possibly, my favorite part of the whole thing. He is cocky and can back it up. He talks shit. He has a line where he asks a player where he is from and the player says Spain. Edwards says to him, and I quote, "that shit sounds wack". It was the funniest and best line in the whole movie. Edwards was phenomenal. But this was Juancho Hernangomez's movie. He is the player that Sandler's character is trying to get to the NBA. I think it was a brilliant move by the people involved to get a non superstar in this role. He isn't a big name so not everyone knows who he is, but he is in the league so the training and game play stuff looked and felt real. It was wonderful. Seeing him go through drills and get better felt very, very real. When he plays with NBA stars in this movie you believe he has the skill. He can play with these guys because he actually does. When he goes up against Edwards' character part of me felt like the director just let the camera roll and this was real gameplay. It totally worked. I applaud the decision to cast a guy like Juancho Hernangomez. This movie is a true crowd pleaser. You will find yourself rooting for this young man. This is a movie that people who don't like basketball will enjoy. It helps to know who everyone is while watching, but even if you don't, this is a story about redemption and overcoming obstacles. I don't know too many people who dislike stuff like that. There is cliche stuff and the movie is paint by numbers, but dammit it works. They got it right.

I highly, highly recommend this movie. I have already watched it again with my son, who is obsessed with the NBA, and he loves it too. Check out "Hustle". 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.

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The Celtics are Going to Win the Finals and that Sucks

My son and I returned home from his baseball game around 9:45pm last night. During his game I would occasionally check the score of the Finals game that was going on. Boston controlled most of it. But in the third quarter Golden State woke up and made it a game. They’ve owned the third quarter all three games of this series. I checked my phone when we left the field and the Celtics were only up six to start the fourth. I was pumped because I assumed we’d get to watch a good, close fourth quarter. We walked in the door, my son got cleaned up and we turned the game on.

The Celtics were up ten when we resumed watching. I didn’t know what had happened. There was still about six minutes left in the game so I thought the Warriors could come back. That didn’t happen. There were two plays that really hammered it home for me. Both involved Jaylen Brown. First he completely locked Steph up on a one on one. Try as he might, and Steph is a wizard handling the ball, he couldn’t get by Brown. He was all over him. He eventually knocked the ball out of his hands with about four seconds left on the shot clock. The Warriors would miss a three after that and Boston would go down and score. It was the first knockout blow. Then Brown swatted a Klay layup. Klay and Jordan Poole ran a beautiful give and go and when Klay got the ball back it looked like he had an easy finish at the rim. Brown had other ideas. He recovered, chased Klay down and beat the ball into the first row. He then let Klay and the crowd know about it. After that block that was when I told my son it was time for us to go to bed. The game was over. He told me there were still three minutes left, but you could tell the Warriors were waving the flag. Draymond fouled out. After the block they took Steph and Klay out and Boston had pushed their lead to fourteen.

Watching that last six minutes last night has me facing a reality I don’t care for as a basketball fan. The Celtics are going to win the title. They are younger. Their defense is better. Steph is making shots and it doesn’t matter. Draymond is playing terribly. Klay didn’t start to make shots until last night. Marcus Smart put up twenty four. The Celtics are hitting threes. Robert Williams looked as good as he has all playoffs last night. Tatum hasn’t lit the world on fire, and the Celtics are still up. And he’s about to break out. The Warriors look frazzled. They’re passing up open looks. The Celtics appear tougher. They are also deeper. It just feels like they have all the control. The series can always change. The Warriors can explode and make 20-25 threes in a game and win. But the Celtics have made a habit of bouncing back every time. And stealing game one in Oakland was a way bigger deal than I thought at the time. That kind of turned the tide. That’s when the Warriors showed their cracks. They need Andrew Wiggins, but he hasn’t shown up yet. They are barely playing Kevon Looney. He needs more minutes. Jordan Poole is scoring, but he’s also being hunted defensively. And the Celtics just keep coming. I have to think beating the Nets, Bucks and Heat really helped them to be ready for this series. They had to go through KD, Giannis and the modern version of the Bad Boy Pistons. The Warriors cruised by a depleted Nuggets team, held off the Grizz without Ja and dismantled the Mavericks, who shouldn’t have made it that far in the first place. The Celtics had a tougher path and they navigated it fairly well. I am not a fan of either of these teams. But I really dislike the Celtics. In fact I do not like any team from Boston. I never have, even when I was a kid. I like Tatum because he’s a STL kid, but I just loathe the Celtics and their holier than thou fans. But it’s looking like they’re going to be super loud and super annoying.

I’d much rather deal with annoying Warriors fans than Celtics fans. Bill Simmons is going to be insufferable. And he’s almost like their ring leader. This really bums me out. I’d love for the Warriors to prove me wrong, but the Celtics seem destined to win it all this year. What a bummer and a tough time to have to deal with their awful, awful fan base.

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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Better Late than Never on Avocado Toast

I am very sure that I am very late to a trend that may already be done, but today I had my first ever piece of avocado toast. And it was glorious. I am not totally sure why it took so long. I have seen it on menus, it has been at places we order online from, we have bread and avocados in my house for the most part, but I have just never had the urge. Then, going to coffee with my dad today, it was on the menu and it struck my fancy. I looked around to see if I wanted anything else, but I had made up my mind the moment I first saw it there. We were sitting outside, so maybe that had something to do with it. My son also just got braces, so we have been eating smooth food and the avocado in the picture was smooth. Or maybe I was simply just ready. For whatever reason, I ordered it and loved it.

My dad and I regularly go to a local shop and get our coffee and breakfast there. Obviously I got the toast, but it also had some bacon, salad greens, hot sauce and black sesame seeds on the side, along with the avocado. I tried to eat it with a fork, and that was just fine. I was getting the bites I wanted. But when I decided to eat it like toast, that was when it became a homerun. It was great. Holding it like toast also revealed the feta cheese they added. Every bite was better than the one that preceded it. The bread was a nice soft wheat bread. Maybe it was honey wheat because it had a slight sweetness to it. The avocado was smooth and plentiful. It was scraped on the bread from end to end. My hat is off to the chef that did that. I never seem to get it all the way when I add a spread to toast or bagels. This person crushed it. The feta had a nice bite to it and added a whole other level of deliciousness. The hot sauce was dolloped on the side and it was the perfect dipping partner. It gave me that heat I like with breakfast. I am always quick to add sriracha or hot sauce to my eggs that I make at home. So having this hot sauce on the side was right up my alley. The black sesame seeds added a nice crunch that I did not know I needed. I could say the same for the spring mix. It was crunchy but also refreshing. It was a nice little salad on top of the toast. And that bacon, my goodness did it hit the spot. It was nice and crisp. It brought on the saltiness that I crave. It was all over the toast. There was enough bacon that it was spilling over the side. And they candied it with just a little brown sugar. It was not overpowering either. It was the smallest amount of brown sugar, but it added just the right amount of sweetness. I am trying to eat my food slower, to savor the flavor, but it was tough this morning. I really wanted to dive into this breakfast. I kept looking down at the bread that was left after each bite. I was able to take more time than normal, but I still kind of ripped right through the toast.

I will definitely be adding more avocado to my breakfast. I do not eat a ton of bread, but when I indulge I will definitely be making avocado toast. I also think the boost of protein that avocados bring is great to get myself motivated to go on and get the stuff I need to do in a day. I am a convert. I wish I hadn't pushed it off for so long. This is a very good breakfast, and it feels like something that will help me with my running in the long run. Avocado toast is great. For real.

Ty

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

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