More good laughs and solid picks this week.
- (12:36) J.I.D. – The Never Story
- (18:40) Snail Mail – Lush
- (22:32) Yoku’s Island Express
- (28:48) Incredibles 2
- (32:55) Capital Trail
- (39:05) Girls Trip
Gary Baseman – “Ahwroo” Figure
I’m a long-time fan of Gary Baseman. He’s one of those low-brow guys from old issues of Juxtapoz that really spoke to me. His paintings don’t always land for me but goddamn if this Ahwroo figure isn’t hitting me in my sweet spot. I’m not chipping in the $340 for it but I am definitely happy to tell you about it.
(FYI, my little Hand of Truth is still hanging in there, and on there)
via, Arrested Motion
Nailed It! Season 2 is coming next week
Our whole family loved the first season. We’re 100% for the new one.
new Zomes “The First Stone”
I caught Zomes at an in-store at Steady Sounds a couple of years ago and they were great. Their new album is out on cassette and is available digitally via bandcamp.
I miss the vocals but I still lurve all of the synth.
Sneaky Athleticism
The Mets are still on the wrong side of .500 but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some joy to be found in baseball.
Want to see a #BigSexy pickoff move?
Of course you do. pic.twitter.com/rjJIj9XYPB
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 19, 2018
EDIT TO ADD:
The internet was quick to remind everyone of this gem from a couple of years ago:
Lifting Diary, 4.
Breaking apart the compound movement can help you focus on an area of weakness. Floor presses with boards help you train all but the bottom of the bench press.
The floor press also limits the range of motion of your arms at the bottom of the lift. I’ve also a 2-layer (two 1×6 pine boards) board stack under my shirt. By making the lift more shallow, you can work on building strength on different parts of the bar path.
285 lbs. is ten more pounds than my current 1-rep max. I’m looking forward to the next test week so I can see how far my bench has come since my move back to powerlifting. It’s the only lift that matters, after all.
Direct From Hollywood Cemetery
Fun RVA throwback, Direct From Hollywood Cemetery always delivered live. Here’s a just-released, 3-song studio recording from ~2006. It’s a fun listen.
Black Thought – “Streams of Thought Vol. 1”
Streams of Thought Vol. 1 is a new solo ep from Black Thought, the MC from The Roots. His 10-minute freestyle on Flex in the Morning was one of my favorite things in 2017. This ep is more of the same and I am into it. I especially love some of the lyrical throwbacks he drops. We’re the same age, so I know that he was listening to some of the same hip hop records that I was when he was 14,15,16. It’s cool to share some frame of reference with him that I can recognize in his work.
I also just really like his flow. I don’t know that it’s because he’s an older head, but the way he does it sounds good to my ears. I’m kind of a curmudgeon about rappers, I know.
Pocket Run (iOS game)
Pocket Run is a new arcade-style billiards game for iOS. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it the last week or two. Zach Gage is the developer behind Type Shift, a game I played to pieces last year.
I really like the rotating score value for the pockets as you sink balls. It makes you look for shots you wouldn’t normally take. Same for the challenge modes in there. They keep the game interesting where a flat, one-player billiard sim might get boring.
A couple of control quibbles aside, I can heartily recommend Pocket Run as a fun arcade-y pool game.
Barry
Barry is an HBO series that recently finished its 8-episode 1st season. It’s great.
Barry is a dark comedy starring Bill Hader as a depressed, low-rent hitman from the Midwest. Lonely and dissatisfied in his life, he reluctantly travels to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an aspiring actor. Barry follows his “mark” into an acting class and ends up finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the LA theater scene. He wants to start a new life as an actor, but his criminal past won’t let him walk away —can he find a way to balance both worlds?
I’m predisposed to liking Bill Hader and Henry Winkler, but this show is excellent otherwise. Stephen Root is great as Hader’s handler. Anthony Carrigan is hysterical as a deeply, deeply weird Chechen mobster. Paula Newsome does a ton of heavy lifting as a detective who keeps getting close to uncovering Barry’s secret.
It is also a really violent show, fyi. Barry’s a hitman and he kills a lot of people and none of the killing is “cool”. This isn’t John Wick. The killing in Barry carries a real weight that builds over the course of the season.
Another thing I enjoyed was the exploration of entry-level acting in LA. Here’s a good video of series co-creators Alec Berg and Bill Hader talking about that: