Author: rikimjadams

politics

How to Tell Your Friends That They’re Acting as Tools for the Fascists

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Note: This article has been edited, re-written, and expanded as of Sept 16th in light of new information that has been released since it’s initial publishing, and events that have transpired since.

I had been fighting the urge to say anything for days. On any other week I might not have. My band had a gig the day Charlie Kirk got shot, and so I found myself on facebook doing promotion, and that’s where it happened- I saw people I knew and cared about eulogizing a hateful man. Not right-wingers mind you, self-professed liberals, allies, “capital D” Democrats, etc… Calls for “decorum” rang out, folks praising him for being a Jesus following Christian, making a big weepy show of saying this isn’t the way to do politics. I was perplexed, as far as I knew, most of these folks had never heard of Charlie Kirk, and certainly wouldn’t possibly be fans of his, would they?

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Comedy, Music/Movies, Pop Culture

Which is the Lesser of Two Evil Popeyes?

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Yet another beloved old cartoon and comic strip character IP (intellectual property) has come into the public domain.  This time, it’s everyone’s favorite sailor man- Popeye.

Now, to be clear, while there are 2 evil Popeye movies (so far) coming this year, neither is attached to the Twisted Childhood Universe, affectionately referred to as the “Poohniverse”, which kicked off with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey in 2023, followed by the sequel in 2024.

To be clear, those movies rule.  

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Misc., politics, Pop Culture, YouTube

Military Atrocities, Nü Metal, & Me.

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20 years ago I was boots on ground in Iraq for the first time.  Roughly 1.5 million Americans can say something similar as veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).  
Many were in their 20s, and for many it was their first experience ever leaving the US.  
I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to adequately put into words what deployment felt like.  I write fun goofy articles.  I don’t write about the fucked-shit.   I don’t have the language.
I don’t have the nerve.

But I’m not writing about my experiences in Iraq.  I’m writing about something that came before.  Something I still to this day can’t get out of my brain.  A bit of brainwashing that I don’t think any generation of US troops before could have ever imagined.  

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Music/Movies, Pop Culture, Uncategorized

My Sincere Pitch for a New Muppets Movie

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When the pandemic started in 2020, part of my escapism from the dread of the moment was going back and rewatching the entirety of the old Muppet Show.  And it felt good, letting the nostalgia wash over me, but also it made me sad.  As I continued watching more Muppet content, the movies, then the later TV shows, I felt like something got lost along the way, and it was the earnestness with which the Muppets and even the humans around them behaved.  Even in moments of commentary or weirdo subversion, there was a genuineness that I felt fell away a bit.  Recent years felt like there was more snark, more bite, more irony,  even in how we as viewers engage with the Muppets.  I was pleasantly surprised by the Electric Mayhem focused show with Lilly Singh and Tahj Mowry from a few years back, that felt like a love letter to music through the heartfelt lens of the Muppets.  And it gave me hope that perhaps more Muppets could be coming.  Then news came that a certain Warner Bros owned streaming service might be looking to off-load Sesame Street, and I didn’t just have hope, I had an idea, a movie pitch for how to reunite the Muppets and the folks of Sesame Street for the first time since the early 2000s.  

I guess in order for this to happen Disney would have to buy the rights to Sesame Street to have them under the same umbrella as the Muppets.  I’m not here to discuss the pros and cons of monopolistic IP hoarding and such.  I’m here to talk about Muppets.  So…

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Comedy, Music/Movies, Pop Culture

Riki’s Righteous Xmas Playlist

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Riki’s Righteous Xmas Playlist

Look, if you’re trapped in the capitalist hellscape that is the US, you’re a conscript in the war against Christmas, whichever side you fall on.  I mean, Christmas won, it’s fucking everywhere.  It’s inescapable.  Our borders are contained within Santa’s vast panopticon whether we like it or not.  Because this is THE capitalist holiday.  This is the grand devotional, our wallets made sacrifice to prove our love to each other.  

Even if you just celebrate “the holidays”, the holiday party you’re at is gonna play Christmas music.  Because, well, there’s just a fucking lot of it.  And more every year.  And worst- a lot of it fucking sucks.  

But not all of it.  So if you find yourself in control of the tunes and you want to make the most of the theme, I offer you this fine tuned playlist to keep things interesting

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Music/Movies, Pop Culture, Uncategorized

“Have You Heard of Martini Ranch?” by Riki MJ Adams

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“Have you heard of Martini Ranch?” 
It’s a question that I ask of anyone who gets to know me on a long enough timeline.  More often than not, I’m not even met with a faint glimmer of recognition.  Which always blows my mind until I remember that I also had to be introduced to Martini Ranch long after it had ceased to exist.  

I remember exactly how it happened, I was working as a truck driver in 2017, and I had a lot of time to listen to podcasts on the road.  A personal favorite was the Witch Finger Horror Podcast.  I’d started listening to it as a fan of the band Kittie (who still rips by the way and just dropped a phenomenal album back in June), because the vocalist Morgan Lander was one of three hosts along with Megan Rae, and Yasmina Ketita of Rue Morgue Magazine.  As I was listening to episode 19, titled “Near Dark and our tribute to Bill Paxton” (he had died earlier that year) I heard the name Martini Ranch for the first time.  

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Uncategorized

How to Unhook a Bra: Sex in Zach Snyder’s Rebel Mooniverse

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How to Unhook a Bra: Sex in Zach Snyder’s Rebel Mooniverse

Zack Snyder is possibly one of the most fascinating directors in pop culture today.  He’s certainly one of the most divisive, whether for the content of his films or for his… let’s say “enthusiastic” fanbase. 

Cries of “Release the Snyder Cut!” still echo through the halls of twitter, usually couched next to the worst cultural and political takes one can imagine in a steadily MAGAfying online space, even while Snyder himself professes liberal politics and endorses Democratic candidates.

Is Zack Snyder a woke Chad, a MAGA chud, the coolest dude, a giant dork…? 

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politics

An Article on Watching the Presidential Debate (because there’s no wrestling on TV on Thursday Nights)

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An Article on Watching the Presidential Debate (because there’s no wrestling on TV on Thursday Nights)

On the evening of Thursday June 27th, I found myself in a terrible situation.  Most nights of the week I can watch wrestling-

To start the week, there’s WWE’s Monday Night Raw.

NXT is the WWE “minor league feeder show” on Tuesday nights.

Wednesdays bring AEW Dynamite.

Friday has WWE Smackdown, WWE’s NXT’s Level Up which is the feeder for the feeder show, as well as AEW Rampage. 

On Saturdays one can watch AEW Collision, plus Saturdays and Sundays on any given month offer no shortage of Pay Per Views or Premium Live Events depending on one’s branding.

But Thursday nights… Thursdays are barren of wrestling.  (We don’t acknowledge NWA in this house, sorry to my friends who work there)

And that’s how I found myself watching the presidential debate.

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