Leaving 2023 Behind

2023 was the worst year of my life. Kind of unequivocally, honestly. I’ve had bad years. 2023 is the first to try to kill me, though. A couple times, in fact. Even as it spared me, it still found a way to take two very important people out of my life. Thousands of dollars in debt from medical bills. Depression. Anxiety attacks at the worst times. The shadow of this year will cast long over my shoulder far into 2024. While I can leave the year behind, some things will still follow.

I say that to say this: I’m a very lucky person. As I write this, I’m staring at the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean, midway through my second week in my home that I wish I could call home, Maui. In fact,as I stare out towards the vastness of the water, I see a spout from a Humpback Whale, like me clinging to the last hour of afternoon sunlight before the sun disappears over the horizon. I cannot even speak to the importance of this trip both mentally, but physically.

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Brandon’s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time

Recently, Variety released their 100 greatest television shows of all time. And let me tell you…it was asssssssssssss. It was bad enough that i’ve come out of semi-retirement to write about it. If you do something so egregious as to make I Love Lucy as the greatest show of all time, you had better believe i’m going to write about it.

I’ve decided that I, and I exclusively I, am uniquely qualified to write my own list of the greatest shows of all time. What credentials do I have? Go to Hell! Those are my credentials!

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Not All Who Yondr Are Lost: Chappelle, comedy and camera phones…

Not All Who Yondr Are Lost: Chappelle, comedy and camera phones…

When something happens with Dave Chappelle, it’s a near guarantee that my Facebook feed will be littered with my comedian friends all wanting to give their thoughts. An event that happened last week got some traction, so last night, I started seeing all kind of thoughts and comments about what happened to the comedian this week. You, dear reader, are now stuck hearing my thoughts.

This is the vicious circle.

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The Top 25 Songs Of 2023

The Top 25 Songs Of 2023

2023 was, by all indicators, an incredibly horny year for pop music.

Maybe there was some kind of full moon or maybe this is the first time people are feeling more safe in public spaces post-COVID. But, goodness gracious, if you had a pop star making an album, they were- as the kids would say- DTF. Because of that, this year’s batch of songs feels like they need a cold shower. However, there is still plenty of good stuff here.

The year wasn’t all about sexy sexy time. There were also great songs about loss and heartache and anger. As always, there was tons of good music if you knew where to look for it.

Here are the 25 best songs of the past twelve months:

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Fargo. Is. Back. (with 200% more pierced Jon Hamm nipples!)

Fargo. Is. Back. (with 200% more pierced Jon Hamm nipples!)

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on this site. And, for me, when I stop writing, it takes a lot to get me writing again. Something has to have a deep emotional impact in me to get me to find the motivation to start typing on the keys. Anger. Depression. Confusion. All of these things have resonated in me so strongly that I have found myself writing. Today, however, what has caused me to stir from my doldrums is pure, unadulterated joy. And what has caused that in me.

Ladies, Gentlemen, and my Non-Binary Friends, season five of Fargo is now three episodes deep. And it is fucking amazing.

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Angels Live Among Us

Up until late Monday afternoon I had no idea who the pictured people were… then I found out. Angels… Good Samaritans… call them what you will but they saved my life.

I was hiking in South Yuba River State Park by Hoyt’s Crossing near Nevada City, California. The river is gorgeous, but in spots very deep even in October. It’s cold but refreshing… until it’s not.

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Legally, I’m Required to Say “Killers of the Flower Moon” Was Good

Note: This is a spoiler free review of Martin Scorsese’s newest film. I promise to not ruin the movie for you…but I am going to try to make you not want to see it.

The movie was slated to start at 6:30. 15 minutes of previews and other nonsense later, the movie finally started. After what felt like seven hours, I looked at my phone to see if it was almost over. It was 8pm. I still had over two hours ago. Weakness fell upon me. There was no escape. Just a vanity project. A vanity project that would never end.

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Rocktober Roundup: Some Of It Was True by The Menzingers

Rocktober Roundup: Some Of It Was True by The Menzingers

To start their fifth record, 2017’s After The Party, Scranton’s The Menzingers gave us the blistering track “Tellin’ Lies”, with it’s simple, oft-repeated sing-along chorus: “Where we gonna go now that our twenties are over?” Guitarist-singer-songwriters Greg Barnett and Tom May have always spent most of the band’s songs in that anxious grey area wondering when they were going to have to grow up, what that would look like, and what it would mean. And while I believe After The Party is the band’s best album, here we are now in 2023. The Menzingers are now all well into their fourth decade of life, and have a new album, Some Of It Was True. So what has changed now that the band’s twenties are, truly over?

Thankfully, not much.

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Rocktober Roundup: Guts by Olivia Rodrigo

Rocktober Roundup: Guts by Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo is only twenty years old as Guts, her second album and follow-up to the massive success Sour, got released last month. It’s an immature and bratty mess of an album, but I don’t say that as a bad thing. In fact, all of those things show an intelligence to her that many of her peers did not have at her age. When she sings, “I know my age and I act like it” on opening track “all-american bitch”, she is not fucking around. It’s a promise and a threat and for her sophomore attempt, she follows through on it.

This is all to her credit.

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