My goal for May was to adjust away from so much YouTube back towards more traditional shows and movies. I didn’t do a great job of that. I have started a summer viewing project, so while the hours may adjust in June, I don’t know if the number of entries in each section will change much for awhile.

Movies, Shows, etc

The Gentlemen
Highly entertaining. You can’t go wrong with a collection of fun British accents. Throw in some normal Guy Ritchie stuff and you got yourself a super watchable TV series.

A

John Mullaney Presents Everybody’s In LA
I got through four of these and that was enough. Funny, but also just weird and uneven enough for me to skip the last two. Which means they were probably the best.

B-

Pearl Jam: The ‘Dark Matter’ Interview
An incredible hour with PJ. Remember when Eddie hated to do interviews? Now, if he’s in the right setting, you can’t get him to shut up. This goes beyond the usual new album PR push as it feels like there are some genuine moments of emotion in their conversation, especially near the end. And seeing their rehearsal/storage building is super cool.

A

Hustle
Predictable, formulaic, and manipulative. Yet it was fun, entertaining as hell, and surprisingly well acted. Every time I saw Anthony Edwards in the playoffs, I kept thinking of the grin on his face when he baits Bo Cruz into shoving him. Not sure why it took me so long to watch.

B+

NBA Playoffs
A lot of great games last month. And some great performances in games that weren’t super competitive. Could have used a couple more Pacers wins, though.

A-

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Pearl Jam Clubhouse Tour with Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament
Lot of PJ content this month.

Conan Explains What Happened To His Body After “Hot Ones”
Important follow up from last month.

Can’t Get a X100 VI – Still Worth Waiting For? Here’s 11 Alternatives!
Back when I was really into cameras, I watched a ton of these guys’ vids. Their combination of accents always made me laugh, plus there was good camera content. If I was still into cool cameras, I had the budget, and I could find one, I would 100% get an X100 VI. Although the perfect camera would be 10–20% smaller so you could actually get it into a pocket while getting much better results than from an iPhone.

10 Things Jerry Seinfeld Can’t Live Without
No puffy shirt? No Pez dispensers? No marble ryes? No copy of Tropic of Cancer? I call BS.

Max Velocity
I watched way too much of this dude breaking down severe storms around the country. YouTube is pretty cool sometimes.

The Best Comebacks and Insults in Archer
I can think of about 100 that weren’t in this clip, which shows how freaking funny Archer was.

A Complete Breakdown of ‘The Office’ Basketball Game
How did it take me four years to see this?!?!

TRYING KANSAS CITY’S MOST ICONIC FOODS! 🇺🇸 WORTH THE HYPE?? BBQ, Z-MAN, MOCHI DONUTS & MORE!
Once you get past the title, which could not be more Millennial YouTuber, this was a fun vid. I agree with the person in the comments who said they’ve lived in KC for 70 years and never heard of a cheese slipper. Wondered if something new had been invented in the 21 years since I moved away.

Bound for Nowhere
I think I’ve watched some of this couple’s videos before. They are starting a new series of international travel and kicked it off with three videos about their new truck. Not sure why I’ve never found a bunch of sponsors to finance me custom building my own vehicle.

A visit to Sears with Mom in 1977
“These are on sale, so that’s what we’re going to get, ok. You like these.” What kid in the Seventies didn’t hear that phrase when it was time to buy new shoes? I think I’m going to give this channel more attention.

Car Content

Volvo EX30 vs Volvo C40 | Long Trip Test Battle!
Seems like Volvo needs to simplify their EV lineup. Or at least name them similarly.

Driving the stunning new Aston Martin Vantage
As much as I enjoy the silent power and speed of my Tesla, I freaking love the way Aston Martins sound. If only they made one that cost under $50K…

Podcasts

The Bill Simmons Podcast
I’ve been back into Simmons’ pod since last September. It’s usually pretty good, especially the NBA stuff. Last month he had Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament on to talk about Pearl Jam’s career, the episode the above video was a companion to. But I LOVED this episode, or at least the final segment, when his daughter Zoe was on to review her freshman year of college. I made note of her big observations and ran them by M, who agreed with most of them but very much disagreed with her assertion that boys and girls can’t be friends. But Zoe seems like a serial dater when M is the opposite, so makes sense they would have different perspectives.

Bandsplain
Yasi Salek was a regular guest on 60 Songs That Explain the 90s. I’ve dabbled with her pod, but it often seems too long to really dive into. But a three-part breakdown of Pearl Jam’s career that lasts over 10 hours? Yes, I worked through every minute of that over the course of several weeks.