Tag: media (Page 1 of 14)

Holiday Shit

Elf
Christmas Vacation
A Christmas Story
Die Hard
Assorted SNL holiday sketches
A’s all around.

Band Aid – The Making Of The Original ’Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
Not a true documentary but rather a collection of the raw film shot on November 25, 1984, the day the vocals were recorded for this holiday classic. A remarkable view of a moment in time that became eternal.

A

Holiday Baking Championship
Surprise winner! After looking like a total doofus the first couple weeks, home baker Steven came out of nowhere to capture the title. Thanks to both the way the calendar fell and our new DVR limitations, this was the earliest I’ve ever finished the show, a full week before Christmas.

A-

Die Hard (1988): 20 Things You Never Knew!
Best of the Die Hard OBSESSION | Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Topical.

Giving away my stolen christmas tree
Beau Miles holiday bullshit!

How A Fake Band Made A Christmas Classic – The History of Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses
Wonderful summary of the history of a wonderful song.

Movies, Shows, etc

Shrinking, season two
A terrific second season puts this in the running for best show on TV. It continued to avoid the trap so many shows in its vein fall into: being too cute and satisfied with itself. Each week had many deep, genuine laughs. Most episodes had touching moments. A couple were incredibly moving. This was a show we looked forward to each week and were seldom disappointed by. It is an A++ cast that share fantastic writing with us. Repeating something I’ll say below about another show: the world would be a better place if we had more programs like this.

A

St. Denis Medical
A couple more new episodes this month. I think it’s still finding its way, but remains solid. As I don’t watch any other sitcoms on regular TV, I have to assume that they are all garbage based on how many good reviews St. Denis receives. I see promise, I just don’t think it’s in the league of the shows that came before it yet (The Good Place, The Office, Parks & Recreation, etc.)

B+

A Man On The Inside
Goddammit, those sons of bitches Michael Schur and Ted Danson have done it again!!! An utterly delightful show. I’m convinced if we had more people with the emotional intelligence of Schur making TV and movies and music, this country would not be the hateful mess that it is. Alas…

This show will make you laugh a lot. It will give you the feels. It will probably make you cry. It is so full of heart and life. It shines a light on a part of our world – retirement communities – that most of us spend no time thinking about until we have to. Brilliant TV. Fortunately it looks like there will be a season two. Oh, and just another reminder that Danson is the greatest comedic actor in TV history.

A+

Hit Man
I think I was confusing this with another movie – The Fall Guy probably – with a brief title that looked kind of dumb but actually got decent reviews. This was not that. Every element felt like a 75% effort: the scenes that were supposed to be funny only got ¾ of the way there. Same for the suspensful scenes. Same for the sexy scenes. Script could have used some zhooshing.

C+

Extraction 2
Like the first, an almost perfect action movie. Checks in under two hours. Minimal plot/mission, so the writers don’t have to get too cute. Then roughly 80% of it is people trying to shoot/blow each other up. Bonus for bringing in Idris Elba and setting us up for another edition in a year or so.

B+

David Letterman | The GQ Video Cover Interview
Dave is an American treasure.

Swingers
How long has it been since I watched this, in full? Twenty-ish years, I bet. It is one of those movies that faded away after I got married and had kids, as it speaks to a very different part of my life. Sure, I referenced it plenty, but even those quotes faded in time. YouTube randomly spit out an interview with Jon Favreau from when the movie was first released, which got me thinking I should watch again. I couldn’t find it on any streaming platforms we pay for so I grabbed the DVD at the library. It was one of those really poor library DVDs that seems like it was produced overseas from a bad copy. Still, it was fun to revisit Mikey, Trent, Sue, Rob, and Charles. It brought back a lot of memories from my “single days,” as I once called them to S’s great laughter.

There are so many elements that make this movie great – even with the allowance for it being nearly 30 years old and a bit out-of-date – but what stuck out to me in this viewing was how it never runs out of steam. The final 15 minutes are just as funny and well-written as the first 15.

A

Top Gun: Maverick
Oceans Eleven
The Bounty Hunter
A collection of movies we watched as a family with our Christmas guests.
Maverick remains the perfect, modern action flick. I could watch Oceans 1000 times and never get sick of it. The Bounty Hunter? Well, it was a random pick from the Netflix menu screen. Thin story, some bad acting, but it does have In Her Prime Jennifer Anniston running around for 90 minutes in a tight tank top, short skirt, and very high heels. She knew how to give the fans what they wanted.

A, A, C

English Teacher
Ahh, the series that has a limited number of episodes (eight) that are short enough (all in the 21–24 minute range) that you can knock the whole thing out in a few hours. Even better that this is super funny. That said, I don’t think this is a universal show. The humor is often dark and cutting. The main character has lots of flaws so you aren’t necessarily pulling for him. There’s a lot of culture wars content, and it definitely leans one way, which will annoy 30–40% of its potential audience. But I really enjoyed it, especially the first 3–4 episodes which were a little funnier than the back half.

B+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Dead on Arrival: The Soyuz 11 Disaster
Scary space shit.

Jon Favreau interview on “Swingers” (1996)
Ron Livingston on Swingers
Vince Vaughn Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters
Swingers content.

Sacha Baron Cohen Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters
The Vaughn entry above was good. This one was incredible.

Why the B–52 is outliving newer bombers
It’s absolutely wild that not only are B–52s still operational, the ones currently in service will have nearly 90 years of service logged when they are finally expected to be retired.

Dramatic low level flying bomber footage (1943)
Kind of cool.

The Oberg Color Film Footage of Pearl Harbor – December 7, 1941
This doesn’t quite live up to expectations, but still a fascinating time machine to one of the most important days of the 20th century.

How this Van Life Pioneer Set Up His Perfect Off-Grid Camper
A little different than the other Huckberry Homes vids.

A Journey Into New York’s Basketball State of Mind
Good stuff from The Ringer’s hoops crew.

Mt. St. Helens: The Gary Rosenquist, AI interpolated landslide and eruption sequence
This is when AI is cool.

2025 Moon Phases – Northern Hemisphere
2025 Moon Phases – Southern Hemisphere
Jason Kottke posted this with the observation that blew his mind, and in turn blew mine: the moon looks upside down from your normal perspective if you cross from the northern to southern hemisphere. Or vice versa. Wild!

Star Wars: rare behind the scenes “The Empire Strikes Back”
Nine-year-old me would have thought this was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.

Picking up a new car that my daughter likes
Some quick Beau Miles bullshit. Hopefully there’s more to this next month.

Car Content

I Drive The Lucid Gravity For The First Time!
Looks incredible. Get back to me when they release a vehicle that checks in at about half the cost of the Gravity.

I Drive The Audi Q6 E-Tron For The First Time! A Better Electric SUV Than Q4 & Q8
As usual, Audi does some things amazingly well, and does some other things amazingly oddly.

Photography

Rather than post all the photog stuff I watched, here are the ones that stuck out most.

Bad Weather, Good Photos?
A Day In Cincinnati
Exploring One of the World’s Most Beautiful Countries
SantaCon, London, 2024
The Most Important Kind of Photography

Podcasts

You’re Wrong About
Trying to mix up my pod routine a bit and Overcast recommended this. I listened to the episode about Dungeons & Dragons, which was fun. The host and guest made some great observations about how weird the whole satanic panic related to D&D was. D&D kids were generally good kids with good grades who liked to read, who didn’t do drugs or get into trouble. “So they must be doing something wrong, right?” seemed to be one argument against D&D. Also, all the demons and whatnot religious types complained about…were the exact things you are trying to destroy if you’re playing D&D! And lots of other just odd stuff that made a select few parents lose their minds and get media attention in the Eighties.

A-

Movies, Shows, etc

The Americans, season 6
Why re-watch something I’ve seen before when I have so many unwatched shows on my list that I need to get to? Because this is my favorite TV drama ever made, it never had a subpar season, and its final 10 episodes were as good as any concluding season ever filmed. Each season got progressively bleaker and more stressful. In season six, you could almost feel the weight crashing down on each charater, like a strong arm in the middle of your back forcing you to the ground.

And the finale? Holy shit. Even knowing what was coming, the middle 40 minutes were an emotional A-bomb. The 11-minute garage scene was a masterclass of television, somehow wrapping up almost every loose thread from the 74 previous episodes without seeming tedious or overdone. Then STAN LETS THE JENNINGS GO!!!! THE CALL TO HENRY! PAIGE GETS OFF THE TRAIN!!!!! I urge any of you who have never watched this series’ 75 brilliant episodes to give it a shot.

A+

Starting 5
I liked this far more than I thought I would. I know the players, especially LeBron, had a lot of control over the final project (much like his control of his team). But all five subjects were anywhere from pretty to extremely interesting. The insider look at their lives seemed pretty honest, if anodyne. How can you not love Ant or Jimmy Butler? Or admire Jason Tatum? Domas Sabonis was probably the least interesting of the bunch, but it was fascinating to see that maybe his wife controls his entire life? Joe Mazzulla? Crazy genius. And LeBron and his family are amazing. I know he’s not perfect, but he really is the prototype for how you want a modern superstar to behave, at least off the court.

A-

Shrinking, season two
In progress.

Bad Monkey
Looks like I read this book back in 2013. Fortunately I didn’t remember much of it, so this series was all new to me. Didn’t reach the level of the other Bill Lawrence shows (see Shrinking above). Probably could have been tightened up a bit rather than a 10-episode season. But in general, it was entertaining and fun. I always wonder how much of Vince Vaughn’s dialog is written just for his style, and how much he riffs on his own. Natalie Martinez isn’t terrible to look at.

B

The Diplomat, season two
For the first half, this was not as good as season one. It seemed like the slider for gossipy romance had been cranked up a couple notches. Fortunately the last two episodes yanked it right back to where it belonged. That ending!!!

A-

Sixteen Candles
AMC had an 80s movie marathon on Black Friday. This was the only one we watched, and we watched the entire thing. Interesting they add a disclaimer now that it contains cultural stereotypes that may be offensive to some viewers. Which, fair. They also cut out a couple of my favorite lines. Again, for fair reasons. Still holds up. Am I bad person for still finding the parts that are offensive to 2020 ears funny?

A

Cheers, Thanksgiving Orphans
38th consecutive year watching this classic.

Holiday Baking Championship
Our cable package changed this fall. Part of the deal was a reduction in our DVR space. So I had to start watching these earlier than usual rather than letting them stack up until December. I’m four episodes in. I have a favorite, but she nearly went home in week four, so what do I know?

Incomplete

St. Denis Medical
The latest entry in the lineage of shows that somehow are conneted to The Office. (There’s another new one I may try to get to in December.) It’s always tough to judge new shows as the characters are finding their places, the writers are settling in to find what works, and so on. Plenty of funny moments. I’ll keep watching to see where it goes.

B so far

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Beau Miles builds a raft for Amy Shark
Glenn McGrath Attempts to Build a Beach Bar with Beau Miles
I approve of Beau’s sponsored bullshit, even if they are very Australian and I have no idea who these people are.

I made a picnic table from someone’s rubbish
I made a fort on the Mississippi River
And here is some of his regular bullshit.

Getting a Crash Course in Tex-Mex Cuisine, Bull Riding & the Spirit of Texas | DIRT Texas
Not sure how I missed this when it first came out.

Brooklyn 99 moments that were NOT scripted
Always fun to catch up with the 99 crew.

Dr. J at Harlem’s famed Rucker Park
Nothing about this sucks.

iPhone 16 Pro: In-Depth Camera Review
Not strictly photo-related, so I’ll drop this gorgeous piece into this section. Looking forward to upgrading my phone next spring.

Our Top Holiday Gifts For Men | 2024 Huckberry Holiday Gift Guide
How To Elevate Your Cold-Weather Wardrobe | Men’s Fall Style Guide | Ask Huckberry
Watching these videos always sends me straight to Huckberry. Which I think is the point, right?

An Overlanding Pilgrimage for Wildlife | Australia Part I
Not What We Expected | Australia Part II
Again, it would be cool to be sponsored to take trips like this.

Golf, Food, Magic | Neil and Randy Explore Brooklyn
Even when the NLU guys do a single episode travel vid it is great.

200 Earth Impact Craters Mapped by Size and Age
My big takeaway is that Canada seems targetted.

How Copperfield Vanished the Statue of Liberty
Fascinatingly low tech! This event played a major role in one of the best episodes of The Americans, and seeing it now it seemed super cheesy. I kind of remember watching it live as a kid, but don’t remember being dazzled by it, just thinking that there was some simple explanation. Who knew it was so simple?

Johanna Under The Ice: Freediver Johanna Nordblad on the accident that led her to a world record
This is beautiful, but no fucking thank you!

The Big Wait
What a charming piece about an odd and amazing place. Only in Australia can you find these modern throwbacks to the frontier days.

Very Good Chili Crisp Recipe
I had never tried chili crisp before last summer, when I bought some for a spicy noodle recipe. Man, how did I miss this for 53 years?!?! Not sure I’ll make my own, as I’m the only one in the house who will eat it. But it’s in the back of my mind for the next time I make those noodles.

Why Americans Love Iced Coffee
Enjoying iced coffee is the most millennial thing about this Gen Xer.

A Real Diplomat Reviews Netflix’s “The Diplomat”
Not a true review, more of a set of observations.

Top Dunks in Kansas Jayhawks Basketball History
Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Coach Bill Self On His Role As The Caretaker Of Allen Fieldhouse
Inside Kansas Jayhawks Coach Bill Self’s Office: Memorable Stories And Hidden Gems
Other than watching Cheers, this is how I spent my night before Thanksgiving.

Car Content

Why American Cars Are So Expensive
Some surprising explanations in here, the biggest being simple greed.

The Polestar 3 is Amazing
Sure would be cool if Polestar could stay in business and drop a ~$50K car on the market.

Photography

Some of the many, many photo vids I watched.
A Week in Peru on Film // Leica M6 + Ultramax 400
2 Days in Florence / [#35mm]() Film
Mark Ruwedel: Seventy-Two and One Half Miles Across Los Angeles
Backpacking the Coast Mountains on 35mm film
Exploring Pubs & Shooting Film in Ireland
Fuji Recipes and 27mm in the Streets of Oslo | Street Photography
30 Days Photographing Italy With My Little Fujifilm XT5
A Road Trip in Finland with the Plaubel Makina 670
The North Cascades Highway, Pre-Closure
Photographing Washington’s Larch Trees on Slide Film
Everyday Photography EP.1
Matt Day
Fall Photography, Camping, Mamiya 645, 35mm, Fuji x100f
James Popsys
Is 40mm the new 50mm?
In Search of my Everyday Carry Camera
7 Days in Puglia, Italy / 35mm Film

Kind of an odd media month. There was some baseball early, but not much after the Royals were eliminated. A lot of reading The Lord of the Rings. A fall break vacation. But not much long-form stuff. That should shift in November. And there was a changing of the hobbies, a switch that is reflected below with a new section.

Movies, Shows, etc

Halloween Baking Championship
The winner was a bit of a surprise, as Manny rallied in the final three episodes to take the competition. Poor Aaron has now reached the finals of two different holiday shows without getting a win.

A-

Anchorman
As noted before, we watched this as a family with our hosts in Denver. Apparently the kids and moms did not like it as much as the dads. Not sure what is wrong with them.

A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Bill Self UNFILTERED on the portal, navigating NIL, Kansas as Preseason No. 1 | Goodman & Hummel
Unfiltered is a little strong. I guess he does say “shit” once. But otherwise your standard, solid interview.

Running Australia’s hardest 100km while needing a hip replacement
I got nervous when I saw the title for Beau Miles’ latest bullshit. Turns out it is his buddy who needed the replacement, not him. A touching short, with a sequel to come.

I built a chicken coop for zero dollars
This is some good, and wholesome, Beau Miles bullshit.

Beau Miles takes Cody Simpson on an epic adventure
Hey, Beau now has sponsored bullshit! I had no idea Cody Simpson, who was big on Disney Radio when our girls were in that phase, was a competitive swimmer now.

‘Afternoon Plus’ documentary on the BBC World Service (1982)
Did I watch and enjoy this British doc from 1982 about the BBC’s World Service? Hell yes I did.

We Answer Your Fall Style Questions For 2024
Get your wardrobes correct, fellas.

6 Minutes of the Best Jokes in Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee
Sometimes I like these better than the actual show.

We bought a NEW CABIN ︱ Svalbard
I can’t imagine living like this.

Inside The World’s Most Secret House Built Into a Mountain
This, on the other hand, would be a wild way to spend a shit load of money for a very isolated vacation.

How This Surfer Built His Dream Home on the Nova Scotia Coast
Forget the financial side of this. I wish I had the imagination to conjure up a place like this, then the ability to put it together.

Indianapolis | Cinematic Travel Diaries Shot on Sony FX30 w/ 20mm lens
Not a lot of travel videos about Indy. Makes sense this one is less than two minutes long, although I guess that’s kind of this guy’s thing.

The unique undersea tunnels that link the Faroe Islands
Fascinating. I read an article that mentioned these a few weeks before this video popped up.

Is Colorado a Food Utopia? Exploring Farm to Table Cuisine, Epic Landscapes & UFO’s | DIRT Colorado
Perfect timing, right before our trip to CO, even if it focused on different parts of the state than we did.

First Big Trip in Our New Truck
I know I’ve said this before, but it sure would be cool to be cool enough to live like this. Or, rather, it would be cool to be cool enough that brands sponsored you to live this way.

Leon Bridges Talks New Album, Texas Roots & How He Developed His “Futuristic Retro” Style
I dig Leon’s whole vibe.

Apollo 16 lunar rover “Grand Prix” in HD
Dopeness.

Remembering Fernandomania
A wonderful piece from a couple years back about a legend we lost in October.

Car Content

Lucid Air Pure: The Real Tesla Fighter
If only they were in my price range…

Photography

Welp, I’ve picked up the camera again. Check my Instagram feed. More details later, but here is a sampling of the photo vids I watched last month.
Italy on 35mm
“Street photography is creative freedom” | A Day with Chris Harrison
How to take Great Photos with Patience / Lake Garda on #35mm Film
Journals E28- Fuji XF10 Photography in the South Of France
Spain & Italy
Three weeks of film photography across Japan
Chasing Fall Color in the Eastern Sierra | Pentax 67
One Month Two Cameras
The Photo Dept.

A few changes prompted a new sub-section.

Movies, Shows, etc

US Open, week two
The non-stop action of week one is more fun, but week two still dominated our TV.

A-

The Americans, season four
In general The Americans is a bleak show. I forgot how beyond-bleak season four was. Thirteen episodes of crushing negativity, applied a little heavier each week. Important characters are killed or deported or exfiltrated or question everything about themselves. It wasn’t as flashy as some of the earlier seasons, but perhaps that makes it more like what spying really is like? Also a reminder that this show kept getting better as it progressed.

A

The Americans, season five
When it initially ran, this was the lowest rated season of The Americans aside from the first year. Now, that meant a 94 on Metacritic so “lowest rated” is relative, but people still complained about its slowness and rather restrained finale. Watching it when you know what comes next changes that. This was indeed a slow year, with lots of long, drawn out scenes featuring sad gazes and exhausted sighs. But it was all about setting up the decision the Jennings made near the end, and how that choice would carry over to season six. It also continued to focus on the tedium of being a spy than the cool, James Bond-y parts of the job. And while the finale lacked fireworks, it had a huge emotional impact. Ten episodes to go, which include several of the best in the show’s entire run.

B+

Pearl Jam – Orpheum Theatre, Boston, 04.12.1994
So fun and interesting to go back and watch this, considered one of their greatest shows of the era, and compare it to seeing them in person last month. A lot of experimentation on stage, with songs from Vs. not fully fleshed out yet in the setlist. Dave A on drums, for better and worse. Eddie weird, angry, and distant. Not even three albums into their career they could still bust out a 25-song show. The video quality is about a D-, but the sound is incredible.

A+

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

How an Interior Designer Maximizes Her 650 Square Foot NYC Apartment
This brings back memories of the two small, urban apartments I lived in alone before I got married. Of course, I was a late 20s/early 30s single dude and put zero effort into decorating or where the furniture would go. What a surprise this video was! You can actually put thought and care into your living space, no matter how small it is.

First 4 Minutes of NBC’s New Workplace Comedy | St. Denis Medical | Sneak Peek
There are some connections on the creative side of this show to both The Office and Scrubs, among others. Might be worth a look as my first regular TV sitcom since The Good Place ended.

Golf, Food, Baseball | Tron and Randy Explore Denver
All good things in a city we will be visiting soon.

The Office but just the dated pop culture moments
Not the best presentation, but I did laugh out loud when Dwight kicked his date in the face at Jim and Pam’s wedding.

The Office moments that were NOT scripted
It would be more fun to see how these moments came about, and any breaks they caused in early takes, rather than the finished product, where they don’t stand out as much.

Deeply Inappropriate Office Bloopers
Obviously I’m still a sucker for Office content.

Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament and Eddie Vedder on the road
PJ gets the CBS Sunday Morning treatment.

A Tour of Antarctica by Drone
This is nine years old. I wonder what an updated version of this would look like, between the better drone technology and what elements of the film have changed because of climate change.

The Conet Project – Disc one
After reading the two Jeff Tweedy books, I listened to a bunch of Wilco music, including their 2001 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which took its name from this, a collection of recorded shortwave radio spy transmissions. So, naturally, I had to go listen to the Conet Project. Or at least the first disk. Remember, I had a shortwave radio as a kid so this shit is cool to me.

Car Content

Road To Lucid Gravity Update
1,000 Miles With TWO Charging Stops! Lucid Air Road Trip From California to Colorado

Finally dialing back the car vids, keeping it just to these two Lucid-related pieces.

Photography

Replaced the car stuff somewhat with diving back into photography-related videos. Rather than highlight individual vids, here’s a list of channels I devoted some time to.
Grainy Days
Camera West TV
Willem Verbeeck
Dylan Spitz
Gajan Balan

Podcasts

The Ringer WNBA Show
It took me a while but I finally added a WNBA pod to my collection. In my defense this one, hosted by the fantastic Seerat Sohi, is a new spin off from The Ringer’s NBA pod feed. I really enjoyed the episode that looked at the end of the Fever’s season, what they did right, what they did wrong, and the moves they need to make to improve their odds next year.

Movies, Shows, etc

2024 Summer Olympics
Already much discussed in this space.

A

The Americans, season 3
The re-watch continues. Season three was a tight, excellent set of episodes: I believe every show fell between 43 and 48 minutes. Even in 2015, that was rare in the prestige TV realm. The last four episodes, especially, were crackling with intensity as the Jennings’ secret started to spill out.

A-

Homicide: Life On The Street, selected episodes
One of the all-time great TV dramas finally arrived on a streaming platform last month. I watched a fair amount of Homicide, at least the early years, back in the day. I read the book it was based on. And, of course, I obsessed over its spiritual and thematic successor, The Wire.

TV critic Alan Sepinwall put together a list of 10 episodes he thought best summarized the show. I don’t really have time to go knock out the whole series so instead ripped through his list. Some very dated production, dialogue, and fashion, but the core stories still stand up. The late Andre Braugher was such a force. As jarring as it was to see him play comedy in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, it was equally jarring to go back and watch his intense portrayal of Frank Pembleton.

A-

Tourist Sauce, Return to Australia
The NLU crew went back to the location of their first travel series, nearly seven years later, with a bigger budget and crew, and a lot more knowledge of what they were doing. As usual, the result was great.

A

Pearl Jam 2024/05/30 Seattle
Prep for seeing them in person.

A

Ocean’s Eleven
Pretty much a perfect movie.

A

US Open, week one
An annual marker that summer is ending and fall has arrived.

A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Two Weeks of Exploring Southern Thailand
Beautiful part of the world + interesting film stock + great photographer = amazing images.

Buying The Cheapest Cameras In Japan
OMG!!! You don’t have to know a thing about cameras, or be interested in photography, to find this piece totally hilarious.

Every Olympic 100m Final (1912–2016)
This is pretty cool. It would be even cooler if it noted who won each race. Also, these are only men’s races, so it’s not really every 100m final.

29,000 Feet Up Mount Everest with DJI Mavic 3 Pro
Gorgeous.

I Visited Mount Everest Base Camp
An interesting undertaking: this kid doesn’t try to climb the entire mountain, but rather just get to base camp. Which is way harder than I would have expected, and even this is probably beyond the abilities of 95% of people.

Brad Leone Tries to Eat His Weight in Tacos on a California Roadtrip
I can think of way worse ways to spend your time than driving around cool places and eating tacos for every meal.

Mascots Savage Moments Against Little Kids
This might be the greatest video ever made. Each time I see it, I laugh my ass off. Also fun is finding the full-game videos from these events. The Colts’ Blue is a beast in those games.

Arrested Development moments I think about a lot
Arrested Development moments I think about a lot #2
It might be time to give AD another re-watch.

Redeeming 10,000 bottles and cans because of Seinfeld (Part 2)
It took a year to get there, but finally an end to this chapter of Beau Miles Bullshit.

Apple Computers 1995 Promotional Video “The Martinettis Bring Home A Computer”
Holy mackerel! Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?

Car Content

I Drive The Fantastic Polestar 3 For The First Time!
I was super intrigued by the Polestar 2 when I was car shopping, specifically used ones, which have plummeted in value. Someone not too far from us owns one, and I keep wanting to catch them at Target or wherever so I can ask questions. However, the closest current service center is in Columbus, OH, I have concerns about the long-term health of the line, and then the difficulty in calculating how much damage the previous owner did to the battery. It looks like the company is continuing to do great things. Now the trick is coming out with one in the $45K range so I can test drive one in three years when I get back into the car shopping game. Another trick will be not going out of business before more affordable models can hit production.

What should an electric car sound like?
I had no idea so much effort had been invested in this space.

The Southern California EV Charging Problem!
Who knew SoCal would be more Chicago than Bay Area when it came to charging your EV?

Posting this early as we head off to Florida for vacation this weekend.

Movies, Shows, etc

Tour de France
A good first two weeks became a rather boring final week as Tadej Pogacar destroyed the field for an easy win. Luckily, that last week was when I barely watched, between travel basketball and the British Open. As always, the Peacock production of the French images was laughably bad at times. My favorite was the day they were convinced a guy that had been leading solo for about an hour had the race won, and literally 15 seconds later five other riders roared past him. But at least we can still watch here in the US.

B+

Shrinking
S pulled this out again when we had visitors over the Fourth, as they had not seen it. We watched two episodes with them, then watched the next eight the next night after they left. As good as the first time.

A

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Sigh. It didn’t make me laugh, there were no Magic Eddie Murphy Moments, some of the cast seemed way too old to have been rolled back out for another entry in the series, the story was pretty much like 8000 other cop movies, the many references to the first three films felt heavy handed, and a lot of the jokes seemed forced and/or straight out of an 80s action film playbook. And what was up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s accent? His character was born in Chicago then moved to Beverly Hills, yet had some weird, quasi-McConaughey Texas thing going?

C

For All Mankind, season four
This show has found a way to always stick the landing through the first three seasons. That wasn’t the case this time. Kind of a silly season all around, with some extreme silliness in the finale. Not nearly as compelling as the first two seasons, for sure, and lacked the pure drama that wrapped up season three. I read that Costa Ronin will join the cast for season five, making him the third? fourth? fifth? cast member of The Americans to make the jump. We need to find a way to tie the shows’ plot lines together, like he’s still the technology expert who was stationed in the US in the 1980s but is the KGB director in the alternative 2012 USSR of season five.

B-

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Patagonia Gear Expert Breaks Down His One-Bag Travel Essentials and Everyday Carry
This guy has a great job. Working for a company that makes all kinds of cool shit; getting to try that cool shit out and decide what goes to market, what needs improvement, etc.; and getting paid for it.

‘The Bear’ Cast Test How Well They Know Each Other
Or do they know each other well?

When an actor got dumped…and decided to conquer Hollywood
Swingers is one of the five, non-holiday movies I’ve watched the most in my life. It’s been too long since I’ve watched it. Shame it is kind of hard to find to stream for free. Or at least it’s not on any of the platforms we currently pay for. And we pay for a lot of them.

Dave Spends The Day With Richard Simmons
So great. RIP to Richard.

Top Ten Reasons Joe Biden Dropped Out Of The Race
When I first saw this in my feed, I got excited that Dave was putting out new material. Alas, this is from 1987. Still funny, though.

How The Tour De France Is Filmed (It’s A Technical Masterpiece!)
Technical masterpiece is a bit of an overstatement, but it is cool how the images get from the road to the TV.

The Day Remco Evenepoel CHEATED DEATH
Holy schnikies! I would not have been able to watch this if I wasn’t aware that he survived and was riding in this year’s Tour.

Romain Bardet & Kevin Vermaerke ripping canyons in California
I assumed this was on a closed road for some reason. So it freaked me out the first time one of the riders was deep into the opposite lane on a curve and, moments later, a car came by in that lane. 40+ MPH down a hill on a bike is not for the faint of heart.

Descent Disciples ||Vol 13|| Tom Pidcock vs. The Fish
He almost bites it on a curve near the top, and I about pissed myself as his back tire slid.

This really aired
Dig around and you’ll find evidence both for this ad airing once and it never airing. Surely it is the later, right? Regardless, it is hilarious.

The Thrilling Tale of Terry Bolinger: The 13-Year-Old Daredevil of Indianapolis
This is brilliant. How many of us made similar attempts without the harsh glare of the local media?

CHiPs “Roller Disco” – The most Seventies scene in 1970s TV
This is some fun, wild stuff.

Car Content

Electric Family SUV Race To Vegas! Model X v R1S v EV9 v EQS – Part 1 Part 2
Still watching these, and I pick up something new that benefits my EV ownership every time I do.

I Drive A BYD For The First Time! The Seal Is A Direct Tesla Model 3 Competitor In China & Europe
The Chinese are coming.

New Tesla Model 3 Performance Top Speed & Extreme Thermal Stress Test! Yikes, Improvements Needed
Good Lord, some of these autobahn passes are insanely close!

Movies, Shows, etc

The Americans, seasons one and two
I’m finally doing it: devoting this summer to re-watching one of my very favorite TV shows. My original plan was to try to knock all five seasons out in June. But as I can’t watch more than a couple shows a night, even if I love something, and there were a lot of basketball nights in the month, I only got through the first two. Guess what? It still holds up!

A-, A

Tour de France – Unchained, season two
Required viewing to prep for this year’s race. Last year, based on my viewing of season one, I was pulling for Jonas Vingegaard. This time, Tadej Pogacar came across as much more normal and empathetic. Weird.

A

The Bear, season three
I just wrote about this Tuesday!

B+

Pearl Jam – 2024 – Los Angeles, CA – May 22nd
I watched/listened to this and began getting very excited about seeing them in a couple months. Eddie sounds great. Then he got sick last week and they’ve had to cancel the rest of their European tour, which makes me nervous for the Indy show.

A for show, D- for vibes

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

10 Things The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach Can’t Live Without
Bear content season!

Weird Science: 20 Things You Never Knew!
Eighties movie trivia is never a waste of your time.

I’m sick
Not our normal Beau Miles bullshit. An interesting turn of events.

The Victims of Eddie Van Halen
Victims seems a little harsh, but confirms that EVH had some issues dealing with others.

How This Photographer Crafted His Vintage Adventure Van
Ahh to be young and think this was a good idea.

Will Ferrell Acceptance Speech | 2011 Mark Twain Prize
I had never seen this before. My man Sir David V suggested it when I was in KC. It is outstanding, especially the part about his wife. Or wives…

Car Content

Lucid Air Sapphire is The Best Performance Sedan Ever Made!
Newest entry on my If I Won The Lottery car list. I laugh at how so many young reviewers complain that Lucids look like old man cars. I think they look great. I ran that by my buddy who owns a Lucid and he replied, “Well, we are old men now.” Yikes!

My Garage Update – June 2024
Kyle Conner has become a huge part of my media diet since February. I’ve watched tons of his videos and listened to hours of his podcasts in my car journey. I’ve always wondered how many cars he actually owned. Well, if you don’t want to watch over an hour of him breaking it down, I think the answer is 20. And that’s before the loaners he has for reviews and ones his business officially owns. Now I wonder where a dude his age has the money for 20 cars, plus insurance, plus registrations, plus maintenance. Surely not just from YouTube earnings.

Meet The Tesla That Won’t Die: 430,000 Miles On One Battery! Episode 1
Range Test! How Far Can a 430,000-Mile Tesla REALLY Go? Episode 2
Man, what a coup to parlay free Supercharging into a cornerstone of your business! Not sure why they’re being so stingy sharing the next vid in the series.

I Drive The Chevy Equinox EV For The First Time! Full Tour, Software, Comfort, & DC Fast Charging
Chevy is trying. I don’t think they’re there yet. But at least they’re making an effort. Hopefully in a few years their prices come down and their offerings get a little better and we see more decent EVs in the $35–40K range.

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.