Metal Monday

What a week!

The weather has finally cooled in Hollywood making it bearable to exist in my apartment in the afternoon sun. So I may start streaming again. Subscribe to my YouTube for updates and I hope to see you there!

Watching

I remember saving up my money from bailing hay all summer, driving an hour to the nearest Sam Goody to buy DVDs of Cowboy Bebop. There were 9 volumes, 3(?) episodes a disk and cost me $24 a pop in mid-aughts USD. “Extortion” is too light a word but it was all worth it because Cowboy Bebop is a seminal anime on the level of Akira. So being able to watch the entire series on Netflix with my partner feels strangely surreal.

My partner has never seen the series and being a person of color, they were taken back at the depictions of brown people. How they look like actual pocs and not just a naruto with brown shading.

Also, I have to give it major respect because it ENDS. It does not have a 400 episode run with copious “filler” and “gets good” in the 3rd season. If you have not watched Cowboy Bebop, you absolutely should, you will never see anything like it again.

YT Obsession

I go to the gym a lot so I am always looking for new workouts to keep things fresh. Gym Body Motivation is a great channel for short videos showcasing various workouts no filler or annoying tren-jacked gym bro trying to sell some all-natural pre-workout probiotic. Like, subscribe all that.

Their thumbnails always crack my shit up. The body dysmorphia these guys must feel if they think these 5 workouts will get your arms to look like that.

Playing

I caved and bought Baldur’s Gate 3 for the PS5. I initially held off the purchase because I was truly doubtful about it would be fun to play it with controller. I’m surprised to say it’s very well optimized for controller and, para me, a perfect couch game with my partner.

I also said recently that I liked the game and what it was doing but it seemed to be a “story game” and I’m just not into “story games.” Well, maybe I’m just into good “story games.” I keep thinking of my renegade Fem-Shep run of Mass Effect 2 and how cool the writing was for that character, how all my actions had an effect (perceived anyway) on the story. The first act of BG3 appears to have the level of depth with each decision I make. I feel like I’m actually role-playing a character not just playing a character that is an extension of myself.

Also, it’s got nudity and horny characters. GOOD GAME.

Reading

I’ve put off reading Cormac McCarthy for a long time mostly out of childish “he’s too mainstream” feeling of superiority. McCarthy’s The Road became really popular when I was working at a bookstore and everyone from stock-market bros to soccer-moms were lining up to get a copy. He was just hype and I’ve never lost the association. After all, I’ve read the L.A. Quartet, there’s no way McCarthy is good at capturing the “feeling” of American ennui like the James Ellroy. So, out of curiosity, (And trying to find a book to recommend my dad) I started to read Blood Meridian.

It’s a trope among middle aged white guys but geeze, what a tremendous book. I’ve still not finished it after reading for a couple weeks now because I cannot move on without re-reading paragraphs, highlighting and making notes.

Incredibly violent, stark and deeply affecting, Blood Meridian does for westerns what Black Dahlia did for nior-detective novels; Deconstructs the mythic architypes while simultaneously re-imagining them in the dark, depressing reality of lived history.

Blood Meridian makes me want to read more books and that’s the greatest praise I can give.

Other Stuffs

I know I’ve talked about the King of Dams before, but this has to be my favorite video he’s done yet.

Let’s start with the title: Horrific Natural Disaster And Dam Breach Experiment- Underground City Destroyed. There is a lot here that tickles my brain, but we’ll keep it short. “Horrific” implies that what we are watching has implications beyond the obvious and that truly is horrific. As always, “Experiment” suggests there is some sort of scientific method happening.

The construction of the build is no more bizarre than his other creations but this has an element of “billionaires escaping global warming by hiding underground” and I’m here for it all.

The music choices throughout the video are especially unhinged. Truly, a masterpiece.