TJ is right; Rich, Brockman and sound guy are dead wrong and also insane

I'm watching this video as we speak and can't even wait till the end to post this up. Here's a clip of the Rich Eisen show where the guys are discussing why Jason Bateman took Sean Hayes instead of Will Arnett to the Dodgers World Series game. (The real reason is, I believe, Arnett is in New York at the moment, thanks Smartless I know too much about you guys now.) Rich and co. speculate that it's because Arnett is a Jays fan and JB doesn't want to sit with a Jays fan, despite being best friends (or one of).

Then, a big loud debate erupts where Rich, Brockman and the sound effects guy all admonish TJ for saying he would go with his best friend even if they had directly opposite rooting interests, because they're best friends. The other three lose their minds at the thought of that! Like, the sound guy (sorry I keep forgetting his name, and remember I'm typing furiously because REACTION and I can't be bothered to check) wouldn't even go with his wife last night because she's a Jays fan and he's LA. Wow.

TJ is right, 100% could not be righter right: these guys do not have the same level of friendship as he has with his pal Ashton (Kutcher, for Tracy). And in sound guy's case, he doesn't have that level of friendship with his wife. This all just blows my mind. They're all three yelling at TJ at how insane he is to want to go to a championship once in a lifetime game with his best friend even though they will be rooting for opposing teams. All three would choose their team over their 'best' friend. I mean ... what?

One of my best friends, certainly my best friend when we lived together at the height, the HEIGHT of the 49ers Packers rivalry (late-90's), is - you guessed it - a diehard Packers fan. Every year it seemed like, we'd meet in the regular season and/or playoffs and of course, without question, we would watch that game together. What would be insane is if we did NOT watch that game together. (btw if it was regular season and anywhere remotely close to Halloween, the winner would get to put their team's hat on the pumpkin that was sitting on one of the speakers. This happened more than once.)

Tomorrow, or in the future, if one of us stumbled upon a pair of tickets to a Niners Packers playoff game, or the NFC Championship game - and asked the other to go? Uh, yeah, you can bet we'd be going. It's the event, the experience, and it's our friendship that is so much more important than whether one team or the other wins. Yeah it sucks for the loser, but only in the sense that the pride is beaten down and your team loses bragging rights, and the pumpkin has to wear the other hat for the next month or so.

It occurs to me that this is a microcosm of what politics has become in the States, and maybe worldwide too. If I'm on the right wing and you're on the left, we cannot be friends anymore and fuck I can't even stand to spend time with you, even if you invited me to ... uh, the presidential debate that you have tickets for and I've dreamt my whole life of seeing live? I mean, it's not an one-for-one analogy, and obviously politics have a more direct and immediate impact on daily life than sports, but it is still pretty much true. Some people value certain friendships over politics, and sports fandom, and some people just cannot get past the divide.

TJ, you have an actual best friendship in your life and I'm happy for you.

Also, fuck off with the Cowboys.

While We're At It ...

 

This version is a little fast, but this is absolutely one of my favourite songs of all time. What Howard Stern references, an astounding fact, is that this song was written during the recording of Ten - but not included on the original record. Subsequently though, the band would play this song in concert and that's how it gained its following, through infamy - this amazing song that no one had heard, except if you'd been to a PJ show.

At some point, Yellow Ledbetter made it onto live records, bootlegs and then Pearl Jam official releases (and remember when they recorded every single live show to circumvent the bootleggers, not to cut them off from making money off the band, or not 100% the reason, but to release their own music on their own terms with a professional mix). My first recorded version was on a live album issued in, I don't even know, 1993? 1994? 1992? I don't know that it had a title but I do have the cd somewhere, I should dig it out. But I don't think I got a studio version until maybe when I joined the horrendous, hellacious Spotify? I don't even know. But I lived with live versions for so long, so that's how I know this song.

Anyway, a truly great song with a great story. And damned if this doesn't bring a tear to my eye pretty much every single time I hear it. Because also, this is the epitome of Eddie Vedder singing a whole bunch of intelligible words but with so much emotion, you can't help but feel what he's feeling. Absolute love.

Radiohead news

Radiohead has recently announced a European tour of select cities, but with multiple shows in each city. How awesome, and how lucky for those cities. The first time the band has toured since 2018.

I love this band, one of my top 5 bands of all time (ALL time), and have seen them I'm not even sure how many times. Let's see ... OK Computer, Kid A / Amnesiac, In Rainbows, King of Limbs??, Moon Shaped Pool ... pretty sure it's been at least 5 times.

Anyway, what better way to celebrate this news than to listen to this beautiful cover of Fake Plastic Trees. Please, join me.

And then listen to this, one of my favourite Phoebe Bridgers songs:

Niners trade for Brian Robinson and I am thrilled

Brian Robinson is no scrub. I really liked this kid in his rookie year, after getting shot (!) preseason, he came out and put up 800 yards in 12 games. I watched him, he ran hard.

With Christian McCaffery, Robinson and Isaac Guerendo, the Niners now have one of the best  (I might even say the best (!) though I recognize there's some homerism talking there) RB rooms in the league. And they've clearly prioritized pass catchers so no matter who they put on the field, including Juice at FB, the back is a very real threat to run a route.

Also, yes, the Niners now have TWO (!) players who were shot in between being drafted and playing an NFL game. Both came back and eventually balled in their rookie years. Which is very very crazy, very weird and wild stuff, man.

I wonder if Plaxico Burress is interested in coming out of retirement.

Anyway, as Coach would say, I'm super pumped to get this guy in the building, and all the sudden I'm pumped for the RB room this year. I really liked Jordan Mason (still got him on my fantasy keeper league team (!)) and was sad to see him go to the Vikes, though I understand why. But beyond Guerendo things weren't looking super great. Patrick Taylor, Keyshawn Vaughn, Jeff Wilson at this stage - I don't dislike those guys, but those guys are not 1st or 2nd string NFL backs. We have yet to see what the Niners really have in Jordan James and Corey Kiner, so this trade makes so much sense to me - essentially they upgraded Jordan Mason to Brian Robinson. Love it.

Let's go Niners!!

PS: this weekend we'll see the reunion of Jim Harbaugh and the Niners, and of Trey Lance and the Niners. Obviously Harbs' only crossover from his time would be with Jed York and maybe Paraag? (I don't remember) but Trey will get to see Kyle, John Lynch, Brock etc etc. which is cool. I think they all genuinely liked Trey and are rooting for him, as am I.

(I also love Harbs and he's absolutely the one that got away (goddamn you Trent Baalke, you suck so much), but I'm more than happy with current management so I wish Harbs all the best and maybe see you in the Superbowl.)

PPS: speaking of Harbaugh, of rivalries and all that, I love how he and Pete Carrol ended up in the same division again. I love it. I only wish Jim Schwartz could be in the AFC west too, so Harbaugh could shake his hand too hard twice a year.

"Some like it hot" - Ana de Armas, c'mon

Please, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Eve / Marta / Palmona herself: Ana de Armas!

Severance podcast with Ben and Adam

Severance season 2 was really fantastic. That's my opinion. Not an uncommon one, though I have also seen a headline or two that seemed to possibly take the opposite view (I haven't yet made time to read or listen to those).

My ritual for this season was 1. to watch the latest episode as it dropped each week (of course), and 2. rewatch the episode on the weekend with my kids, and then 3. to listen to the follow up podcast episode with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott.

When the season ended, I was both exhilarated and sad. The ritual was done, there were no more episodes to be had.

But then! Ben and Adam dropped a bonus episode of their podcast, this one featuring a couple of really interesting guests (and Dan Erikson, Severance creator and interesting person in his own right). In the middle section of the episode, another set of Severance podcasters - two of whom are neuroscience-related medical professionals - talk about the theories and ideas that Severance posits, which is very interesting as it comes from people in the actual scientific know.

The final guest of the episode is SZA, whom I know really nothing about outside of her Superbowl halftime appearance. But she is fascinating, and highly intelligent, and philosophical, and funny, and charming. I love joyous surprises, and I loved her - and will now be seeking out her music based solely on her 20 minute conversation with Ben and Adam.

And here is my first dose.

Dreams - listen and cover by La Lune, Vancouver shoegaze band

Alright here's another one, this time it's Dreams by La Lune. So it's Fleetwood Mac, it's dreampop / shoegaze, basically two great tastes that taste great together for me. It's got a slowdown, which is wonderful. The whole thing takes me back to Hot Robot, the band I was in in university / post-university years, before the Unlevels.

The bassist is the correct vocalist for this song, and I do like her voice a lot. I wish they put some phase on her vox, and also there is so much room in there for some sweet harmonies. But also, this is an impromptu thing (who knows how long they really got but surely it was not a lot) so you know. I get it, there's never the perfect take, so I get it. But man I got ideas.

Anyway, one thing both this and the previous video did was make me aware of new bands, and potentially bands that I would want to check out online or maybe even in person. And that's always cool.

Heart Shaped Box - listen and cover exercise by Ulysses Owens Jr and Band

Listen man, I know this ain't new, taking a Nirvana song and making it jazz. The Bad Plus did this perhaps the most famously with Lithium on their album, For All I Care. (Or maybe there's some even more famous Nirvana jazz cover, but I loved For All I Care and I am very familiar with that cover.)

Anyway, but listen man, it's Friday and I want to share with you this little video of Ulysses Owens Jr and his band, all of whom - with the exception of the bassist - hear Heart Shaped Box for the first time and then proceed to cover it. Now maybe because he knows the song already, the bassist just rips shit up. Like, RIPS IT UP. But probably he's doing that all the time on all the songs. But the sax player also, I'm not kidding, when she started playing I almost got a tear in my eye.

So anyway, listen. Just, have a listen. And enjoy your Friday, y'all.

Free Agency, or, Saying Goodbye to Some Old Friends

This year's start of free agency has hit Niners fans pretty hard. That's because, as the team aims to get younger and also shed some of their larger contracts, we have had to say goodbye to some players who have provided some of the most memorable, team-galvanizing plays of recent times, contributing hugely to wins against big rivals (Seahawks, Eagles) and led us to the NFC championship and Superbowl runs that have been a staple of the last five years. The only two teams more successful in this period have been the Chiefs and the Eagles - we have been riding pretty high!

My favourite player of these last five years has been Deebo Samuel. I love his wrecking ball style of play. His 3 TD game against the Eagles last year was probably his last really great game as a Niner, but there's so many other points in time where he's just dominated a game or turned it around - and so often against a rival like the Rams or Seahawks. This last year was absolutely not his year, and it's sad to see him go - though to be honest it has felt like he's been gone for a little while now. But I'm sure he's still going to have a game or two as his old self with the Commanders.

Dre. Man, did I ever love Dre. I loved Fred and Dre together almost as much as I loved Patrick and NaVarro - which is a lot, folks. Responsible for one of the single greatest plays in 49ers history - no hyperbole, I know that's a huge cauldron of great plays and a significant number of iconic out-of-your-seat jubilance moments that I'm comparing to - was his goal-line stand against Jacob Hollister of the Seahawks to end the 2019 season and start their Superbowl run. Like, Dre didn't just tackle Hollister, he DESTROYED him. Hollister went from moving forward to moving absolutely nowhere in an instant. The ball could not have been closer to the goal line without crossing it. Just so great. That was Dre. Big Play Dre.

Hufanga, I will say that he didn't have the same prolonged success as the other two, but his highs were pretty damn high. Obviously the special teams play in Green Bay to end that horrible snowy stalemate will be remembered as his biggest moment as a Niner, but damn he sure had Matt Stafford's number a few times as well.

And then there's Aaron Banks, who was as solid of a left guard as you could hope for. Juice, of course, who was the original "offensive weapon". Though he was never quite used in that way, he did have several plays, toe tap catches on sidelines and such, that just yanked you out of your seat.

Mooney Ward, who we knew wouldn't be coming back due to his desire to leave the trauma that he's had to endure while with the team behind (no one's fault, just life). But whose departure still hurts. Man his clamping down on DK the past couple years has been amazing and legendary. He was a true shutdown corner. And I loved his locker room interviews. He always came across as thoughtful and respectful, humble for a guy who could stand up to and shut down a hulk like DK Metcalf on the field.

Anyway, time moves on and the team must as well. But yeah, sad and reflective time in the Niners fandom for sure. Here's hoping we do some trade-ups in the draft and snag some really quality young replacements in April.

Happy Severance Day, kids!

To paraphrase Elaine Benes: I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with [Severance]!

<-- This is what Severance is doing to me, except in reverse. It's implanted and there's no reintegration happening. Reintegration is impossible anyway, don't you know.

Never have I ever watched so much YouTube follow-up or listened to so many podcasts talking about a show, frigging cast interviews, frigging EVERYTHING. (Though to be fair I probably would have during seasons 2-4 of Lost if such things existed.) But yeah, I can't get enough. So much so that my YouTube algorithm is unshakable and I can't even open the homepage on Fridays unless I've watched this week's episode for fear of spoilers.

Beyond the story, the writing and acting and direction and cinematography and sets and props and everything, literally everything, THE MUSIC!!!, are damn near perfect on this show. I'm in love.

And I know I said as much about Shogun last year, and it was true then for them, and it can also be true now for this. Two wildly different shows, but Twin Peaks (RIP David Lynch) of peak television without a doubt.

So, happy Severance day everybody. And, hey kids, what's for dinner?

(My God Turturro is a force. And Brit Lower, and Tramell Tillman, and Zach Cherry, and Adam Scott. Chris Walken. Frigging Balf.)

(But straight up, John Turturro and Brit Lower both should have multiple awards for this season, as Tramell Tillman should have had from season 1.)

(So good.)