What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

We’re in the home stretch, one week out from the due date, and work is winding down for both of us as we prep for our incoming bundle ‘o joy. While we wait, we’ve got some time to kill — the last abundant free time we’ll have for a long while. So to make the most of it, we’re filling it with the important stuff: comic books and video games. (Along with the boring stuff, like finishing the baby room, getting the final things we need off our registry, prepping the baby bag for the delivery…you know, preparing to actually be parents. Like I said, the boring stuff.)

What We’re Watching: Logan (RT 92%)

Two weekends, two movie date nights. Is #winning still a thing? We followed up last week’s great-but-not-amazing La La Land with the great-and-amazing Logan, Hugh Jackman’s supposedly last turn as Wolverine. It was violent, profane, and super bloody (which for a dude with giant ginsu knives coming out of his knuckles, totally makes sense). They earned every bit of that R-rating. But beyond the ridiculous amounts of blood — something I grow more tired of the older I get — Logan crucially brings mature themes along with it, like the ravages of aging, mental illness, and the weight of our choices. What they do with Professor X’s character is really fascinating and provoking, and Patrick Stewart turns in a powerful performance. No surprise he kind of wants to walk away too: it would be a heckuva high note to go out on.

It’s no secret that I’m not the biggest comic book movie fan, mainly because the current MO is to make them like TV episodes, where each one ends pointing to the next movie, without ever having a real conclusion. That’s good for selling movie tickets, bad for feeling satisfied at the end of a movie. Logan has a definitive ending and is basically a standalone movie apart from the main X-Men movies, and it’s far better for it. Finality is a powerful thing in an age of sequels and spin-offs.

When the credits came on, a group of guys behind us started discussing if there was a post credits scene. When they figured out there wasn’t, they seemed flabergasted. Even after the profoundly satisfying ending, they still expected the most self-contained comic book movie in recent memory to end by teasing the next movie. Marvel’s done a number on us all.

Watch it if you can stomach the violence. It’s easily the most adult comic book movie since The Dark Knight Rises, and I don’t mean that as a back handed compliment. It also helped that Wolverine looks after a little girl for most of the movie. His parenting style is questionable (killing bad guys on a school night), but his heart is in the right place. Hit me right in the dad-to-be feels.

What We’re Also Watching: Parenthood (Netflix)

So I’m preparing for fatherhood with mutants, and Katie is prepping for motherhood with…actual parents. Lame.

Out of all the shows that Katie’s binged while riding out the pregnancy nausea — like Friends (that laugh track is a soul killer), Call the Midwife (obviously), and Parks and Rec (my favorite) — I can say for sure that Parenthood is the yell-iest. I swear, no one knows how to communicate in a calm, measured tone on this show. Probably not the best place to pick up parenting tips, just sayin’.

She’s also watching This Is Us — along with the rest of America, apparently — but this one is more fun to complain about. This is her second time going through it, and I’m sure it’s a lovely show. I just prefer my yelling to happen right before a bad guy gets his head sliced open with 3 razor sharp adamantium claws. But that’s just me.

What We’re Playing: Nintendo Switch

We love playing video games together. No joke, I’ve spent more time playing Mario with Katie than I ever did growing up. We’ve been playing New Super Luigi Bros since Christmas. I know, she’s the best.

With last week’s launch of the Nintendo Switch, I was at Walmart, waiting in line at midnight with a few dozen other nerds to pick up my dream console: a Zelda/Mario machine that I can play on our TV at home with Katie and then take on the road with me when I travel. I’m in love. This thing is a great home console, but it’s the best portable console ever made. No more compromised gaming on my phone or iPad; this beast is on another level. (I’ve already put in close to a dozen hours on Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but I’ll go into more detail in a future post. Spoiler: it might be the best game I’ve ever played.)

We’ve been playing Snipperclips and it’s been phenomenal. Once you move past the ridiculous name, you’ll find a fun, approachable yet challenging multiplayer game. The basic premise is you work together to solve increasingly challenging tasks by slicing and dicing you and your partner’s adorable characters. It’s tough to explain, but super easy to figure out with a controller in your hand.

Speaking of controllers, that’s one of the best parts. When you pull off the controllers on the sides of the Switch tablet, you’re ready to play with another person. That’s it. No buying a second controller. No waiting for them to sync up. You just go. Like the other night, I brought the Switch upstairs for my nightly Zelda session before bed, and Katie decided she wanted to play some Snipperclips (it’s impossible to say that name without giggling). So I popped the tablet down between us, and away we went. So awesome. Oh, and did I mention the amazing looking Mario game coming out this fall? This baby is just getting warmed up. I wonder how long until our real life baby can join in on the fun. The controllers are pretty small…so like 6 months or something?

What Wednesday #38: Pregnancy Update was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Watching: Moonlight…no, wait, I mean La La Land (RT 93%)

Hahaha. Hilarious joke I made there for the title, right?! I’m a total original, I know. Anyways, we did actually go see La La Land (in an actual theater!) and I quite liked it! Normally, singing and dancing movies aren’t at the top of my list (unless it’s a Disney cartoon), but for Ryan Gosling, I’ll make an exception, if only because he’s responsible for the greatest meme of all time. And man is he awesomely talented in this. He learned to play jazz piano in three months for goodness sakes!

It was a bright, fun, and perfectly enjoyable musical. The singing and dancing were great, and Emma Stone and Gosling absolutely crushed it. Stone for sure earned her Oscar, though Amy Adams was totally robbed by not being nominated for the best movie of last year, Arrival. All around, pretty good movie. It deserves a lot of the hype and attention it received.

(Though I didn’t love the actual songs. I’m just not a big fan of musical…umm, music? Musical music? That can’t be right.)

The problem I had with it was that it all felt a little too safe. Outside one trippy sequence near the end, there was nothing that stood out as truly thrilling or fresh. There’s something to be said for just nailing a classic style, but after the director’s last film — the brilliant and far superior Whiplash, which he totally should have won Best Director for, instead of this one — I felt it was all a little too boringly competent. While I haven’t seen Moonlight yet, I’m reasonably confident it deserved to win Best Picture over La La Land. It’s a fun flick, but not one that I’ll remember vividly years from now. It also continues the grand tradition of Hollywood loving movies about itself, which gets pretty annoying. But for what it is, it’s pretty solid. Check it out when it lands on HBO eventually. If only for Ryan Gosling…more like Ryan Gorgeous, amirite ladies?

What I’m Reading: March: Book Three, by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, Illustrated by Nate Powell (Amazon)

I’m out of my depth here commenting on such a powerful work about a critical and shameful time in American history. This is the final book in the graphic novel trilogy, and it climaxes at the march on Selma. Told from congressman John Lewis’ first hand experience as one of the leaders of the civil rights movement, it’s hard to describe the shock and shame reading about the racist past of where I grew up. I’ve talked about it before, but it is really disorienting to acknowledge what happened there and in other southern states just a short time before I was born. I mean, three kids were killed just trying to help African Americans to register to vote. With the assistance of police officers. Who were all then let off the next day by a racist judge…

The third book has been the most powerful, and it’s made my breath catch in my throat numerous times with the monstrosity on display. But it’s important to note that it’s ordinary monstrosity, as in, these are normal people doing terrible things. Not evil mustache twirling villains, but sweet old ladies down the road that bring always bring a peach cobbler to the church pot luck. We should always be congnizent of those ordinary monstrosities, because they’ll always be with us, no matter how much we try to isolate them in the past. The encouraging part is that it can be defeatred by ordinary heroism.

Anyways, you just should read it. I can’t do it justice. But be warned, it’s not easy reading.

What I’m Reading: Before the Fall, by Noah Hawley (Amazon)

I love the TV show Fargo and I’m quite enjoying Legion, so when I found out the creator of both those shows, Noah Hawley, has a book out, I naturally wanted to read it. I’m about a fourth of the way through, and I’m enjoying it. It’s written in a quick, breezy manner, with just enough detail and flowery language to keep it above dime store thriller level. The basics are a private plane crashes off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, and one of the survivors is left to piece together what happened. Grounded firmly in reality, but with a healthy dose of mystery to propel it along, it’s been a page turner so far. I’d say it’s worth a library rental at least. Don’t be surprised if it gets turned into a mini-series on FX.

What Wednesday #37 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Working On: The Daytona 500

I worked on the Super Bowl a few weeks ago. Now I’m working on the redneck Super Bowl, the Daytona 500! It’s definitely not my first 500, but it’s one of my biggest because Redneck Jesus, Dale Jr., is back after missing the 2nd half of last year with a concussion. Exciting times! To commemorate, we had a sit-down with him, his wife and Jeff Gordon. That’s a lot of racing star power in one room. Instead of telling you about the shoot, I figured I’d show you. You can look for the finished product this Sunday on Fox. The pre-race show airs at 1pm and it will air near the end of it. Check it out. NASCAR can use the help in the ratings…

Bonus: I also got to hang out with Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart in Detroit at Ford HQ, where I got to see where they designed the $500,000 Ford GT. Which is also kinda cool, I guess.

What Wednesday #36: Daytona 500 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Watching: A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)

Disclaimer: I’ve never seen the Jim Carrey movie, or read the books, so I’m coming in blind. Like, I thought Lemony Snicket was the name of the main character, not the author. Whoops. Well, 3 episodes in, it’s been a good time so far. But I’m not sure I love it.

I’m probably at a disadvantage for having not read the books when I was younger, because on paper, it should be right up my alley: creepy but goofy, with a Tim Burton Big Fish crossed with Edward Scissorhands vibe, and a penchant for breaking the 4th wall and ridiculous word play. Neil Patrick Harris is great fun, Patrick Warburton nails his special brand of deadpan humor as Lemony Snicket (is this why he couldn’t do the new Tick?) and the kids are also nicely acted. But it all leaves me a little cold. I don’t know why exactly. It’s a tricky line to walk (disturbing without being too disturbing, weird without being too weird), and I’m not sure it nails it. Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind by the end.

What I’m Also Watching: Batman: The Animated Series (Amazon Prime Video)

This show is basically the perfect animated comic book show. It’s the greatest. Period. Best music, best art style, best hero, best villains, best everything. It was one of the first animated shows to take kids seriously, and because of that it still stands up really well. If you’re looking to kill a Saturday morning, look no further than the ultimate Saturday morning cartoon.

What I’m Hearing: Hiss Golden Messenger (Neighborhood Theater)

Durham’s Hiss Golden Messenger sneaked into my list of Top 5 albums last year, and I was lucky enough this past Sunday to catch MC Taylor and his band perform down the road at Neighborhood Theatre (so awesome to be able to walk to a concert from my house…I love NoDa). They brought the perfect blend of soul, folk, and jam band. Lots of head bobbing, guitar solos, and fierce piano playing made for a great show.

(Side note: the drummer is in Bon Iver and the pianist also used to play with Justin Vernon before he formed Bon Iver, among other well regarded bands like Megafaun. Good pedigree there.)

After the concert, I decided to do a deep dive into his past work, where I came to find out that Taylor recorded the first Hiss Golden Messenger album on a cassette player in his kitchen while his newborn son slept in the other room. You can tell he’s basically whispering the lyrics so not to wake his son up. It’s cool to know that creativity continues into fatherhood. Although this most recent album is focused around his guilt of touring and traveling away from his family. I’ll know that feeling soon enough…

What Wednesday #35 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Watching Tonight: Legion (FX)

The first ever live action X-men TV series, from the creator of the Fargo TV series (one of the best shows on TV), with wonderful actors like Aubrey Plaza and Paul Betnay. Do you need any other reason to be watching tonight’s series premiere of Legion? How about the reviewers are saying it’s completely different than any other superhero show and has potential to reinvent a cliche ridden and predictable genre? If you can’t tell, I‘m not the biggest comic book movie/TV show fan. Don’t even get me started on The Walking Dead or Man of Steel. Most everything has been pretty blah since The Dark Knight (except for Guardians of the Galaxy…Baby Groot!!), and anything that injects new life into such a tired genre will definitely get my support. Watch, and we’ll discuss later.

What I’m Also Watching: The Revenant in 4K (Amazon)

Since I’m not going to get out to the movie theater as often once the kiddo gets here, I thought I would bring the theater to me, so I picked up a big 4k TV during the Super Bowl sales last week. I used The Revenant on Ultra HD Blu-ray to put it through its paces and, whoa boy, it’s drop dead gorgeous! You don’t need me to tell you how amazing the movie itself is (spoiler: it’s amazing), but even though I saw it in theater, I was not prepared for watching it in full 4k glory at home. I think I may have teared up when the first shot of snow covered mountains came up.

The HDR effect (basically ultra bright whites) alone takes the movie, which was shot almost entirely with natural light, to another level, bringing it to life in a way that fits perfectly with the director’s vision. The sun cutting through the forrest is piercing in such a realistic way that it very nearly transcends film. The cinematographer won his third Oscar in a row for this movie, and it’s an eye-watering wonder in 4K. Until the holodeck becomes a real thing (probably right around the corner, though VR movies apparently have a long way to go), this is the closest I can get to being inside the movie. And it’s glorious.

What I’m Hearing: Kehlani (Spotify, Apple Music)

For the past decade, R&B has been where the most exciting experimentation in music has come out. From Drake (c’mon, he’s not actually hip hop), to political Beyonce, to crazy FKA Twigs, it’s been where the most exciting new sounds have been originating (what, you say EDM has been more exciting?? LOL). Now, while I love the glitchy weirdness of James Blake as much as the next hipster, there’s something to be said about a straight up, old school crooner alongside catchy hooks and fun beats. Kehlani’s new album SweetSexySavage is a wonderful bit of pop R&B, harkening back to the glory days of Aaliyah and TLC. I mean, listen to the chorus of “CRZY” once and tell me that’s not going to stay in your head for days and days. Good stuff.

What Wednesday #34 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Doing: Working on the Super Bowl

Today’s post is going to be pretty short, because most of my waking hours this past week have been spent on getting ready for the Big Show. Fox, my employer, has the Super Bowl this year (it trades off every year between CBS, NBC, and Fox). This is my first Super Bowl, and it’s been about as crazy as I expected.

My week started with a sunrise shoot of a guy raising a flag in a concrete facility (random, I know). Wednesday, I was in Charleston interviewing some Navy SEALs who trained with the Falcons in the off-season. Yesterday, I finished up my piece on Houston Texans defensive end Devon Still and his daughter Leah, who was diagnosed with cancer at 4 (don’t worry, she’s been in remission for a while!). Today, I’m still scrambling trying to land an interview with the CMPD Chief of Police (spoiler, probably not going to happen).

Thankfully, I didn’t have to go to Houston for the actual Super Bowl. I know it sounds weird, but I’ve gone to enough sporting events in my life. It would definitely be an experience, but there’s a fairly good chance I’ll make it to one sometime, and with a 34 week pregnant wife, now’s definitely not the best time. Besides, these days I’m more interested in meeting interesting people than events, and I met plenty of them this week.

If you want to catch some of my work, you’ll need to tune in a little early. Like up to 2 hours early. The piece on Leah Still is my primary piece, and I think it turned out great. And if you happen to miss it, I’ll definitely be posting it on Monday. But the thing I helped with that will probably generate the most…umm…discussion is what I shot first thing in the week. The sunrise flag raising.

It’s for a piece that’s set to the Johnny Cash song “That Ragged Old Flag”, a song that I had never heard of until now. The piece has an insane budget (it cost $30,000 just to use the song) and should look incredible. What’s interesting is that though it’s usually a patriotic song, to use it in the current political climate will probably create a little controversy, with enough symbolism and lyrics to be used by both sides. (Oh, and before you say anything, Fox Sports is not in any way connected to Fox News. We have different aims, executives, and staff. There’s no crossover between us at all, beyond cross promotion.) I’m really interested to see how everyone responds.

And watching that response will be really easy because, let’s face it, everyone will be talking about the Super Bowl on Sunday. The numbers are staggering: two years ago, 114 million (!) people watched the Patriots beat the Seahawks, making it the most watched TV broadcast of all time. This one is projected to beat that. Now, only a fraction of that will be tuned into the pre-game show, but the numbers there are still massive. My Leah Still piece should have around 15–20 million viewers, which is still over half of last year’s record breaking NBA Finals Game 7. Not the pre-game — the entire game itself. That’s crazy!

The “Ragged Old Flag” piece will air at the very end of the pre-game, right before the team intros. There should be 60 million viewers at that point. The numbers are dizzying and easily the largest of my career. There aren’t any bigger stages than this, and it’s kind of hard to wrap my mind around.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the show!

What Wednesday #33: Super Bowl was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Reading: Goodnight Darth Vader (Amazon)

I warned you this will turn into a daddy blog in March, so forgive me for starting a little early. I just had to share this awesome baby shower gift from my brother and his wife. It’s basically Goodnight Moon with Star Wars characters. And it’s oh so wonderful:

It’s got all the obvious characters (Yoda, Han, C3PO), some of the more obscure (Jango Fett, Lando, the trash compactor monster), and even some from the phenomenal Clone Wars animated show. (Unfortunately, it also has Jar Jar Binks, but I guess the kids love him.)

It’s littered with so many little details from the movies, it’s clearly more for the geeky adults reading the book than the kids being read to. But that’s fine with me, the kid’s gotta learn her geek heritage sometime. Might as well be right before she drifts off to sleep.

What I’m Hearing: Frank Ocean, “Blonde” (Vinyl)

My favorite album of last year, this time in vinyl form. My lovely wife picked this up for me on Black Friday (the one and only day it was for sale) and it just got here (guess those vinyl fairies are a little busy). As I’ve already talked about at length, Blonde is an amazing album. But I already knew that. How does the vinyl itself stack up to the quality of them album? I’m sorry to say, not well at all…

The sparse album art I expected, and it looks great. But the lack of lyrics, nearly empty gatefold, and questionably pressed records (the labels don’t even specify which side is which) all amount to a half-hearted job. Definitely not worthy of what the record contains.

But I’m still ecstatic to have my favorite album of 2016 on vinyl. And if nothing else, the limited release makes this baby valuable — it’s selling for around $200(!) on secondhand markets. But this thing isn’t going anywhere. Toys aren’t meant to live in plastic, they’re meant to be played with! And believe you me, it will get plenty of play. The kiddo’s musical education will begin early.

What I’m Also Hearing: The xx, “I See You” (Spotify, Apple Music)

The xx is an incredibly popular indie pop/electronic band out of London, and their new album has shot straight to the top of the charts. Think of them as an 80’s pop band from the future. If you like dancing to your music, and have somehow missed them over the past 8 years, give them a listen. (And if you really like dancing to your music, check out band member Jamie xx’s 2015 solo album, In Colour. That thing is incredibly fun to listen to and starts with one of the best bangers from the past couple of years, “Gosh”.) Please to enjoy.

What Wednesday #32 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Hearing: Apple AirPods (Apple)

Disclaimer: I’m a big Apple fanboy. I’ve been a devotee to the fruit company ever since my first iPhone nearly ten years ago (minus a brief dalliance with Android, which turned out to be a big mistake). We’re an all Mac household, with iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and MacBooks. But even I knew that they had a rough 2016: no headphone jack in the iPhone 7 (though the my 7 Plus is my favorite phone yet), iPad stagnation, and the new MacBook Pro battery issues. Enter: the AirPods.

Though Apple technically squeaked them out before the end of 2016, they’ve been incredibly difficult to get so far. Selling them quicker than they can make them, I finally got my pair a few weeks ago. And I have to say, they’re my favorite new Apple product since my first iPhone almost ten years ago.

Apple is at its best when it nails the “it just works” aspect of its products so well, it feels like actual magic. Bluetooth has been one of those things that so much tech is: on paper, it’s great, but in reality, it sucks. Dropouts, disconnects, and terrible quality rule the day. Fortunately, with their tight integration of software and hardware, Apple was able to make some big improvements. You can go on any number of websites to get the full picture, so I’ll just say they’ve been a joy to use, with a generally rock solid connection, good battery life, great build quality, and excellent integration with Apple products. And I can’t understate how awesome it is to not have wires of any kind. It’s one of those things that will be standard someday — can you imagine having holograms, but needing to first plug your headphones into your floating supercomputer?

If you want a glimpse of the future, and are willing to shell a fair bit of cash — though they’re cheaper than almost every other fully wireless headphones — good luck finding a pair.

What I’m Also Hearing: 90s Pop (Spotify)

I find pop music supremely interesting, so I’ve been loving the book I talked about last week, The Song Machine, a look inside how pop music is made. The chapter I read last night was right in my wheelhouse: 90s pop music. Specifically, boy bands and Britney Spears. Their bubblegum pop is fascinating for a number of reasons. First, their bright, happy music came on the heels of one of the most cynical musical styles ever, grunge, proving that pop culture moves back and forth between family friendly and moral debauchery. Miley Cyrus is not the end game. Second, most of the biggest hits originated from the same Swedish production house, from the same supremely talented super-producers, who were the first to combine R&B with pop. And last, the music is incredibly well produced and sophisticated: the main super-producer, Max Martin, who’s still making music for superstars like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, is a classically trained musical savant, with years of advanced musical theory under his belt.

A couple of tidbits: Bon Jovi’s big 2000 hit “It’s My Life” was co-written by the same producers behind Britney Spears and *NSYNC; the line “Hit me baby one more time” was supposed to mean “call me” as in “hit me up”, but the Swedish songwriters messed up the saying; and the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC were managed and run by the same people, but they weren’t told about it until much later. The guy behind Backstreet Boys, Lou Pearlman, figured it would only be a matter of time before a competitor copied their style, so he did it himself with *NSYNC. Needless to say, both bands got pretty pissed at him when they figured it out. He also cheated them out of millions of dollars. He’s in jail now. Good times.

And one last thing I finally got listening to the song “Larger Than Life” years later: it’s total fan service. The chorus “Every time we’re down, you can make it right/And that makes you larger than life” is meant to make their teenage girl fans feel like they’re individually important to the band. The boys see you in the crowd, and your buying their CDs and merch basically keeps them alive. And while that’s manipulative and creepy on its own, this line is the real kicker:

Looking at the crowd and I see your body sway, come on
Wishing I could thank you in a different way, come on

They’re basically saying they wish they could hook up with their teens fans. CREEPY! But, also kind of amazing that such a “wholesome” act would be so brazenly predatory. Ah, the 90s. I miss your hiding sexuality behind “family friendly” sugary pop. Today’s pop music is just too honest.

The book comes with Spotify playlists for each chapter. This one was particularly amazing to listen to driving around today…though I did turn down the volume anytime I pulled up next to someone. They don’t call ’em guilty pleasures for nothing. Feel free to enjoy from the safety of your own home. #NoJudgement

What I’m Playing: HYPERtheticals: 50 Questions for Insane Conversations (Amazon)

Not for the faint of heart, this card game is designed to create crazy conversations, which it does pretty effectively. Won shrewdly at a dirty Santa party by yours truly — I’m a ruthless stealer of gifts — this game has proven to be quite the gem. In a large enough group, each question can create 15+ minutes of discussion/argument. For example, if you have to resort to cannibalism, which do you eat first: babies or the elderly? Yeah, good times.

The questions are written by Chuck Klosterman, one of my favorite writers on pop culture. A frequent collaborator with famous sports writer and failed TV personality, Bill Simmons, Klosterman’s books are as strange and discussion provoking as this game. I’ve greatly enjoyed the books of his that I’ve read, and this game really is no different.

Here’s one of the highlights from playing over the weekend with my family: you’re in the “honesty room” with your parents, where they have to answer 100% truthfully to any question. What do you ask them? Needless to say, answering this question around my parents was…interesting.

Great to play with medium to large groups. If there are big age differences and/or familial relationships involved, maybe do some screening of questions ahead of time. If you’re cool with things getting weird, pick it up. You’re gonna have a great time.

What Wednesday #31 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Wednesday is where I talk about what I’m watching, reading, playing, etc, because for some reason I think you’ll find that interesting. If you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them :)

What I’m Watching: The Crown (Netflix)

The Crown won a bunch of Golden Globes, so naturally it went to the top of my lengthy “watch this already” list. Well, after watching the first episode and a half, I’m happy to report that it’s quite enjoyable. Think Downton Abbey mixed with House of Cards and just a dash of Game of Thrones (minus the dragons and boobs (at least I assume we don’t see the Queen’s family jewels (groan))).

Centered on the ascendency of Queen Elizabeth, Netflix bet big on this British royal family drama, giving it the largest budget in TV history at a cool $130 million for 10 episodes. I’d say it’s paid off so far: it’s appropriately gorgeous and well acted; it’s not nearly as kitschy or soap opera-y as Downton; and it has history all over the place. It’s about as close to watching a documentary as you’ll find in a drama. Plus, it has John Lithgow as Winston Churchill! (Though, I can’t help but think “that’s John Lithgow!” the whole time.) And I’m a sucker for almost all things British (sorry, Mr. Bean), so it’s a win, win, win.

Netflix is finally starting to come into its own with actual high quality content (get outta here House of Cards)…though I can’t help but think it would still be a slightly better show on HBO. Watch it, if you can dig people in elegant costumes talking with elegant accents in elegant settings.

What I’m Watching: The Lobster (iTunes, Amazon, 90% RT)

Do you like a little dark with your funny? Like, “laughing at hunting humans and attempted suicides” dark? Well, have I got the movie for you. The Lobster, starring Rachel Weisz, John C. Reiley, and a gloriously mustachioed Colin Farrell, is a supremely unsettling dark comedy.

Set in some alternate reality where adults are legally required to be in a relationship, those unfortunate enough to be single check into a creepy “rehab” facility designed to pair them off with a suitable mate. The twist is that if they don’t find a partner within 45 days, they’re turned into the animal of their choosing. Colin Farrell chooses a lobster, obviously. That’s actually the easiest part of the movie to describe. There’s tranquilizers, forced seductions, and some really awkward makeout sessions. There aren’t any “she’s your lobster” moments in this one. There’s also a fair amount of obvious culture commentary, but that’s the least interesting part of this strange beast.

It’s the best super weird high concept indie movie I’ve seen since farting Harry Potter. Check it out if you don’t mind a little creepy and disturbing with your romantic comedies.

But for my money, the best part of it is that Colin Farrell is a dead ringer for my dad with that mustache! For those who know him, just watch this trailer. That’s not Colin, that’s Craig!

What I’m Also Hearing/Reading: The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory, by John Seabrook (Amazon)

The only thing I love more than music is reading about music. One of my favorite books last year was Questlove’s Mo Metta Blues, and I’m kicking 2017 off with The Song Machine, by New Yorker writer John Seabrook, a look inside the hitmakers that produce superstars like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. I’ve long known about the Swedish superstar producers like Max Martin, whose credits date back to the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, but it’s still fascinating to read about the evolution of modern pop music, and its infusion with R&B and Hip Hop through the masterful efforts of these foreign producers. Just the sheer amount of hit songs guys like Max Martin have written is insane: you can thank him for “Oops!….I Did It Again”, “Quit Playin’ Games (with My Heart)”, “Teenage Dream”, and “Since U Been Gone.” Plus, the author has Spotify playlists for each chapter, so you can follow along as he talks about different songs. Very cool.

Main takeaway so far: if you don’t like modern pop (I happen to enjoy much of it myself…it’s just so well made!) I’m sorry, it’s not going anywhere. Something like 80% of the music industry profits are from 1% of the artists. The age of Spotify has only made hits more important, not less. With streaming and radio apps like Pandora, it’s easier than ever to listen to your own niche tunes, but pop and its stars will continue to saturate mainstream culture for years to come. Maybe forever. Those darn Swedes.

What Wendesday #30 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What I’m Playing: Xbox One S

With Baby Burnett (not her actual name) almost here, I wanted my last Christmas as a somewhat irresponsible adult to be special. So I asked Santa for what all irresponsible adults want: a video game console. And wouldn’t you know it, Santa delivered.

With Nintendo my primary console of choice (see below), the battle for the no. 2 spot between Xbox and PlayStation has always gone to the PS (save for some loooooooong Halo sessions in college on the original Xbox). With my PS3 looking a little long in the tooth, I was counting on Sony to push me into the next gen with the PS4 Pro. But Sony, one of Blu-ray’s biggest supporters, didn’t give the Pro a 4K Blu-ray player for some insane reason, while the almost half as expensive Xbox One S has one. Since I watch more movies than video games these days, and even my glorious gigabit fiber internet can’t make a heavily compressed Netflix “4K” stream look anywhere close to as nice as an uncompressed 4K Blu-ray, back to Xbox land I go.

First impressions: it’s quite nice here. The interface is smooth and easy to get around; the design of the console, unlike the bulky original Xbox, is quite svelte and attractive; and the controller is a joy to use, also unlike the insanely bulky original Xbox controller:

Thankfully, the games aren’t much different than the PS4 (though someday I’ll definitely want to pick up a PS4 on the cheap to play Sony exclusives like Uncharted and The Last Guardian) and I’ve been enjoying the couple I got with the system. Battlefield 1 has been an intense reintroduction to first-person shooters (after Halo, I stopped playing shooters and never got into Call of Duty…and I call myself a gamer, tsk tsk), and Final Fantasy XV has been enjoyably beautiful and weird, just as any proper Final Fantasy game should be.

I’m sure my game playing will take a nosedive around mid-March, but it’ll pick back up a few short years later when Baby Burnett (again, not her actual name) is old enough to hold a controller and join me in some Halo co-op.

What I’m Also Playing: Super Mario Run (iPhone)

The Xbox is cool and all, but my true love is Nintendo. And not just the Nintendo of my youth, but the Nintendo of now. The now discontinued Wii U sees way more use in our house than any other console — I’ve dumped close to 500 hours just between Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon (which is just like Battlefield, but with paint instead of bullets, and squids instead of soldiers. Yep, just like it). And I couldn’t be more excited for the Nintendo Switch, their console/tablet hybrid that comes out in March (just like Baby Burnett!)

I’ve owned every Nintendo console except the Virtual Boy (dodged a bullet there) and the N64 (I’m still sad about that one. Rented it plenty of times from Blockbuster, though). That includes handhelds, like the DS and classic Game Boy. Kids, a Game Boy was a portable device you carried around with you to play games on the go. Like a smartphone. Except you could only play games on it. And it was a lot bigger. And the battery died a lot quicker. And the screen was way worse. But it was awesome, I swear!

Speaking of smartphones, a few weeks ago Nintendo officially released the first Mario game not on a Nintendo machine since some hilariously bad looking edutainment PC games in the mid 90s. When Nintendo announced Mario was coming to smartphones, iPhones first, everyone got their jimmies rustled; when they announced the price ($10), everyone’s jimmies got rustled again. With some estimates putting the percentage of people actually paying for the game after downloading in the low single digits, it seems like those jimmies might never stop rustling.

Which is a shame, because it’s about as good a Mario game as you can expect on a smartphone. Since Mario automatically runs, many people have compared it to runner games like Temple Run. But it’s not like that at all, because there’s actually an end to each level. And those levels are actually designed — in typically excellent Nintendo fashion — and not randomly generated. Plus, collecting progressively difficult coins is a smart mechanic that increases replayability. Without a physical controller, touching the screen would never work for a full on Mario game. Believe me. As much as people say they want that, those same people would be saying how terrible it is.

So, are we now doomed to toil away on our phones with free-to-play soul and wallet suckers like Candy Crush? Probably. As for me, you best believe I’ve already collected all those pesky coins and unlocked all of the secret levels and hidden characters. Because you know what’s better than Candy Crush? A game you can actually finish.

What I’m Reading: Better Angels of Our Nature, by Steven Pinker (Amazon)

I also got a few sweet books for Christmas. One that I’m really enjoying is Better Angels of Our Nature (2011), by prolific cognitive scientist and psychologist Steven Pinker. I’ve read one of his other books (How the Mind Works), and while I enjoy his writing, it was his premise that really caught me: over the course of human history, the human race has mercifully gotten less violent, not more. While I’m not qualified to speak on its accuracy — there are plenty of smarter people that question some of his numbers — he amasses enough evidence that makes the thrust of his argument very compelling.

The book has already been enjoyable and thought provoking, though I couldn’t help but skip ahead to the section on our modern era. One counterintuitive fact: worldwide, the number of deaths from terrorists peaked in the early 80’s, and has declined in fits and starts (most notably with 9/11) ever since. It just doesn’t feel like it, because our brains focus more on things in the present than in the past; and it’s easier to recall exceptional events — which is why you can remember where you were when 9/11 happened, but not what you did on this day last year. While that doesn’t negate the tragedies that seem to happen every week, it does call into question their outsized affect on the public psyche. Not only are terrorist attack deaths still incredibly rare, they’re rarer than they have been in decades. And not being afraid of them robs terrorists their primary weapon.

What Wednesday #29 was originally published in justPLAYING on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.