Giannis to the Lakers Doesn't Make Much Sense

I saw a headline on Bleacher Report this morning that said, "Giannis X Lakers trade ideas". Let’s discuss.

This took me back a little bit. I understand that Giannis' time in Milwaukee is pretty much over. He may return for all we know, but it feels like the writing has been on the wall for some time now. Giannis wants to go somewhere that he can compete right away for a title. He is older now, more injured and I'm sure he sees that his time left as a dominant force in the NBA is close to done. He was so awesome in his prime. He brought a title back to Milwaukee. He was the best player in the league, at least in my opinion, for a three or four year stretch during and post pandemic. but it feels like he is ready for the next chapter of his NBA career and he wants a change of scenery.

There's a few teams that make sense, if they can pull it off. The Warriors make the most sense to me. Sure, they're in the West, but put Giannis and Steph together, and I'd put them in the playoffs for sure. The Nets have all kinds of picks and young players they can move. And Giannis would instantly make the Nets a strong East team. The Raptors have always had eyes for Giannis, and if they could pull off a trade that doesn't involve Scottie Barnes, they could get a seat at the table. The Knicks may not go after him now that they're two wins away from the Finals. But if they were to rock the boat, that is where Giannis wants to play. The Cavs and Hawks seem less likely to trade for him now, but each has their own merits to go after him. The Hawks need a vet to keep that young team focused. And the Cavs need a force that is not afraid of any moment. And the Heat have always and will always be in the conversation for a star player. They have the means to get it done, and I wouldn't be shocked if that is where he ends up.

This whole Lakers addition is baffling to me. They would have to mortgage their future to bring him in. they would have to trade every pick they own. They would most likely have to add future picks. As far as players, I'd ask for the moon from the Lakers. I'd want Austin Reaves, Jarred Vanderbilt, Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia, Bronny James and Deandre Ayton. Hell, I'd probably ask for more. If the Lakers want to be taken seriously, if they want a seat at the table, this would be my ask if I'm the Bucks. This isn't the Mavs giving up Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. The Bucks front office is smarter and they have been playing this game with Giannis for over a year now. They don't have to trade him for scraps. They should get the farm, at the very least in picks, from whichever team or teams they're dealing with. With the Lakers, I'd want it all.

The 29 other teams in the NBA need to stop giving the Lakers whatever they want. Teams don't have to do that anymore. They are not the glamour franchise they used to be. Sure, they have new ownership coming in from the Dodgers, but the NBA has a salary cap. NBA teams can't just buy any player they want like they do in the MLB. The Dodgers get everyone and anyone because they can pay more. That's not the case in the NBA. There's so many more rules with the cap and I think the Dodgers people are going to find that out sooner rather than later, and that is going to drive them up the wall.

Also, if the Lakers were somehow able to get Giannis, what does that mean for LeBron? Is he already gone? Has he moved on? Or is he willing to take another backseat and be the third option again with the Lakers? I get it, he will be 42 next season, but he is still productive, and I think he still wants to win. And if Bronny is traded, would he follow him? Does he still want to wait and play with Bryce?

There's so much more than just the sensationalism of Luka and Giannis teaming up in LA. This would ravage the Lakers depth and youth. Luka and Giannis always seem to get hurt. JJ Redick is an overrated coach. He would have to do actual work to try and find guys on the cheap that could help this team. And vets who may want to play there would have to deal with taking on way less of a load based on what they excel at on a basketball court.

I hate this idea. I feel like any major media outlet is simply obsessed with getting star players, current and former, to LA. They want these big time players in big cities. They're so mad that San Antonio and Oklahoma City are going to be running the league for the next five to six years. That drives them up a wall. I would be stunned if Giannis ends up in LA. I would also despise it. I don't think it will happen, but I certainly hope it won't happen. This would not be good for the NBA. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Ode to One of the Greatest Dunks in NBA History

I want to take some time today to talk about one of the greatest dunks I have ever seen.

Last night the Spurs and Thunder played game two of the Western Conference Finals. Two games in this has already been an epic series. I hope it goes the full seven games and each team plays their damn hearts out. Game one was one of the best basketball games I’ve ever seen. It had everything one could want as a basketball fan. It went back and forth, went to double overtime, had one of the best three's made I've ever witnessed and was just simple and pure joy for all basketball fans' eyeballs. Last night's game wasn't as epic, but it was still a good game that went down to the wire, for the most part. But we were still gifted an amazing play that will live in my head rent free forever.

I'm not fully sure when it occurred in the game, but there was a moment that Stephon Castle took Isaiah Hartenstein's body and soul on an in-game dunk. The Spurs set a few ball screens for Castle that left the middle of the lane open. Now, for the casual fan that may not know much about Steph Castle yet, he wants to attack. The three point shot was open, but if you give Castle a runway, he is going to absolutely go for it. This is one of the many reasons I have already become a Castle fan. This kid is not scared of anyone, plays the game with a cerebral attitude, makes silly mistakes but I give those a pass, and just goes for it. He is still young and still has incredible bounce. He is all about using what suits his game best, and that is an easy fan to get my fandom. And that is exactly what he did last night. I know the Spurs didn't win the game, and I do think OKC may have figured something out last night, but this play was one of the many reasons the rest of the NBA should be very afraid of what the Spurs are currently building. When Castle saw that he had this open lane, he didn't get cute or try to wait for a three point shooter to get open, he attacked. He saw that there was only going to be one player playing defense in the post, Hartenstein, and I'm sure he knew in his mind's eye that he could attack. Castle took the ball, took a few hard dribbles and elevated. He looked like he was going to jump out of the damn gym. It looked like he was going to stay floating in the air forever. Hartenstein, and I give him credit, slid over and looked to attempt to block the dunk, or maybe draw a charge. Once Hartenstein decided to try and block the shot, that meant he was about to end up on a poster and become a viral meme. Again, I give him credit for not backing away, but man oh man did Castle try to end his NBA career right then and there. As Castle started to jump, he also cocked the ball back. This was when we all knew he was going to attempt an all time dunk. As Castle cocked the ball back you could see that Hartenstein wasn't going to be able to meet him at the rim. Either he mistimed his jump or just simply couldn't get high enough to get his fingertips on the ball. As Castle started the dunk we all knew he was going to slam it down, we just didn't realize the authority he was going to use. It felt as if Castle summoned all the great, hard dunkers of all time as he flushed the ball through the hoop. It looked like a mix of a Shawn Kemp, Moses Malone, Darly Dawkins and Dominique Wilkins dunk. He combined all of these great dunkers into one monstrous dunk. As Castle crammed the ball through the hoop, I couldn't help but make a guttural sound. It was that damn impressive to me watching this dunk. Castle jumped so high, cocked the ball back so effortlessly and smashed the ball through the hoop so hard that it was one of the most beautiful combinations of athletic ability that I've ever witnessed. And as he yelled and stared after making the dunk, I couldn't help but clap in my living room, where I was sitting with my son who was equally impressed.

This was an amazing dunk. Seriously, go pull it up on the internet and watch it right now and you will find yourself as impressed as I was last night. I was already a Steph Castle fan before last night, but now I'm a superfan of him. He reminds me of a great mix of old school and modern basketball, and last night's dunk was the best homage he could pay to the old school dunkers.

What an amazing dunk. I'm still in awe. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Thoughts on the Mavericks Letting Jason Kidd Go

The Dallas Mavericks and Jason Kidd have parted ways. I don't know if this was truly a mutual decision, or if the new president of the team, the wonderful Masai Ujiri, wanted a change at the top of the team. Either way, Kidd is no longer the head coach.

This felt like it was coming the moment the Mavs hired Ujiri. Anytime a new GM gets hired, the whole coaching staff is usually in trouble. That's the way it has been and continues to be. When a new GM comes in, they are going to want to bring along their people and people they trust. That's why it is a little crazy that Nick Nurse was retained by the 76ers after they let Daryl Morey go. That was not the case in Dallas. It seemed like, from the moment Nico Harrison was let go, Kidd's time was not long for the Mavs. I thought he could have stuck around if they had a better year, but they were not very good and they "only" got the ninth pick in the upcoming draft.

This job opening should entice whomever the Mavs hire. I have read that they are targeting a few young assistants, and that makes perfect sense to me. The Mavs have the bones of a solid starting five. Cooper Flagg is a star. If he can stay on the floor he is going to be a perennial all star and an easy player to build around. Kyrie Irving is coming back next season, and that will be a major boost. While older, and a little off his rocker, Irving can still handle and shoot the hell out of the ball. He will give this team a true point guard and true floor general. Derrick Lively will return to the lineup fully healthy. He is a good, young rim runner and a solid defensive force. Daniel Gafford still has something left in the tank. Max Christie had an okay season last year. And they still have Khris Middleton and Klay Thompson, who could be used as trade chips. The Mavericks aren't great, but they aren't horrible either. This isn't like the situation in Sacramento or Memphis. This is a team that has a true budding superstar, a solid group of vets and a lottery pick in this year's draft. I believe that whomever they hire will be put in a solid situation.

I saw that the Mavs were targeting a Spurs and Timberwolves assistant. That makes sense to me. Those guys are young, have helped to coach young superstars and understand modern NBA offenses. I'd trend more towards the Spurs assistant simply due to how well the Spurs play defense. They made the right choice in giving Mitch Johnson the head coaching job last year after Popp left, and he seems to have hired the right guys to his staff. The Spurs look to be building another dynasty of sorts, and coaches are going to get poached left and right. That's the way of the world in the NBA right now. The Mavs should avoid really good coaches like Billy Donovan and Tom Thibodeau, and go young. Donovan and Thibodeau have more than proven themselves, but they're also old school and that may not mesh well with the Mavs current roster.

As for Kidd, I don't really know where he goes from here. He had gifted and great players in Dallas, but he also willed those teams to higher heights than I thought they could reach. He led them to a Finals appearance. Up until this season, the Mavs were perennial playoff threats. He held them accountable on the defensive end, save for Luka Doncic. But he was also super prickly with the media and front office. He seemed short with the people he didn't like there. And this past season showed that he is not a builder of a team. He needs stars in the room the moment he takes a new job, if he takes a new job as a coach. I could see him taking a year off, or being an assistant at some glamour team. I wouldn't be shocked if the Lakers were somehow able to hire him as an assistant for a year. I could see a team like the Hawks hiring him onto the staff to tweak their defense a bit. But, maybe a job opens up sooner rather than later and maybe Kidd will be at the top of that, or those, teams list. He could go coach the Kings or the Wizards. The Wizards even have some big names, and they have the top pick in this upcoming draft. He could go be an assistant with the Bucks if they retain Giannis. Kidd will have his choice out there, but if you were to ask me what I think his next move will be, I think he will take a year off, do some broadcasting and wait to see what jobs open up next year. I don't think he wants to be an assistant again, and there's always turnover in the NBA year to year. Some teams will be looking for a new head coach next season, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Kidd at the top of those teams wishlists.

Time will tell, but this seems like a good move for both sides. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Ty Watches "The Death and Life of Lamar Odom"

I have found that I enjoy watching the "Untold" docu series on Netflix. I'm a sports fan and I have always found it interesting to get some backstory from people who were there, or even better, from people who lived the experience. It is so much better when the person or people in the story happened to talk about it. You know that they are going to tell you just a little more than someone retelling it from their perspective. And now that Netflix has a whole category dedicated to the "Untold" series, it is so much easier for me to turn one on during the day.

Yesterday I watched "The Death and Life of Lamar Odom". When I was younger I used to watch Odom play basketball and was kind of amazed at how easy he made the game look on my tv screen. He was such a fluid and exceptional athlete on the basketball court. I even remember following him during his two years playing college basketball at Rhode Island. He was great then, parlayed that into being the fourth overall pick in his draft class and had a memorable NBA career.

But he is probably more remembered for what this doc focused on.

He married Khloe Kardashian, won a few titles with the Lakers, had a reality show and then had a very bad week at a brothel in Las Vegas. Everyone, including me, thought he wasn't going to make it out of that coma. For people who may not know, Odom went to a brothel one day, stayed there for a week, and the final day he was there he overdosed on drugs and had to be rushed to the hospital. He would eventually come out of the coma and he is still alive today. But when he was overdosing I guess he said he had twelve strokes and six heart attacks. That is wild. This doc focused on that night and his relationship with Khloe Karhdashian. Sure, they talked about his first fiance, the kids they had, his NBA career, but the crux of everything was the brothel and his and Khloe's relationship. This was where the doc got a little tedious to me. The last 50 or so minutes were all about this stuff. And I get why. This is the salacious details that documentaries like this crave. You want to see the downfall and where they may be today. But I prefer the stuff that leads up to all of that. I loved the first 40 minutes of the doc. This was where they focused on his basketball career. This was where we learned about his childhood. This was where we got to see him play on the fun Clippers teams with Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson. We also got to see his short time on the Heat. But when he was traded to the Lakers, and especially when he met Khloe Kardashian, this was when his life took a massive turn and this was when the documentary became a bit too much for me.

I didn't really know how to feel when I was watching. I'm a Lamar Odom fan, but he did this to himself. I get it, addiction is a disease. It's a problem and it can take over your entire life. People with addiction need real help. But when someone gets this involved, I put the majority of the blame on them. And Odom is a true, true addict. And it's not just drugs with him, he is also a sex addict. But, while watching, I never felt for him. I never wanted to reach out and help him get help. I was just watching him self-destruct, and that felt gross to me. As for Khloe Kardashian, I have never been a fan of the whole Kardashian thing. They're just not my vibe. They're reality tv people with no real skill or use to me. I'm not knocking what they do, they have found their niche and they're capitalizing on it. Good for them. They just aren't my cup of tea. And in watching Khloe retell her side of the story, I felt nothing for her either. It felt hollow. Some of it felt fake to me. I just didn't buy everything. And when the movie ended, I just kind of let it go and moved on with my day. After a lot of documentaries I find myself thinking more and more about them. That didn't happen with this doc. It came and went. I felt nothing. The news, for the most part, wasn't all that new to me and wasn't the news that I like to read or hear about. It was a wild ride, that's for sure, but it just didn't do much for me.

It felt like a bit of a letdown from "Untold", which for the most part, tells interesting and riveting stories. This one just didn't work for me.

Also, Happy Birthday RD. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Rodgers and McCarthy are Not the Right Fit for The Steelers

Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers are giving it another year. It is so hilarious to me that this is happening. This is going to explode so loudly in their faces. I feel really bad for Steelers fans, and that is a hard feeling for me to get to with this team.

I've never been a Steelers fan. I always kind of rooted against them. I loved when they had Lamar Woodley, but I could separate my fandom for him from their team. But now they are dipping back into the Aaron Rodgers mess and, with Mike Tomlin out as head coach, this is going to be a mitigated disaster.

Mike Tomlin was one of the best coaches the NFL has ever seen. He squeezed every inch of talent he could out of his rosters. He won a Super Bowl, but what is almost as impressive as achieving the  highest honor in football, he never had a record below .500. Every year that he coached in the NFL,  a long spanning career, he always had a winning record. That is pretty cool. But he is out and the Steelers had the wise decision, I'm being sarcastic, to go out and hire Mike McCarthy.

Look, McCarthy has a Super Bowl ring as well, but he doesn't even come close to the career Tomlin had, and will have again soon, as a head coach in the NFL. I was up close and personal to the whole Mike McCarthy experience. In fact, I was incredibly close to the McCarthy and Rodgers experience. I'm a Packers fan. I have been ever since I was a kid. And when these two got together it was wildly inconsistent and frustrating. The Packers teams that McCarthy helmed and Rodgers QB ed were very, very talented. They won the NFC North a ton. They were always in the playoffs. They could run and pass the ball. The defense was competent, and got really good when they acquired Charles Woodson. But they only won one ring. They would bow out of the playoffs way too early every season, and it would be due to some odd or weird coaching error. McCarthy is awful with clock management. He seems to only focus on offense. He was, at one time, considered a QB guru, but I never really saw that. He was prickly with the media and the fans and he just really got under my skin. When the Packers moved on from him it was such a great day. I have my own issues with LaFleur right now, but he is so much more innovative and fun as a head coach than McCarthy ever was during his tenure.

Rodgers was, and still is, just a jerk during his time with the Packers. He won an MVP and a ring, but he also was a liar and self obsessed. He still is for that matter. He thinks he is better than everyone. He is a curmudgeon, and not a fun one. He was hard to root for and I was stoked when he left. And these aren't some new feelings I have about him. You can ask my father and RD, I was bummed about him the moment the Packers drafted him. I have never, ever been an Aaron Rodgers fan. So, with both of them gone from Green Bay, and with LaFleur and Jordan Love taking their places, who have flaws of their own, it has been so much better to be a Packers fan. It helps that they're still relevant too.

Now the Steelers are going to have to deal with all of their nonsense. The whole offseason back and forth between the two of them should have been all the Steelers needed to move on. With Tomlin out maybe it was time for the Steelers to fully rebuild. They could have taken a QB higher in the draft this year, but they decided to draft another QB that needs a ton of work. But the Steelers gave in. They gave Rodgers all the time he wanted and all the money he asked for. They let him hold them hostage. And, if his last stint as head coach was any indication of what's to come, the NFL has passed Mike McCarthy by. He is not prepared or ready for modern NFL offenses. He still thinks he can win with a 42 year old QB. He is going to let Rodgers run the show, and that is going to blow up in his face. Rodgers is too volatile and too old. McCarthy is too stubborn and doesn't have a backup plan at QB. The NFL is better when the Steelers are relevant, but as long as they have these two egomaniacs at the highest levels in the organization they are not going to be very good. The defense needs to reload as well. They have dudes to replace. They don't really have a solid run game. The receiving corps is going to grow to despise Rodgers very soon.

I think this may be the worst move of the whole offseason in the NFL. I look at this signing as being worse than the Rams taking Ty Simpson 13th overall in the most recent draft. This was an odd decision, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Mike McCarthy is trying to stay relevant and keep the Steelers in the playoff conversation, but the game has passed him. And Rodgers is too egotistical to realize that his prime was over over a decade ago. This is a poor move that is going to end not very well for the Steelers. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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The Original "Mortal Kombat" Movie is Not Good

In preparation of the new "Mortal Kombat" movie I decided the other day that I wanted to revisit the original two movies that came out in the 90's. I haven't seen them in quite some time, and from what I remembered, I liked them but they were also kind of dumb.

I don't play many video games unless it is college football related. But the "Mortal Kombat" games I always found to be exciting for a little bit. I liked that I could mash buttons and win fights. I also liked to do the fatalities when I learned how to do those. I also remember being intrigued by these games because adults said they were violent. That was almost all I needed before turning the game on. So in playing the game with friends, when they announced a movie was going to be made, that had me stoked. I could not wait to see it. And when I went to the theaters, as a 13 year old mind you, the movie lived up to the hype for me. Yes, it was dumb and didn't follow the rules of the game, but hey, they said the famous lines and I got to hear the crazy techno song. That was all I needed at that time in my life. I don't remember "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" at all, but I will rewatch that because I'm a completionist and have OCD. The movie that came out in 2021 was great for about four minutes. That opening scene is one of the coolest fights put to film. And they finally got an R rating, so the movie was filled with swear words and gore. But after that first scene the movie fell off a cliff. They focused on a character they created for the movie and that took away all the fun of what the game was all about. They also, and this goes for every movie, say there's going to be a big tournament, but they never really follow the rules of a tournament. The fighters just fight whoever they want and the only reward is their life. And even though I am ragging on the movies to this point, I'm still going to see the new movie and I'm sure I'll have some kind of complaint coming out of it. But that is not the point of my blog today. After rewatching the 1995 "Mortal Kombat", I have some thoughts.

First off, it is a dreadfully boring and bad movie. The fight scenes are lame. They only go on for about a minute. There's one fight where Liu Kang gets to go off for a little longer, but it still was very boring. The effects were horrendous as well. This came out in 95, so that means special effects were getting so much better. I mean, we got "Jurassic Park" two years before this movie. That movie gave us real looking dinosaurs. Hell, in the 70's we got great effects with "Star Wars". In this movie the effects were so lazy and slapdash. It was like looking at an old screen saver on a computer. You can literally see the green screen behind the actors. It is a true mess. It feels like they had some new people on the job, or they just decided to throw some nonsense together and put it on screen.

Then we have the actors. They were very bad and over the top. The scenery chewing was just bad too. It was not funny bad either, it was annoying. It really got to me. I despised Johnny Cage as well. I never liked his character to begin with, and this actor's portrayal really frustrated me. He was quippy and tried much too hard to be cool. Sonya was fine, but that is because I have enjoyed that actor's work ever since she was in "Billy Madison". And to cast Christopher Lambert as Raiden is problematic in every possible way. The voice he used was offensive. He wore Raiden's signature hat and that felt very wrong seeing it on screen. He had long white hair, which is fine, but it still felt weird to me. Raiden is an older lord who should be played by an Asian actor. They messed up in the second movie as well, casting James Remar. I hope they clean this mess up if he is in the new movie. To have two older white actors play him is very, very wrong.

But what made me most upset was the whole plot and story of this first movie. They kept mentioning a tournament and how they were going to fight the best fighters in the world. They said it over and over again. But when they get to the place, they all pick and choose who they're going to fight. There's no tournament. There's no climbing up the leaderboard. They all just decided on the spot who they were going to fight and they fought wherever they happened to be at any given moment.

I loathed this rewatch. I couldn't believe that I used to like this movie. Don't do what I'm doing unless you're a glutton for punishment. These movies are not good or fun at all. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Wonder Man"

After much badgering and constant asking, my son won and I sat down and watched "Wonder Man". He was in my ear about the show the moment he finished it. He knows that I am not the biggest fan of superhero stuff at the moment. There's too much of it, I feel like if you have missed anything you will not know what's going on and all the backstory seems like too much. And then we have this whole other scenario of alternate universes. It's all just a bit too much. But my son disregarded all of that and kept at it.

I'm glad he did. I finished all eight episodes of the first season in about four days. First off, each episode is no longer than 35 minutes. That is a big selling point to me lately. A lot of shows I used to watch or want to watch, each episode run time is damn near an hour. It's just too long. I have really been dragging my feet on season 2 of "Fallout" because of the episode length. That is not the case with "Wonder Man".

The show also stars one of my favorite actors, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. He was awesome in the television adaptation of "Watchmen". I thought he was the only good part of the "Aquaman" movies. I enjoyed his version of "Candyman". I think he is a very solid actor and I believe he is only going to star in more and more things moving ahead. He plays the lead character and he is very good in this role. I like that he plays Simon as this overthinking actor. He gets cast in smaller roles and then tries to make them so much bigger than they actually are. And when he does reveal his power, it is never because he needs or wants to. Wonder Man's powers only come out when he gets too angry, kind of like the Hulk. I bought all of Mateen's work in this show. He was easy to watch, he embodied the character and he shined through and through.

Ben Kingsley returns as Trevor, AKA The Mandarin. Luckily for me I did see the "Iron Man" movie where he was The Mandarin, so I knew his backstory. But even if you weren't aware of his story, "Wonder Man" gives you more than enough clues and hints as to who he was before all of this. Kingsley is such a solid and dependable actor. He gets to do a little comedy here and has a little fun with this character. I liked his work a lot in the show and I'm curious to see if they bring him back in anything new from the MCU in the future. These two run the show and they are in pretty much every episode.

The story revolves around their journey to both star in the new "Wonder Man" movie. Trevor has some ulterior motives, but he truly does become friends with Simon along the way. I liked the dynamic between Mateen and Kingsley. They really bought into the friendship these two grew to have very quickly. I also loved the whole idea of Simon having this power his whole life, but also trying to just be a regular kid and adult. He loves the craft of acting, and it shows.

The first season had eight episodes, and like I said before, pretty much the whole show revolves around Trevor and Simon. But there's one stand alone episode in the middle of the season entitled "Door Man". This was a very cool episode, shot in black and white, and showed that a person with superpowers who is an actor may run into trouble. This episode reminded me a lot of what they did on "Wanda Vision", which I think is the best MCU show.

My son told me that the show was renewed for a season two, but I'm kind of hopeful they wrap it up with this lone season and just let Simon and Trevor exist in the upcoming movie slate. Time will tell. But I'm glad I finally sat down and watched this show. It is different and fun compared to other MCU stuff. I didn't have to know a bunch of stuff going into this show, and that helps me want to watch. I recommend it to anyone that is looking for a light and breezy watch that has some really good moments of drama and comedy. "Wonder Man" is a solid tv series. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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R.I.P. Brandon Clarke

Brandon Clarke has passed away at the age of 29. This is very sad and upsetting to me.

For people that may not know who Brandon Clarke was, he was a professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies. As most of you know, I'm a Grizzlies fan. And Clarke was a bonafide fan favorite. When he wasn't injured, you just knew that when Clarke entered the game, he was going to give it his all and maybe make a play or two during his minutes on the floor.

I first became aware of Clarke during his college career at Gonzaga. He was newcomer of the year the season after he transferred there, he had to redshirt, and he was a third team all american. He also scored 35 points in a tournament game, surpassing Adam Morrison's Gonzaga record. He parlayed all of this into being the 21st overall selection in the 2019 NBA draft. The Thunder drafted him, but traded him about two weeks later to the Grizzlies, where he would spend his entire NBA career. He was a first team all rookie player and he became a spark plug off the bench. He would get anywhere from 20 to 22 minutes a game and he was a double digit scorer and 5 rebound a game player. He would come in, ignite some kind of run, get the crowd into the game and he was a blast to watch. I was fortunate enough to go to a few games live, and when he would enter the game the crowd would give him a nice ovation and he always did something cool at the games I attended.

Then he got hurt. He tore his achilles, and when he went out, the Grizzlies suffered. They needed his tenacity and grit. He embodied the team and the chemistry that they enjoyed when they were winning a lot of games. Him being out hurt rebounding and defense. He did all he could from the bench, but his absence on the floor was noticeable. He only played in two games last season, and only six the season before that. He did appear in 64 games during the 2023-24 season, but you could just tell that he wasn't the same player. The injury had a real effect on his game and what he did best.

About a month ago Clarke was pulled over, after a chase, for possession of a controlled substance. I really thought nothing of it at the time. I read that it was CBD, which I have used before, and just kind of dismissed it. I shouldn't have done that. There has been no release of the cause of death, but early reports seem to say that it may have been an accidental overdose. I don't know if that is true, I'm not reporting anything at all, but if true that is a real bummer. I know that the scene of his death there was drug paraphernalia found, and that is never a good sign.

Twenty nine is too young to be gone. He was a professional athlete in tremendous shape. I know he had an achilles injury, but that did not change the way he looked or how he felt. I'm worried that there may have been some undiagnosed, or not released mental health issues with Clarke. Mental health struggles are real and upsetting and I just wish, if this were the case, that Clarke would have sought help. The possibility of an accidental overdose is scary as well. You never seem to know what may be put in some substances these days, and I worry that Clarke may have just been trying to take his mind off things and overdid it. I'm also very upset for his family. Having a family member go so unexpectedly and so young is tragic and devastating.

I'm going to miss him as a fan of the Grizzlies and a fan of the game of basketball. Clarke was the quintessential bench spark plug that the Grizzlies needed. Rest In Peace Brandon Clarke. I hope you have found peace wherever you may be right now. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere"

I believe that I may have watched 2026's best horror movie yesterday. I was scrolling through Netflix and I came across a preview for a newer documentary titled "Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere". The preview was enough to pique my interest, and with a runtime of 90 minutes, the decision to press play was easy. I also went into the movie knowing it was going to make me upset and angry, but sometimes it is good to get those emotions out. So after pressing play I found myself so angry for the next 90 minutes, I was giving my tv screen the finger when certain people showed up that I vehemently disliked.

For people that may not know, "Inside the Manosphere" shows the life of four of the most controversial and bigoted male influencers currently on the internet. I didn't bother to learn their actual names or internet handles because I despised them so very, very much. I hesitated even doing a review because this could be another way for these monsters to keep themselves relevant for another week on the internet. As I was watching I found myself worried for Theroux's safety, and the safety of random people simply walking by these scumbags on the street. What made this documentary so abhorrent and scary to me was the sheer fact that these are real people who exist in the real world and have found a way to "thrive" simply by putting content on the internet. The ease and fake glamour that comes with internet fame has made me very discouraged as of late, and this movie only furthered my distaste for influencers. These people acted and said the exact stuff I figured they would, and it still made me very angry when they would do it. There was one guy that, no matter what he said, he would always button it with, "and that's a fact". Even if he was saying some wild stuff, he always ended it with that statement. He would say some vile stuff about his wife or someone on the internet, and then finish it with that stupid statement. It infuriated me. This one influencer was talking to some fans, who Theroux would meet up with later, and they were saying that depression was not real. They said it was all manufactured. Then Theroux got onto the topic of family and the same guy who said depression wasn't real told Theroux that his brother died via suicide. That is one of my biggest issues with people who have this line of thought. They contradict themselves within sentences.

There was this other toxic influencer who was making his money degrading women on his awful podcast. He would bring women on from the street just to demean them. And when Theroux pushed and talked to his girlfriend, the toxic influencer was getting so upset that he told his girlfriend to leave, and would not do any further interviews with Theroux unless it was all set up by him. In a surprise to no one, that guy's girlfriend broke up with him. He also had the dumbest calculator he would use on his show to try and prove some kind of fact that doesn't exist. This guy was a truly awful piece of work.

There was another one of these bozos that was banned from pretty much every platform, except for X. This goes to show you how awful that platform has become. X is all about spewing hate speech and getting clicks. It is the worst of the worst when it comes to these types of platforms. But this idiot was thriving on X with his dumbass "political" view videos. This moron was so out there on conspiracy theories that it frustrated me so much whenever he would open his mouth. But the worst thing about this guy, there was a moment during the doc when he was walking down the street and a bunch of young teens, probably 14 or 15, were starstruck when they saw him. It is so upsetting that some of the youth today find solace in idiots like this toxic influencer on the internet. And it was clear that these are the only fans this guy gets because these kids' brains have not fully formed yet, and they are just looking for someone, anyone that talks like they do.

The worst of all was this one guy who was a walking contradiction. He clearly has bi polar disorder and I'd love for him to get help. He really, really needs it. He would talk about not being a "sheep", but then do whatever his followers told him to do. He would constantly talk over or louder than Theroux, and then claim he had "won" the argument. He would bemoan an adult film star in one scenario, but in another he would promote OnlyFans models on his personal site. And he was also involved in horrible investments and he would con his dummy followers by having them invest money as well, and he would pocket a profit from that. Oh, and he was on the run from the police in England. But the funniest thing that Theroux caught on camera was when this dumbbell was talking to his mom and she chastised him, made him clean a spot on his rug and told him to get her juice. He did all of this while calling her mommy.

"Inside the Manosphere" really scared me because people like the morons interviewed in this movie have this weird pull over, mostly, young kids today. These "guys" are toxic and the worst kind of role models young kids can have. They don't think of consequences or have any issues with the terrible things they say and do on the internet. I'm sure they're all very unhappy individuals who have had to resort to doing these things because they are so money obsessed. But the sheer fact that this new world, and social media have unfortunately given them a platform, they are making money hand over fist and they continue to spew hate speech all over the internet. This movie will anger you and make you wish these people never ever found any kind of fame. It is a bummer and I wish people like these monsters never achieved any sort of fame. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Thoughts on Who the Grizzlies Should Draft with the Third Pick

The NBA draft lottery occurred last night and my favorite team, the Grizzlies, got the third overall pick. Let’s discuss.

I am stoked about this. The Grizzlies had a bad, bad season, but now they have a very high lottery pick. They traded Jaren Jackson Jr, I hope they trade Ja Morant next, and maybe get off some of the old contracts. I want this team to go young and start a small, but quick rebuild. If they can find a team for Morant, attach a player like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and maybe get a future pick or two, that would be ideal for me. I want them to move on from the older players, who had some success that I will be forever grateful for, and start building around Cedric Coward and Zach Edey, that would be the best thing moving ahead. And they can really kick start the fast rebuild with this third overall pick. And I don't want them to trade the pick either. I want them to keep it and take one of the three players I'm about to talk about. I know the idea of attaching the pick to get some win now guys is enticing, but don't give in Grizzlies. Keep the pick.

Looking at their roster, I'd like them to take a front court player or a taller wing player. The backcourt has, for now, Ja Morant, Scotty Pippen Jr and Ty Jerome. So, while a player like Keaton Wagler or Kingston Flemings may be desirable, I want them to stick with the current guys, and if they were to trade Morant, maybe try to get a point guard in return. I also think, that given a full season of health, and no expectations, Ty Jerome and Cedric Coward could run the offense. I'd love to see Coward, who is listed as a forward, but is 6'5, get some run as the lead guard. That would be interesting to me. As I get deeper into the roster, what they need is true front court talent. Brandon Clarke Jr is old and often injured. I still have hope in Zach Edey. O-Max Prosper hasn't lived up to his draft position. Santi Aldama is soft and more of a three point threat. They need beef. They need strength. They need a low post presence that can stretch the defense at times.

My top choice for this pick, the guy I want them to take with this pick over anyone else is Cam Boozer. He would start right away. He won't replace JJJ, but he will help in that area. He is big, 6'10. He is a good post scorer. He can shoot the three. He is a solid three point shooter. He is a decent rebounder. He does need to get leaps and bounds better on defense, but that can come with coaching. I don't want the Grizzlies to overthink this. It should be an easy and simple decision. Take Boozer, don't waste everyone's time. Do the right thing and do it fast.

If they go in some other direction, or Boozer is already gone, there are two other players I would like them to take here. Caleb Wilson had loads of potential, and he is a highly talented offensive prospect. He can get anywhere he wants on the floor. He is an excellent shot creator. He has no fear going to the rim and he can shoot from the outside. His defense leaves a ton to be desired, and he missed a big chunk of last season due to injury. You could tell that UNC missed him greatly when he went out with his injury, but that is good and bad. I think Wilson is a high risk, but also very high reward player. If he hits, Wilson could be a perennial all star. But there's also the possibility of him flaming out, and that frightens me a bit. And then there is my, if this kid is here for some unknown reason, and even if Boozer is still available, they would have to draft AJ Dybansta. Dybansta is my favorite prospect in the whole draft. I think he is the best overall player by leaps and bounds. He is primed and ready to play and contribute from day one. You can build an offense and a team around him. He works his tail off on defense and he will only get better. He made BYU a watchable basketball team last season. He has all the tools you want in a player, and if he "slips" to the Grizzlies at three, they need to snatch him right away. He would be the best thing that could happen to the franchise right now. I'd want them to trade Morant asap if they are somehow able to draft Dybansta. The team will be his from day one. But, since he is so good and coveted, I am sure that the Wizards are going to take him first overall. So that would leave the Grizzlies with Boozer or Wilson, and I'd want them to take Boozer.

This is my hope, but we will see what they do when the draft rolls around. Time will tell. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

The Lakers Need to Grow Up

The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently 6-0 in the NBA playoffs. And they haven't even looked all that dominant yet. They are still playing exceptional defense and players other than SGA have been showing up and showing out. Now don't take for granted that they played an overmatched Suns team in the first round, and have been matched up with an injured and older Lakers team. But the Thunder earned the number 1 seed, and outside of maybe the Spurs and Knicks, the Thunder will overmatch any team they play. They earned the right to have the easiest path to the Finals.

But what the Lakers resorted to last night, the gall they had, the nerve that their coach and team had, to question the refs was so unsightly for me as a basketball fan. For the Lakers, for JJ Redick, for LeBron James, and most notably, for Austin Reaves to have a beef with the refs, to wait and speak to them after the game, to call them names during the game, this is a horrific look for a team that gets pretty much everything handed to them.

For those that may not know, the Lakers seemed to have an issue with how the game was called last night. I didn't watch the game last night, it was too late for an old man like me, but I did read about it this morning. And the way the media covered it this morning, you would have thought that the Lakers were screwed by the refs. That wasn't the case when I dug a little deeper. I tend to look at stats after a game, especially when players openly complain. I went to the stats fully expecting the Thunder to have shot something like 40 free throws to the Lakers less than 20. That's usually the case when a team goes this far. That is what it is like whenever I see that Duke escaped a men's college basketball game. But, the stats told a different story. The Thunder went 21 of 26 from the free throw line. The Lakers went 18 of 21. Five free throws is not some kind of massive advantage. And while I may not understand my son's math, I do know how to add and subtract. And by my count the Thunder only shot five more free throws than the Lakers, and only made three more. So, if you look at the score from last night, 125-107, take away those three points and the Thunder still would have won by 15 points. That's quite a lot of points in the NBA.

So, while the Lakers may have this huge beef, and go and cry to the media about it, and have Austin Reaves calling the refs derogatory names, the refs are not the reason why they got beat by 15, and why they will most likely be ousted in the next two to three games from the playoffs. And it will only get worse after that.

JJ Redick is a crybaby and not the tough guy he portrays himself as. His gripes and complaints are so outrageous that it's funny to me. There's an episode of "Brooklyn 99" where Jake Peralta, played by Andy Samberg, tries to be the bad cop in an interrogation. He goes on this whole rant and lets it rip. And when he is done, the person being interrogated starts to laugh at him and compares him to a muppet. That is the exact same way I look at JJ Redick when he goes on one of his little rants.

LeBron James, who I adore, is one of the worst complainers the game has ever seen. He is an all time great, second greatest player of all time in my opinion, but he is a top notch flopper and complainer, and it has only gotten worse since Luka Doncic joined the team. I understand why he is doing it, at his advanced age he needs every advantage he can get. But for him to complain about not getting enough calls, or his muppet of a coach to say he has the worst whistle of any superstar ever, get over yourselves.

But the worst one, the one player who should keep his goddamn mouth closed is Austin freaking Reaves. This dude is a joke of a player. No one would know who he was if he was on the Lakers and not teammates with LeBron and Luka. Do you all remember Matthew Dellavedova? Yeah well, he's out of the league now. He thought he could thrive without LeBron and he was proven wrong very quickly. That's Austin Reaves. Remember PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford? They were the missing pieces when the Mavericks made a run to the Finals with Luka as their main guy. Now they barely play on a terrible Mavs team. That's Austin Reaves. I so hope that the Lakers overpay him and are stuck with his albatross of a contract. His offense, which is supposed to be his one thing, is inconsistent at best. He is a horrific defender as well. There were moments when he was literally hugging SGA while trying to guard him, and when SGA pushed off, Reaves did the flop of the year. I'm so over this dude and his fake tough guy attitude. If he were on any other team he would be a pure afterthought. And the only way his stats look any good during the regular season is because he gets the joy of having a Lakers jersey on and the refs calling phantom fouls for him all the time. So, for him to go at the refs, for him to lead this weird charge, for him to be the one waiting and speaking to the refs for the Lakers, that is laughable to me. He is such a middling NBA player. He is not even close to the superstar he pretends to be. He is fake tough and will be irrelevant in about a year or two.

This holier than thou attitude that the Lakers were showing last night is why the NBA is becoming borderline unwatchable. No one takes any accountability. It is always someone else's fault. And of course it was the Lakers showing the whole NBA watching world that this is becoming a big problem. I am not a Thunder fan anymore, but damn am I rooting hard for them to obliterate the Lakers in the next two games and send them home whining and crying. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Ty Watches "Lord of the Flies"

Last night I finished the miniseries "Lord of the Flies". Let’s discuss.

Truth be told, "Lord of the Flies" is my all time favorite book. I remember reading it when I was in middle school, and ever since then I try to read it every so often. I read it last summer when they first announced that this show was being made. I may have to pick it up again after watching the miniseries. I have watched the movie that came out in the 60's, or maybe the 70's, a few times and find it solid. I never saw the version from the 90's, but I felt that I didn't have to see it. But the announcement of this show reinvigorated my appetite for this story.

I read some early reviews that were middling, but I'm glad that didn't stop me. I tend to think that people who go online instantly after something is released just to trash it is a bad look. There seems to be some people out there that just want to hate on something. But I was going to watch this no matter what anyone said. When I saw it was four episodes I made the decision to take it slow. I was going to watch one episode every other day I thought. That seemed like a good plan. But after watching the first episode that quickly changed to watching one a day for four days. That worked for two days, but last night I was so intrigued and moved by episode three that I decided that I was going to finish the whole thing right then and there. I could not stop thinking about the series, and that's the sign that I really, really want to watch a show. So I wrapped it all up around 10pm last night.

Right away, I thought this was a great retelling of this story. The movie from the 60's does a solid job of telling the story, but it misses things here and there. This being a miniseries, they have a little more time to tell the whole thing. That makes for a better viewing experience for me. I also appreciate that this series told the story through the eyes of the four main characters. Chapter 1 is entitled "Piggy", then we have "Jack", "Simon" and, finally, "Ralph". This was an interesting and newly unique way to bring the story to life. We got a little backstory of each character, and why they may act how they act. Piggy is portrayed as the intellect with the most common sense. He can tell and feel when things are going off the rails. He calls out all the inconsistencies and problems that he sees. But no one listens to him because he isn't a cool or popular kid. Piggy has always been my favorite character, and this actor did a wonderful job bringing Piggy to life. In chapter 2 we see Jack and all of his foibles. He wants to be a leader, but he is cowardly. He bends and twists every conversation to suit his needs. He doesn't think about the consequences. He is nice to people to their faces when they are alone, but mean when others are around. I know this actor did good work because I grew to despise him as the show went on. That was the end goal and this kid achieved that. Simon's episode was my favorite. This was the most atmospheric and deepest and darkest episode. Simon just wants to be accepted for who he is, but he also has some issues he has yet to realize or deal with in his own way. He and Jack clearly have some kind of back and forth in their past that he wants to deal with. Simon is probably the most level headed person next to Piggy, but no one listens to him because he has issues with fainting. He can't get a word in edgewise, but he always tries until he gets cut off. He wants Ralph to be the leader he knows he can be, but he never gets to see that come to fruition. For such heavy themes in this episode, the actor playing Simon absolutely nailed his role. And the final chapter focuses on our leader, Ralph. This episode was such a fitting and fulfilling conclusion to the story. Ralph has nothing left to fight for, but he keeps going. He won't give up until the final second. He is the only one left with a decent head on his shoulders. He hasn't given in to the ills of living off the land. And he is the most mature and adult of any of these kids. So much so that, spoiler alert, when the sailors get to the island and rescue the kids, he is the only one who tells the truth and wants nothing more than to be off that horrid island.

This version was told expertly by the people involved. I read that the people behind "Adolescence" did this show, and they are some of the top dramatic writers in the game. I was so happy that the show was put into such capable hands. And these kid actors did a masterful job. They bought in and played these amazing, memorable characters so well, it was such a sight for me. I even loved how the kids were loud and annoying at the worst possible times. Some looked thrilled when the adults showed up, others looked worried, as if they were in trouble. The kid actors showed every emotion that I would imagine a kid in this situation could show, and they nailed it. I was very impressed.

As a lifelong fan of this book, the miniseries did such a good and respectful job of telling this story. It was true to the source material and that made me happy. I recommend this show to anyone who has read this book and loved it. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Listens to "Film Scores for Films that Don't Exist"

I'm a fan of Eric Andre. I've seen him do his show live. I loved "The Eric Andre Show" when it was on Adult Swim. I'm actually hoping for another season. He was my favorite part of the very underrated show "Man Seeking Woman". When he pops up in a movie I get stoked because I know he is going to bring it. "Bad Trip" is one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. I'm stoked that he is going to be in the new "Street Fighter" movie. So when he was on social media recently talking about a new album he was going to release, it piqued my interest.

Andre is a very accomplished musician. He went to Berklee College of Music for a while. He has shown a propensity for upright bass. He is talented. But for him to put out a record, I didn't know what to think. I then saw the title of the album, "Film Scores For Films that Don't Exist" and it had me even more intrigued. It was released last Friday, the same day as the new Black Keys record, so it took a little time before I finally listened. I tuned in later last week and I'm here to tell you, this record is fascinating.

The album only has eight songs that last about 31 minutes, but it left a mark. The record is all instrumental. It is truly scores for movies that haven't been made. The record has strings and all of the usual stuff that you expect from film scores. But then some wild stuff starts to happen in a few of the songs. The strings will be doing their thing, playing like the experts they are, but then some metal music will start. There will be heavy guitars and drums. The guitar and drums come on late and strong. It hits like a ton of bricks in the best possible way. It is so unexpected and adds so much extra to the scores they have created.

Blarf is a project that Andre has been doing for some time with his buddy, the electronic musician The First Seed. Andre also has Prateek Rajagopal as a producer. It has also been rumored, and most likely confirmed, that Blarf is an alter ego of Andre's. He used to perform, very rarely, as Blarf wearing a Ronald McDonald mask. Now though, at least on this record, Andre acts as the conductor of this orchestra on this album and it rips.

I don't know if they're going to take this on the road, but it is something I'd very much like to see live. I really enjoyed seeing "Blade Runner" recently with a live orchestra playing the score. So, add that with Andre doing his comedy and his antics, that would be an absolute joy for me to see. I'd also love to see him play the upright bass live. He has that skill, and even though I have seen him live, I've never seen him play an instrument live before.

I also appreciate that the song titles are legit film score titles. From "The Final Shootout" to "Piano Concerto No .0" to "Stars Without Light", I could easily see these being in some movie down the line. I'd also like to see Andre take these scores and make a movie out of them. He could kind of reverse engineer it, already having the music and just making a movie from there. I think it could work and it would be super interesting, especially coming from Andre.

Last week gave us two really good, really different albums that I have found myself enjoying for different reasons. The Black Keys new record, which I wrote about yesterday, is a nostalgia bomb in the best way for me. "Scores For Movies That Don't Exist" was a total surprise and knocked my socks off when I heard it. I have listened to it a few more times since then and it is really growing on me.

I say check this record out, but go into it knowing very little. Read up on Eric Andre and then check out the album. it will surprise you in the best way. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Listens to "Peaches!"

As many of you may remember, I was not a fan of The Black Keys last record, "No Rain, No Flowers". I felt that it was too poppy. They went a little too hard on the production. Maybe there were too many cooks in the kitchen. I still listened to it multiple times, but it never got any better for me.

When they announced a new album was coming so soon, I was a little put off. I was worried that it was going to be more of the same. I thought that maybe they were going to take their music in a different direction and change genres. But then I heard a few tracks that they released online. It sounded more like their older stuff. I read some stuff on the internet about the pain and heartache Dan Auerbach was going through when they made this record. I guess his dad was sick and he was spending a ton of time with him while making this record. Then other people who got to hear the record earlier than others said it was like old time Black Keys. All of this got me excited and got my hopes up.

Then, last Friday the new record was released. I turned it off with low expectations and some worries. I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. This is a return to form. "Peaches!" is one of their better albums. I like it so much more than "No Rain, No Flowers". I think it is better than "El Camino" and "Turn Blue" if I'm being honest, and I really like those records. What makes "Peaches!" so good for me is that it is a straightforward rock/blues record. The songs are covers of older blues songs, with a Black Keys twinge to all of them. The record has a dirty, distorted sound that I love. Auerbach growls more than he sings, and I love that. Carney is hammering away on his drum kit like he used to. When they do have other musicians on a song they have them playing quieter than Auerbach or Carney.

This is a record that really showcases what made me first fall in love with The Black Keys. "Peaches!" reminds me of a more grown up "Chulahoma". I adored "Chulahoma" when it was first released because it was different from their other music. They were doing Junior Kimborough songs in their style. It was amazing to hear for the first time. Then, a few years ago, they released "Delta Kream" to little fanfare. I loved that album. I still love that album in fact. "Delta Kream" came out at a weird time in their career, but it felt so good to hear at the time. It scratched an itch that I needed at the time. And it still hits very well. But "Peaches!" is better than both of them in my opinion. They truly do go back to what made them so unique and interesting when they first started to release music. This has the feel of "The Big Come Up", but they have grown up and become better musicians. This album has elements of "Thickfreakness", which is my personal favorite of theirs, and one of the best records ever released. The distortion that Auerbach uses on this record is right up my alley when it comes to my musical taste. It is so loud, but you can still hear everything they're doing on the album. That is an achievement for me when listening. And Carney's drumming is top notch. The thing I like about Carney is that he has never wavered from his style. He has always gone nuts when drumming, be it live or on a record. He has always been one of the better drummers in the music biz.

I highly recommend listening to this album, especially if you enjoy old school Black Keys. This is a return to form in the best possible way. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Better Late Than Never on "Monsters Inc"

Over the weekend my wife was the picker of the movie we watched. My daughter and I both mentioned that we had never seen "Monsters Inc". My daughter has seen "Monsters University", my wife has seen both, but I haven't seen either. Our son was at a sleepover, and we invited our daughter to join us for our date night movie. So we sat back and watched "Monsters Inc".

I loved this movie. I was so enamored at how well made and how well written this movie was. "Monsters Inc" came out in 2001. I was 18. This movie looked as good as most Pixar movies do today. That was the first thing that caught my attention. Pixar is second to none when it comes to animated movies. The animators know what they're doing. Pixar seems to have hired the best in the business, and it has been that way since the very beginning. The monsters in this movie looked real. From top to bottom they looked real. From the teeth to their hair to the way they moved, it all looked great. Every other animated thing in the movie looked good as well. The rooms looked great. The office building had a nice feel to it. The restaurants were cool. Even the tiny details in the kids rooms looked good.

Then you have the story that goes along with this movie. "Monsters Inc" is all about this company slowly going bankrupt because they aren't getting enough screams to keep the business moving. That is the crux of the movie. We have Sully, voiced by John Goodman. He is the best in the game. He is the top monster that all the other monsters look to. Mike Wisowski, voiced by Billy Crystal, is his cohort. He works with Sully. He is the comic relief. He isn't that good at scaring anyone, but he is Sully's right hand man. They run the show. Steve Buscemi plays the villain, and he is wonderful in this as well. We have a bunch of other people, but these are the main monsters we follow during the movie. We also have Boo, who is the  young child that infiltrates the monster's business. That was the hook that got me in this movie. The whole idea was that monsters have to scare kids to keep their city running, but the monsters are actually terrified of humans. They are worried that humans will take over their city by scaring all of the monsters and taking their screams away. When Boo first shows up, Sully is so scared of her. It is a nice change of pace. Ever since we were kids, we were always afraid of the "monsters in the closet". This movie takes that and turns it on its head. After Boo shows up, the whole movie becomes about getting her back by any means necessary. Boo is only afraid of one monster, and that is Buscemi's monster. She has no fear around any other monster. She calls Sully kitty. That is how unafraid she is. Mike Wisowski is also trying his best to get her home, but that is because he wants to get back to his girlfriend and their life together.

The movie is fast, fun and exciting. I love the chase scene at the end. I thought that Goodman was perfectly voice-cast as Sully. He has this booming voice that can be scary at times, but he is also such a nice, gentle giant. That came off very well. Billy Crystal was hilarious. Performances like this remind me that Crystal is a good comedic actor. When given great lines to perform, he can crush them. Buscemi was so good as the creepy villain. He embodied the lizard or gecko or whatever creature he was playing. The boss, voiced by James Coburn, had this air and aura about him. He went out on a very high note.

I wished I had watched this movie when it first released. I would have loved it just as much back then. But I'm glad that my wife remedied this for me and picked it for date night. When animated movies are made like this it makes me so happy and optimistic that Pixar can make more and more of these. "Monsters Inc" was incredible and I cannot wait to see ""Monsters University" next. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Thank You Timberwolves for Ending Jokic's Season

I just want to thank the Minnesota Timberwolves for ousting the Denver Nuggets last night in game six of the first round of the NBA playoffs.

I have made it very clear how much I despise watching Nikola Jokic play the game of basketball. I find him to be boring, only plays one side of the floor, gripes too much to the refs and gets unwarranted recognition. Yes, he is a wonderful offensive basketball player. He makes incredible passes, makes some of the luckiest shots I've ever witnessed and rebounds the hell out of the ball. He gets the ball out of his hands very quickly to start fast breaks, and he is the hub of everything the Nuggets want to do on the offensive end of the floor. But the fact that he has three MVPs is nuts. The fact that some, namely Zach Lowe, have called him the "greatest basketball player in the world", is very far fetched. The fact that others within the media seem to think he will go down as one of the best to ever play the game is categorically wrong to me. He doesn't play defense. His holier than thou attitude towards basketball has grown tired. I'm so goddamn sick and tired of the people who seem to love his love for his horses. His attitude and actions in this series were gross and tired. When he tried to fight Jaden McDaniels for making a garbage layup was some of the fakest toughness I've ever witnessed on a basketball court.

And he has plenty of good players surrounding him on the Nuggets. He is not the only guy who contributes. Jamal Murray, who McDaniels had in shackles, is an all star and key cog to this team's offense. Aaron Gordon, when healthy, fits like a glove. Bruce Bowen is a solid 3 and d guy. Tim Hardaway Jr is a solid three point shooter. Christian Braun is supposed to be a lockdown defender. Peyton Watson had a great season and looks to be a solid starter on this team. So to heap all of this praise on Jokic feels unwarranted and unnecessary.

If he is this all world, all time great player, he should have led the Nuggets to a sweep in this matchup. Or at worst, a 4-1 win. The Timberwolves came into this series limping. I understand that Aaron Gordon has been injured all season. But so has Anthony Edwards. And Donte DiVencenzio tore his ACL at the beginning of game three. Ayo Dosunmu missed last night's game with a calf strain. Injuries are part of the game, but the Timberwolves got ravaged by injuries to very important players. DiVincenzio was the starting 2 guard. He made teams guard the three point line. Teams had to gameplan around him. Dosunmu was a perfect addition at the trade deadline. He was the sixth man they desired. He brought an energy and speed that this team sorely lacked. And Anthony Edwards is one of the better, younger players in the NBA right now. He has gotten better every year, is an all NBA caliber player, an MVP candidate and one of the most fun players to watch. All three of them were out last night. And while Gordon may have been out, the Nuggets had everyone else, and the supposed "best player in the world" all healthy.

Well, Rudy Gobert put Jokic in chains. He couldn't do anything. He would try and gripe and bully and do all of his moves, but it was to no effect. Gobert went back to his old days and completely locked down any and everything Jokic tried to do. He made Jokic so angry, so flustered, that he literally tried to fight dudes on the floor. That was what he was reduced to in this series. Murray couldn't do a thing, especially when McDaniels was guarding him. McDaniels did such an amazing job on him. It was a joy to watch. After McDaniels came out and said that everyone on the Nuggets was bad defensively, he had to back it up. And he did. So much so that McDaniels was the star of the closeout game last night. The lights weren't too bright for him.

I just loved seeing this Nuggets team get beaten and knocked out by a team that no one gave much of a shot, myself included. The Timberwolves seemed dead on arrival and the Nuggets were playing offense very well. I should have, and this includes others, taken into account how bad their defense had gotten though at the end of the season. They were horrendous on that end, and all the Timberwolves had to do was slow down the offense just a bit, which they were able to do. I don't care what the Timberwolves do from here on out in the playoffs. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't put up much of a fight against the Spurs. The Timberwolves, undermanned mind you, took out the media's darling team. They beat the team that all the white writers and podcasters over at The Ringer wanted to win it all. It was glorious to see Jaden McDaniels rip their heart out and show it to them. I loved seeing all these role players on the T'Wolves take it to this supposed title contender.

Thank you Minnesota. Thank you Chris Finch. Thank you Mike Conley, Naz Reid and mostly, Jaden McDaniels. The sheer fact that I don't have to watch or see the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic anymore during these playoffs is such a gift and I will be forever grateful to the Timberwolves. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Ty Watches "DTF St. Louis"

Yesterday I watched the final episode of "DTF St. Louis". I will admit, the initial lure was the whole Saint Louis in the name. That was why I first turned it on and streamed the show. But as this first, possibly only season, who knows, wore on, I found myself intrigued by what I was seeing. The show was marketed as a "dark comedy", but this was much more dark than comedy in my opinion. And that is okay. I don't mind when a show goes dark, especially when it is done well.

For people who may not know, "DTF St. Louis" is about two friends who decide to try a hook up app in their town. The show goes down much further avenues than this, but that had to be the elevator pitch on this show. I don't want to spoil much, so feel free to read ahead. David Harbour and Jason Bateman play the two main characters. Bateman plays a local weatherman. On the surface he seems like a regular dude who just happens to be on tv. He has a wife, a couple of kids and a house with a fence. He likes to bike, in an awkward looking bike, and he seems like an active, normal guy. David Harbour comes into his life as his translator for the deaf audience of his show. He is new in town, and he and his wife, Linda Cardalini, make fast friends with Bateman and his family. Harbour saves Bateman's life during their first broadcast. There's a massive tornado that rips through town while they are doing the news, and Harbour pushes Bateman out of the way of a fast moving road sign. Their friendship blossoms after that. One day, while Bateman is hosting a BBQ, he mentions a new hookup app in town to Harbour. Harbour is a little put off at first, but then he buys in.

The show starts to go wild from there. This is where the comedy kind of leaves the show too. Harbour's character dies. This is not a spoiler. This happens within the first few moments of the first episode. The show goes on a mission to find out who, or how he died, and we get to see the whole backstory of these three people whose lives get intertwined. I'm pretty open about my wants and desires with my wife when it comes to the bedroom, but this show brought up stuff that I have never heard of before, or didn't even know was a thing. The writers of this show have much more vivid imaginations than I must have when it comes to that stuff. But Bateman and Harbour play it very well. Cardalini does a very good job too. She is so good at the stuff she does in this show. I would go from despising her to feeling bad for her in the midst of one episode. She is a very good actor, and her performance here was much needed and appreciated. Bateman does good stuff too. He is meek, but also knows what he wants. He speaks his mind and says whatever is in there. In fact, he might share too much. But Harbour was the main draw for me. He is funny, sweet, kind, weak willed and a pushover. And he does it all very well, sometimes doing all of them in one episode. I didn't know what to expect from him, but his performance really shocked me in a very good way. I rooted for him all the way through. I felt bad for him. I wanted him to get all the things he ever dreamed of. And I was devastated when he died in the first episode.

But as the show wore on I found myself getting a little less engaged. I would let my mind wander from time to time. By the end I just wanted to know who did it, why and how we got here. I did like the majority of what I saw, but I did get kind of bored near the end. The good news, it is only a seven episode commitment. I told my folks, who also watched, that if it came back for a second season I don't think I'd watch it. But I'm glad I did watch this first season. It was a fine, and quick watch. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The NCAA Tournament Needs Less, not More, Teams

In our current time it seems that over abundance is the name of the game. As Americans we all seem to want more. This is not a good thing. Instead of having one burger on a bun, we need two or three. Pizzas can't have just one topping, we need the ultimate meat feast pizza. No one can just get a 12 oz steak, we need at least 24 ounces. Nachos can't just be cheese and chips, we need jalapeños, sour cream, pico de gallo and some kind of protein. And this doesn't just include food. Cars are getting bigger. I drive a SUV myself, but mine is on the smaller side. Some of these SUVs and pickup trucks are far too big. I've seen some trucks that have a lift just to get in. TVs are also getting bigger and brighter. Homes get built, then added on to. It is a mess to be honest with you.

This is happening even more in sports now. The NBA used to have eight teams per conference in the playoffs. Now there's ten. MLB has added two extra wild card teams. The NFL has added extra games. And now the men's NCAA basketball tournament announced yesterday that they're upping the number of teams that make the tournament. They decided that 68 wasn't enough, so they went up to 76 teams eligible for play.

March Madness used to be 68 teams. Hell, I remember when it was 64. There were no "play in" style games back when I was a kid. It felt like 64 teams was more than enough. I mean, I believe that when the NCAA tournament started there were only 32 teams that would get in. But now the committee decided that they needed to add eight extra teams to this overstuffed tournament.

I don't get it, and to be honest with you, I'm not a fan of adding anymore teams. I love the first weekend of the tourney. I am such a fan of the sheer fact that I can turn on my tv at 11am and watch multiple games throughout the entire day. And adding eight more teams will allow me to watch more games. But by the end of the day I am exhausted and kind of sick of watching basketball. The tournament gets better as more and more teams get eliminated. I'm sure that's due to the best teams, for the most part, just keep winning. Now though we are going to have more watered down and crummy basketball games.

If 76 teams were allowed in this year's tournament we would have gotten teams like Indiana and Auburn in the field. They were not very good this past season. Sure, Auburn won the NIT, but like RD says, that means they were the 69th best team in the country this past season. Sometimes teams have bad seasons and they shouldn't be rewarded with postseason play. This has been happening recently in college football with 5-7 teams getting bowl invites. I mean no disrespect to those teams and their players and coaches, but 5-7 is not good enough to get into a bowl game. If I had my way, 6-6 wouldn't be good enough. I feel like you should be over .500 to get into a bowl game. Now, we are going to have some men's college basketball teams that are 16-15 that get into the tournament because of the conference they play in. I keep going back to Auburn, but they were something like 18-15 last season. But because they play in the SEC, they would have gotten an invite if the field was 76 teams.

The addition of extra teams is going to hurt mid majors as well. More and more power conference teams are going to get invites over mid major teams. Miami (of Ohio) had to get in by winning a "play in" game last tourney, yet they had a record of 34-1 going into the tourney. But the discourse over the conference they play in and their strength of schedule, they will get overlooked in the future for teams that play in what others consider a better conference. In the end I fully understand that this is all about money and getting more games on tv. College sports are a money making endeavor. Many, many people, myself included, flock to the tv to watch games whenever they're on. And adding more teams is only going to give the horrific NCAA more and more cash.

And that is the biggest bummer of this whole thing. There's no transparency anymore. They want more money, they don't care who they have to step on and they will do whatever they can to get it. This is going to make the tourney less fun, but the NCAA doesn't care. They will get richer and fatter off people like me watching more and more basketball. This stinks, but it is only the start. I wouldn't be shocked if they add more and more teams in the next few years. This is the way of the world. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

The Dillon Brooks Act is Getting Stale

Well, Dillon Brooks ran his mouth again, and his team paid the price again. Let’s discuss.

There was a time when I rooted for Brooks. I found him to be a fascinating college player. I loved his tenacity and want to win. I will always remember when he made a late shot in the NCAA tournament when Oregon played Duke. I thought nothing of it at the time, but then Coach K decided he had to say something. Brooks listened, but I'm sure he didn't care. I found it to be sour grapes from Coach K. His team got beat, Brooks didn't stop until the whistle and it was a meaningless shot that wouldn't have changed the outcome no matter what. Coach K is a punk, and I'm sure Brooks thought the same thing at the time. He ended up in Memphis, and being a Grizzlies fan meant I was going to root for him. That is the way I root. If you're on my team, I'm going to go to bat for you. But then he got kind of good at defense. He became the Grizzlies 3 and D guy. That was where he shined and he did his job well. But the Grizzlies got a little too big for their britches. They started talking shit when they hadn't won anything of importance. And Brooks was at the front of the line when it came to shit talking. The Grizzlies had a solid season awhile back and ended up playing the Lakers in the playoffs. And instead of trying to just win the series and go onto the next round of the playoffs, Brooks and the rest of the Grizzlies decided they had to talk. Brooks in particular must have thought his new job was to trash talk, and to call out the biggest and best players. He went after LeBron James. He said that he "pokes bears". This was not a good look. This scared me. And when the Grizzlies were easily taken out by the Lakers, Brooks was silent all of the sudden. During the series he would talk to anyone that put a microphone in front of his face. But when he couldn't hold up his end of the bargain, and LeBron clowned his ass, he was silent. That pissed me off more than when he first opened his mouth. The sheer fact that he would talk, but then not back it up, that is a punkass move. That is clown stuff. That is what selfish little kids do. He was finally traded to the Rockets, and that was all I needed to root against this dude. And he brought back the trash talking, which made it even easier for me to clown on him. He would do this nonsensical stuff where he would just stand in one spot and stare at the opposing team. I believe he thought he was being intimidating, but he just looked like an idiot.

I don't know why and how he decided this was going to be his new thing, but it didn't work. While Brooks isn't a bad NBA player, he is a role player who is a mid tier 3 and D guy. He doesn't strike fear in any opponent. No one is worried about what he may do on the scouting report. Teams don't gameplan around him when they go to face whatever team he is playing for. The Rockets wore tired of his schtick after a year and traded him to the Suns in the Kevin Durant deal. He had an okay season for the Suns, but when they ended up as the eighth seed, and had to face the Thunder, he started up with the shit talking. He called Shai Gilgeous Alexander "frail". He griped about the refs. He was back to his Grizzlies days when the media would show up in the Suns locker room. And he got his ass cooked in all four games. SGA was scoring so easily that, at one point after a made bucket, he smiled and pointed at Brooks as if to say, this dildo can't guard me. Lu Dort did something similar during a scuffle for a loose ball. When Brooks openly complained about the refs to the media, the Thunder decided they didn't even need free throws to win. In game three SGA went 15 for 18 from the field, with Brooks as his main defender, and scored a playoff career high 42 points. Brooks will be more known for getting crossed over time and again this series than for anything else he may have done. And when the Thunder finished off the Suns in a sweep last night, Brooks all of the sudden wanted to be best friends with SGA. He went up and hugged him. Brooks and Devin Booker talked about how good SGA was at basketball in their press conference last night. All of the nonsense that Brooks was saying for two weeks was suddenly gone and now he seems to love SGA.

Dillon Brooks is a fake tough guy in the modern NBA. He may talk shit, but he has yet to back it up. He keeps going after the best and he keeps getting thwarted. I would just prefer if he would go back to his early NBA days and play gritty and grimy basketball. He doesn't need to shit talk, he doesn't need to be in front of a microphone, he doesn't need "poke bears". He just needs to play hoops. But I'm stoked that he is no longer on my favorite team. He is so much easier to root against than for, and if that makes me a hater, as Kendrick Lamar says, "I'm the biggest hater". Dillon Brooks is a joke of a "menace" in today's NBA. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Better Late than Never on "Challengers"

RD has been on my case for some time now to watch the movie "Challengers". I kind of just let it fly by the wayside because I was not all that interested in some tennis movie that may have adult themes. It just didn't really float my boat. But I had some free time last week during the day to watch. I reluctantly hit play, the movie is just a hair over two hours, which always gives me pause, but I settled in for the duration and I'm here to say, this movie rips.

I loved it . It is a very well made and well acted movie. I was talking to myself while watching, saying, "RD was right. This movie is rad". I don't know why I had any previous hesitations, besides what I mentioned, but I'm glad I didn't let that stop me from finally streaming it.

For people that may not know, "Challengers" focuses on three tennis phenoms. It tells us the story of how they met and where they went after that meeting. We first see the two main guys, Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor, involved in what looks like an intense tennis match. We then see that Faist is this super successful tennis player, and he is married to Zendaya, who is his coach. O'Connor seems to be down on his luck. He's clearly talented, he is playing in a professional tournament, but he sleeps in his car, his credit card gets declined at a motel, he eyeballs a lady's breakfast sandwich until she gracefully offers him half. He is down, but not totally out. The lady tells O'Connor that Faist is playing in the tourney, and this is where we get our first flashback of the movie. We get to see that Faist and O'Connor are old friends. They played doubles together when they were younger.  They were roommates at a tennis boarding school. They do pretty much everything together. This is where we meet young Zendaya, who is a tennis wunderkind. People are at this next generation tournament to watch her. She is the star. Then the horiniess of this movie comes into play. These three actors have a ton of chemistry and it shows, especially in these flashback scenes. The whole plot is basically that these two dudes love Zendaya, and they are constantly fighting for her attention. Sure, they're best friends, but things change when a beautiful and successful person enters their lives. They play for her number. The three of them have a hard core make out session in the hotel at this tournament. She winds up dating O'Connor's character for a good long while. Zendaya and Faist go off to Stanford while O'Connor turns pro. O'Connor and Zendaya are still together during this, but when she realizes she can't control or coach him, they break up. She then brutally injures herself. This is when Faist enters the picture as her guy. All of this is shown in flashbacks, and those are intercut with the two of them, in the current day, playing each other in the final while Zendaya watches. Zendaya and Faist marry and have a kid. She likes this because she controls every aspect of his career. She is in charge of his every move. I like that they show how much stuff goes into being a pro, and that most of it is done behind the scenes. Zendaya even handles all of the marketing that goes into her husband's career as a pro. but O'Connor being at this tournament just brings up old feelings and old issues. Him being there is forcing Zendaya to revert to her old days. She sneaks out to be with him the night before the final. She clearly doesn't love Faist anymore. He wants to retire and says as much, which is why Zendaya leaves to be with O'Connor. O'Connor and Faist have it out in the sauna the day before the final.

All of this may sound boring, but the way it is put on screen is so cool and so unique. And then you add on the Trent Reznow score to this movie, and that took it over the top for me. I said to my dad and another brother of mine, after watching the movie, that I think Reznor is the best at scoring movies right now. I like others, but there is just something about the way he uses music to heighten a scene. The score is so awesome and adds a whole other layer onto this kickass movie.

I loved "Challengers". I was wrong to shove it aside. I should have watched it sooner. But I did finally press play and I had an absolute blast watching this movie. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't seen it, or give it a rewatch if you already have. This movie rules. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.