I bought 8 Sonic the Hedgehog x Sanrio Blind Box Figurines from Entertainment Earth in hopes of getting the entire set of 4. Will 8 be enough, or will I have to buy more? I hope so, because they’re ALL SOLD OUT!
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RIP Johnie’s Coffee Shop
Historic Culture Monument status be damned, one of the coolest and arguably most iconic buildings in Los Angeles is now nothing more than a destroyed shell of its former glory.
Nearly covered in Bernie Sanders propaganda, Johnie’s Coffee Shop on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax is worth the visit to see what once was, as well as what never will be again. Another sad (structural) commentary on the decline of even the hippest corners of America.
Johnie’s features prominently in several famous films, including:
The Big Lebowski
American History X
Reservoir Dogs
Now it’s only this:
A persistent reminder that the third horse to enter the race diluted the vote and brought us 4 years of spray tan politics.
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An NFL football season lasts only about 5 months of each year; a little longer if you pay attention to preseason, which Iāve tried to do, but rarely succeed. Each NFL season has about 20 games if your favorite team manages to make the playoffs and if youāre a fan of a particular team you need only watch a single game each week.
Thatās not a lot of viewing commitment, especially compared to sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, or even soccer, and yet by the time the Super Bowl rolls around, Iām so tired of all things football that I can barely get myself to care about āThe Big Gameā¢.ā
As Iām sitting here watching Super Bowl LVII, weāre not even to halftime. Iām exhausted listening to the ātriumphant storiesā of Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, etc. Iāve endured scripted, feel-good commentary from Bradley Cooper. I rolled my eyes at an awkward tribute to Mahomes from Brad Pitt, and Iāve been reminded ad nauseum that Rhianna is going to be lip-syncing during the halftime show.
All of this is on top of months of high-drama storytelling from the minds behind the NFLās ridiculously competent marketing machine and an American sports media that eagerly eats it up. Sure, there was some real drama this year. Damar Hamlin nearly died on the field just a few short weeks ago and because weāre at the tail end of another season, weāve had to tolerate another round of āwill they finally fucking retire,ā courtesy of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
And yet for all the pageantry and pomp and circumstance, NFL football has slowly become the least interesting and most melodramatic popular sport in this country, and its annual ultimate event, the Super Bowl, is little more than an excuse for beer and insurance brands to spend ridiculous sums trying to outdo one another with Snoop Dogg commercials.
Zzzzzz.
How exciting can any of these player storylines be when weāve been hearing them for months, if not years? Yes, Patrick Mahomes has a bum ankle. How could I not know that when it has dominated all ESPN programming for more weeks than I can count? Yes, the Jalen Hurts story is great ā or at least it was the first dozen times I heard it.
I get it.
NFL football has been my favorite sport since before I knew how to spell āsport.ā The difference between the football I watched as a kid and the football I watch today is minimal when it comes to the actual on-field play. The athletes are still impressive as hell and the game is certainly as solid as itāll ever be. But the FOX Sports 12-hour pre-game show and the estimated (by me) 72,000 hours of commentary for each actual hour of play? Well, they might be making a couple of television networks a pretty penny, but theyāve managed to make my favorite sport feel old, bloated, and tired.