So you may have heard Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland. And you might have heard that it's because he doesn't want to play with LeBron James anymore. You might have even heard that LeBron is so mad that he could fight Kyrie if their paths crossed any time soon. I think the most important part of this… is that Derrick Rose is a Cavalier and he's going to play his best season since 2012 alongside King James and then my wife can stop calling him RGIII!

Would you want to play with LeBron James if you were one of the elite basketball players in the world? Would you want to strike it out on your own even though you're pretty much guaranteed a shot at the NBA championship again next June?

I know I would definitely attempt to be the sidekick to LeBron's action hero, that's for sure. Just let me get my shine and my own shoe and we good King.

Song Of The Moment belongs to Mr. Wonder with his all-time great track, “Superstition”. I've been a Stevie fan as long as I've been alive and I would LOVE to see him live since I missed out on Michael Prince and Michael (yes, I did want to put Prince first). Much like a ton of songs in his catalog, “Superstition” is always a sure-fire way to set a stone cold groove off properly. Or a Tuesday at work.

With all the different options to watch television shows, it’s impossible to watch everything. With so many of those shows being exclusive to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc., that means you practically have to decide what you’re going to dedicate your television time to watching. If you get over the crippling fear of not being in on every TV show conversation that takes place in your immediate vicinity, you can obviously sit down and enjoy the shows you’ve chosen to watch. So you watch your show and you get through all the seasons in classic binge watch mode. Thomas has been known to watch 20+ episode seasons of hour long dramas in about 2 days for example. Which is amazing that he is able to put forth that kind of effort; I thought it was impressive when I took down 9 seasons of How I Met Your Mother in a few short months (I guess the ultimate challenge there would be to see how quickly one can binge watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit or The Simpsons). Then you set out in the world ready to tell anyone who will listen about how great this show is and why they should take the time to watch it.

But I’m really starting to believe you can’t truly appreciate a TV show without a rewatch.

I’m rewatching Breaking Bad and I have “Granite State” and “Felina” left and I have an entirely different opinion on almost everything. And if you still haven’t watched Breaking Bad and don’t want to be spoiled, type hotornot.com into your address bar and press enter (or delete this email). I never really wavered from wanting Walter to succeed during my first watch; I turned on Walt by season 2 this time. While Vince Gilligan has always been about watching Mr. Chips turn into Scarface when it came to Walter’s journey… Walter wasn’t that great of a person to begin with. Sure, he seemed like a dedicated father and husband; a chemistry teacher who worked a second job to help with bills. He was someone you could immediately relate to, so when he finds out he has cancer and wants to find some way to make sure his family is financially stable when he’s gone, we as the viewers are supposed to root for him.

Let’s take the closer look of a rewatch though. Walter hates his life. He doesn’t like that Skyler is the head of the household. He loves Walt Jr. dearly but his son respects his Uncle Hank more than him. He’s not getting through to his students and Bogdan treats him horribly. We later learn that it was Walter himself that left Gray Matter for a small buyout due to some slight by Gretchen’s family when they were dating. But the thing that truly killed me (and it’s something that Jesse called him out on in the Confessions” episode) was how much Walt manipulated Jesse from the beginning of their partnership. Sure, we know that Walt cared for Jesse like a son but he never really showed it until the last time they see each other. But Walter was constantly getting Jesse to “keep cooking” or “stick with the plan”. It was downright sickening at times. So much for the idea that Walt was a good person until he started cooking meth.

On top of that, I became more of a Jesse fan because of how terribly Walt treated him, I didn’t hate Skyler like I did initially (her husband seemingly changed overnight, cancer or not. Definite cause for concern), and despite the bravado that made me not want to root for him the first time, Hank Schrader is the true hero of the series. I don’t feel any different about Marie; she’s pretty much a self-righteous tart until she finds out Walt’s criminal activity. While I still love the series as a whole, the rewatch just gives you a new outlook on Breaking Bad as a whole.

The same can be said for another favorite show of mine, Scrubs. Already one of the most underrated single camera sitcoms of all-time, to rewatch the series as whole brings a different experience every time. JD is certainly the main character who we witness all these highs and lows with but some people come away from a rewatch hating him entirely (I’m not one of them). For me, I found Elliot to be a delightful mess throughout the whole series and Carla to be the uptight one. But now, I’m of the opinion that Elliot is a horrible person for much of the series while Carla is really just trying to find a good work/life balance where she’s respected in both areas. I found out Jamie watched Scrubs and he said the Janitor should have outsmarted (or did he say killed? I was drunk) JD years ago, which is another vote for how brilliant Neil Flynn is as The Janitor who went from a figment of JD’s imagination in season 1 to getting married with a bunch of coworkers present by season 8. Sure, my rewatches took place in the days that I had no cable and was constantly rotating through the seasons on DVD but these are the nuances I’m talking about.

Marcus’s rewatch of Game Of Thrones led him to make his own predictions for the show’s final 2 seasons before the show came back a few weeks ago. I’m kind of half rewatching HIMYM while I do other stuff and my opinions on that show hasn’t changed too much (Ted is still annoying, the rest of the group are still phenomenal). Another show my opinions never wavered on is The Wire. No matter how many times you watch the best television show of all-time, the game is still the game.

Which brings me to my final point and the rewatch that brought us here (even though I used Breaking Bad as my primary example), The Wonder Years. This was more of a first watch since the show was originally on when I was a kid and I have hazy but fond memories of it. I was so excited when Netflix got the show that I started watching it in 2011 (or ’12) and I promptly finished it in 2017. Here is my major takeaway from one of my favorite shows as a kid: Kevin Arnold is a dick. I don’t know where this kid gets off but for every aw shucks or touching moment he has, he’s normally said or done 4 or 5 crappy things that made him irredeemable in almost every episode! He treats his best friend Paul as bad as Walt treated Jesse and Paul still sticks by him for the whole show (though Paul was the first one out of the crew to lose his virginity). Kevin is rude to his mom and dad, often saying how he wants his way despite his parents having perfectly good reasons for him to not to do things. He’s extremely crappy to all the girls he dates, including Winnie Cooper who he often cites as his dream girl. And more often than not, he has to get slapped by reality 2 to 3 times before he even becomes a halfway decent person to others.

How about that time he quit his job at the hardware store because he wanted to work at the mall, even after the owner gave him a raise? I’m pretty sure he cheated on Winnie with that cigarette smoking girl at camp that one summer (and then he tried to do it again!). He’s constantly at odds with his dad, who seems to be a pretty fair guy for working a job he hates for most of the show, as he’s always finding something to whine about. He gets a summer job thanks to Paul and then he’s upset when Paul is management and he’s a delivery driver. I could go on but that’s plenty on how great Kevin Arnold is compared to my idealized childhood version.

At least with his brother Wayne, you knew he was a dick because he didn’t hide it. Kevin was a dick in sheep’s clothing. Serves him right that Winnie got a lifeguard job away from him and promptly started making out with the hottest dude there; she deserves happiness, not Kevin Arnold. Which may be the real reason Kevin and Winnie didn’t end up together (besides her going to Paris to study art for 8 years while Kevin stayed in California, probably because he whined about it), because they were great on paper but not in real life. Needless to say, I now know why Fred Savage has played horrible characters as his career progressed: it’s because he played a horrible character for five years as a child.

But I still rank The Wonder Years in my top ten shows of all-time and you should watch it. Just please don’t say I didn’t warn you about sweet ol’ Kev when he crushes someone’s feelings by episode 2.

Item! The latest episode of Hyphen Nation has arrived and it's glorious. And I mean Bobby Roode GLORIOUS. I've been talking about this episode for quite some time… but it morphed into this other thing. Marcus “ShowinmadLov” Robinson joined me again as we discussed the 13th solo album of Jay-Z's catalog among other things. It's a huge episode but its well worth it… other than us saying over and over how great Hov is, but I digress.

MP3 – iTunes – Google Play – Stitcher – Mixcloud –YouTube

On top of that, my first column for 16 Wins A Ring came out. It's my open letter to the NBA's Eastern Conference and how I'll always love the East despite its permanent underdog status. The idea that not just the Cavs but the East as a whole loses LeBron James next season still baffles me.

Song of the Moment truly is a song of the moment as Keith Sweat's “Make It Last Forever” popped into my head this morning. The ultimate debate about Keith is whether he could actually sing or not (he can't) but I'll be damned if he didn't spend years making some dope songs for us to all not be able to sing along with.

I'm also going to get on my soapbox here and complain about how R&B isn't as good as it was when I was younger. Considering the news that 2 of R&B's biggest stars are up to no good this week (one not so surprising), it makes me a little sad. *Checks Billboard R&B chart* Bruno, Frank, SZA, Drake, Pharrell, Chris Brown, and The Weeknd. And 2 of those artists are on Calvin Harris songs. Bah.

I’ve always gravitated to a certain thing and then hung on for dear life when it comes to particular things I find fascinating (ask my wife). I think my very first obsession goes back to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and to this day, I still love those 4 crazy amphibian (or reptile?) ninjas. If you’ve followed any of my work, you know how much I loved CM Punk’s work in WWE from 2011 until he walked out in 2014. While I’m finally not wearing one of his t-shirts all the time (I have 7. Yes, I have a problem), I still peek in on him to see if he’ll ever get that second MMA match or possibly wrestle again (I still have money down that he will eventually wrestle in the WWE again). I still go through phases with different things (I listened to all 20 episodes of the Better Call Saul Insider Podcast a few months prior to season 3. Protip: listen to them like a normal person) but at the forefront of all the stuff I love, is Spider-Man.

I read a quote somewhere that said kids love Spider-Man because he could be anyone under the mask, including them (beware though, Bendis said it and it comes off super white privilege-y). I doubt that’s why I started liking him though. When I started reading Spider-Man, he was married to a supermodel, worked for the Daily Bugle (he was definitely on staff at time), and his biggest worry was Atlantis attacking (I’m pretty sure Web Of Spider-Man Annual #5 or Spectacular Spider Man #161 was my first official issue of Spider-Man). Aside from that, Peter Parker had it pretty good besides the run-of-the-mill stuff he would encounter (like having a cold against Man Mountain Marko). From there, things got a bit hectic: Harry returned as the Green Goblin, Peter’s parents came back, he forged a truce with Venom, Harry died, Carnage escaped, his parents ended up being frauds, and then his clone returned after five years (he also got an animated series in 1994). Despite all of that craziness, I was hooked. Something about Peter Parker clicked and I haven’t looked back since.

In recent years though, I’ve been a bit meh on Spidey. After faithfully following his adventures from 2001 to 2010 in his flagship title Amazing Spider-Man, I had to stop reading (which I didn’t completely but I’ve not read every single issue like I had the nine years previous). I stayed after One More Day and had survived a huge chunk of Brand New Day but once the big reveal dropped about how Peter was able to regain his secret identity (I won’t get into it; my brain hurts right now thinking about it)… I let the main format of Spidey’s adventures go for the most part.

On top of that, after being a huge fan of the original Spider-Man trilogy, I just never really liked the Amazing Spider-Man series. I imagine many Batman fans felt the same way after seeing Batman Forever and definitely Batman And Robin: it was nice to see my favorite character on the big screen, but that wasn’t how my favorite character would act. I’ve always found Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker to be too cool but I positively loved his portrayal of Spider-Man. But with a bad retelling of Spider-Man’s origin that we just got barely 10 years earlier and horrible plots all around, Amazing Spider-Man wasn’t sticking. After some back and forth, Sony agreed and worked out a deal with Marvel Studios to share Spider-Man going forward. With Spidey officially in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many rejoiced… but I did not share in the enthusiasm.

Despite the MCU’s amazing track record (I’ve only not seen all of Thor: The Dark World and none of Doctor Strange or Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2), I was ready for Marvel to mess up somehow. When they casted Tom Holland, I worried that we were going to get the Ultimate version of the character (and I liked Ultimate Spider-Man, I just wanted my Spider-Man in the MCU). I went to Captain America: Civil War and loved it from beginning to end. Tom Holland and Spider-Man were utterly delightful but my heart went to Chadwick Boseman’s portrayal of Black Panther over everything else. And even with a successful entry into the MCU and all signs pointing to Marvel Studios doing right by the Wall-Crawler, ol’ pessimistic me still had doubts. I watched every Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer cautiously, as if I was waiting for Spider-Nipples or Arnold Schwarzenegger to appear. When the positive reviews started coming in, I felt a little better, but I refused to let my guard down. I had to see Spider-Man: Homecoming myself.

I planned on not touching my popcorn until Spider-Man appeared on screen but it only took me 30 seconds to know that I worried for nothing. Spider-Man: Homecoming restored my faith in Spider-Man.

My favorite era of Spider-Man would be from 1962 to pre-symbiote. I was brought up on the symbiote and all the events of the 1990s, and all those stories hold a special place in my heart, but I love Spidey’s entire run during that time. From the dumbest fill-in issues to timeless moments like The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man, Marvel could do no wrong by Peter Parker. And Spider-Man: Homecoming did no wrong by Spider-Man.

Tom Holland is the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He hits all the right notes, shows his inexperience while winging it through different situations, and joins the ranks of actors who disappear once they step on screen as their Marvel counterparts. Homecoming has the best plot of any Spider-Man film and the best villain in Adrian Toomes since Norman Osborn in Spider-Man. Instead of Mary Jane or Gwen, we get Liz Allen, the same girl who made googily eyes at Peter (unbeknownst to him) after he got his Spider Powers almost 55 years ago. And all the classic Spider tropes made it into the film too, including Peter ducking out on social events to save the day as Spidey, the constant chatter that he uses to distract his foes, and my personal favorite, Peter complaining about wasting web-fluid as he makes his way through his fights.

I’ve only seen it once…but it might be my favorite MCU film. That position is currently filled with Guardians vol. 1, followed by Civil War, Avengers, and Winter Soldier/Iron Man close behind. But once I give it a few more viewings (and account for my severe bias), I might have a new entry in the number one spot.

While I watched the movie, I had the same feeling I had when I started reading Spider-Man comics. The same feeling I get when I read some of my favorite Spidey stories today. And it gave me the same feeling I had at 19 years old when I saw my favorite superhero finally come to life at the movies 15 years ago (shout out to Marc and Chad). I’m not about to start collecting comics heavy again but it puts me at ease knowing that Marvel Studios and Sony are doing right by one of Marvel’s flagship characters again. It lets me know that there are still good Spider-Man stories that need to be told, stories that Aaliyah will hopefully have interest in as she gets older. One can only hope.

Now let’s send Dan Slott off into the sunset. I really have nothing against the guy but he and Spidey deserve a long break from each other. I have to say Superior Spider-Man was truly dope though.

Item! A few weeks ago, I wrote a tweet about submitting my writing to a website that didn't belong to me for the first time in years. This past weekend, I found out that I'm one of the newest writers for 16 Wins a Ring. 16 Wins a Ring is a website dedicated to all things NBA and I've been assigned to not only write about my favorite sport in the world but I'm also covering the Chicago Bulls. Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking. Be prepared for a bunch of #FireGarPax and “What Jimmy Butler is Doing Now” think pieces. But seriously, I'm hoping to have my first pieces ready soon. I highly encourage anyone who loves the NBA to follow 16 Wins A Ring on Twitter and on Medium. I'm really excited to be a part of the team.

If you have Tidal, I highly encourage you to watch the Footnotes For 4:44 video. I haven't seen it on YouTube yet and maybe it'll get uploaded there like “The Story Of O.J.” did. But even if you have to borrow someone's login to Tidal, watch this video. It's great.

Song of the moment belongs to DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's “Brand New Funk”. Mostly because I found out that we share the same birthday but also because I remembered how good his album was 10 years ago. It still holds up nicely today. Check out his website to find out all the cool stuff he still has his hands in musically, including his Summertime mixtape series with Mick Boogie and his Vinyl Destination vlogs.

And if Jay still has bars… can I please get one more Will Smith/DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince album? Please? And no I'm not comparing Hov to Will; I'm just a fan of Will's work too. Don't get me started on Willennium.

I'm a sucker for a good documentary. Mostly about things that interest me so I'm not going to watch The Saga of Photosynthesis on Netflix. But sports, music, television, etc., I'm there. The first actual documentary I can recall watching was Hoop. I got it for Christmas of ‘94 (maybe ‘93, I'm not perfect) because I loved basketball. My dad must have thought the story of two high schoolers trying to make it to the NBA would appeal to me. And if the fact I can remember Arthur Agee getting crossed up by Isiah Thomas in the opening 30 minutes or the heartbreak William Gates felt when he failed to lead St. Joseph's down state again because he was late to the game proves anything, dad was once again right.

The most recent documentary I took in was the History of the Eagles due to a (surprise) recommendation from a Bill Simmons column from Grantland. Just like Simmons, I recommend the first half over watching the entire thing (it's on Netflix) but it's still a really cool watch overall.

And speaking of Grantland, that brings me to today's topic, the sibling of the documentary: the oral history. For those of you confused (pervs), an oral history is simply the written form of a documentary. Writers will interview everyone involved with a certain thing and then piece the thing together from start to finish. To a documentary fan like myself, it is a thing of beauty. It was Grantland that first exposed me to them but I'm sure they had existed for many years prior.

The oral history of the Malice at the Palace not only cemented me as a lifelong (who knew it would be their life and not mine) Grantland fan but also brought to life that awful night in Auburn Hills when then-Indiana Pacers Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson decided to rush fans in the stands and pummel their faces after someone threw a beer on Artest. I was watching the game that night and even 13 years later, it's one of the most awful sports related spectacles I've seen in my life. Not to mention the aftershocks it had on an Eastern Conference championship contending Pacers squad (this forced Reggie Miller to retire. Sure, he had played many seasons to this point but this is the thing that made Reggie say, “Enough is enough”. Thanks Ron). The oral history as a whole was great as most everyone involved took part in the story (I think Mr. World Peace passed, you'll always have 1 or 2 who decline to comment) and gave fresh new takes on the proceedings. There were regrets, sure, but there were also a lot of answers.

Another great oral history provided by Grantland was the one on the Houston Rockets team that was supposed to be a threat to repeat as Western Conference champions in 1986. How did this team that not only knocked off the defending champion Lakers and pushed one of the greatest teams of NBA history in the Boston Celtics to 6 games disappear without a trace? Drugs you say? Well… yes but there was a lot more to it. Sure, 30 For 30 does a great job covering the stories they're going to cover but was the 80s Rockets on their radar? I highly doubt it. How different would the late 80s have been out West if the Rockets could have kept contending? Do they beat the Lakers in ‘87, another potentially all-time great NBA team? How would the Bad Boys have handled a healthy Twin Towers duo of Akeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson? This oral history makes you explore all those thoughts.

On the other hand, not all oral histories are great. I bought that ESPN book a few years back, thinking it would be a fun read about all my favorite personalities and what it was like to work at what seemed like one of the greatest places ever. I was horribly wrong. Eight hundred and thirty-two tedious pages later, I might have my number one pick for worst book I've ever read. Sure, the personalities are there but so much time is spent describing how ESPN got on the air and how important it was that they aired boat races in the early years, I feel like I found the key to sainthood for finishing the whole book. If you take anything from this column, listen to the audiobook of the ESPN book if you just can't live without knowing how many sexual harassment cases they avoided in the '80s.

I was inspired to write this when I accidentally ran into the oral history of Wedding Crashers (which will be featured in the next Dope Reads drop), which is on my list of movies I'll drop everything to watch (another future podcast/column) and I got super excited. Then I realized how much of a nerd I am and then I had the nerve to put it on the Gram (to 1 like I think). A quick Google search provided at least 5 different oral histories I'm interested in reading, so it's safe to say my obsession will continue. I highly recommend looking through the Grantland archives at some of their work, including a huge (no pun intended) piece on Boogie Nights. I haven't even finished it and I think it's pretty fantastic.

I hope to one day be responsible for the oral history of Boyz II Men's careers start-to-finish (may that day never come), including interviews with Marc Nelson and Michael McCary (who isn't dead. Geez people). Or… the definitive oral history of Roc-A-Fella Records, featuring interviews with everyone from Jay to Teairra Mari. And Rell and Christión! That is an oral history that needs written even though an actual documentary would be way better. I think an oral history of “The Gold N Blue” could be really cool too but mostly for local Morgantown/WVU purposes.

And as I wrap this column up, I just Googled Hoop Dreams so I could start linking things… and there’s an oral history of Hoop Dreams! Three years old but once again it’s on (Jay/Sigel – The B. Coming – 2005 Dame Dash Music Group).

I really should attempt to write that Roc-A-Fella oral history though.

On Friday, I finally turned off 4:44. It hurts to not listen to it every waking moment I have free but I had to switch it up a little bit. Is it the best Jay-Z album since American Gangster? Or The Black Album? Or The Blueprint? It could be. Did it erase all the horrible things I've said about Beyoncé because I thought she was painting my favorite rapper of all time as unfaithful for Lemonade's benefit? I have to say yes. What's my favorite song? Difficult to say, but I have to say “Kill Jay Z” today because of the way he handled Kanye in the best way Hov knows how. Did it inspire me to want to record new music? Of course, but that's neither here nor there. Is this Hov's Jordan in the 1998 Finals moment, again? Or even his 60 points on 50 shots moment. I don't know, but I'd be satisfied if the Jay-Z discography ended here. I'll have more thoughts when Marcus and I link up to discuss 4:44 at length on Hyphen Nation.

Song of the Moment is completely blamed on the Total Package Tour that Angel and I went to for our anniversary. I was there for Boyz II Men (more on this soon, I promise) as was Angel but she was excited about Paula Abdul as well. We could have left the show after Paula and been fine… but New Kids On The Block tore it down, there's no denying it. When a group has been together for mostly 30 years, they're going to know how to put on a show. But you have no one to blame for watching their Behind The Music special and listening to some of Face The Music this past week except yourself. You Blockhead.

The Little Mermaid is the worst. I thought this before Aaliyah was born. Some people will call The Little Mermaid a classic. But I won’t. I won’t even look at it when it’s on. It’s a mess.

What about Snow White? Nah, we’re good. Sleeping Beauty? Other than her parents shunning Maleficent for no reason and getting what they deserve, no problems there. Cinderella? DID YOU NOT SEE THE HELL CINDERELLA HAD TO GO THROUGH TO GET HER PRINCE? Her happy ending was well-deserved. But Ariel and I don’t see eye to eye.

I think it’s because I just can’t set aside my disbelief. And as someone who will watch Hot Tub Time Machine and Wild Hogs from start to finish, it’s pretty easy for me to do. First of all, Ariel is ridiculously lucky. She escapes the shark. She’s never had any interaction with fire in her life and yet she fearlessly takes on a burning boat to save some dude she saw for the first time ten minutes ago (also, Prince Eric is like a 3 out of 10 on the Disney Prince scale). Then she sings this dude awake after he’s swallowed all the ocean water. How does she have any clue what breathing means to humans? And everything that she does wrong leading up to the film’s culmination works out for her in the best possible way.

Now, before I go on, she might not have made the deal with Ursula if Sebastian hadn’t snitched to Triton. But she would’ve eventually tried to make contact with Eric again. So we either get a direct cut to Triton realizing she and Eric are in love or Eric and his men kill her for a trophy. That’s a little anti-climactic and way, way dark. Sebastian is the worst too. While Flounder is perfect in his sidekick role, Sebastian does nothing but help Ariel make all the bad decisions.

So Ariel makes the deal with Ursula, which was doomed from the start. Of course, it’s super convenient to have the “Kiss The Girl” scene happen on the water, where Flotsam and Jetsam can interfere. But Ursula is a sea witch. She would have found a way to interrupt the kiss no matter what. Turning herself into Vanessa was her ace in the hole too, so Ursula was trotting that gimmick out day three regardless of what had happened to that point. Even for a 15 or 16 year old girl, Ariel can’t possibly think true love is going to win over a sea witch.

I get that this is a Disney movie but I feel like this film is guilty of coming up with a cast of characters (which is completely based off of another classic Disney move of reimagining the original fairy tale, which is even more insane than this plot) and then forcing them to do a bunch of things that make no sense whatsoever. This film and Beauty and the Beast are maddening because everything happens because reasons. The rest of the Disney feature films at least get from point A to point Z safely despite the fact they’re made for children. The Little Mermaid starts at point A and then turns into a child scribbling numbers and random letters and then deciding to finish with point Z.

And people don’t just love The Little Mermaid, they live for this. How can anyone get behind such a boring, whiny lead in Ariel? A vanilla prince who gets his one moment by taking out the big bad by stabbing her?

Seriously, Eric does nothing this entire film except pine after Ariel, then he doesn’t have sense enough to close the deal with her, which leads to his getting brainwashed by Ursula. Then he’s able to use a sunken ship to defeat the sea witch who not only possessed Triton’s trident but was also the size of a New York skyscraper in the final battle.

I’ll let you read that again. They don’t give Ariel the big moment of her tricking Ursula into defeat somehow. Nope. The useless, barely handsome prince saves the day. Ugh. This film is supposed to be… wait, this movie is hailed for how brave and strong Ariel’s character is but she can’t even beat the film’s antagonist.

Back to people loving this film: I just don’t get it. Ariel isn’t the kind of hero this film needs. She goes through this “amazing” adventure for the love of a boy. Then she ends up right back where she started at film’s end, as a mermaid pining after a human boy. But her dad then has a change of heart and gives her legs. He resolves the whole conflict nicely so Ariel and Eric can have their fairy tale ending. What about all those rules he was spouting about earlier in the film? Are humans less dangerous because Eric isn’t a threat to anyone besides giant sea witches? Is he not worried about when the truth gets out and some crazy fricking human wants to cut Ariel open because she used to be a mermaid?

Angel made a point about how Ariel and Eric’s differences didn’t stop them from loving one another and that being another great part of the film. We’re essentially talking about two different species at the end of the day though. Just because Ariel has legs doesn’t mean that she and Eric won’t have to work on their relationship every single day. How’s that for a happy ending? Love with a little bit of constant couple’s therapy. Or we go even darker and considering the time period of the film, Eric could fall out of love with Ariel, never divorce her, treat her horribly, and then have a few mistresses on the side until one of them dies. And this is a timeless classic.

The whole film is so ridiculous that any other Little Mermaid spinoff has taken place before this movie, including the TV show and the third film. I’ve never watched the second film which takes place after the original. But I read the plot on Wikipedia. So that happy ending that is supposed to be there in the original? How about that because Ursula’s sister threatens Ariel and Eric’s kid (because of course all Disney couples must reproduce. If there’s kid from Anna/Kristoff in Frozen 2, I’m walking out of the theater. Sorry Aaliyah), they have to come up with a way to protect her. Do they educate her about being half mermaid? Warn her of the danger as she grows up? Nope.

They ban her from any contact with the ocean. For 12 years! And only once it’s convenient to the plot, then their kid finally interacts with the ocean. Eric and Ariel build a wall between the castle and the ocean to keep their kid away from there… and the kid still ends up in the ocean. Then the kid disappears and Ariel gets turned back into a mermaid to help find her.

I’m not kidding. The Little Mermaid really grinds my gears.

And one more thing: do you know who the best character was in the whole film? Ursula. She’s the most watchable character and she’s the antagonist. She’s what happens if Heath Ledger is in The Dark Knight still but with George Clooney and Tommy Lee Jones. There was no part of this movie where she took an L until Eric hit her with a lucky shot. Ursula is the best. When you don’t have another character that even comes close to that level of talent, you get The Little Mermaid.

I had way too much time on my hands from Sunday evening to Wednesday. So here's this week's newsletter. No denying my lateness this time but we'll get into that shortly.

Chris Paul to the Rockets though? That was out of nowhere. I absolutely love this NBA offseason so far (other than the Bulls getting rid of franchise cornerstone Jimmy Butler, but I digress). We're 2 days away from free agency (and hours away from a new Jay-Z album!) and nobody knows what's going to happen.

Here's a bold prediction: LeBron James doesn't finish the 2016-17 season as a Cavalier if they're not able to bring in the big name they need. A crazy prediction (that I'm sure E will hate me for) but I think it's in play.

So I watched Trolls for the first time this weekend. Now that we own it, I'm sure we'll be watching even more Trolls. But the first thing I noticed (besides it not holding a candle to Moana) was the reworking of Junior Senior's “Move Your Feet”. So naturally, here's this week's Song Of The Moment. But let it be known that Luther's “Don't Wanna Be A Fool” was damn close as well.

I had some free time this week because Angel and Aaliyah went to DC to visit Nikki. You would think I’d be super productive and get all kinds of stuff done, right? Just the opposite. I spent all my time away from the house with friends because I didn’t know what to do with myself otherwise. And it didn’t take long for me to get an invite to one of Morgantown’s local-est of bars, Gene’s Beer Garden.

I’ve been saying for years that I prefer a bar to a club the older I’ve gotten and that hasn’t changed. But normally, the bars I haunt have delicious wings on their menus and sports on every TV. Gene’s has TVs, but if you’re there, you’re there to drink and be merry. I sat down with my friends on one end of the bar and finally got my hands on some of that delicious Halleck Pale Ale that Heather has been raving about for months. While I focused on enjoying my beer and being merry, I also took some time to take in my surroundings.

Being in a bar at 34 is different from being in a bar in your early 20s. You have no couth in your 20s; no sense of tradition. You may think you’re building traditions but you’re really just making a bunch of noise and drinking way too much while you do it. Granted, my friends and I were doing the exact same thing but not as rambunctiously as we would have in our youth. I’d say there wasn’t more than 20 people in the bar the couple of hours I was there but you never got the sense the bar was dead or too packed (and Gene’s is small, it doesn’t take much).

The right side of the bar had a couple of guys just shooting the breeze, drinking their drinks and talking to the bartender. They were slightly older and looked to be just winding down from a hot summer day, whether they were at work or had been putting around their house. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of being a regular somewhere. The closest I’ve come is using the same Sheetz so much that they recognized me and picked on me for spending so much money on coffee. My dad is a regular… no, the king of Applebee’s on Route 50 coming into/out of Winchester, VA. People come to visit him while he’s there. It’s fricking uncanny. I always wondered how one becomes a member of those groups of older gentlemen that sit in fast food restaurants like McDonalds and Burger King every single morning. There are normally not more than 6 or 7 of them, all discussing current events while drinking coffee and flipping through the local newspaper. I want to be that cool.

I was a regular at a bar once but it wasn’t a particularly good time in my life. Ed and I lived a street down from a High Life Lounge, which is one of many video gambling places all over West Virginia. Our friend Jina was a bartender there which naturally meant free beer for us. I had no job and absolutely nothing to do, so many of my evenings in 2008 consisted of drinking as much free beer as I could take while Jina tended to the other patrons. And having my pick of what to watch on TV. It sounds like a sweet deal but the amount of time I wasted there makes me cringe. And I wasn’t being a regular; I was essentially stealing profits from the place one drink at a time. It’s a laundromat now, go figure.

Back to Gene’s, it was the bartender’s birthday! So people were popping in and out to see her and bringing her gifts and food. If crashing weddings gives off as good of a feeling as being around for anyone’s birthday does, I really need to put that on the bucket list. She had made some of her famous kimchi for the hot dogs (which is the other thing that Gene’s offers, hot dogs for cheap to go with your beer). And I say famous because everyone was putting this kimchi over. I was running low on funds until payday and my friends were nice enough to provide the pitchers of Halleck, so getting a free sample of this kimchi was an extra bonus. It was really good too, I need to make a mental note to go back and have some on an actual hot dog. Point being, I may have been a bit intoxicated but my local bar was the happiest place on earth for the time being.

I knew I had to be leaving soon to get home as I hadn’t eaten yet so I reluctantly said my goodbyes. While new faces had replaced some of the people who were there when I came in by this time, Gene’s still had just the right amount of people there. Before I left, I opened up my Google Docs app and typed in “Your local bar” as a reminder of what I wanted this week’s column to be about.

So I headed home… except I ended up at E’s and played 2K for the second consecutive night. After that, I got a text from Jamie, who I had invited to Gene’s earlier but he was playing softball. He was still out at Mundy’s, yet another local bar. Mundy’s is five minutes from my house, so I told him I’d see him shortly.

Mundy’s was pretty dead when I got there other than the three guys sitting with Jamie, the bartender and maybe another couple or 2. I had been in Mundy’s years ago when it was still a hole in the wall that served beer. Now it’s a redecorated hole in the wall that serves beer and the upgrades have done the place wonders. I definitely want to go there when it’s not 45 minutes before closing time to see if I catch the same vibe that I had at Gene’s.

So I hung out with Jamie and his friend for a few and had a couple more beers that he was gracious enough to buy me. We talked about when we would go out to the clubs when we were younger. We would go to Elements for the free drink special from 10 to 11, and then go to Shooters or Club Z to see Wes or Cortez prospectively, and finish our night with some Mediterranean food from Prince Naseem’s. Naturally, Jamie’s friend had no clue about any of the places we were talking about. Eventually, he left and Jamie and I chatted for a while longer until the bartender was ready to shut things down and go home to sleep. We parted ways and I headed for bed myself, much later than I should have since I opened the next morning at work.

I can definitely say I don’t have the stamina to be a regular at a bar yet nor the time. But with the right amount of moderation (that’s really the key), maybe someday I’ll be the guy holding court while you and your friends get drunk and loud. And maybe, you’ll have the good sense to come and buy me a beer. You might learn a thing or three.

Now that I finally got the first newsletter out, I have to turn right around and make some more magic. There’s nothing I like more than a deadline that I can procrastinate against.

Song of the Moment this week is “Happy” by Ashanti (I’ll even throw the remix in there too). After a great Father’s Day on Sunday and the fact that it’s officially summer, this is the feeling and the song that comes to mind. It doesn’t hurt that it samples another summer groove, the Gap Band’s “Outstanding”.

So I’ve went back and forth about what to talk about today, especially after last week’s NBA Finals think piece. I was going to post something I found about Fear The Walking Dead but I realized it was more of a hot take, especially after the last episode. So I thought about talking about hot take culture and how it dominates almost every narrative when it comes to sports, music, entertainment, etc. Then it felt a little too meta to be writing a hot take on hot takes so to speak. I had another idea… but I forgot it (which reminds me, write your ideas down. I have the Google Keep app for this reason and I still don’t do it. EDIT: I remember. It was about my ego. I may come back to this point). I wasn’t going to talk about WWE or how good I thought the Money In The Bank PPV was… so here we are.

If you have seen one of the greatest TV shows of all-time, Scrubs (and if you haven’t… it’s on Comedy Central from 5 to 7 pm EST), you know one of the longest running gags was Dr. Perry Cox’s inability/refusal to give Dr. John Dorian (JD) any kind of praise or show him any kind of evidence that he cared about him. Now, before we go anything further, there has been generations upon generations of children raised by parents and grandparents that showed them no emotion. Daughters and sons have buried their primary caretakers without even so much hearing the words ‘I love you’ from them ever. So the fact that Dr. Cox didn’t want to give this gratification to JD was based on two things: Dr. Cox had an abusive childhood and Dr. Cox is a narcissist who loves being right and basking in other people’s misery. With that said, it was understandable that Perry wouldn’t change his ways for JD, despite the many times he had shown JD he cared without truly saying it. But John Dorian wanted to hear Perry say the words because John Dorian can’t leave well enough alone. Long story short, in the Scrubs series finale, JD uses an intern named Sunny to get Dr. Cox to say how he really feels about him while he was hiding nearby.

I come from a very affectionate family. As strong as I always thought my dad was, I never felt like he was distant emotionally. I’ve always been an emotional person and I’m sure that directly comes from my biological mother, who also was very emotional. For better or worse, I’ve always led with my emotions first and it made me seem irrational, angry, and maybe a little obsessive at times in my youth. I’ve since reeled it in a bit but I still get caught up in my feelings pretty regularly.

The good that has come of this is I tell people exactly how I feel about them… well the good things. There’s still times I should open my mouth to defend myself and I take the nice guy exit instead. But when it comes to you knowing how much you mean to me, I convey that well I believe. I always make sure to mind my manners and thank people for everything and if push comes to shove, I’m going to tell you I love you. I don’t care. I was always told that tomorrow isn’t promised so I’m not leaving anything to chance.

Over the years, it’s been working pretty well for me. I see the difference in the way people treat me; in who wants to be around me. I spent years holed up in my room growing up so it made sense that I went a little wild when I went to college. But even through my years of, let’s face it, me being a piece of shit, I came out the other side as a perfectly capable adult. Every day that I wake up to my wife and daughter and the opportunity to make the most out of another 24 hours is a blessing. I can’t help but take it there; it is what it is.

I got a text from E on Sunday for Father’s Day and it meant a lot to me so I replied back accordingly. Judging from his response, I think what I said to him meant a lot as well. I don’t think we get to that point without there being years of groundwork though. For the first 6 years of our friendship, we were friends, but we were using each other to accomplish other things as far as our respective musical outputs went. I even went so far to cut ties with him completely musically when I lost my mind in 2011 (I still need to write about the #28YearsLater era).

In 2012, I reached out to E for the first time to not just accomplish my goal of getting his valuable input on the new music I was making but really because I needed a friend. The things we learned about each other in the time we spent doing anything else but our own music was invaluable. We became best friends; brothers, whereas before we were more like acquaintances. The relationship I have with him is something that’s become a big part of my life.

I’ve become a firm believer in positive energy. But even recently, I haven’t been practicing it. As some of you may know, I host THE WORLD’S GREATEST PODCAST, Hyphen Nation. In a similar situation that birthed The Mind’s Mixtape volume Three, someone else’s podcasts were getting attention from a friend of mine… and I didn’t like it (this comes back to the ego idea I had earlier). So I DM-ed him on Twitter and called him out for ignoring me. For starters, he didn’t lose his cool since I came at him out of nowhere over a tweet. He simply explained that he didn’t know I had a podcast. This just goes to show me that I’m not promoting enough, just like I’m not recording enough episodes in recent months. So I apologized, he still subscribed to the podcast, and he was cool with me being a jerk.

But I’ve still been in my feelings about this other podcast because it’s getting social media attention and I’m not. It took me a minute but I finally got my emotions under control. I need to put in work, just like I did when I was frustrated as an average rapper. Because of the hard work I put in, I became a slightly above average rapper. And I’m way more confident in my podcasting skills, so you can only imagine how I rank myself there.

Positive vibes beget positive vibes. You would think I would’ve taken that away from Jamaica along with a pregnant wife. I’m going to rededicate myself to positive vibes and putting positive vibes into my created content and into the world. Just like I’ve seen my relationships with people change, in due time, I’ll see more people respond to my content in a positive way. And the positivity can only grow from there.