LISTEN WATCH READ
Each week I plan to write a post with recommendations for things that I believe deserve your time. In each post I’ll include a recommendation for music, a TV series or movie, and a book. I’m not great at writing reviews. It’s not always easy for me to say why I like something, only that I do. So some will be short and sweet, simply an urge to check something out and where to find it while others might tell you why I think it’s worthy of your time. Who knows. Really this is an exercise to keep this blog active while also promoting things I love as I think it’s important to promote what’s great, not what you hate.
LISTEN: Dummy Head Torpedo - Dead Set on Malevolence
I randomly discovered this band from a review of their album, Dead Set on Malevolence, on PunkNews.Org. This was back in August of 2020 so I don’t recall what the review said but it prompted me to pull up the album on Spotify and I haven’t stopped listening since then. Like Propagandhi, Dummy Head Torpedo blends infectiously catchy songs with a precision and tightness that is mindblowing. This album stands up there with some of my all-time favorites from the genre which is why I tracked them down in an effort to use one of their songs for Nimrod’s book trailer. I love this band and this record and cannot wait to hear what they come up with next.
WATCH: Episodes
Everyone knows Matt LeBlanc as Joey from Friends. It’s one of those bittersweet situations that many actors from popular TV shows face: they played a character that was popular and recognizable that made them rich beyond their wildest dreams, but then they had trouble getting other roles as people couldn’t see them as anyone but that character. Case in point- name a role that Matt LeBlanc played post-Friends. Besides the short-lived Joey spin-off I remember he did a movie with a chimpanzee but can’t recall the name.
In Episodes, which was a Showtime original series, LeBlanc plays an exaggerated version of himself. In the show he’s hired to star in a sitcom that was popular in England and is now being remade for American television which he proceeds to ruin and then ruin the lives of the creators. He is selfish and, most times, an awful person but he is so charming and funny that people can’t help but like him.
When the show first aired my wife and I tried it but bailed after a few episodes as we just couldn’t seem to get invested. Then years later I’d all but forgotten about it when I heard a raving review for it on NPR and decided to give it another shot. I’m so glad I did because it became one of my all-time favorite shows. The seasons are short and get stronger as they go. It does take a bit of faith though as I’d say Season 1 is good, but not great until the season finale. From that episode forward the series clicks and is amazing. I cannot recommend Episodes enough. Give it a try and stick with it.
READ: What’s the Furthest Place From Here?
A few years ago my son reached the age where he began to get into superheroes so I went into the basement and found the stack of my old comics and some superhero toys that I saved.
I wasn’t a big collector but I was into them for a few years in the early nineties. We loved looking through the comics together. Soon we found ourselves at the local comic shop, The Geekery, which transported me back to being a kid and having my mom take me to different shops near where we lived.
One day on their Instagram page, The Geekery posted about a comic titled What’s the Furthest Place From Here? I had no idea what it was about but the cover art drew me in. By this time my son’s comic phase had ended and he no longer wanted to go to the shop with me so I quietly followed the posts on Instagram and went back to my obsessive record and paperback book hoarding collecting. Month after month they’d post about this comic whose covers grew more alluring with each issue. When the cover of Issue 4 donned a carnival scene, being a big fan of clowns, I went down to The Geekery by myself (without the safety net/excuse that I was there to appease my young son) and grabbed the first four issues of What’s the Furthest Place From Here?
To me, this is the perfect comic. There are no superheroes nor capes to be found. It reminds me of Stand By Me meets The Road with punk rock in its bones. Both the writing and the artwork are amazing and, like any 90s hardcore kid worth the camo on his shorts, I’ve already traveled down the rabbit hole and read everything by the creators, Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss, that I’ve been able to get my grubby little collector hands on (4 Kids Walk Into a Bank was also amazing).
What’s the Furthest Place From Here? has shown me that comics aren’t just for people who like Marvel movies. There are plenty of titles out there for people like me, who enjoy slice of life and coming of age stories. If you enjoy shows like Wayne and/or Reservation Dogs then I highly recommend checking out this incredible story whose first 6 issues have been bundled into a convenient trade paperback.
