ISSUE #85 - September 13th, 2019

ONE

COMEDY - Whenever I bring up comedian Bill Burr to people who've never heard his act, I describe him as part George Carlin, part Sam Kinison and part some rambling drunk who could have sat next to Norm at Cheers.  His new Netflix special, Paper Tiger, came out this week and it's filmed in England, which Burr uses as a chance to discuss his the US with an amused sense of detachment and disbelief. I've been a fan of his for a long time and to try to do his bits out of context here won't do them justice. He's great when he takes on society but I personally like when he tackles a topic even more screwed up: himself. If you enjoyed the Chappelle special last month, you will 100% like this.

TWO

FITNESS - Over the course of my workout life, every now and then I come across a variation to a basic movement or exercise that somehow I've never seen or tried and I feel like an idiot.  This week in the "how the hell have I never seen this" category we've got shoulder slap push-ups. I've slowly been shifting away from Olympic lifts to more bodyweight/circuit training, so I'm good with any change to push-ups to make them less dull (and more effective). The shoulder slap push-up is exactly what it sounds like and I gave them a whirl Thursday morning. They burn your triceps up fast, but once you're in a rhythm, they're solid. Shout out to my man here on Instagram for introducing them to me in his video.

THREE

NOSTALGIA - Remember when one of the coolest parts about attending a game or concert was getting and collecting the actual ticket? There was always something awesome about how they felt and the design and putting in a stack or on a cork board with your other tickets.  And now, thanks to apps and the internet, they're largely gone. Sad. But before you wallow about another print fatality in our now largely paperless world, read Steve Rushin's new piece in Sports Illustrated. He takes stock as only he can of the current state of tickets, who's fighting the good fight to keep "hard tickets" alive and of course there's a Seinfeld reference. It's brilliant. Enjoy!

FOUR

TREATS - I love ice cream and you love ice cream. My very loosely followed personal dietary rule is that I try to eat "clean", AKA, healthy (high protein, medium/low carbs, low/no sugar) from Monday morning to Friday night, and then on Friday I break the clean eating streak with a monster ice cream sundae. (Friday night is sundae night in the Finkel household).  Now, maybe it's because we've had over a month of 100 degree temps here in Dallas or maybe it's my sweet tooth growing, but I've found myself really wanting ice cream in the middle of the week. And yeah, so what, have some ice cream. BUT, I thought I'd look into pints that don't have 1,400 calories and 70 grams of sugar per container...and I came across Halo Top Creamery. Judging from the social media, it appears I'm waaaay late to the game on this one. In case you are too, each pint has around 300 calories, 20g of protein and only about 15-30g of sugar. They're definitely not "healthy" but if your diet is largely in check, they're far from being terrible. Also, the two flavors I've tried taste really good. Check them out.

FIVE

AN EXCELLENT ICE CREAM EATING TIP FROM OUR FRIEND CHRIS PRATT

"You can pour melted ice cream on regular ice cream. It's like a sauce!”   – Chris Pratt

Thanks for reading! - Jon  Questions? Ideas? Comments? E-mail me (reply to this e-mail) or hit me on Twitter HERE.   And don't forget to FORWARD THE FF5 to a friend! *  *I have one awesome FF5 MUG to give away this week. First person to forward to friend gets it. Thanks!