ISSUE #100 - December 27th, 2019

ONE

MOVIES - I keep an Evernote file of under-the-radar movies that I want to see and add to it at will. There is a huge backlog at the end of every year and I try to bang out as many as I can in December. I've watched a bunch the last few weeks, but I think my favorite so far is...  The Standoff at Sparrow Creek. The movie stars James Badge Dale as a member of a militia and it takes place mostly in a warehouse following a mass shooting. It's a fast, efficient thriller with one central plot line: which member of the militia carried out the shooting? The story unwinds as Dale uncovers more clues and we learn about the motives of each man. I won't reveal anything else, but if you like these kinds of movie set-ups, you'll enjoy this one.

TWO

TRAVEL - Visiting places and seeing new cities and towns is awesome... But traveling sucks. Period. Sitting on planes and sitting in cars for long periods of time is the worst. It destroys your back, your shoulders, your posture and knots your muscles up like a Booda bone.  I have yet to find a miracle cure to undo the damage and I've even tried making fists with my toes on the carpet like John McClane at the start of Die Hard. However, my buddy Tommy John has made a few posts advocating for one set of high reps of the Cross Crawl Superman after a day on the road and I have to say...it helps a lot. The movement is kind of the exact opposite of being hunched and crunched on a plane (or even at your desk). I've taken to doing 100 reps on the floor when I get home at night and it feels great. Here's a video explaining it.

THREE

COMEDY - If you've been watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (which I highly recommend) then Danny DeVito has continuously been in your life for the last decade. If not, and you're only now catching up with him because of Jumanji 2, that's fine.   Whether you love him from Taxi or Twins or as the Penguin, it doesn't matter because his interview on Jim Rome's podcast is a good time. His stories about Jack Nicholson are great and the section about his involvement with Pulp Fiction is worth the listen on its own.

FOUR

ART - Art? Art??? Has the FF5 gone high society? Well... No. Maybe. But only if you count really awesome sports serigraphs as art.  What's a serigraph? It's basically a stencil based silk screen printing process. But you don't really need to know that. All you need to know is that this new company called Phenom Gallery has hired a bunch of amazing artists to create posters/screens of a bunch of iconic sports teams and moments. My favorite so far is this one of Allen Iverson. I know gift-giving season is over, but maybe use a gift card or check to splurge on yourself.

FIVE

"The principle of true art is not to portray, but to evoke."*  - Jerzy Kosinski  *(That Iverson piece of art evokes a lot...but definitely does not evoke practice.)

Thank you to everyone who bought Jocks in Chief for a loved one or friend during the holidays. I've been getting a lot of e-mails/texts/tweets with people posing with the book and that is a tremendous feeling and it is very much appreciated!

And if you haven't yet, you can buy it below.