High Five Monday 4/13/20 (Patreon)

Howdy,

How are things with you? What has been keeping you sane? Below are a few of the things I enjoyed this week. I also got a number y’all can text if you’re interested, it’s 614-467-8972, reach out for any reason. Otherwise please follow me on Instagram I have been doing livestreams with cool people like Simone Norman aka @whysimonewhy from Toonig Out The News and Jamie Peck from The Antifada. Here is where to find all the Street Fight video content, we just put out our first half of Pump Up The Volume. 

• Rush - I think the weird hair on the poster may have made me discount this film when it came out but it’s absolutely incredible. Some of the finest storytelling that has been done. Racing at 170mph will always have a natural draw to it but the stories behind the scene add so much richness. This is a fantastical mostly-true story about Formula Racing in the 1970’s with unbelievable performances by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl.
  
  The movie revolves around the very real rivalry of Formula 1 drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt. Hunt is played by Hemsworth and is absolutely brilliant in his best himbo ways, he melts right into the character and does an excellent job being a pitch-perfect pretty boy bastard when times get tough. James Hunt is a boozing, smoking party animal that is dangerous on the track but wins the race. He wore a patch on his race suit that said, “Sex, Breakfast Of Champions”. He uses all his charm and closeness to danger to get everything he wants, and he’s the coolest guy at parties.
  
  
  
  Niki Lauda is a brilliant technical racer from Austria, who financed his own way into Formula 1 with a bank loan and a lot of savings. After showing his new team that he is a genius with engineering, he secures a contract to make all that money back. He is the smartest guy in the room. He works his way onto team Ferrari as a rookie and tells them their car is shit, and he is right. He shaves time off every lap with his innovations. He believes in planning ahead and temperance, he’s an extremely determined individual and the perfect foil to James Hunt.

Niki Lauda was Formula One World Champion in 1975, and 1977. Rush follows the story of their rivalry back to the early 70’s in Formula 3 (the minors) and all the headbutting that led up to the 1976 season, the year James Hunt won by 1 point. The only time James Hunt was World Champion. Don’t google either of the drivers or watch the trailer because you don’t want to go into this thing spoiled. Strap on your socks they may get knocked off. Enjoy!

(The long walks app takes all your answers for the week and puts them together as a sort of journal entry.)

• Longwalks App - During this time of quarantine the regular old social media apps are looking mighty boring, we have already reverted to posting myspace and copypasta memes. Longwalks is a way to connect deeper with your friends and family and have a better conversation. Each day you will get a prompt, like “One way to describe this week would be ____, because _______.” or “I know I will never be able to change ____.” The catch is you can’t see the responses of your friends until you answer it yourself. It’s a great place to post with your close friends and family because it makes it easier for anyone to share. You can even sign up for a private prompt with a friend or partner where you can answer questions about what y’all like about each other and no one else will see it. It’s a great way to get to know your people better.

• Retrocrush App - I am 36, so I’ve lived off a steady stream of Japanese cartoons my entire life. While I absolutely enjoy the 21st century Crunchyroll hits like Hunter X Hunter, One Piece, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, etc. the 80’s stuff just fills me with so much nostalgia. I remember watching Ronin Warriors, Transformers, and Robotech as a kid and then picking up that Akira/Vampire Hunter D/Project A-ko VHS box at the local rental place (before Blockbuster shut them out and got rid of anime near me) and dreaming of what exactly was inside. Then I got old enough to steal baseball cards to make money and eventually I got a paper route so I could buy all the adult-themed cartoons I wanted. Finding another person at school who was into it was always exciting as well because without streaming services the only stuff I could see was what friends had. That’s how I found Patlabor, Ranma ½ and Ninja Scroll.
  
  All this is to say that Retrocrush is a FREE APP that has a lot of good stuff on it. They are probably taking your information from your phone to make a clone that will replace you but you can watch Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers, Project A-ko, 8 Man After, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Samurai Pizza Cats, Wicked City, and a lot more right now for free!

• Meat Seasonings For Meat Free Dishes - If you’re a plant-based eater and you’ve got to make food for people that aren’t, here is my secret weapon. This also works if you’re trying to make more plant-based dishes and having trouble finding recipes that you like. A lot of the Quorn, Tofurky, Morning Star, and frozen faux meats are severely under-seasoned. I usually add some of this to my dishes to get a more complete flavor profile. 

• Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations - I have gotten so into Metallica I am now getting into the music that they were into. The “New Wave Of British Heavy Metal” inspired A LOT OF what they do. These late 70’s and early 80’s pioneers like Blitzkrieg, Iron Maiden, Praying Mantis, Def Leppard, etc. were trying to make heavy songs in the wakes of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Nazareth, UFO, Thin Lizzy, etc and they accomplished it all with a DIY attitude, obviously, it turned into major success for some more than others.
  
  I’ve been exploring a lot of these NWOBHM albums and for me, Diamond Head is the crown jewel. This album is dripping with attitude and perfectly straddles the line between hardcore thrashing and barroom grooves. It’s punky and sexy, and an amazing album if you haven’t heard it before. If you just watched Trolls World Tour you might even recognize this riff from “Am I Evil” when Queen Barb gets the harmony guitar and starts turning trolls into rock zombies. Just give it a listen. 

Hi

If you like what you read here and you haven’t seen all of my High Five posts they can be found here.

Peace,

Brett