Hey everyone. I spent a large portion of this week absolutely KO’d with a stomach flu of some sort, so I am very happy to be back on the mend in light of that — but it certainly made for a decidedly up-and-down few days. Was able to get out and get a (much-needed) long run in yesterday. Extremely grateful for movement lately, as it’s helpful in several ways, the most meaningful of which is a metaphor around my job hunt.
The last mile yesterday was brutal, and I almost tapped out. Instead, I took a beat, recovered for a second, and kept going. A fitting mindset, I think, to have as I continue to navigate this space. A lot of things feel weird and uncertain. All you can do is move through it.
On to this week’s picks.
Trap
Where are we at, culturally speaking, regarding M. Night Shyamalan? While I didn’t see Old, I enjoyed Knock at the Cabin and the juicy morality question at its core. When I heard about his newest project, Trap, at CinemaCon a few weeks ago, I was all in.
As seen in the trailer, the movie is another one-location film centering on a father-daughter duo (played by Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue, respectively) who are headed to a concert—only for the father to realize the whole show is a sting operation for a serial killer. And, well, Hartnett is said killer.
(There’s also the fact that M. Night decided to put a twist in his trailer, which delights me to no end).
This is a movie that will live or die based on its overall execution, but even so, this is a (ahem) killer premise for a film. I’m in, baby.
Getting Back on the Smoker Train
This is a bit of a faint; I haven’t stopped using my smoker. Even in the winter, I fired up the Big Green Egg to grill a few things. But it certainly feels like I haven’t attacked pork shoulders and briskets with this intensity in a while.
Part of this renewed energy came from testing a new pellet smoker, but I did want to see if I could capture even 10% of the taste of some Texas-style brisket I had at 2Fifty here in DC a few weeks ago. I’m getting closer, thanks to a good tip from a buddy about how long the seasoning needed to set before actually hitting the smoker.
I still need to get the timing down a bit, but we’re absolutely headed in the right direction when it comes to flavor. After a few years of casual experimentation, that's a huge step forward.
OV’s Mesh Tank
I go back and forth on how I feel about tanks, mostly because I still can’t find one with the perfect amount of width of the upper . . . straps (it feels weird to call it that, but, alas). Anyway, I think, in theory, I’d like something similar to this tank from Outdoor Voices, which has less of an A-frame construction and functions basically as a sleeveless shirt.
To me, this feels like an excellent in-between option as the temperatures start to warm up, and I head out for runs. Eventually, it’ll be too warm for anything other than a singlet, but I like the texture and look of this a lot.
Re-Releases of Old Movies in Theaters
While I had every aspiration of going to see the very first Spider-Man at Alamo Drafthouse on Monday, that stomach bug stopped me from doing so. But Sony’s decision, alongside an anniversary run of Shrek 2 and another upcoming limited engagement of The Mummy, is a good reason to broadly gesture to the universe to put more movies back into theaters.
The aforementioned Drafthouse does a pretty good job of doing this, and a lot of local rep theaters do fantastic programming in this regard. But I promise you it’s harder to find these kinds of opportunities outside of major markets. It seems like studios are starting to pick up on this, but Paramount should absolutely find a reason to just drop Top Gun: Maverick back into theaters in the middle of April when there’s nothing out. I’d go in a heartbeat!
NBA Playoffs
I chatted a bit with Benti about this last night on Twitch, but the NBA Playoffs (especially the West playoffs) will be so much fun this year. We’ve still got a few more play-in games to get through tonight before things kick off in earnest this weekend, but the West being so competitive is going to make it all so fun.
I think what I like about the NBA playoffs is the sheer frequency of it all. NFL Playoffs are fun in their “Win or Go Home” way, but I enjoy the back-and-forth game-planning that can happen in-between matchups. I’m sure that for casuals, the idea of the post-season for basketball going from April to June feels like a lot (and, frankly, it is) but it really is one of the best times of the year.
No odds & ends this week, so we’ll call it here. Find ways to take your own moment and push through. Gotta be something better for us all on the other side. See you next week.
If you enjoyed this week’s issue and feel compelled to do so, please consider leaving a virtual tip for a cup of coffee by visiting this link. You can also share and subscribe to Whys and Wherefores by pressing the buttons below.