Some off-day prompts for discussion
I’m going to be straight with you guys. I forgot it was my day. I’m sitting here, about to go to bed, getting this weird feeling that I’m forgetting something. The kind of feeling that prevents you from being able to sleep. When I got around to thinking what day it was, it dawned on me. I even had a plan for what to write.
Truth be told, the cause of this forgetfulness is something not related to baseball, although it is in the entertainment business. Well for starters, I did work most of yesterday, that certainly didn’t help. But a small, little known hip hop artist known as Kendrick Lamar released a diss track about Drake and consuming content related to that has pretty much ruined my last two nights. (Full disclosure: I don’t like Drake at all, so I’m enjoying this very much.)
To spur discussion and try to avoid thinking about baseball for a day, a couple of quick hitters.
- Beastie Boy rankings and this is not in dispute for me: MCA, Ad Rock, huge gulf, Mike D. MCA has the best voice, is the best lyricist, and from the Beastie Boys doc I watched, seemed to have the most influence creatively. I honestly just love how Ad Rock sounds, lyrics are hit or miss. I’m not saying all 1980s rap was bad when I say this, but Mike D is the bad kind of 1980s rap when he raps.
- Is there a set of criteria for calling something overrated? Popularity is not a good barometer. I don’t think anyone would say Big Bang Theory or Creed are overrated. But you also can’t completely base it off critics either, because clearly the audience is ignoring them. So you almost need to find some sort of middle ground where it’s popular and critically well-liked. So with that out of the way, here is a controversial example from me, but if you are properly answering the question, most should disagree:
Show: Seinfield – Easily for me. I cannot go back to 1989 and get the proper context for how this show changed the game, admittedly. I like the show. Where I get lost is this being on top TV shows of all time lists. And like at the very top of the list, not just on the list. That I honestly don’t really understand. But I did watch this for the first time in my 20s and a lot of the humor is observational of things that no longer applied when I watched it.
3. What is your favorite movie/album from someone whose most-liked work is another project? So like if you are Fleetwood Mac fan but like Tusk more than Rumours. (This is not me, just the first thing that popped into my head and what works.
Dunkirk is the best thing Christopher Nolan has ever done in my opinion. Saying as a former borderline hater (who in fact hated Interstellar), that movie just blew me away.
4. If you had to listen to one genre of music for the rest of your life, and be as specific as possible, what would it be? More specific than heavy metal for instance. Favorite subgenre, if you will I suppose.
And that’s all I got.