The Wrap Sheet, October 2018

The Wrap Sheet, October 2018
A monthly airing of thoughts and grievances

Ah, The Lost Boys. A wonderfully terrible movie. Look at Kiefer Sutherland. Look how he broooooods.

Happy Halloween to all my spooky, scary skeletons out there!

The weather’s getting colder, the leaves are (hopefully, I think, they haven’t started here in New York) starting to change, and the holiday season is breathing slowly down our necks. Fall is HERE.

And as the weather gets colder, so too does the news.

There’s lots to talk about. But what else is new.

Buckle up, buttercups.

A woman pays respects to those lost in the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue earlier this month.

First, I want to give my thoughts to those affected by the horrific shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. I know there isn’t much I can do behind a computer screen, writing this, except for giving my thoughts and prayers to those hurt by this senseless act.

These people were murdered while at a worship service. Because of their faith.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

Makes me want to go out and change some things.

You’re registered and getting ready to vote, right?

DO IT.

(I’m probably going to ramble for a bit, so bear with me)

I don’t know what to say other than we need stricter gun control laws. I hate this narrative of “if there were someone with a gun there fewer lives have been lost.”

How about, if the shooter didn’t have a gun, there wouldn’t have been a shooting at all.

I feel like people who are in support of possessing firearms are caught in this endless contradiction. Like they’re all for spreading guns to everyone, mandated by the government; the same government that they’re saying is out to take their guns.

I don’t understand the appeal.

You probably don’t need a military-grade assault rifle for self-protection. I’m not sure if you feel like you need to compensate for something or whatever, but it’s unnecessary.

And yes, trucks and cars are plowed through crowds of people. But we don’t need “restrictions on trucks and cars” because their purpose is to transport people and goods to different places. They are simply abused by people who intend on hurting people. That’s the case with most everything. You can hurt someone with a stapler or a pool cue. It’s just up to you not to be stupid and use that stapler or pool cue to hurt someone with it.

A gun’s sole purpose is to kill. Literally, that’s all it’s used for. Tell me one other purpose for it and I’ll shut my fucking mouth. But I will not sit idly by while innocent people are being murdered in a place that should be a safe place.

Jesus Christ, I feel like something’s really close to snapping with this country.

I’m sorry I get like this when I rant and write at the same time.

Know how we can stop this? VOTE.

Vote. Vote. Vote.

November 6th is election day. I’m going to be very upset if you don’t vote on November 6th.

Now, let’s move on.

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This is stupid.

I wanted to mention the Presidential Alert System that went off on everyone’s iPhones at the start of the month.

This is utterly stupid.

Like, why is this a thing?

It’s a strange Big Brother-type thing.

Now I get that it’s not just for this particular administration, it’s for all future presidents to use as well.

But, we have the news for things like this. We don’t need everyone’s alarms going off at the same time, especially for this facacta “test” that happened.

In fairness, I do give props to all the patrons who come to visit the theatre I work at who actually turned off their phones when told to do so on that day, as the alert came right in the middle of the matinee. Good on you guys.

But really, it’s not necessary. Yes, things like Amber alerts are helpful and useful. But I get push notifications from news outlets, tweets, and texts from friends if anything dire is happening right this minute.

Pass.
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In pop culture news, a work of art by Banksy was shredded after it sold for an absurd amount of money at auction earlier this month.

The display was rigged to shred itself via some kind of remote control, and when a final sale of $1.4 million was reached, the painting started shredding itself. Take a look at everyone’s confused reactions.

But really, what did you expect? You thought you had beaten Banksy?

Banksy always wins.

Also, this event has inspired a number of fantastic Halloween costumes:

This is ingenuity, right here.

Great job, you guys.

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Oh, can I talk about customer service for a minute?

I don’t mean to do a Yelp review here on my blog or cut anybody down, but I just wanted to discuss something that happened to me recently.

God dammit, now my mouth is watering.

The Panera Bread that is closest to my theatre is the one on 39th and 5th Avenue. It’s conveniently close to Bryant Park as well, where a number of my colleagues and I hang out between shows and eat our lunch.

A month or so ago, I opened up my bacon turkey bravo sandwich to discover something odd: there was no turkey on the sandwich.

Weird, I thought.

I thought that maybe they were busy. An honest mistake was made and it was fine. No sweat.

It just kind of bothered me that there was no protein on my sandwich, especially when that meat is in the name of the sandwich.

I didn’t think much of it, as it was the first time something like that had ever happened to me at a Panera.

And then it happened again earlier this month.

I’m glad I checked my sandwich, because the bag felt light enough for me to be suspicious about it.

I unwrapped the sandwich before leaving, and sure enough.

No fucking turkey.

I did say something this time. I went back to the young lady who was at the counter and told her (albeit a little rudely, which is what I wanted to discuss quickly) that it would be helpful to put the turkey on the sandwich.

I was pissed. And they loaded up my sandwich with turkey and apologized.

I told them I didn’t mean to be a dick about it, but I would be less upset about it if it were the first time.

“Really?” said another voice behind the counter. This one was far more patronizing.

I told the young man it was the second time this has happened.

“Well!” He said, about as patronizing as before “it won’t happen again!”

He smirked and went back to work.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, I guess.

I knew they’d probably talk shit about me for the rest of the day. Hell, I’d do the same thing if I were in their position and some asshole came in and spoke to me like that.

My thought process is this:

The people who work at Panera are in their twenties. Pretty much anyone who works in fast food is doing this for the money.

It’s a stepping stone job. No one wants to be there forever. Anyone who thinks entry-level fast food is a full-time career is delusional. No one WANTS to flip burgers or make sandwiches for the rest of their life. There are bigger things ahead.

I was once one of them. I get that. Of course people are going to get apathetic about it once they’ve been there for a while and do the same thing every day, hours and hours on end. Even at higher level jobs, people get complacent when they’re bored and their job is monotonous. It’s human nature.

I get it.

But at the same time, the bacon turkey bravo is a staple Panera item. It has 7 ingredients. If you’ve been doing it for a while, you should be able to make it in your sleep. It’s not that hard.

I used to work at Panera and have MADE the sandwich before. It’s not that hard.

You can be complacent and still be competent at your job.

I get it, you don’t want to be there, but you’re still being paid to be there.

And when you screw up, to have the audacity to make me feel bad for saying something (yes, albeit coldly) because you screwed up?

That’s not right.

And it sucks. I really like that Panera too.

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Movies!

Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in "First Man."

I saw First Man this month.

I’m still trying to find a time to see A Star is Born. Eventually, I will get there.

But MoviePass is dumb, and so here we are.

I was excited for this one, given I really like  Damien Chazelle as a director, and I thought a Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy were great choices for Neil Armstrong and Janet Shearon.

I was disappointed.

The movie is done well, and it’s acted well, but for a story that is so well documented, as well as one everyone knows the ending to, I wished the payoff was better.

Also, it dragged for the first hour and fifteen minutes.

Chazelle didn’t write this one, which is obvious in the direction of the film.

With Whiplash and La La Land, I felt like he was more invested in the subject matter because he wrote the film.

With First Man, it was like he was invested in how the movie looked- and it’s clear because the film is visually stunning; the shots from the surface of the moon are shot in IMAX and are gorgeous- and nothing else.

I didn’t get what Armstrong’s arc was, or why this story was being told. Yes, he has a strained relationship with his wife. Yes, the road to the moon is tough, but Armstrong is the Everyman we all want to root for.

And, obviously, he comes through in the end.

One thing toward the end of the movie made me really question Chazelle’s choices as director, though.

Armstrong sheds a tear on the surface of the moon, while dropping an artifact that belonged to his daughter who died of cancer as a young girl.

I get the emotional manipulation. But if Neil Armstrong gave anyone reason to think he would cry on the moon, he wouldn’t have been the first man on the moon. He would have been the last.

Those are just my thoughts from a first viewing.

I saw the film had a poor box office showing, which I think comes from just lack of interest. The film got lost behind A Star is Born and the start of a crowded Oscar season.

And it has nothing to do with the fact that they don’t do a red, white and blue circle jerk and go on for an hour about planting the American flag on the moon.

The flag is still shown in the movie. The landing on the moon was a worldwide event that just happened to be performed by two Americans. The planting of the flag was symbolic of the Space Race, which isn’t really played upon all that much in the film.

I argue that whining over the flag planting not being in the film is a bigger “political agenda” than the event not being included.

First Man will still do very well this Oscar season. It just wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever seen.

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Sports!

The most important thing that happened this month came from sports (obviously).

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series, by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.

Mood forever.

I’m still shook.

I didn’t believe this team would make it past the New York Yankees. I didn’t believe this team stood a chance against the Houston Astros. I was nervous when the Dodgers took game three, the longest postseason game of all time.

Still, here we are, with a parade happening as I write this article.

Why are we surprised that a team that won a franchise-record 108 games won the World Series?

At the end of the road, and looking back on the journey, it shouldn’t have been all that surprising.

This team’s bullpen, which had question marks all throughout September and certainly heading into October, shut the haters up and shut opposing lineups down.

And even after an extra innings loss in the World Series, I still think the Red Sox won this series five games to none.

Who would have thought that Joe Kelly would pitch ten scoreless innings in the postseason? Not me.

David Price, who won three key games for the Red Sox, including the clinchers against both Houston and Los Angeles, holds all the cards now, as he put it. Not bad for a guy who couldn’t win a game in the postseason. Turns out, David Price is good.

And still, he’s like the number 5 hero of this entire team.

Nathan Eovaldi. Nate the Great. Jesus Christ.

I have never seen a pitching performance like the one he gave during game three. Seven innings of relief, starting in the 12th inning. 96 pitches. And even though he gave up the home run to Max Muncy, I think seeing him lose sparked his teammates to bounce back and win the next two.

The guy is coming back from two Tommy John surgeries. And pitched straight up gems in the three games he pitched in in this World Series. Dude was unhittable. He kept us in every game he pitched in, and without him, I don’t think we would have a title to show for it.

@Red Sox, please throw trillions and trillions of dollars as Nathan Eovaldi next season.

And then there’s journeyman Steve Pearce, who was this year’s MVP. Three key home runs, including two in game five to ice the win.

He was traded in-season. To the Red Sox. And now he’s a World Series MVP at the ripe age of 35. I knew this guy was special when he had a three-homer game in his first month with the team. And it’s his performance in the World Series that gave him a well-deserved MVP honor.

Tons of players on this team stepped up from out of nowhere.

Jackie Bradley, Jr., who had a grand slam and another home run against Houston- ALCS MVP.

Ryan Brasier, who told Gary Sanchez to get his fat ass in the batter’s box and struck him out on three pitches.

Eduardo Nunez, who basically broke his entire body to help give us the lead in game three of the World Series.

Brock Holt, who hit for the cycle in a playoff game against the Yankees (Give me one reason why Brock Holt shouldn’t be considered as a heavy part-time, or perhaps even full time second baseman next year).

Chris Sale, who perhaps not out of nowhere, sealed the deal in game five. Our ace finished it. Wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

This team needs a wheelbarrow to carry around its massive balls.

And above all was manager Alex Cora, who was able to get his players to want to run through a wall for him. I never felt out of it, and I always felt that Cora would be able to right the ship if something ever went wrong.

This team made this pessimist really believe again. Believe in the Red Sox again. Believe in Boston sports again.

And yes, though Boston measures its championship droughts in days, it always feels good to win. 11 championships in 17 years. Not bad.

Congratulations, champions of baseball.

@Patriots, you’re next.

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The Best Thing I Saw This Month!

And finally, the best thing I saw this month.

This is the 8-Bit Big Band, a group I stumbled upon while browsing Instagram and eventually Youtube.

They take classic video game music and orchestrate it for a full big band to play.

They recently an album called “Press Start!” which you can find on Apple Music, Spotify, and Bandcamp.

And in this video, you’ll hear the classic themes from Super Mario Bros. played by a full pops orchestra, and it’s the greatest thing.

This video also features George Salazar of the musical Be More Chill, who plays the video game live to the music. It’s excellent.

Give these guys a follow on Youtube and on Instagram. I can guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.

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That’s it for this month’s Wrap Sheet, guys.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween. 

Also, GO VOTE. If you don’t vote, I’ll be mad at you.


- Andrew



ALSO!

While you're here, go ahead and check out my Vodcast, Under Further Review, that I do with my good friend Kata Stevens. We enjoy drinking and talking about sports.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using the handle @UFRVodcast.
We're also on Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts!

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