Confession:
I am growing SO MANY TOMATOES, y’all.
Earlier this year, my friend Breanna came to visit me. One night we lived it up in a hotel bathtub. The night before that, however, we had some stoop time, ate one of my favorite local pizzas, and watched one of my favorite movies of all time.
Now, I didn’t just force this one on her. I even gave her a choice, along with asking some initial questions about what vibes she wanted to feel. The options I presented to her were as follows:
- Big Night (1996)
- Stanley Tucci
- Tony Shaloub
- Italian Food
- A killer rotation of supporting characters
- What else could you possibly need or want?
- The Last Supper (1995)
- Cameron Diaz
- Ron Eldard (the reason I watched this movie in the first place… I was a huge ER fan.)
- Courtney B. Vance
- And an absolutely impeccable supporting cast that just keeps showing up
- Directed by Stacy Title (RIP), who is the spouse of…
- Jonathan Penner, who later turned out to be one of the best castaways on American Survivor, twice.
- This movie fueled the spark of my strong sense of social justice.
Breanna picked the latter. And yes, before you come at me… YES! I picked two 90s movies. I used to work at Blockbuster; that’s when my taste evolved. Shut it.
Okay, so we watched the movie. It still fucking holds up. And it is WILD where this country has ended up since this movie was made. It’s not streaming for free anywhere at the moment, but you can rent it on VOD, and I still highly recommend it to this day. Also, I am begging ANYONE who has information on the paintings in this movie to tell me where I can buy a piece of art by the same artist. I am actively in love with them and want one for my house, which is basically an art gallery with pieces from people I love.
But that is not the point of this confession; I am here to talk about tomatoes, which play a pretty vital part in the plot of this film. There are a LOT of tomatoes in this movie, y’all. Like more than you would expect from the number of plants they are growing.
When Breanna, Mickey, and I watched this movie (Mickey has seen it at least 10 times already… it’s an oft-recommended flick), we kept a running joke going about the amount of tomatoes in this movie. Like, the set dresser must have cleared out all the grocery stores and farm stands in a 100-mile radius of the shoot. We were giggling hard by the end.
So, when we planted tomatoes this year, I kept saying, “I hope we grow a ‘Last Supper’ amount of tomatoes.”
And, while there aren’t that many this year, I do have about 20 or so healthy specimens on the vine ripening right now, four that I’ve already plucked, and probably like 20 more I can’t even see in the tangle of the tomato vines. We’re just figuring out what works for our land right now, so I have more of a tomato jungle than an organized garden, and I’m fine with it.
The tomatoes taste otherworldly. I love them and can’t wait to do it even better next year, now that we have more of a handle on what we are doing.
(yes, I know there are leaves I need to pluck)
TV
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 (Hulu)
Obviously, I watched the first episode immediately. Abbott Elementary and IASIP are two great tastes that taste great together, as evidenced by the Abbott episode earlier this year. SO, that was a rewatch, and honestly didn’t hit as hard the second time. I’d already heard Janine say “cunt” so the big shock was gone, y’all. Again. I really wish the school folk had spent more time in the Sunny world and not the other way around.
I wasn’t upset about it, though, because the second episode had me crying by the end of it. Like, no exaggeration, there were tears (and mascara… I was on my way out the door to History Club) running down my face; I couldn’t catch my breath from laughing. The end of the second episode was *chef’s kiss*, and I love that a show that I know as well as I do this one can still “get” me 17 seasons later. What incredible writing, y’all.
The third episode had Charlie feeling like Carmy from The Bear down to the blue apron, as Mac and Dennis became (?) EMTs. What I loved about these last two episodes is that they referenced TV shows without parodying or stealing from them outright. It was an homage that felt grounded.
Episode 5 felt so Succession-coded that I wondered aloud, “Are they all gonna be send-ups of other TV shows?”
Then, The Gang went to a dog track, and my theory was busted. While this was another laugh-out-loud episode, I couldn’t figure out what other show it could be referencing. Now, to be fair, I didn’t think about it too much; otherwise, I wouldn’t have paid attention to the episode. If you know what show this is referencing, please let me know!!
Then, we had the teen drama episode, which revisited some characters from an older episode about Underage drinking.
Episode 7 tickled me the most, because one of my favorite shows (which has already referenced, like, three of my other favorite shows) is doing almost a legit parody of another of my favorite shows, The Rehearsal. I half expected Nathan Fielder to show up.
We got Carol Kane instead, and I’m fine with that.
The final episode was Golden Bachelor, with Frank in the titular role. My biggest hope for this season is that the winner of Frank’s series becomes a series regular next year. I can see only good things coming from this.
Game Changer (Dropout)
Welp, there WAS a secret surprise 11th episode this season… planned without Sam’s knowledge.
I watched the episode the first chance I got and y’all… I’m not crying, you’re crying. Well, we’re all crying, right?
Like, how can I game show move me this many times? Like, the pure joy on Sam’s face as this episode unfolded tickled me to no end. You know me, I do deep dives on people I love, and I found a video of Sam as a child that I kept thinking about as this episode progressed. I could SEE lil Sam in there, so proud of himself and his friends.
This truly was a work of magical art. I am so grateful for Sam Reich and Dropout.
Oh, here is the video of babysam btw:
Tucci in Italy (Hulu)
Pasta.
Fantasmas (HBOMax)
This is a rewatch in anticipation of my NYC trip next month. The main reason for the trip (aside from loving the city and Aubrey) is to see (creator and star of Fantasmas) Julio Torres’s Color Theories, which is opening on Off-Broadway and running for three weeks only.
So, I am immersing. I’ll also rewatch Problemista and Los Espookys and My Favorite Shapes and a bunch of clips on YouTube. I dunno if I’ve ever felt my brain represented so well before. Especially in this show.
I can’t believe I get to see Bibo live next month! My rewatch of Fantasmas got me worried, though, for a silly (not really) reason.
See? Aubrey and I have impeccable taste and have decided to go to Color Theories all dressed in one color. We’re not gonna wear the SAME color. She’ll wear a color and I’ll wear yellow. I have accessories in all the same shade, down to the glasses.
Well, imagine my surprise when, in episode 2 of the series, Julio (character) tells a doctor, “I’m allergic to the color yellow.”
I panicked for a moment and considered changing my look completely. Instead, I’m making a clack fan that says “Allergy Warning: Yellow Present”.
…And Just Like That Season 3 (HBOMax)
I can’t do it, y’all. I have abandoned this for now. I tried to watch 5 minutes of it Sunday and decided cleaning was more fun.
Rick and Morty – Rewatch (Disney+)
I might be Jerry Smith. He’s in marketing. I’m in marketing. He keeps bees. We’re gonna start some hives next year.
I mean, I do have a “Hungry for Apples” tattoo.
The Bear (Hulu)
This season is honestly magical. It might be my favorite of the entire series.
Other
BIG BIZ with Client Earl Sweatshirt (Big Fun Network on YouTube)
Mandal has done it again, y’all. This is becoming the screen highlight of my week. I’m excited about these interviews for a few reasons:
- Every single interview has been funny as hell.
- They scratch an analog comedy itch that I didn’t know I had.
- These ‘meetings’ feel like old Internet and I miss old Internet.
- The guest stars are impeccable.
- I almost always find a new rabbit hole or show to watch. (This is why I finally watched RapSh!t.)
And then… before I even watched this week’s interview, I did my normal “Release Radar” listening on Spotify, learned that Earl Sweatshirt had a new album, so I put it on.
I wasn’t expecting to hear Mandal all over the first track!!!!
Blahaj Goes to Waffle House at 3 AM (YouTube)
A masterpiece. Just watch it. It’s Magical.
