I’ve taken a few months away from this column for a multitude of reasons.
First, in September we celebrated our 15 year anniversary and I felt it was more important to dedicate my time to writing and talking about this milestone than my own personal likes and recs. The months of September, October and most of November have been filled with a ton of podcasts that demanded lots of required viewing, an unrelenting work load, and my really annoying annual bout with writer’s block.
Thankfully, something completely ridiculous helped break my writer’s block (which I’ll get to in a bit later, although you can guess what it is from the photo at the top of this piece), and I’m stoked. To be able to break writer’s block and have words freely cascade from my brain and into this post is one of the most invigorating feelings ever. It feels as those these mental shackles have been shattered and as the kids would say, “I am so fucking back.”
Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that for the first time in forever I decided to look into the new and improved Google Analytics on the site. To my utter shock and amazement we saw a 4200% and no that is not a typo, increase in traffic and engagement. That does not compute at all. I mean, it literally does compute because Google told me so, but it’s just absolutely mind-blowing. To see the articles, photos and podcasts the staff have worked hard on all year as well as posts from years past reach all over the world (literally) to hundreds of thousands of people is pretty inspiring. Do I want to run through a wall, quit my full-time job and just work for Pop Break for the rest of my days? Oh hell yes. I’m not obviously, I need the paycheck, but you get my point.
Enough pre-ambling, let’s get into it.
Did the God Damn Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Fight Break My Writers Block: Yes, yes it did. I had a 1000+ word column ready to go on the fight and its fallout, but a bad update on the site caused a major crash and we had to revert the site back to prior to the crash and that story is lost to the ether.
Well, let me give you the Cliffs Note version (and if you don’t know what that is, well you’re way younger than me). This event was both a Big W and a Big Black Eye for All Involved. Let’s break it down.
Netflix: Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson reached 60+ million homes worldwide — making it the most watched boxing match ever. The co-main event Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor was the most watched women’s boxing match in history. The fight trended on socials at #1 for days. Combine all this with a near $20 million live gate, the big time sponsors that got involved and the amount of celebrities that came out to witness the fight and this was a huge reminder to anyone who asked that Netflix is the undeniable king of streaming. Big W for a company that 15 years ago shipped DVDs to my apartment at the Jersey Shore.
The Big Black Eye comes in the form of that live stream. Witnessing it live — this was the equivalent of my father-in-law watching an un-digitized sitcom from 1975 on his 4K TV. It was pixelated to hell at times, the site crashed (88,000 reports to down detector) and it’s never a good sign when 7 million+ turn off your stream to watch Antonio Brown’s live stream on X (yeah, they watched from his cell phone — not good!) Now, Netflix has joked about this at great length, but one has to hope their own hubris won’t get in the way.
See, on Christmas Day they are airing two high profile NFL games — games they spent $75 million each on. Oh, and Beyonce is playing the halftime show at one of them. Now, will these NFL games bring in 60 million households? Probably not, but other streamers like Peacock have done 23 million viewers for a playoff game — imagine the numbers a day when everyone is home, and people generally like watching live sports could do? Oh, and Beyonce’s there. That could be big numbers. Imagine if your stream craps out like it did during this fight? You’re making enemies of NFL fans and Beyonce fans. Will they cancel their subscriptions? Likely not. But will they tune in to future live events? The answer is also “likely not.” And if you’re the NFL or another big time sport would you trust Netflix going forward if you have streaming issues like this? Again, likely not. Netflix needs to put everything into these NFL games to make up for the sins of this fight.
Jake Paul: Dude is a good promoter and got a lot of people who normally don’t tune into boxing or never have watched boxing tune in for this fight. He’s an absolute draw. But does this mean he’s a good boxer? While I’m no fight expert, Jake Paul definitely feels like a competent boxer who is dedicated to the sweet science. However, can he stack up against someone in their boxing prime? His only loss does come to an active boxer, and not a retired MMA fighter, boxer or former Knick Nate Robinson. And let’s face it this fight didn’t make him look like a world-beater at all. He was asked about Canelo Alvarez and if that fight happened, I think not only does Jake Paul get dropped, but his drawing power kicks a big hit. I can imagine if Netflix wants to do another big hype fight they ask someone like Connor McGregor to be his next opponent.
Mike Tyson: Listen, he got paid. He proved at near 60 years old he could last 8 rounds. But let’s all face it, Iron Mike should not fight anymore. He does not have what made him a legend, and that’s okay. He’s nearly 60. Rarely is there a human who is as good physically in their 60s as they were in their 20s. I think this was his last chance to be a big boxing draw, so let him be a celebrity, run his podcast, grow his weed and let him ride off into the sunset.
I Read Comics Now: I’ve been really digging all the “From the Ashes” stories coming out of the world of X-Men. These comics follow various X teams in the wake of the fall of their mutant paradise, Karakoa. X-Men, Exceptional X-Men, X-Force and Phoenix have all been excellent reads while NYX, Storm, Mystique and Wolverine have all been solid reads that seem to be on the cusp of something great. However, none of these titles can compare to Gail Simone’s Uncanny X-Men run so far.
Simone is a legendary comic writer and with Uncanny X-Men she has crafted a deeply emotional Southern Gothic tale of trauma and loss, horror and heroism. She has placed Rogue at the center of the story, and it’s an excellent choice as she embodies all the emotion, action and conflict happening in this post-Krakoan world that is facing an insidious threat. She is aided by Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, Nightcrawler and a host of new mutants in facing a threat that is directly tied to the X-Men’s past.
Oh the Random Things You’ll Hear: This the name of my ever-evolving Spotify playlist that was created back in 2011 (currently at 2,963 songs). Every month I’m going to give you some recent cuts from this list that I’ve added that are in heavy rotation…
“Field of Vision” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: The prolific Australians (shout out to Andrew Howie for introducing me to them) have released even more music, and of course it sounds completely different than their previous works. This time “Field of Vision” comes off grandson of Sweet’s “Fox on the Run” complete with silly gang chorus and tasty licks.
“Piranahana” by Shovels & Rope: It’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see a full-blown White Stripes reunion. However, if you need a fix of a two-piece, garage rock banger, look no further than this clangy earworm.
“She Cleans Up” by Father John Misty: Pop Break’s music editor Kat Manos has extolled the virtues of her “son” Father John Misty to me for years. However, it wasn’t until this swaggering ’70s-inspired rocker sold me on just how cool, and fun the Father truly can be.
“Burnt Toast & Coffee” by High Fade: My friend Ed from Nectar’s Presents sent this band my way and said “you’re going to love this.” And brother, did I ever. This Scottish outfit just dropped their new EP, and their sound is essentially “What if Van Halen were a jam band?” Yes, it’s that good and that bonkers.
“The Man Who Made a Monster” by Dance with the Dead: This absolute beast of a dark, Drive-inspired metal and synth track came into my purview via wrestling, of course. This track is the that my new favorite act, The Outrunners — two overly tanned and jacked straight-from-the-’80s dudes — come out to and it’s an absolute banger. Such a good song for working out, writing, bodyslamming, you name it.
Re-Watch: Knives Out (2019) – One of the best ways to get me to watch anything, with any sort of haste, is to get me to record a podcast about it. Knives Out, written and directed by Rian Johnson has been at the top of my “must-see” list for quite some time. However, given my penchant for “eventually” getting around to things as well as a pretty intense viewing schedule since 2022 (given Bill vs. The MCU and Socially Distanced) — I hadn’t had the time to get to this murder mystery.
In October, my friends Randy Allain and Kris Ingersoll invited me on their podcast Media/Lit to do a sweater-wearing review of the film. Now I didn’t feel too bad about not having seen the film since Kris hadn’t seen it either … but to dig deep on a whodunnit with these guys sounded like a blast (seriously, Kris and Randy great podcasting work). And without giving too much away — as I’d like for you to listen to the episode — but this film easily makes my all-time favorites list. Daniel Craig is phenomenal in the role of deep-fried sleuth Benoit Blanc. Rian Johnson, while many bag on him for The Last Jedi (I love that film), is one of the best writer/directors of the last 25 years. Don’t believe me? Watch Brick and Looper. He finds a way to make a compelling story that’ll have you guessing to the end while also getting magnificent performances out of his cast.
And Of Course, Wrestling: On November 22, 2024 I attended AEW Full Gear at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. It’s no secret AEW has been cold when it comes to weekly TV ratings and live attendance, but man alive do they ever deliver (on all fronts) at their PPVs. On paper Full Gear felt a little underbaked outside of the social media driven match between QT Marshall and Big Boom AJ. However, when the night began, audiences were treated to some magnificent wrestling. Mercedes Mone had her strongest match to date in AEW taking on Kris Statlander, which should come to the surprise of no one since Stat is one of the most consistent and reliable wrestlers in the company. Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher had a match that defied logic and everything we know about wrestling. Orange Cassidy and Jon Moxley had an intense main event that, despite the build, had the audience in the palm of their hands.
