The Power of the Rewatch
aka the ultimate procrastination
This is “Woof of the Week”, the newsletter about the things that make me say “Woof” the longest each week!
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Welcome to Woof of the Week!
Here in Los Angeles, it’s finally starting to feel like fall! Or well, I felt comfortable wearing a jacket out on a Friday night because it was in the high 60s.
After a particularly warm summer (hottest summer on record NBD, everything is FINE) it’s been great to not come home to my oven of an apartment. During the height of the summer, I would attempt to save money by not turning on my AC, as one does, and that meant taking in whatever cold air blew in through my windows. But with open windows came a kinda smelly smell… a smelly smell that smells… smelly… the trash cans, being cooked in the heat barely 10 feet away from my window. Grossed out, I’d inevitably give up on saving dollars, slam my window shut and turn the AC on.
But fall is (almost) here! And my windows can be opened again - allowing the cool air to blow into my room. On Friday I got home late and looked forward to opening my windows. I put my headphones in and basked in the cold. But just before I faded to sleep… I caught that kinda smelly smell one more time.
I slammed my window shut. Damn that wind.
Around the World in 80* Woofs
*more like, a handful of bullet points
Here’s some stories from the week that made me say Woof:
Obligatory WGA/SAG Strike bullet point - This week of course we got the Drew Barrymore Show saga - shoutout to Christian Zilko at Indiewire for putting the timeline together. As of Sunday September 17, the Drew Barrymore show will not continue production during the WGA and SAG strikes (for now). Also this week - the Union Solidarity Coalition auction - where celebrities are auctioning different activities and items to benefit crew members who have also been out of work due to the strikes. And while it’s fun to discuss what a $10K dinner with David Cross and Bob Odenkirk would be like, or a $2.5k dog walk from Adam Scott (what if your dog HATES Adam Scott have you considered that??) I’ve personally been more interested in who the lowest bidded upon actors are - because that’s gotta be a blow to the ego. On Saturday, lunch with the Mrs. Wheeler from Stranger Things and a Zoom serenade from The Santa Clause’s Bernard were tied for $500 - along with a ONE NIGHT ONLY West Hollywood Bar crawl with Triangle of Sadness’s movie-stealing Dolly De Leon. That bar crawl should have been MUCH higher - and to my delight this morning, Dolly De Leon had pulled ahead of Bernard, but was still behind Mrs. Wheeler. Last tidbit - the stars of Manifest are offering to do a Zoom call and despite Netflix giving their show a third and final season, WOOF would you have expected their Zoom to draw a bit more bids. If you want to see the other offerings, check them out here - you still have one week to bid!
In more celebrity news, Jonathan Majors stopping the Hollywood High fight was NOT staged, his publicist insists! If you’ve seen the video, the fight is definitely intense and without any context, you might also be quick to say it wasn’t staged. But the fact that this video dropped the day before his assault trial was set to take place, coupled with the fact that the date has now been pushed AGAIN - it certainly seems like some suspicious timing. Anyways, at 1:05 in the original fight video you can see a kid filming the incident with a laptop camera AND a phone, which, if kids are okay giving Moms with iPad energy, more power to them.
Leaving celebrities behind, a French agency has ruled that the iPhone 12 (the phone that I have) gives off too much radiation and Apple should recall the phones if they can’t be updated to be fixed. Before you chuck your phone across the room from you like I did, the headline is a bit clickbait-y and Apple has disputed the findings. This quote from the article itself undermines its headlines: “France’s digital minister said the iPhone 12’s radiation levels are still much lower than levels that scientific studies consider could harm users, and the agency itself acknowledges that its tests don’t reflect typical phone use.” However I will still be sleeping with my phone just a little bit further away from me than usual.
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Rewatching Top Gun: Maverick…
…Is the reason I didn’t finish the newsletter in time!
Or well, you’re still getting this on Monday morning. But I had planned on writing a longer piece about a topic I’ve teased in the past (and it’s still coming, perhaps next week! or the week after…)
I was about a third of the way through, and had it all beated out - but wasn’t able to find the time in the weekend to actually finish it before my Sunday evening plans. That’s okay, I thought - I’m used to working on Woof of the Week late.
So after attending a screening of My Own Private Idaho I got in my car to return home and resumed listening to the Top Gun: Maverick episode of The Rewatchables. Hearing the hosts (Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan) recount their love for the movie got me really excited and I thought, “Hey you know what, I could probably put Top Gun on in the background while I work!”
I have seen Top Gun: Maverick twice - the first time at one of the biggest IMAX screens in America (AMC Lincoln Square 13) and the second time was on a plane (lol). I had pretty strong emotional reactions to both viewings, and surprisingly so as I still haven’t seen the first watch. It was quite embarassing to be crying to Top Gun while on a plane - and I can’t even remember what scene it was exactly. But having seen the film twice, I felt good about putting it on in the background. I know the movie, I know the beats, and it was a summer blockbuster - how much did I have to pay attention to it? I could just tune in for the scenes I really wanted to rewatch and then work while the planes zoom zoom zoomed in the background.
Boy was I wrong.
From the first minute of Mach 9 turned Mach 10 day I was hooked. This film, giving credit to the podcast, is endlessly rewatchable. It’s incredibly entertaining, and it still had me yelling “Pull up pull up!” when one of the pilots lost consciousness during a training exercise. There’s a little something for everybody, especially if you’re able to put aside the blatant endorsement of the US Navy (and by extension armed forces.) It’s the perfect blockbuster film with a heart - and an incredible sequel that perfectly uses its pre-existing IP to elevate the “franchise” to new heights (no pun intended, also i’m sure every movie critic wrote some variaiton of this sentence).
Despite enabling my procrastination, I was glad I was able to view the movie in a new light. For instance, I finally realized that the Lady Gaga song written for the movie was actually used as score as often as Baz Luhrmann used Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” in The Great Gatsby. And despite being enthralled by Jennifer Connelly in each viewing, I did notice some weird deliveries of some pretty expository lines in the beginning. But listening to The Rewatchables added some extra weight to the scene of Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, and it’s quite something to watch the two of them and Tom hit some pretty emotional highs that I didn’t get from watching a week of Mission Impossible movies.
It’s certainly worth rewatching anything, even if it’s something you didn’t like. I almost always say I’ll watch a movie again - and despite being sometimes chided for not being decisive in my opinion, it’s also true that seeing something twice can give you a deeper understanding of it, or at least appreciate it in a different way.
Can’t believe I turned the last two hours of working on Woof of the Week in to a Woof but I guess here we are!
Quote of the Week
This week’s quote is from this year, said by an airport worker:
My father called me Spitfire.
Dads are cool!
Songs That Helped Me Write This Week
(I’ve also been listening to a lot of The Big Picture from The Ringer - so if you have older recommendations of that to recommend, let me know)
get him back! - Olivia Rodrigo - After a week or so of avoiding listening to one of (what I imagine) was globally one of the most anticipated albums of the year, I caved. After watching the music video (which was a clever Apple advertisement) the song cemented itself in my psyche. As I told my old high school bandmates, there is no way that I wouldn’t have petitioned that this song be in our regular rotation of cover songs to perform.
Ignore the Days - Micah P. Hinson - This was used to accompany the end Episode 6 of Reservation Dogs in the current (and final) season. I’m not sure if I’ve expressed my deep love and admiration of this show in the newsletter but my gosh is it just the best. Highly recommend.
Hold My Hand - Lady Gaga - A version of this song was basically playing throughout all of Top Gun: Maverick so it’s gotta count.
That’s all folks!
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Woof of the Week!
And a big thank you to Sam Beasley for editing & producing help this week.
Leave a comment because I’d love to hear your thoughts! Some questions I have for you -
What’s your most re-watched movie or TV show?
What’s your go-to procrastination breaking habit?
Have you ever called anyone Spitfire?
See you on the next one!
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