Month: December 2022

Dad brog (#102): We’ve reached the picky eating stage

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I busted out a dad brog; the last time I had a daddy bitching session, it was because of stage of life in which kids inexplicably decide that biting each other seems like a great idea.  Not much has changed since then, #1 is still biting her little sister and unfortunately #2 has learned how to bite just as #1 had learned from shitbag in her pre-K, but at least I can take solace in the fact that there haven’t been any biting incidents at school that requires mythical wife or I to have to sign any waivers of acknowledgement of said bitings.

No, today’s daddy bitching session is going to be about how my kids have entered a picky eating phase, to which if I’m writing about it, means it drives be bonkers.  And I unfortunately use the terminology “kids” as in plural, as in both my kids, because both of my kids are being picky, by virtue of #1 is the one truly having entered the picky eater stage, but #2 being the younger sibling that copies just about everything her big sister does, has decided to be picky about certain foods too.

It makes little sense to me too, because prior to entering this stage, #1 was a voracious eater whom I applauded being good at eating just about everything other than eggs, products with egg in it, because she’s intolerant, and bell peppers, which are the foods eaten on the same day with eggs to which she’s mentally deduced are just as bad as eggs are, which I can understand because there’ve been foods in my life that I’ve avoided from a bad association.

But she would eat just about everything else we put in front of her; meats, veggies, dairy, American, Korean, Italian; there was little limit to what she would not be willing to power through at least one meal.  As most parenting resources state, variety isn’t just the spice of life, it’s also the building blocks to prevent kids from getting picky, so they don’t fall into the pigeon hole of where they’ll ultimately only want to eat chicken tenders and pizza.

Now though, over the last few weeks, I’d say about 66% of the food I make and present to my kids is usually met with disgust, disinterest, and usually the words “I don’t like this” before #1 decides to eat slower than a Galapagos turtle or just not eat outright, with her little sister soon to follow regardless of how she actually feels about the food herself.

I’m sure this is a shocker, but let me tell you just how infuriating this is to me.  I bust my ass and spend a lot of time in my life cooking and making food for the girls.  I don’t cook for myself or mythical wife a fraction of what I cook for the kids, so when they turn their nose up at most everything I make, or refuse to eat something without trying something, it basically makes my head explode.

And when they’re sick, which is often, then the things they touch and pick at or spit out, I can’t save this stuff, and then I have to throw it out.  For a person who’s as anti-food waste as I am, this kills me every time I have to do it, and I’m left feeling ragey and pissed at my kids for making me have to waste food.  I know it’s not their faults and this is a phase that the vast majority of children go through, but it doesn’t make it any less maddening for those who have to go through it.

All I can really hope is that this really is just a phase, and will eventually pass.  Because I’m developing a complex at meal time, because my kids pretty much hate everything I make for them, where any successful meals feel like scoring a goal in the World Cup, but the vast majority of the time, the reactions are tepid and leave me feeling rejected and inadequate as a parent, which is kind of a metaphor in itself of raising kids.

Netflix’s Wednesday: kind of like Harry Potter without the stink of Rowling’s bigotry

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

When the stills came out for Netflix’s Wednesday, I didn’t realize that it was a show primarily about Wednesday.  I couldn’t get over Luis Guzman as Gomez Addams, and I figured this was just a reboot reimagining of The Addams Family.  Regardless, the premise seemed intriguing and I had made a note to catch Wednesday when it dropped.

Having finished the show, I can say that it was overall a fun season of television, that blended nostalgia, a clever plot and pace that gave just enough hints to make you think you know what’s going on, but also so many hints that it makes it difficult to narrow the who done it of the story.

It was also interesting that the show basically takes a property of most of its target audience’s childhoods, which was always campy, but giving it a much more of a push into an adult territory.  As much as the old Addams Family show and movies talked about blood and violence, it was rare that any was actually seen, but that’s hardly the case with Wednesday, which isn’t shy at all about showing both.  In a way, it’s kind of like Riverdale, re-telling Archie comics, but way darker and more grown-up storyline.

The casting of the show was fantastic, and aside from my fascination with Luis Guzman being Gomez, I think the cast was done well, from all of the Addams to all of the core students that we’re supposed to become invested in.  Naturally, the show is centralized around Wednesday, and I had no idea who Jenna Ortega was before this, but I’m sure she’s become quite the household name after this show.  I think she did an incredible job of portraying and evolving Wednesday’s character light years beyond the most popular rendition of Wednesday most people remember from Addams Family Values.

And of course it was fun to try and count how many times she actually blinks in the show.  I’ve heard no number higher than seven.

Atmospherically, the show feels like Harry Potter in setting, but like the title of the post goes, it’s better that it’s not, because JK Rowling is kind of cancelled and it’s nice to have something that feels like Harry Potter without having to be it.  All the way down to the borrowed plot device that was originally lifted from Castlevania II.

The funny thing about the show to me is the fact that the general plot and story of it didn’t actually have to be skinned with the Addams Family franchise at all.  Change all the names of the characters and remove all Addams IP, and it would stand alone.  Obviously it’s done to give it immediate credibility and ease the need for buzz, but I’m just saying I feel that a show called Friday and featuring equivalent characters with different names would probably be just as enjoyable.

Overall, it’s a fun and enjoyable show that has a lot of variety of appeal.  It’s nostalgia, it’s clever, well acted, and has a pace that doesn’t drag and has an easy to follow linear plot that it’s funny to play guess who as the episodes progress.

I’m sure future seasons will be in the works if they’re not already renewed at this point, and I think it has the makings of one of Netflix’s more substantial wins over the last few years.

O PILSUNG COREA MOTHERFUCKERS

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

On this date, December 2, 2022

South Korea 2, Portugal 1

As much as I enjoy the World Cup, I didn’t have any grand expectations as far as the Motherland’s chances were.  This isn’t eSports or Little League baseball, so my hopes for Korea’s participation in the World Cup is usually along the lines of hoping they don’t embarrass themselves, and be the worst team to get sent packing in the first round.

Thanks to the Qatar that didn’t belong there in the first place, and Canada whom I didn’t even know even played futbol in the first place, that’s not going to happen.  Undoubtedly, the team that brings the most dishonor to the World Cup is undoubtedly Germany, whom once again was bounced in groups for the second straight World Cup, with 2014 looking like a historical event from the present.

But not only did Korea not embarrass themselves on the global stage, they didn’t get bounced in groups.  With their incredible 2-1 victory over Portugal, they advance out of groups and into the elimination round of 16, where Brazil awaits, to which that’ll be its own tragedy in its own right, but at least I can have the memories of this day where Korea, once again finishes groups on a high note after starting slow with a draw and a loss in their prior two matches.

I kind of had this hope that Korea could beat Portugal on the logic that with two wins already, and advancement already locked in, the Portuguese really didn’t have to play that hard, and would change things up and play backups, in order to save their stars.  France and Spain paid a similar price, dropping their third matches, and I was hoping that Portugal would join them.

Continue reading “O PILSUNG COREA MOTHERFUCKERS” →

AEW got to be out of their damn mind

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Much to both my chagrin and dismay, the WWE is basically out of blets that I could possibly want.  For the time being, there are no blets left for them to release, because at this point, just about every single WWE blet in history has been released at some point. 

They could start digging, and begin releasing older WCW and ECW or even AWA and territorial replicas like Jim Crockett or Smoky Mountain.  But instead, they’re making all these gaudy tribute blets as well as for some reason releasing WWE championships with side plates of SEC schools.

Hopefully when they inevitably launch NXT Europe, the inevitable blets will be baller.  Or not, I don’t need any more temptations to suck my spare money, $300-400 at a time.

Because that’s the general price range, if not lower, of what replica wrestling blets should cost.  $599 for one, or the bargain price of $999 for two AEW tag team replica blets??

As the kids these days like to say, the fuck outta here

The thing is, the tag blets are the one AEW championship I like the most.  Aesthetically, as well as fandom wise.  AEW does have outstanding tag team wrestling, and these titles hold more weight in my opinion than any other championship they have currently, and if they weren’t $600, I’d definitely want one. 

I don’t know how AEW can justify having such egregiously priced replicas in the first place, and I’m curious to know how many other blet collectors have any.  Their world title replica is around $800 and I know they released a TNT replica that was also in the $600-700 range.  If I played my cards right, I could probably get three, maybe four WWE replicas, and if I didn’t care about quality, I could probably get like 8-9 Pakistani bootlegs on eBay, including all of the AEW ones.

I know they don’t use the same blet makers as WWE or old Ring of Honor did, and use someone completely different.  I don’t know if they’re not mass producing them overseas like most other replicas not New Japan are, but the bottom line is that it’s causing AEW to have to price them way too fucking high that even the most hardcore of collectors like me don’t want to pay. 

Inevitably, I will eventually want some AEW blet(s), because it doesn’t take a whole lot to inspire me to want a blet.  I’m going to kid myself; as much as I criticize AEW, I do want them to do well, it’s just I think TK is kind of an obnoxious mark, as well as all of the vast majority of their fans.  But with the price point they’re at, it most definitely isn’t going to be any time soon.