Issue #58: Gen Z in the Workforce
Positive vibes only.
Welcome back, everybody!
Just a quick breakdown of the blog for any new readers:
I ramble for a bit and give an update on my life and what I’m thinking about this week
I talk about the movies I watched recently (usually in the last week but I’m still catching up)
I do some rankings, ask some hypothetical questions (ex: what are the chances my dad cries while watching this movie?), and then I give my no frills, no jokes review
We ignore grammar errors here at the blog. Give me a break.
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Hey guys, sorry for skipping a week of writing last week. I was in Chicago until Tuesday (a recap of that trip will be in the 2nd blog this week) so I didn’t get one out on Tuesday like I usually do. Why I didn’t get a blog out on Thursday is a harder excuse to make. To be frank, I’m sometimes just a lazy bastard who doesn’t want to write.
I’m working on that.
Anyway, we’re back and better than ever. Along with being in Chicago for 6 days (which was an absolute blast), things are going alright for your boy. No job yet but I’ve got some stuff in the works, I’ve been watching a ton of TV and Movies, I’m slowly getting better at basketball, and it’s 75 and sunny every single day here in LA which always helps.
Also, I’m reading a great book right now called The Last Road Trip. It’s a page-turner of a book that I have to cut myself off from reading every night before going to sleep because otherwise, I’d be up all night. If you’re into mysteries, drama, and suspense then I couldn’t recommend this book more. It’s got great characters, a clever plot/plot device, and almost every chapter ends on a cliffhanger. It’s a great book and the fact that it was written by my Mom is merely the cherry on top.
She also has no idea I’m doing this.
Mom, it is so cool you wrote a book. 2 books even! I couldn’t be more proud of you. Hopefully one day I can make it into a movie. Sorry, it took me this long to shout it out in the blog.
Go check it out and give it a read!
*Author’s Note: Since I have to wake up crazy early tomorrow (for me, anyway) and it’s already 1:00 am, I’m gonna do a shorter intro for this blog and write a long one recapping Chicago for the 2nd one this week.*
Since I’ve been out here in Los Angeles I’ve had a lot of time to focus on “being an adult.” This means doing things like finding a place to live (very important), finding a job (still in progress), registering my car in California (a struggle but complete), and probably most importantly: taking care of myself.
“Taking care of myself” in this case, means going to the doctor’s for a check-up. To be honest, dear reader, I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a check-up. If I were to guess it would be before Covid because I don’t think I ever got one in college.
So, in other words: I was due.
So I did my research, found a doctor who lived as close to me as possible with good reviews, and booked an appointment for a general check-up. When the day finally rolled around, I made the arduous 10-minute trek to the office (I live right next to Cedar-Sinai so I’m in medical central), checked in, and waited in the waiting room.
*Author’s Note: The waiting room is one of the most appropriately named things in the human language. We may not be good at a lot, but we are damn good at naming different types of rooms.*
At last, my time had come, my name was called, I looked up from my phone, and…I saw a girl my age waiting for me at the door to take me into the patient room.
Now, I knew she wasn’t the doctor and all, but the experience of seeing someone your own age in a position like that is a mind-bending experience. For example, seeing my friends, and other people I went to school with, in the workforce is hysterical to me. The ones who are already in the workforce almost all hate their jobs and the ones who are going to school to specialize in their respective fields I’ve seen do things that people who are getting their masters, doctorates, or JDs should never do. I’d elaborate if I could. I’m sure this is how every single person has ever felt as they watch their generation enter the workforce, but it’s something that’s gonna take some time for me to get used to.
So the girl takes me back to the room to get my weight, info, etc. before the doctor comes. And I don’t know how she normally acts in her job, but the casualness with which she talked and acted around me was so damn funny. Like, it was clear that she could tell I was around her age (she did have all of my personal info so she definitely knew) because she talked to me like I’d imagine she’d talk to one of her friends. Casually dropping things on the floor, cursing, and generally just being relaxed as hell about everything. We even shit-talked the receptionist a bit. She wasn’t exactly the nicest receptionist and, apparently, everyone in the office agrees and no one likes her (the doctor’s assistant’s words not mine).
Don’t get me wrong, she was great at her job, it was just funny how she carried herself. I’ll tell you, it was way more entertaining than past doctor’s assistants I’ve had in the past.
The best part was when she took my blood. She was telling me about how she hated LA (a great thing to hear as a new LA resident), how she had already been married and divorced (speed-running life), and how she wanted to move back to Chicago (totally fair and I kind of agree), all while sticking a needle in my arm and taking my blood like it was nothing. She also told me that I looked like I surfed a lot (I’ve never surfed before) and then told me that I should go surfing when she found out I’d never surfed before (good to know).
I lied, the best part was when she was trying to explain how to do the stool test I had to complete (I was seeing if I had any stomach bugs just in case, relax). She’s going through all of these steps, trying not to laugh while she does it (totally understandable), and talking so nonchalantly about everything that I couldn’t help but laugh myself. It was the most entertaining doctor’s visit I’ve ever had. The casualness combined with the professionalism struck the perfect balance and absolutely made my morning.
I probably did a terrible job of explaining all of that and getting across how funny it was, but this also happened 3 weeks ago and was way better in person. Apologies if that’s the case.
I gotta hear from people older than me about their experience, but for me, seeing people your age in the “real world” is an absolute trip. You go from being an absolute degenerate in college one day to being a real person in the workforce the next.
Me? I’m in limbo. I’m neither a full degenerate nor a real person.
It’s not an entirely bad place to be if I’m honest.
Let’s get on with the blog already. I think it’s better than the main part of this intro.
I made a new website. It’s basically the same as the old Vault, but it’s been given a makeover and the movies and documentaries I watched in 2024 are now available as well. If you check it out please give me suggestions on how I can make it better. And let me know if there are any issues I need to fix.
Check it out here!
Alright, on to the blog.
Movies count for the year: 52
Doc count for the year: 8
Novocaine (2025)
AKA: Buying all of the Jack Quaid stock.
When I wrote about Companion a few weeks ago I mentioned Jack Quaid and how I was looking forward to seeing how he fared in his first leading role in Novocaine. Well, now that we're here and I've seen the movie, I can say that he crushed it and I'm buying all the stock. For those of you who are unaware, Jack Quaid is a nepo-baby to the max. He's the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan (ever heard of them?) and despite having a leg up on his competition, he's done what not a lot of nepo-babies do and embraced it:
“No matter what I do, people are going to call attention to it. People have called me a ‘nepo-baby.’ I’m inclined to agree. I am an immensely privileged person, was able to get representation pretty early on, and that’s more than half the battle. I don’t think it undermines my talent. I know that I work hard, and I know I’ve heard ‘no’ way more than I’ve heard ‘yes.’ But I also know that this industry is insanely hard to break into, and I had an easier time doing that than most. Both things can be true."
See, it's stuff like this right here that makes me like Jack Quaid. Some people deny that they're nepo-babies (looking at you Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, etc.), and while a lot of them are great actors in their own right, simply accepting it and adopting the mindset like Quaid has would change everything in my eyes. To be clear, I don't hate nepo-babies. Hell, I wish I was nepo-baby sometimes cause it would be a hell of a lot easier to get a job in this industry. I guess I could've gone the Dale Doback route and joined the family business, but I decided to pivot and go in the complete opposite direction.
On a different note, you should totally go see Novocaine in theaters if you're able. It's a ton of fun, it's much better to see a movie like this in a theater full of people, and it's a genuinely good movie.
Sorry, I didn’t join the family business Pops.
Mount Rushmore of Nepo-Babies based on combined parental genealogy:
John Quincy Adams (6th President of the United States)
Parents:
John Adams: 2nd President
Abigail Adams: girl boss First Lady in a time when that wasn’t a thing
King Louis XIV (Longest Reigning Monarch of all Time—72 years as King of France)
Parents:
King Louis XIII: not the longest reigning monarch of all time but still the king of France
Anne of Austria: from Austria, helped rule France when Louis XIV was young)
Ares and Hephaestus (God of War and God of Blacksmiths)
Parents:
Zeus: King of the Gods
Hera: Queen of the Gods
This one is gonna be tough to beat.
Justify (2018 Triple Crown-Winning Horse)
Parents:
Scat Daddy: Great name
Ancestry:
Secretariat: Triple Crown Winner
Count Fleet: Triple Crown Winner
War Admiral: Triple Crown Winner
Omaha: Triple Crown Winner
Gallant Fox: Triple Crown Winner
That’s 5 Triple Crown winners right there. Having your parents be the king and queen of the gods is cool and all, but do you know how hard it is to win the Triple Crown?
Honorable Mentions: Jamie Lee Curtis (Tony Curtis and Jason Leigh), Jack Quaid (Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan), Maya Hawke (Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman), anyone related to Francis Ford Coppola.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Hell yeah they do.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 2%
No, But Really: This was just a great time at the theater. A unique take on the action genre that does not pull any punches (literally) and features a really solid lead performance from Jack Quaid. I had a ton of fun, there were plenty of laughs, and if you’re a fan of action comedies this will be right up your alley. While it doesn’t totally reach the heights of others in the genre, it’s a very fun movie that checks off all the boxes and is certainly worth the watch in my opinion.
Mickey 17 (2025)
AKA: That’s an interesting accent choice there Robert.
This was one of my Super Bowls this year.
Every year there are a few movies on the calendar that you subconsciously, or completely consciously (superconsciously?), designate as "Super Bowl" movies. I feel like I don't really need to explain what a Super Bowl movie is, but the TL;DR version is that it's a movie you put a lot of stake in and has a lot of hype/expectation around it. The last Super Bowl movie that I can think of for me was Gladiator II, which was kind of a letdown when it came to the Super Bowl-like expectations I hampered it with.
Mickey 17 is in a similar boat.
By no means is this a bad movie. Quite the opposite, in fact. This movie is better than almost everything I see in the movie theater nowadays (and I see my fair share of movies in the theater). It just happens to be Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to the Best Picture-winning Parasite, which is considered one of the best movies of the last 10 years, if not the best. So, safe to say that there were a lot of expectations around this movie. Did it meet them all? No, but that doesn't mean this movie isn't quite enjoyable and features a lot of great stuff, especially from Robert Pattison.
What a wild ride we've had with Robert Pattison. Pattison is a cool example of a movie star for me because I've seen my opinion of him (and the opinion of the masses) change in real-time as I've grown up. Off the top of my head, I can't think of an actor in his generation who has had the same type of career he's had.
I first clocked Pattison as Edward Cullen in Twilight. That first movie came out when I was in kindergarten and I still remember how big of a deal it was. Now, I've never read any of the Twilight books or seen any of the movies in full, but as far as I can tell, he was the best part of those movies. That didn't help him from being considered solely as Edward by me (and everyone my age) as well as the entire internet for what seemed like the foreseeable future (AKA: kind of a loser).
It wasn't until after 1st grade (when I first read Harry Potter and started watching the movies), that I realized he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (that's #4 for anyone who doesn't know). Despite my distaste for Twilight (I was at that age when every boy hates girly things like Twilight and Taylor Swift) I could appreciate that he was a great Cedric.
Obligatory inclusion of the Amos Diggory scene:
But that movie came out in 2005, 3 years before Twilight. Pattison was kind of held hostage by Twilight until 2012. After that, he was in limbo, or at least that’s what it felt like to me. I only thought of him as Edward (I was always #TeamJacob myself because I thought werewolves were cooler) and it seemed like that was all he was going to be.
But since 2016 he's completely reinvented himself. Pattison has gone from being a sparkly vampire who runs fast to one of the weirdest/coolest guys in Hollywood who works with cool directors and transforms into something different for every role he takes. Full transparency: I'm behind on these newer movies (Good Time, The Lighthouse, etc.) but you can bet your ass I saw The Batman, Tenet, and now Mickey 17.
I really like this guy and I'm buying everything he's selling. Being able to go from one of the most famous vampires in pop culture to a guy who dresses up as a bat might not seem like a huge evolution, but Pattison has become one of the most interesting actors working today and I love the decisions he's making.
Maybe I’m actually #TeamEdward…
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Yes sir. Plenty of times.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 0%
No, But Really: I said this as soon as I got out of this movie: while it didn’t meet my crazy high expectations, it’s better than 95% of the movies that are made today. Bong set stupidly high expectations for himself with this being his follow-up to Parasite, so in some way, I should’ve known it couldn’t match them, but nonetheless, it’s still a very good movie. Robert Pattinson continues to establish himself as one of our finest actors working today, Bong continues his trend of working with fantastic creatures, and while the Mark Ruffalo part of the movie doesn’t entirely work for me, the movie is a lot of fun overall despite that.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2025)
AKA: 10 more of these please.
I became aware of this movie purely because I regularly scroll through my Fandango app to see what is coming soon to theaters. I didn't see a lick of advertising or marketing for this movie which is a damn shame, because I bet most of you reading this have no idea that this movie even exists. Well dear reader, let me assure you that yes, a 90-minute, feature-length Looney Tunes movie showing in theaters exists in the year of our lord 2025.
I know. I can't believe it either.
Because I knew that not many people would know about this movie, I had to alert the biggest Looney Tunes fan I know about this film: my friend Sander.
That's 332 “I need it’s” for anyone counting.
I've had a connection with Looney Tunes for as long as I can remember. More specifically, it really started when my sister and I first got some Looney Tunes collections off iTunes to put on our iPods to watch on a plane ride. Looking back, I cannot believe I was watching these episodes on this tiny ass screen, but watch them I did.
There were 10 episodes in each Looney Tunes collection my sister and I got. In total that gave us 20 Looney Tunes shorts to watch on plane rides, car rides, etc. A Looney Tunes short is, on average, 7 minutes. The average plane ride is…much longer than 7 minutes. I'll let you do the math on how many times we watched these things. To this day, Audrey and I quote these Looney Tunes shorts to each other. We've both watched them so many times that we've committed them entirely to memory. I guess that's what happens when you've got nothing else to do for a 6-hour car or plane ride.
I’m a huge fan of Looney Tunes. Obviously not as much as Sander (see above) but then again; who is?
This isn't the only Looney Tunes movie that should have come out in the last few years. In my research, I discovered that there have surprisingly only been 4 feature-length Looney Tunes movies that have been released in theaters:
Space Jam: an instant five-star classic
Looney Tunes: Back in Action: a guilty pleasure that I consider an instant five-star classic despite knowing it’s actually quite bad
Space Jam: A New Legacy: a travesty that shouldn't exist (I haven't seen it)
The Day the Earth Blew Up
This most recent movie is truly unlike any of the theatrically released Looney Tunes movies. It's got no live-action elements and is truly 90 minutes of Looney Tunes shorts. But like I said, this isn't the only Looney Tunes movie that should have been in theaters in the last few years.
This is the story of Coyote vs. Acme.
I'll make this quick. Basically, an entire movie was filmed, edited, and made ready for release. This movie is titled Coyote vs. Acme and centers around Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme company for the years of abuse he suffered from their products in his quest to capture the Roadrunner. His lawyer is played by Will Forte. Sounds like a fun movie right?
It was completed in 2023 and was slated for release until Warner Bros. decided to shelve it and claim a $30 million tax loss instead. If this sounds familiar it's because they did the same thing with a fully completed Batgirl movie starring Michael Keaton as Batman that same year. Warner Bros. shelved a completed Scooby-Doo movie that same year too. It's fucking bullshit, but since the studio was able to claim a tax loss on these movies instead of releasing them they justify it that way. That's what happens when studios are focused solely on profits.
However, there's still hope that a different studio will acquire the rights to Coyote vs. Acme so we may just see it yet. If The Day The Earth Blew Up does well in theaters (things aren’t looking too hot at the moment but it’s still early) the chances of Coyote vs. Acme coming out increase exponentially.
Fuck David Zaslav.
Mount Rushmore of Pigs:
Porky Pig (Looney Tunes)
Stutter and all. One of the best of all time.
Third Little Pig (The Three Little Pigs)
His brothers were idiots. He was smart. They got eaten. He didn’t. He gets a spot on Mount Rushmore. They don’t.
Miss Piggy (The Muppets)
Annoying as she may be, you can’t argue with her stats. She brings a lot to the table and bagged the classiest frog of the bunch in Kermit.
This Little Piggy (This Little Piggy)
Dealer’s choice here. My personal ranking is:
The one who had roast beef
I have a roast beef sandwich probably twice a week. This is my guy right here.
The one who went to market
I love going to the market. Getting groceries is the best.
The one who “wee wee weed” all the way home
The Geico commercial does a lot of heavy lifting here
The one who stayed home [didn’t go to the market]
Lazy bastard.
The one who had none [roast beef]
Dumb loser. Who doesn’t like roast beef?
Honorable Mentions: Hamm (Toy Story), Spider-Pig (Simpsons Movie), Waddles (Gravity Falls), Wilbur (Charlotte’s Web), Babe (Babe)
Mount Rushmore of Ducks:
Aflac Duck (Aflac Insurance)
I couldn’t even tell you what type of insurance Aflac sells. I do know what their mascot is though.
Daffy Duck (Looney Tunes)
Another Looney Tune; another speech impediment. The craziest duck there is and one of the best.
Donald Duck (Disney)
The OG duck for me. It’s him or Daffy for the top spot on my board. Both have speech impediments, both are insane, and both are second fiddle in their franchises but they both just might be better than Bugs and Mickey.
Duck (Duck, Duck, Goose)
One of the first games every kid learns how to play. Duck meant safety, duck meant relaxation, duck meant no stress. Did we all want to be called a goose from time to time? Of course, but a duck now and then was always welcome.
Honorable Mentions: Huey, Dewey & Louie (DuckTales), Daisy Duck (Disney), Scrooge McDuck (DuckTales), The Mighty Ducks (The Mighty Ducks/The NHL team), The Oregon Duck (NCAAF team mascot), Ducks from Duck Hunt (NES game)
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: You will not believe me, but they do, in fact, say it. I couldn’t believe it myself.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 0%
No, But Really: I mean, the fact that we’re getting a feature-length Looney Tunes movie in the year 2025 is a fantastic thing in and of itself. It helps that the movie is actually really good! It exceeded my expectations by a lot. I was laughing a ton, and you can’t really go wrong with Looney Tunes. I think it was a pretty solid bridge between the classic shorts and the modern world it’s set in. My entire theater was laughing the entire time, which is exactly what you want with a movie like this. They could make 10 of these a year and I’d see every single one of them.
Black Bag (2025)
AKA: 50 more of these please.
Heroin. Crack. Meth. Cocaine. Crime/spy thrillers. Everyone has their drug of choice. Mine is the last one on the list. If I could mainline crime/spy thrillers into my bloodstream every day till the end of time, I would in a heartbeat. I wish they released a movie like Black Bag 52 weeks of the year. I'd see every single one of them in theaters and have a great time with each one. I like crime/spy thrillers of every quality, but they're a hell of a lot better when they're actually good like Black Bag.
If you get a chance to see this in theaters I highly recommend it.
I saw this movie at 4:30 pm on a Saturday. I saw it alone (like I do with most movies) but the theater I was in was packed and rocking. A packed theater at 4:30 pm on a Saturday when it's 75 and sunny out is one of the things I love about LA. I'm still getting used to this city, but the fact that almost every movie I see is in a pretty full theater is fucking awesome.
This is the second movie from Steven Soderbergh in 2025. It's March. That's insane. Sure, Presence (his ghost movie that came out in January) technically came out in January of 2024 when it premiered at Sundance, but it didn't get bought, distributed, and released until a couple of months ago. But that's what Soderbergh does. The guy loves to work. Since 2000, he's directed 27 films, or 1.08 per year. Averaging more than a movie a year for a director as prolific as Soderbergh is crazy work. 1.08 might not sound like that much, but when you look at the other big-name directors today here are their movies per year stats since 2000:
Tarantino: .28
Fincher: .32
Scorsese: .36
Nolan: .44
The Coens: .52
Spielberg: .64
Scott: .76
Eastwood: .76
No one even comes close! 1.08 movies per year for a director like Soderbergh is unheard of. Fun note: the guys on that list who are closest to him (Ridley Scott and Clint Eastwood) are 87 and 94 respectively. Mad respect.
Real quick, before we move on. Can we just talk about Steven Soderbergh's 2000 for a second? That year he directed two movies: Erin Brockovich and Traffic. Full transparency; I haven't seen Traffic, but it's on the watchlist. Regardless, he directed these two movies in 2000. Then the Oscars roll around.
BOTH films get nominated for Best Picture. Oh yeah, Soderbergh also got nominated for Best Director...for BOTH FILMS.
Gladiator ended up winning Best Picture that year so he has to be one of, if not the only, director to have mathematically the best chances at winning Best Picture and losing. However, Julia Roberts won Best Actress for Erin Brockovich, Erin Brockovich won Best Original Screenplay, Traffic won Best Adapted Screenplay, and Soderbergh won Best Director (for Traffic). Now, this also means he lost Best Director, so he's also one of, if not the only, person to win and lose Best Director in the same Oscars.
Oh yeah, and he was 37 when this all happened. Doing that when you’re sub-40 is unreal cred. The next year he made Ocean’s 11. Steven Soderbergh rocks.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: It’s one of the first words spoken.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 0%
No, But Really: This movie is like heroin to me; I just want it to be mainlined straight into my veins. If you’re telling me that a spy/crime/thriller with Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett doesn’t make you want to go to the theater then I don’t think you have a pulse. This movie is sleek, it’s clever, and it’s sexy. The dialogue is super sharp as well. I couldn’t recommend it more and it’s definitely one of the top movies of the year so far.
Franchise Mode
2/3 of the way through Sonic. I promise we have better stuff coming (even though these aren’t bad at all).
Gotta Go Fast (Part 2)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
AKA: Jim Carrey doing the most. Again.
Welcome to the 2nd edition of Franchise Mode and the 2nd in the Sonic franchise. To start, here are the notes I wrote down after watching this movie:
1. They used “Barracuda.”
Heart is a great band with a number of great songs. Despite having a large discography, films have focused solely on their song “Barracuda” and it's become the anthem for every scene or montage that wants to be #girlpower. I don't know why this is, but every time I hear it that's all I can think about. There are so many other songs that exist. You don't need to use “Barracuda” every goddamn time.
2. Cops only have tasers, no guns.
This was something interesting that I noticed while watching this. Maybe it's a sign of the times or because it's a movie designed for kids, but the police in this movie (and there are a lot of police in this movie) carry tasers instead of guns. I don't really have a take on this other than it's the first time I've seen something like that.
3. So much talking to themselves.
This is true for every film in this series but the amount of acting to nothing that the actors have to do in these movies is insanity. I don't know how they do it.
4. Jim Carrey doing the most.
He always is and I love him for it.
On top of those notes, here are the movies that this movie references in some way that I clocked:
Caddyshack
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Risky Business
Home Alone
Ghostbusters
Captain America and the Winter Soldier
Indiana Jones
And those are just the ones I remember! I'm all for making a good movie reference, hell I make them every day, but goddamn.
I'm not gonna lie, this movie is a blur in my memory. It was late when I watched it and I watched it right after I watched the first in the series so they bled together for me. That being said, I think the universe-building is actually really solid and I love the inclusion of Knuckles and Tails.
The plot has something to do with a gem, some rings, and Dr. Eggman is in there somewhere too.
Basically, it's just like the other 2 movies in the franchise. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Do They Say the Title of the Movie In the Movie: Yet another victim of the sequel curse. Say the main part of the title easily. The number? Not so much.
Chance My Dad Cries While Watching This: 0%
No, But Really: I could copy and paste my review from Sonic the Hedgehog here and it would work just as well. The addition of Tails and Knuckles makes this movie feel like more of an act of “universe building” than a movie, but it’s still a fun time. There’s not much else to say, but it’s impressive how good these movies actually are and how well they’ve managed to bring the Sonic universe to the screen.
-This is March.
—My bracket was busted after the first 2 games
—-Ovi is only 7 goals away from breaking the record
——I might become a manny
Thanks for the shout out! 🚘 📖