Toilets, Food Delivery, and Batman

Issue #8: The Reality of Relocation

Steve Long

Feb 24, 2022

Morning kids! Well, it’s probably not morning where you’re at. It might be. I have no idea really. I don’t know where you live. Anyway, thanks for checking out another issue of my newsletter.

So why toilets might you ask? I was at a concert this past week. It was an LP release party put on by a local band called Don’t Make Ghosts. Great band. You should check them out. Like now. Ok, you done? Awesome band right? So this concert was at a venue called 51st Street Speakeasy. Great little venue. Not too big and not too small. Just the right size I think. If memory serves me correctly, this will have been the third show I have seen at this venue. The first (or second) was Tim Barry. I went to this show with my wife and my friend Dave. The second (or first) was the Smoking Popes. They did an acoustic set here. I saw these guys again later that year and I remember thinking that I wished they had played the Speakeasy again instead of where I saw them. Anyway, getting to the point. I went to go relieve myself and there was a line to get in. While I am standing there I notice the sign on the door. Toilet. That’s genius! It says what it is. At most place with public facilities the room is called the bathroom or the restroom? Why? They aren’t bathrooms. There are no baths in there. I’m not sure if you can really call them rest rooms. I don’t go in there to rest. Well, some people might but that’s just weird. I’m there for a specific purpose. If you guessed I was there to use the toilet, you’re right! So call it a toilet like this place. Brilliant!

Another thing about this concert I wanted to point out was how it got me thinking about my upcoming relocation. These guys are a local band. Local to the Oklahoma City area that is. I know the guys in this band. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of other folks from the local punk scene there to support these local guys so I was able to chat with a bunch of people I had not seen in a while. The point I’m trying to make here is that because of this show, the reality of my upcoming relocation to Michigan is really starting to kick in. While I’m sitting here in my bedroom/office typing and working and chatting with people online, it doesn’t really dawn on me. But the engagement with the local punk rock folks really got my mind spinning about it. I’m really going to miss these folks. During the Don’t Make Ghosts set it really hit me in the gut as I was watching these guys and looking out at the crowd. I even felt my eyes start to water. It is going to be weird not being around these people. Ok, enough of that.

Here is a random fact about me. I work remotely. That is, I work from home on a full time basis. Ever since I started working remotely, I have spent a great sum of money on a specific food delivery company. I only get 30 minutes for lunch and that really isn’t enough time to go out and grab something to eat and get back in time. That is unless I want to eat at McDonald’s every day and quite frankly I don’t. I could cook something at home of course and I do most days despite my lack of culinary skills but I’ve still eaten a lot more via delivery since working remotely. I’m not going to mention the name of the company because I’m not their spokesperson and they aren’t paying me to write about them. So far, I have only had one bad experience with having food delivered through this company. But to be fair, the issues were not the delivery company’s fault but the fault of the restaurant that I ordered from. Also to be fair, it is the only company of this type of industry that I have used. There are a few others but this company is the one I went with first and just stuck with them. While I am saving money on gas driving back and forth to an office, I am probably not coming out even with the amount of food that I’m ordering.

There is nothing new in my world of video games. I’m still playing Cyberpunk 2077. Although, there was a huge update made to the game this past week. However, due to the fact that I’m still really new at playing the game, I have not really noticed much difference to the game other than how they changed the map. I heard something about a new update to Fallout 76 that I might check out since I am such a big fan of the franchise but as deep as I am into Cyberpunk right now that might be a while.

Rogue One Radio

This week’s episode covered a topic that you don’t hear nearly enough about. We talked about the disabled community. Specifically, that community’s lack of representation in the media. We were joined by a gentleman that goes by the name Bob the Burger Guy. Additionally, we played a tune from an Indianapolis, Indiana-based punk band called Amuse.

You can listen to that episode here:

Also, here are some highlights from some podcasts I have listened to over the week:

Deep Six Wrestling Podcast. This is a podcast that I had previously never listened to until this past week. I listened to 3 episodes of this show this week. The first was a special breaking edition about Cody Rhodes leaving AEW. The second was a “regular” episode where they mostly covered the most recent episode of Impact Wrestling. The third was a recap of the Impact event No Surrender.

One Band 5 Songs - Between the time the last newsletter came out and now, Dave released two episodes. On the first episode, he covered the New York based thrash metal band, Anthrax. It was a really good episode. It renewed my interest in this band and made me realize that I’m actually a bigger fan of these guys than I had previously thought. On the second episode, he covered Oklahoma-based punk band Red City Radio. One Band 5 Songs is a podcast that you really don’t want to miss.

Impact Lounge #589 - On this episode, the hosts talked about what they think the Impact Wrestling promotion needs to improve upon to build their brand. Specifically, they discussed ways to improve their digital imprint and how to get more people excited about their product. They also did a recap of No Surrender.

I’m still reading Thrawn: Alliances. I’m a little under 50% finished with this book. I read really slow. Well, let me rephrase. It isn’t that I read particularly slow rather than I am very easily distracted with other things.

No new Star Wars comics from my list came out again this week. For that matter neither did any of the other stuff I subscribe to get released. I did, however, read some newer stuff that I don’t normally read. For example:

Batman: The Knight. This is a new limited series written by Chip Zdarsky. It is a different take on the origin of Batman. Where most origin stories that I have read focus generally on his first year as Batman, this one focuses on his time prior to him even thinking of becoming Batman. There are hints that he (Bruce Wayne that is) is thinking of becoming a police officer and the various ways that he learns to do the things he eventually comes to do flawlessly as the Bat.

While I am on the subject of Batman I thought I’d point out that the new Batman movie comes out next week. I will be going to a sneak preview so I’ll be able to see it a few days before it’s official release date. I’m actually pretty excited about the movie despite my reservations about certain casting decisions. When they announced the lead role would be played by Robert Pattinson, let’s just say I was less than thrilled. At the time of the announcement, the only things I had seen him in were the Twilight movies and Harry Potter. I have since decided that I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. First, I remember how irritated I was when it was first announced that Ben Affleck would be playing the role and how my irritation subsided once I actually saw him in the movie. Ben is actually my favorite on screen iteration of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Also, last year I saw Robert Pattinson in the movie Tenet and he was pretty good in that. What do you guys think? Do you think Robert will make a good Batman? I guess I will find out next week.

Also, in regards to the Dark Knight, I was thinking about his overall popularity. I have a friend who is not too keen on the Batman. He especially does not care for the fact that most of the current DC Comics library is Batman or Batman related. While I agree to a certain extent that DC comics focuses a little too much on that one character, I tend to think that there is a reason why there is so much Bat material. It is obvious that, from DC’s perspective, Batman sells and so that is where they are going to focus their efforts in order to make money. My thoughts, however, are more on why is he so popularity. Why is he more popular than Superman, or Wonder Woman, or Green Lantern, or The Flash? I think it is because people can relate to him more. Batman doesn’t have super strength or super speed or magical/alien weapons to help him fight crime. Aside from his abundant wealth and intense training, Bruce Wayne is by most accounts just a regular guy. I think people like Batman because he is more on our level than a super hero such as Superman or Wonder Woman. Anyway, that’s just my opinion. What do you think?

What’s the Furthest Place From Here is a new Image Comics series by Matthew Rosenberg. It is set in a post-apocalyptic environment where, so far as I have seen, there are no adults present in the world. I have only read the first issue so I don’t know everything that is going on but the first issue was interesting enough for me to want to continue reading it.

Speaking of comics, let me rant a little bit about Comixology. I am not sure if I have mentioned this but I am a reader of digital comics. While I still collect hard copies of graphic novels and trade paperbacks and such, as far as regular series, I typically only purchase and buy digital copies. Mostly because I am trying to scale back on physical stuff that I own. I can say the same for video games as I have gone completely digital in that respect as well. Anyway, on to my rant about Comixology. Comixology is how I buy and read my comic books. Until recently, I bought them and kept track of them on their website and read the comic books themselves on my iPad. However, Amazon, the company that owns Comixology, decided that they did not want to support another website and merged the Comixology website into their own Amazon website. I don’t know all of the details about why they did this so I’m only telling part of the story here of course. However, the change kind of sucks. The interface on the Amazon website is not a good experience. It is nowhere near as user friendly as the original Comixology website. I have heard from others that the things that I did with the website, specifically purchasing books and subscribing to series, they just do on their tablet. However, as it turns out, because I read on an iPad, I do not have that option because the folks at Apple have not allowed that function in their iOS software. So now I’ve got a few options. One, quit Comixology altogether and just purchase my comic books from the Marvel and DC specific applications. This is not likely to happen because I read some independent stuff too that is not available on any sort of app. Two, get rid of my iPad and purchase an Android tablet. That will be a little weird for me because I’ve gotten so used to the Apple interface since I have not only an iPad, but also an iPhone and an iMac desktop computer. Jury is still out on this decision. The third option, however, is the least expensive and probably the most efficient in the long run. That would be to just figure out how to use the Amazon website to buy my comics. Anyway, first world problems, eh folks?

This week’s track of the week comes from Worcester UK-based band Fights and Fires. The song is called “I Want Napalm Death Played at My Funeral.” Fights and Fires is a band that started up in 2008. They also just recently released a new EP earlier this month called Future Plans and The Things That Ruin Them. This song, however, comes from a 2019 single called Kebaptism. I think the title of this song is hilarious but it’s still a really great song. Check it out here: