Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I keep hearing about this one!! Top of my list for next year. And one of my life goals is also to be more like George. (Although admittedly I've yet to read Liberation Day. ::gulp::!)
They’re much, much different. Dave is more straight up comedy than Atlanta, especially the later seasons of Atlanta, although Atlanta is funny in its own way.
(Get ready for a bit of a casual messy rant) Yeah, the people that are putting them as the same show kinda kill me. The most interesting comparison was "Dave is a white Atlanta while Atlanta is a black Dave" - It actually made me laugh (I'm black) because there is some truth to that. But yeah, apples and oranges. Atlanta though is mind blowing and the creative risks they took. Some "WOW" moments.
I was actually sad it went off, such a great ending. It also helps I'm the target audience (Black nerd weirdo that can't fit in the black or white world). They also wrote the characters really well and tied up storylines all throughout while leaving a bit to the imagination.
Anyways, I could go on. Something I'm using as inspiration for my creative work. Donald Glover and team did it again. (In that same breath; Dave actually got pretty epic at the end of the 1st and most of the 2nd season. Some strong writing and character growth made things very sticky and "wtf is gonna happen next").
I also personally love Donald Glover and Lil Dicky a lot as rappers and people. Sorry... that was a lot. Needed to nerd out with someone. Feel free to respond with a heart or nothing, haha.
Nerd out man! I love it. While I’m a pretty vanilla white dude, I’m with you on everything you said. Donald Glover is one of my favorite artists, period, of the last 5+ years. The guy just isn’t afraid to try whatever feels right to him at the time.
Exactly. So well put. Sorry I didn't mean to say he was only a "Rapper". He literally can do anything and is the definition of ADHD in the purest most beautiful form. Rap, Sing, Produce, Write, Act, Direct and even DANCE! He should win an EGOT soon (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony - he just needs to do something on Broadway to get that Tony). Only 5 people have done it ever. He's on his way.
Oh and let's not forget to talk about his 2013 album - "Because the internet" which might be a bit before you came on board (I've been fanning out on him since his 2006 Youtube days of Derrick Comedy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcx4_CszaDI&themeRefresh=1)
But yeah Because the internet's world building is actually the prequel to Atlanta. It was so forward thinking it gives me chills. His team put in some serious work on that album. Crazy back stories/themes/sub plots on a hip hop album. Def recommend diving into it with this as a reference for you - It's one of the deepest hip hop album dives you may have ever done - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4eFo8fOZMjGbtVjJKCfg65
Love the Dissect podcast but I haven’t listened to that season yet. The Kendrick Lamar seasons were so good. Definitely need to queue up the Childish Gambino season now. Thanks for the rec!
came here to just +1 all the Atlanta love. some of the shit they do in the first season, when i saw it the first time i was like holy fuuuuck. the ep in jail especially, and the last scene of the season.
oh and the talk show episode with the fake ads. dodge charger - the official car of making a statement without saying anything at all lol
Ha! yeah, s1 was def a wild ride. Black justin bieber, "Eat the sandwich" on the bus, invisible car. Wild ride.
S2 went super hard "robbing season" theme was kinda amazing. Spanish Drake, Teddi Perkins (with a deserved Emmy for that episode, my god what writing), how everyone never really gets what they want. Such great writing.
S3 anthology style was personally my fav. I thought the parallels and afro surrealism went super hard on this season. First episode was so damn chilling. And the thread of the whole "White Earn" and how white people have to pay for the whole slavery thing. The black kid that had to prove his blackness - pure Epicness. Then the last episode with Van/Zazie Beetz - the whole Amelie throwback. Her acting was unreal.
Then obviously S4 - strong pop tv storywriting.
Again I could go on and on. Love the nerding out. Def will be rewatching this series slowly and taking notes (for my own writing chops) and reading all the fan theories on reddit/Youtube while I go. Haha.
If this was on brand I'd be posting this type of content for my brand (alas I'm a running brand and this is not on brand!)
Way off topic but since you brought music up I was sad to see that P4-5 didn't make Loudwires top 50 Nu Metal albums of all time as of recent. Burning the process could have easily taken any place of some of the mentions. Only the big impact bands of the era made the cut with multiple albums on the list. You guys and Snot should have at least had honorable mention at the very least. Big fan of your music bro! I'm going to the Sick New World concert in Las Vegas this May to revisit the old days, and rock out to some of the best bands of my favorite genre. Wish you guys still were a unit to do a one off show there. Anyways, sorry for the off topic comment, I hope you are well and wish you a blessed new year!
That would’ve been cool to be featured on a list like that! We definitely had a tough time sticking out since our single hit radio only a couple of days before 9/11 and the album release wasn’t pushed back either. I’d love to play another show, but we’re all so spread out around California these days that it would be logistically tough to pull off. Not to mention, I don’t remember how to play a lot of our songs! 😬
I know!! You guys were at the right place at the wrong time unfortunately. I'm really glad to see the success of you and your fellow band mates after P4-5 though. It's hard to recover from doing what you did best in life (at least what you thought at the time) and thought it was a 'forever thing'. When one door closes another one opens so they say. I would love to step in for vocals for some of these bands that disbanded during that era that would need a new singer to move forward (it's a pipe dream I know lol). I used to record my own music, I played all of the instruments and vocals inspired by Faith No More, AIC, Soundgarden, Fishbone etc. Recorded my own demo the way I wanted it to sound but I just couldn't find the right band mates to replicate the sound or people who understood my style. So I had my fare share of disappointments in regards to my own music endeavors. I'm not ready to let go of my aspirations though. I still sing and play guitar but no longer record music.
I hear you. You would need to get all the guys together, practice and hope that the magic is still there. Not easy to just jump up and say "YES! We got this, let's do this!!" after years have gone by and the interest is lost. Heck, System of a Down is doing a one off show at the Sick New World festival but then again they have been tight for years and would seem like a cake walk to just walk on the stage with minimal practice. Sorry for the rant but, I have been reading your posts for a while and never commented. I really appreciate you sharing your life journey with others. Very inspirational!!
I've definitely come to appreciate my time in the band more and more as time has passed. While we didn't exactly "make it" like we'd hoped we would, we certainly got much, much father than most groups do. It's so hard to find the perfect combination of right people, right place, right time, right sound, etc. I think it gets even harder as we get older too.
Welcome Lyle! You guys (P4-5) still have a big fan base and left and impact on myself and others. I'm 40 now so I know about that growing pain in life. I'm not so fresh faced and not ready for the band promo shoot after my debut release type of thing lol. I don't know if I could handle even a fraction of success you guys had. You are very proud of all the steps and sacrifices you had to make to get to where you wanted to be at that moment, it shows and for that I'm thankful for what it was and still able to enjoy your music till this very day!
My top were definitely Wordcraft and Storycraft by Jack Hart. Super practical, instantly applicable books on becoming a better writer. Not dry, either—Hart has a subtle sense of humor.
Also: "When I first started compiling this list, I felt guilty about all my time spent unproductively. But then I remembered that they’re all influences on my own creative work."
^ This reminded me of something you said at the retreat: learning is an essential part of being a knowledge worker. I'd take that another step and say that growing in your creative work through the influences of others is an essential part of being a writer. ✍🏻
duuuuuuude omg ok first off thank you for the much too kind words about my essay I appreciate them especially coming from a man of your talent wit and all around good vibe.
also, your tv shows are my tv shows. save for mad men which i have not seen, every show on your list is a top show of mine from this past year. One of the throughlines in those shows is hiro murai - the director of most atlanta episodes and barry episodes. he's so fucking good. the visual magic of those shows (like the overhead shots of cars just sorta driving around) is largely his, i think. also i was just looking back thru his music videos and forgot that he made this one - https://vimeo.com/103728987 - which is both a dope song and amazing music video.
ok now for the main course - everything everywhere all at once. i fucking love this movie. just rewatched w lauren's family and forgot how good it all was. one real fun thing i learned was about this part of one of waymond's speeches -- 'Your clothes never wear as well the next day, your hair never falls quite the same way.' I was like this is so familiar, and its cuz its from a one hit wonder song lol - this is a story of a girl, who cried a river and drowned the whole world. Here's the full story - https://mashable.com/article/daniels-story-of-a-girl-everything-everywhere-all-at-once
which i feel like perfectly encapsulates the daniels as human beings., i love them and have been obsessed w their shit for a while and am so happy that they're like truly blowing up now w this movie. A couple recs of theirs that you may not have seen yet -
https://video.eko.com/v/possibilia - this is an interactive short about a couple breaking up that i feel like lays a lot of the groundwork for how they deal w multiverses in EEAAO
https://vimeo.com/98653191 - this is my fav music video of theirs. its such a great idea and so well executed. fuck man, they're just so creative it is genuinely very rare i feel like. they're most well known for the 'turn down for what' song cuz that shit was viral and so was the video (fun fact, the main dude dancing in that video is daniel kwan, one of the two daniels lol -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMUDVMiITOU
anyways, i could write a 30 page essay on them but i'll spare us both
also i'm watching atlanta s2 right now and holy mother of paper boi that shit is good.
Thanks, Mom. Love you too. We enjoyed our stay with you. I’m guessing you got autocorrected with the word libations in your comment since we don’t really drink alcohol lol
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. I keep hearing about this one!! Top of my list for next year. And one of my life goals is also to be more like George. (Although admittedly I've yet to read Liberation Day. ::gulp::!)
I think you’ll love both books!
Thanks for the kind words, Lyle. And more than that thanks for all of the great writing you have put out this year.
(Also I will be stealing this format for an end of year wrap up in 2023. Loved it)
Would love to see your list!
Awesome list - esp the Atlanta-Dave tv show recs.
do you think they are similar?
They’re much, much different. Dave is more straight up comedy than Atlanta, especially the later seasons of Atlanta, although Atlanta is funny in its own way.
(Get ready for a bit of a casual messy rant) Yeah, the people that are putting them as the same show kinda kill me. The most interesting comparison was "Dave is a white Atlanta while Atlanta is a black Dave" - It actually made me laugh (I'm black) because there is some truth to that. But yeah, apples and oranges. Atlanta though is mind blowing and the creative risks they took. Some "WOW" moments.
I was actually sad it went off, such a great ending. It also helps I'm the target audience (Black nerd weirdo that can't fit in the black or white world). They also wrote the characters really well and tied up storylines all throughout while leaving a bit to the imagination.
Anyways, I could go on. Something I'm using as inspiration for my creative work. Donald Glover and team did it again. (In that same breath; Dave actually got pretty epic at the end of the 1st and most of the 2nd season. Some strong writing and character growth made things very sticky and "wtf is gonna happen next").
I also personally love Donald Glover and Lil Dicky a lot as rappers and people. Sorry... that was a lot. Needed to nerd out with someone. Feel free to respond with a heart or nothing, haha.
Nerd out man! I love it. While I’m a pretty vanilla white dude, I’m with you on everything you said. Donald Glover is one of my favorite artists, period, of the last 5+ years. The guy just isn’t afraid to try whatever feels right to him at the time.
Exactly. So well put. Sorry I didn't mean to say he was only a "Rapper". He literally can do anything and is the definition of ADHD in the purest most beautiful form. Rap, Sing, Produce, Write, Act, Direct and even DANCE! He should win an EGOT soon (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony - he just needs to do something on Broadway to get that Tony). Only 5 people have done it ever. He's on his way.
Oh and let's not forget to talk about his 2013 album - "Because the internet" which might be a bit before you came on board (I've been fanning out on him since his 2006 Youtube days of Derrick Comedy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcx4_CszaDI&themeRefresh=1)
But yeah Because the internet's world building is actually the prequel to Atlanta. It was so forward thinking it gives me chills. His team put in some serious work on that album. Crazy back stories/themes/sub plots on a hip hop album. Def recommend diving into it with this as a reference for you - It's one of the deepest hip hop album dives you may have ever done - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4eFo8fOZMjGbtVjJKCfg65
Love the Dissect podcast but I haven’t listened to that season yet. The Kendrick Lamar seasons were so good. Definitely need to queue up the Childish Gambino season now. Thanks for the rec!
came here to just +1 all the Atlanta love. some of the shit they do in the first season, when i saw it the first time i was like holy fuuuuck. the ep in jail especially, and the last scene of the season.
oh and the talk show episode with the fake ads. dodge charger - the official car of making a statement without saying anything at all lol
Ha! yeah, s1 was def a wild ride. Black justin bieber, "Eat the sandwich" on the bus, invisible car. Wild ride.
S2 went super hard "robbing season" theme was kinda amazing. Spanish Drake, Teddi Perkins (with a deserved Emmy for that episode, my god what writing), how everyone never really gets what they want. Such great writing.
S3 anthology style was personally my fav. I thought the parallels and afro surrealism went super hard on this season. First episode was so damn chilling. And the thread of the whole "White Earn" and how white people have to pay for the whole slavery thing. The black kid that had to prove his blackness - pure Epicness. Then the last episode with Van/Zazie Beetz - the whole Amelie throwback. Her acting was unreal.
Then obviously S4 - strong pop tv storywriting.
Again I could go on and on. Love the nerding out. Def will be rewatching this series slowly and taking notes (for my own writing chops) and reading all the fan theories on reddit/Youtube while I go. Haha.
If this was on brand I'd be posting this type of content for my brand (alas I'm a running brand and this is not on brand!)
Thanks for the chat.
Wow, you really kept track of stuff.
I am viewing Mad Men for the first time, my wife's rewatch. Is definitely living up to its hype.
It’s one of those shows I wish I could go back and watch for the first time again.
Way off topic but since you brought music up I was sad to see that P4-5 didn't make Loudwires top 50 Nu Metal albums of all time as of recent. Burning the process could have easily taken any place of some of the mentions. Only the big impact bands of the era made the cut with multiple albums on the list. You guys and Snot should have at least had honorable mention at the very least. Big fan of your music bro! I'm going to the Sick New World concert in Las Vegas this May to revisit the old days, and rock out to some of the best bands of my favorite genre. Wish you guys still were a unit to do a one off show there. Anyways, sorry for the off topic comment, I hope you are well and wish you a blessed new year!
That would’ve been cool to be featured on a list like that! We definitely had a tough time sticking out since our single hit radio only a couple of days before 9/11 and the album release wasn’t pushed back either. I’d love to play another show, but we’re all so spread out around California these days that it would be logistically tough to pull off. Not to mention, I don’t remember how to play a lot of our songs! 😬
I know!! You guys were at the right place at the wrong time unfortunately. I'm really glad to see the success of you and your fellow band mates after P4-5 though. It's hard to recover from doing what you did best in life (at least what you thought at the time) and thought it was a 'forever thing'. When one door closes another one opens so they say. I would love to step in for vocals for some of these bands that disbanded during that era that would need a new singer to move forward (it's a pipe dream I know lol). I used to record my own music, I played all of the instruments and vocals inspired by Faith No More, AIC, Soundgarden, Fishbone etc. Recorded my own demo the way I wanted it to sound but I just couldn't find the right band mates to replicate the sound or people who understood my style. So I had my fare share of disappointments in regards to my own music endeavors. I'm not ready to let go of my aspirations though. I still sing and play guitar but no longer record music.
I hear you. You would need to get all the guys together, practice and hope that the magic is still there. Not easy to just jump up and say "YES! We got this, let's do this!!" after years have gone by and the interest is lost. Heck, System of a Down is doing a one off show at the Sick New World festival but then again they have been tight for years and would seem like a cake walk to just walk on the stage with minimal practice. Sorry for the rant but, I have been reading your posts for a while and never commented. I really appreciate you sharing your life journey with others. Very inspirational!!
Thanks so much for commenting, Steven!
I've definitely come to appreciate my time in the band more and more as time has passed. While we didn't exactly "make it" like we'd hoped we would, we certainly got much, much father than most groups do. It's so hard to find the perfect combination of right people, right place, right time, right sound, etc. I think it gets even harder as we get older too.
Welcome Lyle! You guys (P4-5) still have a big fan base and left and impact on myself and others. I'm 40 now so I know about that growing pain in life. I'm not so fresh faced and not ready for the band promo shoot after my debut release type of thing lol. I don't know if I could handle even a fraction of success you guys had. You are very proud of all the steps and sacrifices you had to make to get to where you wanted to be at that moment, it shows and for that I'm thankful for what it was and still able to enjoy your music till this very day!
My top were definitely Wordcraft and Storycraft by Jack Hart. Super practical, instantly applicable books on becoming a better writer. Not dry, either—Hart has a subtle sense of humor.
Also: "When I first started compiling this list, I felt guilty about all my time spent unproductively. But then I remembered that they’re all influences on my own creative work."
^ This reminded me of something you said at the retreat: learning is an essential part of being a knowledge worker. I'd take that another step and say that growing in your creative work through the influences of others is an essential part of being a writer. ✍🏻
Great point!
duuuuuuude omg ok first off thank you for the much too kind words about my essay I appreciate them especially coming from a man of your talent wit and all around good vibe.
also, your tv shows are my tv shows. save for mad men which i have not seen, every show on your list is a top show of mine from this past year. One of the throughlines in those shows is hiro murai - the director of most atlanta episodes and barry episodes. he's so fucking good. the visual magic of those shows (like the overhead shots of cars just sorta driving around) is largely his, i think. also i was just looking back thru his music videos and forgot that he made this one - https://vimeo.com/103728987 - which is both a dope song and amazing music video.
ok now for the main course - everything everywhere all at once. i fucking love this movie. just rewatched w lauren's family and forgot how good it all was. one real fun thing i learned was about this part of one of waymond's speeches -- 'Your clothes never wear as well the next day, your hair never falls quite the same way.' I was like this is so familiar, and its cuz its from a one hit wonder song lol - this is a story of a girl, who cried a river and drowned the whole world. Here's the full story - https://mashable.com/article/daniels-story-of-a-girl-everything-everywhere-all-at-once
which i feel like perfectly encapsulates the daniels as human beings., i love them and have been obsessed w their shit for a while and am so happy that they're like truly blowing up now w this movie. A couple recs of theirs that you may not have seen yet -
https://video.eko.com/v/possibilia - this is an interactive short about a couple breaking up that i feel like lays a lot of the groundwork for how they deal w multiverses in EEAAO
https://vimeo.com/98653191 - this is my fav music video of theirs. its such a great idea and so well executed. fuck man, they're just so creative it is genuinely very rare i feel like. they're most well known for the 'turn down for what' song cuz that shit was viral and so was the video (fun fact, the main dude dancing in that video is daniel kwan, one of the two daniels lol -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMUDVMiITOU
anyways, i could write a 30 page essay on them but i'll spare us both
also i'm watching atlanta s2 right now and holy mother of paper boi that shit is good.
I would read that 30 page essay. I’m also obsessed with them. But I haven’t seen the links you sent so thank you!
I think you’re right about Hiro Murai. I see his name all over the place on stuff I love, yet I know next to nothing about him lol
Atlanta gets so much weirder in the later seasons, but still so damn good.
Good post & happy new year! And I agree, the road to Vegas needs a third lane, or high speed rail.
Seriously!
Doing that drive next week and I’ll be cursing the whole way.
The perfume guy! I’ve been trying to remember his account name after stumbling upon it about a year ago.
Lyle, thank you, Allison and Em for making the trek out here and back ❤️. Amazing all those libations! I’m very proud of you! Love, Mom
Thanks, Mom. Love you too. We enjoyed our stay with you. I’m guessing you got autocorrected with the word libations in your comment since we don’t really drink alcohol lol