Can Danny! - 11/10 - 10 Games In

Back in the day, I had a blog Can Danny! saying that the Celtics needed to fire Danny Ainge, which obviously turned out to be silly but, hey, I was annoyed that Danny traded my guy Antoine Walker for Wally Szczerbiak. But since everything is a cycle, we’re back with the Can Danny! sentiment as his reign over the Utah Jazz has been pretty abysmal. I’m not going to bring back to full Can Danny blog but I will use it as a category for the overall blog for when I want to talk hoops.

Here are some quick thoughts about the start of the 2026-27 season.

EAST

About 10 games in and the East might be worse than ever. Only 5 teams are over .500. Yes, there have been a lot of injuries but the Timberwolves lost Anthony Edwards and they are still 8 - 3.

SIXERS ARE THE EAST’S TEAM TO BEAT
I was surprised that so many “experts” were down on Philly to start the season. It’s not a perfect group, in terms of fit, but I feel like everybody can put their ego aside for at least a year. The fast start is just what Philly needed as they can eventually start load managing Embiid and LeBron (and probably Jaylen as well.)

BOSTON STILL CHOKES AWAY LEADS
Paul George has been much better than expected which is going to make his inevitable injury all the more upsetting. Payton Pritchard and Huge Gonzalez have been disappointing. But the Celtics still are a team that can’t put away their opponent. Now 20 point comebacks are not as rare as they used to be - I still maintain that few things in sports are less important than the first half of an NBA game - but it’s disconcerting to see that the Celtics haven’t seemed to have done anything to fix their issues. What I’d love to see is for them to turn off the three-for-all offense when they are up 20 and focus on getting the ball to the paint. It seems like a lot of their blown leads stem from going cold from 3 and they just keep chucking.

DETROIT IS STILL FUGAZI
I just don’t buy this team as a true contender. Jalen Duren is a third star, at best. Ausar Thompson is a beast on defense but he and Duren mean that you now have two guys with limited perimeter shooting. I used to ride for John Collins but those days are LONG gone as he just isn’t dependable, which is saying a lot when the guy he is replacing is Tobias Harris. This team needs to make a trade for a true second star to help out Cade.

PEAK HAWKS
The problem for Atlanta is that, historically, the Hawks’ peak is a team that is probably out in the second round but maybe, if everything goes right, could land in the Conference Finals but with little hope of winning. Everything about this team is good not great.

KNICKS ARE FINE
People forget that the Knicks were the #3 seed last year. This slow start isn’t ideal but I don’t see it as a huge cause for concern. It’s hard to get excited for the regular season after you’ve won it all.

AS GOES KAWHI…
Kawhi and Scottie Barnes have been banged up so it’s hard to get a gauge on this Raptors squad just yet. But, then again, Kawhi being banged up could be the norm. This is yet another team in the East that is a trade away from truly contending.

HAVES AND THE CAVS NOT
The Cavs are surprisingly 5 - 6 but they really only have one bad loss - Charlotte - and the other game they probably could have won, against ATL, was a three point loss on the road. And they have a good win against Philly. But I’m still skeptical of this squad, mostly because I don’t have faith in James Harden. And, to be completely open, I have zero interest in watching this team play. At best, they will be in my third multiview box.

THE HEAT IS OFF
I never liked the Bam and Giannis duo and it’s proving to have a lot not to like. Relying on Andrew Wiggins has never been a safe bet. Klay is less washed than I thought but he’s still washed. Davion Mitchell has stepped up his game, at least. It’s hard to see a path where this team is hosting a first round playoff series.

HOR-NOTS!
Kon Knueppel has been hurt so it’s hard to judge Charlotte. I still think the LaMelo Ball trade was the right move but, to be honest, I’m not sold on Brandon Miller either so why not just keep the entertaining engine that was LaMelo? This is a team stuck in NBA Purgatory - good enough to challenge for the play-in but not really good enough to make any noise in the playoffs. And I’m not sure how they go about getting someone at LaMelo Ball’s level to replace what they lost. They need to hope that the new lottery rules end up with Play-In teams winning the lotto. (I think they are eligible; I can’t remember what the heck the changes were.) Their upside seems like Peak Hawks, which for the Charlotte franchise would be sensational but it’s hard to get too fired up about that.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Washington LOVES overpaying point guards and Trae Young seems like he’s going to be in the Gilbert Areans/John Wall group of albatross contracts. I’m a fan of Kyshawn George and think Tre Johnson has better days ahead of him and AJ Dybantsa looks like a two-way future star but this roster is just all over the place. Anthony Davis is the team’s MVP right now but Washington should still look to trade him as soon as they get a legit offer. I’d say. this team needs to make a trade but trading rarely goes well for this franchise.

ORLANDO MAGIC
I’m regretting my Over bet on these guys. Paolo is hurt and Freaky Franz Wagner is proving that he isn’t a lead dog. Some day this team will trade for an actual point guard, right? They should already be on the phone with New Orleans, trying to land Dejounte Murray.

INDIANA PACERS
Tyrese Haliburton is hurt again and that’s really all that needs to be said about Indiana.

BROOKLYN NETS
Will this franchise ever be good? Even their high point - the KD/Kyrie Era - was best known for controversy than winning.

CHICAGO BULLS
When your highest paid players are Josh Giddey, Nic Claxton, Norm Powell, and Patrick Wiliams, 1 - 8 should be expected. At least Caleb Wilson is fun! Although I have to say that I’m off the Matas Buzelis bandwagon; I’d look to trade him as I want nothing to do with his next contract.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS
Brayon Burries is good and Nate Ament looks like an NBA player. This team won’t lead the league in anything besides trade rumors.

WEST

LA LAKERS
Maybe Walker Kessler was worth that trade package. Probably not but he’s been good in LA and The White Shadows Luke and Austin Reaves are on fire. I don’t trust this team in the playoffs but things are looking good in LaLa Land.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS
They really need Tobias Harris to come back to give them a legitimate power forward but, given OKC’s injuries, I still think this is the team to beat in the West.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Third place without Ant-Man is amazing although they have had one of the easiest schedules of late, playing the Bucks, Jazz, Pels, and Clipers. Still, Ayo Dosunmu - best known as the villain in the first Dr. Strange movie - has been unreal but that’s probably to be expected from anyone the Bulls trade away. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the Rudy Gobert trade (Minny still owes two picks and the big names Utah got from it were Walker Kessler and Keyonte George) but I’d probaly look to move him if I was Minny.

HOUSTON ROCKETS
Fred VanVleet MVP? Orlando should look at how well Houston is playing this year and figure out that having a competent PG really does make a difference.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
THE YAXEL ERA HAS BEGUN! I do wonder how things will shake out once Jimmy Butler comes back but this team is much better than I expected and they have Porzingis’s contract to use to try to deal for someone who could help them out. Steph Curry is one of the most entertaining players of all-time so it would be nice to see him go out on top but they’d need to make a whopper of a trade for that to happen. This team is better but still clearly a notch below the real contender in the West.

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Hopefully people will start appreciating how good Shai is. The foul merchant narrative has really drowned out the fact that he is completely nasty. I feel for Jalen Williams and I kind of doubt he’ll ever be the same - this is probably Gordon Hayward PTSD - and he could be the contract that holds OKC from getting back to where they once were.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
So apparently Ty Jerome was legit after all. Always good to see a journeyman break out. Cam Boozer is the real deal but I fear that Cedric Coward is one of those guys who just never figured out how to next the next step. He’s good but he’s a fourth or fifth starter who might not ever reach third star status.

PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS
It’s great to see Damian Lillard back and he’s been much better than I expected. Deni Avdija is still great but the rest of this lineup just doesn’t have that next gear. Scoot isn’t a complete washout but he’s still a bust based off of his draft hype. Donovan Clingan is good but not great. Poor Ja Morant can’t stay healthy and the fit with Dame is odd. Portland will probably be another team that has a better record without Ja. I’d say that this team should make trades but I’m not sure what they can even get. Anthony Davis?

DALLAS MAVERICKS
There’s talk of how they should have taken Yaxel over Morez Johnson but I’m not sure Yaxel is doing as well alongside Cooper and Kyrie while Morez feels like a better fit. I am biased because I caught the best game of his career but I like him in Dallas. It’s always tough to break up a winning team but if they get a good offer for Kyrie, they should pull the trigger. Irving has been great but Cooper is the future and Irving just isn’t on the same timeline.

DENVER NUGGETS
It’s a bummer to see Nikola Jokic stuck on a team that is a player away but that seems to be what we’re going to have for the rest of his career unless he changes gears and demands a trade from Denver. Jamal Murray is great but they need a third star and I’m not sure they have a way to get one. Trevon Brazile has been a pleasant surprise but I’m not sure if his play speaks more to how good he is or how lackluster Cameron Johnson and Christian Braun are.

PHOENIX SUNS
I’m hoping they’d bottom out and finally move Devin Booker and start over but with the new lottery rules being what they are and this year’s draft being devoid of superstars, it kind of makes sense for them to just keep trying to win. They won’t succeed much but this franchise is just stuck in the mud.

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
For the love of god, BREAK THIS TEAM UP! Zion Williamson is tough to watch; his brand of bullyball is just ugly. Trey Murphy is struggling a bit this year but could absolutely help a team in need of a third star. Herb Jones has kind of disappeared. Dejoutnte Murray doesn’t seem fully engaged as Jeremiah Fears has become the main ballhandler. Derik Queen seems like someone to sell high on. Saddiq Bey just seems like the epitome of a good player on a bad team. Karlo Matkovich could help out a playoff team. Jordan Poole is just collecting checks at this point. Bennedict Mathurn should fire his agent for having him sign here. This team sucks and he still can’t get consistent minutes on it. I liked the Jamahl Mosley hiring but it is not going well.

LA CLIPPERS
This team is fucked. They should trade Garland and BI for anything and try to get back some first round picks or young talent. I have no ill will towards Kawhi but him signing and kind of forcing the PG13 trade is the worst move by any franchise since the owner of the Boston Celtics traded franchises with the owner of the Buffalo Braves. He made the trade because he wanted to move out west and knew he couldn’t move the Celtics. The Buffalo Braves would move and go on to become… the Clippers.

SACRAMENTO KINGS
Another mess of a franchise but what do you expect when your owner takes over the team and his innovation that will change the game is cherry picking aka having one guy stay on the offense end so you can throw the ball down the court for an easy layup. True story. That’s what Vivek thought would change the game. The Kings latest brilliant move was trading a first round pick to OKC to draft Nique Clifford and then two years later, trading Nique Clifford to OKC for two second round picks. Sacramento needs to see if they can get anything for Sabonis and LaVine and fully embrace the Darius Acuff era. I’m not sure how successful Acuff will be but he’s fun to watch.

UTAH JAZZ
And finally, we come to the Can Danny portion. Yes, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen have been hurt but when aren’t they hurt? Keyonte George has blossomed and Darryn Peterson is intriguing but then? Ace Bailey’s improved a bunch on defense but his offense is a huge problem. It’s only been 11 games but he’s shooting 25% from 3. Isiah Collier seems like another good player on a bad team. The rest of the roster is salvage projects. And the Grizzlies are the ones getting screwed because the new draft rules mean that Utah’s pick - which they got in the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade - can’t be Top 5 because Utah’s had a top 5 pick the last three years.

New Things #9* - Drago Centro

Drago Centro was one of my father’s favorite restaurants in LA but he mostly judged restaurants on how much the waiters would put up and play along with his schtick. But I also had fond memories of it and I hadn’t been back since it moved locations so I decided - since I’m starting fresh on my New Thing Challenge and journey through LA - that I’d give it another go.

And, unfortunately, I have to say that this visit made me realize why I hadn’t come back. The new location has kind of a weird feel. It gives hotel bar more than anything. The restaurant was fairly empty but it still took almost an hour for my main dish to come out. The food was fine which is a problem when the meatball was $24.

The pappardelle with pheasant and mushroom was fine but a bit too salty for my taste. $34 dollars is abotu the going rate in LA so that didn’t jump out at me as much as the meatball did (but maybe that’s par for the course to.) In the end, this place doesn’t make The List and feels like a backup to your backup’s backup plan if you happen to be in DTLA and need a bite to eat.

Recxpectations: Wild Horse Nine

“Wild Horse Nine” (New Thing #8) is the latest film from Martin McDonagh and it feels like a new spin on the plotline of “In Bruges” - Two assassins go on the road for a job but one of the killers is tasked with taking out his partner.

EXPECT: A DIALOGUE DRIVEN COMEDY
This isn’t surprising from McDonagh, who has always felt like a playwright at heart, but this film almost could work as a radio play. The first half of the film almost feels like a trifle but then the characters get a bit deeper and the politicizing becomes more pointed and prominent.

EXPECT: THE POLITICS OF HOPELESSNESS
I think reactions of this film will divide when it comes to the politics of the film. The film takes place in the 70’s before the Chilean coup put the vile and violent Pinochet in power so the hopelessness feels justified but I think the film’s mindset is a bit more troubling when you’re dealing with ongoing issues and the dye hasn’t already been cast.
For me, the film felt a bit like a light hearted take on how people get radicalized and the film supports lashing out violently. The film’s politics made it a little harder for me to invest in the characters.

DON’T EXPECT: MUCH PARKER POSEY
Posey does her thing in a role that is more of a plot device than an actual character.

I was entertained by the film but hopefully people look at it as a trifle and don’t get inspired by the politics of the movie.

New Thing #7 - Letterboxed

I’m on Letterboxd!

I’m kind of torn on a site like Letterbox for various reasons.

First, why am I giving away my content for free? Granted, it’s not like anyone comes to this blog and reads it so Letterboxd offers a platform that offers eyeballs that could potentially bring eyeballs to my words but it’s so popular now that it’s not a given that one will get noticed.

My second concern is that it seems like the popular approach is jokey one liners or quick silly reviews. I should give in more but I’m late to this party because I have had no real interest in reading these other reviews and my quick dives into Letterboxd hasn’t really inspired me to delve further into the site. I used to post on a movie message board but cooled on that when I realized that most people don’t really want discussion, they just want to get their opinion out into the world and hope people like it. The people who do engage are, more often than not, trolls and fanatics who get upset at even the slightest slight of their beloved. My goal is to keep up with Letterboxed until my next birthday but I could see myself ending the experiment there.

My third issue with Lettrboxd is that 5 stars is such a hard and ill-defined rating mechanism. I might alter my star meanings but, for now, I’m going with:5 stars - Loved it
4.5 - Go see this!
4 - Recmomended
3.5 - Very Good
3 - Good
2.5 - Fine but forgettable
2 - Skippable
1.5 - Pretty dang bad
1 - Avoid this movie
.5 - Hated It
0 - Not for me / No Rating

The biggest concern is the zero stars - I’m using it as a no rating but I think most people might use it as a rating of I completely hated this movie.

Finally, there’s just the fact that I’m a bit of a downer when it comes to film and I don’t love a lot of films so I’m going to be one of the more negative that I would hope but, at this age, shouldn’t I just accept who I am? I’ve tried to be more positive, go into films with lower expectations, tried to be more open minded about what is “good” but, you know what, I don’t like what I don’t like and that’s that.

Anyway, I’m on Lettrboxd. I’ll let you know how it goes.

TIGS - Chesttop Computing and Giving Up on Days

I started to feel like the world was conspiring against me. I was all gung ho to kick my 50s off with a bang but then I got a cold and once the cold listed, I tweaked my back while cleaning up my apartment. But then I realized that it wasn’t that the world was out to get me, I’m just old.

But we’re back to blogging, at least!

Two TIGS - things I gotta stop - are resting my laptop on my chest and giving up on days.

With my eyesight going - did I mention I was old - and my laziness always winning, I spend a lot of time lying on my couch and to best see my laptop, I plop it right on my chest. I feel like I’m probably burning my lungs out by doing it and I definitely sense something going on. I googled if it was bad for you but why would I trust the computer to tell me that the computer was killing me? This is how SkyNet takes control!

The other bad habit that i have to nix is that i often give up on days. I have plans to get stuff done in the morning and when that doesn’t happen, I just throw my hands up and kind of say “Day ruined” and then half-ass my way through the rest of the day. Especially with working out, I have to just push my workout to later in the day rather than just saying “Welp, I guess it didn’t happen today. Weird. It’s the 23392th day in a row when I didn’t work out.”

Rexpectations: They Will Kill You

One of my pet peeves is when people who clearly don’t like a genre or type of film review the films and seem shocked that they don’t like a movie they expected not to like. Now, I can’t say that I expected to hate They Will Kill You but it become apparent very early on that this is the exact kind of low brow, gore and violence are the draw, type of flick that is just not for me.

The plot of They Will Kill Me is, according to Wikipedia, “the film follows an ex-convict who answers an ad to be a housekeeper at a mysterious New York City high-rise that has seen a number of disappearances over the years.”

EXPECT: A WANNA-B MOVIE
I can’t say that I’m a fan of b-movies but I can at least appreciate that some films are so good that they are bad. What I have a harder time appreciating are films that try intentionally to be bad. I feel like a lot of the “comedy” of this movie revolves around the hokeyness of the effects. And the silliness of the violence. Again, that just does nothing for me so to see that this film cost three times as much as “Ready Or Note” which I think was a far superior movie just makes me think that it is a waste of money.

EXPECT: “BITCH” COMEDY
There are still WAY too many people making movies who think that adding “bitch” to the end of comments is the height of hilarity. To me, it’s just painfully lazy writing. But, again, that’s kind of the point of this movie. But there’s really nothing all that creative about this movie and nothing clever about the humor.

EXPECT: A WASTED CAST
This film has a number of recognizable names and, sadly, not a single one of them chews the scenery. Again, the script is so bad it’s just bad and there’s nothing to really work with.

If you like absurd, splatterhouse horror movies, you may not be let down by this one but I think I can say with some certainty that this isn’t a film that is going to win over any new converts to the genre. And, honestly, I wonder how much the “real” fans of splatterhouse will feel because it could be seen as a bit of a try hard as opposed to a legit entry into the genre. But, again, this film is clearly not for me so if this looks like a film you’d like, don’t let me dissuade you from seeing it.

The Lunch Rotation (October '26)

I’ve decided against counting delivery as a New Thing. One of the main goals of the 500 New Things Challenge is to get me out of the apartment so it doesn’t make sense to count something that I never leave home for. Still, I haven’t been writing and need some content so why not start building my lunch rotation for DTLA. I’ll add to this as time goes on but right now it seems to be:

AMBOY QUALITY MEATS (CHINATOWN)
Amboy is a great burger and fries spot and my favorite burger in the area.

PRIME PIZZA (LITTLE TOKYO)
There’s nothing that stands out to me about Prime Pizza but it’s a good slice and it’s pretty much down the street from me so it’s a quick and easy go to. It also helps that it might be my favorite slice in DTLA.

THE CHOW MEIN GUY (LITTLE TOKYO)
Having grown up on fake Chinese food aka East Coast “Szechuan” Chinese food (RIP CHINA BLOSSOM IN NORTH ANDOVER!), I still haven’t found a Chinese place that I love - Chi Dynasty in Los Feliz is probably my #1 but it’s too far to order from - so my go to has been a food truck that’s on 2nd street in between Central and San Pedro. For around 15 bucks (20 bucks if you add on shrimp), you get enough chow mein for a lunch and then breakfast the next day. I think the spicy option is almost a perfect level of heat for me - you can feel it but it’s not overpowering.

CALIFORNIA CHICKEN CAFE (DTLA)
The bachelor special - you get a full chicken and four pitas with mashed potatoes and you have lunch and leftovers that can cover you most of the next day.

CHICK-FIL-A (DTLA)
Ah, I just can’t quit you, you homophobic chicken, you! It’s a good spicy chicken sandwich!

FTW (GRAND CENTRAL MARKET)
A solid burger joint. I prefer Amboy but GCM is in walking distance of my apartment and it’s a good alternative.

Rexpectations: The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (New Thing #5) is a new film from Noah Segan, who is best known as the guy that Rian Johnson works into all of his films. He was the other detective in Knives Out and the slacker friend randomly staying on Edward Norton’s island in the sequel.

The film is about John Turturro’s pickpocket who robs the wrong person and then has to deal with the consequences. I’d recommend skipping the trailer because it pretty much hits all of the main beats of the film so I feel like it would be better to go in blind.

EXPECT: A THROWBACK MOVIE
This is the kind of movie that people say don’t get made anymore. It is a very straightforward film that drops the audience in the middle of the urban subculture - in this case, aging crooks - and then plays out a fairly straightforward story.

DON’T EXPECT: OFFBEAT CHARACTERS
This is a film littered with people who are pretty much run down by life and at the end of their run. This isn’t one of those NY stories with all of these characters you wouldn’t meet anywhere else.

DON’T EXPECT: IT TO STICK THE LANDING
I always wonder if I should mention the ending or just let people figure this part out on their own but I feel like this one left me with a WTF feeling that I think it’s probably better for people to be ready for so as not to be too let down.

All in all, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York falls into the fine but forgettable bucket.

Rexpectations: Fjord

Recxpectations are my recommended expectations that someone should have when they start to watch a film. New Thing #4 was Fjord, a film about a very religious couple who moved from Romania to Norway and run afoul with the law when it is discovered that they spank their children and bring them up in an ultra-religious manner (no dancing, no modern music, etc.)

EXPECT: A TRUE TO LIFE FILM
I can’t speak to how close to factual this film is - the one negative review took it to task for painting Child Protective Services as a villain - but when I say it is True To Life, I mean that it isn’t overly dramatized or punched up to make it more interesting. This isn’t an Aaron Sorkin script where everyone is capable of delivering memorable monologues and funny quips. Sebastian Stan’s lead character is a stoic Romanian man of few words. Renate Reinsve is the quiet churchgoing wife.

DON’T EXPECT: ANSWERS
This film was inspired by multiple cases of foreigners moving to the very progressive Nordic country and running afoul with the law because of cultural differences. And it doesn’t really take a stance either way. The film doesn’t give equal time to the Child Protective Services side, which I’m sure will annoy a lot of people, but I didn’t find that it went to any extra lengths to portray the family as the victims.

EXPECT: 2.5 HOURS
I almost cancelled my ticket when I saw how long the film is but I stuck with it and am happy I did. I did get a little nervous when I first checked the time and realize that only an hour had passed but I didn’t really feel bored at any point. Story-wise, it’s a very tight film, especially once the main conflict arises.

New Things* #3: Alamo Drafthouse

This one gets an asterisk because for this run at 500 New Things, I wiped the slate clean so everything is new. Alamo isn’t truly new as I’ve been there countless time but for the sake of this challenge, it counts.

I love the film selection at Alamo and the audiences are respectful. Some of the food options have dipped since the company was sold to Sony. I don’t love the new ordering via phone but it’s not as bad as I initially feared. The DTLA Alamo is at The Bloc, which is now up for sale and could become a residential high rise in the near future so I’m nervous that we might not have The Alamo for much longer. With a 14 screen Alamo Hollywood coming in early 2028, I wouldn’t be completely stunned if the DTLA location shut down. Fingers crossed that it stays around but, honestly, the Regal LA Live isn’t terrible and it’s a quick train ride to Pasadena for some of the smaller indie films.

Recxpectations: Clayface

Recxpectations are my recommended expectation that people should have when they go into a movie. My latest trip to the theater was for “Clayface” (New Thing #2), the DC movie about the shapeshifting Batman villain.

EXPECT: A LIVE ACTION DC ANIMATED MOVIE
For years, people have been hyping up DC’s animated slate of films and TV shows. In fact, writer/producer Mike Flanagan said he was inspired by Batman; The Animated Series, I’ve tried to watch these shows and I’ve never been drawn in. They are pretty formulaic and bare bones and just not very interesting to me. “Clayface” seems to follow this approach. This is not a film that swings for the fences. They aren’t trying anything new or innovative here, they are simply giving you a straightforward origin story. And, honestly, given what a mess Sony has made of the Spidey spin-offs, that’s not the worst idea. “Clayface” works. It’s a animated show turned into a body horror movie. I can’t imagine it will be anyone’s favorite superhero-related movie* but, at the same time, I feel like only people expecting the next Dark Knight will hate it. It’s a perfectly fine film.
* I could see people saying it’s one of the best recent superhero films but I think that says more about the recent superhero films than it does Clayface.

DON’T EXPECT; A GREAT FINAL ACT
One thing that “Clayface” couldn’t fix was the superhero movie issue of having lackluster final acts. “Clayface” doesn’t become the usual CG1 fest like most Marvel movies but it’s a fairly forgettable, length action scene that doesn’t the bare minimum with a shapeshifting character. The most memorable section might be a bizarre dance moment that made me wonder if the film was devolving into camp.

EXPECT: MOSTLY FORGETTABLE CASTING
I’m a fan of Naomie Ackie and think she did well. Tom Rhys Harries did a good job with what he had to work with but didn’t really elevate any moments IMO. Beyond them, the characters kind of felt lackluster. David Dencik didn’t have a ton to do as the main baddie but he also added nothing to the character. Max Minghella does not give Gotham Homicide Detective to me and nothing about his performance really changed my mind on that. The henchman are immediately forgettable.

DON’T EXPECT: CAMEOS
I’m sure there are some Easter eggs that I missed since I’m not a comic book reader but this isn’t a film that throws in any cameos from other DC heroes. There also isn’t a post-credit sequence.

EXPECT: DCU NOT THE BATMAN U
While this is a darker film than Superman or Supergirl, this film feels more in line with those films’ DC Universe (where it is intended to take place) than the universe of The Batman movie and Penguin show. Personally, I felt like Lanterns felt more at home in The Batman universe. This almost feels like a standalone film. It doesn’t really introduce us to Gotham that much. As noted, there aren’t any cameos that I noticed that give a nod to the upcoming Batman

New Word Coinage - lAIzy

Laizy - pronounce Lay-EYE-zee - is the word we should use for AI slop that is just painfully lazy and without any quality control at all. A perfect example popped up on Amazon’s NBA broadcast last night. They have a new feature that is in BETA testing - which again, seems to have come to mean there will be no quality control - called Insights, that you’d think could be a cool deep dive of stats or callbacks that have related the game one is watching. The first “insight” for the Warriors/Grizzlies game was:

It was the third day of the season, people! The Grizz and Dubs literally hadn’t even finished two games in the season when this was posted. Making matters worse, there were only five insights for the game so it’s not like it would have been very hard for anyone to fact check these. Instead of fact checking and having one iota of quality control, Amazon Prime just threw a disclaimer on the bottom. WHAT IS THE POINT OF AN INSIGHT IF IT MIGHT BE WRONG?!

AI is an extremely useful tool but it is just maddening how corporations are rushing it out into the world before it is ready.

New Thing #1: Lucky's DTLA

To kick off 500 New Things for my 50th, I decided to try out the new steakhouse in DTLA - Lucky’s. Lucky’s is a bit of a chain with six locations and it was… fine.

I got the New York Strip with peppercorn sauce, which was a bit of a surprise because I ordered the NY Strip w/ Rocquefort which was one of Lucky’s “Special” steaks. The steak was fine. Nothing interesting about it. The peppercorn sauce was equally OK. The mashed potatoes were solid but nothing all that memorable. It’ll be interesting to see how long Lucky’s survives since it’s in a not-so-great area of DTLA. There are a few restaurants in the vicinity but I just don’t know if an semi-upscale steakhouse is really the best option for that area. It really needs to be a destination and, for me, Lucky’s is not that. I might go back to try out the Romanian steak - I overheard a waiter recommending it to the couple next to me - but odds are I probably won’t. Not with 499 new things still needing to be done!

As a reminder, The 500 New Things Challenge is something I do to get my butt out of the house and get me to be active. I need to try 500 new restaurants, shows, events, films, etc. In honor of me turning 50, though, I’m wiping my slate clean so everything is new! This will make the 500 a lot easier to get to but also, with so many places struggling nowadays, it lets me visit my favorite haunts at least once. The thing with LA is that there are so many options that you often can love a place and then never make it back. With the clean slate, there’s an added drive to revisit spots like Amigo Amore, a restaurant I really enjoyed but just never made time for a return trip.

The Launch of Old Man Mendo

Well, I hit 50 years old today so it seems like a good time for a fresh start. I have a lot that I want to do so I need to just admit from the jump that the blog isn’t going to be my top priority but I’m going to try to keep with it this time around. Yes, I’ve tried keeping up with a blog at least once or twice a year for the last three decades but, again, this is a fresh start and rule #1 for Old Man Mendo is stay committed and get things done. No more procrastination.

On the fresh start front, I’m also going to re-relaunch my 500 New Things Challenge but with a clean slate so everything is new! I also want to rework my Menu de Mendo (my favorite dishes in LA) and The Lists (Lists of my favorite spots, events, etc.) The end of 2026 is also going to be a chance to put to bed the scripts I’ve been toying with for the last couple decades so I can start 2027 working on new ideas. I also should just put some projects to bed as I’ll never get to them. Another blog post I want to do.. no, that I’m GOING to do is TIGS - Things I Gotta Stop. My initial TIGS is going to be a habit I broke once but have fallen back into - I Gotta Stop… drinking soda before noon.

Anyway, it’s a new decade of Mendo. Old Man Mendo doesn’t mean that I’m just going to sit around being decrepit - because I pretty much did that in my 40s - but it’ll be about making the most of the home stretch of my life. Maybe not the home stretch per se but the waning years of vitality. I think back to my aunt talking about how she went to Greece recently and she wished that she had gone earlier in her life because there were a bunch of things she couldn’t do because the walks were too hard or it was just too difficult for her to access at her age.