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Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis

02-02-2025 , 07:21 PM
I've been watching the Cobra Kai TV series lately, and liking it a lot. It's a sympathetic treatment of Johnny, the heel from the original Karate Kid movie, played by William Zabka, the same actor from the movie, now middle aged.



Johnny is still a douchebag, which is great, but he earns himself a redemption arc over the course of the series. And the the show brought back Ralph Macchio, the original Karate Kid, as Johnny's nemesis and frenemy, along with a bunch of other faces and heels from the movie and its sequels.

I say faces and heels because there's a sort of 80's WrestleMania vibe to the show. Alliances and rivalries are loudly broken and renewed in every episode in fits of alternating misunderstandings and bursts of empathy.

I was going to use the word cheesy to describe the show's twists and turns, but on further thought I believe the older term corny is closer. The show wears its heart on its sleeve as it explores family dynamics and fatherhood and loyalty and honor and standing up for oneself, and it's all very 80's in style, though the setting is in the present day. And, of course, there's at least one karate Royal Rumble per episode, and the plot is sometimes twisted into a pretzel in order to get to the fights, but that's a big part of the fun.

Every episode ends in a new and shocking twist, or revelation, or character turn, all accompanied with the most dramatic of musical stings, and I find myself laughing out loud at the end of every show. But it's not a sneer of derision from me as much as it is a chortle of appreciation.

Last edited by suitedjustice; 02-02-2025 at 07:31 PM.
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02-02-2025 , 08:06 PM
I have no intention of watching that kind of TV show, but that was an amusing review. Speaking of reviews... Any chance you're going to continue with that Rolling Stone album list anytime soon?
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02-02-2025 , 08:57 PM
I like how a few 80s inspired shows a la Stranger Things, Cobra Kai and, to a lesser degree, Jean-Claude Van Johnson, are using the explicitly 80s weaknesses/kitch levels in an loving and fashionably embracing hindsight reminiscences
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02-03-2025 , 10:36 AM
I liked the first season that focused more on Johnny Lawerence and his self redemption.

The show eventually ends up being a teenage soap opera type show. I made it into the 5th season but not sure I finished it and haven’t bothered to watch the 6th season. I guess should wrap it up but no real rush.
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02-03-2025 , 11:56 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dubnjoy000
I like how a few 80s inspired shows a la Stranger Things, Cobra Kai and, to a lesser degree, Jean-Claude Van Johnson, are using the explicitly 80s weaknesses/kitch levels in an loving and fashionably embracing hindsight reminiscences
80s nostalgia is better than the real thing. People forget that we were living back then in an era of nuclear brinksmanship, and many of us assumed that it would always be that way, until the day that they finally launched the ICBMs and put paid to our civilization. Any thoughts that our monolithic boogeyman the Soviet Union would collapse seemed absurd at the time.

And if the bombs didn't get us, some power plant disaster would. After 3 Mile Island's nuclear reactor came within 30 minutes of a full meltdown, we had Chernobyl, which if not for the often fatal heroics of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians, would have suffered an apocalyptic second explosion that would have blighted the air, water and soil of a huge swath of Europe, rendering it uninhabitable for 100,000 years.

I remember working construction for my uncle just outside of one of the Millstone nuclear plants in Connecticut, and almost shitting myself in terror when the plant's lunch bell went off. The "bell" sounded exactly like the nuclear alarm klaxons that went off in the movie The Day After, after the missiles launched. Who the hell thought that sound was a good idea for lunch?

As far of the rest of the 80s went: picture me in a light pink Brooks Brothers dress shirt and acid washed jeans, my feathered hair parted in the middle, sustaining permanent hearing loss and tinnitus from a Stryper concert, because my girlfriend wanted to go and scream at Michael Sweet at the top of her lungs the whole time.

Good times.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Da_Nit
I liked the first season that focused more on Johnny Lawerence and his self redemption.

The show eventually ends up being a teenage soap opera type show. I made it into the 5th season but not sure I finished it and haven’t bothered to watch the 6th season. I guess should wrap it up but no real rush.
I'm halfway through the 5th season now, and what I like about this season is watching Daniel the goody two-shoes having his character defects called out. These defects were present in the movies, but never addressed until now, 30 years later.

And yes, it's getting more soap opera-ish, but it's still fun to me, and they're ending the series with this upcoming batch of season 6, so I'll finish it, having made it this far.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheep86
I have no intention of watching that kind of TV show, but that was an amusing review. Speaking of reviews... Any chance you're going to continue with that Rolling Stone album list anytime soon?
Thanks for the reminder, Sheep. I will give it a shot.
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02-08-2025 , 05:44 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by suitedjustice
Hi BullyEyelash! Great job yourself on the 6 months! Thank you for reading so much of this blog; post as much as you want.

Are you going to meetings or going solo? I've been toying with the idea of meetings, but I'm living in a small town where people know your business, so I'd have to drive a fair distance if I wanted to avoid that and <several other tepid excuses redacted>.

I like your observation on Dr. Sleep. Thinking back, it does seem that King fell in love with the villains, and it might be due to those villains being flashy and exciting, versus recovery often being boring and uneventful for long stretches.

That's the idea of recovery, really: no more of the excitement that will kill you and put your friends and loved ones through hell. The length and boredom are parts that people don't see much of in the movie-of-the-week recovery montages.

I added Lawrence Block to my list. I sold books for a living from 1994 to 2006, when I wasn't counting cards, and Block was always a solid seller, but I never checked him out.
Hi SJ, hope all is well. Ten months sober now, and I have about $9K more in the bank than I did a year ago, and I have not NOT been spending money either.

I am going solo. I have received extraordinary positive feedback from family & friends ntm the financial boom. Went to some meetings long ago, not for me, though I have done at least 90% of the steps.

I have been rebuying all my old long gone horror short story collections that have Stephen King’s original versions in them. I finally after twenty years ordered this gem on Thursday. I bet at least 99.99% of King fans don’t know it exists and you can’t find it by using anything like “The Monkey original version”.

Have read any Block yet? Take care.

Last edited by BullyEyelash; 02-08-2025 at 05:52 AM.
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02-08-2025 , 05:54 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BullyEyelash
I have been rebuying all my old long gone horror short story collections that have Stephen King’s original versions in them. I finally after twenty years ordered this gem on Thursday. I bet at least 99.99% of King fans don’t know it exists and you can’t find it by using anything like “The Monkey original version”.
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02-08-2025 , 06:15 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by suitedjustice
Agreed. The plot is there to prompt a bit of action and character development in between songs, and not much else.

Is it that the principle behind the lightness of opera and musical plots is to avoid getting the audience too invested in the story details, as that might make the songs seem like annoying interruptions? Just a guess on my part.
Cabaret certainly had a plot.
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02-08-2025 , 06:57 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BullyEyelash
Just found the original lol, easy peasy.

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02-08-2025 , 08:08 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BullyEyelash
Hi SJ, hope all is well. Ten months sober now, and I have about $9K more in the bank than I did a year ago, and I have not NOT been spending money either.

I am going solo. I have received extraordinary positive feedback from family & friends ntm the financial boom. Went to some meetings long ago, not for me, though I have done at least 90% of the steps.

I have been rebuying all my old long gone horror short story collections that have Stephen King’s original versions in them. I finally after twenty years ordered this gem on Thursday. I bet at least 99.99% of King fans don’t know it exists and you can’t find it by using anything like “The Monkey original version”.

Have read any Block yet? Take care.
Hi BullyEyelash. Grats on the 10 months! Keep up the good work! I have read a version of The Monkey in King's early Skeleton Crew collection; not sure if that differs from the original version, but it was a hell of a good story.

That Wagner collection looks cool as hell! Since we're posting brags, I'll contribute my rarish advanced reader's copies below. That was a perk that came with running a bookstore.



I couldn't help but read the King books, so I've greatly reduced their value; but whatever, I was stuck with nothing to read at the time. I don't regret it.

The Koontz book, on the other hand, is still in its original plastic. And that title marked a career renaissance for him, IIRC.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BullyEyelash
Cabaret certainly had a plot.
I haven't seen Cabaret. I've toyed with putting it on the list.
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02-08-2025 , 08:27 AM
Also, the local Barnes & Noble didn't carry any Block, which is a goddamn shame. My little mall bookstore carried at least a shelf full of his books back in the day.
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02-08-2025 , 01:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by suitedjustice
Hi BullyEyelash. Grats on the 10 months! Keep up the good work! I have read a version of The Monkey in King's early Skeleton Crew collection; not sure if that differs from the original version, but it was a hell of a good story.

That Wagner collection looks cool as hell! Since we're posting brags, I'll contribute my rarish advanced reader's copies below. That was a perk that came with running a bookstore.



I couldn't help but read the King books, so I've greatly reduced their value; but whatever, I was stuck with nothing to read at the time. I don't regret it.

The Koontz book, on the other hand, is still in its original plastic. And that title marked a career renaissance for him, IIRC.



I haven't seen Cabaret. I've toyed with putting it on the list.
I’ll try to and need to be brief on King’s short story revisions for Skeleton Crew and Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Mostly it’s a matter of tone, overwriting, clumsy updating of pop culture references, a lot of it obviously cocaine fueled. Most readers wouldn’t notice, having not read the originals, or care if they did.

I greatly prefer the originals, which are in the sparse blunt vein of the ones in Night Shift. The Monkey wasn’t much different iirc. I was irked he didn’t fix the poker game in Man Who Would Not Shake Hands (5 queens in the deck!). It Grows On You is basically a brand new story; he said it “became what it apparently wanted to be”. Not bad, need to reread it, just surprised me. He did ruin Bug Wheels, rewrote all the dark humor out of it during a probable frantic coke binge. And obviously the ones that I hadn’t read before like The Jaunt & Gramma I thought were just fine!
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02-08-2025 , 01:23 PM
I did once have advance/reader cooies of Amarillo Slim In A World Full Of Fat People & Positively Fifth Street. Why McManus didn’t call the latter Exiled On Fifth Street beggars belief. The Stones are his favorite band and are mentioned multiple times in the book!!!

Odd Thomas did indeed resurge Koontz. The first couple were really good, but then got too out there for me, as did his others. He did have a great run peaking with From The Corner Of His Eye. Never read his early Watchers stuff; would like too but doubt I’ll have time.
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02-08-2025 , 01:39 PM
It Grows On You was originally published in the August 1982 issue of Whispers, which was the “King issue”. It also has Before The Play, the prologue to The Shining, which was only otherwise available in heavily edited form in TV Guide.

Last year I bought it, about $140 for a hardcover. Turned out to be shrink-wrapped. Imagine opening a shrink-wrapped copy of Pet Sounds or Revolver.

It also turned out to be autographed.

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02-08-2025 , 01:47 PM
I’ve only watched the famous Tomorrow Belongs To Me scene from Cabaret on YouTube.

Speaking of famous, why Lawrence Block is not a huge mainstream success like King and Michael Connelly is astounding.
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02-08-2025 , 01:55 PM
Damn, BullyEyelash! That's a steal at $140. I would pay 3x that if I knew about the signature. Well played.
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02-08-2025 , 01:59 PM
Finally dragged a pot.



$1100+, three way all in.
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02-08-2025 , 03:05 PM
Straight flush. Medium pot +$300 high hand bonus. Easy game.

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02-08-2025 , 03:44 PM
Couple nice ones, go!
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02-08-2025 , 04:44 PM
the gay looks terrifying
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02-08-2025 , 05:13 PM
nice pot, i know those chips well, we've possibly played against each other

if you played with anyone wearing a blazer before that was probably me
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02-08-2025 , 05:53 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by golddog
Couple nice ones, go!
Thanks golddog! I left ahead of the incoming snowstorm, +$1020 for the day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rickroll
nice pot, i know those chips well, we've possibly played against each other

if you played with anyone wearing a blazer before that was probably me
The blazer with no tie is as good as the Hawaiian shirt in terms of cover for the professional gambler. Text me when you're back on this side of the country and we'll do a meetup game.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rickroll
the gay looks terrifying
Spoiler:


but throws an epic party.
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02-08-2025 , 07:16 PM
Realized I forgot to ask for details on the two big ones. Any good stories, or just big hands v big hands?
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02-08-2025 , 07:59 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by golddog
Realized I forgot to ask for details on the two big ones. Any good stories, or just big hands v big hands?
One hour into the session. I've been card dead and my image is lockdown OMC nit, especially after the dealer exposed my A6o that I open mucked on the BTN. Even in position I don't like crappy Axo, but I also don't want the table to know that.

I pick up KT UTG, which is the bottom of my range in that spot, but I think I might be able to steal a pot with my nitcake image. Instead, I get 3 calls from MP, HJ, and BTN.

Pot ($43) - 4 ways. Stacks $370 effective.

Flop AQJ

Gin! Royal flush pays $500 plus a $300 high hand bonus. I bet $20. MP raises to $50, HJ folds, BTN calls. I call.

Sure, there's a case for me to 3-bet here, but I believe that I'm going to chase at least one player out with that. I block all the best draws because I have all the best draws, along with the nuts. If I wait and check/shove the turn instead, I might have both of them pot-committed when I put the hammer down. And how many set combos are out there? AA and QQ are most likely being 3-bet preflop. JJ could be either flatted or 3-bet. I have the big set combos, which should be scary to the other players; another reason for me not to 3-bet.

Pot ($193) - 3 ways

Turn 8

I check. MP bets $110, BTN calls. I shove for $320 effective. MP calls, BTN calls.

Pot ($1140) - 3 ways, all-in effective

Once the action is finished, I beg the dealer to not pair the board. River is harmless to me: 7 or something.

MP shows AQ for flopped two pair. BTN shows AJ for flopped two pair. I think they both put me on AK lol.

Last edited by suitedjustice; 02-08-2025 at 08:20 PM.
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02-08-2025 , 08:44 PM
Second hand:

EP limps. MP limps. I raise to $15 with 64 from the BTN trying again to take advantage of my tight image. EP calls, MP folds.

Pot ($33) - heads up. Stacks $235 effective

Flop: 379

Bad flop for my range; good flop for my hand. Decent flop for EP's limp/call range. EP checks, I bet $15. EP calls.

Pot ($63) - heads up

Turn: 5

Gin! Straight ass flush. EP donks $25. I don't think that this is particularly strong. If he has a flush, why not donk bigger, or checkraise? I think he wants to see where he's at, and I don't want him to know that, and if he has AXo, I want him to get there on the river. I call.

Pot ($113) - heads up

River: T

EP bets $50. I raise to $150, thinking that a shove would be an overplay, whereas this would leave him with a few chips if really has something to make a crying call with, which I doubt. In retrospect, I might have considered minclicking to $100, though that looks awfully strong as well, when done on the river. Villain folds, I show my high hand and collect an additional $300 for it from the promo.

Last edited by suitedjustice; 02-08-2025 at 08:53 PM.
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