Hello!

Today’s Post features some reflections by me and a breakdown of the biggest announcement out of Comic-Con

I ironically chose the summer’s gloomiest day to write this letter filled with happy moments but that’s how life works sometimes!

We’re getting close to a year of doing this newsletter and to be honest, still don’t have it quite figured out yet but as tech bros say we’re just building in public har har har. I’ve gotten a bit more reflective lately and have started wanting to post more personal pieces lately so I think I’ll start highlighting some of those before getting to what’s going on everywhere else.

I miss Japan!

Last month I got to visit Japan for the first time, specifically Tokyo. To say it was life-changing would probably be an understatement. I got to experience such a rich, diverse, historic but also advanced culture. I met so many wonderful people who I’d consider friends and got to see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of going to an international fan meeting/concert for NewJeans! I’ll write more about the trip later on, probably on a day I miss it a little too much but for now, here’s a blog I wrote specifically about my experience of going to the concert.

I’m getting older but so are you!

It was my birthday just this last week and even though I’m numerically older I feel a lot more youthful than I have before on previous birthday weeks. Maybe that’s because instead of having a raging rager I had a peaceful weekend out in nature with good company. I’m still processing a few thoughts I have on getting older as well as getting aligned on what I think I learned this weekend. I want to make a video or at least another post with further thoughts about this. It’s been a whirlwind of a year but here’s to this next year of my life being better. As cliche as it is to say but time is relative. It feels like just yesterday I was laid off and lying around wondering what’s gonna be next but also somehow feels like a lifetime ago I was celebrating my last birthday with an enormous group of people. I’ve learned that it’s okay to go at our pace and I just should focus on what I can do. More to come on that but for now I’ll leave y’all with a hint of what I’ve been doing in preparation for the video I’m making.

Marvel said if it’s not broken don’t fix it!

If you haven’t heard yet let me happily tell you the biggest news coming out of Comic-Con from this weekend. Robert Downey Jr. is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, he’s not playing Iron Man instead, he’s going to be playing probably the most charismatic villain in Marvel, Dr. Doom himself. Then the real icing on the cake is that the Russo brothers who famously directed the previous two and best Avengers movies are back to direct the next two!

Okay but why is Marvel doing this? Many on the internet of already given thoughts on this. “Marvel is desperate”, “This is just marketing”, “This is going to be more of the same,”. To that, I say you’re absolutely correct. Since 2020, the first calendar year after Avengers Endgame came out - the peak of Marvel, it hasn’t been a gentle ride. Many movies got shifted to streaming only due to the pandemic but they got muddled in with a flurry of streaming Marvel TV shows which caused damage and confusion to the Marvel name. Then many post-pandemic movies in theaters weren’t doing those numbers we’ve come to expect from this heavy hitter of a company. Then through all that, there’s just general confusion and unsureness of what Marvel’s overall connecting story is currently through all these movies and shows.

So what does Marvel do? They go back to what worked. Marvel is desperate which doesn’t have to be bad. Trying to survive in this media landscape is hard and desperate moves are done to ensure survival. I want Marvel movies to survive and be better than before. RDJ carried this company on his back for so long, so yeah use that as an advantage, get some good marketing in for the next Avengers movies, and fill some seats. Actually, fill all the seats. Marvel tried to do something different. They wanted to reinvent the wheel after Endgame and sadly it didn’t work. So they are going back to something, or someone, in this case, that did work. Could someone have played Doom? Yeah, 100% someone could have come in and killed this role but then we wouldn’t have the same amount of press as we do for it. This is a smart risk-adverse analytical move for a business. Creatively I can see how it can be a bit limiting though.

We’ll have to see the movie though to see how everything turns out.

In the meantime, Deadpool starts breaking records.

Staying on the topic of Marvel we can literally see how going back to known winners can work with Deadpool & Wolverine. It has broken the record for the biggest R-rated film debut and gotten our nostalgia back into high gear by bringing back Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Overall, it’s also just a really good flick. Go see it if you haven’t yet!