High Five Friday 2/28/2020 (Patreon)

Hey hey hey,

Live show tonight in Columbus! Next month we are in Pittsburgh. This weekend we’ve got about 400 Means TV shirts that need to be processed, folded, and mailed. We were in Detroit on Wednesday to see Gaza Fights For Freedom. The new documentary out by Abby Martin from The Empire Files podcast. If you have not seen it then you are missing out, but you can watch it right now on Means TV! This week is a whirlwind but I’m not freaking out, I am just buckling down to get through it. I haven’t even done my proper social media posting about the film premiere and shirt arrival yet. I’ll see y’all on Instagram live to vent about it…..

• Onirim - This is an incredible solitaire game, it’s based upon an award winning board game but it really shines as an app. Something about it keeps drawing me in. Winning twice in a row is very hard to accomplish.
  
  It’s a very simple game, you play sets of alternating symbols, in the same color, and unlock a door. Some cards automatically unlock doors, others protect you from nightmare cards that force you to discard your whole hand. The digital version includes expansion packs that elevate the level of play and expand the ways to play. Everything about the game is fun. The art is great and it’s easy to squeeze a session in between most chores. 

• Clawee - I have actually wasted some real money on Toreba, the japanese UFO catcher app. I was going to sign in to it again for some free plays and decided to look into other claw machine apps, knowing that free plays is one of the ways they try to hook you. After burning through about 7 other apps I came upon Clawee, and I won two cat plushies on my first try! I did it with the trial coins provided by the app, and I hadn't agreed to pay for anything yet. Then I won a Totoro pencil bag. In order to get my items I had to spend $4 on a one time VIP coin purchase. My prizes are on the way but I have not received them yet.
  
  I don’t recommend this for those of you with bad impulse control. I went back and spent $3 more on trying to win cat socks for my daughter, but I did. So if you want a fair way to waste your money, then I can recommend this app. Use my code WRJCNMY so that I can get some more coins, and you can get a bonus. Otherwise I am just going to collect my free plays every day. 

• Green Eggs & Ham - Princess Nokia - I’ve been a big fan of hers for a while now, and Arica loves her too. She’s been the soundtrack to a lot of lazy Sunday brunches. The album 1992 Deluxe was doing baggy clothes and nu-metal vibes a couple years before Billie was but that’s just me ruffling feathers. The old school flow of her earlier projects deliver clever wordplay and abstract beats that are reminiscent of Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Kool Keith or Busdriver.
  
  This week she is releasing two albums, “Everything is Beautiful ', and “Everything Sucks”. Early on Bryan and I did a Street Fight poster campaign based around the idea “Everything Is Stupid”, it was an acceptance that the things we enjoy the most are inherently dumb. I feel it was a way to turn our back on high brow culture on what was an acceptable way to spend your time. We hung a few hundred signs downtown calling things like diamonds, blu-ray, suits, cars, and any creature comfort under the sun stupid. We got a large response from it, and it was a great way to give the finger to everyone else.
  
  Princess Nokia is going for both sides of the coin, which is something I admire. At this time in my life I try to maintain the middle way but to see the way she has matured is exciting. The yin to Green eggs & Ham yang is Practice, the single from “Everything Sucks”, a grimy ass message that hits so damn hard and a beat reminiscent of Bankroll Fresh “Walked In”. It’s also got a fuckin great flow switch. I can’t wait to get all these new tracks from Nokia because I absolutely agree with her quantum way of thinking that everything is Beautiful while it also Sucks.

• The Benjamin Dixon show - He has been doing an incredible job covering the primaries. His measured words and insistence on action from both sides is inspiring. He very clearly lays out why the ruling class needs to step aside or face the consequences on every episode. Recently while addressing the DNC and asking them to choose the path of least resistance for the nominee he said something along the lines of, “You can never be certain what will happen when you take away people's hope.” and that’s the truth. 

• Gaza Fights For Freedom - It was amazing. I’m not doing an ad right now. Abby is just that good at filmmaking. It was touching and incredibly cinematic. It reignited the fire inside Bryan and I to keep pushing the Palestinian issue. It also opened the eyes of people in the audience who didn’t know the full extent of things happening there. It’s overwhelming and powerful which makes it a must watch for all of us in the struggle together. 

If you like what you read here and you haven’t seen all of my High Five posts they can be found here.

Peace,

Brett