Highlights of 2016 – Moreno
2016 will forever be known as the year that the Grim Reaper showed up and placed his hairy nutsack on top of everyone. The Grim Reaper doesn’t know about manscaping, he’s au naturale.
This isn’t an “in memoriam” article, and the last thing Binge Media wants to do is bum everyone out with a goddamn list of deaths throughout the year. So, the rest of the guys , and I, will highlight some of our favorite things from 2016, entertainment or otherwise. This is in no particular order, just a random list, and I’m sure I’m missing a ton. Anyway…….
Entertainment
Horace & Pete
Louis C.K. dropped this mini-series/TV show/stage play without any promotion or hype whatsoever. We woke up one day, and there it was. He funded it himself, going a couple million in the hole, and produced one of the greatest pieces of work of his entire career. It’s comedic, dramatic, tragic and politically relevant. From Alan Alda to Edie Falco and Steve Buscemi, not to mention the cast of special guest stars, the acting coupled with Louis’ fantastic writing makes Horace & Pete an instant classic.
Black Mirror
Oh Black Mirror, you sweet, bleak bitch. The third season of the show starts off with a headshot at the dark side of social media obsession (Nosedive) and ends with an episode that is better than most theatrical thrillers (Hated in the Nation). How the show can continually maintain this high level of writing is incomprehensible. It’s unrelenting, dark and brutally beautiful in its bleakness all at the same time. Stay gold, Pony Boy. What?
Westworld
I’m going to go ahead and put this on the list, despite giving the series a 7 on 10 as a whole. It’s not the greatest or worst, but it was one of the few shows this year that had me looking forward to Sunday night. In the end, the show became muddled in its own butthole, trying to find a way to the end. But the performances (Thandie Newton in particular) were all great, the concept was fantastic (even when it fell short) and it provided plenty of good fodder for the BingeCast. Also, Thandie’s Newtons were glorious. Lot of dick though.
The Night Of
HBO had a great run of original programming this year. The Night Of was a great showcase of watching someone, through the necessity of survival, get chewed up and spit out by the system. Riz Ahmed, as Naz, brought the perfect mix of innocence and vulnerability, standing toe to toe with Michael K. Williams and holding his own. John Turturro’s arc was an emotional roller coaster, and the pussy drug exchange was both inventive and funny. Yep, pussy drugs.
Steely Dan
I have a love/hate relationship with 70s super white rock/jazz group Steely Dan. On the one hand, they’re amazing musicians and on the other hand, they’re just so fucking corny. It’s okay though, I’ve reconciled my feelings about them. They’re my dad’s favorite group of all time, I’m named after their 1977 album AJA and I have a tattoo of said album to honor my Pop. When they went on tour this year, my sister grabbed us tickets. Seeing them at Northerly Island, next to Lake Michigan and east of the beautiful Chicago skyline, is a night I’ll never forget. I’ve never seen a more diverse mixture of hippies, golf polos, and people of color, both young and old, than this show. Better yet, they played all the hits, some deep cuts and the crowd was on their feet dancing the entire show. They’re cheesy and corny as fuck, but it was a blast.
Better Call Saul
In the second season, we got more Mike. And more Mike = more gooder. It’s a fact. We got our first hint of Gus Fring, explored more of Jimmy and Kim’s relationship and got to the heart of Jimmy and Chuck’s tension. The third season is one of my most anticipated shows next year and I have no doubts that Vince Gilligan and friends will deliver.
Roots N Blues N BBQ Music Fest
This year I tagged along with friend of the site Chris Prunckle of Wannabethecomic.com to cover this event in Columbia, Missouri. I knew a few of the acts performing (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Shovels & Rope, The Avett Brothers) but didn’t know the majority of the acts. That all changed as I got my face torn off by Southern Culture on the Skids, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and more. We had amazing southern food, plenty of beer and memories to last a lifetime. Chris and I recorded a day to day recap for the Binge MusicCast at the venue, and on the road, that got some great feedback, so check that out if you haven’t already (listen HERE). Can’t wait to see what they have in store for 2017.
Game of Thrones
My love for Game of Thrones is no secret to everyone who follows Binge Media. My stubbornness not to watch season 6 because The Winds of Winter wasn’t out (pushing the TV show narrative farther than A Dance of Dragons), while my co-hosts and listeners mocked me was something to overcome. When I finally caved, binging the the first nine episodes and catching the season finale live, it was due to one simple variable: I just wanted new Game of Thrones content. Seeing how the show played out never diminished my feelings about the book narrative, as I think some important storylines will play out completely different in the novels. The season was just “okay” to me. I wound up giving the season an 8 on 10, and while it was far from the best season the show has produced, it’s still better than most things on TV.
Luke Cage
Marvel’s Netflix run is pretty goddamn amazing, I can only imagine how it is for fans who have read the comics over the years and to see it come to life with solid actors and production budgets that can serve the bigger action set pieces in the story. Daredevil 2 was much better than the first season (though it could’ve used more Frank Castle), but Luke Cage was the highlight of the MCU this year. He’s a character I knew little of (other than it being the inspiration for Nic Cage’s Hollywood name) but his story roped me in immediately. Mahershala Ali as Cottonmouth is one of my favorite performances of the year, the soundtrack is dope as fuck and though Mike Colter as Luke Cage sometimes felt flat and wooden, his presence on screen is unquestionable.
Atlanta
I was never a huge Donald Glover fan. Not that I disliked him, I just didn’t know much about him. I loved Mystery Team, but I’d never heard any Childish Gambino and never watched Community. I had no expectations for Atlanta but after watching one episode, I realized why the industry and fans were in love with him. There’s something very charismatic about the show, the writing, the way it’s shot and the performances that makes Atlanta my favorite ANYTHING of the year. Glover’s unique voice is fresh, smart, funny and a breath of fresh air. The B.A.N. episode is brilliant and the invisible car bit had me screaming in my living room.
Personal
We don’t typically go the personal route on BingeMedia.net but it’s my site and I’ll do whatever the hell I want.
Binge Meetups
Since 1984, Law and I have met up every year for what is now called Lawlapalooza. We drink, we talk shit, we watch stuff and we record a show. Every year it’s gotten bigger and bigger and 2016, while being a giant butthole, was the biggest turnout so far. Big Jay (Creepy 209 guy), Chad C., Chad D., BabaNick, PeteMC, Law, Kupka, myself and Sass all hungout in Chicago for a few days of straight drinking and shit talking. That wasn’t the only meetup though. I eventually got to hang out with Chad C. in Missouri, Art met up with The Kicks in NYC and then with Lance and Big Jay in Vegas, TM and El Mariach hung out with Ammon “Where them dick at” Gilbert in Seattle, Lance met up with NateP and NateP turned around met up with Bill Tremendous. And I’m sure there are more that I’m missing. Never did Law or I think our little show and site would build a community that brought people from all over the world together. We can now travel almost anywhere and think “Hey, I know someone that lives there, let’s meet up with them.” You can’t plan this shit folks, this is what the universe does.
2016 World Series Champs, The Chicago Cubs
It’s still weird to write that. But it’s a fucking fact. Just like how women are funny. Get over it.
Making a Sass
Yeah, this is site related but it’s personal to me because of how organic this little series was created. For those that don’t know, Sass (as in Sasquatch) became a character PeteMC and I created while he was visiting Chicago earlier this year. We got drunk, Pete created a Facebook account, and everyone got really intrigued by who was behind the account. I’d been wanting to create a “Making a Murderer” type of parody show for a while but it just never came together. After talking to the always persistent Jack Valley about the identity of Sass (while also throwing him off the trail) we put together a show in which Jack talks to different guests about narrowing down the suspects. It was such a rewarding process to create this series with some of my favorite people and couldn’t be more proud of just how fun and stupid it was. You can listen to the series here: And the Making of….Making a Sass right here.
Working at Moe’s Tavern
This year, I quit my corporate job. I was good at it, but I hated every second of it. When you work from home full time and you still dread “going into work”, it’s time to make a change. So I did. After a couple of months, I decided to start applying for bartending gigs. I grew up in a bar, so I knew my way around cleaning, stocking, rotating stock, inventory, that kind of shit. But not serving. I’d never worked at a bar as an adult. Been to plenty of them, just never worked in one. Nobody wanted to train someone with no experience. And I didn’t want to work at Buffalo Wild Wings or some horseshit like that. Nothing against those places, it’s just not me. I wanted to work at a place like the one I grew up in: a blue collar, neighborhood tavern. The second I walked into Moe’s, I knew I belonged there. It felt like home. My now manager, despite me having no experience, offered me up a two hour test run to see if it was a match for both. It was. Months later and I have more stories than I can tell, regular shifts and even perform at open mics on occasion. The downside is that I’m absent from the BingeCast a lot, which is my other home, and that royally sucks. But I won’t trade it for anything. I feel like it’s what I should’ve been doing a long time ago. A lot of my family, even those in the past, have been in the industry, so this is in my blood. Doing what you love, as cliche as it is (and it is), is deeply fulfilling. I couldn’t be happier.
Member…..member when I said I grew up in a bar? And that I’ve only worked in two bars my whole life, and that Moe’s Tavern is one of them?
Do you know what the name of the bar I grew up in is called?
Like I said, you can’t plan this shit folks. This is just what the universe does.
Art1318
December 26, 2016 @ 8:14 pm
Great article bro, onto bigger and better things in 2017.
Moreno
December 27, 2016 @ 1:09 pm
Thanks man!