I got a hankering for McDonald’s french fries so I’ma keep this short. Gotta find pants and car keys. I’ve been slow but expect a few My Summer Lair episodes to drop soon. I’ve been recording just been slow releasing em: taking more mental health breaks from the computer.

Mentally it’s been a long hard year with one month to go. Thankfully breaks and McDonald’s french fries make this modern life much easier.

So! A comedy check-in with my Pop Culture Week.

#EarJoy

On June 12, 2020, Dave Chappelle released 8:46 a short “comedy special” in response to police violence against African-Americans. His latest “special” Unforgiven is just under 20 minutes yet it extends his social commentary on the black experience in America. Though truly Dave Chappelle’s relationship with Chappelle’s Show is so complicated that it ah…”colours” the final product.

It’s a weird connection that probably reveals more about himself than it does for the audience: like the Will Smith beef with Aunt Viv. That’s about you; not us. Still: Dave Chappelle’s Unforgiven is stunning. I…just wow. I watched this mother twice. The callbacks, the efficient metaphors, judicious word choice: it was like watching Jordan play in the 90s. Behold The Spectacle. Wow.

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Sammy Younan

Girth Radio Presents… ‘

Still doing my best to keep the Christmas shenanigans at bay; though I am participating in a unique holiday tradition. So some cheer not as much jeer you know?

My Summer Lair Chapter #179: If you could invest in any company with any celebrity: who would you choose?

My elevator pitch for this My Summer Lair episode.

Old School Fame…Old School Hollywood relied on hits: the longer you remained hot; the bigger you got. Which meant every project was a risk: your next movie hadda hit, or your next album hadda hit.

So yes these actors and bands and writers and directors: creators relied on the studio system or the record company system or the book publishing system as the primary generation of their riches. They were rich: not wealthy. (Elvis makes more dead than he was alive.)

Then startups and investments came along. Now it was possible to create wealth…in some cases generational wealth.

So what does that all mean?

Enter Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s book A-List Angels: How a Band of Actors, Artists, and Athletes hacked Silicon Valley.

You’ll hear us discuss Shaq investing in Google, Bono in Facebook, Kevin Durant in Postmates, Nas in Casper. Plus hear a strange Katy Perry story that took place in Rome, Jay-Z’s birthday and even Zack’s hope for the New York Knicks. (Hope and Knicks in the same sentence!)

All this matters because these celebrities ae funding the companies we use and as we’ve seen with Facebook or Google as examples we hafta figure out where we go from here. How do we deal with these companies?

What kind of future do we want?

So first we must understand how we got here.

Zack O’Malley Greenburg @ W • T • F

Host & Photography by Sammy Younan

Recorded: Friday December 4, 2020 at 5pm (EST)

Sammy Younan

Girth Radio Presents…

From American Psycho to a Mr. T book signing at Honest Ed’s to Die Hard let’s give thanks for the 80s!

Sammy Younan

Girth Radio Presents…

From a comedy special to a horror special behold TV’s wide range of emotions all ready to connect to your feelings. You feeling what I’m feeling?

My Summer Lair Chapter #177: What’s The Best Way For A Sports Fan To Show Love For His Team?

You know what’s a popular aspect of sports fandom I’ve never understood? The topless guys all lined up in a row each with a large hand-drawn letter on their bare chest: sometimes they spell the name of the team like Eagles sometimes it’s a different message. Many NFL games are cold why not just make a poster? And worse it’s never the ones you want getting naked.

To get a better sense of sports fandom I’ve invited director Kyle Thrash to My Summer Lair to discuss his NFL documentary Maybe Next Year.

The doc follows Eagles fans like Eagles Shirley, Bryant, Barry, and Jesse while exploring the powerful intersection between their Eagles fandom and personal lives during the course of the 2017-18 season. Which turned out to be a winning season. On Super Bowl Sunday, February 4, 2018, the Eagles faced the 5-time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots. And won! The Eagles won Super Bowl LII, defeating the Patriots, 41-33.

Yet this was not an easy season nor was many of the lives and experiences of Eagles fans easy. Victory was in doubt.

Yes, this is a documentary about Philadelphia Eagles fandom but it’s a documentary about all of us. This is a football movie that isn’t about football. Winning championships makes cities better: winning makes life better.

In our pre-COVID life, the bus was late, the winter day was freezing, the boss was in a mood there was so much that was not in our control that affected us. Sports is like that: I can cheer, I can boo, I can chant defense and I can make comments about a player’s mother but I have no control. Except over my emotions, I can express my passions…connect with others, laugh during the good times, and find comfort in the dark moments.

And you can see all of this…all of these common experiences in Kyle’s documentary. Including hope: Because Maybe Next Year is ultimately about hope. Recognize and celebrate hope whenever you find it. Hope is the fuel of the underdog.

Maybe Next Year @ W • T • F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Thursday November 5, 2020 at 4:30pm EST

Sammy Younan

Girth Radio Presents…

The sad thing about surviving horror Halloween is that even if you make it to Sun up…you only have holiday/Christmas movies to look forward to. With this #SetTheVCR I’ve done my best to delay movies with some variation of jingle in the title; instead, hopefully, these recommendations fill you with warm cheer.

You know what’s telling?

My Dad and I watched the recent Kamala Harris and Joe Biden victory speeches.

People will cheer wildly cheer for the usual stuff: I’m the first woman: YEAH! We won!: YEAH! (The whole thing was like a victory parade for a sports team: we’re gonna repeat! We’re #1!!)

But whenever either one of them says we have work to do…nobody cheers for the work. Kamala Harris said work 7 times: “…because now is when the real work begins, the hard work, the necessary work, the good work…”

While Biden contributed: “Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end — here and now. The refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not due to some mysterious force beyond our control. It’s a decision. It’s a choice we make. And if we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate. And I believe that this is part of the mandate from the American people. They want us to cooperate.”

There’s still a deep seated hypocrisy that all Trump voters are racist and liberals will continue to reject em as deplorables. As per the the narcissistic image popular on social media I’ve attached here. (Those comments doesn’t even make sense and have little to do with justice. More like just ice.)

Sure some voters are racist but we’re in the social media era this isn’t the 70s or 80s so the proliferation of online misinformation coupled with a crumbling education system where critical thinking is not taught creates enfeebled voters…so I don’t fully blame em. Neither side is particularly well-informed, well-read or righteous.

Just because you know smoking causes cancer doesn’t mean you just stop. And it doesn’t mean that non-smokers won’t start.

In a way, President Biden has to lead the charge to combat that pervasive and insidious hypocrisy. And I hope he can be a successful leader. Though in the end, the president cannot dictate any moral positions because all too often the White House gig has no moral authority. You’re the President of the United State of America you ain’t the Pope.

So it’s great if Biden as President starts but like a wedding DJ it doesn’t matter what song he plays it’s up to us if we want to dance…or not. We gotta do the work.

It won’t be easy: all too often we say the right things but our actions…eek!

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You know what’s telling?

My Dad and I watched the recent Kamala Harris and Joe Biden victory speeches.

Paranormal – Season 1 (Anytime / Netflix) – Paranormal Egyptians! That’s the premise of Netflix’s latest TV show: Paranormal.

This trailer is a bit creepy but not Doctor Who terrifying…you should be ok. (The Haunting of Hill House also on Netflix had me buried under my snuggie. So of course I went back and rewatched the entire season again. Really good. But yes I slept with my Spider-Man night light for about a week.)

Paranormal: Season 1 is…ready for this?

“Six-episode series from Egypt, about a scientist (Ahmed Amin) who finds himself investigating a series of highly un-scientific paranormal occurrences. Based on a popular series of novels by the late Ahmed Khaled Tawfik.”

The series is based on the series of novels by the Egyptian writer Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq which are like Harry Potter successful (ok maybe not that successful but they’ve solid millions…translated in I dunno many languages: the standard metrics of success. He’s the Arabic Stephen King basically.)

I’m curious how they translate for the subtitles…I suppose that’s for every foreign show but there’s an Arabic sarcasm that doesn’t neatly translate to English. (My mom is so upset with Netflix…this is clearly a Sammy Show; she’s like where are my shows! I shrugged…I dunno.)

(Also? as an Egyptian slash horror nerd I’m embarrassed I don’t know this: if you’re bitten by a snake you have what…15 to 30 minutes to get medical help? What’s the window for a mummy’s curse? Do you get a window of time before your body is found: your throat taxidermied with sand??)

Question: is this a trend? Maybe? Hopefully? On Shahid VIP one of their original programs is Bloodline. Middle Eastern Vampires…Egypt seems to be really cashing in on their ancient folklore; I wonder where this trend (such as it is…) is going.

What can I do to help? I’ll share this; still be great to actually work on these things: bring em up to a higher quality.

November 5 for Paranormal (why not on Halloween?! This seems like bad marketing…) .

Netflix | November 5, 2020

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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.