So, last weekend was Retro Con up in Oaks, PA. I considered giving it its own post, but I’ve done that several times over the years, and I’m really gonna be honest with ya: If you’ve seen one Retro Con, you’ve seen them all. Seriously, “There’s a USS Flagg!” or “There’s an Ecto-1!” It gets old after awhile, as it’s the same toys, but only the prices are going up. Anyway, if you want to see all that stuff, I posted a video over on TikTok (cross promotion!).
Originally, I wasn’t going this year. You see, this annual event serves as a meetup for all my social media friends, and it’s the time we all look forward to hanging out. After last year’s event, however, it seemed like that thrill was gone. That show felt “off”, but to make things worse, our friend Jason Gross – basically the Major Domo of Retro – passed away unexpectedly mere weeks after the show. To many of us, there’s no Retro Con without Jason. That said, we found out this year’s show was actually being dedicated to his memory, so that was a pretty good reason to go. Plus, my podcast cohost Adam was making the trip, so I figured if he could get on a flight from the midwest for this thing, then I could ride 3 hours. And Special Forces is always down for foolishness, so he volunteered drive us up.
So, we got there and went directly into the retro t-shirt contest, where I ended up placing 2nd with my Married…with Children NO MA’AM shirt. Quick story: I ordered this via an Instagram ad for AlBundyStore, and figured it was a scam, but I’m weak. It arrived and the print quality was shit. I complained, they sent a replacement, and the print quality of the replacement was shit. Lesson of the story? Don’t order from AlBundyStore. Still, the minute I got it, I knew that would be my Retro Con Shirt. And I was right.
We walked around, and I finally got to meet Kevin Hellions, whom I’ve known since I first got on Twitter. We were supposed to meet at Retro Con back around 2021, where we even recorded a podcast about how much we were looking forward to it. And then I got Covid. So, this meeting was a long time coming. It was a standard Retro Con, though: expensive toys, forgotten celebrities, DRAMA, and Bob Evans. Who could ask for anything more? Will I go back next year? Hell, yeah!
Trailer Park
The Queen of Villains (Netflix, September 19)
So, I’m something of a wrestling tribalist, in that I really don’t care if it’s not WWE. Sorry, but I grew up on WWF, and you leave the dance with the one that brung ya! I didn’t even mess with WCW, and they were *winning* the Monday Night Wars. So, if I don’t care about the other US promotions, then you can probably imagine how I feel about Japanese wrestling. This, however, looks great! I’m doing this. I can’t wait for this.
Social Studies (Hulu, September 27)
I thought they were gonna get rid of that confusing ass “FX on Hulu” branding. Anyway… So, I’ve got a complicated relationship with social media. I wasn’t born into it, but I was adopted by it. A lot of folks love to say “Social media isn’t real”, but it’s real to me. Most of you reading this wouldn’t know me without social media (Only, like, 2 people in my actual life give a shit about this site). It can be a great thing. Luckily, through curating timelines and whatnot, I haven’t really experienced Evil Social Media. As Dad Will, however, it terrifies me. I have girls, and I have impressionable girls. So, I’m gonna watch this, but it’s not gonna be a great experience…
Hold Your Breath (Hulu, October 3)
So, this is just White Nope, right? Man, y’all won’t let us have NOTHIN’! Anyway, this is gonna sound snooty, but Sarah Paulson is a TV star, and not a movie star. I’m sure she’ll be capable here, but this feels like a TV movie with a theatrical budget. Luckily, these aren’t my kind of movies, as I have a sensitive disposition, but I guess it’s good Shudder has competition in the mid-range Horror category.
Will Around The Web
I was invited to join Adam for a special Gen13 episode of Wizards: The Podcast Guide To Comics. I was a huge fan of that Wildstorm comic series, so imagine my teenage excitement when I had learned they were making an animated movie. And then I saw the movie… To hear what happened next, check out the episode here!
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- In a cost-cutting move, NBC announced that The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon would be cutting down to filming only 4 nights a week.
- Speaking of changes at NBC late night, Chloe Troast announced on Instagram that she wasn’t asked back for season 50 of Saturday Night Live. This was pretty disappointing, as I never felt she had a chance to shine. Here’s hoping this has the “Shane Gillis Effect”, where the firing inspires folks to seek out her work. Meanwhile, Featured Players Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, and Marcello Hernández have been promoted to the regular cast.
- Last week I told you guys that Linkin Park was back, with new singer Emily Armstrong. Well, it took less than 36 hours for folks to discover that Armstrong is a Scientologist who publicly supported Danny Masterson…
- It was announced that Kendrick Lamar would be headlining the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show in 2025. Ya know, I hope he doesn’t perform “Not Like Us”, simply because folks expect him to, but I don’t know if you should perform a diss track in front of an audience that size. That’s record breaking bullying!
- The CMA Award nominations were announced, leaving many folks feeling that Beyoncé album Cowboy Carter was snubbed. Any country fan who’s heard that album knows it didn’t deserve any awards. Sorry, not sorry.
- As it prepares to move to Netflix, WWE Raw will be reverting back to a two-hour format on USA. It is still unclear if it will be a three-hour show once it arrives on the streamer.
- 13 years after its cancelation, Lifetime is considering reviving long-running soap opera All My Children as a TV movie franchise to be kicked off by a Christmas special.
- Someone was getting the best of Dave Grohl, as the Foo Fighters frontman announced that he was a new father to a baby not born to his wife of 23 years…
- The earth shifted on its axis, as Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for the US presidential election via an Instagram post (which has 10.6 MILLION Likes as of this post).
So, I’ve known about Shannon Sharpe for quite some time. My wife is a Broncos fan, and I used to pretend to like football when we started dating (It’s fine, as she pretended to like comics). I also knew him in a commentator capacity, but I never really saw him as the next Oprah. When he debuted his podcast Club Shay Shay, however, he revealed a new side of himself. And the beauty of it is that he’s not the greatest interviewer, but he seems to create an environment where his guests feel comfortable to just let it all out. I had watched his interviews with Steve Harvey and Katt Williams some months back, and both were buzzworthy experiences. Still, I never really added him to my list, as his shows clock in around 2-3 hours, and the only thing that gets that much time out of me is the After Lunch Podcast. With my newfound interest in YouTube, however, I found myself back at Club Shay Shay.
I appreciate how direct Sharpe is with his guests. I said that these are long episodes, but there’s no fat. The entire episode is MEAT. When the show starts, he introduces the guest, and then does a quick promo for his own brand of cognac, Le Portier Shay. He proposes a toast to the guest. Some try it, some decline. And he then might go right into “They’re saying online that you had an affair.” There’s no easing into it, no beating around the bush. And the guest, caught off guard that they’re just jumping right in, usually goes back for some more cognac! “Oh, I see I’m gonna need to be drunk for this!” And what follows is an interesting and revealing conversation. While many guests are comedians, they’re all from different walks of life in the entertainment industry. This week, I listened to the Marlon Wayans episode, followed up by John Cena, and I found myself walking away with newfound respect for both. Sharpe’s ability to get these people to go to certain places is simply impressive. He doesn’t prod, he doesn’t badger, and his questions come from a real thought-provoking angle. I’m done resisting. I wanna be a member of Club Shay Shay.
But my Shannon Sharpe Week wasn’t done! You see, he accidentally went on IG Live while engaging in sexual intercourse with an unnamed woman. I’m not gonna link it, as we try to run a classy joint around here, but the audio is out there (the video is just of the wall). At first, he said that he’d been hacked. Yeah, that old chestnut. After a while, though, he addressed the situation, saying that he was engaged in an act frequented by consenting adults, yet he felt he had let down many people and organizations through his conduct. He said that he didn’t even know what IG Live was, and that he had thrown his phone on the bed before going to town. It wasn’t until he started getting Facetime calls and he picked up for Jamie Foxx, who told him “The audio is on IG Live”. Still not understanding, he’s like “What audio? What are you talking about?” In any case, he did nothing wrong, as his private life is so secret that we don’t know if he’s married, has a girlfriend, whatever. All we know is this chick’s name was Michelle, and she was a very happy customer. So, I’m gonna have to say that Shannon Sharpe had the West Week Ever.
