"Welcome to the MCU! You’re Joining at a Bit of a Low Point."
...is an actual line from the new Deadpool & Wolverine movie, proving that all the people really want are self-referential memes
It’s August, bitches! I’ve got a bit of a crazy month ahead of me and I think I’m mostly excited and not at all completely anxious 😅 In the middle of the month I’ll be going on a trip to Italy(!) with my bud (and longtime subscriber) Danielle and bookending the month I’ll be back catsitting in the fabulous Arbuckle Mansion. My company works remotely for the entire month of August and I’m actually really happy that I’ll be taking full fucking advantage of that this year. Cash me outside working in parks, getting myself little treats, and just generally frolicking around the city with my laptop in tow. Ya girl's going to have a month.
August is also my birthday month and what better present to get me than to subscribe to my little newsletter. While I don’t have anything behind a paywall, I do offer a paid subscription that you can opt into if you like what you’re reading. I know that on the surface this newsletter may look like just a silly goofy time, but I actually put a lot of research and thought into everything I post and that takes a lot of time and brainpower. Sure you can get your information elsewhere in the wilds of the internet, but here you get to read quality content such as:
My experience with the hot and cold wets at Bathhouse
Me comparing Detective Pikachu to Blade Runner
An insider tip for folks who like to drink tea while watching movies at Alamo
A paid subscription also places me at your beck and call for help planning any NYC events, outings, dinners, and general merriment. Just ask my friends who are in the Slack workspace I created complete with pinned posts, event canvases, and regularly scheduled reminders: I’m good at planning shit.
Without further ado, today’s newsletter will cover the new Deadpool & Wolverine movie and some noms at Kijitora adn Brooklyn Ball Factory. If you don’t want any movie spoilers (and I recommend not spoiling this one for yourself), please scroll all the way to the bottom and work your way up to skip the Watching section.
**Spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine in the section, scroll to the bottom of the newsletter if you want to skip!**
Deadpool & Wolverine was a highly anticipated release amongst most nerds. There hasn’t been a good MCU movie in a while - audiences knew that and, importantly, Marvel knew that. This movie was their chance at redemption and while I think this movie mostly delivered on its promises, it definitely wasn’t a work of art. So let’s discuss. Welcome to the void, motherfuckers.
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Deadpool & Wolverine’s strength is that it’s entertaining AF and that’s important because since the story is about all things multiverse, it gets a little convoluted. And that’s not really the movie’s fault; we as humans don’t understand how time travel works so any movie containing timey wimey shit needs to contain a fair amount of exposition. The basic story structure of this movie was something along the lines of:
Cluster of dick jokes, Deadpool & Wolverine fight, neither of them can die so they just get tired, exposition, repeat.
To be clear, this isn’t a bad thing necessarily, it just doesn’t make for a well crafted narrative. The writing isn’t particularly smart and is basically just there to weave the exposition and dick jokes together, which it manages to succeed in doing. The jokes certainly were a-plenty and they elicited plenty of hoarse “oh my gods” muttered in disbelief from the audience; I actually can’t believe Marvel allowed a lot of them. So listen, if you go in looking for a really tight story like Winter Soldier or the first Iron Man, you’ll be disappointed. If you go in looking to have your nerd boner satisfied, you’ll get quite the happy ending.
And speaking of happy endings, I did appreciate that the movie gave us a heavy dose of cameos and fan service, but with a purpose! True nerds will be all too familiar with the rights issues that have plagued the MCU and adjacent Marvel-ish franchises since way back in 1998 when New Line released Blade. Since then, characters have bounced around studios and Marvel has been trying to recoup everyone since they suddenly became profitable again. Disney buying Fox has brought all of the X-Men into the MCU, though Spider-Man sadly still resides with Sony which made for a silly moment in this movie in which a photograph of Iron Man and Spider-Man had to be partially obscured to hide Spidey’s image.
So what is the purpose of all these cameos if not blatant fan service? The purpose is…purpose. The biggest problem with a multiverse is that if everything exists, then nothing matters. If we just keep rebooting movies and leaving storylines from one universe unfinished while moving onto the next one, then what’s the point of anything? This idea of “glorious purpose” is something that Deadpool grapples with as he faces the imminent destruction of his universe. He’s been searching for a way to make his life matter and when he’s finally given the option to be “Marvel Jesus” and join the big boys of the MCU, it’s at the expense of literally everyone he’s ever known and loved. But Deadpool gonna Deadpool so he hatches a plan to have one last hurrah with the only other guy in the MCU who can handle being penetrated by long objects repeatedly: Wolverine.
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The bulk of the movie took place in the Void, which is the place all unwanted things get sent to, as seen in Loki. In this movie it served as an island of misfit toys as it became home to every fucking Marvel character from the non-MCU movies! Chris Evans’ surprise return as not Captain America, but Johnny fucking Storm was a delight. I was very surprised to see Wesley Snipes as Blade show up, especially since he was rumored to have been an absolute dickwad on the set of Blade: Trinity (which Ryan Reynolds was in). And perhaps the funniest cameo was Channing Tatum as Gambit, making light of the fact that his movie never got off the ground and also somewhat confirming that that might have been a good thing.
As messy and silly as some of the movie was, it did touch on some themes of existentialism that I found interesting. Part of the story was taken from the Deadpool Kills Deadpool comic in which Deadpool puts a bounty on his own head because he just wants to fucking die. He sees himself as a complete failure who’s never done anything worth a fuck and this movie sort of opens with that Deadpool: his wife left him, he gets denied entry to the Avengers, and then he gets the news that his universe is being pruned because it’s not deemed important enough. When comic book movies are good, they’re more than just laser eyes and big fight montages; they explore core human experiences, albeit with laser eyes and big fight montages. I have felt like a completely worthless piece of shit whose life has no meaning before, so following Deadpool’s journey in this movie really touched me. You don’t have to be Marvel Jesus or an Avenger to find meaning in life, sometimes just surrounding yourself with the people you love is enough.
Don’t expect this movie to blow your mind, as it’s not that deep of a story. But if you want a shot of nostalgia induced dopamine to the dick, this movie will definitely do it for you.
This week I had lunch in Williamsburg-ish with my pal Meng, creator of Wowza Hangouts. I’ve been working with her for a bit now to help plan hangouts and we have some really fun ones coming up, so if you’re looking to meet new friends in the city or just want to do some cool activities with folks, sign up on the website!
I suggested we meet up for coffee at Kijitora East on Graham Ave (they have another location on Driggs). It’s an adorable little cat-themed cafe, which was a fitting place for us cat ladies. The space itself is pretty tiny and can maybe only sit about a dozen people, but I had faith and we were lucky enough to grab a seat right as our drinks were ready.
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I got their iced adzuki matcha and it was so good. I fucking love red beans, mung beans, and all sorts of beans in desserts and sweet-ish things. The matcha was earthy and thick and the red beans added a very subtle sweetness and richness to the drink which made all of the flavors perfectly balanced. It did take the barista a while to make the drink, but it was absolutely worth it for a really nice quality drink. It also only cost about $7, which is honestly very cheap for how good this drink was.
Since it’s a cat-themed cafe, they have a bunch of cute cat tchotchkes available you can buy. There are tons of stickers (dog stickers, too), postcards, pins, little pouches, tote bags, and tiny cat figurines. Their Graham Ave location also has some food options available: onigiri, grilled cheese, and croissant sandwiches. We opted to give up our table and take a short walk to another lunch venue: Brooklyn Ball Factory.
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Brooklyn Ball Factory looks very unassuming from the outside; it’s behind two big wooden doors so I thought for the longest time that it was quite literally a ball factory. In fact, before the restaurant opened in 2004 the building was just a storage facility for beer cans awaiting recycling. The space also has a really cute roof deck, but there was a sign near the stairs that read “employees only” so we were not able to sit there. The folks who run this place also run a few other Japanese restaurants around the city; I’ve tried the ramen at Samurai Papa and it’s really good!
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One of my favorite things to eat on a hot day is onigiri and BBF had a great deal for a set of 2 onigiri with edamame and pickled veggies for $8.50! I got the salmon and umeboshi (salted plum) onigiri and Meng got the chashu (pork) and gyuniku (beef). I usually get grocery store onigiri, so the seaweed is wrapped separately from the rice and stays crispy. But these ones were freshly made so the seaweed immediately melted onto the rice and infused it with a nice saltiness. The salmon was nice and buttery and the umeboshi was actually warm and it tasted much sweeter than usual (in a good way!). Meng got their iced tea and they actually gave us a second cup for free!
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They have lots of other stuff on the menu including bento boxes, rice bowls, curry, and baked goods and desserts. They’ve got free water, which was very welcome on a hot day. And all of their napkins and chopsticks and whatnot are stored in drawers in a cabinet, so a lot of stuff is self serve. I hope they reopen their rooftop to folks because I definitely want to come back and try more stuff!
It’s a brat summer! *checks notes* I mean it’s a Bat Summer! On Aug 3 McGolrick Bird Club is hosting a special event to honor some of our other flying friends in the park: bats! NYC Bird Alliance’s Nic Comparato will help folks commune with NYC’s ~5 bat species.
Philippines Fest is popping back up on Sun Aug 25 in Union Square! Some of my favorite vendors there are So Sarap (get their skewers) and Kabisera (amazing baked goods), and Patok by Rach’s lechon.
Do you fancy yourself a gingerbread artist? Applications for The Museum of the City of NY’s annual “Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off” are now open thru Sep 20! I love going to the museum each December to see the winning creations.
I never thought I’d be a hiking girlie, but I’ve been converted and have been following lots of accounts that facilitate hikes around NYC. Outlandish.nyc is organizing a guided hike around Harriman State Park on Aug 11. It costs $95, but that includes a shuttle ride to and from the city, which feels like a solid price to pay for the convenience if you don’t have a car.
On my nightly tik tok scroll I came across a video about Japanese pants and how they traced their origin to a type of pants readers might be familiar with - knickerbockers!
A new mini print machine has arrived at The Whitney and it contains ice cream! Last month I visited The Whitney and got myself a mini print of a hot dog cart.
Very Cool Ice Cream is popping up at Yunhai Shop in Williamsburg on Aug 3 and 17. They’ll be serving plant-based ice cream and ice cream sandos in flavors that pay homage to Asian sweets. I am an absolute slut for anything honeydew flavored so I might have to try their melona ice cream, but the matcha buko pandan ice cream sando is also calling to me.
Syndicated’s Annual Cat Video Fest returns next weekend Aug 10-11. They’ll be screening a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos, and classic internet powerhouses. A portion of ticket sales will go to @bushwickcats!
Summer Streets are back in NYC! Big swaths of the city will be closed to car traffic from 7am-3pm on select dates. And sure you can wander along the streets and eat at pop up vendors, but you know what the coolest thing is? You can walk along one specific roadway that is never open to pedestrians: the Park Ave loop around Grand Central. There is no sidewalk on this route so Open Streets are your opportunity to get a good look at the Cornelius Vanderbilt statue out front!
Yay August babies! My birthday is next week! Happy birthday to us!