Grab Bag Spring Cleaning: Wrap-up on Warriors, Giants updates, Valkyries debut, TV and movie reviews, and Only Fans supporting the National Parks!
- Colby Michaels
- Jun 13
- 9 min read
Welcome back! Outside of Sunday's marathon French Open men's final and the Tony Awards, I haven't been motivated to write, as I just wasn't "feeling it". Considering my home state is now under His Watchful Eye, it's been a stressful time. But writing is therapeutic for me, and writing things for YOU that might be of great interest, piques your interest, or is just interesting stuff you may have missed, it's my pleasure to share that stuff with YOU! So let's dig in, as after this week's news, I may need to relocate and get all my vax shots, pronto!
Local news: First it was not one but TWO ice cream shops closing in the Castro recently, now within the last week San Francisco loses two more iconic restaurants, the Fog City Diner, and One Market. I didn't get a chance to visit Fog City as they closed abruptly, but my partner and I did get to have one last lunch at One Market (which I posted about on my Facebook wall). Here is the story on both closures:
And to add more pain to us long-time San Francisco residents, I just read that the City plans to tear down the long vacant Alioto's Restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf for a new maritime plaza. My younger sister will get why this one feels like a gut-punch, as another landmark of San Francisco goes by way of the wrecking ball. Locker Room: Golden State Warriors: As we know by now, without Steph Curry, the Warriors fell short in their quest for another NBA title. Instead of me rambling on and taking up space as to the season's post-script, I'll let this link do the heavy lifting on that part, as it's very well done! https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/team-grades-2024-25-season/1851092/?partner=sailthru
I will add to that story that the biggest decision the Warriors have to make this off-season is what to do with Jonathan Kuminga: Do they re-sign him, or do they trade him? If they trade Kuminga, other moves/additions could be made, as the Dubs are currently hand-cuffed with the salary cap, so they would need to move some players to sign or trade for new ones.
San Francisco Giants: The Giants are doing better than expected for this time of year (early June) than most pundits have expected, staying within a few games of first place in the National League West! Most of that success is due to some pretty stellar pitching, both the starters (Robbie Ray was named Pitcher of the Month for May!) and relievers (with the occasional DOH! blown save). The biggest negative though, has been the offense, which has had trouble hitting the ball lately, so much so that team general manager Buster Posey decided to shake up the team recently, which you can read about here: https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/mlb/san-francisco-giants/lamonte-wade-jr-dfa-dominic-smith/1853575/
An update to that story is that Wade was traded to the LA Angels for cash or the ever popular "player to be named later." Since then, the pitching is still there, and while there has not been a noticeable improvement in getting hits, the Giants have found ways to win, and are as of this writing, currently on a six game win streak! (The Matt Chapman bottom of the 9th, 2 outs walk-off home run win was pretty sweet!), and as I write that nice thing about Chappie, onto the 10 day injured list he goes for an injured hand. Also catcher Patrick Bailey goes on the 10-day IL with a neck strain. And as I go to Publish, the Rockies came from behind to beat the Giants on Thursday, snapping the Giants six game win streak. Onto LA to face the Dodgers this weekend!
Golden State Valkyries: San Francisco's first WNBA team is off to a rousing success, as after several games, it is number ONE in sold out games of ALL the WNBA teams! There are about 40-42 games in a WNBA season, and while the pundits have predicted the number of wins a new expansion should expect (I know that number, but not revealing it till end of season!), the lady Valkyries have already done better than expected!
Culture Club: Movies and television shows reviews! Apparently I was having a Tom Hardy week! Final Destination: Bloodlines: Easily the best movie of the franchise, story-wise; as the title is very much part of the script, even generations! Dread is the key more than the Rube Goldberg like deaths (they are there though!), as even if you cheated Death generations ago, Death is a fastidious accountant- books must be cleared, no matter how many decades it takes!
Tony Todd in his last scene before he passed away, delivered perfectly ( a few of us were ferklempt), and in FD 5, something he says in one of his scenes is key to his role in the franchise, very well done by the writers finding that scene and doing what you did with it in this current film!
Among the Death traps, perhaps pennies SHOULD be banned! And if they tell you to take ALL metal off at the MRI office, you BETTER take all...ALL the metal piercings off! Easily the best (and yikes!) death scene in this sequel! Still in theaters, but should be hitting streaming soon. 4.5 out of five skulls- highly recommend if your a horror movie buff, but if squeamish, probably best to enjoy the BBQ instead! <evil grin>
The trailer does a nice job of summarizing the WHY of this movie than i did!
Venom Last Dance: The third and last of the Venom movies. For me, Probably the "sloppiest" of the comic book movies, Venom, like Spiderman, is a Sony property that they have partnered with MCU to bring these characters into the MCU multi-verse (yea, I said it!). This third flick, once again starring Tom Hardy as the lead, Eddie, who comes into contact with an alien symbiont and the two share (??) his body and communicate with each other (often times like a bickering married couple), focusses on a couple of threats to Venom and Eddie, from the military to a very dangerous alien threat hunting down Venom. This third film is a lot better, script-wise, than the first two, and the special effects were pretty cool (Venom "borrowing" a horse was very cool, Venom enjoyed it, Eddie, not so much!). There is a sub-plot of a family visiting Area 51 that felt a bit over-indulgent, and the ending was rather touching. A silly, fun flick I would recommend if you are in the mood not to think too hard. Now airing on Netflix. Captain America: Brave New World: Good MCU film, but a waste of Giancarlo Esposito's time! he plot was a bit confusing, trying to figure out who the villain was, and Anthony Mackie was stellar as Cap. Harrison Ford though, really carries this flick as the current President who, if you know your MCU, has a past with Sam/Captain America. The film does a nice job of referencing previous non-MCU films as well. I will say we get a nice surprise of having a Widow being part of this flick. I give it a GOOD recommendation. Now on Disney Plus. Another Simple Favor: First off, It would be EXTREMELY helpful to see the first film, "A Simple Favor", a very twisty-turny flick that has some built-in fun to it, and it's two leads, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, sporting some awesomely chic outfits, make for a fun movie viewing experience. If you are able to see the first, then you are set up and ready for more chic outfits, more twists and turns, and planning your next holiday trip to Capri! (Make note to for Vacation Jason!). In this sequel, we the audience wonder what Blake Lively's character is up to, inviting Anna Kendrick's character to her wedding in Capri. More sass, more intrigue, more mystery, more snark, more lewks, BIG hats Rob,Big hats!) and as a bonus, we get a Henry Golding shower scene ( i may have re-played that scene back a few times!). I have already watched this film three times already (Capri!), and so it will come as no surprise how I HIGHLY RECOMMEND both films-HIGHLY! Both films airing on Amazon Prime.
Paradise: I fell into this series from Hulu, as ABC was airing it. The ending of the the first episode is a jaw-dropper, and sets the stage for the rest of the nine episodes. some of the middle episodes drag a bit, but dang the final three episodes definitely make up for the viewers patience. I'm being dodgy about what the show is about, but if you watch the first episode and that ending, you will understand me saying anything more would be major spoilery. A hint: I was having flashbacks to the movie, Deep Impact. :) Sterling Brown and Julianne Nicolson are great in their roles, as i would classify this as a mystery/thriller- the usual who, what, why and how apply here. I'll let you the reader decide from the promo i attached if it's worth your viewing investment. Now airing on Hulu.
The Residence: My first whoopsie was I thought this was a movie- nope- an eight episode whodunit and why mystery set in the White House...binge-time! The tagline for this series is a nice summary: 132 rooms. 157 suspects. 1 dead body. 1 wildly eccentric detective. 1 disastrous State Dinner. The Residence, a new series from Shondaland, is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion. That's pretty spot-on, with a great cast led by Giancarlo Esposito, Randall Park and Uzo Aduba as a world famous detective Cordelia Cupp, who goes about her investigation in her own unique way ( you have to see it to see how she gets "interesting" people to spill their guts without uttering a word!). Subtle, witty humor throughout (loved the swipe at Knives Out!), as the investigation flips back and forth through the eight episodes, with the upstairs/downstairs theme playing through-out. I truly did not know who did the murderous deed until the very awesome Agatha Christie-like finale, which was a chef's kiss of answering all our questions the viewer had throughout the series. So if you love really tricky mysteries and bird-watching (plays a big part, Lisa!) and Kylie Minouge (there you go, gays!) this series is well worth your time- been getting rave reviews, and you can add me to that list- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
MobLand: First off, I am really not a fan of director/producer Guy Ritchie's work. But when I saw the cast for this mobster series on Paramount Plus- Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Hardy (there he is again!), I had to check this out, and am very glad I did. One of the best mob movies/series I have seen! The official synopsis does a nice job setting the scene for the series: Power is up for grabs as the Harrigans and Stevensons, two warring London crime families, clash in a kill-or-be-killed battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives. Caught in the crossfire is Harry Da Souza, the street-smart ‘fixer’ as dangerous as he is handsome, who knows too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide. As kingdom goes up against kingdom, lines will be crossed - and the only saving grace is a bet-your-life guarantee: family above everything. Oh, and a great soundtrack!
One thing Ritchie does well is he restrains himself with the violence, one of my biggest gripes with his work...oh there IS violence, but it is used in a practical way that SERVES the story, not overwhelm it. Tom Hardy's character works overtime dealing with one problem after another as a fixer, and as the series progresses, those problems grow exponentially bigger, and Hardy's character becomes quite deft at handling them. Pierce Brosnan has too good of a time being a powerful rich crime boss, oh, the ego on this character, and Helen Mirren is deliciously mad as a hatter as she pulls strings behind the curtain and her family- to call her character a snake would insult snakes! Chew that scenery, Helen! A trigger warning: One of the sub-plots deals with rape in a male prison. Overall, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this series, and seriously hope for a season two- you will NOT be bored with this one! This series will probably be on my year-end top shows list!
Survivor 49 and Grey's Anatomy finales: Highly recommend this season of Survivor now on Paramount Plus, a great cast of contestants , and last three episodes were really good, with one of the best Final Councils to vote for the winner in a long time! As for the season finale of Grey's Anatomy, now on Hulu, well that last 90 seconds was "explosive" and a shocker! Let's just say that certain actors better be flexible in their contract negotiations for next season! Definitely an OMG moment! (I shrieked!).
Odd News: What will Dani think of this? <grin>. There has been an online movement, mostly fueled by Tik-Tok videos of Only Fans adult site creating content to help save our national parks from the budget cuts Congress wants to cut. Personally, I am all for any positive creative ideas to save our parks, so I back this one up! You can read more here, and then check out the accounts yourself, and support our national parks!
I'll close out with the official Wicked: For Good promo for those that might have missed it...just a few more months!
The bigger the hat, the closer to God!!!
I do love watching all the birds in my yard! Also, not sure you heard, but it looks like Nashville might be getting a WNBA team in the next couple of years!
Don’t forget to mention the fabulous new places opening (not just closures.) Rikki’s lesbian (& sports) bar in the Castro & Leadbetter’s Bakery (in the former soda fountain shop on Castro.) Also, there are three major restaurants closed at Fisherman’s Wharf & the former owners support the proposed renovation to revitalize the Wharf further. Change happens, & it’s often positive. ;)