NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

After two weeks of anticipation, Super Bowl 55 is finally here as the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Florida.
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Watch the complete CBS Super Bowl experience, including the famous US Super Bowl commercials - typically missing from international broadcasts Access commentary in your native language - or simply your preferred team of pundits Try a VPN 100% risk free for Super Bowl - an easy game to access in many places - to see if the service is right for you in the bigger picture Add an extra layer of cyber security to your device if you're concerned about your privacy - or regularly complete financial transactions online like shopping or banking Super Bowl offers a great chance to save big on VPNs - here are the best Super Bowl VPN deals right now super bowl live stream How to watch Super Bowl 20021: live stream Chiefs vs Buccaneers in the US for free Watching the Super Bowl couldn't be easier in the US, as CBS is your one-stop-shop for a Chiefs vs Buccaneers live stream on Sunday, February 7, when kick-off is set for 6.30pm ET/3.30pm PT (5.30pm CT) but coverage will be running all day long. Anyone with the channel as part of their cable package will therefore be able to tune-in at no extra cost on the CBS website. It also means there are two great options to watch all the action without cable. First, CBS has its own standalone streaming service, CBS All Access, which costs just $5.99 a month - and there's even a FREE CBS All Access trial that means you'll be able to watch Super Bowl LV without paying a penny, if you play your cards right. In fact, CBS is opening the floodgates to its broadcast on its CBS Sports website, so anyone located in the US can get a 100% free Super Bowl LV live stream either in their browser or via the CBS Sports app. Additionally, CBS is available as part of FuboTV, an end-to-end cable replacement service that normally costs from $64.99 a month - but offers an equally attractive FREE FuboTV trial so you can see if it's right for you and catch the big game without dropping a dime yet again. It's one of many great value over-the-top streaming services available to Americans looking for a more affordable alternative to cable. When it comes to Super Bowl, YouTube TV also offers CBS for total coverage of the game - and we've got a complete guide as well as more additional information about watching with CBS All Access. Watching the Super Bowl on YouTubeTV watching the Super Bowl on CBS All Access watch super bowl live stream 2021 uk How to watch a FREE Super Bowl live stream in the UK this Sunday UK-based American football fans are well covered when it comes to the NFL - and are especially lucky when it comes watch a Buccaneers vs Chiefs live stream of Super Bowl 55, as the BBC will be airing the game 100% FREE! This means that anyone located in the UK can get a free Super Bowl LV live stream by using the BBC's iPlayer streaming service, which doesn't cost a penny (though you should, of course, be in possession of a valid UK TV license). Sky will also be showing Super Bowl 55 in 2021, and for anyone who already subscribes to it and has one of its Sky Sports packages, it's another great option. If you prefer Sky Sports' NFL coverage, you can also get it contract-free courtesy of the broadcaster's Now TV offshoot. But before you sign up for anything, just remember you can also watch Super Bowl free in the UK with the BBC! Kick-off time for Super LV has been confirmed and it's a11.30pm GMT UK start time. Outside of the UK? British residents out of the country for Super Bowl LV can catch the big game just the would at home with the help of a quality VPN as per our guide above. FAQ: can I watch Super Bowl in 4K HDR? watch super bowl free live stream ireland How to watch a Super Bowl 2021 live stream in Ireland NFL fans in Ireland have two options for watching Super Bowl LV this Sunday - and they're the same as they are in the UK. Both Sky Sports and the BBC have coverage of the big game, but unlike in the UK mainland and Northern Ireland, the BBC isn't a free-to-air terrestrial channel in Eire. Instead, it only comes as part of pay TV packages like those offered by Virgin and Sky - and worst of all, iPlayer is geo-blocked in the Republic so you can't get a free Super Bowl live stream online, either. Or can you? If you don't have Sky (where coverage starts at 10pm IST on Sky Sports NFL) or want to get one of its Now TV passes to catch the big game, we recommend anyone abroad in Ireland give serious consideration to trying out our No. 1 overall VPN This will help you hop the digital border you need to regain iPlayer access and is working well with the service as of our latest 2021 testing. super bowl live stream 2021 canada How to watch a Super Bowl 55 live stream in Canada on Sunday Canadian NFL fans are some of the the luckiest in the world, as streaming service DAZN is offering comprehensive coverage of the 2020/21 season, right through the playoffs and Super Bowl LV, with its great value DAZN packages. It's an absolute bargain as just CA$20 a month or $150 a year, especially when you consider that you get not only NFL Game Pass access complete with RedZone, but also that DAZN's the exclusive Canadian streaming home of Premier League and Champions League soccer! It comes with support for iOS, Android, Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Roku, Xbox One, PS4, and laptop/PC streaming (including Mac devices). And if you've never used it before, you can try it for free by taking advantage of a FREE 1-month trial, too. Canadians will also find that Super Bowl LV is being televised by national broadcasters TSN and CTV. watch super bowl live stream 2021 australia How to watch a free Super Bowl LV live stream in Australia If you live in Australia and want to watch the NFL this season, you have several options to do so. Foxtel is home to the sport Down Under and is showing the big game on ESPN this year. This means anyone on-the-go will be able to stream all the action from Raymond James Stadium on laptops and mobile devices using the Foxtel Go app - just log-in with your Foxtel ID. if you don't have Foxtel as part of a pay TV package, Kayo Sports almost always gets all the biggest events Foxtel enjoys. The streaming service has a Basic and a Premium plan with the difference being you can watch on two devices with the Basic plan for $25 per month and on three devices with the Premium plan for $35 per month. The best news? Both plans come with a FREE 14-day trial! But the best way to watch Super Bowl free in Australia for most people comes courtesy of the Seven Network and more specifically its 7mate channel, where you can watch Super Bowl 2021 for nothing, both on TV or online, without having to sign up and then cancel anything. The big game kicks off Down Under at 10.30am AEDT on the morning of Monday, February 8, 2021 - check your local TV listings to see when build-up coverage starts on your preferred channel or service. Outside of Australia? All you need is a good VPN and to follow our instructions above and you can stream just like you would in Oz, only from anywhere in the world. Our latest 2021 testing reveals that our No.1 pick, ExpressVPN, is currently working with Kayo Sports and 7mate. super bowl live stream mexico Super Bowl live stream 2021: how to watch Super Bowl LV online in Mexico The NFL has been making a real push south of the border, with Mexico City normally hosting a selected NFL game each season. It follows that the sport is huge there, so you've got a variety of TV options to watch Super Bowl in Mexico. These include ESPN, Fox Sports, Televisa and TV Azteca.. Of these, our basic Spanish tells us that for anyone after a FREE Super Bowl live stream in Mexico should be able to find what they're looking for courtesy of Azteca 7, which can be watched in a browser online, or via the appropriate TV Azteca app. Not in Mexico? Don't miss the passion of your local commentary just because you're abroad - instead, try using a VPN to access you favorite Super Bowl coverage wherever you are in the world this Sunday. watch super bowl germany How to watch Super Bowl free online in Germany: 2021 live stream details Germany boasted five NFL Europe teams at one point, so it's little surprise that American football is huge in the European nation. Its popularity means that German fans can watch Super Bowl LV free on terrestrial channel ProSieban - either on TV or on the network's online streaming platform. Not in Germany? You can tune in to your local coverage from abroad simply by adding a VPN to your software roster and following our guide above. super bowl (Image credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) All you need to know about Super Bowl LV in 2021 The 2021 Super Bowl takes place on Sunday, February 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida. The 65,000+ capacity stadium will welcome a limited number of fans to the game as the US continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league now having confirmed that around 20,000 will be in attendance at Super Bowl LV, with a number of tickets reserved for key workers. The start time for Super Bowl LV is set for 6.30pm ET/3.30pm PT (5.30pm CT) in the US. Globally, that means the Super Bowl time is: Australia Super Bowl time: 10.30am AEDT (Monday, February 8) India Super Bowl time: 5am IST (Monday, February 8) Japan Super Bowl time: 8.30am JST (Monday, February 8) Germany and Europe Super Bowl time: 12.30am CET (Monday, February 8) Mexico Super Bowl time: 5.30pm CST New Zealand Super Bowl time: 12.30pm NZST (Monday February 8) South Korea Super Bowl time: 8.30am KST (Monday, February 8) UK and Ireland Super Bowl time: 11.30pm GMT Where is the Super Bowl on TV? America's three main broadcasters - CBS, Fox, and NBC - alternate rights to air the Super Bowl each year. In 2021, it's the turn of CBS to air Super Bowl LV. As per our guide above, if you don't have it on cable, then it has a dedicated streaming-only platform, CBS All Access, that will sort you out in time for the big game. Folks in the UK arguably have it best, though, as the Super Bowl is 100% FREE to watch on the BBC and its companion iPlayer streaming service. Provided you're located in the UK (and you should also be in possession of a valid TV license), registration takes just a few seconds and only asks for basic details like a working email address. Anyone in either country can also access their usual streaming service to watch Super Bowl 2021, no matter where they are in the world. With a top-quality VPN in your huddle, you can simply relocate your IP address back home and enjoy the big like you normally would from the comfort of your living room. New TV for the big game? See our roundup of the best Super Bowl TV sales When does Super Bowl pre-game coverage start on Sunday? Don't think about doing anything else on Super Bowl Sunday, because CBS is on-air live from Raymond James Stadium from 11.30am ET/8.30am PT, making for a whopping seven hours of Super Bowl pre-game coverage on the channel. Super Bowl 2021: full schedule and TV guide While Covid has forced the NFL to make a number of changes to the usual Super Bowl Week schedule in 2021, most of the usual events and formalities are going ahead in one way or another. Super Bowl Media Day, for instance, became Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday, February 1 and saw select players interviewed over Zoom - not the usual circus that ensues at the start of the week. Here's a complete Super Bowl 2021 TV schedule for the big weekend: Saturday, February 6: NFL Honors 2021 at 9pm ET/PT on CBS Sunday, February 7: Super Bowl LV pre-game coverage from 11.30am ET/8.30am PT on CBS Sunday, February 7: Puppy Bowl XVII from 1pm ET/10am PT (2pm/11am paw-off) on Animal Planet US Sunday, February 7: Kitten Bowl VII at 2pm ET/11am PT on Hallmark Channel Sunday, February 7: Miley Cyrus presents TikTok Tailgate concert at 3pm on TikTok and CBS watch puppy bowl 2021 live stream (Image credit: Animal Planet/Discovery+) How to watch a Puppy Bowl 2021 live stream - and what is the Puppy Bowl? Super Bowl build-up wouldn't be the same without the Puppy Bowl, a pawsome pre-game tradition now in its 16th year - so we're on Puppy Bowl XVII, officially. It sees 70 adorable pups compete in a two-hour long event pitting Team Ruff vs Team Fluff. The event is co-hosted and the teams 'coached' by two of America's least likely BFFs, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart. A one-hour long pre-game show will recap the highlights of Puppy Bowls past from 1pm ET/10am PT, while the game itself 'kicks-off' at 2pm ET/11am PT. TV coverage is on Animal Planet, which if you don't have via cable, can be streamed using either the Discovery+ platform (from $4.99 a month, 7-day free trial) or an over-the-top cable replacement service like FuboTV (from $64.99 a month, 7-day free trial). The reason the Puppy Bowl has captured the nation's imagination is that in addition to being so darn cute, it also features adoptable dogs from shelters all over the country, so if you get tired of the usual talking heads pre-game coverage, be sure to tune in! Sadly, the Puppy Bowl doesn't seem to be available internationally, even in countries like the UK where Animal Planet is available. But anyone from the US currently abroad needn't worry as they can try our No. 1 rated VPN 100% risk-free for 30-days and tune in just like they would at home. super bowl 2021 live stream half time show the weeknd (Image credit: Michael Kovac/FilmMagic) Super Bowl 2021 Halftime Show: who's performing at Super Bowl LV? Following in the footsteps of a sensational performance by Shakira and J-Lo last year that was watched by some 104 million people (and received over 1,300 complaints), The Weeknd has been confirmed to headline the 2021 Super Bowl halftime how. It's expected to go down as the longest halftime show ever at 24 minutes, with Jay-Z and Roc Nation responsible for production of this year's entertainment. For more details, check out our full guide to the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show. Super Bowl 2021 odds and predictions The Kansas City Chiefs are currently installed as the heavy favorites to lift the Lombardi trophy for a second straight season. With arguably the league's most gifted QB in Patrick Mahomes under center, its best TE in Travis Kelce menacing opposing defences, and deadly skill players like Tyreek Hill able to break out for a big play at any time...it's easy to see why. The Bucs are the underdogs, having emerged from the NFC Wild Card picture with big wins over the Saints and Packers to get this far - and few would put another upset past them with GOAT Tom Brady under center. The combination of home field advantage and Brady being Brady somewhat mitigates Tampa's otherwise heavy underdog status, even if the 22,000 fans expected to attended is well below the normal 65,000+ capacity of Ray Jay. Still, while Tampa are a team brimming with the kind of confidence you get when you're led by TB12, most pundits are joining Vegas and the bookmakers in predicting a Chiefs win - though most have it down to be a close game that's likely to come down to the final possession.

Q anon is a military PSYOP and it has been very successful. I don’t know who cooked it up (but I hAve Strong suspicions) but apparently one drop said there was 10 members, 3 non military and 7 military. General Flynn and Admiral Rogers, both former directors of the DIA and NSA respectively appear deeply involved. A lot of people think Elon Musk is involved. I don’t claim to have proof positive of anything, it is still a guessing game. Trump is clearly happy to run with it. It is largely portrayed that this is an information war.
First and foremost Q is a PSYOP but it is also an ARG (Actual Reality Game), a source of disclosure, a communications backchannel and a platform to promote various political agendas. The primary goals of Q anon are as follows -

1. Promote American patriotism
   
2. Provide a communication back channel
   
3. Raise awareness of various conspiracy theories
   
4. Attract devoted members for political goals
   
5. Use gamification to encourage participation
   
6. Increase awareness of brainwashing by the MSM
   
7. Expose corrupt politicians on both sides
   
8. Get more votes for Trump
   
9. Provide a rallying call for disenchanted citizens
   
10. Convert lefties
    
11. Expose Soros agendas such as Antifa and BLM
    
12. Encourage free thought by using clues and hints
    
13. Provide disclosure of ETs and hidden technology
    
14. Dismantle the CIA
    
15. Show that Covid 19 was a scam/ hoax
    

29 political candidates publicly supporting Q anon have already won primaries. There are nearly 100 State and Congressional candidates spreading Q anon messages. President Trump has been retweeting Q anon messages on Twitter for years. General Mike Flynn and his family made a video pledging the oath of allegiance and then finishing with “Where We Go One, We Go All” - WWG1WGA. We are seeing the birth of a new political force which is not going anywhere. In fact it is growing exponentially. I think we are witnessing the birth of a movement that will be much larger and more influential than the tea party, because it appeals to lefties as well.
Most of the conspiracy theory content is old news and none of it started with Q. Q is almost like a clearing house for conspiracy theories. Pizzagate, UFOLOGY, Mockingbird MSM, Fifth Column infiltration of the USA, the fact that the MSM and corrupt politicians drive a constant agenda of hate by pushing divisive agendas which separate people based on race, gender, sexuality and politics. In fact there is not much new in the drops. (Although the “looking glass drop” which referred to Project Looking Glass was new to me and a huge eye opener).
A lot of the agenda is achieved using gamification aspects. The drops themselves generally present hints and topics and the “anons” are then supposed to do their own research. Twitter was the venue for many of the most popular accounts to discuss Q anon but it has now been banned and most of the big accounts, some which had more than quarter of a million followers have been deleted by Twitter. YouTube has quite a few channels devoted to Q anon and to date, YouTube had been more tolerant than Twitter but it recently deleted EVERYTHING! It was a purge. There was some incredible videos, stuff about project looking glass, time travel, hidden technology. It is a tragedy that this information is now all gone.
This sub is the only place on Reddit where you can discuss Q anon (unless you count Qult_Headquarters which is just a circle jerk hate sub). In fact Q is probably the most censored topic on the internet. For example on Twitter you can discuss paedophilia and being “minor attracted” but you will be banned if you mention Q anon. The mainstream media has devoted endless articles calling it “debunked” “baseless” “hoax” etc. The Q drops are made as hints, clues, predictions, disinformation, private messages to field operatives, religious quotes, memes etc. There is now way you can just write it off or dismiss it.
Let’s say the entire purpose of the PSYOP/ AR game (note - LARPs are AR games) known as Q is to make certain disclosures seep into the public consciousness, galvanise Trump’s base, win over lefties, teach people to think for themselves with riddles and hints and get more votes for Trump. If those were the purposes of the operation then you would have to say it is absolutely succeeding. The wellness crowd and soccer mums have been jumping on the bandwagon on Facebook and Instagram. The public trusts the MSM less than ever. Some of the negative activities of elites have been brought further into the public consciousness. No matter which way you look at it, the Q anon has been a total mission success in every way. In fact it is FAR from over. Much more will be revealed after the election. However, after the election I believe the Q anon operation will be basically shut down and relegated to history. Either that or it will mainstream and become a sort of pseudo-cultural influence. I suspect we are looking at something like the tea party but this also has appeal to lefties (wellness crowd, blexit crowd, anti-vaxxers, disclosure/ UFO fans, new agers). In fact a very substantial number of Q anons are ex-lefties so this could be much bigger than the tea party.
I could go on and on but thanks to those of you who made it this far. To the usual crowd who are going to call me names, swear at me, suggest anyone who follows Q anon is insane, well, at least I have plenty of company.
Oh and this is my favourite place to get Q info. This guy is not regarded as Q by most anons, he is currently in a Federal Prison in Arizona. Interestingly Rudy Giuliani mentioned that one of his whistleblowers is being kept “safe” in a federal prison. Also it seems like Austin is somehow magically allowed to use his Twitter and run his companies and do online and radio interviews from prison. IMO he is an American hero and he should be a household name. He is like a Julian Assange +. His channel and interviews are an absolute gold mine. I literally mean a gold mine. If you watch the videos and be attentive you will discover things which will literally make you gold/ money. Watch “Black Ops 101 first. Big love to all of you. Enjoy
https://3speak.co/useaustinsteinbart

Q anon isn’t going anywhere. Think of it like the tea party, it was the beginning of a new movement. Most people didn’t even have a clue what it actually was. Here is a good description:
Q anon is a military PSYOP and it has been very successful. I don’t know who cooked it up (but I hAve Strong suspicions) but apparently one drop said there was 10 members, 3 non military and 7 military. General Flynn and Admiral Rogers, both former directors of the DIA and NSA respectively appear deeply involved. A lot of people think Elon Musk is involved. I don’t claim to have proof positive of anything, it is still a guessing game. Trump is clearly happy to run with it. It is largely portrayed that this is an information war.
First and foremost Q is a PSYOP but it is also an ARG (Actual Reality Game), a source of disclosure, a communications backchannel and a platform to promote various political agendas. The primary goals of Q anon are as follows -

1. Promote American patriotism
   
2. Provide a communication back channel
   
3. Raise awareness of various conspiracy theories
   
4. Attract devoted members for political goals
   
5. Use gamification to encourage participation
   
6. Increase awareness of brainwashing by the MSM
   
7. Expose corrupt politicians on both sides
   
8. Get more votes for Trump
   
9. Provide a rallying call for disenchanted citizens
   
10. Convert lefties
    
11. Expose Soros agendas such as Antifa and BLM
    
12. Encourage free thought by using clues and hints
    
13. Provide disclosure of ETs and hidden technology
    
14. Dismantle the CIA
    
15. Show that Covid 19 was a scam/ hoax
    

29 political candidates publicly supporting Q anon have already won primaries. There are nearly 100 State and Congressional candidates spreading Q anon messages. President Trump has been retweeting Q anon messages on Twitter for years. General Mike Flynn and his family made a video pledging the oath of allegiance and then finishing with “Where We Go One, We Go All” - WWG1WGA. We are seeing the birth of a new political force which is not going anywhere. In fact it is growing exponentially. I think we are witnessing the birth of a movement that will be much larger and more influential than the tea party, because it appeals to lefties as well.
Most of the conspiracy theory content is old news and none of it started with Q. Q is almost like a clearing house for conspiracy theories. Pizzagate, UFOLOGY, Mockingbird MSM, Fifth Column infiltration of the USA, the fact that the MSM and corrupt politicians drive a constant agenda of hate by pushing divisive agendas which separate people based on race, gender, sexuality and politics. In fact there is not much new in the drops. (Although the “looking glass drop” which referred to Project Looking Glass was new to me and a huge eye opener).
A lot of the agenda is achieved using gamification aspects. The drops themselves generally present hints and topics and the “anons” are then supposed to do their own research. Twitter was the venue for many of the most popular accounts to discuss Q anon but it has now been banned and most of the big accounts, some which had more than quarter of a million followers have been deleted by Twitter. YouTube has quite a few channels devoted to Q anon and to date, YouTube had been more tolerant than Twitter but it recently deleted EVERYTHING! It was a purge. There was some incredible videos, stuff about project looking glass, time travel, hidden technology. It is a tragedy that this information is now all gone.
This sub is the only place on Reddit where you can discuss Q anon (unless you count Qult_Headquarters which is just a circle jerk hate sub). In fact Q is probably the most censored topic on the internet. For example on Twitter you can discuss paedophilia and being “minor attracted” but you will be banned if you mention Q anon. The mainstream media has devoted endless articles calling it “debunked” “baseless” “hoax” etc. The Q drops are made as hints, clues, predictions, disinformation, private messages to field operatives, religious quotes, memes etc. There is now way you can just write it off or dismiss it.
Let’s say the entire purpose of the PSYOP/ AR game (note - LARPs are AR games) known as Q is to make certain disclosures seep into the public consciousness, galvanise Trump’s base, win over lefties, teach people to think for themselves with riddles and hints and get more votes for Trump. If those were the purposes of the operation then you would have to say it is absolutely succeeding. The wellness crowd and soccer mums have been jumping on the bandwagon on Facebook and Instagram. The public trusts the MSM less than ever. Some of the negative activities of elites have been brought further into the public consciousness. No matter which way you look at it, the Q anon has been a total mission success in every way. In fact it is FAR from over. Much more will be revealed after the election. However, after the election I believe the Q anon operation will be basically shut down and relegated to history. Either that or it will mainstream and become a sort of pseudo-cultural influence. I suspect we are looking at something like the tea party but this also has appeal to lefties (wellness crowd, blexit crowd, anti-vaxxers, disclosure/ UFO fans, new agers). In fact a very substantial number of Q anons are ex-lefties so this could be much bigger than the tea party.
I could go on and on but thanks to those of you who made it this far. To the usual crowd who are going to call me names, swear at me, suggest anyone who follows Q anon is insane, well, at least I have plenty of company.
Oh and this is my favourite place to get Q info. This guy is not regarded as Q by most anons, he is currently in a Federal Prison in Arizona. Interestingly Rudy Giuliani mentioned that one of his whistleblowers is being kept “safe” in a federal prison. Also it seems like Austin is somehow magically allowed to use his Twitter and run his companies and do online and radio interviews from prison. IMO he is an American hero and he should be a household name. He is like a Julian Assange +. His channel and interviews are an absolute gold mine. I literally mean a gold mine. If you watch the videos and be attentive you will discover things which will literally make you gold/ money. Watch “Black Ops 101 first. Big love to all of you. Enjoy
https://3speak.co/useaustinsteinbart

(Warning: Overly wordy, mostly derivative, quasi-philosophical screed incoming)

But as the world turns I learned life is hell
Living in the world no different from a cell

Wu-Tang Clan “C.R.E.A.M.”

A classic joke: A wealthy and successful businessman is lying in a sickbed, at death's door, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. Looking at their tearless faces he is struck by the realization that he doesn’t know them. They’re strangers. The entirety of his life flashes before his eyes - every inane moment spent filling out spreadsheets and languishing in board meetings and rotting on conference calls - and he croaks out, “Man, I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”
The moral it’s meant to impart (or at least the moral imparted by its non-comedically inverted counterpart: I don’t know anyone who said on their deathbed, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”) is that ‘work’ is insufficient to provide existential meaning. A meaningful life is a life spent connecting with people and forming bonds with them. Or something.
A phenomenon: You’re standing on a precipice (literally, as in a high roof, bridge, mountain, etc.) and suddenly, you’re struck by an urge... jump. This is common enough that it has some semblance of a name. “The Call of the Void (l’appel du vide).” Heights are a common trigger, but the same phenomenon takes other forms as well.
Waiting for the subway on an empty platform, you hear the noise of an arriving train... step forward. Driving home on the freeway late at night from a long day at work, you glance at the oncoming traffic in the other lane... swerve.
Hmmmmm.
Three dead guys walk into a bar.
The bartender asks each of them, “So. How did you die?”
The first responds, “Me? Heroin overdose. I spent my whole life drinking, shooting up, or getting high.”
The second scoffs, “How pathetic. I spent my whole life working. I made millions and millions of dollars... and then died surrounded by estranged family members.”
The third says, “Well, I was just your average Joe, but I always made time to chat. I met so many good people and made so many good friends over the years. After a long and happy life, I died peacefully in my sleep holding my wife.”
The bartender looks the three of them over and says, “Well if you’re all so different... how come all three of you ended up in the same place?”

The sign of doom is written on your brows – how long will ye kick against the pin-pricks?

Zapffe “The Last Messiah”

Whether there is a literal afterlife or just a hypothetical comedic premise afterlife, the point remains. All three guys are the same. They lived “different” (I hope the air-quotes are sufficiently palpable) lives in the sense that their actions were physically different, but their motivations for living those lives were entirely the same. Just as two chess players might play different moves and use different strategies, but hope for the same end result.
Let’s look closely at each of our hypothetical persons.
The first guy, — Should we name them? If we are going to be dissecting their lives it feels only respectful. Let’s make this first one an M.D. and have his name be... I don’t know... Ug. — Dr. Ug, subscribed to the John Lennon school of life. (The relevant Lennon quote: “When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.”) After Dr. Ug graduated from medical school he realized that happiness felt the same whether it came from getting a degree to make his mom proud or from shooting heroin. Getting heroin requires considerably less work than getting a diploma, so he went off to do. He lived another handful of decades snorting, smoking, and injecting whatever he could get his hands on until he died while pissing himself. He lived a “happy” life.
The second guy, Sir F (yes, he’s a British businessman who was knighted. If you have a better suggestion for a pun name than ‘Sir F/serf’ please let me know), got his first job as a paperboy when he was barely out of diapers. From that day forwards he slaved away his whole life, working night and day, rain or hail, holiday or weekend, until he was a renowned and wealthy CEO. The Queen knighted him. He had three wives over the course of his life, half a dozen kids, and a dozen or so grandkids. Five of his six kids took their first steps while he was at the office. He only met about half of his grandkids. All three of his wives were considerably younger than him and married him only for his money. He didn’t care. Business was booming and there was money to be made. He died of old age after spending some fraction of his fortune on a sequence of expensive medical procedures with diminishing returns. His tombstone is massive, and his name is on buildings scattered across the globe. He lived a “successful” life.
The third guy, Pham Leigh Mann, immigrated from Vietnam and then married his highschool sweetheart. He lived in a small town where he knew everyone’s name. He was the kinda guy who could strike up a conversation with anyone and often did so. Mr. Mann lived nine decades and made it a point to keep up with his whole family. The yearly Mann family reunion barbecues that he hosted were eminently well attended. He coached his kids’ soccer team, attended choir recitals, drama club productions, bake sales. Everyone called him Paw-Paw or Big Pops. He lived to be 93 years old and died in his sleep. His funeral was attended by virtually the entire population of his town, and Manns across the country were sorry to see him go, but happy that he had lived such a “good” life.

Three guys walk into a bar. The fourth guy ducks.

Pre-emptive aside: Are these fellows contrived, shallow, unrealistic, strawmen? Of course they are. They aren’t real people. But they’re close enough, in each of their particular respects, to simulate an extreme version of the traits and lifestyles in question for demonstrative purposes. That aside...
At a glance, Dr. Ug, Sir F, and Pham Leigh Mann couldn’t be more different. They each had an entirely different idea of how to spend their time alive. Pursuing happiness, success, or goodness until the inevitable end. One actual difference, though, is that Dr. Ug and Sir F aren’t supposed to come off well in their abbreviated biographical epitaph.
Dr. Ug lived a pointless, pathetic, and self destructive lifestyle that ended predictably tragically. The ‘correct’ response is to shake your head sadly and cover your children’s eyes. Sir F was a modern day serf who scraped himself to the bone everyday in pursuit of wealth, to the exclusion of anything and everything else. The ‘correct’ response is to laud him for his business acumen while lamenting that he never realized the value of family and love.
Only Mr. Mann is supposed to be praiseworthy. He lived a “meaningful” life. A “good” life.

Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn that he not busy being born
Is busy dying

Bob Dylan “It’s Alright Ma”

A question: Why did each of the three men live their lives like they did? Why pursue happiness or success or goodness?
Well, for the same reason that anyone does anything: to defend ourselves against our own minds.

Why, then, has mankind not long ago gone extinct during great epidemics of madness? Why do only a fairly minor number of individuals perish because they fail to endure the strain of living – because cognition gives them more than they can carry? Cultural history, as well as observation of ourselves and others, allow the following answer: Most people learn to save themselves by artificially limiting the content of consciousness

How so?

The whole of living that we see before our eyes today is from inmost to outmost enmeshed in repressional mechanisms, social and individual; they can be traced right into the tritest formulas of everyday life. Though they take a vast and multifarious variety of forms, it seems legitimate to at least identify four major kinds, naturally occuring in every possible combination: isolation, anchoring, distraction and sublimation.

The four major repression mechanisms are basically stratagems we use to thwart the misfortune of consciousness. Zapffe describes four, but three of them seem to be the most prominent and recognizable, with the fourth playing an ancillary role. In any case:
Isolation: A sort of conspiracy of silence, both intra- and inter- personal, regarding the problems and suffering of consciousness. A set of blinders, if you will. ‘Tact’ being a prime example.
Anchoring: Rooting life in proposed truths and principles (ie. God, Nation, Family, Ethics, Goals, Culture) so as to gain a feeling of necessity and purpose.
Distraction: The name seems self explanatory. Boredom is fertile ground for reflection, and so a constant stream of distractions must be employed to subdue the mind.
...
Sublimation: Roughly speaking, “No pain no gain.” The idea is to channel suffering and self awareness into the production of some work, or to twist it in such a way as to repurpose it for chosen ends. Proponents include Jane Fonda, Benjamin Franklin, Arnold Schwarzenegger , poets, artists, etc.

NO PAINS, NO GAINS.
If little labour, little are our gains:
Man's fate is according to his pains.

Hesperides 752 (circa 1650)

Works of sublimation typically engage an aesthetic perspective, among others, in order to achieve the intended sublimation. i.e. A bodybuilder chasing a dream physique. The aesthetic lens makes the desired obfuscation much more palatable.

The human yearning is not merely marked by a ‘striving toward’, but equally by an ‘escape from.’ ... None has yet been clear about what he is longing for, but one has always a heartfelt awareness of what one is longing away from, namely the earthly vale of tears, one’s own inendurable condition.

Now, returning to our three posthumous friends, elements of all three strategies are present in each case obviously, but roughly speaking each man was intended to evoke one in particular.
Dr. Ug employs chemical distraction. Sir F blinds himself with cultural/monetary isolation. Pham anchors himself in family, community, and an inherited ideal of a “good” life.
(The secret fourth example is me, writing this as a work of sublimation.)
I have previously written (albeit poorly and somewhat tangentially) about hedonism, and the claws it has dug into modern society as the mainstream ‘end.’ Hopefully it is clear that hedonistic pursuits are almost nakedly distractions. They serve to take our mind off of the unpleasant thought.
(In fact, this terminology is particularly useful for diagnosing changes in malaise. For example, it is often noted that modernity has seen a decrease in the prominence of inherited culture and a corresponding increase in frivolity, dissatisfaction, and individualism. aka: A shift from “outdated” traditionalist anchoring to modern hedonistic distraction.)
Extending this observation, it might become clear that virtually all forms of human activity, be it eating, having sex, watching a movie, reading a book, basking in the sun, learning a new boardgame, going to a rave, listening to music, etc., are similarly forms of distraction, designed to prevent the mind from experiencing boredom, the state in which it is most free to contemplate its inherent misfortune.
For some distraction is enough, and they, like Dr. Ug, simply spend their lives in a swirl of hedonistic impressions and distractions. For others though, their lust for a greater purpose cannot be so easily satiated, and they must employ isolation and anchoring to a greater degree.

Let us consider, for instance, “Sunday neurosis,” that kind of depression which afflicts people who become aware of the lack of content in their lives when the rush of the busy week is over and the void within themselves becomes manifest. ... Such widespread phenomena as depression, aggression, and addiction are not understandable unless we recognize the existential vacuum underlying them.

Viktor E. Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Children are a prime example. Ask most people why they choose to have children and their answer is... often quite a bit less structured than one might naively expect. Nearly everyone recognizes the monumental nature of the decision to have a child, and yet the reasons for which people make said choice tend to smack of post hoc rationalization.
Some examples:

“Well it’s just something that you do when you get to a certain age.” “I wanted to have a family.” “To pass on our values.”

Etcetera etcetera. I’m sure you can see the pattern.
The goal of having a child, either subconsciously known beforehand or realized after the fact, is to satiate that human desire for “meaning.” Children are a high quality, socially sanctioned, evolutionarily selected for, incredibly potent direct injection of “meaning.”
How many parents vegetate while living vicariously through their kids? Their own purpose proved insufficient, and so they now try an alternate remedy. One our biology has evolved specifically to incentivize.
Having and raising a child is so “meaningful” because it is an almost perfect synthesis of all four of the aforementioned strategies. Distraction, isolation, anchoring are all present, and the ‘work’ of raising the child is essentially a process of sublimation. We have evolved to find it “meaningful,” and we likely wouldn’t continue to exist if we didn’t.
But make no mistake, any difference between our three fellows is simply either aesthetic or a matter of degree. There is no difference in kind. They, and everyone, act out the same play with the same sort of lines. We are being lied to... by ourselves.

One night in long bygone times, man awoke and saw himself.
He saw that he was naked under cosmos, homeless in his own body. All things dissolved before his testing thought, wonder above wonder, horror above horror unfolded in his mind.
Then woman too awoke and said it was time to go and slay. And he fetched his bow and arrow, a fruit of the marriage of spirit and hand, and went outside beneath the stars. But as the beasts arrived at their waterholes where he expected them of habit, he felt no more the tiger’s bound in his blood, but a great psalm about the brotherhood of suffering between everything alive.
That day he did not return with prey, and when they found him by the next new moon, he was sitting dead by the waterhole.

Q anon is a military PSYOP and it has been very successful. I don’t know who cooked it up (but I hAve Strong suspicions) but apparently one drop said there was 10 members, 3 non military and 7 military. General Flynn and Admiral Rogers, both former directors of the DIA and NSA respectively appear deeply involved. A lot of people think Elon Musk is involved. I don’t claim to have proof positive of anything, it is still a guessing game. Trump is clearly happy to run with it. It is largely portrayed that this is an information war.
First and foremost Q is a PSYOP but it is also an ARG (Actual Reality Game), a source of disclosure, a communications backchannel and a platform to promote various political agendas. The primary goals of Q anon are as follows:

1. Promote American patriotism
   
2. Provide a communication back channel
   
3. Raise awareness of various conspiracy theories
   
4. Attract devoted members for political goals
   
5. Use gamification to encourage participation
   
6. Increase awareness of brainwashing by the MSM
   
7. Expose corrupt politicians on both sides
   
8. Get more votes for Trump
   
9. Provide a rallying call for disenchanted citizens
   
10. Convert lefties
    
11. Expose Soros agendas such as Antifa and BLM
    
12. Encourage free thought by using clues and hints
    
13. Provide disclosure of ETs and hidden technology
    
14. Dismantle the CIA
    
15. Show that Covid 19 was a scam/ hoax
    

29 political candidates publicly supporting Q anon have already won primaries. There are nearly 100 State and Congressional candidates spreading Q anon messages. President Trump has been retweeting Q anon messages on Twitter for years. General Mike Flynn and his family made a video pledging the oath of allegiance and then finishing with “Where We Go One, We Go All” - WWG1WGA. We are seeing the birth of a new political force which is not going anywhere. In fact it is growing exponentially. I think we are witnessing the birth of a movement that will be much larger and more influential than the tea party, because it appeals to lefties as well.
Most of the conspiracy theory content is old news and none of it started with Q. Q is almost like a clearing house for conspiracy theories. Pizzagate, UFOLOGY, Mockingbird MSM, Fifth Column infiltration of the USA, the fact that the MSM and corrupt politicians drive a constant agenda of hate by pushing divisive agendas which separate people based on race, gender, sexuality and politics. In fact there is not much new in the drops. (Although the “looking glass drop” which referred to Project Looking Glass was new to me and a huge eye opener).
A lot of the agenda is achieved using gamification aspects. The drops themselves generally present hints and topics and the “anons” are then supposed to do their own research. Twitter was the venue for many of the most popular accounts to discuss Q anon but it has now been banned and most of the big accounts, some which had more than quarter of a million followers have been deleted by Twitter. YouTube has quite a few channels devoted to Q anon and to date, YouTube had been more tolerant than Twitter but it recently deleted EVERYTHING! It was a purge. There was some incredible videos, stuff about project looking glass, time travel, hidden technology. It is a tragedy that this information is now all gone.
This sub is the only place on Reddit where you can discuss Q anon (unless you count Qult_Headquarters which is just a circle jerk hate sub). In fact Q is probably the most censored topic on the internet. For example on Twitter you can discuss paedophilia and being “minor attracted” but you will be banned if you mention Q anon. The mainstream media has devoted endless articles calling it “debunked” “baseless” “hoax” etc. The Q drops are made as hints, clues, predictions, disinformation, private messages to field operatives, religious quotes, memes etc. There is now way you can just write it off or dismiss it.
Let’s say the entire purpose of the PSYOP/ AR game (note - LARPs are AR games) known as Q is to make certain disclosures seep into the public consciousness, galvanise Trump’s base, win over lefties, teach people to think for themselves with riddles and hints and get more votes for Trump. If those were the purposes of the operation then you would have to say it is absolutely succeeding. The wellness crowd and soccer mums have been jumping on the bandwagon on Facebook and Instagram. The public trusts the MSM less than ever. Some of the negative activities of elites have been brought further into the public consciousness. No matter which way you look at it, the Q anon has been a total mission success in every way. In fact it is FAR from over. Much more will be revealed after the election. However, after the election I believe the Q anon operation will be basically shut down and relegated to history. Either that or it will mainstream and become a sort of pseudo-cultural influence. I suspect we are looking at something like the tea party but this also has appeal to lefties (wellness crowd, blexit crowd, anti-vaxxers, disclosure/ UFO fans, new agers). In fact a very substantial number of Q anons are ex-lefties so this could be much bigger than the tea party.
I could go on and on but thanks to those of you who made it this far. To the usual crowd who are going to call me names, swear at me, suggest anyone who follows Q anon is insane, well, at least I have plenty of company.
Oh and this is my favourite place to get Q info. This guy is not regarded as Q by most anons, he is currently in a Federal Prison in Arizona. Interestingly Rudy Giuliani mentioned that one of his whistleblowers is being kept “safe” in a federal prison. Also it seems like Austin is somehow magically allowed to use his Twitter and run his companies and do online and radio interviews from prison. IMO he is an American hero and he should be a household name. He is like a Julian Assange +. His channel and interviews are an absolute gold mine. I literally mean a gold mine. If you watch the videos and be attentive you will discover things which will literally make you gold/ money. Watch “Black Ops 101 first. Big love to all of you. Enjoy
https://3speak.co/useaustinsteinbart

(Warning: Overly wordy, mostly derivative, quasi-philosophical screed incoming)

But as the world turns I learned life is hell
Living in the world no different from a cell

Wu-Tang Clan “C.R.E.A.M.”

A classic joke: A wealthy and successful businessman is lying in a sickbed, at death's door, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. Looking at their tearless faces he is struck by the realization that he doesn’t know them. They’re strangers. The entirety of his life flashes before his eyes - every inane moment spent filling out spreadsheets and languishing in board meetings and rotting on conference calls - and he croaks out, “Man, I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”
The moral it’s meant to impart (or at least the moral imparted by its non-comedically inverted counterpart: I don’t know anyone who said on their deathbed, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”) is that ‘work’ is insufficient to provide existential meaning. A meaningful life is a life spent connecting with people and forming bonds with them. Or something.
A phenomenon: You’re standing on a precipice (literally, as in a high roof, bridge, mountain, etc.) and suddenly, you’re struck by an urge... jump. This is common enough that it has some semblance of a name. “The Call of the Void (l’appel du vide).” Heights are a common trigger, but the same phenomenon takes other forms as well.
Waiting for the subway on an empty platform, you hear the noise of an arriving train... step forward. Driving home on the freeway late at night from a long day at work, you glance at the oncoming traffic in the other lane... swerve.
Hmmmmm.
Three dead guys walk into a bar.
The bartender asks each of them, “So. How did you die?”
The first responds, “Me? Heroin overdose. I spent my whole life drinking, shooting up, or getting high.”
The second scoffs, “How pathetic. I spent my whole life working. I made millions and millions of dollars... and then died surrounded by estranged family members.”
The third says, “Well, I was just your average Joe, but I always made time to chat. I met so many good people and made so many good friends over the years. After a long and happy life, I died peacefully in my sleep holding my wife.”
The bartender looks the three of them over and says, “Well if you’re all so different... how come all three of you ended up in the same place?”

The sign of doom is written on your brows – how long will ye kick against the pin-pricks?

Zapffe “The Last Messiah”

Whether there is a literal afterlife or just a hypothetical comedic premise afterlife, the point remains. All three guys are the same. They lived “different” (I hope the air-quotes are sufficiently palpable) lives in the sense that their actions were physically different, but their motivations for living those lives were entirely the same. Just as two chess players might play different moves and use different strategies, but hope for the same end result.
Let’s look closely at each of our hypothetical persons.
The first guy, — Should we name them? If we are going to be dissecting their lives it feels only respectful. Let’s make this first one an M.D. and have his name be... I don’t know... Ug. — Dr. Ug, subscribed to the John Lennon school of life. (The relevant Lennon quote: “When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.”) After Dr. Ug graduated from medical school he realized that happiness felt the same whether it came from getting a degree to make his mom proud or from shooting heroin. Getting heroin requires considerably less work than getting a diploma, so he went off to do. He lived another handful of decades snorting, smoking, and injecting whatever he could get his hands on until he died while pissing himself. He lived a “happy” life.
The second guy, Sir F (yes, he’s a British businessman who was knighted. If you have a better suggestion for a pun name than ‘Sir F/serf’ please let me know), got his first job as a paperboy when he was barely out of diapers. From that day forwards he slaved away his whole life, working night and day, rain or hail, holiday or weekend, until he was a renowned and wealthy CEO. The Queen knighted him. He had three wives over the course of his life, half a dozen kids, and a dozen or so grandkids. Five of his six kids took their first steps while he was at the office. He only met about half of his grandkids. All three of his wives were considerably younger than him and married him only for his money. He didn’t care. Business was booming and there was money to be made. He died of old age after spending some fraction of his fortune on a sequence of expensive medical procedures with diminishing returns. His tombstone is massive, and his name is on buildings scattered across the globe. He lived a “successful” life.
The third guy, Pham Leigh Mann, immigrated from Vietnam and then married his highschool sweetheart. He lived in a small town where he knew everyone’s name. He was the kinda guy who could strike up a conversation with anyone and often did so. Mr. Mann lived nine decades and made it a point to keep up with his whole family. The yearly Mann family reunion barbecues that he hosted were eminently well attended. He coached his kids’ soccer team, attended choir recitals, drama club productions, bake sales. Everyone called him Paw-Paw or Big Pops. He lived to be 93 years old and died in his sleep. His funeral was attended by virtually the entire population of his town, and Manns across the country were sorry to see him go, but happy that he had lived such a “good” life.

Three guys walk into a bar. The fourth guy ducks.

Pre-emptive aside: Are these fellows contrived, shallow, unrealistic, strawmen? Of course they are. They aren’t real people. But they’re close enough, in each of their particular respects, to simulate an extreme version of the traits and lifestyles in question for demonstrative purposes. That aside...
At a glance, Dr. Ug, Sir F, and Pham Leigh Mann couldn’t be more different. They each had an entirely different idea of how to spend their time alive. Pursuing happiness, success, or goodness until the inevitable end. One actual difference, though, is that Dr. Ug and Sir F aren’t supposed to come off well in their abbreviated biographical epitaph.
Dr. Ug lived a pointless, pathetic, and self destructive lifestyle that ended predictably tragically. The ‘correct’ response is to shake your head sadly and cover your children’s eyes. Sir F was a modern day serf who scraped himself to the bone everyday in pursuit of wealth, to the exclusion of anything and everything else. The ‘correct’ response is to laud him for his business acumen while lamenting that he never realized the value of family and love.
Only Mr. Mann is supposed to be praiseworthy. He lived a “meaningful” life. A “good” life.

Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn that he not busy being born
Is busy dying

Bob Dylan “It’s Alright Ma”

A question: Why did each of the three men live their lives like they did? Why pursue happiness or success or goodness?
Well, for the same reason that anyone does anything: to defend ourselves against our own minds.

Why, then, has mankind not long ago gone extinct during great epidemics of madness? Why do only a fairly minor number of individuals perish because they fail to endure the strain of living – because cognition gives them more than they can carry? Cultural history, as well as observation of ourselves and others, allow the following answer: Most people learn to save themselves by artificially limiting the content of consciousness

How so?

The whole of living that we see before our eyes today is from inmost to outmost enmeshed in repressional mechanisms, social and individual; they can be traced right into the tritest formulas of everyday life. Though they take a vast and multifarious variety of forms, it seems legitimate to at least identify four major kinds, naturally occuring in every possible combination: isolation, anchoring, distraction and sublimation.

The four major repression mechanisms are basically stratagems we use to thwart the misfortune of consciousness. Zapffe describes four, but three of them seem to be the most prominent and recognizable, with the fourth playing an ancillary role. In any case:
Isolation: A sort of conspiracy of silence, both intra- and inter- personal, regarding the problems and suffering of consciousness. A set of blinders, if you will. ‘Tact’ being a prime example.
Anchoring: Rooting life in proposed truths and principles (ie. God, Nation, Family, Ethics, Goals, Culture) so as to gain a feeling of necessity and purpose.
Distraction: The name seems self explanatory. Boredom is fertile ground for reflection, and so a constant stream of distractions must be employed to subdue the mind.
...
Sublimation: Roughly speaking, “No pain no gain.” The idea is to channel suffering and self awareness into the production of some work, or to twist it in such a way as to repurpose it for chosen ends. Proponents include Jane Fonda, Benjamin Franklin, Arnold Schwarzenegger , poets, artists, etc.

NO PAINS, NO GAINS.
If little labour, little are our gains:
Man's fate is according to his pains.

Hesperides 752 (circa 1650)

Works of sublimation typically engage an aesthetic perspective, among others, in order to achieve the intended sublimation. i.e. A bodybuilder chasing a dream physique. The aesthetic lens makes the desired obfuscation much more palatable.

The human yearning is not merely marked by a ‘striving toward’, but equally by an ‘escape from.’ ... None has yet been clear about what he is longing for, but one has always a heartfelt awareness of what one is longing away from, namely the earthly vale of tears, one’s own inendurable condition.

Now, returning to our three posthumous friends, elements of all three strategies are present in each case obviously, but roughly speaking each man was intended to evoke one in particular.
Dr. Ug employs chemical distraction. Sir F blinds himself with cultural/monetary isolation. Pham anchors himself in family, community, and an inherited ideal of a “good” life.
(The secret fourth example is me, writing this as a work of sublimation.)
I have previously written (albeit poorly and somewhat tangentially) about hedonism, and the claws it has dug into modern society as the mainstream ‘end.’ Hopefully it is clear that hedonistic pursuits are almost nakedly distractions. They serve to take our mind off of the unpleasant thought.
(In fact, this terminology is particularly useful for diagnosing changes in malaise. For example, it is often noted that modernity has seen a decrease in the prominence of inherited culture and a corresponding increase in frivolity, dissatisfaction, and individualism. aka: A shift from “outdated” traditionalist anchoring to modern hedonistic distraction.)
Extending this observation, it might become clear that virtually all forms of human activity, be it eating, having sex, watching a movie, reading a book, basking in the sun, learning a new boardgame, going to a rave, listening to music, etc., are similarly forms of distraction, designed to prevent the mind from experiencing boredom, the state in which it is most free to contemplate its inherent misfortune.
For some distraction is enough, and they, like Dr. Ug, simply spend their lives in a swirl of hedonistic impressions and distractions. For others though, their lust for a greater purpose cannot be so easily satiated, and they must employ isolation and anchoring to a greater degree.

Let us consider, for instance, “Sunday neurosis,” that kind of depression which afflicts people who become aware of the lack of content in their lives when the rush of the busy week is over and the void within themselves becomes manifest. ... Such widespread phenomena as depression, aggression, and addiction are not understandable unless we recognize the existential vacuum underlying them.

Viktor E. Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Children are a prime example. Ask most people why they choose to have children and their answer is... often quite a bit less structured than one might naively expect. Nearly everyone recognizes the monumental nature of the decision to have a child, and yet the reasons for which people make said choice tend to smack of post hoc rationalization.
Some examples:

“Well it’s just something that you do when you get to a certain age.” “I wanted to have a family.” “To pass on our values.”

Etcetera etcetera. I’m sure you can see the pattern.
The goal of having a child, either subconsciously known beforehand or realized after the fact, is to satiate that human desire for “meaning.” Children are a high quality, socially sanctioned, evolutionarily selected for, incredibly potent direct injection of “meaning.”
How many parents vegetate while living vicariously through their kids? Their own purpose proved insufficient, and so they now try an alternate remedy. One our biology has evolved specifically to incentivize.
Having and raising a child is so “meaningful” because it is an almost perfect synthesis of all four of the aforementioned strategies. Distraction, isolation, anchoring are all present, and the ‘work’ of raising the child is essentially a process of sublimation. We have evolved to find it “meaningful,” and we likely wouldn’t continue to exist if we didn’t.
But make no mistake, any difference between our three fellows is simply either aesthetic or a matter of degree. There is no difference in kind. They, and everyone, act out the same play with the same sort of lines. We are being lied to... by ourselves.

One night in long bygone times, man awoke and saw himself.
He saw that he was naked under cosmos, homeless in his own body. All things dissolved before his testing thought, wonder above wonder, horror above horror unfolded in his mind.
Then woman too awoke and said it was time to go and slay. And he fetched his bow and arrow, a fruit of the marriage of spirit and hand, and went outside beneath the stars. But as the beasts arrived at their waterholes where he expected them of habit, he felt no more the tiger’s bound in his blood, but a great psalm about the brotherhood of suffering between everything alive.
That day he did not return with prey, and when they found him by the next new moon, he was sitting dead by the waterhole.

In one year, Apple TV+ has released a pretty solid slate of original material. Not including children-oriented content, Apple TV+ has released 20 series, 3 miniseries, 9 movies, and 2 talk shows. From the start, Apple has said that the goal of the content is on quality, not quantity. But…has it lived up to that?
34 - Greatness Code - Documentary
Summary: Each episode features a different athlete talking about a key moment in their careers. The show features athletes from many different sports, including basketball’s LeBron James, soccer’s Alex Morgan (sorry…footballer Alex Morgan), snowboarder Shaun White, sprinter Usain Bolt, swimmer Katie Ledecky, surfer Kelly Slater, and (American) footballer Tom Brady (who is a co-producer).
My Take: This is the easy winner for the worst thing on Apple TV+. The only good thing about this “show” is that the episodes are usually no more than 10 minutes long. The monologues by the athletes are…fine. There’s nothing you haven’t really heard before here. The problem is that the special effects take away from actually seeing the athlete in action. Almost every bit of action has some animation or filter or something over it, so we almost never actually see the events being discussed. It’s pretty ridiculous. After watching this, I genuinely wondered if this series was intended to be part of Apple TV+’s children’s offerings, because that is the only level where it could at all seem “great”.
33 - Oprah Talks Covid-19 - News (Miniseries)
Summary: Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic started major lockdowns across the United States, Oprah quickly began to do online interviews with people who she hoped would bring perspective and uplifting messages, from celebrities to pastors to nurses to people who had experienced isolation in prison and the holocaust. This series ran for nearly a month from mid-March to mid-April in 2020.
My Take: One of Oprah’s three series, this one is the lowest ranked just because much of the information within it is out of date, and is aimed at people at a certain time, which was months ago. But in a way, it’s a bit of a time capsule of the early parts of the pandemic in the public eye, which is interesting. It’s almost as interesting to see the production value (or lack there of), as the majority of the episodes are screen recordings of online interviews. It’s perhaps only worth watching now for being a curiosity, but Apple and Oprah did good getting something up in a timely fashion.
32 - Amazing Stories - Adventure
Summary: An anthology series executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the show brings back the “Amazing Stories” brand with five independent stories about incredible adventures that play with sci-fi and fantasy about regular people put in amazing situations.
My Take: Amazing Stories was to be one of Apple TV’s tentpoles for the summer. Unfortunately, the series landed flat, and is by far the biggest disappointment. It’s yet another TV series that original co-Producer Bryan Fuller left. The show was originally to have ten episodes, it ended up with just five. The stories were not very groundbreaking, though they were beautifully shot. It might be worth checking out for Robert Forster’s last project before he died (Dynoman and the Volt), and for the touching “The Heat” about high school runners from Oakland.
31 - Home - Documentary
Summary: As you might imagine, this documentary series is not just about the architecture of a house, but about the people behind building and designing them. Each episode features a different house and story, with houses chosen from around the world, from urban environments like Chicago and Hong Kong to remote locations in Maine and Bali.
My Take: Although cable and streaming is littered with television programs about houses and architecture, this show passes on the drama, which helps Home become a documentary, and not a reality show. The cinematography is predictably beautiful, but the pacing is slow, and it’s very hard to really get into. It doesn’t help that a couple of the home builders behind the stories are honestly not very likable. The final episode of the first season is really good, but ultimately, this show is a bit of a snooze beyond the real enthusiasts.
30 - Dads - Documentary (Movie)
Summary: Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, this movie looks at fathers across the many levels of fatherhood, anchored by Howard’s own relationship with her father, actodirector Ron Howard, and her grandfather Archie, as well as Bryce’s non-celebrity brother who is an expecting father. The movie shifts to stories about fathers from around the world, and back to the Howards, to celebrate the ever-shifting role of fatherhood in modern society.
My Take: This documentary is a sweet, if simple, tribute to modern fatherhood. There’s nothing special here, it does exactly what you would expect it to. It has cameo interviews from comedian fathers, interspersed with random recordings of fathers from home movies and social media, and stories of fathers in different situations. There’s nothing bad about it, but it’s pretty dry overall. It’s not a waste, but it’ll probably end up being the thing you see in the list and say “Oh, I’ll watch that another time…”, which might as well be next Father’s Day with your dad.
29 - Dear… - Documentary
Summary: A documentary series that details the history and life of various individual celebrities, and uses letters written by people they have affected to frame those celebrities’ impact on people and society.
My Take: Apple has used the advertising method of using letters written to Apple or Tim Cook about how things have changed their lives (particularly the Apple Watch), and in that context this series feels like, well, advertising. Not to take anything away from the celebrities involved, but the marketing push feels very heavy here. And, of course, one of the celebrities featured is Oprah, who is a big presence in ATV+. It also gets absurd with one episode around Big Bird (in character); of course, the Muppets have a spin-off in the kids section of ATV+ called Helpsters. It’s best with the smaller names, where even I learned a little bit. It’s a decent feel-good if that’s what you’re looking for.
28 - Long Way Up - Documentary (Miniseries)
Summary: The third docu-series by Ewan McGregor and his best friend Charley Boorman as they take a long road trip by motorcycle. This trip, they are traveling from the southern tip of South America up to Los Angeles, and are doing it (almost) entirely on electric vehicles. The series highlights both the places they visit along the way, and the travails (and successes) of using these new, custom-made electric motorcycles. (The other two series Long Way Round and Long Way Down have also been added to ATV+, though they are not ‘Apple Originals’.)
My Take: I’ve got to be honest, it’s hard to get into watching others take a road trip. It’s nice enough. The footage is beautiful, as they use everything from GoPro helmet cams to drones to capture the scenery. But the major source of tension here is Range Anxiety, and the biggest drama is in whether or not they can do it all on electric bikes. Still, it’s interesting to see parts of South America many aren’t familiar with, including deserts and the vast Patagonia. And Ewan does seem like someone that would be a great bloke to be mates with. Some people will really enjoy this, I’m just not one of them.
27 - The Elephant Queen - Documentary (Movie)
Summary: Narrated by the soft-spoken Chiwetel Ejiofor, an elephant herd must navigate the climate of the savannah to survive. Led by the matriarch, they must migrate before the dry season hits to stay around water, and then return to their normal grazing land. Along the way, we meet the many other creatures of the savannah and face the changing climates and droughts that get in the way of these pachyderms.
My Take: A documentary much in the style of the old Disney documentaries, the Elephant Queen does a lot of anthropomorphizing its subjects, who range from elephants to dung beetles, and follows them through a difficult season. It is borderline kids-oriented, but adults might enjoy this as well. It’s not afraid to delve into some sad situations, and there is an overriding theme of what happens in droughts that can not be ignored. A sweet film, perhaps a bit saccharine.
26 - Hala - Drama (Movie)
Summary: Hala is a Pakistani-American teenage girl and her trying to balance her family and cultural pressures with being a teen in America. She longs to be out of the pressures of her family’s culture as she interacts with friends and teachers outside of the home. When she does try to act out, she begins to discover more about her family, both discovering secrets and sides she never knew about, as she discovers more about herself.
My Take: Apple TV+’s first fictional feature film release, this coming of age film is never really surprising, but it is a well made film that hits all the right nuances in trying to share Hala’s experience. It’s not a perfect film, as there are some shifts in tone and character that are rather sudden and jarring for the viewer, though all things considered, that’s probably what writedirector Minhal Baig was trying for. The emotions shift quickly and non-family characters disappear quickly, as it’s clear that this is Hala’s story, and not anyone else’s. It’s a solid watch.
25 - Trying - Comedy
Summary: A British couple, Nikki and Jason, have decided to adopt when they have trouble conceiving. They struggle with the truly difficult process of adopting, as well as insecurities about whether or not the two (who could be called slackers) are truly ready to be, or even worthy of being, parents.
My Take: This is a British comedy co-produced by BBC that is about an intensely serious subject. If you know British humor, you know that it will be very intentionally awkward, and this series can definitely hit that mark. While the show is certainly has about its two main characters (Rafe Spall and Esther Smith as the couple), it has a surprisingly large cast of supporting characters, but with only one star most Americans would know (Imelda Staunton as the most unintimidating social worker ever). It’s an interesting concept, and it finds some sweet moments, but not as many funny ones. It’s not bad, but is just okay.
24 - Oprah’s Book Club - Talk Show
Summary: This was the first Oprah show to appear on Apple TV+, serving as a cross-section of Apple services (which advertises Books and Podcasts), and the only one that got to meet the pre-pandemic style of Oprah’s shows. The idea was that Oprah would interview authors and let an audience ask questions. But the series also shows the effects of the pandemic. Once the pandemic hits, the audience is gone, and it becomes direct virtual interviews for a couple of episodes before Apple and Oprah find a way to have a virtual audience.
My Take: I admit, I didn’t read any of the books selected for this list. I still got something out of these shows, but more of an analysis of Oprah than the books. It did show off one of her worst traits, which is how she answers for an interviewee when they were slow to find a point, and she talked over a lot of people. But you could also see her energy change when she had a live audience versus online interviews, and even different with a virtual audience. You could also see her energy change about what books she is passionate about versus those less so. So this wasn’t a waste, but I wasn’t enthusiastic.
23 - Truth Be Told - Drama
Summary: Poppy Parnell (Octavia Spencer) is a true crime podcaster after a successful career as an investigative reporter, but she comes to dwell on the first case that made her famous, where a teenager was put away for murdering his neighbor. Now an adult (played by Aaron Paul), Poppy begins talking with him to see if she made a mistake. Meanwhile, the victim’s family is forced to revisit the crime, including twin daughters (both played by Lizzy Caplan), and Poppy’s family confronts her for supporting Cave, who has joined a white supremacist gang in prison.
My Take: This show has an incredible cast, with Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, and Ron Cephas Jones in big supporting roles. Race is an unavoidable part of this story, but so is culture, as Poppy is split between her family’s blue-collar roots in Oakland, and the Silicon Valley lifestyle she now lives with her husband across the bay. The Bay Area setting of this series is a big part of the symbolism. The problem is that the mystery viewers came for was never really important. This would’ve been a good third season of a show, once a status quo for these characters had been found, rather than a confusing first season with lots of subplots.
22 - Central Park - Animation
Summary: Animated by the people behind Bob’s Burgers and created in part by Josh Gad, Central Park is an animated musical. The show revolves around the family of the manager of Central Park (Leslie Odom Jr.), and the villainous hotel owner (Stanley Tucci) who wants to undermine the park to buy it and develop it. Gad plays the busker at the park who serves as the audience’s narrator, and it plays like musical theater, with songs written by a range of artists, including Fiona Apple, Sara Bareilles, Cyndi Lauper, Aimee Mann, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, and Meghan Trainor, among many others.
My Take: The show is silly, but not always in a funny way. The music is reminiscent of the irreverent nature of Avenue Q, and has some star power behind it, though a lot of the music is just meh. I’m not surprised my favorite song, “Spoiler Alert”, was cowritten by Alan Menken of 90’s Disney musical fame. The story, however, very often deviates from the main thrust of the plot and doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere at times, as it’s more bothered with the humor in ridiculous situations, like the park manager’s son being obsessed with the villain’s dog Champagne. Ultimately, though, the show is just meh. The humor is fine, the story is barely relevant, and the majority of the music will not be found on many people’s playlists going forward, although of course you can find it all on Apple Music.
This show has been one of Apple TV’s only controversies, however. The cast is made from many of Gad’s friends. That led to some controversy, as Gad chose stars before choosing parts. Kristen Bell was put into the role of a bi-racial character, and the two villainous women in the series were played by men (Stanley Tucci and Daveed Diggs, though it’s hard to fault either performance). The controversy was first brought up over the winter. After the summer’s social upheaval, Bell stepped down from the role and her former character will be played in season 2 by Emmy Raver-Lampman. Bell will return as a new character in season 2.
21 - On The Rocks - Comedy (Movie)
Summary: Laura (Rashida Jones) is worried that her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) may have gotten bored in their marriage and having an affair with a coworker. Laura’s father (Bill Murrary), a charming and unabashed ladies man, tries to help her figure out her suspicions as they follow Dean around.
My Take: Well, Apple TV+ paid for a Sofia Coppola film, and boy, did they get one. What this means is that this is a movie where the plot is less important than the conversation, and in particular, this might as well be a 2-person play between Jones and Murray. Murray is charming as basically a more chauvinistic version of himself, and Jones deadpan is the perfect counter. Ultimately the conversations are predictable, and the very obvious plot takes away any suspense. This lets the movie’s most emotionally revelatory scene go almost completely under the radar. Ultimately, it and any lessons from this film get lost in conversation. Luckily, though, Murray and Jones are enough to carry the film and stop it from becoming just plain lost.
20 - See - Drama
Summary: In the future, the world was hit with a virus that made all humans blind, and predictably led to a societal downfall. The remains of civilization live either in a world wildness has mostly reclaimed, or the ruins of what once was. The story centers on a family where two children have been born with sight, and their adoptive father (Jason Momoa) and their mother (Hera Hilmar), with friends, try to find others with sight, while being chased by a religious monarch and her soldiers, trying to rid the world of the sin of sight.
My Take: One of Apple TV+’s first showcase shows, with a bankable action star in Jason Momoa and a huge budget, See ended up as one of the platform’s disappointments. The show suffers because it’s trying to world build throughout its first season, but is constantly changing the status quo of the world through its first season. Time flies for the characters, as the kids born in the first episode are teens in 3 episodes. Supporting characters are set up and then lost in the shuffle. The show does a fantastic job putting together a realistic world of how the sightless would build a civilization, but it’s not enough to make up for a plot that barely sets a status quo before blowing it up for a new quo.
19 - Bruce Springsteen’s Letter To You - Documentary (Movie)
Summary: A documentary recorded while Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band recorded their first studio album since 2012, Letter To You was inspired as Springsteen lost a former bandmate from The Castiles, his band in the 1960’s. The documentary goes between the band playing the songs, and talking about themselves and their history.
My Take: This is a solid musical documentary, but there’s nothing groundbreaking here. It was filmed in 2019, when Springsteen was 70, and there’s no avoiding that this is and old white rocker feeling nostalgic and sharing wisdom and concerns of a life having survived rock and roll. Filmed in black and white, the documentary is comfortable and the music is nice, but it kind of fades into the background even while people are talking. Bruce and 80’s rock fans will love this. Others might turn it on and forget it’s playing.
18 - Little America - Comedy
Summary: A serial about the immigrant experience, Little America tells different stories about the immigrant life in America, from different time periods and different original countries. Whether it be a child prodigy who is left behind when his parents are deported, an African immigrant interested in becoming a cowboy, or a silent retreat where language is not a barrier, this serial tries to tell stories from every background
My Take: With Executive Producers Kumail Nanjiani and Emiliy V. Gordon as the true star power, this anthology series looks at eight different stories about immigrants living in America, all inspired by real life stories. Quality varies per episode, and sometimes it gets a little predictable and repetitive. Still, it has enough high points to work overall. My personal favorites were “The Manager” and “The Grand Prize Expo Winner”, the latter doing an amazing job of humanizing an often-mocked stereotype in media.
17 - The Oprah Conversation - Talk Show
Summary: Oprah’s intended talk show to bring in celebrities and experts and talk to them, but because of the pandemic, it is without a live audience. However, Oprah brings guests in remotely with huge and small screens that feels futuristic, not limiting in the way many pandemic shows have been. Oprah and the guest are in separate spaces but both are professionally filmed, and the limited audience members are present like portraits on the wall in a gallery.
My Take: Of the three Oprah shows, this feels most like “Oprah”. Due to the timing of the show after social upheaval, many episodes take on the subject of race and race relations. But others are oddly promotional, like Mariah Carey (who coincidentally has a holiday special coming with Apple TV) and Matthew McConaughey (and his new book). The episodes about race are particularly worth watching (as a white man, who is often uncomfortable talking about race). This is definitely peak Oprah.
16 - Little Voice - Drama
Summary: Sara Bareilles, Jordy Nelson, and. J.J. Abrams are the powerhouses behind this series, a sweet but not exactly groundbreaking story about a singer-songwriter trying to make it in New York. Bess (Brittany O’Grady) is a songwriter with anxiety about performing, despite a father in the business. As Bess tries to overcome her anxiety, she has to deal with her autistic brother (Kevin Valdez, an actor who is actually on the spectrum), her roommate/best friend, a coworker at the bar who wants to be her manager, a new musician partner, a potential love interest or two, and her alcoholic father and absent mother. That’s all.
My Take: It works on the back of star Brittany O’Grady, and a compelling cast of people around her life, especially Valdez’s performance, which is one of the most realistic portrayals of autism you’ll find. Bareilles wrote the music, which is beautiful as usual. Where the show falters is that it seems like it’s trying to do every single possible story at once, and every episode feels manic. It almost seems to exhaust every possible plot point and stumbling block in one season. But O’Grady and the music help you keep watching.
15 - The Banker - Drama (Movie)
Summary: Inspired by a true story, this movie follows Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie), an African-American prodigy, as he makes himself a success in Los Angeles real estate in the 1950’s and 60’s, and tries to move into banking in his home state of Texas. He and his wife (Nia Long) partners with businessman Joe Morris (Samuel L. Jackson) and white front-man Matt Steiner (Nicholas Hoult) to try and succeed in two racist industries.
My Take: One of Apple TV’s first movies, The Banker has big name stars in Avengers stars Mackie and Jackson and a big-time story. The movie is fast paced and at times feels like skimming a book. It doesn’t skimp on laughs in the first half (with Jackson providing his own laugh track), but it does get much more serious in the second half as it and the characters directly address the racism around them. This is the first Apple TV+ movie that feels distinctly “Hollywood”, both in style in structure. That helps raise ATV+’s profile, but it puts limits this film as well. It’s a good story and worth watching, but is not ground-breaking, and clearly is not an in-depth or entirely accurate look at the story.
It was also a source of a major controversy, as the movie’s release was delayed by allegations of childhood sexual abuse were levied against Bernard Garrett Jr., the son of the main character and a producer on the film, by his half sisters and their mother.
14 - Tehran - Thriller
Summary: An “Apple Original” in title only, this show was made in Israel for their public channel Kan 11, and Apple purchased the international rights. It follows Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan), a young Jewish spy who was born in Iran, as she is inserted into Tehran to try and neutralize Iran’s air defenses so Israel can bomb their nuclear plant. The plot is foiled in the first episode, and Tamar is sent on the run in an enemy city, pursued by the head investigator of the Revolutionary Guard Faraz Kamali (Shaun Toub).
My Take: In many ways, this is a fairly standard spy thriller. There’s a mission, it goes wrong, and everyone is sent scrambling. Tehran gets points, from this American viewer, for exploring the largely unexplored environment of urban Iran (albeit filmed in Athens). The characters switch between Hebrew, Farsi, and English very quickly, which is challenging to hearead. But ultimately, this is a personal spy story of pawns in a bigger war, as the scope grows with each episode. There’s plenty of grey in every side of this conflict. Even with the scope, Tehran gets bogged down and the middle episodes feel filled with filler. Ultimately, it’s solid, and does feel different than most spy shows. And though we get a satisfying resolution, the door is left open for season 2, which is as yet officially unannounced (but reported that they are signed on for two more seasons).
13 - Boys State - Documentary (Movie)
Summary: Every year, young men are brought together in the Texas State Capitol for what is basically a political science camp, where they are broken into their own political parties, and must come up with a platform and compete in an election for roles inspired by state government. During it, these 16-18-year old boys must work together while competing against each other, and learning what politics are.
My Take: A documentary about young men’s mock political competition in Texas, you’ve probably just envisioned something about what this looks like, and no doubt, you’ll probably see exactly that in this documentary. But this Sundance Documentary-winning film doesn’t quite go the way you think, but also close enough that it might not matter. These teens have more nuance than I would’ve expected, and I wish adults had in politics. But it has too much nuance to be received well, I think. Still, if you want a reason to watch this, I’d put money that at least one of the featured boys in this becomes a politician of note in the near future. Also, I am interested in seeing a documentary about the same event for girls, Girls State.
12 - Tiny World - Documentary
Summary: Narrated by Ant-Man’s Paul Rudd, Tiny World takes a look at the world of small animals living in diverse natural habitats around the world. Ranging from the African savannah to the Australian outback to the north American backyard, the show features animals from monkeys that can fit in the palm of your hand, down to the ants that are ever-present.
My Take: Nature documentaries are everywhere, but the cinematography on this is mind-blowing to the point you truly wonder how some of this was shot. Clearly, a large amount of it was manipulated, with rare parts where the CGI shows through, but it doesn’t take away from just how beautiful the shots are. With Rudd’s occasionally wry narration, it makes this a nature documentary that competes with the best stuff on Netflix. The nature never gets too gory, but it does deal with the life and death (sometimes brutal) of tiny nature. And it’s even a great follow-up to the movie “The Elephant Queen” because the first episode features what could be the same dung beetle that featured in that movie! (The movie and this series were not done by the same company, though, so it might just be a look-alike dung beetle they hired.)
11 - Beastie Boys Story - Documentary
Summary: A telling of the Beastie Boys career, by the surviving members Mike “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz themselves. Directed by Spike Jonze, this documentary is shot as the two tell their story to a live audience in a theater, alternating between them on stage laughing and joking around, and video sequences they narrate about their career, and their friends, especially the late Adam “MCA” Yauch.
My Take: This is such an unusual format for a documentary, and it works so well. It allows for some of the goofing off that one might expect from the stars, but it’s still coherent and interesting, especially for me as a casual fan of the band growing up. On a service with a lot of traditionally-made documentaries, this stands out because of both its style and its quality, and if you like pop music at all, you should enjoy this.
10 - For All Mankind - Drama
Summary: An alternate history series based off a simple question: What if the Soviet Union beat America to the moon? From Battlestar Galactica’s Ronald D. Moore, the answer is that the Americans, more competitive than ever, try to push for more ambitious goals than just landing on the moon and leaving.
My Take: One of the first Apple TV shows, it is a sometimes nerdy but very interesting look at the space race. It balances fictional characters with real life figures (sometimes making interesting decisions when changing their fate), and really tries to focus on the science side of science fiction. The show jumps across years of development, so it’s not as tedious and slow as it could be. It hasn’t captured fans’ imaginations as much as it obviously has its creators’ imaginations, but it’s a quality drama that could get better in future seasons, although it is clearly now swerving to the fiction side of science fiction.
9 - Home Before Dark - Drama
Summary: Hilde Lisko (Brooklynn Prince) is a 9-year old daughter of a journalist who wants to do what he does. When her family moves from New York to her father’s small hometown in Washington, she stumbles onto a mysterious death and does what any reporter would do: writes about it in her blog. But as the mystery expands to her father’s past, she challenges an entire city’s reluctance to face up to a tragedy from decades ago, in the name of journalism.
My Take: A dark horse series that did not get much press, Home Before Dark seems like a show for kids, but is a show is made for adults, with a mystery of twists and turns more like Gone Girl than any children’s show. Prince is the star of this show and keeps viewers attached, even as the mystery’s twists get harder to follow. The show is vaguely inspired by a real life young journalist, but realistically is not at all the same story. It doesn’t matter, as this is as much about family and youthful stubbornness as anything else.
8 - Dickinson - Comedy
Summary: A historical comedy-drama about the life of poet Emily Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld), this show follows her as a modern-thinking woman in a restrictive 19th century setting, growing up as a teenager. It shows both what’s going on around her, and into her imaginative flights of fancy as she deals with romantic trysts, less-than-friendly friends, and restrictive parents (notably Jane Krakowski as her mother Emily).
My Take: One of the first series from Apple TV+, Dickinson is an ambitious series, but shifts between being a period piece with setting-appropriate acting, and characters acting like modern people but set in the past. As great as parts are, it does struggle with focus and tone, particularly John Mulaney’s guest role as Henry David Thoreau, which feels better suited for a Will Ferrell absurdist comedy than what this show is trying to be. Steinfeld shines in the lead role, but Ella Hunt as Dickinson’s best friend Sue and Jane Krakowski as her mother both are fantastic. The relationship between Dickinson and her best friend Sue, and hints about Dickinson’s deteriorating mental health, are both handled very well. This is a show that has a chance to really find its footing in future seasons.
7 - Greyhound - Action (Movie)
Summary: Captain Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks) has been given command of a destroyer, and a convoy of supply ships to cross the U-Boat infested Atlantic early in World War II. Without air cover, he spends days awake, attempting to outmaneuver an enemy he can not see, or even count. As ships in his convoy are attacked one by one, he must save as many as he can before getting back under the protective air cover from Great Britain.
My Take: A movie that really was meant for the big screen, Greyhound is not interested in your character development or subplots or mandatory romances (mostly). After an initial scene introducing Krause in the lone bit of character development, this movie is about the tense travel of the Atlantic with submarines hunting you. It never shows the human villains, only the occasional peak at the metal beasts when they surface. It also doesn’t jump between ships on this convoy. Strictly a single viewpoint, which makes for a fascinatingly and a little fatiguingly tense film that is shorter than it feels (only 91 minutes!) because of the thrills. This movie is a fantastically different take on the war films we know, and especially for those with military experience, a strong film.
6 - Servant - Drama
Summary: Without significant spoilers, the show focuses on a couple who recently suffered the loss of a child, and have undertaken a real doll therapy, where they take care of a doll to help the psychological effects of losing a child, and go so far as to bring in a mysterious young girl to be the doll’s nanny. Over the span of the series, secrets about the nanny, and the troubles of the couple themselves, slowly leak out.
My Take: M. Night Shymalan’s first television show is a return to the Shymalan of his early years. With the space of a series instead of a movie, Shymalan has the room to explore each character: the almost-grieving mother (Lauren Ambrose), the disaffected and disbelieving husband (Toby Kebbell), the mysterious nanny (Nell Tiger Free), and the doubtful brother of the wife (Rupert Grint, Ron from Harry Potter), who acts as an outside world anchor. By the end, it feels a bit as if the original mystery has become a subplot, but it’s left on a cliffhanger the will leap the plot forward. And throughout the series, Shymalan allows food to be a visual cue and cinematographic toy, setting the mood. This ranks as one of Shymalan’s better stories from his long career.
5 - Visible: Out on Television - Documentary (Miniseries)
Episodes: 5; Stauts: Completed
Summary: A documentary series about how all facets of LGBTQ people have been represented on television, from the 1950’s through today. As a series, the documentary takes time with many the facets of every letter in LGBTQ, and all the letters hidden within it, talking about struggles of people of color. With interviews and clips, it takes it’s time with different eras and weaves it all together. And it’s all done with an undertone of how storytelling works, and the tool that television is, both for misinformation but also for connection.
My Take: Making this a series really allows the time to give this topic the time to really explore it. It’s an engaging documentary, especially for anyone who’s spent any time watching television. There’s nuggets of memory for all of us, where we can connect to the shows we used to watch, both their flaws and triumphs. Certain critics might point to this as Apple trying to force representation down our throats, but this documentary is excellent at telling a compelling story with both history and context.
4 - The Morning Show - Drama
Summary: Apple TV+’s centerpiece, with superstar stars Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carrell, and yet a scene-stealing supporting cast of Gugu Mbahta-Raw, Billy Crudup (who won an Emmy for his role), Mark Duplass, and Jack Davenport (who is never not good), the show is about a, believe it or not, morning show whose male lead is fired in a sexual misconduct scandal and the after-effects. Witherspoon’s character is unexpectedly brought in to replace him, as power battles go on behind the scenes with everyone from the network head down to the assistant producers, as the secrets spill out about the truth.
My Take: What could be a preachy show about the MeToo movement never gets that way, and attempts a nuanced discussion about the less clear-cut issues. It’s not done perfectly, as some conflicts from the episodic storyline seem to disappear in the next episode, and Mitch is frustratingly (and probably intentionally) likable even as he is hate-able, with Carell showing his range. One flaw of this show is that the extremely likable supporting cast pulls attention away from Aniston and Witherspoon, the former being appropriately lauded with praise but not getting enough to win awards, and the latter getting a little stuck in her character spot. The season finale flurry hits hard, even if it doesn’t feel completely earned, but this show has definitely become the first bankable piece ATV+ has.
3 - Defending Jacob - Drama (Miniseries)
Summary: A boy is murdered, and after an investigation, suspicion falls on one of his classmates, Jacob, who is the son of Andy Barber, one of the assistant district attorneys (Chris Evans). Andy and his wife Laurie (Michelle Dockery) must do their best to defend their son, investigating other leads, but also facing the possibility that their son is guilty, and hiding family secrets.
My Take: Starring Captain America’s Chris Evans, Defending Jacob became the summer hit for Apple TV+, drawing viewers in. The tension between Andy and his wife Laurie, and their slightly creepy son Jacob (Jaeden Martell) as the teen is accused of murder, is filled with tension and, unlike many of the series on Apple TV, comes to a full conclusion in one season. Fans of mysteries like Gone Girl will appreciate this series. Although it can feel slightly stretched, this series hits hard and makes the most of its star power.
2 - Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet - Comedy
Summary: Mythic Quest is an online game akin to World of Warcraft, and it’s launching a new expansion to keep its fans engaged. The studio is led by a charmingly sycophantic designer Ian (pronounced EYE-an, played by Rob Mcelhenney), and lead engineer Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao). With a staff of obsessive assistants, disinterested programmers, earnest game testers, snippy game streamers, and an elderly lead writer lost in technology, the show hops along the daily struggles of keeping a game going and its fans happy.
My Take: An absolute home run of a show, as one would expect from the team behind It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mythic Quest is absurdist comedy at its best, with McElhenney and a breakout performance from Nicdao. However, it’s also an ensemble cast with no weak spots, and a wonderfully obvious premise that is contemporary. It is at its best in two standalone episodes. The first comes out of nowhere, not featuring the main cast but instead acts as a “How the Game Industry Got Here” prequel in heartbreakingly personal fashion. The second is a special Quarantine episode that was perhaps the best quarantine-focused special episode done anywhere.
1 - Ted Lasso - Comedy
Summary: An American Football coach is inexplicably hired as a Soccer…er, real Football coach in the Premiere League in London. The titular Lasso is genuine and earnest, openly saying he doesn’t think winning has to do with the score, and he faces a soccer world where the opposite is true. He faces disbelieving players, abusive fans, unsure team staff, and a devious owner, but he barely blinks in the face of it all, and tries to keep his team from relegation…once he learns what that means.
My Take: An absolute surprise of a show, based on NBC Sports comedy promos, that has no right to be so great. Ted Lasso is on its face a fish-out-of-water sports show about an American football coach going to Europe to coach football/soccer. But it’s really a movie about a polite man in an impolite world, and bending rather than breaking, and sticking to your principles. It’s not laugh out loud funny, but it is surprisingly emotional. It’s also a show that champions maturity in a way that hits harder in a 2020 world, and so it’s also very well-timed. The only problem with Ted Lasso the show is that even though it gives Apple TV+ a recognizable character to market, it’s not a must-subscribe show. But it’s unquestionably one of Apple TV+’s best.