🎮 Shaken or stirred
Listening to music in the dark, a parkour prince, and much more.
Mornin’. Fire up your grills, friends. Father's Day is Sunday.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend a record $22.9 billion to celebrate Father’s Day this year.
Top gifts, you ask? Greeting cards (you shouldn’t have…really), clothing (one can only own so many “it’s not a dad bod, it’s a father figure” shirts), special outings (who says you can’t eat a porterhouse at lunch?), and gift cards. (That Xbox isn’t going to buy itself, fam.)
For this dad, time well spent means going to a ballgame with my pops and daughter and making memories over some peanuts and Cracker Jack. And, uh, maybe an antacid.
—Marques Edge, Eric Alt, Andrew Nusca
P.S. There will be no newsletter on Monday in observance of Juneteenth. See you June 21.
Buffed/Nerfed
What’s up and down in the world rn.
Buffed: Beatle Juice. With a little help (sorry), a new song from the Beatles has come together (oops) with AI. Paul McCartney says the tune will be released later this year. Will it be the end? (OK, someone stop us.)
Nerfed: Mallrats. Westfield joins a number of retailers departing downtown San Francisco after more than 20 years of operation. Chin up, urban cores! We love the smell of commerce in the morning.
Buffed: Clairvoyant capitalists. In 2016, the owner of the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights predicted it would take six years to win the Stanley Cup…and that’s what happened. Someone call the Psychic Friends Network.
Nerfed: Countertop cookers. The maker of the Instant Pot pressure cooker has filed for bankruptcy protection, threatening a promising revenue stream for sewists.
Buffed: TV dinners. A popular streaming service plans to open a new Los Angeles eatery called Bites that will feature dishes from chefs who star on its culinary shows. Netflix and Grill, anyone? —ME
Burning Questions: What in the world is ‘Pitchblack Playback’?
Asked and answered.
As Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lester Bangs puts it in Almost Famous, a true love of music forms when you’re “alone, listening to your headphones with the vast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain.”
Contributing writer Christine Champagne gives us a firsthand account of how “Pitchblack Playback” events attempt to find a middle ground—a scenic bridge, if you will—between personal and communal musical appreciation.
Speed Run: Call him the Prince of Parkour
Two-minute talks with today’s movers and shakers.
For moviegoers, the opening scene of the 2006 James Bond movie Casino Royale was entertaining. For Brian A. Prince, it was life-changing.
So much so, in fact, that Prince decided to leave behind the family business of basketball in favor of another athletic pursuit where most participants are quite a bit shorter than his 6 ft. 10 in. frame: parkour.
Managing editor Marques Edge spoke with Prince about how his passion for parkour led to a Hollywood career that includes The Walking Dead, Black Panther, and The Predator.
Fun Fact Friday
Monday June 19 is Juneteenth National Independence Day, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Signed into law in 2021, it’s the first federal holiday to receive designation since 1983, when MLK Day was established.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day and Emancipation Day, marks the day in 1865 when the Union Army rode into Galveston, Texas and told more than 250,000 enslaved people of their emancipation—two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
If Juneteenth on the calendar still feels fresh, you’re not alone. For years, only a portion of the U.S. officially observed the holiday. Texas first officially observed the holiday in 1939 and recognized it in 1980, but most states didn’t add it to the list until the 21st century.
Did you know: Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
Bonus: The last state to recognize the end of slavery was the first to honor it as an official holiday: Texas. —ME
Wormhole
Click the following image and…well, we don’t want to ruin the surprise.
One more thing
It’s been a blast and a privilege to put together the Edit for you for the last two weeks, and candidly, we’re having a ball.
Miss an issue? Here’s a lightning-round trip through some of our favorite items:
Are gamers playing during their workday? This esports entrepreneur has no time for haters. Why are we so obsessed with depicting hell in media? How to eat like a professional gamer. How are movies and games influencing each other? The writer behind “Deadpool” reflects on a killer career. Can the comic book shop survive? Inside a game that aims to make student athletes money. Visiting the bar that’s dedicated to gaming and “nerding out.” How to sound like a superhero, according to one voice actor who perfected it. This woman out-hustles self-proclaimed chess hustlers. A brief history of the platformer. A fitness regime fit for a pro gamer.
We’ve got so much more in store. Thanks for joining our community. —AN
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