brendan halpin

Chaotic Wrestling got the new year off to a fantastic start with a show at the Irish American Club in Malden that really had it all. Let’s dive in to the recap, shall we?

Nicholas Hoult gives a fantastic performance and the vampire is actually terrifying. But enough about Renfield (2023)! That was last year! Let’s talk about Nosferatu, which also stars Nicholas Hoult but doesn’t, much to its detriment, feature either Nic Cage or Akwafina.

I recently read this excellent piece about the doomscroll industrial complex.

I found myself in the rare condition of being alone in the house, so naturally it was time for a horror movie on the big TV. I recently read an absolute rave review of I Saw The TV Glow, so I decided to watch that.

Dark times are ahead, but I’ve found some comfort in what might initially sound cynical and defeatist, but bear with me.

Welcome to my annual “best of” roundup! Which is of course actually “favorite” of 2024 because there are no objective criteria for art!

Art really is a balm for the soul in dark times. (I’m not going to try to convince you that pro wrestling is an art form, though it definitely is, because I don’t need to justify my love for it by trying to elevate it.) And so I went once again to the Sons of Italy hall in Watertown, MA, for a Chaotic Wrestling show on Friday night.

I try to stay away from the NYT editorial page, but today someone linked approvingly to a piece by David Brooks (I’m not linking to it because the hell with David Brooks and the New York Times. If you’re interested, it’s not hard to find) in which he tiptoes right up to the point and then misses it entirely.

Being Broke

Because I was a broke kid who went to rich people’s schools, I wound up with a kind of complicated class identity. There have been times when I’ve had money and there have been times where I was broke. And it’s become apparent to me recently that a lot of people who are not broke have no idea what this reality is like and how it affects people. So I’m writing this not because all of it is my experience (though some if it definitely is) but because I really don’t think middle class people with money who hang out with other middle class people with money have any idea of what being broke is like.

Though Wicked has a cult following, I’m not part of the cult. I read the book at some point in the late 90’s, didn’t like it, and never saw the musical.

So I went into this movie with no expectations, except that I thought it was going to feel way too long. It didn’t, and more on this later. Also: it knocked me out.