Greetings from a beautiful Sunday morning down in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Care for a stroll towards wherever my mind takes us?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve tried to push some fresh prose into this corner of cyber space as a way of keeping the site from becoming a door mat. It all started here over 750 posts ago, and these days a lot of movie reviews, interviews, and assorted archive footage fill the space and it’s fine. I’ve become a paid writer even if that makes mere drinking and gas money. It’s more than I used to make and hopefully it grows.

The Dose still serves as my outlet to say whatever the fuck I please. I call it my Teddy KGB zone. I can drop F-bombs at will and also write controversial opinions(like Johnny Manziel is secretly a Russian covert agent spying on us). I like it here because they know me. So let’s drop a few words. An unfiltered rant. Bullet round style. 

• A few words about where I’m living. I won’t shit on Little Rock anymore. I’m done lighting torches. The truth is this place isn’t for me but it may be quite the home for others. I look at it as somewhere I’m hiding until I can go back. It’s my Snowden getaway. An area code I’ll hang out in, smile a few times, and eventually depart. People look me at here like I’m not one of them. Not all, but most. From the looks of my appearance, they assume I’m Southern and then I open my mouth. I get it. Nobody has heard a St. Louis accent before I guess. Arkansas may not be terrible but it’s not for me.
• A few words about Banshee on Cinemax. It’s not just a show to some people so stop saying that. It’s a rarity when a show like this strikes a chord with me. This show won’t win a single Emmy award but it will go down as one of the most fan adored series of all time. That’s what people want. They don’t want to be preached to or bored out of their mind. Banshee was something unique and had layers of pleasure.
• A few words about Kingdom. It’s on AT&T so watch it. Find a friend and watch it. I can recommend it as highly as Banshee. Unlike Game of Thrones and other solid shows, I implore you to watch this MMA drama starring the one and the only Frank Grillo. It’s not just about the brutal sport that dominates the fight game today. It’s about family, friendship, and the ties that bind them all together inside a harsh business.
• I’m getting really tired of people who complain about what I tweet about. First thing, it’s my fucking twitter account so if I want to say “Scratching my balls. #LazyTime.” I’ll do it. If I want to tweet about Grillo, Banshee, or the Cards over and over, that’s my privilege. There’s nothing worse than Twitter followers telling you what to write about on your account.
• Oh wait. How about the people who whine about their personal life and place it as the reason they aren’t themselves on social media right now. Well, get the fuck off TweetInstaFace. Fix your shit. There’s a whole damn world out there begging for your attention. There’s nothing worse than whiners on a networking site. Get out my violin and strum them a tune. Weak folks.
• I’m not one of those people who have to see their win the Championship or it’s a lost season. Those people are depressed losers. The fact that the Blues gave their fan base 20 extra hockey games is great. That’s 20 more games than 14 NHL teams that didn’t make the playoffs, including the Boston Bruins. So quiet down and appreciate the 102 game season that included 10 playoff wins.
• Will David Backes be back? I hope. The man should be a lifetime Blue. He’s important to that team in so many ways and deserves to come back. If I could drop Jay Bouwmeester on a remote island in a container ship, I’d say Backes is back. Depends on price.
• A few words about good friends. They are extremely hard to come by and usually surprise you. So many people walk into your life and request real estate packages. A lot. You accommodate them and treat them well before the two of you stop talking. When I moved away from St. Louis, good friends and I stopped talking as much. Text, phone or email. It’s not easy keeping up relations because time moves like a jet and reminders to talk to certain people don’t pop up in your head and shouldn’t. The good friends are the ones who stick by you through shitty times and are always up for a chat. It may have been weeks since the last call, but if I can pick up a phone and we can go on and on. Texting works too. You say more things on a text exchange than you will in a phone conversation and it’s not bad. Seeing the words instead of speaking them feels like a harmless dart being thrown than a bullet being fired. I’ve made a whole new batch of friends in St. Louis that I didn’t know or speak with when I lived there. Sometimes you have to move away to really connect.
• A few words about Community Coffee. I have fallen in love with their K-Cups. While there are a couple fine coffee shops down here in the Ark, I’d rather drop a shotgun round into my Keurig and brew my own 10 oz dose of coffee. It’s better too. Breakfast Blend of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana coffee brand is quite tasty and fulfilling. You can buy a box of 18 at Walmart for 11 dollars. For roughly 65 cents, I get a good cup of coffee.
• Tom Brady is a fucking robot. I just can’t prove it. Decades from now, scientists will determine that the four Super Bowl winning quarterback was a machine designed by Roger Goodell and the NFL to create a dynasty.
• If you know of Anthony Weiner and want to know about him, watch the new IFC documentary “Weiner”. Dude had brass balls and was a whip smart politician who decided to show his brass balls to too many people. Fucking idiot.
• Skip The Nice Guys. All the funny parts are in the trailer.
• I am weary of the new X-Men film. Bryan Singer is directing it but for some reason it looks like an overcooked steak of a summer film. I’ll see if because I’m a critic but I’m not excited. Well, Jennifer Lawrence is there so maybe I should perk up.

• Good whiskey is better than good beer. I can pull more worth out of a glass of whiskey than I can out of a single beer. Sip it slow and let it roll over you. That doesn’t mean beer sucks. I’ll just take a good whiskey over a good beer.
• If you asked me which one I wanted, I’d take a good cup of coffee over any other beverage. Yeah, I’m weird like that.
• Every time I think about getting a tattoo, I think about what my skin would say about it.
• Heat is still my favorite film of all time. Pacino, DeNiro, Mann, cops and robbers. Boom Town.
• Being a film critic sucks only when you see something so amazing that you feel like the review won’t do your feelings justice. There’s nothing easier than ripping a film because it’s all out there but trying to describe how a recent gem like Midnight Special made me feel wasn’t easy. It goes beyond words sometimes.
• Seeing all the hate I get for being a sports writer makes me imagine how harsh it would be if I wrote hot political takes. My twitter account would need a bullet proof vest.
• Best throwaway probably missed it movie on cable right now. Run All Night with Liam Neeson and Ed Harris. Such a well done action film cheeseburger.

What else? The hell if I know. Today, that’s all I got. I know this. Life is a mother fucker that doesn’t quit. You can be jobless, happily retired or on the brink. Life pushes you around until you decide what kind of person you want to be and what you want to do. And even then, life keeps pushing. It’s like a fighter in a ring that constantly stalks you around the ring. You may not see the upper cut coming but if you can climb off the canvas and keep moving, you are in the game. It’s all about survival and being happy. Nobody is ever completely happy or perfect. It simply doesn’t exist outside the cinematic world and even those people are fucked up. It’s okay to be unlike others and your own flavor. Just stand behind it and back it up. Don’t waver for anyone. If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that this is a one way trip and there’s no going back to fix anything.

Thanks for reading if you did. As the Big Austrian said, I’ll be back.