Author: AlexTheGoat

Odell Me!

Odell Beckham is a name that new NFL fans might not know. I really think he could have be THE best receiver of this generation, better than Mike Evans, or Deandre Hopkins, and even better than Julio Jones. Odell was the guy.

The Catch

On November 23, 2014 the whole idea behind what it means to catch a football changed. The game was Cowboys vs. Giants, in a game that was mighty important for the Cowboys considering they were tied with the Eagles for the top of the NFC East. The game was also on Prime Time so if you were watching football, you were watching this game. Odell was a rookie, and his breakout was coming. After missing the first four weeks of the season, OBJ would get off to a slow start. Up until the game against the Cowboys, he had 31 receptions for 463 yards and 3 touchdowns through six games which averages out to about 5 for 77 and a touchdown every other game. Then the catch happened.

If you have never seen this play, please please go watch it, I even did all the hard work and linked it. The Catch

The Cowboys would go on to win this game, although they would eventually fall to the Packers in the playoff after Dez Caught It. Cowboys fans in 2014 had it rough. In the final six weeks of the season, including this game, OBJ caught 60 passes for 842 yards and 9 touchdowns averaging 10 for 140 and a touchdown and a half per game. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a breakout like this. I don’t know if it’s fair to say that this catch caused all this but I don’t believe in coincidences. OBJ would go on to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and be named to the Pro Bowl, although his per game stats were levels higher than those around him. The next two years he was just as good, receiving AP second team honors both years, being ousted by the likes of prime Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, and our friend Dez Bryant. In 2017, OBJ would miss most of the season with a ankle fracture, and he would never be the same.

A lot of people only know Odell for this catch. Football guys might remember his catch against the Redskins or the Josh Norman battle. But Odell did more for football than just his performances.

The Culture Shift

I was nine years old when Odell caught that ball. I remember saying “Odell me” as a way to get the ball thrown up high above my head so I could attempt to “Odell” the ball. Odell became more than just a football player; he was the one hand catch guy. As little kids, we started trying to catch it with one hand. It’s like Odell validated that as an option. One handed catches really became a thing. Today, it’s almost expected for the best receivers to make one handed catches. In my own little reality, I would like to imagine that OBJ was the catalyst for the wide receiver revolution. Obviously there were great wide receivers in the past: Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Torry Holt, etc. But to me, OBJ was the first to catch the ball in a cool way. Spectacular catches have blown up in the league since OBJ and it’s even supported by the league. In 2015, NFL posted Top 10 Catches of 2015 on their YouTube channel, with Odell as the thumbnail. Such video didn’t exist in 2014. In 2016, they expanded to top 50 catches of the year, Odell returning as the thumbnail. Finally, in 2017, with Odell on the thumbnail once again, NFL uploaded the top 100. The league hasn’t looked back since.

The End of the Odell Era

OBJ was recently waived by the Dolphins. Last year, he played a minor role with the Ravens, and missed all of 2022 after tearing his ACL in the Super Bowl with the Rams (where he SCORED A TOUCHDOWN RAHHHHH). I really hate to see it. His prime was so short… The thought of what could have been always sucks to think about, but by looking at what was, it’s safe to say that Odell Beckham Jr. will always be a legend.

Why does sex sell and how do we fix it?

This is a screenshot from my YouTube feed.

I was intrigued by the fact that the thumbnail of this YouTube short had the word sex in it. I mean, it’s only a HIMYM clip and it has over 4 million views. But it got me thinking about why the word sex is in the thumbnail.

Sex and Drugs

These two things own the world. Sex and drugs are the two things that people willingly do knowing the potential longterm effects of their actions. I know plenty of people who had children in high school because, clearly, the allure of having sex is more powerful than the thought of being a parent. Now is this all the way true, of course not. No one thinks it’s going to happen to them. In the same way, drugs are an ever growing epidemic. I asked my sister who’s in third grade if she has ever heard of Terrance the RAT (Reject All Tobacco) and she said no. I know people whose lives have been ruined because of drugs. Some people just can’t say no.

It doesn’t help that these two subjects are often glorified in pop culture; music, movies. If you want to be cool, you have to have as much sex as possible and do as many drugs as possible.

So what are we supposed to do about it?

Well, I don’t think there is much TO do. I mean, in a capitalistic economy, whatever makes the most money will reign supreme. It’s just kind of gross. Especially because a lot of people that clicked on that video are probably kids. Who else is watching a YouTube short about HIMYM? The solution has to do with the kids. I don’t know, the internet is a crazy place. It also has a lot to do with the post-COVID content boom. When COVID hit, everyone was on social media, which means it was easier to be a content creator, therefore leading to content over-saturation. THEY ARE ALL ATTENTION MERCHANTING. That is a term I learned in my Jour 101 class. Where did the ethics go?

That wasn’t a solution.

I don’t have a solution. But I think something needs to happen. It’s like a dopamine boost when you think of sex; is this just a human problem? Humans will always want what they want. And I believe that is okay. You can’t control your wants.

“No matter what it was or is or will become, you always want the things that you want.” – Mach-Hommy

What Makes A Movie Good?

“It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that I’m sorry. But you can take my word for it, your mother had it coming. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I’ll be waiting.”

There is a lot that goes into making a movie. Actors, directors, writers, lighting, audio, composers; there are just a few jobs on a movie set. Let’s be real, a great movie can have bad acting in the same sense that a bad movie can have incredible writing. So what makes a good movie, good?

The Actors

For me, a movie really stands out when I haven’t seen anything like it. I also have not seen very many movies so nearly every new movie I watch becomes an instant classic. As of right now my favorite movie is probably Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhaal, and the biggest reason I love it so much is because of Gyllenhaal’s performance. His character, Lou Bloom, is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction, and I believe Gyllenhaal played him perfectly. When I see Jake Gyllenhaal in this movie, I don’t see Donnie Darko or that guy he played in that Spiderman movie for some reason or Jack Twist; I see Lou Bloom, a true sociopath. It’s a scary

The Director

Two of my favorite directors are Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. Anderson’s movies are highlighted by their whimsical flair. Fantastic Mr. Fox is all about being whimsical, but at the same time, it tells an extremely moving story about a husband and his inability to disregard his natural instinct. Tarantino’s movies are also quite whimsical. His movies bring a certain level of absurdism to real life events, like the murder of Sharon Tate or WWII. What these two directors have in common is how different they are. If you’re watching a Wes Anderson film, there is no doubt you’re watching a Wes Anderson film. Same with Tarantino, although you can usually figure out it’s a Tarantino movie because he will show up in the movie at some point (probably saying the N word, too!)

The Story

One of my favorite movies ever is called Cha Cha Real Smooth. It follows a young man (23?) who doesn’t have any direction in life before he meets an older woman with an autistic daughter. It’s a romantic drama, but it is simultaneously a narrative on the young man, Andrew. Andrew is played by Cooper Raiff who, according to Wikipedia, is the sole director and writer of this movie. On top of that, it’s only his second movie, and he delivered a great performance (nothing like Dakota Johnson’s performance tho). I love this movie because it tells a real story (not a true story) about naivety and love, and most of all, compassion. There’s not many movies that make you feel as much as this one.

The End

Well these are my three key ingredients to making a good movie. A good movie doesn’t have to have all three, or even one of these to be honest. Does Good Burger have any of these?? I mean, Kel is the whole movie if we’re being honest. At the end of the day, it’s night…