Before anything, make sure you’re RSVP’d to our live show at the Bronx Brewery this Friday night! A lot of people are coming. I’d recommend getting there early — everyone always says that, but this time I’m the one saying it.
If you aren’t able to make it, there’s other stuff in this here newsletter for you — news about our merch, what Jada learned at a bar mitzvah this weekend and more! — so all isn’t lost (unless you’re a Yankees fan, watching them get crushed by the Blue Jays).
For our first live episode, the readers of this newsletter (ROTN) asked for 2J3BD to watch a “90s comedy that we’ve all seen 1000 times,” and we threw in the caveat that it’d be available on streaming so everyone can be up on it. We and The LOX hung out — made charts, did the math, carried the one — and decided the absolute best option was…
There’s Something About Mary!
That’s right, we’ll be discussing the 1998 slapstick comedy classic, starring Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Chris Elliott and Matt Dillon. It’ll be the 7-minute abs of movies to talk about.
Is it available on streaming? Yes! It’s on Hulu/Disney+ and Fubo (for free!). Don’t ever say we don’t look out for our people.
Can I still have a good time if I haven’t seen the movie? Have you ever really had to watch the movie we’re talking about to enjoy one of our episodes? Probably not. Actually, this week’s episode - our 50th (!!!) - about The Black Phone is very plot-centric, but I doubt our live episode will be.
Do you know any good explainers, if I don’t have time or the inclination to watch the full movie? Yea, you can find them on Google.com, same as me.
Or you can just show up for the Pumpkleta!!! We’ve got a limited amount of cans for sale. Drink, have fun, be merry, crush some cans on your forehead. The weather is looking great, Uptown Paco will be in his seasonal linens and it looks like it’ll be a beautiful October night.
Also available at our first live show? Our first round of merch! I know, bummer for anyone who lives far away — but the nice thing about first dibs is that second dibs are right around the corner. These will be available soon to everyone who wants one or four.
I had my Pumpkleta hoodie on this weekend and an older couple came up to me and my brother, asking about the origin story of “Pump-KLEET-a.” I told her how it started as a joke and now it’s a real beer. Her response? “Wow. Okay! Good luck!”
We got a phone call on Friday night from Jada, who was very excited to tell us that he was about to step onstage to perform at a bar mitzvah. (I think that booking was more for the parents than the kid, although I did see footage of a bunch of 13-year-olds and Kiss going crazy to “Don’t Like.” Lil Uzi Vert came through, too, to do a few songs — one for the heads, one for the Gen Alphas.)
It is sorta wild that Jada’s going to more bar mitzvahs than I am in 2025. A very unexpected turn in both our lives.
To Jada’s point, the amount of money that went into that celebration was…insane. But hey, you only go from being a boy to becoming a man once or whatever. I remember there was a kid in my grade who had the Knicks dancers at his — that was a very big deal. My brothers and I didn’t have any platinum artists or glitzy choreography at ours; we just had our friends and loved ones. I think we all deserve do-overs.
The theme of 13-year-old Eric’s was newspapers — every table had him on a different front page: for our relatives from Florida or DC, it was the Miami Herald and Washington Post, etc. For Dan’s and mine, it was us on the covers of Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and TIME’s Men of the Year. (Our mom was a magazine editor before Eric was born. You see the connection.)
I think if Sheek had a bar mitzvah, everyone would have to wear name-tags but more importantly no one would be invited.
Styles and Jada would read their Torah portions back-to-back, Technician the DJ would spin the record back and it would take longer than a Funk Flex set.
Eric went to film school, so his would be a movie: he’d get Uzi to perform. Movie.
And I would invite the exact same people I did the first time, just to see how everyone from my middle school is doing.
For the record, Pumpkleta > > > Manischewitz.
A different fun Jada fact for October: in 2007, Jadakiss, Ashanti and Treach of Naughty By Nature were due to star alongside former Sopranos star Michael Imperioli in You’re Nobody ’til Somebody Kills You. In an interview around that time, Jada said, “It’s like a serial killer movie about rappers. Serial killer killin’ a lot of rappers. Should be good. It starts shootin’ next week.” Produced by Spike Lee, the movie was eventually made in 2011, without any of the talent named…though Michael K Williams, Doug E. Fresh, Shyheim, Greg Nice (of Nice & Smooth) and Big Daddy Kane all made appearances.
If Jada was in it, I would’ve absolutely chosen that for my next pick. There’s still a chance that Sheek was cast but wasn’t listed on Wikipedia, I need to ask him.
As we said earlier, this week’s episode (which is now live!) is Sheek’s pick: The Black Phone! Setting off a very spooky October, it’s the story of Finn, a boy from North Denver who - in 1978 - is abducted by the mysterious villain, The Grabber. Soon, voices from the great beyond begin contacting him. You can stream it on Peacock, rent it on Amazon or Apple for cheap or catch it on Fandango for free. You can also read the short story it’s based on, by Stephen King’s son, here (also for free).
For next week, Jada chose Weapons! One of the most popular movies of the year, this suspenseful story opens on a very heated town meeting: an entire classroom of children has disappeared…except for one kid and the teacher. Where are all the kids? Why was only one left behind? You can still find it in some theaters or you can rent it, doesn’t matter to me!
And then comes my pick. Do I follow in the horror theme? Or do you want some counter-programming?
As always, you can add other suggestions in our movie spreadsheet, follow us on IG, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter (even though we don’t use it), Reddit and it’s always nice to see you here. Shouts to the ROTN massive, see everyone who can make it Friday!