Hyphen Nation

Five categories: Music. Movies. Sports. Television. Potpourri. Both Marcus and I entered with (almost) 3 hot takes for each category. Over the course of this episode, you won't just hear some takes. You won't just hear some hot takes. These are certified HAWT ASS TAKES. Accept no substitutes until the next time the fire burns. This episode is brought to you by You, Me and Dupree.

Welcome to Crying Nation, where the topics make me cry! If that doesn't stop you, there's a new sheriff in WWE Champion town and he's black! This is Blazing Saddles all over again. Then a Dwyane Wade commercial is the reason you're listening to Crying Nation today instead of Hyphen Nation. And then, if you get that far, I have a close encounter of the marijuana kind on my lunch break and Shea Serrano continues to be awesome. This episode was brought to you by This Is 40.

Defender of Brooklyn and my friend Derrick Ferguson joins the show as I finally make up for us not doing a pod sooner. We talk about Derrick's podcast history and his crowned and renowned Better In The Dark podcast he did for 7 years with his cohost Thomas Deja. We bounce over to Derrick's writing career as he describes his action adventurer Dillon and many of his other creations. Then we kind of wind things down as I heap loads of unexpected praise at Derrick and I don't regret any of it! Maybe next time we'll visit Lil' Blade and Lil' Blaxploitationville.

You can check out the Violet Apples YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLh7AC1UuDPtvS5eJixF4gg

Get your Morgantown weather report! See how long I can stretch out the word AND in between thoughts! How many locales was this episode recorded in?

I actually address a topic I first mentioned on Episode #43. RIP Nipsey Hussle. And a huge moment in modern cinema is reviewed when three dudes got together to make music in 2005. I shouldn't be eating ramen this late.

I called out Mike "The Buzz-Saw" Asti on my State Of The Podcast pod and George "The Howitzer" Gerbo made sure it happened! I'm joined by Mike and George as we travel the only road that matters right now: the Road to WrestleMania! We discuss all kinds of matches and rumors as we watched this past week's SmackDown including Rousey/Charlotte/Becky, Brock/Seth, Angle/Baron Corbin, and New Daniel Bryan vs Kofi (apparently). It's all the WrestleMania preview you can handle and more, so you better be ready to bump. Mike and George fully endorse Moment of Bliss and Alexa Bliss for everything.

Just when you thought I was done with Into The Spider-Verse, a new challenger emerges. The Pied Piper of R&B continues to strike terror wherever he goes. I weigh in on how public opinion on Black Panther has changed over the course of the last year. Then I talk a lot of NFL and begrudgingly give Tom Brady his propers. I'm on my 4th cup of coffee today.

The revelations of the documentary Leaving Neverland are discussed in detail so please proceed with caution if anything about the topics of sexual assault and molestation are too intense for you to handle. Marcus and I cover both parts of the doc, whether we believe Michael Jackson's accusers, what this does to the legacy that Jackson left behind nearly 10 years ago, and plenty more.

I finally get to name my 2018 Best In The World award winner. Any guesses as to who that is? After a few starts and stops, I spent some time with some of the new music releases of 2018 and I wasn't pleased with what I found. Am I right or am I missing the point? Also, why in the hell am I still watching The Walking Dead?

Live from Studio C of U92, it's the Hamilton episode I've been dying to make and nobody wanted! In all seriousness, my friend Tyler Kovar went to see Hamilton in Pittsburgh the day after my birthday. Since he couldn't (or wouldn't) take me, he did the next best thing by talking Hamilton on the pod with me. We get into Tyler's theater background first and then dive right into the Hamilton live experience. Hir-O, holla at me man.

Due to some last minute schedule changes, I was able to take in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse with the family for an early birthday gift. So not only do I have Marcus and Lamerique with me on this Spidey-tacular ride, Angel joined in as well. Things quickly went downhill from there. My beard was rubbing against my mic. Sorry.