LOOK ALIVE, JULIUS!
(OOPS, TOO LATE) 💀
Happy Peanut Lovers Day! It seems like it was just yesterday we were celebrating National Peanut Cluster Day, but in point of fact it was just yesterweek that we did that. March sure is nuts for peanuts.
It's also National VO Day! VO — voiceover, if you're "in the biz" — is such a cool talent. Sadly, it seems to be going the way of the buffalo. Sometime around 1988,* animation studios stopped hiring ultra-talented career voice actors that could adopt a wide variety of personas and switch between them at a moment's notice and started replacing them with big name Hollywood stars that were supposedly more "bankable."
*I chose this year in particular because for some reason my inner child blames the film Oliver & Company for kickstarting this trend, even though my inner adult is sure it began before then. Boredwalk co-founder Meredith will be quite pleased that I have finally found fault with Billy Joel (aka Artful Dodger) for something. I guess he made up for it with that indomitable street savoir faire of his.
The joke's on those studio suits, though, since soon even Hollywood A-listers and former Grammy winners will be iced out by AI-generated deepfake voice tracks.** Weird how the more things change, the more they stay the same, hmm?
**They would probably love this, actually, since they wouldn't have to pay robots scale (that's minimum wage, if you're in the biz). Suits are gonna suit.
Whatever happens, I hope whomever future generations of suits try to screw over financially — be they human or machine — take a cue from that soft but deadly tee up top and choose retribution.
Speaking of that tee, tap the pink button below and get one for yourself so you are properly attired when the revolution comes!
Was this a long way for a joke that combined a reference to a 34 year old peanut butter commercial AND a 20 year old reference to a 1,980 year old assassination of a Roman emperor on the Ides of March/National Peanut Lovers Day? Yes. But was that journey worth it? Also yes.
You can thank me for my next-level comedy stylings by
purchasing some shirts, books, and Delve Decks.
GIF via Mean Girls / Paramount Pictures
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While you're waiting for your new Boredwalk gear to arrive you can also treat your earholes to the latest episode of the Boredwalk Podcast!
This week Meredith & Tess discuss the proposed TikTok divestment and/or ban working its way through Congress but touch on the equally problematic — and previously mentioned — proliferation of AI-generated deepfake photos and videos. Worse living through technology!
This leads into a conversation about the accelerating normalization of general incompetence in the world. Wonderful!
Tess reads a recent glowing review of our Delve Deck conversation cards, and chases it with some troll comments to make sure we don't get too high on ourselves. Mission accomplished, Kolton!
Speaking of the Delve Deck, our hosts move on to read and react to fan responses to the recent Question of the Day that was pulled from the Delve Deck "what frivolous hill are you willing to die on?" Entertaining answers abound!
They then take a quick break to talk about Boredwalk's forthcoming spring release and the manufacturing headaches that have gone along with it before wrapping up by trading answers to the Delve Deck Venting and Joy Edition questions "what do other people find romantic that doesn't impress you?" and "what is at the top of your bucket list?"
Get in on the action and listen to the hilarity on the platform of your choice!
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Here are a few historical tidbits and famous birthdays from March 15ths of yore to kick off your weekend:
• ICYMI earlier in this email, in 44 BCE ol' Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times by his pals in the Roman Senate, leading him to, in the words of Tupac, "die slow."
• Speaking of 23, in 1820 the great state of Maine was admitted as the 23rd US state. My favorite thing about Maine is that it is Stephen King's home state and the setting of all his best stories. Good on ya for being such a hotbed of creative creepiness, Maine!
• Birthday treats (peanutty and otherwise) all around for: Legendary blues singer-songwriter & guitarist Lightnin' Hopkins (1912), actor Judd Hirsch of Taxi, Dear John, Independence Day, and Sharknado 2 fame (1935), Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh (1940), Beach Boys singer-songwriter & musician Mike Love (1941), Canadian horror filmmaker & occasional actor David Cronenberg of Scanners, The Fly, and Nightbreed fame (1943), legendary pop/rock/funk/R&B musician & producer Sly Stone (1943), actress Frances Conroy of Six Feet Under and American Horror Story fame (1953), Twisted Sister singer-songwriter Dee Snider (1955), singer-songwriter Terence Trent D'Arby of "Wishing Well" fame (1962), Poison singer-songwriter & reality TV celebrity Bret Michaels (1963), singer-songwriter Rockwell of "Somebody's Watching Me" fame (1964), Sugar Ray singer-songwriter & actor Mark McGrath, ALSO of Sharknado 2 fame (1968; so much star power in Sharknado 2!), singer-songwriter Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 fame (1972), actress Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives fame (1975), rapper will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame (1975), rapper Young Buck of G-Unit fame (1981), and actress Eva Amurri of Saved! and Californication fame (1985)
• Pour one out for: The exhaustively mentioned Julius Caesar (d. 44 BCE), problematic but influential horror writer H.P. Lovecraft (d. 1937), rapper, singer, and G-funk icon Nate Dogg (d. 2011), and drummer Scott Asheton of influential Detroit proto-punks The Stooges (d. 2014)
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OK, that's it for this week!
We'll be back here in your inbox on Monday with another email and maybe a fresh customer Q&A if any brave soul (perhaps you?) volunteers! If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming email, reply to this one and let us know!
Peace, love, and retribution,
Matt
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