Currently Watching : SHADOW South African TV series – One of the Best Shows on Netflix

SHADOW (2019) – Six episodes in and I am still loving this 2019 Johannesburg centered series, starring Pallance Dladla as the titular Shadow, Khathu Ramabulana as the dependable best friend Max, and Amanda DuPont as the absolutely ravishing and riveting Ashley.  Equal parts ‘ROSEWOOD Medical Examiner Police Procedural’ and ‘EQUALIZER Action series’, this is just a fun, well acted, and intelligently written action series.

Toss in beautiful photography, surprisingly cutting edge and compelling and heartwarming stories (loved episode 6), and likeable, enjoyable characters and you have an early contender for one of my favorite shows of 2020. The Brainchild of Phillip and Fred Wolmarans and Nick Keulemans and Gareth Crocker, and executive produced by Chris and Colleen Lawrence, here is hoping Netflix gives this one a 2nd season. Grade: B+

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, then I would really appreciate if you subscribe, like, and use the links below to support this channel. Thanks!

 

Today’s Blu-Ray Player of the Day!

Today’s Blu-ray Selection of the Day!

Early Contender for one of my favorite TV Shows of 2020 – Netflix’s SHADOW Action Series!

The 1st season of THE TERROR, the 1st season of Amazon’s BAD BOYS, and the 1st and only season of BBC’s BODYGUARD on Netflix were my favorite television shows of 2019.

4 episodes in and I am absolutely loving Netflix’s South African action/thriller series SHADOW.

Part EQUALIZER meets WALLENDER meets STRIKEBACK, the other part is its own unique texture and vibe; this series is hitting all the right notes… the actors are fantastic, plots Baroque and strange and compelling, the action riveting. Took a while for me to actually give this series a try, however now it (along with Netflix/BBCs DRACULA) is an early contender for one of my favorite tv shows of 2020.

I really hope both these shows eventually get a Blu-Ray release, complete with special features/director’s commentary. The best of any year deserves the permanence of DVD/Blu-Ray. That said I’m still waiting on season 2 of Luke Cage to make it to Blu-Ray… looking at you Netflix. 🙂 .

 

 

The Best of Boutique Blu-ray Labels in the age of Streaming! Oct 2019 to February 2020 ARROW Collection Update!

Despite claims of the death of physical media, Blu-ray Boutique labels, HERE IN 2020, are putting out some of the best physical content… EVER!

Here then are MUST OWN Blu-rays in the age of streaming and digital, acquired between October 2019 and February 2020!

While the Criterion Collection is the most well known Boutique or Quality Curated Dvd/Blu-Ray label, coming back to physical media I was surprised to find there are new kids on the block, that arguably not just equal Criterion, but edge it out in terms of features and overall quality of packing, booklet, materials, etc.

One such Blu-Ray label is ARROW VIDEO. Following on the heels of SCREAM FACTORY getting me back into physical media in a major way in 2019, ARROW VIDEO was the next company I jumped in to with both feet. And is actually, SCREAM FACTORY aside, my favorite Blu-Ray label of 2019. And without doubt the label I purchased the most movies from in 2019.

Here Now are all the Arrow Video Blu-Ray movies picked up from Oct 2019 to now in February 2020.

 

You can make a huge argument that Arrow’s feature rich AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON was THE BEST single Blu-ray release of 2019. For me it was a MUST OWN! You may still be able to pick up copies here.

Great film! My first time seeing it, and is better than most films made today. Nice special features. Get it here!

BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA – Sam Peckinpah made several masterpieces, this is one of his best, probably only edged out by PAT GARRET & BILLY THE KID. This was his final word, on the avenging spirit made flesh. Get your copy here!

Lucio Fulci’s masterpieces are not his Ghoul/Zombie Films, these were the work of a filmmaker who had succumbed to the questionable tastes of the market (that had rejected his most beloved film, his attempt at art) and to an extent his own perverseness.

You want to see Fulci as a great director, then seek out LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN, DON’T TORTURE THE DUCKLING, SILVER SADDLE, MASSACRE TIME, THE PSYCHIC, BEATRICE CENCI (his favorite film) and arguably his best film ONE ON TOP THE OTHER (a homage to Hitchcock, that I actually think out does Hitchcock).

But that said, even these oft querulous and lowest common denominator peddling zombie films of his later years, have something to recommend them; namely Fulci’s unequaled imagination and real knack for composition of effectively baroque and unsettling imagery. Fulci knew how to drop your jaw, but also to stage a scene.

I quite, acknowledging its issues, I quite like CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD. And the Arrow presentation, with great commentaries, is the way to see it.

Get yours here.

 

Pt 1 of 2. Come back next installment for the conclusion of my ARROW VIDEO coverage. And if you are enjoying this coverage of physical media spread the word, give a like, subscribe, and email or comment.

Be well out there!

 

3 Best Marvel/MCU Villains 2008-2019

 

22 movies, Eleven years, hundreds of actors, dozens of bad guys, but only 3 stand as the very best Villains of kevin feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.

 

LOKI

 

LOKI– In many ways the first AVENGERS movie stands as the most important of the MCU films, up there with the first IRON MAN movie. The IRON MAN movie proved these individual characters could work on the big screen, THE AVENGERS movie proved a super-hero team, wide screen Comic Book level action, could work for the masses; proved That this concept of long form story telling in film… could payoff, and should continue.

After 22 movies, THE AVENGERS is still the movie I saw the most in the theaters, a record three times (I almost never see a movie in a theater more than once), and the one I had the most fun with. And that is because Director Josh Whedon delivered the film of his career, the writing was brilliant, actors and effects phenomenal, and the characters… literally the stuff of Myth. And the most memorable scenes of a very memorable film revolve around Tom Hiddleston’s completely crowd pleasing performance as Loki, that sets up such memorable lines as ‘Mewling Quim’ and ‘Puny God’.

Like the best of all Villains, the two other names on this list; the Loki character while wrong, there is something compelling and seductive, and relateable in Loki’s mania. Driven by some hurt he seeks to fix, some reason that reason knows not of, that makes him more than a stock villain, but someone more complex, and someone that in moments… seen from some angle, is understandable, if not approvable.

There is a reason Hiddleston’s Loki ten years later remains… beloved. Because being more than a stock Villain, means at moments he resembles all of us, he is capable of good, as well as evil. And watching Loki navigate that line, grow as a character, makes him more than villain and more than hero… it makes him… interesting.

 

 

 

 

KILLMONGER

 

 

KILLMONGER – There were a lot of MCU villains prior to Michael B. Jordan’s acclaimed turn as KILLMONGER, in the brilliant and ground-breaking Ryan Coolger helmed BLACK PANTHER, but none of them, not Red Skull, not Ultron, not Winter Soldier, not even Loki, had me deep into the movie… unmoored about who was right and who was wrong.

To do that in a film, to bring the audience with you into a questionable grey area where there are no more heroes and no more villains, but just principles of better worlds that clash in blood, that is some deep and epic and personal filmmaking, and to accomplish that in a large scale blockbuster superhero movie, is the stuff that awards are designed to recognize.

Hats off to all involved, but particularly to the way Jordan chose to play KILLMONGER, just unique and disturbing and yet another memorable character, from an actor who has quickly become one of the best actors of his generation.

BLACK PANTHER is a film that I loved the action in, loved the fight scenes, loved the story, loved the scale, but what really sets it apart from every other MCU films before it (with the exception of THE WINTER SOLDIER, which did it in a smaller way) is the sophistication of how it is told. The murky grey areas where good and bad become… unsound. It’s a great film, that becomes stronger every time you watch it. Like leather curing in the sun.

At the film’s heart it is a tale of fathers and sons, kings and commoners, and a question of whose vision of tomorrow… is most right. And that hinges on Jordan’s KILLMONGER, a lesser villain or a lesser performance, and we would be talking about a much less successful film. Which is the case with any film, a great film seldom does so, without a great antagonist; and Jordan’s KILLMONGER is one of the greats.

 

 

 

 

THANOS

 

And now we come to the 1000lb Gorilla in the room, (it is an idiom used to call attention to an overwhelming or obvious  idea, finally being recognized – for those of you who may not be familiar with the expression) THANOS.

A CGI character that has been the big bad we have been building to in these 22 films. It is an unprecedented build up, the likes of which we will likely never see again. But boy did it pay off. Josh Brolin (son of the legendary actor James Brolin) has in the last two decades started forging his own legend, in films from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN to AMERICAN GANGSTER to TRUE GRIT to SICARIO (look forward to seeing him in the upcoming Villeneuve directed DUNE and Sean Penn helmed FLAG DAY) he has been solidly delivering the goods.

But I think it is safe to say his THANOS is likely to be the role he is remembered for above and beyond all others, just based on the cultural and historic imprint these 22 films have carved out. You have to go back to Universal Studios game changing monster movies of 1923 to 1955 to get a run as formative and impactful as this current run of MCU movies.

And THANOS is the looming shadow that haunts these films, and in INFINITY WAR and ENDGAME Brolin’s Thanos gets to come out of the shadows and take center stage.

Again as buildups go, you will likely never see, in your lifetime the like again, a 22 film novel for television, that stuck the landing.

Much has been written on the character of THANOS and the sophistication he was written and performed with. following in the wake of Jordan’s KILLMONGER, here too is another villain where, to a lesser degree, you see the mercy in his madness, the humanity in his horror. He does and is going to do horrible things, but toward ends that we must all, at the end of the day judge as… understandable.  And it is the achievement of all involved from performers to directors to special effects to camera to makeup to lighting to sound, that in not one moment of INFINITY WAR or ENDGAME, not one moment of a CGI Thanos interacting with the other actors, do I question the fiction crafted. The vision is solid.

It is a 2 film culmination of a 22 film, 11 year unequaled and un-thought of cinematic achievement, and it sticks the landing. And Thanos quite rightly gets catapulted into the conversation of most iconic cinematic villains of all time, up there with Darth Vader, Dracula, Dr. No, Dr. Mabuse, Khan, Hannibal Lecter, Joker.

 

 

So that is it guys, the 3 best villains of 22 movies, and 11 years of cinematic gold!!!

 

And for Honarable Mentions:

• Ultron
• Red Skull
• Winter Soldier
• Klaw

 

Thanks for looking, feel free to comment with your favorite villain or villains, and if you enjoyed this post give some love to this installment’s sponsor:

 

 

Purchase Here.

Must Watch Videos of the Day : 9 Jan 2020

The PORFLE POPNECKER Youtube channel always has great and oft obscure tidbits from the heyday of old Hollywood. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable on classic cinema, however… even I… typicaly am always introduced to something new when watching his channels. I am a huge stop-motion fan, but had never heard of the 1957 movie, BLACK SCORPION. Thanks to the above clip I now know about it, and will definitely keep an eye out for it, to view it when possible.

 

Roland Romero shows off his recent Blu-ray purchases, to include a sought after Indicator Hammer Boxset. Love this channel. As those of you reading this know, while I have fallen off of most Blurays, I am a huge fan of Steel-books and Boxsets. I think while major American companies have under-served the physical media market, boutique specialty companies and foreign companies are filling the void by producing, some of the finest physical media releases ever. Quality mastering, with quality special features, with quality presentation and packing. These releases are works of art, as much as the actual film itself. The ‘dead’ physical media format, has never looked more alive, and more attractive. :). I bought more Blurays in 2019 than just about any year… ever (part of that has to do with the rise of Steelbooks) , and 2020 is already gearing up to surpass that.

 

 

 

Earl Grey released his BEST TRADES OF 2019, and like any of his best of videos, it is a must watch to my fellow bibliophile’s out there. Just a consistently great channel.

 

 

 

TOP 5 scariest Horror Manga You Need to Read! What else is there to say, love this channel.

 

 

Video of the Day: Top 100 Sports Bloopers of the Year 2019

 

 

I am not a sports guy.

In the words of Tommy Lee jones in THE FUGITIVE, ‘I don’t care.’. Outside of Boxing and UFC/MMA I did not follow any other sports in 2019. That said I have respect for all sports, and all athletes, I generally just don’t have interest in following most sports these days.

But the end of year highlights are always entertaining, and the above video is especially fun. Video #40 makes me laugh out loud every time.

Enjoy.

 

Today’s Deals!

2019 Year in Review : Favorite TV Shows

I tried quite a few shows in 2019 UMBRELLA ACADEMY, LUCIFER, GOOD OMENS, THE WITCHER, BLACK MIRROR, GAME OF THRONES but my favorite TV shows, BY FAR, were the following:

 

THE TERROR 1st Season – One of the most grueling and terrifying and brilliant things I saw on TV in 2019

BODYGUARD 1st and only season- One of the best action/spy shows I’ve seen since SPOOKS and the first season of JACK RYAN.

THE GRAND TOUR – One of the worst mistakes TOP GEAR made was pissing these guys off and forcing them out. TOP GEAR has become an un-watched joke, and THE GRAND TOUR … simply fun and brilliant.

HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE Season 1- After THE TERROR, the 2nd most terrifying tv show I saw in 2019. And that one episode with the reveal of the hanging lady, is just horrible to think about. The more you think about that episode the more effed up it becomes, and the more you feel for that character. A brilliantly written show.

LUKE CAGE Season 2- Speaking of a brilliantly written show, LUKE CAGE season 2 when you get past some cringe worthy scenes in the early episode ( I do not want to see Shades and Black Mariah kissing on each other, the less of that the better) but when you get past that bit of self indulgence, it really takes off and has a story that is more complex than people hitting each other. Which kinda is why I lost interest in the other Marvel/Netflix shows. It is the small moments where this series sings, like the scene of Cage and Rand just talking as they overlook Central Park. That is one of my favorite scenes, and not a punch in it, just people talking. And the Antagonists were so rich, no clear good, or clear evil, but people in varying degrees of pain. Add to that just the best ending/cliffhanger of any of the Marvel/Netflix shows. Really hope this comes to Bluray soon.

MANDALORIAN Season 1 – Baby Yoda Rules! And the show is great, a nice back to basics western in space.

THE BOYS Season 1 – Jaw Dropping, and one of the best examples of the adaptation being superior to the source material. Not a fan of THE BOYS comic, loved this show,

THE EXPANSE (Seasons 1-3) – I’ve praised this show often. It is the best scifi show currently being aired.

 

PENNYWORTH – Only saw 3 episodes, that was all that was available for free, but what a 3 episodes. Phenomenal and fun and gripping.

 

WATCHMEN – Only saw the first episode, but what an episode. Had my doubts about this show, the first episode made me a believer.

 

With an honorable mention to BABYLON 5 as a show I revisited in 2019. Currently on season 4. Holds up as one of the best shows of all time. Straczynski creating the first novel for TV.

 

If you dug this list then please like, subscribe, and give the below Bonanza store some love:

Shop here for Today’s Deals!

2019 Favorite YouTube Channels and Channels that did and did not make it to 2020! Edition A-B!

Favorite Youtube Channels of 2019:

 

 

The above were some of my favorite channels, and with a few exceptions, are all still on my subscription list here in 2020.

Other channels in letters ‘A to B’ that I am subscribed to in 2020 are:

AARON PYNN (we do not have the same taste in films, but I like being introduced to films I would otherwise not be aware of or give a try. And being a physical media guy he has been helpful in 2019 in keeping me abreast of Dvd/Bluray sales), ADAM CELADIN (knife thrower), ALTER (some of the best short horror films), ALTERNA COMICS (really a fan of the sub $2 model this comic book company is providing, and they and Image comics $1 reprint books, I think are a big reason the big two offered $1 reprint books of their own), AMATEUR FILIES (one of the best Dvd/BluRay coverage channels), ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, AVANTGARDEVEGAN, AXANAR,  BADDAD320, BARBARIAN_KUNGFU, BARGAINHUNTERSTHRIFT, BATINTHESUN, BELLA’S TOY CHEST, BERNIE’S BOOTLEGS, BLADE HQ (helped get me into knife collecting in 2019), BLU RAY COLLECTOR, BLU-RAY BENN, BLURAY DAN, BRAVE WILDERNESS (one of our top 10 favorite channels), BUDGETBUGOUT.

 

Channels that have gone dark in 2020:

ANDY BORDERS

BATAVENGER

2019 End of the Year Director Overview – Henri-Georges Clouzot

The best available films of and about the great Suspense Director Henri-Georges Clouzot

Product Description

In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their expensive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France s legendary master of suspense Henri Georges-Clouzot.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
Restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Video interviews with assistant director Michel Romanoff and Henri-Georges Clouzot biographer Marc Godin
Interview with Yves Montand from 1988
Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Enlightened Tyrant, a 2004 documentary on the director s career
Censored, an analysis of cuts made to the film for its 1955 U.S. release
PLUS: An booklet featuring an essay by novelist Dennis Lehane

Review

A big, masterly movie…it joyfully scares the living hell out of you as it reveals something about the human condition. –Vincent Canby, The New York Times

https://amzn.to/2SOgfn3

 

Before Psycho, Peeping Tom, and Repulsion, there was Diabolique. This thriller from Henri‑Georges Clouzot (Le corbeau, The Wages of Fear), which shocked audiences in Europe and the U.S., is the story of two women—the fragile wife and the willful mistress of a sadistic school headmaster—who hatch a daring revenge plot. With its unprecedented narrative twists and unforgettably scary images, Diabolique is a heart-grabbing benchmark in horror filmmaking, featuring outstanding performances by Simone Signoret (Casque d’or, Army of Shadows), Vera Clouzot (The Wages of Fear), and Paul Meurisse (Le deuxième souffle, Army of Shadows).

---

Special features

New digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray editionSelected-scene commentary by French-film scholar Kelley Conway

New video interview with Serge Bromberg, codirector of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s, Inferno

New video interview with horror film expert Kim Newman

New and improved English subtitle translation

PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty

https://amzn.to/2SF4rTM

 

This masterful adaptation of Prévost s 1731 novel Manon Lescaut marks quite a departure for Henri-Georges Clouzot, the French director lauded for his acclaimed thrillers The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques.

A classical tragic romance transposed to a World War II setting, Clouzot s film follows the travails of Manon (Cécile Aubry), a village girl accused of collaborating with the Nazis who is rescued from imminent execution by a former French Resistance fighter (Michel Auclair). The couple move to Paris, but their relationship turns stormy as they struggle to survive, resorting to profiteering, prostitution and even murder. Eventually escaping to Palestine, the pair attempt a treacherous desert crossing in search of the happiness which seems to forever elude them…

Clouzot s astute portrayal of doomed young lovers caught in the disarray of post-war France wowed the jury of the 1949 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion award. Unjustly overshadowed ever since by the director s suspense films, Manon now returns to screens in glorious High Definition with a selection of elucidating extras.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

 

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

 

• Original 1.0 mono audio

 

• Optional English subtitles

 

• Bibliothèque de poche: H.G. Clouzot, an archival documentary from 1970 in which Clouzot talks of his love of literature and the relationship between the page and the screen

 

• Woman in the Dunes, a newly filmed video appreciation by film critic Geoff Andrew

 

• Image gallery

 

• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options

https://amzn.to/2ZGgT7f

In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot, the acclaimed director of thriller masterpieces Les Diaboliques and Wages of Fear, began work on his most ambitious film yet.

Set in a beautiful lake side resort in the Auvergne region of France, L’Enfer (Inferno) was to be a sun scorched elucidation on the dark depths of jealousy starring Romy Schneider as the harassed wife of a controlling hotel manager (Serge Reggiani). However, despite huge expectations, major studio backing and an unlimited budget, after three weeks the production collapsed under the weight of arguments, technical complications and illness.

In this compelling, award-winning documentary Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea present Inferno’s incredible expressionistic original rushes, screen tests, and on-location footage, whilst also reconstructing Clouzot’s original vision, and shedding light on the ill-fated endeavor through interviews, dramatizations of unfilmed scenes, and Clouzot’s own notes.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

 

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Lucy Mazdon on Henri-Georges Clouzot, the French cinema expert and academic talks at length about the films of Clouzot and the troubled production of Inferno
• They Saw Inferno, a featurette including unseen material, providing further insight into the production of Inferno
• Filmed Introduction by Serge Bromberg
• Interview with Serge Bromberg
• Stills gallery
• Original trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Twins of Evil
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Ginette Vincendeau

https://amzn.to/37u1B8z

 

 

 

The final film of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s (Diabolique, The Wages of Fear) brilliant career, La Prisonnière (1968) is a sensuously colorful film of voyeuristic sexual obsession. It maps a love triangle between abstract sculptor Gilbert (Bernard Fresson), his TV editor girlfriend Josée (Elisabeth Wiener), and art gallery owner Stanislas (Laurent Terzieff). At an art opening, Gilbert ditches Josée, so she ends up going home with Stanislas, who shows her a photograph of a woman in bondage. The image is shocking and alluring, and Josée asks to attend his next erotic photo shoot, her first step in unlocking the depths of her desires. Making full use of the psychedelic optical effects that Clouzot developed for the unfinished L’Enfer, La Prisonnière is a visionary swansong for this legendary cinema artist.

Special Features: Audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger • Booklet essay by film critic Elena Lazic The Rebellious Elisabeth Wiener (25 minutes) • Trailer

 

10/10

A disturbing masterpiece

slabihoud2 May 2019

Since there is little talk about “La Prisonnière” when ever there is some kind of documentary or article about Henri-Georges Clouzot , It hasn’t been shown on TV for a very long time and so I thought it must be a weak film, probably done with a small budget and only half-heartedly because of bad health. Boy, was I wrong! After Clouzot’s collapse at the filming of “L’Enfer” he had to refrain from filming for some time. He already had a breakdown earlier in his career and his reputation for being excessively obsessed with perfection was very likely the reason for it. He filmed only every few years because he planned his films methodically. After the disaster of “L’Enfer” it looked as if he had to retire because of his health problems. But he recovered and was able to finish one more film.

When you have seen the documentary “L’Enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot” then you know that all the tests he had made for it have not been in vain. “La Prisonnière” looks very much like another try on “L’Enfer” from a different point of view. The strange lightning tests he made with Romy Schneider, Dany Carrel and Serge Reggiani and the experiments with shapes and optical illusions, that all and much more went into “Le Prisonnière”. And here it makes more sense than in “L’Enfer” since the male character is an art collector and gallery owner who exhibits modern designs. From all we can see of the fragments of “L’Enfer” through “L’Enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot” it would have been a great film. And since so many good ideas could not be used there, he gave them all to “La Prisonnière” – and it is a great film! There are pure cinematic moments in this film too, and I had a feeling that Clouzot realized this would be his last film and he wanted to use everything that he had not tried yet and to finish with a bang.

 

https://amzn.to/39ucnNJ

 

Inspirational Person/Youtube Video of the Day and Inspirational Person of 2019 : David Goggins

A year ago today, I did not know who David Goggins was, which says nothing at all about his well deserved fame, and a lot about how generally out of the world I am, in regards to any event or person who I do not figuratively trip over.

David Goggins, has been described as the man who the hardest men on the planet,  look at as an inspirational tale. And with good reason. I did a post a while back that links to some of the coverage that introduced me to him.

David Goggins is a man who does not suffer fools, and does not suffer excuses, and lives by a grinding work ethic, that makes the hard or difficult or grueling day most of us think we are dealing with, literally pale in comparison.

He is a man who to some extent ensconces himself in the miserable and suffering, to find what lies beyond.

He is a hard relentless man, for an oft hard relentless world.

But he cares, he cares.

By his own estimation he is a natural introvert, a natural stutterer, a challenged learner, a fat man, and by any estimation he has transcended all labels that was put on him by others or by himself. When most of us make excuses for our failings, David Goggins at some point, at many points, said no… no more.

In a world that loves mediocrity, David Goggins learned to loathe it with a passion and a response and a tenacity that can only be called… relentless. “No you are not Big Boned…. You are fat!!!” to paraphrase Goggins.

He can come off as a gruff and a brusque human, in his language, in his stance, in his relentlessness, but what is clear is that relentlessness is shield and armor… for a man who cares deeply for all of us, and our wars against mediocrity.

Spending ten hours calling your followers for the holidays? Who the eff does that??? Who subjects themselves to that??? David Goggins does. He doesn’t hold himself up as perfect, and he’s not asking you to be perfect. He is asking you to when you get kicked in the teeth, (which you will, it is what life does) to get up, and be harder to knock down next time.

The most inspirational person I know this year, who I do not really know, someone that is outside my circle of friends and family (who if we are lucky are the ones to most tangibly inspire us), hands down is David Goggins. His story and his videos this year taught me clearly something we allow ourselves to forget, that no one cares about the things we complain about, no one, and they should not, what people should care about is the things you spend time fixing. You are either a complainer or a problem solver, part of the problem or part of the solution.

 

David Goggins calls you to be part of the solution. Whatever your specific solution is. He welcomes you to the war.

 

If you like this installment, please like, subscribe, and support this blog at this link!