So tis the month of June now. And this month of June, I have had a bunch of new’s. I mean new favorite things. What makes this interesting is not that I have a bunch of new favorite things. No, of course my favorites have changed before, and I'm sure they will again. No, what’s interesting about this, isn’t that I have three new favorite things. It's that all that has changed in this month. The month of June. Thus I have named it my new month of new. A new favorite kind of pizza, a new favorite superhero, and a new favorite actor. So let's start with the pizza. Admittedly this one happened in May, but it was May 30th so we’re countin it. Plus it wasn’t confirmed until June, so it works. Anyway, I was at this karaoke competition. Before you ask, yes I did sing Astronaut by Simple Plan, and no, I didn't win. Which honestly I am half relieved about because it was like a twelve hour thing and I would a been there two hours longer had I won. But that’s a different story, for another day. Anyway at this competition, they had pizza for the competitors. I had a piece, of some kind, can’t remember. Anyway I was gonna call it good on one piece but then I saw another kind of pizza, and it had pickles on it. And I mean, I FUCKING LOVE pickles! So what could I do, I was powerless to resist. I had to try the pizza with pickles on it. Like even if a doctor had just told me I would die if I ate one more piece of pizza and then I saw it I’d shrug and be like “well, I had a good run!” So now that you understand, let’s continue. Anyway an overwhelming need, not want, need to try the pizza with pickles. I asked someone if I could have another piece of pizza. They said of course and so I did. They then went on to warn me “it’s cheese burger pizza so it’s a little weird.” And I was like ok, but, pickles. So I took a bite, and by weird this person must have meant so good it will make every other pizza anti climatic. Because it was soo good. I immediately thought this might be my new favorite pizza. Might, as at that point it wasn’t super clear. I mean a sample size of one is pretty weak. So I needed to replicate my experiment. Anyway I told my mom, and a few days later we made Cheese burger pizza, and then it was confirmed, my new favorite kind of pizza is Cheeseburger pizza! Now you might be wondering, what my previous favorite pizza was? And well I’m not exactly sure. Probably some meatlovers kind or something. Prior to my experience with cheeseburger pizza it would have been hard to say. That is the case with most of my new favorites. Except, the actor…
So prior to this month I would have told you Al Pacino was my favorite actor. Scarface has long been my favorite movie, and Al Pacino is just so great in that like he is in all his movies. I remember one time years ago when I was still in school, my school used to hate me talking about Scarface, I had some anger and disciplinary issues and I guess they thought my love of Scarface was to blame (it wasn’t, it’s more likely I was an anarchist back then too and just didn’t know it yet.) Anyway there was a project where they had the students design an ancient community. I Drew mine up and named it Pacino Ville. My teacher was not havin it, she said “you know you can’t do that.” I protested, “he’s just an actor.” She reiterated “you know why!” Then came my accidental owning of her, a moment I am still proud of, as I reiterated again “he’s just an actor. Scarface is not his only movie, he’s also in Scent of a Woman!!" My teacher made an assumption that would come back to bite her in the ass as she responded sarcastically asking “oh and you’re a big fan of Scent of a Woman?” To which I responded, with the honest truth “YES I AM! BECAUSE IT’S A PHENOMENAL MOVIE! HAVE YOU EVER SEEN IT?” And she just stopped talking, looked down, realizing the mistake she had made. Assuming a fan of Scarface couldn't possibly also be a fan of Scent of a Woman, but, well my very existence debunks that. Because I stand by, to this day, Scent of a Woman is a phenomenal movie, if you haven't seen it go watch it RIGHT NOW! Seriously, stop reading this and go watch it! Anyway, tangent aside, and now that you’re back, I'm sure you agree, you’re welcome for the suggestion. Anyway, now we can move on to who I'm almost certain is my new favorite actor. An actor I have long been familiar with. I have long been a fan of. And this has probably been a long time coming. But, well this one is kind of hard to admit. As in an odd way I feel bad for dethroning Al Pacino so to speak. It is a bit like after I read Pierre Joseph Proudhon, and had to admit that Rene Descartes was no longer my favorite philosopher. I mean Rene Descartes began my love of philosophy as a field. I didn’t want to dethrone him, but Proudhon just kept rackin up those Ws so to speak, and at some point I just had to admit it. In a similar way Al Pacino was my first favorite actor. He began my admiration for the craft. I knew his name before I knew any other’s name. Now I know more actors than most people. Most people I know just say something like “the guy who played X” to which I respond “oh, you mean Y.” And that’s all thanks to Al Pacino. But, well recently I watched Spider Noir, the Amazon Prime live-action series (which I think might be my favorite incarnation of Spider-Man). But after watching Spider Noir, I gotta say, Nicolas Cage is a really fucking good actor! Right? Like he is really fuckin good. I know people like to make fun of Nicolas Cage a lot, but like even they have to acknowledge he is really fuckin good. Like dude has range like nobody’s fucking business. Like he’s done all types of roles. And there wasn’t a single moment in Spider Noir that made me see this. It was more of a catalyst. A catalyst that got me thinking about all the movies I have seen him in, and just how great he is. Like I recall an episode of the TV show Community, where Abed an autistic coded pop culture obsessed kid, who drives himself insane trying to put Nicolas Cage in a box. That episode is one of the rare episodes where Abed is shown to be wrong. And there is truth to that. I mean it’s like Nicolas Cage just refuses to be defined. And I kinda fuckin love that, because here is a man after my own heart, a man who has managed to strip away all the noise and just do what he wants. And, that, if nothing else is somethin you gotta respect about Nicolas Cage. His love for the craft. Because and you may have heard this before, but Nicolas Cage is a big name actor who is in alotta small name films. Because the money matters less to him than how much fun he thinks it’ll be to play a role. Like if I was gonna make a low budget movie, the biggest name actor I’d have the best chance of getting would be Nicolas Cage. Because even if I just offered him a little bit a money, but impressed him enough with the role, he’d go for it. And you gotta love a man, who loves what they do! I certainly do, so yeah, as hard as it is for me to admit, I still love you Al Pacino, but Nicolas Cage just kept rackin up those Ws, that I can’t deny it anymore, my new favorite actor is Nicolas Cage…
So, now, my new favorite superhero. Prior to this it was probably, The Incredible Hulk, but really because I grew up on the original series from the seventies with Bill Bixby, and I mean god damn, nobody does Banner, like Bixby. Every Banner since trained on his performance, you can look that up, Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo, all praised him. His Co-star Lou Ferrigno also basically said as much. Bill Bixby, gone too soon, gone but not forgotten, rest in peace we love you Bill, and we miss you! Anyway it also could have been Batman, the moral compass of the Justice League, the hero so prepared he could take every other hero, except, not so fast. Because no amount of prep time helps him against Saitama, or Caped Baldy. No matter how much prep time or gadgets he has it doesn’t matter, because, at the end a the day, just like all the others, he’s still goin down, in one punch! That’s right One-Punch Man, the anime about the guy that became a hero for fun, did one hundred push ups, one hundred squats, one hundred sit ups and a ten kilometer run everyday for three years and now can take down anyone, with just a single punch. Like what kind of origin story is that? He just worked out? It’s not even that intense, it's just like a moderate amount. Kinda makes me wanna try his routine. Like it won’t work, but what if it does, and we just don’t know because no one has ever done that exact routine? Like people may have done less or more, but not that exact one. You might think, well if people have done more wouldn’t they be stronger? But what if it’s like that’s the sweet spot ya know? Like too little, and you don’t get strong enough, but too much puts too much strain on your muscles to be able to kill god in one punch? Probably not, but maybe (but almost certainly not.) Anyway, is his power the only thing that makes me love him? Well no, a couple a things. First let’s discuss his excitement for the mundane. If you’ve watched the show, you’ll know he gets excited by sales at supermarkets. A mundane thing, but I think us regular people can relate. You know, like they have those bomb ass cookies that you usually can’t afford, but then, oh boy sale day, I’ma get me some a them bomb ass cookies. Anyway most superheroes get to a point where all the fighting gives them a thrill. But, well when you can take out any god with a single punch, fighting anyone loses some of that thrill. Fighting just doesn’t have the same punch! So now he kinda went full circle. But the show still manages to be exciting because like you’re just on the edge of your seat waiting for caped baldy to show up. But now let’s talk about his character. He’s a really chill guy. He became a hero for fun and for years got no recognition. He didn’t seem to care very much about recognition. Some may object and say he joined the Heroes Association for recognition and well kinda, but watch past that point maybe. Because when other bystanders notice him take out a villain that no other hero could, they start to dis other heroes of a higher class then him. He hears this and decides to say out loud making sure they all hear him “Good thing those class S heroes weakened him enough for me, so I can come in and get all the credit now!” He said that so that people would still believe in the others, even if they thought he was an ass hole. He has more respect for the hero game than most heroes. And you know what happened right before he showed up to take down that monster? another much weaker but very committed hero in the show Mumen Rider tried fighting the monster. He got beat badly. But Saitama walks by him and says “good job but why don’t you let me take it from here.” And if you watch it you can hear in his voice, genuine respect. So yeah, what’s not to love about the Mary Sue character that works? The superhero that loves the game almost as much as Nicolas Cage loves acting, or as much as I love cheese burger pizza, and all of these things. So yeah, don’t fuck with Saitama, because if you do, if you mess with Caped Baldy, it doesn’t matter how strong you think you are, how many allies or gadgets you have. How many other fights you’ve won, in the end, just like everyone else, you’re still goin down in one punch!
So yeah, this 2026 month of June has been quite a month for new favorite things of mine. Again, it’s just so crazy they all happened so close together, all in this month. And if you feel like some of my descriptions are lacking, yeah, you’re probably right, because here’s the thing about favorites. Sometimes they’re a bit hard to explain, a bit ineffable (which is my favorite word BTdubs). Like I had planned on writing this a bit before I did, and I held off for as long as I did, because I didn’t think I’d have that much to say. Honestly I’m surprised I got as much as I did. I have tried to lay out reasons for why these are my favorites, but ya know honestly I think they are really just post hoc justifications. A way for my mind to feel like it has reason, and maybe a way for you to understand somewhat the way I feel. But ultimately, when you boil it down, strip away all the noise and the post hoc justifications, really, I just love them. No real rhyme or reason to it, I just love cheese burger pizza, because it’s bomb as fuck! I just love Caped Baldy because he’s a chill bad ass who could beat god in a single punch. And I just love Nicholas Cage, because he’s really fuckin good at what he does!
