From the LRB Facebook page.......
I feel the need to write about this because I've seen the news about Kevin Ogar and talked with my best buddy about it today.
I want to make it very clear, that I feel it is never, ever ok for someone to use a tragedy in order to create a soapbox to stand on to speak out against something they don't like. Especially when it's something as trivial as a sport, or lifting weights.
Period.
But in this case, it's even more despicable. Kevin is paralyzed now, and there have been people using what happened to him as a way to further their hate message and detest for Crossfit.
Let me shed some light on a few things here if you don't mind.
First off, we all are involved in the athletic endeavors we invest our time in because we love them. Whether that's powerlifting, strongman, crossfit, football, or what have you.
Can you imagine someone spouting venom and hatred about their dislike of football and using a player that was paralyzed as a reason as to why it's "stupid" or some other nonsense?
Yet this is what has happened in this situation. And it makes me sick.
Someone doing Crossfit that you don't even know personally, literally has no bearing on your life. None. Zero. It doesn't cause a lack of money in your pocketbook nor does it decrease your quality of life. So why someone would pipe up and use something like this as a platform in order to preach against the "dangers" of crossfit, sickens me.
Crossfit is something many athletes do because they enjoy it. Let me rephrase that. They ENJOY IT. To my knowledge, no one is being forced to do it. People participate in it for reasons personal to them. No different than some of us participate in other athletic undertakings for the exact same reason. Yet I read vitriol spit out daily about crossfit, and whether it's message is embedded in truth or not it seems excessive to me. Live your life, be happy, and let other people live their life and do their lifting in a way that gives them joy.
I have no idea what would make someone want to use Kevin's tragedy as a platform to speak out against crossfit, but we have a lot of fucked up people in the world. So I guess I should just expect it.
As I have said and written many times before, if you think crossfit needs improving and it means THAT MUCH to you, then become part of the solution to improve it. That, or shut the fuck up. It's ok to bitch, but don't bitch about something unless you are part of the solution. Certainly, don't show a lack of character by parading around as if doing a victory lap after someone is paralyzed while doing what they love. People get hurt, injured, and even killed all the time doing the things that give them happiness. Using those tragedies as a means to speak out against that joy is hollow and self serving bullshit. Be bigger than that.
BE BETTER THAN THAT!
My thoughts go out to Kevin Ogar and the people that love him. I don't know Kevin, but that doesn't matter. I wish him all the best and hope the very best for him in regards to his recovery.
Strength Life Legacy
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - The Lone Survivor edition
I saw "Lone Survivor" this weekend. I thought it was phenomenal. The thing I came away with was the awe in which those guys loved and protected each other, and the fact that they were able to withstand so much physical punishment, and still have the will to fight, and go on.
You read or hear about this all the time in regards to high speed guys. That they train and train and train in order to develop those capabilities, however I think you have to either read a book describing what these guys go through or see a film that accurately portrays it.
Then of course, I see that the liberal media is already disparaging the film, calling it pro-war propaganda and that some ass face at CNN (Jake Tapper) did an interview with Marcus Luttrell where he basically insults Marcus, and says that his brothers died for nothing. Essentially, that is what he said.
It's hard for me to write with enough venom to describe how I feel about sackless pacifist cowards like Tapper. It's hard for me to write with enough disdain in regards to people who say things like "the war in Afghanistan has nothing to do with our freedom". You can't educate people who don't want to learn, and you can't prove to people who believe that there are terrorists and evil men out there that want nothing more than to see as many American's dead every day as possible. I'm not talking Marines, or SEALS, or Army infantry, either. I'm talking you and me, and your neighbors and kids. Whether you agree with that doesn't matter. It's not political. Those are facts. Hard truths that whether you accept them or not, exist.
More so, I can't stand when people write or vomit tripe like "I do support the troops, that's why I don't want any more to die because of some political bullshit." I'm not sure of any war or military op that isn't laden with "political bullshit". How most people feel about that, I've found, is where their partisanship lies. If you're a democrat or a bat shit crazy liberal, and Obama decides he needs drone strikes or to give a go ahead for an assassination, then nothing is said. When Bush was in office however, it was an uproar everyday from the liberals over the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
My issue is this. The men and women who are over there, signed up for this, have trained for this, and believe in the cause and the mission. Yes, there will be some that do not. Indeed, there will be those that signed up for the G.I. bill or because there weren't any better jobs back home and they are bitter because they didn't know the military would be involved in conflict.
That's sarcasm in case you didn't catch it.
But for the most part, the men of high speed units signed up for this. It's what they trained for, and are prepared for. They didn't make their decision based on who was in office or political partisanship. They did so, I believe, out of a desire to be part of something honorable. A code that they wanted to be a part of, and live. Actually LIVE that code. Something few men can say they walked through life and accomplished. They went through training that separates the weak from the strong, and the strong from the elite.
Yet they still have to listen to garbage from people like this Jake Tapper. That their sacrifice was "senseless".
For nothing.
How many people do you know, that will put themselves in harms way and battle until they have taken their very last breath, and never whine about it, in order to defend something they believe in?
How many people do you know, that believe in something so strongly, that they would suffer tremendously for it, and die for it? How many people do you think you know like that? Very few. Probably none.
People love to believe very highly of themselves and their perceived sacrifices about life and love. But the fact is, most people do not posses the will, the courage, or a deep enough love and belief in something to suffer and die for it. There is nothing in life that they are so passionate about that they would put themselves in harms way to protect it, or to defend it. People like Jake Tapper. The cowards who sit on the internet in the safe confines of their home or work and take shots at people like Marcus Luttrell, or any other honorable soldier that puts his life on the line.
Your love or hate for the government has nothing to do with what these men do, and the kinds of threats they expose themselves to.
"But they wouldn't have to if not for (insert president you hate here) and political bullshit."
In case you weren't paying attention, I covered that.
Anyone who has a passion and belief for something so great, and so overwhelming, that they are willing to fight and die for it, did not "die for nothing". They died for the what they believed in most. Whether or not you agree with them, their cause, their passion, their code, is irrelevant. We should all be so lucky as to have something we love so much we'd be willing to sacrifice everything for it.
That is living with a purpose. And purposeful living is a rare thing these days indeed.
You read or hear about this all the time in regards to high speed guys. That they train and train and train in order to develop those capabilities, however I think you have to either read a book describing what these guys go through or see a film that accurately portrays it.
Then of course, I see that the liberal media is already disparaging the film, calling it pro-war propaganda and that some ass face at CNN (Jake Tapper) did an interview with Marcus Luttrell where he basically insults Marcus, and says that his brothers died for nothing. Essentially, that is what he said.
It's hard for me to write with enough venom to describe how I feel about sackless pacifist cowards like Tapper. It's hard for me to write with enough disdain in regards to people who say things like "the war in Afghanistan has nothing to do with our freedom". You can't educate people who don't want to learn, and you can't prove to people who believe that there are terrorists and evil men out there that want nothing more than to see as many American's dead every day as possible. I'm not talking Marines, or SEALS, or Army infantry, either. I'm talking you and me, and your neighbors and kids. Whether you agree with that doesn't matter. It's not political. Those are facts. Hard truths that whether you accept them or not, exist.
More so, I can't stand when people write or vomit tripe like "I do support the troops, that's why I don't want any more to die because of some political bullshit." I'm not sure of any war or military op that isn't laden with "political bullshit". How most people feel about that, I've found, is where their partisanship lies. If you're a democrat or a bat shit crazy liberal, and Obama decides he needs drone strikes or to give a go ahead for an assassination, then nothing is said. When Bush was in office however, it was an uproar everyday from the liberals over the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
My issue is this. The men and women who are over there, signed up for this, have trained for this, and believe in the cause and the mission. Yes, there will be some that do not. Indeed, there will be those that signed up for the G.I. bill or because there weren't any better jobs back home and they are bitter because they didn't know the military would be involved in conflict.
That's sarcasm in case you didn't catch it.
But for the most part, the men of high speed units signed up for this. It's what they trained for, and are prepared for. They didn't make their decision based on who was in office or political partisanship. They did so, I believe, out of a desire to be part of something honorable. A code that they wanted to be a part of, and live. Actually LIVE that code. Something few men can say they walked through life and accomplished. They went through training that separates the weak from the strong, and the strong from the elite.
Yet they still have to listen to garbage from people like this Jake Tapper. That their sacrifice was "senseless".
For nothing.
How many people do you know, that will put themselves in harms way and battle until they have taken their very last breath, and never whine about it, in order to defend something they believe in?
How many people do you know, that believe in something so strongly, that they would suffer tremendously for it, and die for it? How many people do you think you know like that? Very few. Probably none.
People love to believe very highly of themselves and their perceived sacrifices about life and love. But the fact is, most people do not posses the will, the courage, or a deep enough love and belief in something to suffer and die for it. There is nothing in life that they are so passionate about that they would put themselves in harms way to protect it, or to defend it. People like Jake Tapper. The cowards who sit on the internet in the safe confines of their home or work and take shots at people like Marcus Luttrell, or any other honorable soldier that puts his life on the line.
Your love or hate for the government has nothing to do with what these men do, and the kinds of threats they expose themselves to.
"But they wouldn't have to if not for (insert president you hate here) and political bullshit."
In case you weren't paying attention, I covered that.
Anyone who has a passion and belief for something so great, and so overwhelming, that they are willing to fight and die for it, did not "die for nothing". They died for the what they believed in most. Whether or not you agree with them, their cause, their passion, their code, is irrelevant. We should all be so lucky as to have something we love so much we'd be willing to sacrifice everything for it.
That is living with a purpose. And purposeful living is a rare thing these days indeed.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Take advantage of not being leveraged
A short while back, just a few weeks after I tore my quad at Relentless, I made a trek up to Iowa to deadlift only at the UPA meet being held up there.
A week before that meet I had pulled 635x3 no belt from a deficit so I felt solid about going in and pulling a nice PR. This is not something I'd usually do because I think full meet numbers carry more weight than single lifts done before or after a token lift.
Regardless, my deadlift had been going pretty well for a while so I thought "what the hell?" and drove up. Well as things have gone for me lately, I started feeling very shitty on my way up there and when I woke up the next morning I felt like someone had water boarded me all night and then decided to recreate the scene from Casino where Peschi and his brother got a taste of hickory for 10 minutes.
After warming up on bench that day, and barely being able to unrack 275, I knew something was way off, and I texted my best friend Jason Pegg and his response to that was "shut it down. Now."
Going against my own desires, I listened. And in retrospect it was the right choice.
At the meet however, I watched my buddy Eric Lilliebridge squat a very easy 925. He looked good for 950 honestly, and I think in the next year he'll be up around 975 which is just insane.
But the very cool thing about Eric's squat jumping up so much is really what he did to lay the foundation for getting there.
For years Eric squatted high bar. And he broke the world record going high bar. However since then, he's switch to a low bar squat, and his squat has REALLY taken off to an even higher level.
I really believe that Eric going high bar, which is a much more difficult way to squat, is what set him up for where he's at now. Low bar puts the bar closer to your hips, and the bar itself obviously doesn't travel as far through space so more weight can be lifted.
So now that Eric has switched to low bar, there's a whole new world waiting for him to conquer now that his titan strong quads will get a little bit more of the hips involved in the movement. But I believe that building his base around all those high bar squats is what has set him up for all of his latest success.
From my own experience this has been happening with my bench press. I decided after the Iowa meet that I would move my grip out a little bit. Not a ton, because my shoulder won't allow it, but basically the same grip I use on incline.
Since I have done so, my bench is now moving at a very fast clip. I did 405 x 5 this past week very easily, and then did 5 sets of triples all paused with no grinding. For me, this is VERY good as I believe I can probably eek out several sets of 5 at this point.
I believe that this is happening because I have spent many years benching with a very, very close grip. Basically about 15" apart. Now I'm just a fraction outside of the smooth.
The key here, if you take note, is that both Eric and I spent YEARS doing something in a more difficult manner before moving on to a method that is more advantageous from a leverage perspective. Now this is not a new concept, however most guys think that doing a 6 or 8 week block or phase is enough to give this same advantage however I honestly believe it's something that needs to be done over a much longer period to give the same kind of rewards. This doesn't mean you have to neglect the competition version of your squat, deadlift, or bench press but it does mean you should be spending the majority of the year using a version of that lift that is less advantageous from a leverage standpoint.
So for squats, if you are a low bar squatter most of the year should be spent doing high bar work. For benching, extremely close grip work, and for deadlifting you would do it from a small deficit.
I will be going over more on the blocks and phases you can incorporate these ideas into long periods of training so that you can really maximize the benefits of this.
More to come.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - 2013 reflections and thoughts on testing and not training
2013 - What I learned, and grew from.
1. Become cognizant of what you want to define you, and refine that.
Like it or not, your priorities in life will define you. Not only to yourself, but to the people that know you. Everyone knows the person that is a workaholic and lives for their career, or the soccer mom whose life revolves around running her kids to a from every after school activity known to man.
None of these things are inherently bad, UNLESS that's not what you want to define who you are. This particular issue requires a lot of introspection, and the ability to be completely honest with yourself, and not make excuses. If you've let something become the focus of your life and everything revolves around that, then like it or not...THAT is what defines you. If you're good with that, just focus on improving that thing. If you're not happy with the current state of where you are, ask yourself what you really need to do to redefine who you are. Don't be afraid to step outside the box and take chances. Failure is only failure if you decide not to try again. Otherwise, it's just falling. And we can all get up from a fall if we want to.
For me, it was becoming an even better dad. That meant finding new ways to grow with my kids, and share more of my life with them than I was. Because that was a priority to me, it was easy to do this.
2. Don't "hear". Listen.
Hearing something means you're aware of a sound. Listening is an altogether different thing. Learning to be a great listener is more difficult than you think. Because most of the time we are thinking about how we are going to respond to something before the other person is even finished talking. This is NOT being a good listener.
I really learned how to listen this past year, and honestly, it's the single greatest thing I've discovered in my adult life in terms of emotional growth. One of the best ways to make sure you are listening is to repeat back to the person what it is they said to you. "So you're saying...." This is an easy way to make sure you're wires aren't getting crossed , and that context is not lost.
But back to the original point. Don't think about what it is you have to say. Think about what it is the other person is trying to convey to you, and why it matters so much to them.
3. Don't minimize someone else's troubles.
"I don't know why you're so upset, this isn't a big deal."
We've all uttered these words. We shouldn't though. If someone is troubled by something you have done or said, and you care about them, then it's important not to minimize what it is you have done or said that caused it.
I was worlds worst about this for the longest. But one of the things that happened when I truly started listening (see point #2) is that I started understanding how my actions affected the people I love and care about. And instead of trying to justify what I had done or said, I started trying to make amends, and get better and not doing the things that caused angst and bitterness.
What all three of these things have in common is that they forced me to put my actions and words under a microscope and to be completely real and honest with myself.
I still fail a lot. I have not cornered the market at being a professional at these things. I am a work in progress and I hope by 2015 I can say that I've continued to grow in these areas and have also found new ones I can improve upon.
Just to let people in on the fact that even advanced and smart guys get caught in the trap.......
I had a conversation with my buddy Brandon Lilly a couple of weeks ago and I asked B if his deadlift had stalled. I asked him this because I noticed he had times where he seemed less explosive in his videos to me, and because he just didn't seem to be pulling as well as he had been months before.
B told me "yes, and no" in regards to his deadlift stalling. That he had an impingement in his back that had really been bothering him when he started getting above 90%. But he also admitted that he had broken the rule we talked about, and that was "don't test....train".
" I did break my own rules. I wanted it too much. You know how it gets." B told me.
This has happened to me many times as well. I get a number in my head that I want "out of the way" and I just want to finally hit it, and be done with it.
The problem with that is, we often get caught up in testing week after week after week, seeing if "this is the day" that the number we want so badly, can be gotten.
The problem with this is that those weeks go by, and because you're not training you actually end up losing ground overall because you're not TRAINING anymore. Even if you hit that number you've been chasing, more than likely 3, 4, 5 weeks have gone by where if you had been training, that number and even MORE would have been on the table at some point. But now that training has been negated and testing has been put in place, progress slows down, or is even lost.
Some may not understand this because they will say "well if you hit a new PR then it worked." but they lose sight on the fact that in the medium and long term range, you short change yourself. You may hit the number you want so badly, but it's a true max, and a grinder. Where if you had just kept TRAINING, it's something you do easily in a few months.
But so many times I see people test and test and test, and in a few months they wonder why they are still "testing out" at the same number they had been chasing for so long, or something just barely above it.
It's because they stopped training, and training is the lifeblood of improving.
Testing should not replace training.
In Base Building I use fatigue singles and testing your EDM for explosiveness as a way to gauge progress. This is far better in my opinion, than getting caught in the trap of testing for maxes, and forgetting your way of "training".
Testing should make up the smallest parts of your lifting, and if you don't compete you don't ever have to actually test for true maxes at all.
Be smart. Train.
1. Become cognizant of what you want to define you, and refine that.
Like it or not, your priorities in life will define you. Not only to yourself, but to the people that know you. Everyone knows the person that is a workaholic and lives for their career, or the soccer mom whose life revolves around running her kids to a from every after school activity known to man.
None of these things are inherently bad, UNLESS that's not what you want to define who you are. This particular issue requires a lot of introspection, and the ability to be completely honest with yourself, and not make excuses. If you've let something become the focus of your life and everything revolves around that, then like it or not...THAT is what defines you. If you're good with that, just focus on improving that thing. If you're not happy with the current state of where you are, ask yourself what you really need to do to redefine who you are. Don't be afraid to step outside the box and take chances. Failure is only failure if you decide not to try again. Otherwise, it's just falling. And we can all get up from a fall if we want to.
For me, it was becoming an even better dad. That meant finding new ways to grow with my kids, and share more of my life with them than I was. Because that was a priority to me, it was easy to do this.
2. Don't "hear". Listen.
Hearing something means you're aware of a sound. Listening is an altogether different thing. Learning to be a great listener is more difficult than you think. Because most of the time we are thinking about how we are going to respond to something before the other person is even finished talking. This is NOT being a good listener.
I really learned how to listen this past year, and honestly, it's the single greatest thing I've discovered in my adult life in terms of emotional growth. One of the best ways to make sure you are listening is to repeat back to the person what it is they said to you. "So you're saying...." This is an easy way to make sure you're wires aren't getting crossed , and that context is not lost.
But back to the original point. Don't think about what it is you have to say. Think about what it is the other person is trying to convey to you, and why it matters so much to them.
3. Don't minimize someone else's troubles.
"I don't know why you're so upset, this isn't a big deal."
We've all uttered these words. We shouldn't though. If someone is troubled by something you have done or said, and you care about them, then it's important not to minimize what it is you have done or said that caused it.
I was worlds worst about this for the longest. But one of the things that happened when I truly started listening (see point #2) is that I started understanding how my actions affected the people I love and care about. And instead of trying to justify what I had done or said, I started trying to make amends, and get better and not doing the things that caused angst and bitterness.
What all three of these things have in common is that they forced me to put my actions and words under a microscope and to be completely real and honest with myself.
I still fail a lot. I have not cornered the market at being a professional at these things. I am a work in progress and I hope by 2015 I can say that I've continued to grow in these areas and have also found new ones I can improve upon.
Don't test....train -
I had a conversation with my buddy Brandon Lilly a couple of weeks ago and I asked B if his deadlift had stalled. I asked him this because I noticed he had times where he seemed less explosive in his videos to me, and because he just didn't seem to be pulling as well as he had been months before.
B told me "yes, and no" in regards to his deadlift stalling. That he had an impingement in his back that had really been bothering him when he started getting above 90%. But he also admitted that he had broken the rule we talked about, and that was "don't test....train".
" I did break my own rules. I wanted it too much. You know how it gets." B told me.
This has happened to me many times as well. I get a number in my head that I want "out of the way" and I just want to finally hit it, and be done with it.
The problem with that is, we often get caught up in testing week after week after week, seeing if "this is the day" that the number we want so badly, can be gotten.
The problem with this is that those weeks go by, and because you're not training you actually end up losing ground overall because you're not TRAINING anymore. Even if you hit that number you've been chasing, more than likely 3, 4, 5 weeks have gone by where if you had been training, that number and even MORE would have been on the table at some point. But now that training has been negated and testing has been put in place, progress slows down, or is even lost.
Some may not understand this because they will say "well if you hit a new PR then it worked." but they lose sight on the fact that in the medium and long term range, you short change yourself. You may hit the number you want so badly, but it's a true max, and a grinder. Where if you had just kept TRAINING, it's something you do easily in a few months.
But so many times I see people test and test and test, and in a few months they wonder why they are still "testing out" at the same number they had been chasing for so long, or something just barely above it.
It's because they stopped training, and training is the lifeblood of improving.
Testing should not replace training.
In Base Building I use fatigue singles and testing your EDM for explosiveness as a way to gauge progress. This is far better in my opinion, than getting caught in the trap of testing for maxes, and forgetting your way of "training".
Testing should make up the smallest parts of your lifting, and if you don't compete you don't ever have to actually test for true maxes at all.
Be smart. Train.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Training - Press
Bodyweight - 270
Paused Bench -
bar x 40,40
135x10
225x5
275x4
315x3
365x2
405x5,3,3,3,3,3
Incline Db Press - 150's x 10
Cable rows - half stack 6 x 20
Shrugs - 135x100
notes - This was a nice bench session. The pauses on the first set of 5 wasn't as good as I wanted so I started in with triples after that and made sure they were longer.
Paused Bench -
bar x 40,40
135x10
225x5
275x4
315x3
365x2
405x5,3,3,3,3,3
Incline Db Press - 150's x 10
Cable rows - half stack 6 x 20
Shrugs - 135x100
notes - This was a nice bench session. The pauses on the first set of 5 wasn't as good as I wanted so I started in with triples after that and made sure they were longer.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff - Breaking Bad Edition
I posted these on Facebook a while back but I though I'd share them here as well since there are so many Breaking Bad fans, and because I also finally took everyone's advice and watched the series.
Here are my thoughts.......
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!
Hank - I don't care that "Hank was doing his job". Suck my nuts.
He knew Walt was done. He knew Walt was dying of cancer. He knew that Walt paid for him to walk again. He didn't care. He didn't care that he'd tear Walt's family apart, and let him spend his final days dying in prison. He didn't give Walt the courtesy of a sit down talk to explain everything. He just decided to go after him like he was any other meth dealer. Fuck him. I did a fist pump when Todd put a bullet into him to end his shit.
Marie - I did a second fist pump when I got to watch her break down once she found out Hank was dead. My only wish is that Todd and his gang would have knee capped her and left her to die out along side Hank. I don't know that I've ever hated a bitch so much on any show ever. EVER. Why did she make everything in Skylar and Walt's life her god damn business? Why did she think it effected her so much when it literally had no bearing on her life? God damn I hated that bitch with the force of 10,000 suns!
Jesse - I understand that Jesse didn't get much of a say in things from the start. Walt told him to help him cook meth or he'd turn him in to the DEA, but Walt constantly put his life on the line for Jesse, and in the end Jesse never really showed any appreciation for it. Ratted him out to that piece of shit Hank. I am torn on Jesse because I think that Jesse was a tortured soul. A guy with a good heart trapped in an addicts body, but Jesus...you don't rat out your partner. I don't care that Walt poisoned that kid. He wouldn't have had to go to such measures if Jesse had been LOYAL to Walt throughout all of it. Seriously.
Skylar - I hated this bitch for most of the show. I mean when Walk was going through cancer did she ever strike you as the most supportive wife in the world? All she ever did was badger him about what he was doing with his time. His response at that time was that he liked to take long walks. Well she didn't buy it. Not only that, she ended up tracking down Jesse to tell him not to sell pot to Walt. She then fucked Ted because well, she was mad at Walt. She had the cops called on Walt because well, Walt was in his own fucking house. Yet she had no problem throwing 620 grand at Ted to keep him shut up, or another 114 grand at her cunt sister and dickhead brother in law.
Not only that, her taking the moral high ground at the end made me sick after she hinted to Walt that Jesse should be killed. She laundered money and even devised the scheme for it. She cooked the books for Ted. Yet in the end, she was devastated because Hank, who was only walking because Walt paid for his god damn medical bills, got killed for not following protocol on the job.
I didn't hate her as much as Marie because when she bought into the business with Walt she was pretty cool, and smart, and when she wasn't in her bloated phase she wasn't too hard on the eyes. But overall she was a horrible wife and completely self absorbed about her own happiness. Even when her husband was dying of lung cancer. Clearly her and her sister grew up in a dysfunctional family.
Walt Jr - I liked Walt Jr. I can't get anyone hating on him. He was disabled yet never felt sorry for himself. He was a smart ass (in a good way..."Mom, this isn't the right kind of cereal. It says it right there on the box. I mean, it's not that hard."), he supported and loved his dad. He started a fund raising effort through paypal for Walt to try and help pay his medical bills, told his mom she was a complete bitch when she turned her back on Walt, etc. I thought he was pretty lovable actually. In the end he only turned on Walt because he mistakenly thought Walt killed Hank, and like any good man would do, he tried to physically protect his mom. Walt Jr was perhaps the only character in the show that was a good person top to bottom.
Mike - Mike was perhaps my most fave character on the show. Mike knew what his job was, so whenever he was put in a position to kill Walt or do something, you knew his motives. It was never personal with him. Mike also was smart in a way I enjoyed and could identify with. He wasn't the genius Walt was of course, but he had an uncanny sense of intuition. His only mistake was underestimating Walt in the end. But even then he told Walt to fuck off and just let him die in peace. He was salty and unapologetic for who he was. But I also got from Mike that he still adhered to a code underneath his cold bloodedness that would have kept him from doing certain kinds of jobs. Just my hunch.
Gus - Gus was one of my favorite characters on the series. For people who want revenge they could really pay attention to his character. Gus, all along, was going to avenge the death of his brother (?). But he had to establish himself first. He had to build his empire and build enough money and loyalty and make himself "worth" enough so that he wasn't expendable. In some ways Walt was the missing piece in that he gave Gus a product that started taking over the scene. He also was great at thinking many steps ahead, and had an intuition that was uncanny, and kept him alive for all of those years when he should have been taken out.
But Gus' downfall came from losing his brother as well. In that, he learned never to be truly loyal to anyone again. The loss of his brother, IMO, made him so that he removed all emotion from the business and saw people as chess pieces on the board. He moved them here and there for what was best for him, and furthering his business. I say this was his undoing because rather than developing a true relationship with Walt (who was just as smart as Gus), he tried to use Walt as a pawn. And well, that didn't turn out so good. Walt knew Gus was using him to "learn" his method and then his life would no longer be worth anything.
Gus forgot the all important lesson of knowing true loyalty. That lesson is what kept Jesse and Walt alive when each others lives were in the other ones hands.
Walt - Ok so my write up for Walt.
Everything has a genesis. A starting point and a catalyst for a larger series of events. For Walt, it was selling his part in Gray Matter and then watching that company grow and expand into an empire, while most of it was built off of his ideas. All the while, he was teaching high school and washing cars. Yet Walt was a genius. He felt belittled and scorned, and he watched bills pile up and the family he loved so much struggle underneath the burden of it, and he felt helpless.
So when Walt initially started cooking, it was indeed with nothing more than the intention of making sure his family was taken care of after he passed from cancer. However Walt found that he was highly appreciated for his work. He was sought out. Held in high regard. He even had a name....Heisenberg. He told those two mother fuckers in the Home Depot parking lot "get out of my territory" and they split like bananas.
He made one of the largest distributors in the entire southwest "say my name" in the middle of the desert. In front of his goons, no less. He routinely outsmarted seriously smart mother fuckers. Walt was relevant now. Mostly, to himself. He had money, fame, power, and respect. Everything he felt he lost out on when he opted out of Gray Matter.
Walt also loved Jesse like he was his own son. He called him "family" on more than one occasion. He pulled him out of crack houses, blew up Tuco's "fort" for having Jesse beat down, ran over two drug dealers and executed one right in the middle of the street to save him. Even when he finally agreed to have Jesse killed it was because he was so hurt that Jesse ratted him out, and as CS Lewis once wrote..."anger is the fluid love bleeds when it's cut".
Walt's face when they brought Jesse in from slave labor is all you'd ever need to know about his love and loyalty to him.
Walt lost his way of course, drunk in all the money and power, he too forgot what it was he was fighting for. And little by little, he lost all the parts of who he was that made the people in his life love him. He unstitched himself with the very thing he was trying to save his family with.
I still liked Walt. In the end I feel he came full circle. He became aware, and stop lying to himself. He saw the damage he had done with his ego...his pride. He couldn't make amends for everything, but he could accept his part in why he was where he was, and do things that maybe, just maybe, reflected a bit more positively later to the people who were left in his wake of destructiveness.
Breaking Bad vs The Wire -
I have thought about this a lot, and I feel that if I HAD to pick a show, The Wire is SLIGHTLY better. And by slightly I mean it's fairly insignificant. The Wire was more realistic. But Breaking Bad was probably more interesting at times. The Wire had intentional slow moments to make it more realistic, and to allow time for more character development, but sometimes you just want some shit to go down too.
Either way, IMO it's literally the best two shows to ever be on television. The Soprano's aren't even in the discussion. Please do not insult Breaking Bad or The Wire with that garbage.
Here are my thoughts.......
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!
Hank - I don't care that "Hank was doing his job". Suck my nuts.
He knew Walt was done. He knew Walt was dying of cancer. He knew that Walt paid for him to walk again. He didn't care. He didn't care that he'd tear Walt's family apart, and let him spend his final days dying in prison. He didn't give Walt the courtesy of a sit down talk to explain everything. He just decided to go after him like he was any other meth dealer. Fuck him. I did a fist pump when Todd put a bullet into him to end his shit.
Marie - I did a second fist pump when I got to watch her break down once she found out Hank was dead. My only wish is that Todd and his gang would have knee capped her and left her to die out along side Hank. I don't know that I've ever hated a bitch so much on any show ever. EVER. Why did she make everything in Skylar and Walt's life her god damn business? Why did she think it effected her so much when it literally had no bearing on her life? God damn I hated that bitch with the force of 10,000 suns!
Jesse - I understand that Jesse didn't get much of a say in things from the start. Walt told him to help him cook meth or he'd turn him in to the DEA, but Walt constantly put his life on the line for Jesse, and in the end Jesse never really showed any appreciation for it. Ratted him out to that piece of shit Hank. I am torn on Jesse because I think that Jesse was a tortured soul. A guy with a good heart trapped in an addicts body, but Jesus...you don't rat out your partner. I don't care that Walt poisoned that kid. He wouldn't have had to go to such measures if Jesse had been LOYAL to Walt throughout all of it. Seriously.
Skylar - I hated this bitch for most of the show. I mean when Walk was going through cancer did she ever strike you as the most supportive wife in the world? All she ever did was badger him about what he was doing with his time. His response at that time was that he liked to take long walks. Well she didn't buy it. Not only that, she ended up tracking down Jesse to tell him not to sell pot to Walt. She then fucked Ted because well, she was mad at Walt. She had the cops called on Walt because well, Walt was in his own fucking house. Yet she had no problem throwing 620 grand at Ted to keep him shut up, or another 114 grand at her cunt sister and dickhead brother in law.
Not only that, her taking the moral high ground at the end made me sick after she hinted to Walt that Jesse should be killed. She laundered money and even devised the scheme for it. She cooked the books for Ted. Yet in the end, she was devastated because Hank, who was only walking because Walt paid for his god damn medical bills, got killed for not following protocol on the job.
I didn't hate her as much as Marie because when she bought into the business with Walt she was pretty cool, and smart, and when she wasn't in her bloated phase she wasn't too hard on the eyes. But overall she was a horrible wife and completely self absorbed about her own happiness. Even when her husband was dying of lung cancer. Clearly her and her sister grew up in a dysfunctional family.
Walt Jr - I liked Walt Jr. I can't get anyone hating on him. He was disabled yet never felt sorry for himself. He was a smart ass (in a good way..."Mom, this isn't the right kind of cereal. It says it right there on the box. I mean, it's not that hard."), he supported and loved his dad. He started a fund raising effort through paypal for Walt to try and help pay his medical bills, told his mom she was a complete bitch when she turned her back on Walt, etc. I thought he was pretty lovable actually. In the end he only turned on Walt because he mistakenly thought Walt killed Hank, and like any good man would do, he tried to physically protect his mom. Walt Jr was perhaps the only character in the show that was a good person top to bottom.
Mike - Mike was perhaps my most fave character on the show. Mike knew what his job was, so whenever he was put in a position to kill Walt or do something, you knew his motives. It was never personal with him. Mike also was smart in a way I enjoyed and could identify with. He wasn't the genius Walt was of course, but he had an uncanny sense of intuition. His only mistake was underestimating Walt in the end. But even then he told Walt to fuck off and just let him die in peace. He was salty and unapologetic for who he was. But I also got from Mike that he still adhered to a code underneath his cold bloodedness that would have kept him from doing certain kinds of jobs. Just my hunch.
Gus - Gus was one of my favorite characters on the series. For people who want revenge they could really pay attention to his character. Gus, all along, was going to avenge the death of his brother (?). But he had to establish himself first. He had to build his empire and build enough money and loyalty and make himself "worth" enough so that he wasn't expendable. In some ways Walt was the missing piece in that he gave Gus a product that started taking over the scene. He also was great at thinking many steps ahead, and had an intuition that was uncanny, and kept him alive for all of those years when he should have been taken out.
But Gus' downfall came from losing his brother as well. In that, he learned never to be truly loyal to anyone again. The loss of his brother, IMO, made him so that he removed all emotion from the business and saw people as chess pieces on the board. He moved them here and there for what was best for him, and furthering his business. I say this was his undoing because rather than developing a true relationship with Walt (who was just as smart as Gus), he tried to use Walt as a pawn. And well, that didn't turn out so good. Walt knew Gus was using him to "learn" his method and then his life would no longer be worth anything.
Gus forgot the all important lesson of knowing true loyalty. That lesson is what kept Jesse and Walt alive when each others lives were in the other ones hands.
Walt - Ok so my write up for Walt.
Everything has a genesis. A starting point and a catalyst for a larger series of events. For Walt, it was selling his part in Gray Matter and then watching that company grow and expand into an empire, while most of it was built off of his ideas. All the while, he was teaching high school and washing cars. Yet Walt was a genius. He felt belittled and scorned, and he watched bills pile up and the family he loved so much struggle underneath the burden of it, and he felt helpless.
So when Walt initially started cooking, it was indeed with nothing more than the intention of making sure his family was taken care of after he passed from cancer. However Walt found that he was highly appreciated for his work. He was sought out. Held in high regard. He even had a name....Heisenberg. He told those two mother fuckers in the Home Depot parking lot "get out of my territory" and they split like bananas.
He made one of the largest distributors in the entire southwest "say my name" in the middle of the desert. In front of his goons, no less. He routinely outsmarted seriously smart mother fuckers. Walt was relevant now. Mostly, to himself. He had money, fame, power, and respect. Everything he felt he lost out on when he opted out of Gray Matter.
Walt also loved Jesse like he was his own son. He called him "family" on more than one occasion. He pulled him out of crack houses, blew up Tuco's "fort" for having Jesse beat down, ran over two drug dealers and executed one right in the middle of the street to save him. Even when he finally agreed to have Jesse killed it was because he was so hurt that Jesse ratted him out, and as CS Lewis once wrote..."anger is the fluid love bleeds when it's cut".
Walt's face when they brought Jesse in from slave labor is all you'd ever need to know about his love and loyalty to him.
Walt lost his way of course, drunk in all the money and power, he too forgot what it was he was fighting for. And little by little, he lost all the parts of who he was that made the people in his life love him. He unstitched himself with the very thing he was trying to save his family with.
I still liked Walt. In the end I feel he came full circle. He became aware, and stop lying to himself. He saw the damage he had done with his ego...his pride. He couldn't make amends for everything, but he could accept his part in why he was where he was, and do things that maybe, just maybe, reflected a bit more positively later to the people who were left in his wake of destructiveness.
Breaking Bad vs The Wire -
I have thought about this a lot, and I feel that if I HAD to pick a show, The Wire is SLIGHTLY better. And by slightly I mean it's fairly insignificant. The Wire was more realistic. But Breaking Bad was probably more interesting at times. The Wire had intentional slow moments to make it more realistic, and to allow time for more character development, but sometimes you just want some shit to go down too.
Either way, IMO it's literally the best two shows to ever be on television. The Soprano's aren't even in the discussion. Please do not insult Breaking Bad or The Wire with that garbage.
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