Dreamland novel – With this actor, it will be a blockbuster movie

I read fast and furiously over the past couple of rainy days and now I’m almost finished with Dreamland. I credit the rain for that, AND when the story starting piecing together about halfway through, I just couldn’t stop. It was either keep reading or wash the dishes, and well, that’s an easy decision. Here’s the first part of my book review.

Definitely no spoilers but overall, I’m happy with the way the story has tied together, even if it wasn’t super believable. It IS a made-up story, after all. I still have a few chapters left and I have questions, too. Hopefully those questions will be resolved soon. 

Can I see this book becoming a movie? Well, I understand a little more about why screenwriters get awards for adapting books to movies. Lots of scenes to work out and where the book gives a lot of descriptions, backstory, and inner thoughts, movies can’t do that easily. This one would be a great movie, especially since it is mostly about a singer/songwriter. I can imagine the soundtrack being stellar. Find a country singer who can act and the blockbuster movie would be well on its way. In fact, I already thought of a great guy for the role. Just remember you heard it here first! 

From the big screen to Yellowstone to country music albums, Luke Grimes would be the perfect actor to play the part of Colby Mills. Narrowing down his love interest might be a bit more difficult. Maybe Julianne Hough (who has been in a Nicholas Sparks movie already, Safe Haven)?

Have you had a chance to read this book yet? I’ll have my final thoughts in another post once I finish the book and today is a little rainy, so chances are I’ll be finishing it very, very soon. Or washing dishes. 

-Out of the Wilderness

Zach Bryan “Oklahoma Smokeshow” – Actors, Locations, and More!

Zach Bryan recently released the music video for his song, “Oak Island” (check it out here) but before he was acting alongside Casey Affleck, he was chasing an “Oklahoma Smokeshow.” The smokeshow video is hitting fans hard in the best way. It’s not just the lyrics either, although it should be said that the words are striking chords left and right. The music video is the perfect visual for the song, just take a look… then scroll down for the main cast and more info!

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The Actress. It’s always a choice between the bad boy and the good guy, isn’t it? A story being told for thousands of years. This version features a few well-known faces. The woman torn between the two men is actress and model Katerina Tannenbaum. She’s been in shows like Better Call Saul, AJ and the Queen, among others. Check out her Instagram @KaterinaTannenbaum and her IMDB page here. There’s also a nice article in the New York Times where she talks a bit about her childhood and how she originally wanted to be a dancer.

The Bad Boy. Wild and barely tamed, one of the love interests is played by actor Noah Le Gros. You might recognize him from a resume-full of productions but one of the biggest is the show 1883 where he played Colton, a cowboy. Check out his pics on Instagram @NoahLeGros and his list of roles on IMDB.

The Nice Guy. Finishing last (nice guys always finish last, right??) is actor Jess Oldham. He has a unique background working with horses and cattle on his family-run cattle ranch in Wyoming called Double D Ranch. There’s also a horse sanctuary on property which is awesome! Check out a few pics of him in action on the ranch website. You can also follow him on Instagram @Jess_Oldham.

The Location. Although the song is about a woman in Oklahoma, the video was shot in Texas. Thanks to a YouTuber who pointed out the locations (towns of Alpine, Presidio, and Marfa), I can confirm two of the three based on landmarks appearing in the video. The rodeo scenes are in Alpine based on the website in the background.

The water tower and country courthouse in the scene below is in Marfa, TX.

These are towns in west Texas, very west! Almost in Mexico actually, but still, the scenes and the backdrops remind me so much of my three-week-long camping trip which took me through north Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. It was the most amazing time where I caught on camera some incredible moments of wildlife, and even got a chance to see one of my favorite bands in Oklahoma, Judah and the Lion. I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite pics from camping but for more stories, check out my Camping Stories page and drop by my SmugMug page for more shots of wildlife.

see the bison?

See you tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

The drugs of American Idol, a breakdown

I was watching a recent episode of American Idol, or maybe we should spell it AmaricinIdyl so it matches the weird medicine taking up ad space during the commercials. Did you catch all the medicine commercials, drugs with an ‘x’ or a ‘z’ or a ‘q’ in the name? Here’s a list of the ones I happened to catch in just one Sunday night two-hour episode of AmaricinIdyl… I need to throw a ‘z’ somewhere in there, don’t I?

Drug ads during Amaricinzidyl:

Zeposia, Eliquis, Kisqali, Mounjaro, Rexulti, Nutrafol, Lybalvi, and my favorite… Cibinqo.

That last one’s just fun to say. Cibinqo. I guess the median age of an American Idol watcher is higher than I thought. Or maybe we’re just all suffering from hair loss, eczema, diabetus, depression, or a long list of other problems old people like us have. I can’t even fathom the side effects these things have because we all know the list would be longer than a Walgreens receipt AND the side effects are probably worse than the problem the pills are supposed to be solving. Kind of like what they say in this ad from VABYSMO.

That’s another fun word to say, but I wouldn’t want those (wet) eye-opening side effects.

Have you noticed a lot more ads for these types of drugs? I thought Joe Biden beat big Pharma. Doesn’t seem like it!

-Out of the Wilderness

Bud Light Commercial – Comments Off and a Country Act Cancelled?

Update June 2023: Bud Light has ANOTHER commercial, it’s a slap in the face! More here…

Bud Light is in some serious hot water if what I’m reading is actually true. Apparently sales are down, WAY down, since stunning and brave trans superstar Dylan Mulvaney got canned a few weeks ago. Yep, Dylan with his 5 O’Clock shadow appeared on a can of Bud Light as he celebrated his 365th day as a woman. It’s hard to even type that without crumbling inside.

Bud Light probably should’ve just let things simmer down before releasing more ads but when’s the last time a company’s bad decision was followed up by a good one? Exactly. So Budweiser released this ad with a horse, and now they have a commercial featuring a song from country act Zac Brown Band, first airing during the NFL draft.

I could say more but I think this kind of says it all:

When the comments are turned off, you know things aren’t going so well. And who thought it would be a good idea to put this ad up during a sporting event where a lot of fans drink beer and AREN’T drinking your beer? Just admit you made a mistake, that would go a long way. Or better yet, if you want to celebrate women, hire biological women. There’s a novel idea.

The Music. The song in the ad is “Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown Band. It’s well-known in the country music genre so using it in the commercial was a very conscious choice. But in this case, not all publicity is good publicity. Bud Light just keeps stepping in cow pies with every step they make, don’t they? Zac Brown may have really stepped in it too by letting their song be used in the commercial. People who can’t comment on the Bud Light’s Youtube commercial video have moved over to the music video for “Chicken Fried,” and it ain’t pretty. Will Zac Brown Band suffer from their apparent support of the divisive beer brand?

You know I like my chicken fried,
A cold beer on a Friday night.

It’s going to be a LONG time till that Friday night beer is a Bud Light. It also might be a while till that song gets played at a weekend bonfire.

UPDATE: Zac Brown Band couldn’t do it, but will Garth Brooks save Bud Light? Click here for more!

-Out of the Wilderness

American Idol Top 8 – Why isn’t anybody talking about this??

Well, that’s a fine how de’ ya’ do! Megan Danielle was cuter than a speckled pup under a cabbage leaf AND had us almost cryin’ crocodile tears when she gave her best American Idol performance of the season. She did Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High on That Mountain.”

I keep saying that Megan’s voice has something like the quality of a 65-year-old who’s been smoking for 70 years. Kind of like Phoebe singing with a cold on Friends. There’s just a quality that can’t really be duplicated. Then she picks a song with so much power and meaning behind it? We’ll all be dipped and rolled in cracker crumbs before we hear anyone outdo that little number! Unless Megan does what my sister suggested… sing “How Great Thou Art.” If she does that, just call me a sheep and herd me to the pen, I’ll be done voting for anyone else. You just know that performance would have us all grinnin’ like a possum eatin’ a sweet tater.

BUT I HAVE A SERIOUS QUESTION…

Why haven’t the judges mentioned that Haven Madison is so much like Taylor Swift? Not just in physical appearance even though she’s as cute as a spotted horse in a daisy pasture, but her style, talents, and delivery are so much like early Taylor Swift. I just can’t wrap my head around the music industry having two Taylors… but that might just be a ‘me’ problem.

With all the other mentions of artists in regards to their representation with the Idol contestants (lots of Chris Stapleton comparisons), still we only hear crickets when it comes to Haven and Taylor. There was a moment that made me chuckle in one of the episodes, and the perfect opportunity for Luke, Katy, or Lionel to say SOMEthing when Haven performed an original song called “Fifteen.” I thought to myself, “Did I just hear that right?” Why did I ask myself that except that there’s another song with that title by none other than Taylor Swift! How peculiar.

With that said, Haven is the total package even if her voice isn’t as strong as Megan or Zachariah or Iam (side note: neither is Taylor’s so who cares, right?). And it’s worth saying that she appears to be a great songwriter and no other contestant this season even comes close to her wardrobe choices. She simply blows everyone away with her style.

Other favorites in this poorly written recap of last night’s episode (I swear this is a recap!), Wé Ani, Colin, and of course, Iam. Wé Ani’s voice sounds years more mature than the others. While contestant like Tyson, for instance, sing about love but I just don’t believe it because he’s so young, Wé Ani’s voice tells a story that I can believe. Colin is the black horse of this season. He might very well trot up (like a horse does?) and win this thing. Iam, what else can be said that the judges and America haven’t already said? His voice is just amazing.

Do you have favorites this season? Did you cry during part of Megan’s performance, or the whole dang thing?

-Out of the Wilderness