Lil Xan is a real person, really

First off, I realize I’m showing my age now by JUST finding out who Lil Xan is. All I can say about that is… I wish I never found out about him. The first images I saw were disturbing and it’s not just because of his tattooed face.

I’m trying hard not to judge because obviously I don’t know him, but if I had to sum him up in one sentence it would be this: Lil Xan is what happens when you make all the wrong choices.

Gee wiz, that sounded judgey, didn’t it?

Like that old Burger King commercial where the son said, “I wish I had never been broiled!” That’s kind of how I feel about stumbling onto this wrecked fellow. I was just watching YouTube and a video of Candace Owens popped up where she was reacting to a rude comment towards her from Noah Cyrus. I LOVE Candace. In the video, she was so well-spoken and I agree 100% with everything she said. Candace mentioned Noah having a bunch of tattoos so I looked up images of Noah. As it turns out, this is when I found out Noah dated Lil Xan for awhile. Even this was news to me. OK, yes, I’m not 20 yrs old so I don’t know everything about pop culture.

The tattooed pair were photographed together at various events, and images of him… I don’t want to say they startled me… I think disturbing is still the best word.

So now I have images of his face tattoos swirling around in my head and I can’t unsee them. Poor guy will live for the rest of his life with those. Imagine a little child looking up, “Grandpa Xan, tell me about the tattoos on your nose?” Grandpa Xan, “Well, little one, I was young and stupid once, so I got dots on my nose. Oh also, you can also see how stupid I was with this tattoo of snoring “ZZZ”s under my eye. Your grandpa was cool, huh?”

I guess I can’t help but make a grown-up judgement… if you’re thinking about a face tattoo, I’m not against them. But you better be 100 perXANt sure because getting them removed is more expensive and probably more painful. You know what, just don’t. Get a tattoo on your arm like everyone else. Also, don’t do drugs. Otherwise you’ll find yourself stuck in a life of which you XAN’t get out.

-Out of the Wilderness

Woman yelling at kids in car, and what it might mean

She was pumping gas on a cold winter day. The wind was somehow making its way past my coat, and I’m sure she was feeling the same intrusive bite. Then I noticed her lean into the passenger side window, peering back towards two toddlers buckled in. She said, “Shut up and DO NOT talk.”

I was startled, but gave her the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know where she came from or what happened before she stopped to refuel. I hoped it wasn’t as dramatic as it appeared.

But who does that? Who tells a young child to “shut up”? I went away from that encounter thinking, somewhat humorously, “Maybe I’m not such a bad person after all.” Was I just deflecting the gravity of the situation by keeping it light, at least in my mind? I don’t know. I am not judging the woman. Like I said, I don’t know what her full situation was. Certainly there is/was more to the story.

I’ve certainly been upset enough to lash out, especially when I’m in my car dealing with other drivers. In fact, I’m reminded of a moment at a gas station when a woman was in her car talking on the phone, while all the stalls were taken and I was driving around unsuccessfully trying to get gas. When she got out, I let her know of my frustration, and I was wrong to do that.

I guess this instance recently can serve as a good reminder to take a breath. Relax. It’s all gonna be O.K. I hope you are having an extra abundance of patience this holiday season. Don’t let other people determine your mood… and I’ll try doing the same.

-Out of the Wilderness

Coke’s Holiday North Pole Commercial: The Actor, Wind Farms, and More!

Coca-Cola might have the best holiday commercial this season with the letter delivery to Santa. Get your tissues ready and take a look at the long version…

From Coke’s website, “Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi directed the spot in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy London.” Also, this:

The actor playing the dad is Cohen Holloway and you can find him on Twitter here.

In this ad, the dad is shown working on an offshore wind farm. More about New Zealand’s work with wind can be found here. He leaves the wind farm rig and bounds around the world in search of Santa. Thankfully, he finds him (or, is found by Santa, really), and the ad ends happily.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

I’ve been watching Hardy Boys (Hulu)

I wrote a post recently sharing my new TV addictions… Big Sky and Hardy Boys. I figured it’s time for an update. I’m still watching both, but one feels like it’s only out of obligation. Big Sky is great. Love it. Can’t wait to see where it goes. Hardy Boys? Not so much. I’ll finish out the first season just because I am invested enough to want to know how the story wraps up but outside of that, I’m not interested in furthering my relationship with the show.

I think I had to come to the realization that when I was falling asleep during each episode, it meant that that’s the best review I could give. The formula is working in that they have a few different story lines going on and by the end, they’ll all tie together to wrap the season up in a nice, neat bow (one would think). But I find myself laughing when I shouldn’t, and that’s never a good thing. I mean, if you are watching… do you also wonder how the tall man magically shows up at all the locations where the main characters are? How is he getting to all these places at just the right time when every time we see him he’s lumbering around as slow as a sloth?

Also, I don’t want to be a Negative Nancy, but something about the younger son, Joe Hardy, is more annoying than a room full of magnets that are pointed the wrong way so they can’t attach to each other. No what I mean? His personality is a little bit arrogant and a lot of a know-it-all. Annoying.

To sum up, I don’t presume to believe I’m the target audience, so maybe kids will like the show? As a grown man, my suggestion is to skip this show for something better. Something like… Big Sky! That show has got me hooked, so much that I’m almost to the point of rearranging my schedule to be home when it airs on Tuesday nights. But having Hulu is a perk, I can watch it there the day after it is on TV.

Are you watching either of these? What do you think about them?

-Out of the Wilderness

If John Legends version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is right, I definitely, definitely want to be wrong

I’m not trying to be a Scrooge or a Grinch, but can anyone listen to this version of the classic Christmas song and think, “Yeah, we are on the right track with this one…”?

With lyrics like, “It’s your body and your choice,” and “Text me when you get home,” I can’t help but think this is some kind of parody, right? Now, before anyone goes off on me, I am in full support of women’s rights and equality. In fact, I love women more than men. OK, now that that’s out of the way… this IS a parody, right???

Read the lyrics. Instead of being politically correct, which is the intention of this horrible rewrite, it makes the woman out to look like a hussy. Yes, I said hussy.

from Dictionary.com

Soooooo this is a parody, right? Please tell me this isn’t where we are as a society, that we have to change the lyrics of a harmless Christmas song to soothe the feelings of easily offended people out there.

OK, I understand it’s probably not a parody. But it IS funny. Not quite as funny as this one, though…

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness