It was my birthday yesterday and I’ve been celebrating off and on since the weekend, which is at least partially why I don’t have a full-on essay for you lovely folks this week despite having one planned out for quite some time now; but something interesting did happen to me in that time, something interesting enough that I wanted to pass it along to all of you as well.
Part of my birthday weekend festivities was seeing my favorite band, The Wonder Years, play back-to-back shows in Wilmington, fifteen minutes from my apartment, which ruled, even if Delaware crowds are far bigger assholes than Philly crowds somehow, if you can believe it. The most memorable moment of the weekend, though, came Sunday evening, during the set of opening band Hot Mulligan, where I…well, where I got kicked in the dick.
This is one of my better tweets. I wasn’t trying too hard, and the wording flows almost like it kind of rhymes. For me, it performed well. Being able to say stupid shit like this and laugh at my own misfortune is part of what I love about about Twitter; throwing my problems out into the ether exorcises them out of my mind, and sometimes even gets me the mildest bit of clout, which is really all one can ask for in this life.
What made this notable, though, was what happened next.
Yeah, Hot Mulligan themselves not only seeing my tweet, but yes-and-ing it, absolutely made my day. 1,614 likes (and 102 retweets) as of writing isn’t exactly going viral, but it’s far more attention than I’ve ever gotten on the platform before. Kids in the comments are joking that this sounds like a Hot Mulligan song title or lost lyric (legit: it very much does) and even waiting for the song to drop.
And then it did.
This is absolutely wild, right? I got kicked in the dick in a moshpit, tweeted about it, that tweet got amplified by the band, and now their fans are writing pop-punk parodies about my experience? Surreal. It doesn’t even really matter whether this parody takes off or not (though I’d love it if it did); someone going through all this work because they were inspired by something I did is outright touching, and I am moved.
Honestly, shit like this is why I love Twitter, and social media in general. It isn’t about fame — I have no desire to be famous or, god forbid, an influencer — but being able to share in a moment with other people and watch a joke unfold far beyond what I could have ever imagined is just such an incredible experience, and so much goddamn fun.
Anyway, I’m kinda hoping for merch next. Hot Mulligan better give me royalties, or at least a discount. Getting kicked in the dick in their moshpit hurt :(
SUCCESSION (AND MORE TWITTER)
The final season of HBO’s Succession started airing this week. This was finally the kick in the ass I needed to start watching the series from the beginning (after promising to start soon in this very newsletter way back in 2021 and then failing to do so, oops), so hopefully I’ll catch up in time to be able to catch the final episode live. We’ll see.
(This is the other reason I don’t have a full essay for you this week)
It’s a bit too soon for me to have many coherent thoughts yet (I just finished Season 1, Episode 6; that No Contest vote was the most brutal thing I’ve ever seen on television), besides that I’m incredibly impressed by the way the writing has transformed Kendall from the biggest Jabroni on the planet into the most sympathetic character in the show; not by changing anything about the character, but just by pitting him against a myriad of far more ruthless, cunning, and unlikeable characters. It’s good stuff.
Anyway, I’ve been tweeting my thoughts on the series as I’ve watched, so if that’s something you’re interested in, follow along with the thread below!
Hopefully we’ll be talking about this show together again a few months down the road.
ABOUT
“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin about his relationship with the stories he loves. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!