Having kids exposes you to this whole other world that you would otherwise never know about…and frankly never care about.

Indoor playground birthday parties, Toys R Us aisles, TD Bricks (IYKYK), Skibidi Toilet, and the list obviously goes on for infinity. But every so often there’s a gem that indirectly appears because of something to do with your kids.

I would have never started watching MrBeast if it wasn’t for my kids.

…also the amount of knowledge I have on Squishmallows is ridiculously unnecessary.

And although there’s always something going on with MrBeast, we’ll talk more about him when his Amazon show comes out later in December. The gem I’m actually referring to is…

Admittedly, I’d never have a desire to watch Moana if I didn’t have kids. The Rock flat out sucks in movies, so my assumption would be his voice acting ruins the animation as well, not to mention he sings.

But because I’ve seen the first Moana film, I can say with confidence that his character “Maui” could quite possibly be his best performance yet…aside from another character he’s played, which you’ll see when you scroll down.

Furthermore, Moana is ranked #6 on Rotten Tomatoes for all time Disney films. Sixth doesn’t sound as great except aside from Zootopia (2016), 1-5 are films dating back to the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. So basically Disney is going to crush the box office this weekend when Moana 2 comes out. Expect this one to do NUMBERS.

Moana was/is so popular that “You’re Welcome” replaced “Let it go” in the minds of parents all over the world - and now we’re about to get some new catchy song that will replace all of the others.

But I don’t blame you, if I didn’t have kids I probably still wouldn’t watch Moana 2. Unless I was looking for something that would convince my crush to go out on a date with me - Disney movies work every time.

Oh, and The Rock’s other role that he was actually decent in? This guy:

It was no Entourage, but I thought Ballers had a lot more longevity than 5 seasons - it was actually a pretty good show!

This week's issue is a 4 minute read:

🖥️ Mafiathon 2

🎵 Drake v. Everybody pt 2

📱 Apple’s 2024 App Finalists

The Streaming Marathon Ends Tomorrow

As I write this Kai Cenat is currently on stream just talking to his chat about nonsense. And aside from having a flurry of celebrities, content creators, and influencers on his stream, this is what Kai Cenat has been doing for the past 29 days.

FYI: Kai is the biggest Twitch streamer in the world.

November was dubbed Mafiathon 2 (he did the first one last year and broke subscriber records) by Kai meaning he planned on streaming 24/7 for 30 days straight, including while he’s sleeping. What happens while he sleeps you ask? NPC Miles Morales takes over the stream of course - y’know, the TikTok streamer who acts like the Spiderman character?

Am I starting to lose you?

Kai’s streams have become the modern day version of the variety show. Everyday he’s had a new guest come on stream, from Serena Williams, to the Jabbawockeez, to Miranda Cosgrove, alongside the typical characters like Ray - y’know, the kid he met on the street in Japan who is actually from Taiwan and they instantly became friends.

A modern day, non-scripted variety show.

You’ve got Snoop rolling a blunt in 19 seconds…

Travis Barker showed up one morning to wake up Kai playing drums to “Dammit” and “All The Small Things”

And of course they had to do a dance off with the Jabbawockeez…

@mafiathon2replay

Mafiathon full dance battle🔥🔥🔥 @Kai Cenat @JABBAWOCKEEZ @btbdezz @thetylilshow @PUNGA #kaicenat #mafiathon2 #kaicenatclips #amp #twitch #f... See more

And just the other day Kai had a super awkward encounter with Bryce James, asking if he could go over to the James’ house for Thanksgiving LOL.

Imagine being on camera for 30 days straight, all day everyday - that’s what Kai Cenat is finishing up tomorrow. YouTube is littered with recap videos of each day in case I’ve intrigued you enough to go check the streams out. But I get it, you and I are of a different generation, we don’t watch streamers, do we?

Drake v. Kendrick UMG

Just when you thought everything was quiet, Kendrick Lamar released a new album last Friday called GNX. The album itself is pretty decent but I honestly don’t feel like doing a review for it. It’s got its snappy parts, its boring parts, its typical Kung Fu Kenny rap bars, etc etc but nothing stood out for me.

Also, I need to talk about this Drake and Universal Music Group beef.

Earlier this week Drake’s legal team filed a petition in a Manhattan court against UMG and Spotify claiming they basically used bots (automated clicker things) to boost the streams for Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” record, which was the main song within their rap beef that blew up…I wonder why.

Drake is also signed to UMG, which makes this all even stickier because it’s basically like Drake making the label money to then go use for Kendrick’s music against Drake.

Drake’s legal counsel also filed a petition in Texas claiming “Not Like Us” had defamatory content and UMG decided to release it anyway. He alleges that UMG designed and executed a plan to turn the song into a viral hit, intending to use the harm to Drake to drive consumer interest and revenue.

Here’s the thing: bots are real and they definitely have been used to boost numbers in the music industry. However, no one has ever really officially come out and made a big enough deal for this to turn into a legal matter, potentially setting a precedence in the music industry…which would ultimately be MASSIVE for smaller and indie artists who don’t have the money to pay for bots and this kind of “marketing”.

Obviously UMG denied all allegations made. The petitions are in the hands of the courts now to see if it makes sense to further investigate UMG and Spotify. But oh boy, if they do, this could blow up the music industry.

I’ll report back once this thing unfolds - for now, Rory has a great take on what’s going on:

thisisrory

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Apple’s Top Apps for 2024

Honest question, when’s the last time you downloaded an app? I know when the last time is I deleted one, it was just the other day - the app the parents used for my kid’s competitive basketball team schedule.

Last app I downloaded? Crazy Taxi for iPhone…so good.

Apple just came out with their list of top apps for 2024 across basically all of their devices including the Vision Pro…which sounded like it was going to be discontinued? I’m not about to go through the 45 apps they’ve featured for this year but lemme give you the ones for iPhone at least.

Starting with Kino.

Kino is beautifully designed camera app that allows you to shoot professional quality video with features like AutoMotion that enables you to shoot cinema quality video. If you enjoy shooting videos then you’ll probably like this app.

Next is Runna.

I personally have never really cared for training apps. But I get why people like them and/or need them. I actually found this app pretty useful though. After going through the setup, it gave me a very curated plan for a race I selected - I quite liked how organized your training instantly became.

The last iOS app for 2024 is Tripsy.

As I used this app I thought, why am I not just creating an entry in Notes on my phone. This obviously gets you suuuuper organized but I don’t know, seems like way more bells and whistles than you actually need for a trip.

Notes App is app of the year for me.