Once again, posting Not a Newsletter later (much later) than I wanted to. But it’s done, so I’m counting it as one of this week’s small victories during a week that felt like it didn’t have many. Yet I do have to consider myself fortunate for much of the stuff that’s linked below.

Hey, how was your week? You good?

Here’s what we have to show for the past week at Casselbloggy HQ:

Viewing

Once in a while, I’d like to include a video I enjoyed here. Not like a meme or something that’s gone viral. You’ll probably already have seen those.

With Black Panther coming out and director Ryan Coogler doing press, this was an intriguing moment from an interview with Yahoo! Movies in which Sam Ashurst passed along admiration from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino.

Coogler seemed genuinely flattered and then praised a contemporary’s work and showed what a fan of filmmaking he really is. With the success of Black Panther (my review is below), he should be able to make any kind of film he wants (maybe he was already there after Creed), which is really exciting to see with a great filmmaker.

Is it worth listing what I watched in a given week here? Probably not. A lot of stuff I watch is for work or something I want to write about, so that’ll be listed here anyway. My TV viewing has really hit a (self-imposed) wall in recent months, much to my frustration.

But I did watch Ben Affleck’s Daredevil for its 15th anniversary this week and saw Black Panther, of course. Links to those reviews are below. I hope to finish Altered Carbon this week. I also watched Chris Rock’s new Netflix special, which just didn’t crackle like his previous stand-up specials did. Hey, we’re all getting old and cranky.

Writing

Sunday
* Verizon streamed Super Bowl LII in virtual reality on a 5G connection, but only a few people saw it
* This Week in Trailers: Where’s Venom, Amy Schumer feels pretty, behind the scenes with Juventus

Monday
* Zack Snyder was reportedly fired from Justice League, which may be encouraging for DC Films and fans

Tuesday
* WEEI loses two sponsors in response to Christian Fauria using caricatured Asian accent on air
* LeBron James’ production company is developing a House Party remake

Wednesday
* Ben Affleck’s Daredevil hasn’t aged well 15 years later, but gets ripped more than it deserves

Thursday
* Charles Barkley recalls playing a game while drunk, trying to eat his way out of Sixers drafting him
* Cobra Kai’s teaser trailer doesn’t look like a comedy, which is surely part of the joke

Friday
* Jon Dorenbos, former Eagles long snapper, will have his life story turned into a movie, produced by Mike Tollin
* These are the storylines we’re watching during Spring Training (Roundtable)

Saturday
* Black Panther is like no other Marvel film, and reaches a higher bar as a result: 5 takeaways
* Jamie Foxx did not like Michael Smith asking him about Katie Holmes on SportsCenter
* Ian Eagle called Saturday’s Syracuse-Miami game for CBS, while son Noah did the same for Syracuse’s WAER

Reading

** I never really thought of the cheesesteak scene as one of the best in Creed, but it does develop character and setting, which Robert Mays makes a good argument for here. [The Ringer]

** I went through a pretty long protein shake phase, yet it never included Muscle Milk. But you definitely see those bottles everywhere now. How did the company get to this point? [Eater]

** Is it fine for a white kid to dress up like Black Panther and play with those toys? It’s great, right? But should that kid also know why the character would be so important to black kids, especially because there are so few black superheroes? [New York Times]

** Katie Strang has been doing great work for The Athletic on the Larry Nassar case, and she rightfully skewers the Detroit Tigers for signing catcher Derek Norris without asking him about his suspension for domestic violence last year. This is behind a paywall, but I’ll email this article to you if you want to read it. [The Athletic]

** Years ago, while hanging out with my old boss, Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew, he asked me who my favorite current baseball player was. And it took me a while to answer. I didn’t feel like I watched the game that way anymore. Eventually, I said Ichiro Suzuki. Curtis Granderson would be on the list.

So would Alex Avila. But I couldn’t really tell you why, other than he made a huge impact when the Tigers first called him up. And I’ve always liked catchers. This season, he’ll be playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. How catchers are viewed has changed in recent years, with an emphasis on pitch framing. Avila apparently has no use for defining his game that way. [Arizona Republic]

** Picking Black Panther’s standout isn’t an easy choice. But you wouldn’t be wrong with Michael B. Jordan, who’s now made three films with Ryan Coogler. Up next is Creed 2, and maybe a basketball series based in Detroit that he’s developing. [The Undefeated]