No. 228: What Ever Happened to Men's Pants?

Asking the important questions this morning.

Every year, the waistline on men's pants gets lower and lower. It's as if every pair of pants you buy is made for a teenager. Where are the properly fitted pants that sit at your waist and don't cling to your hips?

When you ask someone who works around men's pants — and trust me, I have aired these grievances to unwitting tailors and department store employees — they say something along the line of "people want low-waisted pants". The invisible hand of the market pulls pants lower and lower over time. Alongside Newtonian physics, we have the Law of Sinking Waistlines.

Soon, pants will be so low-waisted that you'll have to neuter yourself just to fit in them. Maybe that's the point. I know that if I were of a conspiratorial mind, I might theorize that plummeting waistlines are an effort to sterilize men, but that's an idea I'd only float in front of close friends and, well, you.

I know properly fitted pants are out there. I'm wearing some right now. But, I beseech my male readers to get themselves a properly fitted pair of pants that sit at the waist and not on the hips.

Anyway.

Today, we look at the newest publication in town, peer at a COVID-related temper tantrum at Blizzard, observe the Japanese housing market, and suggest you start wearing better pants.

You can follow us on Twitter (@realpamphleteer), LinkedIn (@realpamphleteer), or Instagram (@realpamphleteer) for additional content.

Thanks for reading.

Jerod Hollyfield returns with a review of Norway’s Oscar-nominated anti-romcom 'The Worst Person in the World' which has a pretty good angle on millennials, warts and all.

Film Review: The Worst Person in the World

Norway’s Oscar-nominated anti-romcom is also the movie about millennials we knew we needed.

The PamphleteerJerod Ra’Del Hollyfield

PAST REVIEWS

• Millennials Didn’t Ruin Cinema, They Just Made It About Themselves (Read)
• Review: Jackass Forever (Read)
• Review: West Side Story (Read)
• Review: Don’t Look Up (Read)

⌰ THE NASHVILLE BANNER RETURNS

Well, after much delay and fanfare, the Nashville Banner finally hit the press this morning. The once afternoon, conservative paper in town has found a new home under the leadership of editor Steve Cavendish and producer Demetria Kalodimos.

The soft launch comes three years after editor Steve Cavendish announced plans to establish a new outlet. Cavendish pitches the Banner as "a direct response to the decline of public service journalism" in Nashville.

Source: The Nashville Banner

HEADLINES

• Tennessee Titans Become First NFL Team To Accept Bitcoin (Bitcoin Magazine) The Tennessee Titans today announced they are now the first NFL team accepting bitcoin for key investments through a third-party conversion service.
• Report: New funding model beneficial to Tennessee school districts (Center Square) The new proposed funding model, dubbed the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement, would begin as the funding mechanism for state and local government funding of K-12 public schools in the 2023-24 financial year.
• Lee’s out-of-state recruiting campaign lands 11 troopers (TNJ) Gov. Bill Lee’s push to recruit new Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers from other states has resulted in 11 people joining the ranks.

POLITICS

• Tennessee Becomes Second State to Pass DAO Legislation (Scene) DAOs are blockchain-based companies run by computer code rather than human leaders. Think of a DAO as a corporation, but instead of voting shareholders, it uses blockchain to automate decisions on behalf of its users according to a predetermined set of rules.
• Bill To Sneak In Vaccinations Without Parental Consent Taken Off Notice (TCN) The bill sought to authorize “certain healthcare officers and providers licensed in this state to provide consultation, examination, diagnosis or treatment to a minor to prevent STDs, without the knowledge or consent of the parents of the minors.”
• State files appeal of order halting new Tennessee Senate maps (TNJ) The Attorney General’s Office has filed a challenge to a three-judge panel’s order halting Tenenssee Senate redistricting maps with the state Court of Appeals. The state is also asking the court to lift an injunction on the current districts and reverse the decision to move the candidate filing deadline from today until May 5.

DEVELOPMENT

• 📸 A Look Inside Nashville SC’s Brand-New Stadium (Scene)
• The Plan For 853,000+SF of New Mixed Use Development In Wedgewood-Houston (Now Next)
• New York firm announces $3M capital improvement plan for Metrocenter office building (NBJ)
• East Bank warehouse property sells for $21.5M (Post)
• Historic downtown building listed for $8.5M (Post)

⧗ DIAPER-WEARING TECH WORKERS ON STRIKE!

Games have effectively captured the libido of many men and channeled it into arcane puzzles and quests that satisfy the individual's desire for dopamine. You're told these days that you must "respect the gamer". That he is merely a creature of circumstance, channeling whatever bureaucratic energies he would otherwise drive into governing an imperial colony in the days when men wore high-waisted pants into the digital realm. Suffice it to say that "gaming" as a phenomenon has stolen the valor of many a man.

No gaming company is more guilty of exploiting and preying on the nascent and suppressed ambitions of men than Blizzard Entertainment — now Activision Blizzard — the creator of World of Warcraft. A game so gnarly that it snared this very writer in his youth for many hours. That's not to say that the hours were completely lost — they were — but that in the long term, no man can brook the charge of online gaming without diminishing himself in some way.

This is all a preface for one of the more pathetic "COVID reactions" we've seen. In response to Blizzard Activision dropping its vaccine mandate, a bunch of its diaper-wearing employees, who probably complain about the break room lacking a ball-pit, walked out.

The workers are asking Activision "to reverse the lifted vaccine requirement, give workers the option for remote work and allow employees to decide whether to work remotely or in an office." Sure. It's great that workers are using the leverage they have against their employer, but couldn't they have chosen something less ghey?

The Blizzard fiasco makes me think of the great Disney Strike of 1941, back before they were staffed by trannies and hookers and traded in kiddie porn, when Walt Disney greyed his hair worrying about his talented animators unionizing. Disney just fired the workers who went on strike. Eventually, he gave in to their demands and the Screen Cartoonist's Guild was born. The strike was in response to low pay and mistreatment. Blizzard's "walk out" — notably not called a strike even by those who take it seriously — is basically just a tantrum thrown by a bunch of soft-handed keyboard tech nerds. Presumably, after the walkout, everyone just went back to their desks.

The workers aren't lobbying for leverage across the industry like men but begging their employer to bestow them with privileges like children.

If I worked at Blizzard and didn't like their policy, I'd just quit.

❏ TODAY IN NUMBERS: HOUSING IN JAPAN

In Japan, the price of housing hasn't increased in 25 years. A big reason for this is that the Japanese government has national control over zoning laws and allows developers to build a lot of houses. Additionally, the population of Japan is on the decline.

⚔︎ MISSIVES ⚔︎

• 🏛 The Senate voted to confirm Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday. Jackson was nominated by President Biden after Justice Stephen Breyer announced in February that he will retire by summer.
• 🚌 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced on Wednesday that the state will send migrants who illegally cross the border to Washington, D.C., in response to the Biden administration lifting Title 42.
• ​🗺 A bipartisan group of senators will introduce a bill Thursday meant to force the Biden administration to delay ditching the Title 42 health policy next month, warning that suspending the order will unleash a humanitarian crisis as thousands of illegal immigrants flock to the southern border, according to a report.
• 📱 The White House confirmed Wednesday that illegal immigrants are being provided with electronic devices, notably cell phones, in an effort for the Biden administration to "track" and "check in" with them as they await immigration court proceedings.
• 💸 President Biden on Wednesday extended through Aug. 31 the pause on payments of federal student loans, setting up a politically fraught decision about whether to resume payments less than three months before the midterm elections and prompting renewed calls from Democrats to cancel student debt.
• 🛢 U.S. allies are planning to release close to 60 million additional barrels of oil from their reserves, officials familiar with the matter said, joining the Biden administration in an effort to tame prices after they rose sharply when Russia invaded Ukraine.

THINGS TO DO

View the full calendar here.

🎙 Hannah Juanita is playing two-steppin' music every Friday in April at Bobby's Idle Hour.

TONIGHT

🐖 Nashville farmers’ market @ Nashville farmers’ market, 8a, Info

🎻 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info

🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info

🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
+ Best honky tonk in Nashville

🎙 Trace Adkins @ The Ryman, 8p, $45+, Info

🎸 Ray Wylie Hubbard @ 3rd & Lindsley, 8p, $35, Info

🎙 Hannah Juanita @ Bobby's Idle Hour, 9p, Free, Info

TOMORROW

🐖 Nashville farmers’ market @ Nashville farmers’ market, 8a, Info

🐖 Charlotte farmers’ market @ Richland Park, 9a, Info

🐖 Franklin farmers’ market @ Franklin TN, 9a, Info

🏎 Drag Race @ Music City Raceway, 11a, Free, Info
‌‌+ I recommend chasing this with dinner at McNamara's

🍺 East Nash Beer Fest @ East Park, 12p, $25+, Info

🍻 Crawfish Boil @ The Crow's Nest, 1p, $25, Info

🥃 Sip of History @ The Hermitage, 2p, $60, Info

🥃 Bourbon and Bubbles Fest @ Harlinsdale Farm, 4p, $25+, Info

🥔 Center Hill Crawdaddy Boil @ Bert Driver Nursery, 4p, $25, Info

🐅 Predators vs. Panthers @ Bridgestone, 5p, $48+, Info

🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info

🎸 Kelly’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
+ Best honky tonk in Nashville

🎸 Ray Wylie Hubbard @ 3rd & Lindsley, 8p, $35, Info

SUNDAY

🐖 Nashville farmers’ market @ Nashville farmers’ market, 8a, Info

🎅🏽  Santa's Ice Cold Pickers @ Santa's Pub, 7p, Free, No Info‌‌
+ Best Sunday spot in Nashville

⚡️ Lightning 100 Nashville Sunday Night @ 3rd & Lindsley, 8p, $15, Info

GET ‘EM WHILE YOU CAN

🎸 Jerry Cantrell (4/17) @ The Ryman, $35, 7p, Info

🌊 The Brian Jonestown Massacre (5/5) @ Brooklyn Bowl, 8p, $25, Info

🎻 Billy Strings (5/6 – 5/8) @ The Ryman, $39.50+, 8:30, Info for 5/6, 5/7, 5/8

🐷 Primus: a Farewell to Kings tour & Battles (5/9) @ The Ryman, 7:30p, $55+, Info

🥁 Gogol Bordello (5/21) @ Brooklyn Bowl, 8p, $33, Info

FROM THIS WEEK

On the Groomer Question

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FROM THE ARCHIVE

Nashville’s Best Old Fashioneds

Where to go in town to get the classic cocktail

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The 5 Best Spots for Outdoor Exercise in Nashville

Head for the Hills! On the Trail of Local Parks’ Best Ups and Downs

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Best Springtime Drives

Now is as good a time as any to appreciate the splendor of the open road

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Around the Web

﹅ The True Purpose of Propaganda Why do authoritarian regimes broadcast silly, unpersuasive propaganda?

➥ Terry Davis Was Right In 2004, American computer programmer Terry Davis received instructions from God...

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Political Theater Highlight Reel

1. Shanghai residents go to their balconies to sing & protest lack of supplies. A drone appears and says, "Control your soul's desire for freedom"
2. Donald Trump: I regret not marching on the US Capitol with my supporters
3. Kristi Noem signs order barring critical race theory instruction in public schools

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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Edward Landstreet (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).