Coming Soon: 8 Balls & 8 Reelers
“What is 8 Balls and 8 Reelers?”
Why thank you for asking. The short answer: I wanna talk about movies. And now the long answer…
Hi. I’m Ryan. You may remember me as some random PA on that Amazon Prime show you’ve never watched. More likely, that anxious wreck of a guy who’s sole purpose is to kill the vibe at a club.
There are two constants in my wild up-and-down life:
I love movies
I am a person in recovery
I had been toiling with this plan for months, how can I merge the two minus blabbering away on my letterboxd? How can I discovery more about myself while sharing my love with the ever growing community of online recovery spaces and culture appreciators. And thus, the seed of 8 Balls & 8 Reelers was planted.
“But Ryan, an 8 ball? What is this, a game of pool? Ryan, I’m googling eight reel and am getting a bunch of strange links to rap videos and eBay. Are you okay?”
First, let’s start with some basic homework.
8 Ball
Approximately an eighth of an ounce (ranging from 3 to 3.5 grams) of an illegal drug.
1-Reeler
a motion picture, especially a cartoon or comedy, of 10 to 12 minutes duration and contained on one reel of film: popular especially in the era of silent films.
What do these two have to do with each other? Absolutely nothing. With my large, smooth brain, I deducted that eight 1-reelers added together produces a film with a runtime of 80 to 96 minutes: a typical length of a feature film… and 8 Ball was the only real thing recovery related that worked in a cheesy phrase. Yeah, I know, fuck you too.
Now back to the question at hand.
What is 8 Balls & 8 Reelers
There are many facets asides my personal journey for you to expect from this newsletter. Some things that may qualify include:
Weekly Newsletters on my adventures in moviegoing and recovery
Reviews on the latest movies and television shows
Essays about my more personal history with some of my favorite works and artists
Once I get a weekly routine fit in with my already crazy schedule, expect more developed topics and scorching takes including:
The bad poetry I write
My love/hate relationship with Boston
Book and poetry reviews
Experience and exploration of various aspects of recovery (12 steps, meditation, creative recovery, etc.)
Complaining about the latest online trends
My personal journey in addiction
As mentioned, beyond helping myself, I want give you an ear to speak to as well. You are not alone. And we are all in the fight together. Now lets get some popcorn and head to the theater, where we may laugh, cry, scream. Where we live. The first planned reviews are gonna be exciting ones!
But in the meantime, here are some recent watches I recommend!
Hundreds of Beavers (2022)
The First Omen (2024)
Sexy Beast (2000)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Welcome to 8 Balls & 8 Reelers, a weekly newsletter comprised of my chaotic takes on movies, literature, and recovery. May we complain and grow together.