MCE Productions

Learning some news yesterday made me revisit the infamous scene from my favorite movie that featured an inspiring moment for those who seem bleakly out of it.

As orcs move to take down Minas Tirith, Gandalf and Pippin reflect on their lives realizing they may be near the end of all things.

Gandalf comforts Pippin with the Tolkien vision of the afterworld.

As he infamously tells Perigreen

“The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass..'

'And then you see it..

White shores.. and beyond...

A far green country, under a swift sunrise”

Not so bad as Pippin agrees.

Now, my life had many people come in and out, one person loved those movies as much as I did, was close as a fourth brother.

My very first email password that he set up was those exact 3 words by Gandalf.

So it’s fitting that as we found out he himself has passed through said Grey Rain Curtain a week and a half earlier from Glioblaatoma. This moment popped back into my mind.

Mr. AVG hope you’re enjoying the fairways of that far green country under the swift sunrise.

And one day we’ll definitely see each other again as I will take another path that we must all take.

Could the Kwik Trip chicken donuts 🍩 have been real and the McDonalds Rameyon fries 🍟 have been the April Fool’s Day joke

Sauce on fries 🍟 yes

Noodle 🍜 seasoning

A year ago on New Year’s Eve I ended up not doing a recap of the year in the midst of being behind on things and settling into new professional development.

While the proper year end blog will return a year from now, instead I give insight to a more recent tradition of mine. Making my first purchase of the year being a classic song on ITunes.

Origin goes, while celebrating Christmas in 2020 I ended up rediscovering the classic song known as Tubthumping by Chumbawumba.

Aka

With apt lyrics playing into the 2021 theme of taking it all back, this seemed more than appropriate to listen to. So I made that my first purchase of 2021. With every year since I make it reasonable to buy one classic song on or near New Year’s Day to start the year out on a jam.

So as I announce what I’ll be listening to while watching Indiana take on Alabama tomorrow afternoon 🌹 we take a look back at my previous purchases to start things off.

2021: Chumbawumba “Tubthumping” As stated above

2022: Green Day “Nice Guys Finish Last” Known for the football inspired video this is a pump jam for anyone who wants to rock out at their tailgate.

2023: Spice Girls “Stop” Kept hearing this playing while at my former job, turns out it was one of their lesser known hits.

2024: Usher “My Way” The world’s introduction to Usher and in the lead up to him doing the Halftime Show in Vegas, more than appropriate.

2025: Joe Anderson “With A little help from my friends” The Across the Universe movie had many great Beatles covers, only one blended a classic song and classic tv show intro masterfully together.

Now a spoiler as my purchase will be…

2026: Tenacious D “POD” For biopics they’re a dime a dozen, but it’s odd that Jack Black and Kyle Gass did the meta parody 20 years earlier with The Pick of Destiny movie. This theme certainly made us understand why they had a fan base.

And that basically it, but short version The Good Variant of Project 2025 was more than appropriate hit.

Now we look ahead while saying it’ll still be a ride.

Once more

See you in 365 Days.

With Great Pleasure

MCE Best of 2025: Honorable Mention

Music: Jack O’Connell “Rocky Road to Dublin”

With our last honorable mention we get the rare side of vampirism we never see in fiction.

How appealing it would be to join.

After Remmick arrives at the Smokestack Juke Joint and initiates an attack thanks to Sammie’s incredible performance, he and his thrall retreat outward.

To party with no limits.

Backing viola and dance moves from MBJ and Hallie Steinfeld along with Cornbread getting down accentuated an already iconic movie even further.

Worthy of the mention.

SUM 22: Vampirism never looked more appealing thanks to the unexpected Irish Jog from Jack O’Connell and his Thrall.

Best of 2025 Music #1: ROSÉ and Bruno Mars “APT.”

With the final entry we get the year’s best new artist.

With another collab support from Bruno Mars.

New Zealand and South Korean singer Rosé broke through by mashing the classic beat of Tony Basils “Mickey” with the Korean apetu into a fresh jam that is as catchy as it is full of pink.

And with Bruno Mars drumming out next to her it wasn’t hard to see what made this 2025s best.

Catchy and fluffed up simultaneously.

SUM 22: 2025s best jam gives us an unsung new heroine, a classic supporting artist and a game many of us will want to learn more of. 채영이의 최애 랜덤 게임랜덤 게임 Game Start.

Best of 2025: Game of the Year

Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33^

MCE The Jaw Droppers 2025 #1: Chicken Jockey

It’s fitting that after 33 days of countdown we start and end with Minecraft.

And how 2 words can send audiences into frenzies not seen since Wolf of Wall Street.

All from something that comes up less than 2% in game.

MCE Best of 2025: Honorable Mention

TV Shows: ESPN College Gameday [In Tribute to Lee Corso] (ESPN)

Final bows can seem in modern context, too drawn out or not arriving sooner.

A legendary sendoff came this past August when Lee Corso of ESPN College Gameday, made his final appearance and last pick of a mascot head.