Four: /fôr/ equal to the product of two by two, one more than three, one less than five, and the Rocky sequel that made a mistake

RIP to Carl Weathers

Author

John Lim
February 07, 2024

An exception to a quirky rule

Rest in Peace, Rest in Power to a legend

I normally don’t delve into celebrity news and that includes news of a famous person’s passing. I’ve always felt a little self-conscious doing so, especially on social media; outside of liking someone else’s tribute or the occasional repost. I’m not sure why. I think it’s an old fashioned (i.e. quirky) hangup of mine to not publicly talk about someone who has passed, especially a famous person I don’t know personally. Even when it comes to people I personally know, I’m usually introspective and discreet about what I post.

However, I’m going to make an exception to that quirky rule and pay tribute to the legendary Carl Weathers who passed away last week. If you read last week’s issue, you’ll know I cheekily quoted the noted actor under my hack section on getting free refills at fast food restaurants.

The story behind that decision is pretty unremarkable. I was seriously under the weather last week and didn’t get around to penning issue three until Thursday, the day before it came out. Just prior to this, I was at Panera for lunch eating solid food for the first time in days. I was feeling enervated and my tastebuds were out of whack. At one point, I got up to refill my drink, and if you know anything about me, you’ll know that my mind wanders to random places when I’m out in public in this kind of condition. Panera just happens to be one of those places where you can get free refills and that’s when I suddenly remembered Carl Weathers’ line about the subject. It made me chuckle and I decided to include it in the issue for fun, hoping it might elicit a smile or laugh.

The newsletter came out Friday morning and several hours later, news broke that Carl Weathers had died. Some of you may have assumed I included the quote as a tribute and in a way I did, but not because of his passing but because of how brilliant and funny he was in that scene. That he happened to pass away on the same day was simply a sad coincidence. Had I known this, I might have shied away from including that quote (see quirky rule above). However, looking back, I’m glad I put it in there because he made me laugh during a moment when I wasn’t feeling like myself. It’s a testament to his brilliance that he could so easily slip into any genre from action and drama to dry meta comedy.

Rest in peace, Mr. Carl Weathers. Thank you for the gift of your incredible work. You were taken too soon and you will be missed.

-John

Moving Forward

Episode 456 : Remembering Carl Weathers, updates on my decluttering project and the legacy website

On this week’s episode, I share some thoughts on the late Carl Weathers, including the indelible impression he made on me when I first watched the Rocky series. If you’ve been following the podcast for a while, you’ll know that I’ve done a summer movie miniseries for the past three seasons. Last summer, I revisited Rocky III (MF 428); noting how this laid the foundation for the later Creed spinoffs. A big reason I love Rocky III is that it pulls off an incredible about-face character turn for Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) who was the main antagonist from the first two films. We see Apollo coming to Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) at his lowest: he’s just lost the title belt and his trainer, father-figure. Rocky feels like a fraud and goes back to Mickey’s (Burgess Meredith) gym, now empty and abandoned, and lands a single hit to a dusty punching bag. We think he’s alone but then hear a voice call out “that’s not the way to do it.” As the camera pans, we see Apollo emerge from the shadows. I didn’t get to watch this in theaters but I’ve read accounts of people who did; recalling how the audience broke out into thunderous applause at that very moment.

One-eighty character turns aren’t new storytelling devices. They’ve been used in countless books, movies, and TV shows. But Rocky III is an example of one that absolutely nails it, coming out of nowhere and providing the inspirational uplift you didn’t know you needed. While much credit goes to Sylvester Stallone who created these characters and wrote the dialogue, the magic of the Apollo character belongs to Carl Weathers. If you haven’t seen Rocky III in a while, right now you can catch all six films on Max.

Listen to this week’s episode on Spotify.

❝

Now when we fought you had that eye of the tiger, man. The edge!

…

And while we’re at it, Rock, let’s talk smart money management. Paulie doesn’t need a $500k robot for his birthday.

-Apollo Creed (enhanced head canon quote)

What else on this week’s episode:

  • Why decluttering gets harder as you get further into it.

  • Organizing chaos: decluttering paper by categories.

  • Updates to the legacy website.

Hacks

Organized chaos: decluttering once important (but no longer useful) papers

Being a Gen Xer has many advantages. I’m old enough to appreciate reruns of classic ‘70s sitcoms like Sanford and Son, Good Times, All in Family, and even a few from the ‘50s and ‘60s, like Leave it to Beaver, and I Dream of Jeannie, yet savvy enough to know how TikTok works (even if I don’t fully get the appeal). I can comfortably create a QR code or program a VCR from 1983. I’m at the zenith of my cross-generational skills and life experiences. But one major downside of my generation is paper. I grew up with tons of it: files, old tax returns, credit card receipts, and piles of photos. Digitization didn’t come until much later so that means I have boxes and boxes of pre-2011 matter. To make things worse, I’m a former lawyer so my natural instinct was to keep and file every scrap, no matter how useless.

If you tuned in last year, you’ll know I started my decluttering journey back in July 2023, and while it was tough, often challenging, going through and purging clothes, old computer equipment, and miscellany, that was a cakewalk compared to where I am now: purging paper, and lots of it.

First, if you’re just embarking on the decluttering journey, don’t start with paper. It’s too tedious and time consuming to the point where it may discourage you altogether.

Second, while there’s no one-size-fits-all process, I’ll break down some general steps that will make decluttering paper easier:

  • Paper is intimidating, especially if you’ve pack-ratted a lot of it. Tackle one box / file / pile at a time.

  • Get a paper shredder, preferably one that crosscuts (Amazon affiliate paid link) or find a place or community that does shredding events.

  • Separate your paper into the following categories:

    • Category 1: unimportant papers that do not contain sensitive information.

    • Category 2: old papers that have sensitive information that you no longer need.

    • Category 3: older, important papers that may no longer be useful but may still have sensitive information on them.

    • Category 4: papers that are important and / or with sensitive information that you definitely need to keep (for now).

  • Once you’ve designated your categories, proceed as follows:

    • Category 1: toss or recycle.

    • Category 2: shred, then toss or recycle.

    • Category 3: put aside and revisit, re-evaluate later (since it will require more time and scrutiny).

    • Category 4: keep but reorganize into a separate box and / or folder system.

Your goal is to eliminate all category 1 and 2 papers. With category 3, set aside time to evaluate whether to keep the originals or digitize and dispose the hard copies. Finally, for category 4 papers, reorganize them into folders and boxes or cabinets. Every year, revisit your category 4 papers to see if they have aged into category 3 or 2 and need to be discarded.

The point of decluttering is to keep only what you absolutely need or want and to get rid of the rest. This is hardly a scientific process and the steps will vary depending on your circumstances. I will also be blunt. Paper is extremely tedious and time consuming but if you take it one file / pile / box at a time, you will make slow but steady progress towards decluttering your life.

A “what if” quirk in cinema history

Reimagining and rewriting Rocky IV to correct the biggest mistake in the franchise

Rocky IV (spoilers) **** I have a love-dislike for the fourth entry in the Rocky saga. It’s indisputably the most ‘80s sequel, and a hallmark of that decade in general. Rocky goes into superhero mode fighting a mega villain who is even more monosyllabic than he is: Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a towering giant who looks like The Terminator’s cousin. While I love the synth score, gym-rousing soundtrack, and its ultimate good-vs-evil clash, I hate that the movie kills off Apollo Creed. While this gives Rocky great motivation and high stakes, it does so at the expense of an equally great character whose potential to tell more stories in this universe was cut too short, too soon.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that Apollo’s death is one of the reasons why the next film, Rocky V (***), misses the mark completely. In the fifth entry, following his world-changing bout with Drago, Rocky goes back to square one, losing his status, wealth, and suffering from severe brain trauma. The movie clumsily tries to bring the franchise back to its roots, something it didn’t fully accomplish until much later in the far superior sixth entry: Rocky Balboa (****).

A major with issue with V is that Apollo’s absence leaves a big gaping hole, and a dour, depressing residue. So, in honor of Carl Weathers and his inimitable performance as Apollo Creed, I’d like to go down a quirky “what if” rabbit hole within this cinematic timeline. Having never fully accepted Apollo’s death in Rocky IV, I sometimes imagine what if he didn’t die in the ring? What if Rocky threw in the towel just in time or what if Apollo survived but was so severely injured and crippled that he couldn’t fight again? This would allow you to keep the same motivation for Rocky without sacrificing the Apollo character. Moreover, the saga could have gone in a much more interesting direction with Apollo resenting Rocky, putting a strain on their once solid friendship.

I’m hardly the first or only one to suggest this. In 2021, while recutting the fourth film for a director’s cut, Stallone voiced his regret for killing off the Apollo character.

I love the idea of having Apollo survive only for both characters to face new challenges in their friendship and post-boxing careers. I also believe having Rocky lose everything in the fifth entry was a huge misstep, one that didn’t need to happen, or at the very least could have been rectified. Several YouTubers have reimagined Apollo’s role had he lived, becoming even more of a mentor to Rocky on handling his life (and finances) outside of the ring.

The true villain of the franchise.

I invite you to check these out if you want to see how Apollo’s surviving could have been a better narrative for the franchise.

Upcoming

Don’t wait until “one day” to write your first book unless that day is March 28th.

Write and Self-Publish Your First Book With a Step-by-Step Plan with John Lim | Johns Hopkins Events

If writing a book is one of your 2024 goals, take my next writing and self-publishing class, which starts March 28th. It’s through the Johns Hopkins Odyssey program and open to the public (discounts for Hopkins alum).

events.jhu.edu/form/odysseylimterm2spring24

Resources

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